Archive for the “Life notes” Category

Starting today the Eureka Reporter has stopped printing papers on Monday and Tuesday, and I feel relieved. While I have enjoyed scanning through the paper each day for news nuggets and the odd odd opinion, I hate having all those blue and clear (from the Times-Standard) plastic bags to deal with. We’re big recyclers (which has cut our garbage total by about half). But I confess I have not been recycling those plastic bags. I think I will add them to my recycle routine. Make it a New Year’s resolution. Besides us, of course, there are all those 10s of thousands of blue bags that are delivered to other homes and the many that I see discarded in gutters throughout the neighborhoods.

Ironically, there is a good My Word column today chastising the Times-Standard’s plastic bag policy in…the Times-Standard. However, I can’t find it anywhere online. There is this opinion piece from Dec. 21 that talks about the evil of plastic bags. But no mention of the ones the newspapers use.

Anyway, getting back to the Eureka Reporter. They recently launched their Flash based e-paper that is supposed to mimic the print version. Like the Times-Standard’s e paper, I don’t get the point of this except to pretend there is some added value for the advertisers to see their ads online as they appear in the print version (when there is a print version).  I find navigating these things awkward and frustrating and basically contrary to the whole purpose of the web (hint: linking). But, now that it’s built, I suppose it’s pretty easy to maintain. I also don’t get their justification for asking all the information to gain access to th e-paper. I can’t imagine any advertiser accepting that kind of user information as accurate. It’s easy enough to create a throw away email address and put in fake information to get an account to access the e-paper.

I do like some things about the new html version of the site, though.  It finally offers the ability to place comments (all anonymously, so no need for an account). They are finally offering RSS Feeds as well. It’s a Drupal site, so one might imagine they will be adding more services as they install and configure more Drupal modules. Will blogs be far behind, now that the T-S has adopted that feature in a big way?

Since I don’t have my Tivo to play with I figured I’d fiddle around with this blog, clean up a few things, change the theme, etc. Besides changing the theme, I finally found and uploaded a bunch of archives from my old radio show “Talking Tech” that I used to do on KHSU.  Maybe I’ll revive Talking Tech here at some point.

What could be a better combination? This evening, starting at 5:30 there will be a benefit for the Humboldt County Library to get wirelss installed (first in the main county branch in Eureka) but eventually at all the branches. So go on over to Woodley Island and look for the big tent. There will be a live auction, ‘celebrity’ tap pullers and a band along with the oysters and ale.

Sounds like a lot of fu and for a worthy cause. Getting wireless around the county, one node at a time…

To continue my little odyssey in to the health care world: Generally, I am quite healthy. I’ve never had an operation, never even been in a hospital, am not on any medications and don’t have back, neck or joint pain usually. So, this pinched nerve, if that’s what it is has got me very disoriented. It’s hard to concentrate, and I have had to cancel a couple trips trying to work it out.

I finally did get to see my P.A. who gave me a bag full of drugs and told me not to take them if I had gastrointestinal side affects. Great. He also recommended physical therapy and said he would get a referral going right away and to call in if I hadn’t heard from the referral person in a day. The referral is important because that means my health insurance, such that it is, would cover some of the cost of th PT. This was over a week ago. And in spite of several calls to the referral desk I have not been able to speak to the actual referral person, I have not had my calls returned, and no referrals have been made.

In the meantime, I did get in to see a physical therapist. I’ve been twice, a different person each time, who each did different things, and recommended different exercises. The second one said I should go back to the chiropractor and get a manipulation to get my vertebrae re-aligned just before coming back for another session. So I have that scheduled for tomorrow. However, the chiropractor isn’t sure the adjustment is advixed and is concerned its a disk issue that could only be fully diagnosed with an MRI. But the P.A. said I didn’t need an MRI. OK, so who is right?

And since I haven’t had an official referral to PT from the medical office, I don’t know what if any of the cost of those sessions my health ‘insurance’ will cover.

So here’s the thing: It’s been 3 weeks. The pain is slowly getting better. I have no way of knowing what, between the ultrasound, traction, massage, exercises, ice, hot showers, a couple drinks in the evening, a massage from a neighbor’s mom, or just simply time is causing the pain to subside. And it seems like none of the experts I have seen really knows either. In spite of all the medical and technical advances, it seems a lot of this is still guess work. Try this. If it doesn’t work, try this other thing.

