The Curmudgeon Speaks

Anyone how feeds birds during the winter is probably aware of the squirrel problem. Squirrels find your feeder and seem to have unlimited appetites They monopolize access and the poor birds don’t get much of a chance. In my situation, the feeders are quickly emptied and I am often not available to refill.

There are various countermeasures you can deploy, but you quickly find that squirrels are pretty smart and very persistent. They can climb around barriers, jump much further than one would think, and they chew through plastic or wood to get at food. Inexpensive feeders simply do not stand up to the abuse.

I have found something that works, but it needs to be located in just the right location. The feeder below is what I use. There is an inner plastic container with openings for the birds and an outer cage made of wire. The wire cage moves so that too much weight on the cage causes it to slide down and if you examine the following picture closely you will see solid metal squares that then cover the openings to the food.

I found that this feeder works, but it must be located in a way that a squirrel cannot reach it while still able to have some of its weight supported by another object. In the picture that follows you can see a pole we originally intended to hold our feeders. However, a squirrel could partially support its weight using its back feet on the pole to keep the wire cage from sliding down. The present location does not allow any access to the feeder without hanging on the feeder and engaging the wire cage.

Following moving the feeder from the pole to the new location, one of the squirrels stood on the ledge of the window and stared at us for a long period of time. The evil eye. Guilt does not work with me. There is plenty of food on the ground for you.

This winter I face a challenge I have not experienced since retirement. No, it is not avoiding the pandemic, but it is related. I must stay in the great white north and cannot escape south or to Hawaii. We are now entering the part of the year that gets long and dreary. No holiday or festival on the horizon. Yes, we do get to inaugurate a new President and I might get my COVID shots and both will be positive events, but I am talking about the daily grind of cold and darkness, ice and snow as winter gets long.

We have been making investments in anticipation of the great weary. I have an Aerogarden to grow lettuce and tomatoes in my living room as a way to watch stuff that is green and growing. My other major purchase arrived today – size 13 IceBugs. We learned about IceBugs last year about this time and try as I might there were only size 12s available. I wear a size 14 shoe so a size 13 is a bit of a stretch (actually the opposite of a stretch). I could get them on fine and Cindy wanted to know how my toes felt. I could feel them so I am going to put the purchase on the line and walk in them.

IceBugs are something like gold shoes with very short cleats. Whatever I do, I must remember not to walk on our wooden floors.

The New Year brings many folks sharing their resolutions. Typical resolutions involve commitments to changes to eating, drinking, exercising, or the appreciation of life’s opportunities. These are all great areas of personal endeavor and I suppose I should attempt improvements in these areas as well. I notice a few folks have identified their social media habits and have made public commitments to change how or how much they use social media. Getting off Facebook or at least reducing engagement seems to be particularly common. Oddly, the folks seeing this as an area of life they should modify make the effort to announce their intentions on the platforms they intend to abandon.

I have thought about my own social media behavior and even before the end of the year I have begun to make some changes. I have used Facebook primarily for commenting on political issues and intend to add limited content after Biden is in office.

First, I remain an advocate for social media. When online technology began to emerge I saw it as a participatory opportunity for all less controlled by privilege and standing. Everyone could become part of the conversation. An interesting by-product of more open discussion is that we have learned some things about each other we probably did not want to know. We have learned that conversations before must have been tempered by  circumstance and shaped by present company and now we have witnessed attitudes that were previously hidden. What is that expression – when someone tells you who they really are, believe them the first time (Angelou). Let’s just assume that social media is experiencing some growing pains. Part of the negative reaction is due to limitations of the services – short comments are difficult to generate in a way that leaves open the possibility of misinterpretation (Twitter) and algorithms prioritize content more likely to push people’s buttons and encourage emotional reaction (Facebook). We also contribute in ways that could be improved. We are lazy and too often share with little investment explaining our reasoning (e.g., memes) or take positions of certaining without evidence beyond our own convictions. We want shares and likes, but are offended when someone comments to challenge a statement made. We act as if we did not really want to engage in a conversation. 

Resolutions? Here are some actions I will try to emphasize.

