From here.
Showing posts with label Local Color. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Local Color. Show all posts
09 September 2021
23 May 2016
Sikhs Are Not Muslims
Denver's first Sikh Nagar Kirtan parade in front of East High School, in honor of their eternal guru. There are about 500 Sikh families in greater Denver and there are several Sikh places of worship with Sikh communities in Colorado (for example, in Colorado Springs and Boulder).
In the United States, if you see a someone with a beard and long hair wearing a turban, and possibly openly carrying a sheathed knife, there is a 98%+ chance that this person is a Sikh (a member of a monotheistic religion originating in territory of disputed sovereignty in Northwest India/Northeast Pakistan). They are not Muslims.
Similarly, almost every man with "Singh" in his name, and almost every woman with "Kaur" in her name is a Sikh.
Espanola, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California have a large share of U.S. Sikhs who are non-South Asian converts.
The first Asian American member of the U.S. Congress, Dalip Singh Saund, was a Sikh, and the current governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, was raised as a Sikh but converted to Christianity after she married.
Like the Hindu majority in India, Sikhs tend to be vegetarians. But, "Sikhs are about equality, regardless of race, religion, caste or sex", in addition to prayer, serving the community, and hard work.
Sikhs are victims of lots of hate crimes and discrimination. There are a variety of prejudices one could hold against Sikhs. But, Sikhs do not tend to be victimized because the people committing the hate crimes and engaging in discriminatory behavior actually have prejudices about Sikhs.
Instead, the people engaging in the discriminatory behavior and committing the hate crimes have prejudices against Muslims, mostly based upon the conduct of various radical Islamist Muslims. But, because religiously observant Sikhs in traditional Sikh garb are easily distinguishable, and a tiny minority of Muslims (almost all outside the United States) dress in a somewhat similar way, Sikhs are often mistaken for Muslims.
This sucks for Sikhs because lots of Americans have strong anti-Islamic views and very few Americans have anti-Sikh views.
29 May 2015
Lightning Strikes
A tree that is a half a block from my house made the TV news when it was struck by lightning on Wednesday night in a very weird way. The strike spiraled around the trunk, rather than going straight down. These kinds of lightning strikes are not unheard of and sometimes spare the tree entirely.
When you have a prophet in the neighborhood, weird things happen.
When you have a prophet in the neighborhood, weird things happen.
28 April 2015
In The Neighborhood
One of my neighbors has been flying the American Ecology Movement flag from 1967.
07 April 2015
Other Places Have Cat Ladies, We Have Prairie Dog Ladies
9News has the story, along with the dubious assertion of law that "prairie dogs are owned by the state of Colorado." While wild animals are regulated by state law, they are not, in general, owned by the state, or for that matter, anyone else, until they become property pursuant to the rule of capture.
The woman in question may well have been housing prairie dogs without a permit in a residential building, but in my view, they are still her property under Colorado law, unless there is some statute to the contrary of which I am unaware.
The woman in question may well have been housing prairie dogs without a permit in a residential building, but in my view, they are still her property under Colorado law, unless there is some statute to the contrary of which I am unaware.
13 February 2015
Gas Stations To Avoid In Denver
Gasoline is pretty much a fungible commodity. Almost all gas stations sell two or three of the standard grades of gasoline, and almost nobody believes advertisements that claim that one gas station's brand of gasoline is better than another's.
In part as a result of that, gas stations operate in something very closely approximating perfect competition, in which market forces drive competitors to all sell the product as a market price that has a quite thin margin. There are differences based mostly upon locality, but almost all competitors follow the strategy of maximizing sales by selling at the prevailing market price.
But, the law does not fix gasoline prices and there are a few gas stations that zag when everyone else zigs and charge far more than the going market rate for gasoline.
I am aware of at least two such stations in Denver.
The worst offender by far is the Shop Fast at 6504 E. Alameda Avenue at the intersection of Alameda and Monaco. This gas station generally charges thirty to forty cents per gallon more for gasoline than the 7-11 gas station three blocks away at Leetsdale and Monaco selling precisely the same product.
Moreover, it isn't as it the Shop Fast is offering a superior customer experience. Its pumps are primitive early 1980s versions that can't take your payments at the pump and haven't been upgraded for decades. When you go in to pay, the convenience store is dilapidated, dirty, disheveled, understocked with lots of empty shelf space, and has a poor selection of products to buy. The attendant on the couple of times that I have been there, has always been surly and rude.
The Conoco at Speer and Pennsylvania Avenue has a tidy and ordinary convenience store and modern gas pumps, but does engage in price gouging, typically charging twenty to thirty cents per gallon more than nearby stations such as the two gas stations at the intersection of Alameda Boulevard and Downing Street.
While government price fixing can create all sorts of problems, it is hard to think that the price gouging practices of these gas stations, which prey on people who are inattentive (a strategy that usually works when buying gas since so few gas stations charge and above market price and it is hard to keep track of weekly variations in gasoline prices that fluctuate rapidly), or aren't away of nearby, much less costly alternatives because they are in an unfamiliar neighborhood, promote any legitimate virtues.
In part as a result of that, gas stations operate in something very closely approximating perfect competition, in which market forces drive competitors to all sell the product as a market price that has a quite thin margin. There are differences based mostly upon locality, but almost all competitors follow the strategy of maximizing sales by selling at the prevailing market price.
But, the law does not fix gasoline prices and there are a few gas stations that zag when everyone else zigs and charge far more than the going market rate for gasoline.
I am aware of at least two such stations in Denver.
The worst offender by far is the Shop Fast at 6504 E. Alameda Avenue at the intersection of Alameda and Monaco. This gas station generally charges thirty to forty cents per gallon more for gasoline than the 7-11 gas station three blocks away at Leetsdale and Monaco selling precisely the same product.
Moreover, it isn't as it the Shop Fast is offering a superior customer experience. Its pumps are primitive early 1980s versions that can't take your payments at the pump and haven't been upgraded for decades. When you go in to pay, the convenience store is dilapidated, dirty, disheveled, understocked with lots of empty shelf space, and has a poor selection of products to buy. The attendant on the couple of times that I have been there, has always been surly and rude.
The Conoco at Speer and Pennsylvania Avenue has a tidy and ordinary convenience store and modern gas pumps, but does engage in price gouging, typically charging twenty to thirty cents per gallon more than nearby stations such as the two gas stations at the intersection of Alameda Boulevard and Downing Street.
While government price fixing can create all sorts of problems, it is hard to think that the price gouging practices of these gas stations, which prey on people who are inattentive (a strategy that usually works when buying gas since so few gas stations charge and above market price and it is hard to keep track of weekly variations in gasoline prices that fluctuate rapidly), or aren't away of nearby, much less costly alternatives because they are in an unfamiliar neighborhood, promote any legitimate virtues.
15 December 2013
Quick Hits
* Gun control is very effective at preventing suicide and suicides make up a much larger share of gun deaths than is generally realized because they receive less publicity. This is notable, in part, because many of the most dramatic public shootings, such as the Arapahoe High School shooting last week in Colorado, the Columbine High School Shooting, the Sandy Hook school shooting, and many more of these events are, in terms of motive and usual outcome, more like suicides than typical homicides.
It is also notable that these kinds of shooting (add also the Aurora Theater Shooting which arguably was not suicidal), seem to be one kind of crime where the prototypical perpetrator is a young male who is white and middle class, a vastly different profile than a gang related killing, for example.
