June 19, 2010

The Federal Communications Commission has voted to start the process of re-classifying high-speed Internet access as a telecommunications service, which could pave the way for adopting rules that prevent service providers from giving priority to some types of content traveling through their networks. The five-person commission voted to collect public comments about a new framework that will make Internet service providers subject to some of the same non-discrimination rules as telephone companies. FCC  Chairman Julius Genachowski has been a vocal supporter of requiring Internet providers to treat all similar Web traffic equally, an issue known as net neutrality. Such rules would prevent telecommunications companies from charging websites for speedier delivery of their content. By re-classifying broadband, the FCC would have direct authority to enforce net neutrality. The FCC ruled in 2008 that Comcast, the nation's largest cable and Internet service provider, had improperly discriminated against Internet content by blocking customers from using a file-sharing program. Signaling support for broadband service providers, the supreme court ruled this year that the FCC lacked authority from Congress to make such a ruling. Republican opponents said "the proposed new regime will place the heavy thumb of government on the scale of a free market" and stunt innovation and investment. Those concerns were echoed by Internet service provider trade groups and other Republicans. The debate over net neutrality has pitted broadband service providers, including Comcast and AT&T, against Internet companies that extol the value of free-flowing Web traffic and an open Internet.

June 18, 2010

At 17 minutes past midnight this morning, Utah Department of Corrections officials counted down from five, then fired four bullets into the chest of a hooded Ronny Lee Gardner, murdering him just as he had murdered two other people. No matter how official it was and no matter how heinous his crimes, this was a despicable, unjustified act. No government has the right to kill its own citizens. And the glee with which it was done, and the posturing, hypocritical self-righteousness with which Utahans defend it, makes it even more despicable. I am sickened to my core, and deeply ashamed of the state in which I live.

June 16, 2010

Can’t believe it’s been 10 days since the last post. Been a little slack in keeping this blog up. Focused on the book and articles I’m trying to get done while I still have a little money to live on, so that takes pretty much all my attention.

From July 1884:

Sun 6^th
Attended the Funeral of Elder D. [O.] Calder Bishop Atwood. A. M. & G. Q. Cannon spoke. the latter at length. most beautifully. Also attended evening meeting after which the Bishop came down and performed the ceremony which made Fredrick Atkins & Alice husband & wife, There was no one invited except our own folks,

Mon 7^th
--- As Alice was going to give a party in the eve, we all worked hard to make it a success, Al. looked lovely and the party would have been a success, but for the absence of the bride groom, who was compelled to go out to the Lake and play for the officers to dance, He came a few moments after the company had dispersed,

June 7, 2010

This is your brain on computers. Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls, and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information. These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate opportunities and threats. The stimulation provokes excitement — a dopamine squirt — that researchers say can be addictive. In its absence, people feel bored. The resulting distractions can have deadly consequences, as when cell phone-wielding drivers and train engineers cause wrecks. And for millions of people, these urges can inflict nicks and cuts on creativity and deep thought, interrupting work and family life. While many people say multitasking makes them more productive, research shows otherwise.  Heavy multi-taskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists say, and they experience more stress. And scientists are discovering that even after the multitasking ends, fractured thinking and lack of focus persist. In other words, this is also your brain off computers.

Even at home, people consume 12 hours of media a day on average, when an hour spent with, say, the Internet and TV simultaneously counts as two hours. That compares with five hours in 1960, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego. Computer users visit an average of 40 Web sites a day, according to research by RescueTime, which offers time-management tools. As computers have changed, so has the understanding of the human brain. Until 15 years ago, scientists thought the brain stopped developing after childhood. Now they understand that its neural networks continue to develop, influenced by things like learning skills. And the idea that information overload causes distraction was supported by more and more research. Researchers worry that constant digital stimulation creates attention problems for children with brains that are still developing, who already struggle to set priorities and resist impulses. The ultimate risk of heavy technology use is that it diminishes empathy by limiting how much people engage with one another, even in the same room. The way we become more human is by paying attention to each other. It shows how much you care. Empathy is essential to the human condition. But research indicates we are at an inflection point. A significant fraction of people’s experiences are now fragmented.

June 6, 2010

From November 1884:

Wed 12^th
Have been riding this afternoon, called on Rie Dougall, Mrs Emily Richards, Sister Mira, Amy Burnham, & Louie White. My dear little boy Lou was with me and seemed to enjoy the ride very much.

