Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Points of interest rather than space - Sanity Check Part 2

It occurred to me that one of the reasons that American attention is directed so much at America is that there are so many unique points of interest in this country. There are probably more unique points of interest in Manhattan alone than there are in some entire countries.

Readers have commented that they were required to study maps, imports/exports and other characteristics of countries in school. I did that also and as I recall, most countries were covered in a few pages, some in a paragraph.

Consider what that would mean when the subject was our state of California which had a gross domestic product  of $1,727,355,000,000 in 2006 which would have made it the eighth largest nation in the world in terms of the value of goods and services produced.

When we recall a place we have visited, we tend to recall the events, the vistas and the food that gave us experiences to remember and share with others.

I think a map that identified points of interest rather than space alone, might show an even more skewed  distribution than the map shown in the previous article. Certain countries might have to be enlarged to properly list the points of significant interest to visitors.

Creating this kind of map will be an exercise for the student ,as one of my professors used to say, but it is already being done with maps of topics on the internet where integrity and reproducibility of content is more important than the name or historical value of the source.

Imagine a map that captured this point of interest information and how it might appear. If anyone has a link to such information, please feel free to share it.

Rhetoric vs facts and who cares

When both sides of an argument appeal to your emotions, how do you determine who is telling more of the truth?

Reader Julian Gall from the UK made some pertinent observations about the discussions on global warming and they are worth sharing.

David,

Maybe the Wikipedia article is biased too but anyone is free to edit it and make corrections if they wish. Articles that people can't reach agreement on often get a "this article is contested" sticker. This one hasn't. Doesn't mean it's correct of course.

Living in the UK, I saw this film when it was first broadcast which was a while before it became popular on the internet. The press here published a lot of analysis at the time, some biased no doubt, but not all. In particular, a couple of people shown in the film were very upset that their views had been selectively quoted and didn't reflect their true position. That raised alarm bells for me about the film. Likewise, obvious errors in Gore's film have done the same.

I have no doubt that there is some truth in "The Great Global Warming Swindle", but I don't think the film helps its case by calling all the Global Warming arguments "lies", as if there is a huge conspiracy to fool the public. I'm generally averse to conspiracy theories because they imply that the only people who are well organised and successful are the people we're against. I don't think anyone can be that well organised, full stop.

I read a lot around the subject of global warming because I want to understand what the position really is. I can't say I've read anything I could recommend that is independent and unbiased. That is a sad reflection on the level of debate. What I do detect lately is more measured comment on the side against manmade global warming; a gradual shift in that direction. The only conclusion I can reach at the moment is that no one actually knows. When someone (on either side) tells me the answer is plain but that the other side is trying to fool me, I get very suspicious of their motives.

The deeper issue for me in things like this is, how do we know who is telling the truth? Gore's film appeals to some people who believed in manmade global warming anyway and they present his confirmation of their views as proof, which it isn't. Durkin's film appeals to some people who have never believed in it, or who are opposed politically to the people who do. It confirms their beliefs but offers little in the way of proof either. Napoleon Hill said that everything has within itself the means of determining whether or not it is true. I try to apply this and often find there is one little giveaway that makes me suspicious about the rest. I certainly found this with Gore's film but I found it with Durkin's too.

                                                                                                                -- Julian Gall

It appears to me that there is room for improvement in presenting facts on both sides of the global warming argument.

Julian and I seem to share many common views on the climate issue. Appeals to emotion are very seductive, but are invariably a sign that persuasion, not reason is at work.

I agree that neither side has completely clean hands and hope that we, as a planetary community, do nothing irrevocable before the next cooling trend which is estimated to begin in 2010.

Absolutely Compelling Global Warming Video

Grab a cup of coffee and watch this global warming video. It has powerful imagery and was expertly produced for maximum impact. I was unable to tear my attention away from it.

This video does not demonize anyone, but gives the most thorough explanation of the reason that global warming has become the focus of so much interest by the media and by national governments. When you see this video, the entire movement begins to make sense and it started with Margaret Thatcher!

The video provides a thorough comparison of the many factors affecting climate change. You may find that there is data you have never seen before.

This video features a number of the people whose names appear on the famous IPCC report. It also discusses why global warming has become such an important source of income to so many people.

