26.11.06
    Wow, the first snowfall of the year and it’s shaping up to be significant. It’s not even winter yet. (Insert rant about climate change leading to more extreme weather.) It looks nice though. I’d hate to say the snowflakes are "dancing". It’s a massively overused cliché and brings to mind elementary school plays of kids in cardboard snowflake outfits twirling around. It is apt however, capturing the twisting directional shifts of the falling particles. How about if in the vocabulary of precipitation, rain is straightforward prose; direct and businesslike, varying in intensity but not style. Snow then is the poetry, the same basic matter, but lyrical, shifting, imaginative and wondrous. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? I’m off to go shovel the driveway, let’s see how I feel about it when I’m done.

25.11.06
    Damn, I'll all ready to do some work revising or re-designing existing websites and the server containing all the information I need is down. Grrr... I'll have to slack off now.

24.11.06
    So we’re “on display” right?, and on the other side of the windows that look into our work area we have a write-up explaining what we’re doing. The title is “Digitization Studio”, and a project description follows. Depending on what side people come from, they either see us first or the sign first. If they see us first people commonly assume that we’re performing some kind of analysis on the objects, or shooting video (yes, the cameras are that large). Today was another field trip day for several schools, which meant lots of kids gawking at us; some of them even bothered to read the sign.
    Teenager #1: “Dih-jih-TIE-zay-shun.”
    Teenager #2: “DIH-juh-tuh-zay-shun.”
    Teenager #1: “Dih-jih-TIE-zay-shun.”
    Teenager #2: “DIH-juh-tuh-zay-shun.”
    (Repeat)
    Boss: “You can say it either way!”
    Teenager #1: …looks up to where the wall stops short of the ceiling. “We didn’t think you could hear us.”
    Both Teenagers: flee.

16.11.06
    I worked with original design sketches by Bill Reid today, he scotch-taped scraps of scribbled-on paper to cardstock and subsequently got fingerprints all over them, spilled paint or coffee, did long division on the backs, or jotted down phone numbers. It’s neat to see stuff that’s a little less polished from one of the icons. Dang, my job is nifty.

13.11.06
    And another thing… the Western Standard (Nov. ’06) also had an article on the environment. First they cited the lack of consensus in the scientific community as an example of the lack of proof of human-caused climate change. That anyone would take this as a valid point demonstrates a complete ignorance of the scientific method. Science is not an immaculate doctrine to be enshrined on a marble pedestal and never looked upon or challenged in any way. Science is a cracked wineglass on the top of a rickety ladder balanced on the back of a turtle at which everyone is encouraged to throw rocks. The crackpot theories get shot down pretty fast. If these people take disagreement on an idea as evidence that the entire idea is wrong, then I’d like to ask them what happens to their idea of God.
    Anyway, they then proposed using a new process which captures atmospheric carbon as an alternative to curbing greenhouse gases. In itself, this isn’t a bad idea, except that using it in combination with a reduction in emissions would be more effective. Additionally carbon fixation is something that every photosynthetic organism on the planet already does for us, for free. Other major carbon sinks include intact old-growth forests and bogs, where the acidity of the environment prevents decomposition of organic material and the accompanying release of methane and other greenhouse gases. By keeping these areas intact, we could make sure that more carbon is not released into the atmosphere.
    Of course, none of this was mentioned. They celebrated the invention of their magic carbon-fixation machine, which they noted still needs some work as right now it consumes more energy than it saves. So in effect, they are adding more carbon to the environment than they are removing. They have succeeded in re-inventing the wheel, only it doesn’t work. This is what they called a “practical alternative” to the “radical environmentalist’s” plans to actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I’d say that the future will be our judge, but right now I’m not that sure that we’ll even have a future.