Thurs 13^th
Wrote a letter, My little boy seemed poorly and feverish, a not unusual occurrence with him but we did not consider he was in any danger, until evening when he took with Croup, which worried me some, but I never dreamed but I could break it up as I had always been successful before, in handling that disease, so I took him to bed by my side and watched, and waited upon him through the night,

Friday 14^th
Lou was worse, His Father administered to him, I worked with him as well as he would let me, being very averse to taking anything, but he constantly grew worse, At noon I sent for the elders, Bro George Coulam came and administered to him. but with out any apparent relief following, Dr Pratt came in the evening and thought it might be his lungs, but he would not allow her to get near enough to him to tell much, When his Father came home at night, he could see that the child was very bad, and as he told me afterwards, had some misgivings concerning him, We two sat up all night slept but little, could not see any improvement, Toward morning he asked me to sing a little song he had heard a little boy sing at the Primary Conference the week before, which pleased him greatly and he had sung it all the week until taken sick, I sang it repeatedly, as he seemed to enjoy it so well, and would keep asking me to sing it again, In the morning we sent up and got Bro’s Macmaster & Brighton to come and administer to him, This seemed to annoy him, Afterward he coughed up two or three mouthfulls of yellow phlegm, which seemed to relieve him for a time, but he soon breathed as hard as ever, Through the persuasions of Sister Mira, who was greatly worried I sent for Dr S. B. Young, but before he came Dr Pratt had recommended lime for him to breathe which we got and made a tent of quilts, in which I stayed and steamed with him,
When Seymour Carnehe said he was a “sick boy” which fact I well knew, but still thought he must be healed, We kept up the lime at intervals, all day, and night, I also kept giving something to sicken and loosen the phlegm He would vomit once in a while but did not get any permanent relief, In the evening, he began to breathe still harder. which alarmed me, I sent for the Bishop who came and administered but apparently without much faith,

We, His Father and I sat up again, could see that he was growing worse, I never spent such a night of agony in my life, and would lkie to be spared ever suffering so again, if it was agreable to the will of God, The thought of having to give up that noble spirit in whom I had made myself such promises of future pride and happiness, seemed more than, I could do, and more bitter still, was the terrible fear, that should he die, he would grow worse and worse until he would strangle to death, It seemed to me that my nature could not bear so great an agony, and Oh, how I plead with my Father, to let him die in peace if he must go, During the night he asked me over & over again to sing that same little song, “Old Robin is dead and in his grave’, which I did although my heart was bursting with grief, I said to him “Louie you think that is the prettiest little song you ever heard dont you” He bowed his head yes, At 4, A, M, I called all the folks up to request them to pray to the Lord that he might die easy and not strangle, then sent Maggie & Carline after Dr S. B. Young. to see if he could do any thing to relieve him, In the mean time, Mother & I ran up to bro, Felt to see if he had any tar thinking. the smoke of tar might relive him, He came down and administered to him, and seemed to have faith, Dr Young came about 5 oclock, From that time he began to breathe easier, asked for a drink of water about 6, and took good drink, from that time on he continued to breathe easier, and at or near 7 he passed away without a struggle, and although, it seemed as all light and happiness went out of my life with him, yet I was grateful to God that he had answered our paryers and let him die so sweetly, After he died he looked as if he were only sleeping, I washed his precious little body myself, feeling that I could not give up that last sacred right to another, Dr Young would take hold and help me a little, What a sad, sad Sabbath that was to me; the saddest I ever knew, It seemed so hard to have to put anything so lively in the earth, out of sight, to decay, That lovely boy that had been the joy of my life since ever he was born, yet I must submit,

Mon 17^th
It stormed, as it did the day before, but that was nothing to me, If there had been two suns shining, it could not have made the earth cheerful to me, for was not my Son, the light of my life, lying cold and still, The funeral took place at 2. p. m. Bro J. E. Taylor delivered one of the most beautiful, and comforting sermons, it was ever my lot to hear. The Bishop, and Cou’s J. H. Felt & R, Morris, each made a few kind and comforting remarks. I did feel comforted to a great degree, and felt that I would be Sinning to nurse my grief, after the things of God had been so beautifully portrayed, There was a large number of sympathising friends in attendance, and the choir sang beautifully. The last piece hymn, “There is sweet rest in heaven”, was one that was always a great favorate with him, he sang it often himself, and would ask me to sing it for him, I wondered that I could hear it without my heart being wrung with anguish, but I believe he was near me and rejoiced so much in his deliverance and rest, that I was not permitted to grieve while hearing it, The rest of the week until Friday I remained close at home reading and reflecting

June 1, 2010

More than half of our income taxes this year will go to the military. The charts below (click for larger versions) show how our income tax dollars were spent in the year just completed — FY2009 — which ended last September 30 (data from Budget of the United States Government: Historical Tables Fiscal Year 2011, Table 8.7). The government sent $657 billion or 53.1% of all discretionary funds to the military. This represents an average of about $5,615 from each of the 117 million households in the US. In the current year (FY2010), the government estimates that $714 billion will be spent on the military. This is more than twice as much as the $295 billion spent in FY2000 (73% more when adjusted for inflation). Despite these gigantic past increases, President Obama’s budget calls for further increasing the military budget in FY2011 to $744 billion.