* Polling shows that the referendum on independence that the UK is permitting that region to hold is very likely to fail. But, the likelihood of a successful vote for independence in Catalonia, which the central Spanish government is vehemently trying to prevent, seems much greater. That vote is scheduled for a month after the one in Scotland.
* Consumer arbitration in credit card agreements almost never actually happen.
Basically, when compared to non-arbitration claim rates, the result of consumer arbitration clauses appears to be to deny consumers any meaningful remedy.
* Zombie debt collection is a growing kind of abusive debt collection practice.
* Almost a third of attorneys violate their ethical duties in negotiation settings.
* Prosecutors frequently violate the constitutional rights of criminal defendants by committing Brady violations (i.e. failing to disclose exonerating information to defendants), which is a violation of professional conduct rules for prosecutors and sometimes is a crime as well. But, prosecutors are almost never personally punished for this misconduct.
* Federal courts are intervening to cease the grossly inadequate "meet and plead" public defender systems in some Washington State cities.
* Once again, U.S. drones killed an innocent wedding party. This time, in Yemen.
* The Cincinnati library was beautiful before it was demolished.
* Data comparing aggregate IQ in various nations at different times and places support the notion of wealth as a cause, rather than an effect of national IQ.
* A federal court has finally struck down the minister's housing allowance, an exclusion from federal income for tax purposes only available to clergy and hence discriminatory on the basis of being religious rather than non-religious. Other tax breaks in the Internal Revenue Code available to religious organizations are generally also available to other non-profits (except a certain religious FICA exemption). The opinion is here.
* The labor and delivery medical expenses for almost half of all U.S. births are paid for by Medicaid (48% in 2010). But, there is substantial regional variation:
* Crisis Pregnancy Centers (at least in Virginia) routinely lie and spread disinformation.
* New York City has an awesome passport office.
* Swedish entrepreneurs tend to have anti-social tendencies. This is probably a phenomena that can be generalized but is easier to study in Sweden due to it massive ability to cross-reference population-wide databases.
* Basing fraud sentences on the difference between what was asserted the victims would receive and what they did receive, rather than on actual losses, produces sentences that punish the wrong people most severely.
* Thomas Cooley Law School graduates do very poorly in the job market.
* The good customer service in the low income shadow banking world partially explains why they have more market share than traditional banking institutions.
* State fairs offer many weird food options.
It is also notable that these kinds of shooting (add also the Aurora Theater Shooting which arguably was not suicidal), seem to be one kind of crime where the prototypical perpetrator is a young male who is white and middle class, a vastly different profile than a gang related killing, for example.
* Polling shows that the referendum on independence that the UK is permitting that region to hold is very likely to fail. But, the likelihood of a successful vote for independence in Catalonia, which the central Spanish government is vehemently trying to prevent, seems much greater. That vote is scheduled for a month after the one in Scotland.
* Consumer arbitration in credit card agreements almost never actually happen.
The CFPB found that large banks are much more likely than small banks to include arbitration clauses, but that because of their market share, around 50% of credit card loans and 44% of insured checking account deposits are covered by arbitration agreements. (The numbers would be far higher but for the NAF settlement, under which many issuers removed arbitration clauses from their contracts.) The percentages are much higher for prepaid cards.
Ninety percent of the arbitration agreements studied include class waivers. Most contain small-claims court carve outs. The banks are far more likely than the consumers to go to small claims court. That makes sense. For small debts, a collection action in a small claims court will usually lead to a default judgment, which is then immediately enforceable. Arbitration requires two steps, the arbitration proceeding and then the filing of the award.
Out of these millions of agreements, only about 300 arbitration claims have been filed by consumers per year over the last three years, and they were all for high dollar-value claims (more than $1,000). . . .
the Bureau observed that almost no consumers filed arbitrations about disputes under $1,000. For arbitration filings involving debt disputes, the average amount of debt at issue was over $13,000. For other arbitration filings, the average consumer claim was for over $38,000.
A number of arbitration clauses allow a consumer, and sometimes the company, to use small claims courts rather than arbitration for dispute resolution. The CFPB’s preliminary analysis indicates that not many consumers initiate small claims court cases in credit-card disputes. Rather, the analysis shows that small claims court cases are much more likely to be brought by banks than by consumers. In the states and counties studied, the Bureau was able to identify at most 870 credit card cases brought by consumers in small claims court against large credit card issuers, but more than 41,000 cases brought by these banks against consumers in small claims court.Got that, there were on average only about 100 consumer arbitration claims filed per year against banks, despite the fact that they cover half of all credit cards and more than 40% of deposit accounts. If people in Colorado file consumer arbitration claims in numbers proportional to the national average, that means there are only 1-2 consumer arbitration claims filed concerning credit card and account disputes per year in the entire state.
Basically, when compared to non-arbitration claim rates, the result of consumer arbitration clauses appears to be to deny consumers any meaningful remedy.
* Zombie debt collection is a growing kind of abusive debt collection practice.
* Almost a third of attorneys violate their ethical duties in negotiation settings.
* Prosecutors frequently violate the constitutional rights of criminal defendants by committing Brady violations (i.e. failing to disclose exonerating information to defendants), which is a violation of professional conduct rules for prosecutors and sometimes is a crime as well. But, prosecutors are almost never personally punished for this misconduct.
* Federal courts are intervening to cease the grossly inadequate "meet and plead" public defender systems in some Washington State cities.
* Once again, U.S. drones killed an innocent wedding party. This time, in Yemen.
* The Cincinnati library was beautiful before it was demolished.
* Data comparing aggregate IQ in various nations at different times and places support the notion of wealth as a cause, rather than an effect of national IQ.
* A federal court has finally struck down the minister's housing allowance, an exclusion from federal income for tax purposes only available to clergy and hence discriminatory on the basis of being religious rather than non-religious. Other tax breaks in the Internal Revenue Code available to religious organizations are generally also available to other non-profits (except a certain religious FICA exemption). The opinion is here.
* The labor and delivery medical expenses for almost half of all U.S. births are paid for by Medicaid (48% in 2010). But, there is substantial regional variation:
[J]ust one quarter of births in Hawaii were financed by Medicaid compared to nearly 70 percent in Louisiana. States in the northeastern and northwestern United States have the lowest proportion of births financed by Medicaid. For example, Massachusetts and New Hampshire reported fewer than 30 percent of births funded by Medicaid, and Washington State reported 39 percent. Southern states tend to have the highest Medicaid coverage: For example, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico each reported more than 60 percent of all births financed by Medicaid in 2010.
* Crisis Pregnancy Centers (at least in Virginia) routinely lie and spread disinformation.
* New York City has an awesome passport office.
* Swedish entrepreneurs tend to have anti-social tendencies. This is probably a phenomena that can be generalized but is easier to study in Sweden due to it massive ability to cross-reference population-wide databases.
* Basing fraud sentences on the difference between what was asserted the victims would receive and what they did receive, rather than on actual losses, produces sentences that punish the wrong people most severely.
* Thomas Cooley Law School graduates do very poorly in the job market.
* The good customer service in the low income shadow banking world partially explains why they have more market share than traditional banking institutions.
* State fairs offer many weird food options.
12 September 2013
Colorado Is All Wet
Not so long ago, a Governor remarked that all of Colorado was burning.
Today, Colorado is all wet. Literally. Metro Denver gets about 12-13" of precipitation in a typical year. Now, many communities in the area have gotten most of their annual precipitation allotment in about forty-eight hours.