11.11.06
    For some reason, my Dad’s company was mailed a copy of the Western Standard; a right-wing funded magazine that doesn’t bother with things like journalistic integrity, but that also prints numerous errata messages regarding glaring factual errors made in previous issues. Several articles had me shaking my head in disappointment (or disbelief) that things this badly written could be published. One was related to regulation of the internet due to pornographic content.
    The internet is the one place where you can be completely free to say or do anything you want. Of course there are limits, anything which directly causes tangible harm to others; hate propaganda, exploitation of children and such, and is illegal anyway should be shut down. Some would argue that any pornography is harmful to the participants and/or the viewers, but that’s a case for banning all pornography, not regulating the internet. If you want to argue that pornography is harmful using sound science and valid statistics, then go right ahead.
    This, however, is not what the article did. Instead they tried to draw a line between internet porn and the Amish school shooting, which is inflammatory and purely speculative. The article then took a long and scary finger and pointed it down the slippery slope to the Netherlands, where there is a “legitimate political party” trying to legalize sex between adults and minors. Well, there’s a “legitimate political party” here basing their campaign on marijuana, it doesn’t mean they’re going to be in power anytime soon. The article then went on to a completely anecdotal example of a divorce caused by the husband’s “addiction to internet porn” and the children’s subsequent and vague unease with spending time with Daddy. They mention actual science in saying that studies conclude that what one sees and what one does is not a causal relationship, but they dismiss it by basically saying “but we know better”.
    This is no way to have a conversation. If you’re talking with someone who dismisses facts and uses scare tactics without legitimate evidence to reinforce a position based on a superior sense of moral authority, you may as well talk to the vacuum of space. Which, come to think of it, is kind of like blogging on the internet.

10.11.06
    Let me know if you're going and I'll try to organize a bit. Yes, I did the poster, the photo was contributed by Naomi Fast and Patrick Keeling. More info (actually it's the same info with a couple extra links) on the talk here. Oh hey, I did that website too.

05.11.06
    A group from the Gitksan was in the Great Hall on Friday performing for a large group of school kids. I’ve never been there in person for events of that scale, it’s amazing to see the space transform into a giant theatre with views out to the trees and (cloud-obscured) ocean. The dancers were in full regalia; after handling frontlets and masks with neoprene gloves and trying to move them as little as possible, it was great to see them being danced. There is life in these objects. The presenters’ approach was very open, translating the stories sung in Sm’algyax and emphasizing the sharing of culture. They even turned it into audience participation dancing at the end.
    This contrasts greatly with an experience we had with a Tsimshian weaver about four years ago. He believed strongly in keeping cultural traditions within that culture. He would only teach Tsimshian weaving (i.e. Chilkat blankets) to other Tsimshian. He himself knew other weaving techniques, but again would only teach them to students within the corresponding cultures. This upset several people in my class, particularly those of mixed ancestry.
    This leads to larger questions about cultural inheritance; how much of it is genetic and how much is environmental? Can we all hold hands and sing “It’s a Small World” without irony, or is everything in our genes, and will we start counting blood quanta? Of course the latter begins to sound like racism, and the red flags go up everywhere. I tried puzzling this out in a term paper and didn’t get very far beyond “it’s up to you and whatever you believe, and most people don’t give a damn anyway”.
    Thinking too much about anything sucks the fun out of it in any event. Rather than wondering if I’m learning meaningful lessons about other cultures or only receiving a superficial impression of exotic spectacle, it’s far less stressful to turn off the brain and enjoy the colours and the movement and the rain drumming on the glass.

04.11.06
    The government’s Clean Air Act allows total greenhouse gas emissions to increase for the at least the next fifteen years. Their idea of ‘limits’ is to tie emissions to the level of production (what they term ‘intensity-based’), meaning if you produce more, you get to pollute more. Their ‘fixed cap’ on pollutants only refers to particulate matter and organic compounds excluding greenhouse gases, so when they say “pollution will have absolute limits”, by a clever twist of political doublespeak, they don’t mean greenhouse gases: just one example of a motion that does far too little, far too late. This government has shamed Canada by pulling out of the Kyoto Accord and by proposing alternate legislation that favours heavy industrial polluters. I have never been this disappointed in a federal government. Since when does a healthy economy outweigh the health of all life on the planet?

02.11.06
    So much to write... must lambast right-wing politics... ramble about art... spread the biology-love... not enough time... gah!

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