I know that the medical community often perfoms amazing feats. But I tend to think that this most often happens with people who have extreme needs and a very robust health plan. For someone who just has a pain in the neck, it seems they may just be pain in the neck. No one wants to throw a lot of resources at it because, in the end, unless it’s really serious, it will probably go away on its own. But neither are they willing to say, “Go home, put some ice on it, take some aspirin, don’t do jumping jacks for a while and it will go away.” That would have saved me a lot of money and time. Of course, the next time, if I ignore whatever it is, it will probably be a symptom of something dire. I may take my chances.

I have no answers here. Just some frustration. And so, I rant.

Update: As if on cue, Leo Sears has an essay in the Times-Standard about his wonderful experience with the health care system. Of course, he had a very serious medical issue and one would presume, since there was no mention of payment or insurance, excellent coverage. Blessing upon him.

When I was a child we had a family doctor. Doctor McGillis. He made HOUSE CALLS! But that was the idyllic 50s and 60s. He didn’t have the depth of knowledge or the advanced science or all the technical diagnostic machines that are available now. But between the maze of health insurance that acts as gatekeeper to the even more complex maze of health care practitioners, are we better cared for? It’s hard to say. Many people have a story about their encounters with health care. Some good. Some not so good.

Here’s my story:

I haven’t seen an actual doctor for at least 5 years. My last doctor quit general practice and I have not been able to get access to any records of tests that he ordered. In spite of making many phone calls to track him down, I have not even been allowed to talk to him. And no one at his former practice seems to have access to my medical records.

For the last 5 years I have been seeing a Physician’s Assistant. While he’s been associated with a doctor, I have never actually seen this doctor. The PA has now moved from one medical office to another (this new medical office happens to be where my previous doctor had practiced). I like this guy pretty well. So I called to get an appointment with him because of a pinched nerve in my neck/shoulder area. It had been killing me for a couple weeks and 5 sessions at a chiropractor hadn’t made much difference. Since this office no longer had a record of me as a patient, I was designated a new patient and new patients had to go on a waiting list for a month!

Fortunately, I was able to persuade the office to see if I could be squeezed in early and, to my relief, I was. So, I checked in to the office at my appointed time, actually arriving early to fill out a bunch of forms. Once I had filled them out I sat and waited for about 45 minutes before I was called in to an exam room. But while I waited I watched a couple of elderly ladies try get their even more elderly mother in to see a doctor. The mom was tiny, bent, thin as a rail, clearly weak and frail physically. She had fallen and was in pain. They had been waiting for over an hour. But her doctor was in surgery and couldn’t see her at all that day. Could they get the mom’s x-rays so they could go to the emergency room at St. Joe’s and see if they could see someone there because we live way out of town and having to come back tomorrow just won’t be possible? Yes, the aide said. We could probably arrange that.

Relieved, I was finally led to an exam room. The clutch of elderly ladies were placated for the moment while they waited some more for the x-rays to be delivered.

End Part 1 (yes, it’s just beginning).

The war over operating systems (Mac v Windows, Linux v Everyone, etc.) has a long and inglorious past. Mention of one OS in a favorable light in some circles will set off flame wars so it’s often best to avoid such advocacy. A couple incidents recently have caused me to swallow hard and not respond directly to what could be considered prime flame bait. But since I only have “6 readers” let’s assume this post is just among friends and won’t stir up an OS battle.

Incident #1: A friend of my daughter announced the other day her family had purchased a new computer. We half-jokingly asked, “Oh did you buy a Mac?” “No”, she said, “We’re solidly PC people and we’re not about to switch now.” I nodded understandingly. Made sense, why switch if they are happy with what they’ve got? Well, then she proceeded to tell me about her Dad’s computer and how it inconsistently stays connected to the Internet. In order to do anything on his computer over the network he would have to reboot over and over again, up to 10 times a day! My wife reminded me that it’s all about the games. Ah yes, there are more games made for PCs than any other Operating System.

Incident #2: Chris Crawford’s most recent North Coast Tech Blog post described a nightmare battle with his crashed PC. In the post, he gives a nod to Linux and Mac users but insists he has to stick with “Windoze” because all the people he works with are stuck in that world and he has to share files them.

Hellooo! Have none of these folks been reading tech news? Apple has moved all its new computers to run on Intel chips. The same chips that run PCs. So, now with new Intel based Mac you can have your cake and eat it to! Not only can you run Mac OS which has a unix based core, but with Parallels installed you can run Windows natively.

Granted, Macs still cost a little more than a comparable PC. But when you factor in the ease of use, the stability, the better security, you’re probably saving a bundle in improved productivity. That is, if you think your time has value.

