incipit vita nova

President's Speech: Excellent

I'm more convinced that ever that President Obama had some very poor educators writing the "lesson plans" for his speech to America's schools this morning.

The real speech is excellent.  The President gives examples of real students in diverse situations who succeeded.  He discusses his own and Mrs. Obama's backgrounds.  He uses examples of Michael Jordan and J.K. Rowling to show students that "failure" is as important as "success" in learning and excelling in whatever it is that students want to do.

There are dozens of concrete examples in the speech of specific things that can inspire students.  And, the President asks,

So today, I want to ask you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Good lesson plans could have included students listing what people they admire, and listing why, creating visual projects focused on these people, and - the "time" part is very difficult for young students - but brainstorming and other techniques could help them to identify specific things they aspire to.

There's just one odd statement in the speech.  At the end, the President says, "Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn."

"I'm working hard?"  Since the speech has discussed others, and working together, that "I" is kind of odd.  But overall, great speech - it's short and to the point, and I'm sure most students will get a lot out of it.

Wikipedia Ludicrously Sexist and Racist - Part II

I've been pretty academically-sound directing students away from Wikipedia for any research involving literature and literary history.  It was just a personal happenstance that I noticed a while back that Wikipedia seemed cheerfully, unselfconsciously and happily sexist and racist.

I "assumed" it would be getting better about that as time went on.

Oh, what happens when we assume . . . we make an A## out of U and ME.

Wikipedia's main page TODAY features the following information about a female, nearly at the bottom of the left side of the page:

. . . even though Karen Platou in 1921 was the first woman elected to the NorwegianParliament, the first woman to sit in that assembly was Anna Rogstad, ten years earlier?

The only non-western information was that Takashima Shuhan was the first proponent of western firearms at the end of Japan's period of seclusion in the 19th century. 

One needs only to read the Village Pump (or possibly - "Village Tool?") to see why the situation is hopeless.  No one with a brain or talent would want to hang around these people and tolerate this type of absurd, Thwackum-and-Square-like pedantry.  Unlike, I believe, Square, I very much doubt any of these Wickensians is going to get lucky with any of Tom's castoffs.

Information must be free?  Well, another tried-and-true saying is "You get what you pay for." It would be nice if Wikipedia wasn't the compendium of all the useless knowledge of its contributors, seasoned with a generous dollop of prejudice, myopia and pig-headed ignorance.  It would be nice to get a free vacation in French Polynesia, too.

* * * * *

* I called Wikipedia pedants a bunch of TOOLS - i.e. "Village Tools". 

The "featured articles" section is nearly 100% male-dominated, and nearly 100% "Western" dominated.  In the 84 listed featured articles on "art, architecture and archaelogy," there are only 3 immediately-identifiable female-oriented feature articles, and one of these is "Lisa del Giocondo," i.e., the female who sat for the "Mona Lisa."  Another is "the building projects of Catherine de Medici," and the third that I saw was the "Rokeby Venus" - so, 3 featured articles out of 84 or 3.5%.  The only easily-identifiable non-western architecture listings I saw was Quirigua and Western Chalukya architecture - two out of 84 - or 2.3%.  I saw no featured article listing on any of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World," nor any on any of the current "Wonders" recently selected.  They do, however, have a featured article on "The Museum of Bad Art." No Louvre.  No Hermitage.  Xanadu Houses - no Frank Lloyd Wright.  My point being, if students are researching various topics, the coverage is not adequate.  Again, I can only speak with authority on some aspects of literature, single-author studies, and certain sorts of art and artists.  I've yet to see an adequate one in Wikipedia, and worst of all, the sources available show the limited resources and knowledge of the wikipedists.  Again - "You get what you pay for" and the problem, without a professional approach, is not going to solve itself.  As instructors, all we can do is ban Wikipedia as a source, deduct points, and insist on real research.  So one must ask; what is this - for free, reliable information, it is not.  It is merely - free.

Deep in the Woods, A Funeral is Swinging

Well - after 20 years, Nick Cave's second novel has come out!  His first novel, which I have, is like Flannery O'Connor on crack.