Flash flood watches and warnings apply to most of the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area and Larimer and Weld counties. Schools are closed in Boulder County, Manitou Springs (near Colorado Springs) and parts of Adams County.
Park Hill was the Land of Lakes as I made my way to work this morning (although the success of recent drainage improvements in the City Park area was evident). The opposing counsel in a hearing I appeared at this morning was trapped in her home in Coal Creek by flood waters and had to appear by telephone. One of the lawyers in the case behind me was greatly delayed getting to court by detours forced by flooded roads. I merely had a drenched suit coat. My assistant, who bikes to work, is soaked.
Roads have been closed due to flooding in Aurora and Commerce City and some Aurora parks are almost entirely underwater. The Community College of Aurora is closed.
Mud slides and floods have closed roads all over Larimer County, in some cases trapping people in flooded homes while weather has been too extreme for helicopters to rescue them. The Meadow Lake Dam breached in rural Larimer County near Pinewood Springs and rescue efforts are underway there.
In Lyons, a sewage treatment plant has breached, sending turds into flooded streets, and fresh water is not available. Highway 36 was completed destroyed by floods at Longmont Dam Road and the road is closed from Lyons to Boulder. Thirty-five homes were evacuated in Fredrick and Firestone (many from a trailer park).
In Broomfield, a road collapsed, three cars were submerged and swept away by flood waters and three motorists had to be rescued from flood waters.
The University of Colorado at Boulder and Naropa University are closed due to flooding, parts of the campus were evacuated, and the courts are closed there. A wall of water in a canyon in Boulder County trapped a fire fighter in a tree this morning.
Three people are confirmed dead in flooding. One in a collapsed home in Jamestown, one carried away by flooding and found on the 200 block of Linden Drive in Boulder. And, one body was found on the streets of Colorado Springs near I-25 and South Nevada Street. The Boulder Sheriff has stated that there may be more victims. Jamestown in Boulder County and Four Mile Canyon were ordered evacuated.
Today, Colorado is all wet. Literally. Metro Denver gets about 12-13" of precipitation in a typical year. Now, many communities in the area have gotten most of their annual precipitation allotment in about forty-eight hours.
Rain measurements from the overnight Colorado storm that has caused flash floods and flooding according to the National Weather Service at 8:54 a.m. include:
Boulder — 9 to 12 inches
Firestone — 4.80 inches
Frederick — 7.19 inches
Lafayette — 3.50 inches
Loveland — 4.12 inches
Lyons — 3.5 inches
Thornton — 5.37 inches
Ward — 6.16 inches[UPDATE at 2:20 p.m. - Denver police have evacuated an area between 11th Avenue and Colfax Avenue from Verbena Street to Xanthia Street in a part of Denver between the Stapleton and Lowry neighborhoods due to flooding. The Cherry Creek trail and Platte River trail are also underwater for much of their extent within Denver. Evacuations also in Commerce City and in Longmont. Village East Elementary School in Greenwood Village was evacuated.]
Flash flood watches and warnings apply to most of the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area and Larimer and Weld counties. Schools are closed in Boulder County, Manitou Springs (near Colorado Springs) and parts of Adams County.
Park Hill was the Land of Lakes as I made my way to work this morning (although the success of recent drainage improvements in the City Park area was evident). The opposing counsel in a hearing I appeared at this morning was trapped in her home in Coal Creek by flood waters and had to appear by telephone. One of the lawyers in the case behind me was greatly delayed getting to court by detours forced by flooded roads. I merely had a drenched suit coat. My assistant, who bikes to work, is soaked.
Roads have been closed due to flooding in Aurora and Commerce City and some Aurora parks are almost entirely underwater. The Community College of Aurora is closed.
Mud slides and floods have closed roads all over Larimer County, in some cases trapping people in flooded homes while weather has been too extreme for helicopters to rescue them. The Meadow Lake Dam breached in rural Larimer County near Pinewood Springs and rescue efforts are underway there.
In Lyons, a sewage treatment plant has breached, sending turds into flooded streets, and fresh water is not available. Highway 36 was completed destroyed by floods at Longmont Dam Road and the road is closed from Lyons to Boulder. Thirty-five homes were evacuated in Fredrick and Firestone (many from a trailer park).
In Broomfield, a road collapsed, three cars were submerged and swept away by flood waters and three motorists had to be rescued from flood waters.
The University of Colorado at Boulder and Naropa University are closed due to flooding, parts of the campus were evacuated, and the courts are closed there. A wall of water in a canyon in Boulder County trapped a fire fighter in a tree this morning.
Three people are confirmed dead in flooding. One in a collapsed home in Jamestown, one carried away by flooding and found on the 200 block of Linden Drive in Boulder. And, one body was found on the streets of Colorado Springs near I-25 and South Nevada Street. The Boulder Sheriff has stated that there may be more victims. Jamestown in Boulder County and Four Mile Canyon were ordered evacuated.
15 August 2013
Confidence
Nothing in a woman in her early 20s screams self-confidence like walking out to lunch with your friend in a seven colored frilly dress and a tiara.
29 July 2013
Is Deer Trail's Town Council On The Verge Of Committing Treason?
Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies; giving them aid and comfort.- United States Constitution, Article III, Section 3, Clause 1 (1789) (in the pertinent part).
The small town of Deer Trail, Colorado is considering a bold move. The town board will be voting on an ordinance that would create drone hunting licenses and offer bounties for unmanned aerial vehicles.
Deer Trail resident, Phillip Steel, drafted the ordinance.
“We do not want drones in town,” said Steel. “They fly in town, they get shot down.”
Even though it’s against the law to destroy federal property, Steel’s proposed ordinance outlines weapons, ammunition, rules of engagement, techniques, and bounties for drone hunting.
The ordinates states, “The Town of Deer Trail shall issue a reward of $100 to any shooter who presents a valid hunting license and the following identifiable parts of an unmanned aerial vehicle whose markings and configuration are consistent with those used on any similar craft known to be owned or operated by the United States federal government.” . . .
If passed by the town board, Deer Trail would charge $25 for drone hunting licenses, valid for one year. . . .
Deer Trail resident, David Boyd, is also one of seven votes on the town board.
“Even if a tiny percentage of people get online (for a) drone license, that’s cool. That’s a lot of money to a small town like us,”said Boyd. “Could be known for it as well, which probably might be a mixed blessing, but what the heck?”
The board will consider the drone hunting ordinance on Aug. 6.
If shooting down drones operated by the federal government under color of law and at the behest of a duly constituted government doesn't constitute levying war against the United States, what does? Indeed, simply voting to pass such an ordinance could constitute a declaration of war on the United States and hence an act of treason. And, I know of no precedent that affords immunity from prosecution to acts of treason proclaimed in an official capacity. This was certainly not believed to be the rule during Reconstruction, immediately after the U.S. Civil War.
The fact that anyone would even consider such a clearly illegal ordinance is an example of what I call the sovereignty of the group. Deliberative bodies with more than about three members tend not to be very reliable at conforming themselves to external constraints on their actions and the larger the deliberative body is, the less reliably it does so.
From a practical perspective, the question is how to undermine the legitimacy of this kind of activity that is meant as much in jest and as a symbolic act, without spurring sympathy from like minded people. The Federal Aviation Administration, for example, has issued a statement making clear that this law is unconstitutional on its face. Even if a treason prosecution were authorized by law, for example, it might not make sense to bring one without far more negotiation and opportunity for Deer Run to back down.
Hazed
Denver has spent this morning immersed in fog, much like many of it denizens on this mid-summer Monday morning.