I personally found some answers to questions that perplexed me years ago when writing about pre-Minoan civilizations. This video shows there was a time in the past when temperatures were far warmer than they have been this century and the clothing shown on Greek pottery finally makes sense.

I would be interested in your reactions after seeing this video. Here is the URL: http://www.rightalk.com/asx/ggws.asx

(Thanks to Tom King for the link.)

Confusing science with politics

How society should proceed in the face of a changing climate is the business of politics. Political arguments about climate change are routinely mistaken for scientific ones.

Scientific method involves consideration of all of the facts, not just the ones you agree with. The new US Senate Report sponsored by Senator Imhofe may widen the discussion of climate change to a more productive level.

Contrary to what many believe, there is no scientific consensus on how society should proceed in the face of a changing climate. The evidence of the IPCC needs to be treated for what it is - not as the last word on the science of climate change, but as a contribution to a political process. A political process that has barely even started.

The IPCC is not, as is frequently claimed, 2500 of the worlds best climate scientists. The composition of the IPCC includes a website-designer, administrative assistants, and network administrator in the self-proclaimed group of "worlds best climate scientists".

This is precisely the misconception climate-resistance.org been challenging, following claims made by Andrew Dessler about the Imhofe 400 list.

The public remains unconvinced that the agenda pushed by global warming alarmists has merit. Some of us feel that all-expense paid trips to Bali on chartered jets are not a meaningful show of serious intent to help the situation.

More discussion and more facts may lead to more useful conclusions. My personal favorites involve the relatively ignored effects of solar cycles.

Michael Yon captures a joyful moment of history

Thanks and Praise: I photographed men and women, both Christians and Muslims, placing a cross atop the St. John’s Church in Baghdad. They had taken the cross from storage and a man washed it before carrying it up to the dome.

Michael wrote:

A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Infantry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.

The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers. (Videotape to follow.)

Michael Yon is making this photograph available to media outlets, such as print publications and cable and television news broadcasts, at no cost for a limited period of time. For more information, please contact his web administrator here.

There has been so much unrest in Iraq, that it may take years to reestablish stability, but every journey consists of small steps such as this one. I am grateful to Michael for being there and reporting what he sees. In my opinion, he manages to capture the humanity and inherent decency that underlies all social situations, however awful they appear at first.

Michael Yon is entirely reader supported. If you find his dispatches informative, you can visit his website and sign up for his dispatches

Do you know who I am? I'm Bobby Calvan, cub reporter!

Bobby Caina Calvan has distinguished himself as one of the most clueless reporters in Baghdad. He is an embarrassment to the McClatchy Newspapers, which are not doing all that well and do not need this kind of publicity.

Bobby is a a reporter from the Sacramento with unshakeable delusions of grandeur.  Yesterday he bragged about an encounter he had with a US soldier at a security checkpoint in the Green Zone.

According to Calvan, he tried to enter the Green Zone without a passport or drivers license and he got highly indignant that the soldier challenged him and did not know what Knight Ridder was. (Knight Ridder no longer exists, having been bought by McClatchy in 2006.)

Bobby has made blogging history in that he outed himself so thoroughly as an arrogant buffoon on his own weblog that every commenter was highly critical of his actions.

I estimate that he will be pulled out of Iraq within 48 hours.

Then again, he may be considered one of McClatchy's finest and will get promoted.

Time will tell.

We have returned safely from our West Coast vacation

By the time you read this, we will be driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway toward Floyd, Virginia. We made it back in one piece and my luggage will be along any day now.  :)

The trip was productive in many ways and it has certainly confirmed our 2002 decision to seek a quieter and less stressful lifestyle.

From some of the conversations I have had it also seems that I should publish at least one more book of unconventional career advice with a major focus on starting over.

Careers seem to be less stable every year, so a no-nonsense discussion of strategies for transforming ones life might be interesting to write and to read.

What do you think? Are any of you in need of change, but aren't sure how to go about it and what the consequences might be?

Blogging will be lighter than usual...

Gretchen and I are taking a quick trip to Northern California and Oregon to visit family and new grandchildren and to renew acquaintanceships with old friends.

This will be our first trip in several years so it will be interesting to see what changes have occurred since we left.