We hardly ever got out  to the movies anymore. My daughter still goes, and ocassionally one of us will go with her. But most often she goes with friends. Since we have a big screen at home, I much prefer DVD rentals. For years we’ve been faithful customers of locally owned video stores such as Figuerido’s and Video Experience (when they had an outlet in Old Town.

But a few months back we decided to finally try Netflix because it finally seemed more convenient and a time saver where time has become such a precious commodity. It worked pretty well. We liked browsing online and putting movies in to the queue, waiting for a movie to arrive, and the ease of just plopping it back in the mail when we were done watching it. But often the timing was off. Movies arrived when we couldn’t really watch them. Or our mood changed and we wanted something else. Or the movie we really wanted would not get sent, while third or fourth choices kept arriving. Or we needed one for our daughter to watch while we watched something else. So, often we would end up going to a local store anyway.

And right after we started using Netflix I read this post in TechCrunch about why Michael Arrington was switching to Blockbuster. The idea that you could return a movie at any Blockbuster store and get one off the shelf for free, and still get credit from the online store so they could release another in your queue sounded great. So, after a few months with Netflix we switched to Blockbuster. Fortunately, there’s a store nearby and between work and home, so if we do want to returen a movie to store and pick up something else it’s pretty convenient.

As much as I like to support local buisness, I admt there are times when service, selection cost and convenience just outweigh loyalty. The local stores just can’t compete with the online services. Eventually, when movies and TV are delivered directly over the Internet they brick and mortar stores will be left even further behind, I’m afraind.

Don Imus just went through a massive lambasting and lost his job for his racist and misogynist ‘joke’ about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team. I am not going to defend this particular joke or many of the other outrageous statements that he’s made over the years. But I do defend his right to say them and I do believe he deserved better treatment by the press, the public and his bosses in Big Media.

I enjoyed listening to Imus in the Morning when it was broadcast on KINS for a couple years. I enjoyed being shocked by his shock jock schtick. So, it’s hard for me now to suddenly be so outraged by this latest outrage. I also found his interviews with authors, politicians and other news makers often insightful and entertaining. And many millions of others have done the same. Both CBS and MSNBC have been happy making money from the Imus show for many years. So, while this particular bad choice of words might have been especially foul, the indignation over them and the retribution heaped on Imus is hypocritical. It’s unclear to me what has created this ‘perfect storm’ over this particular Imus statement. But even if it was an order of magnitude more insulting and outrageous than others he has made (many have pointed out he has said worse) I don’t think it should have led to his dismissal. After all, he apologized. The Rutgers team accepted his apology. He promised to do better. People apologize all the time for the stupid things they say and do and for the most part they are given the opportunity to continue on with their lives and careers, chastened and perhaps better for it.

I also honestly don’t think Don Imus is a racist, misogynistic, homophobe. He says these things not because he believes them, but because he is playing a character who does. And the true target of his comedy is the actual racist, misogynistic homophobe who is usually too dense to realize these comments are held up as a fun house mirror to his face. At least, that’s how I always understood the act.

On balance, Don Imus has a lot to offer that is good. He has raised millions of dollars for charity. He runs a ranch for kids with cancer. He has championed many causes long before they became popular (autism, the treatment of injured veterans are couple that come to mind) . I think CBS and MSNBC ought to be ashamed at their cowardice for buckling under the fist shaking of the self-righteous.

So, what has this got to do with technology or the north coast? Well, it’s part of a larger conversation about public discourse in general and events that have been going on in the blog world. People have been putting horrible things on the Internet for as long as I can remember (I used to participate in Usenet newsgroups back before there was a web interface). Something about the impersonality of posting comments, sending email or even writing blogs seems to provide some people the cover they need to spew awful things they would not do in person, or certainly not as in the case of Don Imus, on a show heard and watched by millions. Many venues permit such vitriol to be posted anonymously which just further emboldens people to express ugly stuff.

The open nature of the Internet presents a problem for businesses like the Times-Standard that wishes to open up conversations with the public. How do you provide an open platform and not fall victim to idiots who post offensive or hateful comments? Frankly, I don’t think it’s possible. I do think that a business like the Times-Standard has the right to impose some rules about what is or is not allowed on its web site. I would suggest making it clear they have the right to delete any comments they deem inappropriate. This doesn’t curtail free speech. It just controls the speech that appears on that particular web site. The new web makes it easy for anyone to start their own web site and post whatever they like. I am also not a fan of anonymity on the Internet (except where the author’s life could be in danger by revealing their identity). I think it encourages bad behavior. So, I think the Times-Standard should require some personal accountability for comments. Requiring a one time registration with a valid, confirmed email address before posting would help.