10 July 2013
ACK Blogging II
The People of Nantucket believe certain truths to be inevitable:
1. All man made structures should be gray, with the possible exception of red brick chimneys. Color is reserved for flowers.
2. All inanimate objects of substance, be they boats, homes, businesses or motor vehicles should have names, preferrably names dripping with irony. For example, "Le Shack" is an excellent name for your $2,000,000 beach side house.
3. Anyone who is able to do so should hide his home from the world with vegetation. Consumption should not be conspicuous.
4. Signage is for people who already know where things are; people who don't know where things are shouldn't be encouraged.
5. One should never show more skin than necessary anywhere but on the beach, and only young single women in their twenties should wear skimpy bikinis. Women should wear skirts or dresses around town.
6. The town library should be more grand than any church or town hall. Perhaps because it is a beacon of knowledge, it may be white rather than gray.
7. Sidewalks should be narrow enough to cause pedestrian traffic jams on a regular basis.
8. All commercial flights on and off the island should have the same price for the entire season at every hour of the day and night; an off season/on seasons distinction is tolerable.
9. It is the natural order of things that children and men who act like children should adopt shelter cats and dogs during their summer visits. Nantucket cats mostly come from the Cape, and Nantucket dogs are mostly mutts abandoned in the State of Mississippi where the usual practice is to shoot abandoned dogs on sight, because residents are responsible and rarely abandon their animals brought by a single valiant expatriot who drives up up load of shelter dogs several times a year. It is quite fashionable to have a Mississippi Mutt.
10. The preferred occupation of pre-teens is as docents (jr. rangers, etc.) at local attractions at which they gain historical and scientific knowledge and share it with visitors.
1. All man made structures should be gray, with the possible exception of red brick chimneys. Color is reserved for flowers.
2. All inanimate objects of substance, be they boats, homes, businesses or motor vehicles should have names, preferrably names dripping with irony. For example, "Le Shack" is an excellent name for your $2,000,000 beach side house.
3. Anyone who is able to do so should hide his home from the world with vegetation. Consumption should not be conspicuous.
4. Signage is for people who already know where things are; people who don't know where things are shouldn't be encouraged.
5. One should never show more skin than necessary anywhere but on the beach, and only young single women in their twenties should wear skimpy bikinis. Women should wear skirts or dresses around town.
6. The town library should be more grand than any church or town hall. Perhaps because it is a beacon of knowledge, it may be white rather than gray.
7. Sidewalks should be narrow enough to cause pedestrian traffic jams on a regular basis.
8. All commercial flights on and off the island should have the same price for the entire season at every hour of the day and night; an off season/on seasons distinction is tolerable.
9. It is the natural order of things that children and men who act like children should adopt shelter cats and dogs during their summer visits. Nantucket cats mostly come from the Cape, and Nantucket dogs are mostly mutts abandoned in the State of Mississippi where the usual practice is to shoot abandoned dogs on sight, because residents are responsible and rarely abandon their animals brought by a single valiant expatriot who drives up up load of shelter dogs several times a year. It is quite fashionable to have a Mississippi Mutt.
10. The preferred occupation of pre-teens is as docents (jr. rangers, etc.) at local attractions at which they gain historical and scientific knowledge and share it with visitors.
14 June 2013
Black Forest Fire Most Costly In Colorado History; Royal Gorge Fire Decimates Venue
Black Forest
(This photo is one of 165 at the Denver Post from the collection linked above and is posted as a claimed fair use for the purpose of discussing the political issues associated with the used of government funds to protect private property in high risk areas sometimes called "stupid zones.")
True to its name, the exurban Black Forest subdivision is ensconced in a scrubby, arid west, pine forest - as the late Colorado op-ed columnist Ed Quillen liked to call it, a "stupid zone." He had argued for a consistent libertarian approach towards developments in these areas, i.e. that they be permitted, but that government resources not be used to protect property in these zones (as opposed to human life) from the natural dangers that people building there assumed, or to subsidize development in these areas. In particular, it may not make sense to use disaster relief funds to rebuild structures in disaster prone areas.
Authorities say the Black Forest fire was probably started by a person (not necessarily intentionally) and is now being investigated as a homicide.
Royal Gorge
Royal Gorge Bridge and Park in Fremont County is operated by the Royal Gorge Company of Colorado which employs 40 permanent staff and many more part-time seasons workers. It is a a standout Colorado attraction of the Route 66 era, including a bridge over one of the deepest bridge spanned canyons in the nation, that I've been to with my kids. The 3,100 acre Royal Gorge fire this week has devastated this relic of 1950s tourism. Their cable cars have (literally) gone up in smoke and the cable has fallen into the canyon.
The attraction will be virtually starting over from scratch and have to re-imagine itself. Presumably, the remainder of this year's season will be a lost cause for the attraction. The city had been considering a redevelopment of the attraction anyway, however, and the many millions of dollars of damage are mostly insured, although the jobs lost won't easily be replaced in the short-term.
Firefighters on Friday will continue to battle the Black Forest fire north of Colorado Springs that has consumed 15,700 acres and 379 homes since it started Tuesday. Some 38,000 people are impacted in the mandatory evacuation zone that covers 24 square miles, stretching from Elbert County to the northern part of Colorado Springs. . . . The number of homes destroyed makes the fire the most destructive in Colorado history. The Waldo Canyon fire in 2012 destroyed 347 homes.
Maketa said at a news conference late Thursday afternoon that firefighters found the bodies of two people in the rubble of the Black Forest fire. The bodies were discovered in what was the garage of a home that the blaze leveled. They were next to a car with its doors open. The car's trunk was packed full of belongings.From the Denver Post. A statement in an earlier blog post on the fire based on a breaking news Denver Post story that the Black Forest fire was 48 square miles was incorrect. The 15,700 acre burn area is 24 square miles and the mandatory evacuation zone size in the quoted language above is probably underestimate since it includes some areas that have not yet been burned. The fire is currently only 5% contained so the damage is likely to be greater when it ends. A back of napkin estimate of the damage done by the Black Forest fire is a hundred million dollars or more.
(This photo is one of 165 at the Denver Post from the collection linked above and is posted as a claimed fair use for the purpose of discussing the political issues associated with the used of government funds to protect private property in high risk areas sometimes called "stupid zones.")
True to its name, the exurban Black Forest subdivision is ensconced in a scrubby, arid west, pine forest - as the late Colorado op-ed columnist Ed Quillen liked to call it, a "stupid zone." He had argued for a consistent libertarian approach towards developments in these areas, i.e. that they be permitted, but that government resources not be used to protect property in these zones (as opposed to human life) from the natural dangers that people building there assumed, or to subsidize development in these areas. In particular, it may not make sense to use disaster relief funds to rebuild structures in disaster prone areas.
Authorities say the Black Forest fire was probably started by a person (not necessarily intentionally) and is now being investigated as a homicide.
Royal Gorge
Royal Gorge Bridge and Park in Fremont County is operated by the Royal Gorge Company of Colorado which employs 40 permanent staff and many more part-time seasons workers. It is a a standout Colorado attraction of the Route 66 era, including a bridge over one of the deepest bridge spanned canyons in the nation, that I've been to with my kids. The 3,100 acre Royal Gorge fire this week has devastated this relic of 1950s tourism. Their cable cars have (literally) gone up in smoke and the cable has fallen into the canyon.
[Cañon City] Mayor Tony Greer toured the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park and even drove across the bridge Thursday.