When reacting to Facebook posts (or posts on other social media sites), I will do more than like or share. It is important to say something and when appropriate offer evidence (link to reputable source).

I will generate more content for sources other than Facebook. I write blogs now, but I mean social sites other than Facebook. It would be best if this content was unique, but posting the same content in more places would be helpful. Options – Liker, MeWe, Wt:Social, Diaspora. Folks must make this commitment to overcome the network effect (the value of a site increases exponentially as a function of the number of contributors). 

I will challenge the ad model. I see two ways to do this. Spend some money to support other sites and content sources. For example, don’t rely on Facebook for news – pay for Apple+ to access newspapers and quality magazines, pay for New York Times online. Use an alternative ad revenue service that is not based so heavily on personal information. For example, Brave, will replace existing ads with ads it sells and this revenue can be used to support content creators visited. 

I will distribute my online activity to distribute the information collected about me. For example, assign different search engines to different browsers I use (Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing). Most searches don’t require the best search engine and one can also use Google if a search conducted with some other search engine doesn’t produce satisfactory results. I don’t use an ad blocker because this assumes I have a right to use services and consume content others work to generate without compensation to others. This is selfish and not a long-term way to encourage quality services and content.

I will comment on the posts of others. If social is to be participatory, this will not happen based only on posts and likes. Say something. Argue responsibly with logic and evidence. Explain your support when this seems useful. 

Since 2006, I have made use of a service that keeps track of all of the songs I listen to on my devices (computers, tablets, phone). I am guessing this captures 95% or so of everything I hear. The year by year summary chart offers an interesting way of understanding my life. You see a fairly large decrease in songs heard in 2014 and then a reversal this year.

When I was working, I would start my computer in the office in the morning and turn on the music. I would turn off the computer when I went home and then turn it back on when I read or wrote in the evening. I retired in 2014. I have continued to spend time reading on a device and writing, but not at the same level. I traveled more and I spent time doing other things. You can see that 2020 was a year not like the others. We did go to Hawaii, but then came home two weeks early and were far less mobile from that time until now.

What will this chart look like next year at this time. A couple more month of the same and then hopefully life will change.

For anyone who is interested in the data generated by your musical tastes, check out last.fm. It is interesting to track changing trends in your musical tastes, your all-time favorites, and comparisons to the others who use the service.

I have thought and written a great deal about social media in the past few years as I grapple with the reality of the political discussions associated with the Trump presidency. I find it difficult to tease apart the toxicity of issues associated with this administration, the type of related interactions that have surfaced on social media, and my personal beliefs that while all disagreements cannot be resolved, but argumentation can at least offer insights into the reasoning and evidence everyone involved relies on.

My reading has taken me through multiple books on facets of this situation. Here is a podcast episode I think does a nice job of identifying the thinking of others who have tried to explore the same issues. This is an episode from the podcast “Your undivided attention” featuring Eli Parisar whom you might recognize from TED topics and his book “Filter bubble”.

The discussion mentions an organization attempting to examine a better online public space that can be followed through its web site – Civic Signals. One attempt to improve the online public space is based on an examination of previous experiences of city designers who attempt to plan public spaces to improve the total city environment. For example, they consider both the design of the space and the programming of activities available within that space as a way to think through what must be considered.

I don’t agree with everything from this episode. For example, the participants consider the unique properties of political discussion and the challenges and perhaps impossibility of including such issues productively within a broader public setting. I disagree. There are some topics that are at the core of so many issues that they cannot be ignored and to allow many among the public to ignore these topics I don’t see as productive. More concretely, if political discussion does not occur on Facebook which is the space most use, why would you assume it would involve enough people to matter on another platform?

Cindy gave me an Apple Pencil for Christmas. The newest version has been integrated so well with iOS. Now, if it were just possible to give me some artistic talent.

A combination holiday letter and annual reflection. 

I have noticed we are receiving far more holiday cards and letters than has been the case in recent years. With time on their hands and lacking social interaction, people are making the effort to communicate. I used to do the same and created a letter with pictures every year bragging about our kids and telling about the experiences of the year. I got out of the habit when I started to write online. So, I thought I would compromise and write a holiday letter online.