These charts show the “discretionary” part of the federal budget — that is, the part that Congress and the President directly allocate each year (with the funds derived from our income taxes, corporation taxes, excise taxes, estate and gift taxes, and other miscellaneous taxes). Is this a great country, or what?

May 31, 2010

In memoriam:  R. Sherman Russell, Claud Young Russell, Mary Ann Burnham Freeze, Walker Percy, Saul Bellow, Larry Brown, John Updike, Ernest Hemingway, Herman Melville, Howard Nemerov, J. D. Salinger,  Walt Whitman, Roberto Bolano, Stieg Larsson, Howard Zinn, Michael Harrington, Che Guevara, Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Emma Goldman, Antonio Gramsci, Socrates, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Benedict Spinoza, Jackson Pollock, J. S. Bach, John Lennon, George Harrison, Francois Truffaut, Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, Ozu Yasujiro, Kurosawa Akira, Dalton Trumbo, Dennis Hopper, Gulf of Mexico…
These are just few, there are many more.

May 28, 2010

This is what happens to your car when it rains in Utah:

May 25, 2010

Been thinking about how much I enjoy the way I’m living now. Working hard on transcribing MABF’s journals and reading a lot, fiction, poetry, and mostly non-fiction. New ideas and paths of research turn up each day because of the journals, and I want to follow them all. I don’t feel blocked or without energy the way I have for the last 27 years. Even though I’m very sad that it’s too late to do any actual good by producing a body of work that would mean something, I’m glad to be doing what I’m doing. And I’m glad I’m here, especially when I’m in certain parts of the city, or when I read about MABF going someplace that I go. Much satisfaction in my work right now, something I have never felt before. I am also completely overwhelmed by the scope of the task I’ve chosen, or that has chosen me. There’s a good chance I can’t actually do it, but knowing that doesn’t make me want to quit. Makes me work harder. So here I am, on my balcony on a beautiful spring evening, glad I’m where I am doing what I’m doing. Now if I weren’t so completely alone…

May 22, 2010

Why is there something instead of nothing? That question haunts the imaginations of philosophers, physicists, mathematicians, and other thinking humans. What we seem to know is that the matter and antimatter created in the Big Bang should have canceled each other out, leaving nothing instead of the something we call the universe. But that didn’t happen. A recent experiment in the Tevatron, a particle accelerator at Fermilab, may have answered that question.  It demonstrated a very slight bias, an asymmetry, in the behavior of the subatomic particle, B-meson. As B-meson oscillates between its matter and antimatter states, it shows a slight predilection to become matter, a result predicted by Andrei Sakharov. That preference for one state over another, becoming matter more often than it becomes antimatter, is only about 1 percent. But that may be enough to explain the preponderance of matter. We are made of stardust, of elements formed in the Big Bang and in the subsequent creation and destruction of stars. The very existence of matter may depend on this only very slight bias in the frenetic variation of a particle we can only momentarily detect. How mysterious and cool is that?

May 21, 2010

Saw an amazing thing today: There was a fresh bird feather on my balcony this morning. Guessing by the size of it, probably from a pigeon, of which there are far too many around. I dropped it off the balcony. It spun slowly down in a perfect spiral. Suddenly from nowhere, a bird darted out and caught the feather in its beak. As it flew away, it kept losing its grip, and the feather would begin to tumble down again, but each time, the bird would dart down after it, catch it again and begin flying off. This went on for about a minute, the bird dropping, darting, and re-catching the feather until it finally gave up when it got too close to the ground. The swiftness and precision of its flight was astonishing. Absolutely beautiful.