"As devastating as some of the damage appears, it seems to have created a wonderful opportunity for us, as well," he said. "This national treasure that we've been charged with — the bridge itself — is intact and it's safe."
Of the more than 1,000 planks on the bridge, only 32 were burned on the south end of it. But of the 52 structures on the property, only four remain.From the Denver Post.
The attraction will be virtually starting over from scratch and have to re-imagine itself. Presumably, the remainder of this year's season will be a lost cause for the attraction. The city had been considering a redevelopment of the attraction anyway, however, and the many millions of dollars of damage are mostly insured, although the jobs lost won't easily be replaced in the short-term.
03 December 2012
Another Denver Dance Station Bites The Dust
For the second time in the last few years, a dance-techno radio station in metropolitan Denver, Colorado has been started on the FM dial, persisted for less than a year, and died.
This time around the station in question is Hot 107.1 (out of Bennet) ("Denver's Dance Hits"), which as of 3 p.m. on Friday was stunting as "Pot 107.1 Denver's Dope Hits" in honor of Colorado's recent passage of Amendment 64 legalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal consumption within a regulated distribution system. Today, at 3 p.m., the undisclosed new format that will replace the old station will be announced.
It's sister indie alternative station, 101.5 FM, died quite a while ago back when 107.1 was a dreadfully boring pop station prior to its conversion to the dance-techno format, after similarly failing to attract advertisers. I'm hoping that the follow on format to 107.1 FM this time around will be better than the conservative talk radio format that replaced 101.5 FM two years ago.
I like dance-techno music and I'm more than a little miffed that it didn't work out this time around. You'd think that a music format was long standing and consistent popularity in nightclubs across the area that is a mainstay of European radio dials could make it in Denver.
But, it didn't. While it was better at accumulating advertisers that the last effort, ultimately hair products, for profit colleges, credit unions, and pleas for listeners to use their unused dental benefits for the year on cosmetic treatments weren't enough to keep the station afloat. But for the Obama campaign's investment in political ads on the station targeted at one of its key demographics, it would no doubt have expired sooner.
Part of me wonders if Neilson's rating system, upon which advertising revenues are based, is simply missing a younger demographic, but it is equally plausible that not many people in demographics that drive much consumer spending like to listen to dance-techno music on the radio. Then again, maybe the new radio station simply didn't have enough quality advertising sales representatives. The promoters of the station may have been music purists without enough of a head for business to make it work financially.
Part of the problem was also technical. The amount of static in the station's signal, patchy reception in much of the metro area, and a parade of technical blunders by the station's DJs and engineering staff certainly didn't help it to survive. It isn't entirely clear if these defects are inherently part of this particular piece of the airwaves under its FCC license (Eastern Adams County may simply not be the optimal place from which to broadcast to metro Denver) or is simply due to a lack of financial investment in the fledgling venture.
More mystically, perhaps the Town of Bennett, otherwise best known for being home to a major spamming operation that was shut down by the federal government, a serious train wreck, and censoring opera, is simply ill fated.
I also continue to be amazed that my daughter's iPod and those of her middle school friends seem to regularly find excellent music that isn't playing on any radio station at all, helped in part by resources like Spotify, YouTube, Pandora and other Internet resources. Why commercial stations can't manage to tap the excellent talent that middle school kids can find but commercial radio station music directors are oblivious to is a mystery to me, although U.S. intellectual property laws, Federal Communications Commission regulations, and licensing arrangements with major record studios may play a part (Spotify, notably, is a Swedish based venture). College radio stations and Colorado Public Radio's Open Air at 1340 AM have the variety, but often lack the quality control needed to be worth listening to for anyone but the true adventurer.
Then again, maybe most people are boring, and interesting niche tastes simply have a better shot at commercial success in Internet based media ventures than in true mass media.
This time around the station in question is Hot 107.1 (out of Bennet) ("Denver's Dance Hits"), which as of 3 p.m. on Friday was stunting as "Pot 107.1 Denver's Dope Hits" in honor of Colorado's recent passage of Amendment 64 legalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal consumption within a regulated distribution system. Today, at 3 p.m., the undisclosed new format that will replace the old station will be announced.
It's sister indie alternative station, 101.5 FM, died quite a while ago back when 107.1 was a dreadfully boring pop station prior to its conversion to the dance-techno format, after similarly failing to attract advertisers. I'm hoping that the follow on format to 107.1 FM this time around will be better than the conservative talk radio format that replaced 101.5 FM two years ago.
I like dance-techno music and I'm more than a little miffed that it didn't work out this time around. You'd think that a music format was long standing and consistent popularity in nightclubs across the area that is a mainstay of European radio dials could make it in Denver.
But, it didn't. While it was better at accumulating advertisers that the last effort, ultimately hair products, for profit colleges, credit unions, and pleas for listeners to use their unused dental benefits for the year on cosmetic treatments weren't enough to keep the station afloat. But for the Obama campaign's investment in political ads on the station targeted at one of its key demographics, it would no doubt have expired sooner.
Part of me wonders if Neilson's rating system, upon which advertising revenues are based, is simply missing a younger demographic, but it is equally plausible that not many people in demographics that drive much consumer spending like to listen to dance-techno music on the radio. Then again, maybe the new radio station simply didn't have enough quality advertising sales representatives. The promoters of the station may have been music purists without enough of a head for business to make it work financially.
Part of the problem was also technical. The amount of static in the station's signal, patchy reception in much of the metro area, and a parade of technical blunders by the station's DJs and engineering staff certainly didn't help it to survive. It isn't entirely clear if these defects are inherently part of this particular piece of the airwaves under its FCC license (Eastern Adams County may simply not be the optimal place from which to broadcast to metro Denver) or is simply due to a lack of financial investment in the fledgling venture.
More mystically, perhaps the Town of Bennett, otherwise best known for being home to a major spamming operation that was shut down by the federal government, a serious train wreck, and censoring opera, is simply ill fated.
I also continue to be amazed that my daughter's iPod and those of her middle school friends seem to regularly find excellent music that isn't playing on any radio station at all, helped in part by resources like Spotify, YouTube, Pandora and other Internet resources. Why commercial stations can't manage to tap the excellent talent that middle school kids can find but commercial radio station music directors are oblivious to is a mystery to me, although U.S. intellectual property laws, Federal Communications Commission regulations, and licensing arrangements with major record studios may play a part (Spotify, notably, is a Swedish based venture). College radio stations and Colorado Public Radio's Open Air at 1340 AM have the variety, but often lack the quality control needed to be worth listening to for anyone but the true adventurer.
Then again, maybe most people are boring, and interesting niche tastes simply have a better shot at commercial success in Internet based media ventures than in true mass media.
12 October 2011
Yellowstone Won't Wipe Us Out In The Near Future
The geologists, at least, unlike the economists, have some good news for once. The Yellowstone Caldera, despite repeatedly exploding into a supervolcano more castastrophic than anything on earth short of a comet, is not poised to destroy life as we know it in the Rocky Mountain West, something my son was recently curious about and we discussed.
From here.
Indeed, the timing is right for climate impacts of the Huckleberry Ridge eruption to have triggered the first Out of Africa migration by hominins, specifically, Homo Erectus.
[T]he Huckleberry Ridge eruption of present-day Yellowstone Park about two million years ago. . . was more than 2,000 times larger than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington. . . . The Yellowstone eruption is one of the largest super-volcano events in history and it has happened several times. Other super-volcano sites include Lake Toba in Sumatra, the central Andes Mountains, New Zealand and Japan.