So, to get the basics out of the way. We are all well and doing fine. Obviously, the year has been unique in our lives, but all things considered we must be better off than most. We got our Hawaii trip in before the pandemic got bad. Actually, we cut the trip short by two weeks when no one seemed to know what was going on and headed back to Minnesota. There will be no trip this year. Our kids, also doing well, live close and we have some backyard get-togethers keeping the appropriate social distance. We have individual pizzas or some other food delivered and we set around someone’s backyard. This is tougher now as it gets cold, but we plan to try a driveway fire on Christmas eve. Cindy and I move back and forth between our home in the suburbs and at the lake without stops between. The rest of our family also makes use of the lake – we just can’t be there together. Those from our immediate family who work in schools or medical settings have not caught COVID although there have been some quarantines and all of the grandkids ended the year doing distance ed. Four-old Frankie likes “the Google”. The older kids consider the camera on or off controversy and have come to different conclusions. Sid, the first grader and his classmates tried different things to see if they could help their teacher when she was unable to connect to run the class. Just turn it off and back on. Porter and dad are trying to figure out how to connect to their teacher’s holiday break Minecraft game.  We understand many other folks have not been so lucky in their work requirements or with the health of their friends and families.

Some serious thoughts for what has seemed a serious year. 

The following comments are my own and are simply some personal thoughts about the year. I understand 2020 has been extremely difficult and stressful for many reasons. However, 2020 has also provided a great opportunity. The lessons were often not pleasant, but were lessons nonetheless. The question is whether we will listen to and accept what we learned? 

I think we learned that the country we live in is far from perfect and that many of us are shielded from considering these imperfections to any depth. Inequities and biases abound and we fail to recognize or more often do something about these failures. If you are white, male, and lucky to come from a family that got you off to a good start in life, you probably have not considered the advantages you have. The work I did for a living provided plenty of opportunities to consider this situation and I explained some of these issues to students many times, but I don’t think I thought about this reality as carefully as I have this year. 

Social media taught us much about ourselves and others. Many are concerned that social media as an alternative to face to face interaction has resulted in meanness and hate. Psychologists have been studying the disinhibition effect of technology-enabled interaction for a long time now. There is something to the concerns that the lack of visual cues and the distance allows the expression of things not likely to be said when involved in direct interaction. Educators have tried to teach kids to be more thoughtful. Many adults have missed these lessons. I have a mixed reaction to this reality. There are clearly issues with technology-supported communication some the result of the tools (e.g., Twitter encourages brief comments limiting complete explanations allowing misinterpretation), but many are simply a function of the lack of care on the part of participants. Maybe, what we are seeing is what was always there but hidden.

I could write many pages about my own online experiences, but I will make two quick observations. First, I understand the process of argumentation differently from some. Academics use this term in a way to describe what most might understand as debate. They are used to arguing as part of what they do. Scientists, historians, etc. pretty much take a position and then defend this position based on the reasons they can advance and the evidence they can muster for these reasons. The process is supposed to move understanding forward as the better reasoning with better evidence is to prevail. I try to argue online with others within this spirit. A comment here or there might be a bit snarky, but this is always the case and those who understand the process try to keep it under control. The study of the development of argumentation skill is interesting and shows the young kids argue for a position by repeating their perspective without much evidence and pretty much by ignoring what those they are engaged in a formal argument with are saying. With maturity and practice, they get better. More reasons, more evidence, and more acknowledgement and reaction to the reasons and evidence of those taking a different position. Much of what I see online resembles the early approach of kids – little evidence and little attempt to counter reasons and evidence offered by others. There is too much posting of the memes generated by others and not enough writing to explain reasons and evidence.

I also tend to differentiate positions I understand others can have legitimate reasons to take and those they take but I refuse to accept on the basis of core beliefs. For example, I don’t accept that inequity is acceptable, that climate change is not real, that all people don’t deserve health care, that sexism and racism exist, etc. Challenging these positions is not argumentation as reasons and evidence are not particularly relevant. Then, I take challenges personally. When I encounter others who refuse to accept these values, I admit I think less of them. The presence of differences in core values has been an unpleasant reality I have recognized during the Trump era. 