I very nearly didn't write this post.  I was so excited to learn that Nick had another book out, I read the excerpt and it was awesome, and then I read that he had done music for a film with Warren "Poseur" Ellis.  That can't be, I thought.  Not Nick Cave!  Nick Cave would never associate with a poseur.  But wait!  It wasn't THAT Warren Ellis, it was Aussie musician Warren Ellis.  So - -

This is the Nick Cave I remember. If you don't know who Nick Cave is, or why I've titled this post this, then just go to the bookstore or Amazon and buy his new book, The Death of Bunny Munro.

I saw Nick and the Bad Seeds . . . it would have to have been around the time this picture was taken.  They were doing a show with the Cramps.  I was going to say something about how the lead singer of the Cramps, Lux Interior, was doing the most disgusting stuff imaginable, but I'll refrain, as I just learned that Lux died in February of an aortic dissection, which is the same heart problem that also took John Ritter's life.  So, I am very sorry for Ivy and Lux's family and friends.

Anyway, when I saw this show with Nick Cave, he was wearing these enormous cowboy boots that were so large, the toes curled up like Turkish slippers.

Enough time has passed that Nick's music and lyrics are being compared to Johnny Cash (!!!) and Leonard Cohen (barf).  

Yeah.  Those great Johnny Cash type charts like,

the woods eats the woman and dumps her honey-body in the mud
her dress floats down the well 

and it assumes the shape of the body of a little girl 

yeah I recognize that girl
she stumbled in some time last loneliness
but I could not stand to touch her now
my one and onlyness.

Oh, baby.  Tonight we sleep in separate ditches. Nick Cave was a HUGE influence on my early writing.  And believe it or not, now he's wearing a handlebar moustache.  Of course! . . . and so on and so on and so on and so on and so on . . .

History of Fires in Angeles National Forest

The Station Fire in Angeles National Forest is about 40% contained as I write today, and the weather has given a boost to the firefighters.  Most people have probably heard by now that the cause of the Station Fire was arson, which means that the deaths of the two courageous firefighters, Ted Hall and Arnie Quinones, are now regarded as homicides.  There is now a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the arsonist.

The other day, I learned about the enormous Peshtigo fire that raged throughout the entire state of Wisconsin and which began on the very same day as the famous Chicago Fire in 1871.

Unless you've been close to a conflagration, it's easy to underestimate the power of a large fire.  Forest fires create their own weather systems.  They feed upon themselves, and move themselves forward, always in search of new fuel.  This is a picture of a neighborhood that was burned by the Station Fire in Tujunga Canyon.  

The Station Fire is just the most recent in a series of catastrophic fires in Southern California.  When I was in 3rd grade or so, I remember an enormous fire in the San Bernardino National Forest that burned all along the Rim of the World.  I'll never forget playing outside at school under a hazy twilight sky, with huge ashes from the big pines floating down like burning bats.

It was not in Los Angeles, but in Idaho in 1910 when one of the nation's largest and deadliest fires struck.  Dubbed "The Big Burn," the firestorm took the lives of 72 firefighters and 13 civilians. On October 3, 1933, a fast-moving fire overwhelmed a group of more than 3,000 WPA workers who were doing maintenance work in Griffith Park, which is, if you are an international or out-of-state reader, a vast urban park in the heart of Los Angeles.  The entire incident lasted only 7 minutes, according to onlookers, and about 30 people lost their lives.  Ten years later, in the rugged backcountry of the Cleveland National Forest, about 100 untrained U.S. Marines were fighting a fire that had begun in Hauser Canyon.  Overtaken by the fire, 11 men died.  Large fires in the Angeles National Forest in 1955 and 1958 also took firefighters' lives.  In 1966, 11 firefighters died in the Loop Fire, which burned in a similar location to the western area of the current Station Fire.  In 1968, the Canyon Inn fire burned 19,000 acres and took the lives of 8 firefighters in the foothills above Azusa.

Tragically, although the U.S. Forest Service has learned many lessons in managing our forests and preventing catastrophic fires over the years, even the best efforts sometimes do not achieve the desired results.  A fire abatement project in the Charlton-Chilao area in the Angeles National Forest began in 2006 and was estimated to take eight years to complete.  Chilao burned during the Station Fire.

This is a picture of a car that burned in place in Big Tujunga Canyon during the Station Fire.  I saw this type of damage myself when hiking in the San Bernardino National forest near Lake Arrowhead in 2007, following the horrible fire that destroyed over 160 homes.  