Our timing could have been better as we may miss the fall foliage season, but this was the first time in months that we could get away.

Fortunately, the bloggers of Floyd are really hitting their stride lately and you will have plenty of Floyd news to choose from if you visit Doug Thompson's newly restyled Blue Ridge Muse, Colleen Redman's Loose Leaf Notes, and Fred First's Fragments From Floyd.

Music lovers should read Scott Perry's blog: "Don't Start Me to Talkin', I'll Tell Everything I Know".

I hope to return from this trip with new design ideas and some updates about life in Silicon Valley. It will be wonderful to see old friends and family, but we will be very happy to get back to our life in the uniquely creative environment of Floyd County.

As Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz said, "There's no place like home!"

Thanks for visiting. Full-scale blogging should resume on our return.

The future of blogging?

Blogging is therapeutic, and inspirational, and entertaining, ...and a hundred other things that make it interesting,  but I think the fact that bloggers are capturing history as it is being made will be the most important result of the blogging revolution.

Instead of one or two journalists covering events as they see fit, we how have multiple viewpoints, many of them first-hand accounts, on almost every activity that occurs. We have always captured history in one fashion or another, but we are now capturing history in finer detail than ever before.

What happens in front of the Floyd Country Store on a particular Friday night is now part of the permanent record of the Internet on the same basis as a Friday night event in Baghdad, or LA or New Orleans. Floyd County Friday nights are more pleasing, in my opinion, but the interested observer now has many data points to choose from.

It no longer matters that much of mainstream media is hopelessly biased and morally bankrupt. There are enough citizen bloggers and journalists who blog to cover almost any story in enough detail that the casual reader can actually get a more complete picture of any event they are interested in.

Bloggers have agendas too, but these agendas are often prominently displayed on their mastheads so you know what their viewpoint are from the start. Most bloggers do not get paid for their writing. What you get instead is the refreshing passion of someone who is trying to make a point that he or she is committed to.

The real effect of blogging is not in the dissemination of the latest news. It comes from the accumulation of thousands of observations and of verifiable data in blog posts every day, all over the planet.

90% of my visitors have arrived at this site because they were looking for information about topics I wrote about months and years ago. They come for information about Marla Olmstead, the child artist, or Judith Scott, or Elena Filatova, motorcyclist and photographer, who writes about Chernobyl. They also come for advice on modular homes, wood stoves, and moving to Floyd.

Almost every week I am approached by someone who says, "I read your blog several years ago and am finally here in Floyd to see what it is all about." They usually say that they read all of the blogs written by Floyd County bloggers and as a result they already have a good sense of what to expect if they were to move to Floyd County.

I have also been writing about the changing workplace for as long as I have been blogging and I see an increasing awareness that long term career satisfaction comes from some form of self-employment or at least a self-determined relationship with employers. People tell me they have given my book, Danger Quicksand - Have A Nice Day, to others and it has changed or even saved their lives.

Again, I feel this was because I documented actual workplace events in a way that they could be analyzed and be understood by others. If enough people wrote about their workplace experiences, it would be much easier to choose an employer that you could work with satisfactorily.

It might also drive companies to re-examine some of their personnel and management policies.

Blogging is a way to cast light into all of the shadowy places that exist. Cockroaches, corruption, and decay flourish in dark, unexamined areas. Bringing light to these places helps make them safer and less life-threatening.

Blog on!

Three Marks on the Horizon - another article from Michael Yon

Michael Yon reports:

"Our military has increasing moral authority in Iraq, but the same cannot be said for our government at home..."

"...Some of our commanders could probably run for local offices in Iraq, and win. To say there has been no political progress in Iraq in 2007 is patently absurd, completely wrong and dangerously dismissive of the significant changes and improvements happening all across Iraq. Whether or not Americans are seeing it on the nightly news or reading it in their local papers, Iraqis are actively writing their children’s history...."

Read it all.

Michael Yon - Bread and a Circus, Part 1 of 2

Michael Yon writes about the refugees of Baqubah and why Baqubah had not had a food shipment for 10 months.

Al Qaeda had seized the food warehouses in Baqubah and the authorities in Baghdad responded by cutting off food shipments to Baqubah because they would fall into the hands of al Qaeda.