[D]espite its explosive history, it doesn't appear that Yellowstone is primed for another super-eruption anytime soon, though the slow process of volcanic uplift is taking place every day.
"The uplift of the surface at Yellowstone right now is on the order of millimeters. . . When the Huckleberry Ridge eruption took place, the uplift of the whole Yellowstone region would have been hundreds of meters high, and perhaps as much as a kilometer."
From here.
Indeed, the timing is right for climate impacts of the Huckleberry Ridge eruption to have triggered the first Out of Africa migration by hominins, specifically, Homo Erectus.
24 January 2011
Graffiti Wash Park Style
Every neighborhood has some graffiti. My own Washington Park is no exception. My city councilman, many of his colleagues, and many neighborhood associations in Denver have made it a priority to control it.
But, while in many neighborhoods, graffiti involves simple tagging, or perhaps marking of gang territory the concerns of our graffiti artists are decidedly more middle class. Hence, on my way to work this morning along Alameda Boulevard, our local midnight spray paint artist has proclaimed:
He didn't even deign to give his demand an explanation point! We're mild mannered as well.
But, while in many neighborhoods, graffiti involves simple tagging, or perhaps marking of gang territory the concerns of our graffiti artists are decidedly more middle class. Hence, on my way to work this morning along Alameda Boulevard, our local midnight spray paint artist has proclaimed:
AUDIT THE FED.
He didn't even deign to give his demand an explanation point! We're mild mannered as well.
23 July 2010
Suspect in Glendale Colorado Terrorism Arrested
A 34 year old Utah man suspected of having burned down a leather business, the Sheepskin factory, in Glendale, Colorado, as a terrorist act in support of animal rights on April 30 of this year, has been arrested yesterday. He was linked to two other fires including a previously unconnected fire at the Tiburon Restaurant in Sandy, Utah earlier this month.
He allegedly confessed his involvement to a person who informed authorities in July. The authorities then arranged to secretly record a meeting between the informant and the suspect.
Absent a successful suppression of the evidence, a conviction and long prison term seem very likely.
He allegedly confessed his involvement to a person who informed authorities in July. The authorities then arranged to secretly record a meeting between the informant and the suspect.
On Thursday, with FBI and ATF agents watching, the informant met Bond at the Ramada Inn, 1150 E. Colfax Ave., and audio- and videotaped the meeting, according to the affidavit.
According to the ATF affidavit, the informant, who had had no contact with Bond for more than a dozen years, said he/she came forward because of the fear firefighters might be hurt or killed in the arsons.
During the conversation, Bond told the informant he burned the Sheepskin Factory in Glendale as well as the leather factory and a foie gras restaurant in Utah.
Bond said he used the nickname "Lone Wolf" and the businesses "represented animals wolves typically hunt."
According to the affidavit, Bond said he once lived close to the Sheepskin Factory in Glendale and it angered him that the business profited from animals.
Absent a successful suppression of the evidence, a conviction and long prison term seem very likely.
10 March 2010
Detroit Still Downsizing
Mayor Dave Bing is proposing to abandon large swaths of the city, move the few people remaining to more functional neighborhoods, tear down the buildings left behind and let what's left become forests, pastures and farmland.
The consolidation, aside from eliminating square miles of eyesores, would cut the cost of services like police, fire, snow removal, water and sewage.
Already people are said to hunt pheasants in abandoned neighborhoods, and Detroit-grown produce is sold in farmers markets. The markets are important because not one national grocery chain has a store in the city. Soon, if the city wants to have food, it may have to grow its own. . . .
Between 1970 and 2000, 161,000 buildings were demolished. There is estimated to be 40 square miles of vacant property, with 33,500 empty houses and 91,000 vacant lots.
From here.
Detroit has a city budget deficit of about $350 per person, an average house value of under $80,000, below average incomes and lots of resiidents who live the city to shop, all making it very hard to bridge the tax gap.
Greater Denver, meanwhile is having more success attracting grocery stores. A California chain is snapping up half a dozen former Albertson's sites in Colorado from Longmont to the South suburbs and Sunflower, a small natural foods grocer, is looking into a new grocery store in North Denver which lacks them.
A former Cub foods location in Glendale, Colorado (which is surrounded entirely by Denver) is still a big vacant hole in that urban village.
24 December 2009
Grandpa's House
Grandpa's house is the house where I grew up.
Oxford, Ohio, where he lives, has changed a great deal in the meantime. There are a few relict businesses from my days there: the Princess Theater, Bruno's Pizza, Wildberry, SDS Pizza, the Miami Co-op. There is still a sign on a side door to Bill's Arts and Crafts marking the name it had when I spent all my money there, Creative Crafts. But, far more has changed. There are a few purveyors of expresso. Chipotle has made its way from Denver. An Indian take out is moving in. Wal-Mart has become the source of all things. My old junior high school (good riddance), was torn down to make way for a strip mall. Voters recently approved construction of a new high school, although its proposed location, along the most accident prone stretch of highway in the county, seems to ask for trouble. The town is awash with big yellow foreclosure signs, mostly on rentals, and also with new luxury student housing, many Uptown, on High Street. The local hospital is bigger.
The house has moved on too. When my mother died, my father remarried. They have made their home in my old house, but it has been reshaped to reflect its new occupants. The walls have fresh paint in new, bolder colors. Granite has replaced old countertops. Windows have been replaced. The yard has new landscaping. There is more art on the walls, and less paper on flat surfaces. The house is thick with Christian images, bibles, devotional literature and homespun aphorisms. There are more teddy bears, more collectibles, and more display worthy rocks. The study no longer looks like a newspaper stand exploded inside it (at least until you peer into the walk in closets there).
A new generation of children are playing games in the house. My children, my niece, and my stepnieces and stepnephew. My children are driven to investigate the woods in the back where I played as a child, seemingly with far less supervision. The creek that runs there, which was undivided when I played there, has split its course. Young college couples still roam the woods looking for perfect winter pictures and quality time together, although I hadn't noticed them as much when I played there. The deer have become more bold. Getting to know the new family is almost effortless. Everyone is more or less agreeable, is looking to like, and wants to focus on good family time.
The church I attended as a child has added a new worship area and converted the old one into a small chapel. The old one was an A frame. The new one is a big square box with chairs instead of pews. The schedule of weekly jobs for parishioners there now includes "Power Point" operator, who cues up text on big screens that used to be read from books.
My favorite radio station in high school has new migrated to an internet only format, where it holds its own in the alternative rock genre. The town's public radio station has been downgraded to being a repeater for another public radio station out of Cincinnati. New campus buildings continue to spring up in neo-colonial red brick, with painted white wood trim, although some modern architectural accents are slipping in, one by one. The college students are still better dressed than most, and the fraternities and sororities that town is famous for founding, still thrive. The synchronized skating team is winning awards.
I know most of the people on the street where my dad lives, although not all of them lived there when I was growing up. A house next door that had been home to a succession of large families, now holds a couple that is restoring it to a state of grandeur greater than it ever had. You still can't go to the grocery store without seeing someone you know. My old scoutmaster, an ornithologist famous for saying that "you're never more than ten feet from a twist tie," still lives in town. My school friends who joined the military when they graduated from high school are nearing military retirement age.
The people I grew up with have mostly spread to the four winds. It seems like more parents are leaving town to be with their kids, than there are kids coming back to the place where they grew up, although there are some of them too.