Looking at this type of damage, it's not hard to see how firefighters can quickly lose their lives in "burnovers."  Of one of the deadly firestorms, a fire expert said, "the firefighters were literally cooked in their own skin."

A horrible image, but true.  It is even more tragic and shocking when you consider that, during the modern fire era, 90% of forest fires are human-caused, either by accident, or as has happened in Southern California in recent years, by arson.  Raymond Lee Oyler (click if you want to know what a killer arsonist looks like - just about like what you'd think) was convicted and sentenced to death for causing the deaths of five firefighters in the Esperanza Fire in the hills near Cabazon, CA in 2006.  Oyler was found to have caused the fire by a combination of matches and a cigarette.  Nearly all of the fires in the fall of 2003 which burned nearly to the campus of Moorpark College in Ventura County, and in Canyon Country and Chatsworth, were human-caused, as was the Lake Arrowhead fire, where I saw the whole neighborhood burned right up to Fish Creek. Sometimes the fires are not caused by adult arsonists, but by children playing with matches, as was the case in the 2007 Buckweed Fire near Agua Dulce in Los Angeles County. Most disturbing of all is the fact that some fires are deliberately ignited by firefighter arsonists.

Here in Southern California, the situation is very serious due to California's multi-year drought.  While this summer was relatively cool, the drought has caused there to be 50% or more dead brush in the backcountry, all of which is perfect fuel for a raging fire like the Station Fire.  Much of the backcountry is so rugged that clearing dead brush, or even more serious, dead big trees which have succumbed to climate change, pollution or the bark beetle.  With the vast Station Fire already wreaking havoc on the Angeles National Forest before the Santa Ana winds begin, it is truly a season for fear that the worst may be ahead.

Apache vs. Gladiator

I missed the premiere show of Deadliest Warrior the first time around.  I never even checked to see "who won?"  When I first watched the show, I caught the second half of Viking vs. Samurai.

Last night, my TiVo provided me with the original, the one-and-only Apache vs. Gladiator inaugural episode of Deadliest Warrior.

Now that I have seen all the shows, the most frustrating and pointless probably has to be Pirate vs. Knight (gun to a knife fight).  The Apache beat the Gladiator, for all at home who are wondering.  The Apache's combination of overall skill, experience at guerilla warfare, and flexibility of weapons and options seems to have overcome the Gladiator's armor, cestis (spiked glove), massive bronze helmet, and trident and net.  This, despite the fact that one Apache representative busted his stone war club (I think Snake Blocker) on the Gladiator's helmet.

First, the show featured UFC champion Chuck Liddell as a gladiator.  Chuck got to demonstrate the use of the cestis (spiked glove) and scissor (iron cuff with round slicer/dicer on the end). Steve Dietrich and Chris Torres were the other gladiators. The Apache were represented by Snake Blocker, who is a former Muay Thai World Champion and US military combat trainer, and also by Alan Tafoya, Apache and winner of the Soldier of Fortune knife-fighting competitions. Snake has an excellent discussion of his experiences making the show on his website.

I already know from watching the other shows that the exact weapons that are used aren't always perfect, or the most representative of the weapons genuinely used by the historical fighters.  There were issues with the weapons used by both gladiator and Apache. 

I was of several minds regarding the fights and eventual outcome of this episode.  At first, I thought the gladiator's armor would protect him, and the Apache wouldn't win.  Then, I realized that the Apache's skill and cunning would probably far exceed that of the average gladiator.  Of course, a great gladiator would defeat a weak Apache any time.  But - the Apache, overall, won the computer simulated battle.  I saw a lot of people complaining that after the gladiator had the Apache down and was punching him in the face, that he suddenly stood up "for no reason" and seemed to gloat.  Apparently, this was a recreation of the way gladiators turned to the Roman emperor for "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" in the original gladiatorial matches.  Another misconception is that "thumbs up" meant that the loser should receive mercy and live.  Apparently a closed fist signified mercy, while "thumbs up" meant more like "yer outta here -" like modern-day umpires.  Having thought it all over, what I have to say is, Snake Blocker and Alan Tafoya are some pretty awesome Apache.  I saw a lot of comments regarding gladiators and Apache and I think some people must be pretty weak-minded not to give the Apache their due.  We wouldn't have modern special forces and tactics if it were not for them.  I found this article about the Scouting Service.  It gives a lot of history and information. 