American soldiers escorted Iraqi truckers to Baghdad and the Ministry of Trade where the real hard part of Operation Arrowhead Ripper was unfolding.

Michael Yon is becoming a master at revealing the complexity of Iraqi relationships and showing first-hand the incredible efforts that our military personnel are putting forth to help Iraqi communities get back on their feet.

This piece, Bread and a Circus, Part 1 of 2, is another fascinating look into the social dynamics of this troubled country and its remarkable people.

Local blogging mimics mainstream media patterns

Now that it has gotten to the point where everyone with a computer can make themselves heard, we are beginning to see a diversity of opinion and viewpoints that will make the traditional news media look tame.

For example, in this small county we have writers who mirror time-honored journalistic traditions, bloggers whose lyric prose makes us want to go out and walk barefoot in streams, and bloggers who keep us in touch with the endearing bits of small-town life.

We have farm bloggers, real estate bloggers, alternate lifestyle bloggers, and church bloggers. More people are joining in every day.

We also have bloggers like myself whose shameless self-promotion rouses the ire of anonymous bottom-feeders who traffic in innuendo and rumors.

In short, we have come to a time where every crossroad community can air their opinions, hopes, dreams, and dirty laundry all at once. It's like having a daily dose of Mother Earth News, The New York Times Editorials, and the National Enquirer, all sized to fit your little town. Local blogging is becoming more like mainstream media every day.

It may seem overwhelming to think of all of those opinions floating around loose, but it's probably better that the good, bad, and degrading commentary be out where it can be evaluated. It could be a useful indication of the mental health of the community.

At this point, it seems that the ratio of uplifting to degrading commentary is about 20 to one. I hope it stays that way. 

UPDATE: The trio of anonymous bottom feeders seem to have taken down their website this morning and scuttled off into a darker place to hide. Life in the country returns to normal for now.

UPDATE #2: Doug Thompson found the person behind the anonymous website that was spewing degrading comments about local officials and local bloggers. It was a Virginia Tech computer science student  who used the pseudonym Andrew Ward Hayden to create a website which he called the "Floyd Free Press". He has now gone online to apologize for his errors in judgment. You can read all about it on Blue Ridge Muse.

Professional development for homeschooling parents?

The 81st Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Principled Discovery with something for everyone who homeschools their children.

Dana organized this week's Carnival of Homeschooling around a theme of profession development. There are many tips for parents who want to do a better job as homeschoolers.

Thanks, an a tip of the hat to Henry Cate who has recently written, Why we Homeschool - Part 2

Homeschooling gives our family a three-fold advantage:

    1) Our children are not immersed in a consumerist society.
    2) We have time at home to teach our children "do-it-yourself" skills.
    3) We are free to choose a curriculum that emphasize sound money management principles and avoid the "money can buy happiness" philosophy prevalent in our society. (By the way, our curriculum includes the books like The Richest Man in Babylon, The Only Investment Guide You Will Ever Need, Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, and The TightWad Gazette.)

Bless the Beasts and the Children

Michael Yon describes a village on the outskirts of Baqubah where this photograph was one of the few things left to tell the tale of life before Al Qaeda arrived. Not for the faint of heart.

Michael has an update to this post in which he makes an extremely generous offer to the media outlets who are busily looking elsewhere for news to report.

Michael Yon - Arrowhead Ripper: Day One

Michael Yon and Michael Gordon of the New York Times appear to be the only reporters on the scene for this 10,000 man military operation focused on trapping and killing Al Qaeda fighters in the vicinity of Baquba. He says they are being given full access to the battlefield and to the video feeds coming through headquarters.

Yes, civilian casualties are occurring. Read why and you may get a better understanding how Al Quaeda was able to use uninformed media organizations to further their mission in the past.

On the other hand, civilians are pointing out IEDs and enemy fighters, so that’s a good indication that Al Qaeda has worn out their welcome.

You can read Michael's version of the action on his website. I haven't seen any other original reporting at all, and according to Michael, mainstream media organizations are still trying to get reporters out there.

You don't have to wait for CNN, TIME, or Reuters, you can read what is happening today.

Michael Yon's most powerful dispatch yet - "Be Not Afraid"

Michael's observations have not been popular with the Administration or mainstream media, but he has been on the front lines long enough that his words are ignored only by the terminally indifferent.