May 20, 2010

Arizona Immigration Law Thwarting LDS Missionaries - Jose Corral was seriously considering joining the LDS Church. For weeks, Corral, 45, a fourth-grade teacher, met with missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at his home in Laveen, Ariz., to read The Book of Mormon and prepare for his baptism. Corral, a Roman Catholic and the father of two preteen daughters, was especially drawn to the Utah-based church's commitment to family values. "I was really interested," said Corral, a legal permanent resident from Mexico. "I thought, you know, it is going to be really good for the kids." Then, Corral said, he found out that state Sen. Russell Pearce, a Republican from Mesa and sponsor of Arizona's tough new immigration law, is a Mormon. Corral said he told the missionaries to stop coming because he considers the law anti-immigrant and anti-Latino. "I decided I did not want to expose my kids to a religion that has members that hate other people because they are different." Corral is not alone. The law, which makes it a state crime to be in the country without proper immigration papers, has tarnished the LDS Church's image among many Latinos, a huge group the church is aggressively trying to attract. Pearce has been the driving force behind virtually every bill introduced in recent years aimed at clamping down on illegal immigrants. LDS officials say he does not speak for the church, which has not taken a stance on Arizona's law. It has put the church on the defensive. Kenneth Patrick Smith, a Mesa lawyer and president of the Valencia Branch, a Spanish-speaking LDS congregation in the Mormon stronghold of Mesa, said missionaries have had doors slammed in their faces since Gov. Jan Brewer signed Arizona's new law in April. "They say, 'Why would we want to hear anything from a religion that would do this to the Hispanic community?' " said Smith, who emphasized that he was speaking for himself, not the church. "It's a great disconnect because on one hand the missionaries are out there preaching brotherly love, kindness, charity, tolerance, faith, hope, etc., and then they see on TV a quote-unquote Mormon pushing this legislation that makes them not only ... terrified but terrorized." Pearce repeatedly has said his efforts to drive illegal immigrants out of Arizona and keep them from coming here is based partly on the LDS Church's 12th Article of Faith, which says Mormons believe in "obeying, honoring and sustaining the law." The new Arizona statute makes it a crime to be in the Grand Canyon State without proper immigration papers. It also requires police to ask a person's immigration status if there is "reasonable suspicion" that the person is in the country illegally. Critics say it could lead to rampant racial profiling and civil-rights abuses by officers targeting Latinos. Many Latinos who view the new law as unjust and discriminatory blame not only Pearce but also the LDS Church. That is making it hard for Mormons to proselytize to the state's 1.8 million Latinos, whom the church views as key to future growth.

“how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and ye would not!” Matthew 23:37

May 17, 2010

Spent most of the day transcribing Mary Ann Burnham Freeze’s journals, 1882 (only one page) and 1883. Got to May 1883. 28 pages of her tiny journal. I’m not a good typist, I have to look at the keyboard, and it’s hard to see and decipher what she’s written even though this part of the photocopy isn’t too bad. Very exhausting. Here’s a sample page, though it is slightly smaller than the journal itself:

Debating whether to write a separate blog about the process of preparing the journals for publication.

May 14, 2010

Got this photo of Gavin from Josh today:

For just over two months old, that’s an awfully thoughtful guy. But then, his parents are both highly intelligent, so we know where he gets it from. And beautiful, like them. What a killer.

May 10, 2010

“I'm running my hands over the homemade necklace my daughter made me for Mother's Day. Its soft foam and wooden blocks make it the sort of thing every Mom cherishes. She handed it today to me with great pride during her preschool celebration, thrilled I would wear it back to work and show it off on my blog. Work and motherhood -- something I'm not sure how I would have managed were it not for The Pill. You see, like many women, I timed both of my pregnancies. I had control over the reproduction part of sex during my now 10-year marriage. I could decide at what point during my journalism career I was ready for children, and we could plan parenthood right along with my climb up the ladder. Giving women control over reproduction means giving them control over their own fate. I am a wife, a blogger, a mother -- when I want, how I want, and with the freedom to remain sexual. The pill means I can have it all, and sacrifice nothing.”

Erin Kotecki Vest is Political Director and Producer of Special Projects for BlogHer, Inc.