Perhaps because the house and the town have changed so much, it doesn't trigger so many memories. It is familiar, but not similar enough to summons up many ghosts, good, bad or indifferent. It is a place to go to sharpen the stone and spent time with family now. Perhaps, this is for the better.
Oxford, Ohio, where he lives, has changed a great deal in the meantime. There are a few relict businesses from my days there: the Princess Theater, Bruno's Pizza, Wildberry, SDS Pizza, the Miami Co-op. There is still a sign on a side door to Bill's Arts and Crafts marking the name it had when I spent all my money there, Creative Crafts. But, far more has changed. There are a few purveyors of expresso. Chipotle has made its way from Denver. An Indian take out is moving in. Wal-Mart has become the source of all things. My old junior high school (good riddance), was torn down to make way for a strip mall. Voters recently approved construction of a new high school, although its proposed location, along the most accident prone stretch of highway in the county, seems to ask for trouble. The town is awash with big yellow foreclosure signs, mostly on rentals, and also with new luxury student housing, many Uptown, on High Street. The local hospital is bigger.
The house has moved on too. When my mother died, my father remarried. They have made their home in my old house, but it has been reshaped to reflect its new occupants. The walls have fresh paint in new, bolder colors. Granite has replaced old countertops. Windows have been replaced. The yard has new landscaping. There is more art on the walls, and less paper on flat surfaces. The house is thick with Christian images, bibles, devotional literature and homespun aphorisms. There are more teddy bears, more collectibles, and more display worthy rocks. The study no longer looks like a newspaper stand exploded inside it (at least until you peer into the walk in closets there).
A new generation of children are playing games in the house. My children, my niece, and my stepnieces and stepnephew. My children are driven to investigate the woods in the back where I played as a child, seemingly with far less supervision. The creek that runs there, which was undivided when I played there, has split its course. Young college couples still roam the woods looking for perfect winter pictures and quality time together, although I hadn't noticed them as much when I played there. The deer have become more bold. Getting to know the new family is almost effortless. Everyone is more or less agreeable, is looking to like, and wants to focus on good family time.
The church I attended as a child has added a new worship area and converted the old one into a small chapel. The old one was an A frame. The new one is a big square box with chairs instead of pews. The schedule of weekly jobs for parishioners there now includes "Power Point" operator, who cues up text on big screens that used to be read from books.
My favorite radio station in high school has new migrated to an internet only format, where it holds its own in the alternative rock genre. The town's public radio station has been downgraded to being a repeater for another public radio station out of Cincinnati. New campus buildings continue to spring up in neo-colonial red brick, with painted white wood trim, although some modern architectural accents are slipping in, one by one. The college students are still better dressed than most, and the fraternities and sororities that town is famous for founding, still thrive. The synchronized skating team is winning awards.
I know most of the people on the street where my dad lives, although not all of them lived there when I was growing up. A house next door that had been home to a succession of large families, now holds a couple that is restoring it to a state of grandeur greater than it ever had. You still can't go to the grocery store without seeing someone you know. My old scoutmaster, an ornithologist famous for saying that "you're never more than ten feet from a twist tie," still lives in town. My school friends who joined the military when they graduated from high school are nearing military retirement age.
The people I grew up with have mostly spread to the four winds. It seems like more parents are leaving town to be with their kids, than there are kids coming back to the place where they grew up, although there are some of them too.
Perhaps because the house and the town have changed so much, it doesn't trigger so many memories. It is familiar, but not similar enough to summons up many ghosts, good, bad or indifferent. It is a place to go to sharpen the stone and spent time with family now. Perhaps, this is for the better.
16 December 2009
DU Cyber Rights Conference Recapped
The University of Denver's had a conference this past November on Cyber Civil Rights, mostly devoted to how to address various forms of online misconduct, mostly harassment. Professor Eric Goldman has a detailed recap of the conference at his Technology and Marketing blog. What was discussed?
Whether online based harassment is as serious as it was in schools and the workplace when legal remedies were created for sexual harassment in those contexts, and whether women are disproportionately harmed by this online harassment.
Are "cyber mobs," perhaps even if they lack central organization, the equivalent of the KKK?
Are there viable technical or legal ways to curb online harassment? In particular, given the strength of online anonymity, is it possible to identify and hold accountable online harassers with even minimal sophistication (or blind luck that makes them impossible to identify)?
What about the online context makes harassment there different from other types of harassment?
Is a non-monetary remedy (e.g. deletion or identification of the harasser) sufficient in many case, and if so, should the standard for relief be lower?
Should people who create contexts that facilitate harassment but aren't harassers themselves have some form of liability?
Analysis
My personal sense is that interactive communities are routinely using technologies that make it possible to identify harassers and shut them down in their forums (and often a network of forums when the identification task is outsourced). So, self-policing may solve much of the problem.
I also don't think that this problem is easily succeptible to a one size fits all solution. Before one starts crafting a remedy, one needs a taxonomy of the different forms that online misconduct takes, because different forms of misconduct call for different remedies. Online misconduct can include from "outing" and "sexting," defamation, theats, taunts, carefully timed "button pushing" distractions, overwhelming someone with e-mail or website interest (possibly with denial of service or just annoyance as an intent), identity theft, and more. What makes sense for an online political forum does not necessarily make sense for e-mail harassment or an anonymous website devoted to attacks.
Also, isn't there a "words can never hurt me" element to most of these forms of harassment? In other words, is the harm usually reputational or emotional? If so, can social norms limit the harm? If women suffer more from harassment, is that something that can be solved by training women to use the coping methods that men apparently use with success, the way we started training women to take physical self-defense measures a generation ago? After all, most women aren't headed towards a harassment free or internet free society any time soon, and the Internet really is a more difficult place in which to hold people accountable than real world employment and school contexts.
The Case For A Frank Society
Reputation as an inescapable influence on our lives is relatively new to American law. Our record keeping has historically been fractured and incoherent. Moving further out into the frontier to escape the reputation you left behind has been possible for much of our history. But, we have now joined most of our peers in a world where reputation, pieced together through criminal records, court records, credit records, online search engines and other online tools to assemble dossiers, is increasingly inescapable. How will we respond as a society?
Will we take the path of Japan, where reputation is of paramount importance, and extortion centered around preserving reputation is commonplace. We already see it in the criminal justice system, where middle class people routinely waive rights and go to great lengths to secure deferred prosecutions and other resolutions of misconduct charges that avoid a criminal record and the collateral consequences (legal and socio-economic alike) of a criminal record. We also see it in disputes over small debts where they money at stake may matter less than the impact that the dispute has on a credit record, which creates a barrier to settlement. Already, we have reached the point were no defendant in a civil action feels comfortable settling, no matter how large the amount in controversy, without a mutual disavowal of any wrongdoing.
We could, however, take a different path, call it a "frank society," that acknowledges that ordinary people do not live the perfect lives that they are socially presumed to live, and set reputational expectations lower.
Maybe the porn shoot you did when you were twenty is really no big deal when you are medical resident at thirty (a real Denver case that resulted in the resident losing her job although she had done nothing wrong at work). Maybe it doesn't really matter if an employee privately watched porn or posted personal material on Facebook at work. Maybe a DUI, or an episode of academic probation, or a youthful vandalism conviction, or a treatable mental health condition, or marital stumble should be considered par for the course. Maybe it is o.k. to say that your sorry and that you made a mistake, rather than denying all wrong doing in a settlement. Maybe absolutely perfect credit shouldn't be that important. Maybe preserving a resume in which you have never been fired shouldn't be as big a deal as many people feel that it is now. Maybe the possibility of sealing a juvenile delinquency record isn't as important as the due process protections, public conduct lessons, and protection of those who deal with juveniles who have newly reached the age of majority after having serious juvenile records that flow from a public juvenile justice process.