When he writes that General Petraeus has launched the largest battle since “major hostilities” ended more than four years ago, it is a good idea to see what he is talking about.

Michael wrote in early 2005 that Iraq was in Civil War and that was generally ignored in the euphoria of the first Iraqi election. He caught some flak for his choice of words, but it appears that Michael's on-the-spot observations were more accurate than all the ruminations and ponderings of the Administration or mainstream media.

Michael confines his dispatches to what he sees in his area or what he hears directly from the forces he is embedded with, so his observations are localized and have been downplayed by others as a result. My take on it is that a careful and unemotional observation of even a small area is more useful than glowing or hysterical reportage of an entire sector. A small truth is better than a giant generalization.

In his latest dispatch Michael discusses the mistakes that have been made which have led to the growth of Al Qaeda and announces an impending battle of epic proportions against Al Qaeda in Diyala Province. The City of Baquba is the Al Qaeda stronghold this time and it appears that our people may have learned enough from Fallujah to create a more favorable result.

Read Michael's dispatch now and compare it to the mainstream media news next week, if ever.

Today's  key word is Baquba. See how long it takes for it to surface on Google, then how long it takes to appear in print. I'll guess 2 weeks. UPDATE: I was wrong. It was on ABC news tonight.

Michael Yon is still with the Brits in Iraq

The more I see of Michael Yon's dispatches, the more I admire those who are out in Iraq doing their jobs as soldiers. This is one of the Queens Lancers.

This is the first war that we at home have had a prayer of getting firsthand information on what is happening and who the players are.

Every day involves avoiding death and confronting the stark realities of life in the desert. At the same time, we get to see the human dimensions of life in present-day Iraq through the lens of Michael's camera.

This is the third part of Death or Glory, Michaels embed with the Queens Royal Lancers. Read all three parts and draw your own conclusions.

Iraqi Tragedy concludes in Anbar Province

Left to Right: Lieutenant Colonel Doug Crissman; General Hamid; Sayed the interpreter. Picture taken seconds before the arrest

Lieutenant Colonel Doug Crissman arrests Iraqi hero General Hamid and averts a bloodbath.

This is a story you will probably never see on major networks, in the Associated Press, or Reuters. It was the final act of a Tragedy that was played out in Anbar Province earlier this week and Michael Yon was there for us to record every moment of it.

Iraqi General Hamid was one of the brave souls who took an aggressive stand against the Al Qaeda (AQI) terrorists who had made Anbar Province a slaughterhouse. He has long been viewed as a true hero by Americans and Iraqis.

The fact that Al Qaeda beheaded his son on a soccer field in 2005 only added to his fearsome reputation as an unflinching hero.

Unfortunately, General Hamid had recently turned to the dark side and was deeply involved in corruption and in unforgivable abuses of power. Iraqi officials wanted Hamid gone and they wanted Americans to arrest him.

LTC Doug Crissman had the courage and the initiative to make a judgment call and arrest General Hamid at his own headquarters while surrounded by his followers.

It is a story that will be studied for years to come. There are so many historical parallels that it made me shiver as I read it.

It is called The Final Option.

Read it.

What will happen when the next shooter arrives?

My take on it is that failing to train students to defend themselves leaves them open to the kind of disaster that occurred at Virginia Tech and elsewhere.

From all the reports I have seen, only an elderly professor and a few students showed any resistance to the murderer. Perhaps the rest were waiting for someone in authority to show up and handle the situation.

Carry permits give trained people the authority to protect themselves, and perhaps you, in situations like Virginia Tech. Those who earn that authority can handle life-threatening situations better than those who wait passively until help arrives.

For those unwilling to get carry permits, a course in self-defense is strongly suggested.

You either become part of the solution or you become a victim. The Nanny State, where all authority and force reside in the government is not a viable solution.

There should be self-defense training for all students if concealed carry is prohibited on campus.

I have received several passionate responses on both sides of the concealed carry issue. I have followed numerous articles and found that both sides are prone to exaggeration and fail to link to authoritative sources.

For every horror story about a defense gone horribly wrong, there are others like this series about mass killers meeting armed resistance.