But as for rules of speech on the Internet or the rest of the media as whole, I am for as open and free a publishing environment as possible. I am not in favor of even a voluntary code of ethics for bloggers as some have proposed after the Kathy Sierra dust up, mainly because I don’t think it would carry any meaning.

The answer to speech you don’t like  is more speech. Not less. Let the speech flow. Foul or fair.

One of the more touching moments during the celebration of Don Wolski’s life this Sunday was when Don’s brother talked about all the support they had received from the community during Don’s illness. The rest of the family , he said, lived in big cities where they could never imagine such an upwelling of nuturing and caring. He wanted us to know what a special place Humboldt County is.

This was a beautiful thing to say. I have often had this feeling - that there is something special about this area and the people who make it their home. But is it true that this kind of coming together doesn’t happen elsewhere? I am sure it does. And others must feel the same sense of specialness about the places they live.

It brings to mind the reports I read and hear on the radio of Iraqis who have been forced to flee their country out of fear of death and how they all long to return and how in fact they intend to return as soon as possible. They love Baghdad or Falleujah. To them these are the special places.

I’ve lived here for over 20 years and I love it. But I still think about moving back to Sonora where I grew up, even though I hate what development has done to that once beautiful little town.

So I wonder - is there something unique about Humboldt County?

I am a big fan of NPR. I listen to KHSU every morning and evening, and sometimes during the day. Saturday is a big KHSU listening day. And when I can’t catch the my favorite shows during broadcast, then I often listen to them on my IPod. Some of my favorite shows are not offered on KHSU (Open Source, Left, Right and Center) so I have to get them on the IPod anyway.

NPR has become a big player in the radio industry in recent years. Its audience and influence is growing unlike most radio networks. So its nice to see this robust radio organization use some of its power to take on the music industry.

If you weren’t aware of what’s going on Ann Johnson-Stromberg has a good article in the Times-Standardsummarizing the issue. An entity called the Copyright Royalty Board has decided to up the fees for music played over the Internet. Not only that, but the increasse is retroactive back to the January 1, 2006. If this decision holds it could be the death of Internet Radio. So NPR is actually teaming up with Clear Channel, the big gorilla of commercial radio to challenge this decision in court. Strange bedfellows.

In the meantime, KHSU is facing potentially severe cuts in the support it receives from the university due to HSU’s own budget cuts. The station begins its Spring pledge drive tomorrow and I will be on the air during one of my favorite shows, Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! from 10 AM to 11 AM. I’ll be urging folks to pledge their support (contribute $$) to the station. So call in and lend you support to this great community resource. (I”ll be on again Monday from 6 AM to 8 AM…why did I agree to that?)

I finally got around to reading Hank Sim’s generally excellent article on the Sacred Grounds/Bayside Roasters Internet debacle. Hank had the dubious privilege of sitting in court each day so he got a clear picture of the muddled information that passed for evidence, especially surrounding the issue of how the baysideroasters.com domain became associated with porn sites in Google searches. It’s clear from Hank’s article that few in the courtroom, from lawyers to witnesses to defendant and plaintiffs were very sophisticated about the Internet. Unfortunately, the same can be said for the jurors who found the defendant guilty of a crime purely on very dubious circumstantial evidence. Thanks for the well written article, Hank.

But what was the purpose of that closing paragraph? According to Hank the libel suit and people’s comments for and against the combatants is illustrative of what the Internet is all about. To quote:

Schadenfreude: It’s the tendency to take pleasure in the misfortunes of others, and it’s reprehensible. As this case has demonstrated in more ways than one, it is also the backbone of the Internet.

I’ve been on the Internet for 15 years and this kind odd judgment crops up all the time. Like any technology that facilitates communication and manipulation of data, the Internet is a conduit for both good and bad behavior. I have seen no study that indicates that bad behavior far outweighs the good. It’s a place where people in pain can find connections and comfort. It’s a place where people can find like minds to build better societies. It’s also a place where terrorists can plot and pornographers can distribute material. Indeed, the Internet simply reflects what is good and bad in people. The global nature and the lightning speed (for some of us, annyway) just seems to magnify whatever side of human nature you happen to be looking at.

A couple days ago we launched a new site that’s really kind of unique. Not the mechanics of the site so much, but the concept. The site, familywanted.org