Monthly Archives: November 2009

Alcatraz

By Administrator | Published: November 23, 2009

By Betty Jo Chang This is the 40th Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz Island by the American Indian Movement (1969-1971), AND Football season so perhaps this little tale is timely. I was at Stanford during the great controversy (1970-1972) over the Stanford Indian Symbol for the Football team, and over Chief Lightfoot (Timm Williams, [...]

Posted in People, Politics, Reflections | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

Thought I ought to mention…

By Frank Paynter | Published: November 22, 2009

If we are to believe uncle Albert (and why should we not?) then there is no such thing as simultaneity. Every event occurs in a relativistic context. In physics. Cosmologists seem to put a different spin on matters (and yes, I do crack myself up). They define a “rest state” relative to the Cosmic Microwave [...]

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Friday Follow

By Frank Paynter | Published: November 20, 2009

Over on twitter there is a practice known as Follow Friday.” Twitterers craft tweets and often tag them with the characters #ff (for Follow Friday). If you show up on a Follow Friday list you know that at least one twitterer likes your tweets, or respects you, or appreciates the links you share, or is [...]

Posted in Bloggers 'n blogs, Blogging and Flogging, Writing | Tagged , , | Comments closed

Divestiture

By Frank Paynter | Published: November 19, 2009

At a time when the excesses of American industry scream for some kind of regulation and control, Comcast wants to buy NBC/Universal. The purchase flies in the face of network neutrality and will, if permitted, allow Comcast to control the content that travels in their network. The big keep getting bigger. Karoli has an informative [...]

Posted in Bidness, Government | Tagged , | Comments closed

Leader of the Pack

By Frank Paynter | Published: November 18, 2009

She ain’t no Toto She ain’t no Lassie She ain’t no Rin Tin Tin But she does have a high degree of self-importance. Combine that strong personality with a great sense of humor, a little arrogance, limitless energy, and an assertive nature and you have Tessa, a pup that’s very hard to train. When she’s [...]

Posted in Cats 'n dogs, Dogs, Farm Almanac | Tagged | Comments closed

Raw milk freakyosis

By Frank Paynter | Published: November 17, 2009

Scott Trautman has a problem that affects all of us. State authorities are forcing him out of the dairy business because he wants to sell raw milk products. Early in the summer the Trautman’s had an open house. I stopped by to see their operation and to visit my brush mower which Scott is holding [...]

Posted in Environment, Farm Almanac, Friends | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

Word of the year

By Frank Paynter | Published: November 16, 2009

“Unfriend” The slackers at the Oxford University Press USA, they who prepare the superfluous New Oxford American Dictionary have chosen “unfriend,” a louche locution from the world of social media, as the word of the year. I had occasion to unfriend a Quaker this year. Unfriending a Quaker is unfriending a Friend who may or [...]

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Web versioning

By Frank Paynter | Published: November 15, 2009

Ethan Zuckerman refers to Dan Gillmor’s slow news advocacy here, and he extends the concept to journalism criticism, the stories about stories that critics write. His post traces the update history of a recent story about a story that dominated the news cycle for a few days last week. He says, “What I’d love to [...]

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