“In 1962, when I was a 22-year-old Holly Golightly-wannabe living in Greenwich Village with my dog and my motor scooter, two events had a seismic effect on my life. Helen Gurley Brown wrote Sex and the Single Girl, and my doctor at the time (Shepard Aronson, who would become one of the first male members of the National Organization for Women) wrote me a prescription for The Pill.  Each in its way was transformative. Brown's book, which was both frisky and practical, acknowledged what millions had known but denied -- that nice girls "did it" and sometimes even enjoyed it, and that sex need not lead to marriage. In 1962, this was considered shocking. The impact of The Pill was even more radical. It meant sex need not lead to pregnancy. But it wasn't just another form of contraception, it was an equalizer, a liberator, and easy to take. For the first time in human history, a woman could control her sexuality and determine her readiness for reproduction by swallowing a pill smaller than an aspirin. Critics warned that The Pill would spawn generations of loose, immoral women; what it spawned was generations of empowered women who are better equipped to make rational choices about their lives. Though it took a while--and the dogged efforts of the feminist health activist, Barbara Seaman--for its creators to get the dose right and add a printed insert informing women of its possible side effects, The Pill bore revolutionary results. It allowed women to become autonomous decision-makers rather than captives of our biology (though many wives, daughters, and girlfriends took it secretly because of the stigma attached to women who assume any sexual initiative). It meant involuntary pregnancy could no longer be used as threat or punishment for female sexual activity. It gave us the power to decide if and when we were physically, emotionally, and financially prepared for the immense commitment to bear and raise a child. It helped us plan and space our families. It helped us plan and build careers, or just keep our jobs. (In 1962, employers could, without penalty, fire a woman who got pregnant.) Since wanted children are often better cared for than unwanted children it meant that more kids were wanted, grew up healthy, supported, and loved. Children like the three my husband and I conceived when I went off the pill once we made the choice to have a family; or like our six grandchildren, all planned. If my Holly Golightly years had produced an unwanted child, I, who was entirely self-supporting, would have been derailed by joblessness and that child would have been raised in poverty. What's more, I would never have met my beloved husband of 46 years, and my adored children and grandchildren would never have been born.”

Letty Cottin Pogrebin is a founding editor of Ms. Magazine, a founder of the National Women's Political Caucus, and the author of nine books, most recently the novel, Three Daughters.

And, on this day in 1869, a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.

May 9, 2010

Here’s a video of Gavin taking a walk to downtown Stillwater a couple of weeks ago that Josh and Sarah sent.  He is a great looking guy. A pretty good thing to watch on Mother’s Day 2010.

For any mothers who might see this, Happy Mother’s Day.

May 8, 2010

Finally got most of my book and film reviews linked to this blog. I’ll be adding more. Check them out if you’re interested. →

May 7, 2010

Many people alive today possess some Neanderthal ancestry, according to a new study. The finding has surprised many experts, as previous genetic evidence suggested the Neanderthals made little or no contribution to human inheritance. The result comes from analysis of the Neanderthal genome which indicates that between 1% and 4% of the Eurasian human genome seems derived from Neanderthals. But the study confirms living humans overwhelmingly trace their ancestry to a small population of Africans who later spread out across the world. The most widely-accepted theory of modern human origins - known as Out of Africa - holds that the ancestors of living humans (Homo sapiens) originated in Africa some 200,000 years ago. A relatively small group of people then left the continent to populate the rest of the world between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago. While the Neanderthal genetic contribution - found in people from Europe, Asia and Oceania - appears to be small, this figure is higher than previous genetic analyses have suggested. John Hawks, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said of the genetic contribution from Neanderthals, "I am surprised by the amount. I really was not expecting it to be as high as 4%."

May 5, 2010

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a voluntarily-observed holiday that commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín. It is celebrated primarily in the state of Puebla and in the United States. While Cinco de Mayo has limited significance nationwide in Mexico, the date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day, the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico. The observance of Cinco de Mayo first started in California in the 1860s in response to the resistance to French rule in Mexico. The holiday has been celebrated in California continuously since 1863. In the United States Cinco de Mayo is perhaps best recognized as a date to celebrate the culture and experiences of Americans of Mexican ancestry, much as St. Patrick's Day, Oktoberfest, and the Chinese New Year are used to celebrate those of Irish, German, and Chinese ancestry respectively. Similar to those holidays, Cinco de Mayo is observed by many Americans regardless of ethnic origin. Celebrations tend to draw both from traditional Mexican symbols, such as the Virgen de Guadalupe, and from prominent figures of Mexican descent in the United States, including César Chávez. To celebrate, many display Cinco de Mayo banners while school districts hold special events to educate pupils about its historical significance. Special events and celebrations highlight Mexican culture, especially in its music and regional dancing.

May 1, 2010

International Workers' Day is the commemoration of the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886, when Chicago police fired on workers during a general strike for the eight hour day, killing several demonstrators and resulting in the deaths of several police officers, largely from friendly fire. In 1889, the first congress of the Second International, meeting in Paris for the centennial of the French Revolution and the Exposition Universelle, following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. These were so successful that May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891. The May Day Riots of 1894 and May Day Riots of 1919 occurred subsequently.^{[citation needed]} In 1904, the International Socialist Conference meeting in Amsterdam called on "all Social Democratic Party organizations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on May First for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace." As the most effective way of demonstrating was by striking, the congress made it "mandatory upon the proletarian organizations of all countries to stop work on May 1, wherever it is possible without injury to the workers."