The other reality the online world has taught me is that some refuse to accept science. I don’t know if this qualifies as what I consider a value or not, but it just seems like ignorance. Maybe it is more than acceptance that is at issue, but I don’t know what to call it then. Maybe ignorance or maybe indifference. But, issues such as the refusal to take the steps necessary to respond to COVID or to accept the reality of climate change fall into this category. Maybe these issues have become politicized which seems silly but possible. It ends up like a pass interference call. Those supporting different teams have the same evidence, but come to different conclusions predictable from the team they support. Science shouldn’t be like that. As an educator, I tended to assume people thought strange things because they had yet to learn the scientific facts. It is clear it is more complicated and I am not certain educators can change what I observe.

So, I think this year has increased my understanding of things I previously thought I understood better. I guess I would say that learning about reality is necessary, but not always pleasing.

These are some personal reflections on 2020 which I admit was a year unlike any other I have experienced in my 72 years. I see some significant challenges ahead, but I also feel more confident these challenges will be addressed than I did a year ago. Being helpless is an unacceptable mindset people adopt to free them from responsibility.

Best wishes to all whatever your perspective on the topics I have presented here. 

We got together in a local park to take some family photos of each other a few months ago. Todd had to work, but the rest of our extended family made it. For those who know us, here are some photos.

This is a life hack I offer for the benefit of anyone like me who is retired in the time of the great pandemic. When retired and limited in your opportunities for travel you may have experienced what I call the “what day is it problem”. You may have had to ask your spouse “what day is it?” and been worried this was a sign of cognitive decline. This is probably not the case and without a place to go or things to do the sameness has limited your awareness of the weekly calendar. Here is a solution you might try.

I came up with this brilliant idea when realizing that “garbage day” had become the highlight of my week. The garbage trucks (why there are so many is another story) prowl the streets on Thursdays here and for some strange reason this was reassuring and something I anticipated. I could take the bins out to the curb on Wednesday evening and after the trucks came on Thursday I could experience the satisfaction of having done something. Garbage day became the first marker in my week.

With this insight I began to identify other markers. Sunday would have multiple options. There was Vikings football day, but that would only work for certain months and I have found it is better to use a marker I associate with something pleasant to anticipate. So, I realized there was such an experience. It was “dutch baby day“. We have this treat for breakfast on Sundays and this was a reliable marker.

I found one other dependable marker. I have laundry day. You might know this as Tuesday. I do the laundry and wash the dishes. Doing the dishes does not work because it is not unique to a specific day unless you are a real slob. I am not allowed to be a real slob.

This should be enough. You need to have some flexibility in your life so don’t overdue this hack. Use the other days for what ever adventure may come your way. Rake some leaves. Shovel some snow. Cut some grass. Just don’t fall into a rut.

The test immigrants must pass to become U.S. citizens has been upgraded to become more challenging. This article from New Your Times offers 9 sample questions that are new. All questions can be viewed in a link from the Times article.

I was able to answer 6/9 questions correctly. I am pretty certain I would never have known the answers to some of the questions as U.S. born citizens. The MC format makes things a little easier, but the questions are also esoteric as far as functioning according to the expectations of this country.

I also thought a couple of questions were ambiguous or at the least depend on a very careful interpretation of the wording (perhaps some terms have both a formal and an informal meaning).

Here is one I missed. I would have liked the stem to have focused on who elects a representative which I would guess is widely known. Just for sake of argument the citizens in their district are also living in their state. I would also argue that no matter the district the issues of their state are prioritized over the priorities of other states. Too much? I think I overthought this one.

The key to the following question is the word usually. While there are 9 seats on the court, all 9 are not necessarily filled. With 8 justices, a 4-4 tie leaves the lower court decision in place. Is that a decision? It depends on whether you are for or against the lower court decision. Open seats are not the only issue. What happens when a justice or potentially more decide they should not vote? Five is a safe choice. Six decides a case, but it is not the minimum

If complaints of this type seem weird to you, you have never been a teacher using multiple-choice tests who had to listen to student complaints about how they interpreted the questions they missed.