Yes, I think the Apache won, fair and square.

Station Fire in Angeles National Forest

The large Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest has burned more than 140,000 acres since it began six days ago.  The fire is more than a frightening natural disaster.  It is occurring under unusual weather conditions for such a large fire.  Usually, in Southern California, fires begin and spread during "Santa Ana" weather conditions.  I grew up with these winds, and they've been famously memorialized in literature by Raymond Chandler and other writers.  The nature of the winds is such that they go naturally hand-in-hand with crime, unease and - well - I hate to give people ideas, but they could be associated with supernatural behavior, as the full moon goes with the werewolf.

Now, however?  There is no wind.  The air is still and dull.  The fire has been burning steadily in the heavy vegetation of the backcountry in the Angeles National Forest.  Countless animals have likely died in the conflagration, while others are fleeing the fire even as I type.  Two firefighters lost their lives Saturday while trying to find an escape route for a fire camp that was threatened by the fire.

This is a good picture of how the fire looked during its early stages.  The sky was still and blue with the smoke rising straight up.  The smoke formed a pure white mushroom cloud, looking eerily like pictures of atomic blasts.

Much of the countryside that the fire is threatening is equestrian country.  Just as with other big fires of recent years, Pierce College, where I used to teach, has been opened up for horses that need to be boarded until the fire is out.  The "black sky" seen behind the horses is typical of what happens during the day when the fire is at its peak.  Most of the animals that are being evacuated are terrified and must be carefully handled and kept as calm as possible.  

This is a picture of mushroom cloud #1 looking northwest from Monterey Park - a distance of approximately 35 miles.  Yesterday afternoon, there were two mushroom clouds, one from the Acton area off I-5 and the 14 Freeway, and the other closer to where the fire originated, in the Angeles National Forest above La Crescenta and Glendale.

This is super-heavy backcountry, despite its relative closeness to downtown Los Angeles.  Unlike the San Bernardino mountains that are farther to the east, there are no settled communities of any size in the Angeles National Forest.  The Angeles Crest Highway (2) that runs through the forest is narrow and difficult to drive, unlike the large highways that have been built going up from San Bernardino to the mountain resorts of Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear.

The reason that the fire is burning so strongly and is "out of control" at present, is that the backcountry in this area hasn't burned for 50 or 60 years.  Brush is at least 50% comprised of dead plant material.  When the big trees go up, they go up like torches, and a lot of the brush is "oily" and also goes up as if there is an accellerant in the fire.  The brush is extremely dry and dead because of the severe drought that Southern California has been experiencing.  With temperatures over 100 and zero humidity, the fire found an ideal condition and is nearly impossible to fight as long as it's in the rugged backcountry, and that is exactly where it is burning right now.

In researching what sorts of severe fires have been recorded, and what their causes were, I came across a piece of American history that I had never heard of.  I had of course heard of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and "Mrs. O'Leary's cow" that started it all.  On the very same day, an enormous fire broke out in Wisconsin that destroyed 2,400 square miles of countryside and killed thousands of people.  The Peshtigo fire was apparently the worst fire disaster in recorded American history.  It was ten times the size of the current Station Fire.  In 2003 and 2007, fires burning 200,000 acres occurred in San Diego County, costing many homes and a number of lives. Each time, unique weather patterns are identified as contributing to the fires.  The Peshtigo fire was apparently fed by a huge "cyclone storm" that appeared over the Great Plains, and it didn't go out until it reached the shore of Lake Michigan.

It's hard to believe that forest fires can be "good," but a series of smaller fires can indeed be good in preventing the type of giant conflagration that is now sweeping through the Angeles National Forest.  With decades of old, dead growth that is bone-dry, this disaster was just waiting to happen.  So far, the cause is unknown, but with weather being as hot and dry as it has been lately, anything could have started this fire, just as it is feeding itself on anything it comes across.  I know the backcountry that the fire is sweeping through.  One horrible effect of these recent fires is that Southern California's forests are truly being eliminated.  Between the drought, poor air quality, and the fires - there will be few big trees left, if any.  The big Peshtigo fire in Wisconsin was said to be contributed to by human activity, including poor logging practices, and leaving dry brush and branches behind in large areas.  The same is true for this fire, although it's a combination of Smokey Bear's "no forest fires" warnings, and the drought that is surely a product of global climate change.