Why should we care about a pro-golfer's sex life, hardly a position of public trust, when the French and Italians don't make big deal when it is widely known that their most senior political leaders are having affairs? Maybe we should try to put in a place a world where scandal is not a leading method of removing political opponents from office, because the electoral system seems incapable of removing bad politicians from office based on the political merits.
One of the strategic triumphs of the gay rights movement was to embrace the power of admitting who you are in public without shame. Others have emulated this idea. For example, rape survivors have embraced the concept that it is not shameful to have been raped. Divorce has likewise lost much of its reputational sting, as it has become both common and essentially impossible to hide from others for any prolonged period. Those who are divorced can acknowledge this fact shamelessly, or wallow, but they can't hide. And, when enough people are shameless, the reputational sting is muted.
The fight to preserve anonymity and privacy in our society may be a losing battle, even if it isn't a completely lost struggle online. Transparency seems to be prevailing over privacy. The average person today probably has less privacy than the average person who went thought a detailed background check a few decades ago.
There are real social costs to a society based on the false inference that the truth about people's lives is as flawless as it is usually presumed to be. The truth of the matter is that almost all of us have, at some point or other, done something embarassing or something that might harm or personal reputations. As it becomes increasingly difficult to cover up anything that anyone else is interested in discovering, and starting over is increasingly hard to do, we as a society need to develop more tolerance for imperfection.
The attitude can go beyond personal lives as well. Lots of what the government keeps secret is embarassing, but not operationally very valuable for very long. Maybe we'd be better off getting more of this dirty laundry aired out, rather than letting people guess at what it involves. There will always be a need for some secrets, at least in the short term, but secrecy encourages corruption and abuse.
Whether online based harassment is as serious as it was in schools and the workplace when legal remedies were created for sexual harassment in those contexts, and whether women are disproportionately harmed by this online harassment.
Are "cyber mobs," perhaps even if they lack central organization, the equivalent of the KKK?
Are there viable technical or legal ways to curb online harassment? In particular, given the strength of online anonymity, is it possible to identify and hold accountable online harassers with even minimal sophistication (or blind luck that makes them impossible to identify)?
What about the online context makes harassment there different from other types of harassment?
Is a non-monetary remedy (e.g. deletion or identification of the harasser) sufficient in many case, and if so, should the standard for relief be lower?
Should people who create contexts that facilitate harassment but aren't harassers themselves have some form of liability?
Analysis
My personal sense is that interactive communities are routinely using technologies that make it possible to identify harassers and shut them down in their forums (and often a network of forums when the identification task is outsourced). So, self-policing may solve much of the problem.
I also don't think that this problem is easily succeptible to a one size fits all solution. Before one starts crafting a remedy, one needs a taxonomy of the different forms that online misconduct takes, because different forms of misconduct call for different remedies. Online misconduct can include from "outing" and "sexting," defamation, theats, taunts, carefully timed "button pushing" distractions, overwhelming someone with e-mail or website interest (possibly with denial of service or just annoyance as an intent), identity theft, and more. What makes sense for an online political forum does not necessarily make sense for e-mail harassment or an anonymous website devoted to attacks.
Also, isn't there a "words can never hurt me" element to most of these forms of harassment? In other words, is the harm usually reputational or emotional? If so, can social norms limit the harm? If women suffer more from harassment, is that something that can be solved by training women to use the coping methods that men apparently use with success, the way we started training women to take physical self-defense measures a generation ago? After all, most women aren't headed towards a harassment free or internet free society any time soon, and the Internet really is a more difficult place in which to hold people accountable than real world employment and school contexts.
The Case For A Frank Society
Reputation as an inescapable influence on our lives is relatively new to American law. Our record keeping has historically been fractured and incoherent. Moving further out into the frontier to escape the reputation you left behind has been possible for much of our history. But, we have now joined most of our peers in a world where reputation, pieced together through criminal records, court records, credit records, online search engines and other online tools to assemble dossiers, is increasingly inescapable. How will we respond as a society?
Will we take the path of Japan, where reputation is of paramount importance, and extortion centered around preserving reputation is commonplace. We already see it in the criminal justice system, where middle class people routinely waive rights and go to great lengths to secure deferred prosecutions and other resolutions of misconduct charges that avoid a criminal record and the collateral consequences (legal and socio-economic alike) of a criminal record. We also see it in disputes over small debts where they money at stake may matter less than the impact that the dispute has on a credit record, which creates a barrier to settlement. Already, we have reached the point were no defendant in a civil action feels comfortable settling, no matter how large the amount in controversy, without a mutual disavowal of any wrongdoing.
We could, however, take a different path, call it a "frank society," that acknowledges that ordinary people do not live the perfect lives that they are socially presumed to live, and set reputational expectations lower.
Maybe the porn shoot you did when you were twenty is really no big deal when you are medical resident at thirty (a real Denver case that resulted in the resident losing her job although she had done nothing wrong at work). Maybe it doesn't really matter if an employee privately watched porn or posted personal material on Facebook at work. Maybe a DUI, or an episode of academic probation, or a youthful vandalism conviction, or a treatable mental health condition, or marital stumble should be considered par for the course. Maybe it is o.k. to say that your sorry and that you made a mistake, rather than denying all wrong doing in a settlement. Maybe absolutely perfect credit shouldn't be that important. Maybe preserving a resume in which you have never been fired shouldn't be as big a deal as many people feel that it is now. Maybe the possibility of sealing a juvenile delinquency record isn't as important as the due process protections, public conduct lessons, and protection of those who deal with juveniles who have newly reached the age of majority after having serious juvenile records that flow from a public juvenile justice process.
Why should we care about a pro-golfer's sex life, hardly a position of public trust, when the French and Italians don't make big deal when it is widely known that their most senior political leaders are having affairs? Maybe we should try to put in a place a world where scandal is not a leading method of removing political opponents from office, because the electoral system seems incapable of removing bad politicians from office based on the political merits.
One of the strategic triumphs of the gay rights movement was to embrace the power of admitting who you are in public without shame. Others have emulated this idea. For example, rape survivors have embraced the concept that it is not shameful to have been raped. Divorce has likewise lost much of its reputational sting, as it has become both common and essentially impossible to hide from others for any prolonged period. Those who are divorced can acknowledge this fact shamelessly, or wallow, but they can't hide. And, when enough people are shameless, the reputational sting is muted.
The fight to preserve anonymity and privacy in our society may be a losing battle, even if it isn't a completely lost struggle online. Transparency seems to be prevailing over privacy. The average person today probably has less privacy than the average person who went thought a detailed background check a few decades ago.
There are real social costs to a society based on the false inference that the truth about people's lives is as flawless as it is usually presumed to be. The truth of the matter is that almost all of us have, at some point or other, done something embarassing or something that might harm or personal reputations. As it becomes increasingly difficult to cover up anything that anyone else is interested in discovering, and starting over is increasingly hard to do, we as a society need to develop more tolerance for imperfection.
The attitude can go beyond personal lives as well. Lots of what the government keeps secret is embarassing, but not operationally very valuable for very long. Maybe we'd be better off getting more of this dirty laundry aired out, rather than letting people guess at what it involves. There will always be a need for some secrets, at least in the short term, but secrecy encourages corruption and abuse.
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