One of my anti-gun commenters provided this data:

Between 1987 and 1990, David McDowall found that guns were used in defense during a crime incident an average of 64,615 times annually.

I look at that same data and say if those people had not been armed, there would have been more than 258,000 injuries or homicides.

What I found is that anti-gun and pro-gun writers look at the same reports and draw vastly different conclusions.

I have found some unimpeachable sources of information about gun violence trends in England where it has been illegal to own any kind of handgun for several years and homeowners are regularly imprisoned for repelling burglars with violence.

I would like you to review these graphs and decide for yourself whether complete gun control as it is practiced in England and Wales has reduced gun-related crimes.

This first graph comes from a report titled Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2005/2006 from the Home Office, which is the Government department responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales. (click to enlarge)  To see more, read past the jump:

Gun-free zone at Virginia Tech

One of the things that gun control people avoid recognizing is that shooting sprees seem to take place where it is not legal for people with carry permits to carry guns.

A bill that would have given college students and employees the right to carry handguns on campus died last year with nary a shot being fired in the Virginia General Assembly.

House Bill 1572 didn't get through the House Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety. It died Monday (Jan 30, 2006) in the subcommittee stage, the first of several hurdles bills must overcome before becoming laws.

The bill was proposed by Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah County, on behalf of the Virginia Citizens Defense League.

Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was defeated. "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus."

Only law-abiding citizens obey gun control laws. This leaves them helpless in the face of insane homicidal behavior.

Concealed carry laws seem to be making a comeback. Perhaps it is a movement toward taking responsibility for one's own security in an increasingly dangerous world.

Michael Yon is back in Iraq

Michael Yon is an outstanding freelance journalist who spent most of 2005 in Iraq and intends to spend 2007 with the troops at war. Michael's photos and dispatches are stunning examples of journalistic integrity. 

Unlike many of the mainstream media journalists who report from the safety of a Green Zone hotel using secondhand information from local stringers, Michael travels with the troops and reports what he sees. He is not popular with the Armed Forces Public Relations Officers, but he has high marks for accuracy from the troops.

If you really want to know what our troops are experiencing in Iraq, I heartily recommend that you read Michaels dispatches. His first dispatch this year is Walking the Line 2007 Part One.

I wrote about him previously here and  here. If you are tired of reading second and third-hand information, you will enjoy Michael's first-hand account of life in one of the most dangerous areas in the world.

He depends on donations to finance his tour. I think what he is doing is so important that I donated for his last tour and am doing so again.  He is telling a story that needs to be told.

The week winds down - FloydFest begins!

FloydFest is a three-day World Music Festival held annually in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia, showcasing great examples of World, Bluegrass, Reggae, Folk, African and Appalachian music, as well as quality local Arts and Crafts.

The festival started late today and the FloydFest business office across the hall from my office sits empty and silent after months of non-stop activity.

People would ask me how I could stand working near so much noise and commotion, and I would laugh. There was so much energy pouring out of that office it was electrifying.

Is there a civil war in Iraq?

It appears that one has been going on for many years.

Read Michael Yon's thoughtful dissertation on this complex subject. It gave me a different insight on what may lie ahead for Iraq.

To give you the flavor of Michael's writing, I have taken this image  and the following quote from Michael Yon's article:

When I asked this Yezidi headman when he thought the war began, he could not remember a time in his life when there wasn’t a war. Except for the past ten years, when the American military prevented Saddam from committing further atrocities upon the Kurds.

Read the rest of Michael's post, it will provide background material for understanding my previous post about an Iraqi blogger.

Indomitable spirit

I consistently find people who are trying to make things go right, even under the most brutal conditions. All I have to do is look for their stories, which mainly appear in blogs.

One of my favorite Iraqi bloggers writes of a tragedy that struck his household this week. His brother-in-law, a brilliant young doctor was celebrating the opening of a foundation offering essential services to the poor, when he was assassinated.

In his article, Kill us, but you won't enslave us, Mohammed shows the extraordinary courage that ordinary people exhibit when they continue to rebuild a country in which lawless elements are still roaming freely.

In a world filled with hate, it is encouraging to know that there are still men and women of good will who doggedly continue to build a better world, no matter what the cost.

It is a further testimony to the growing power of blogs that stories like this are available to all who care to look. These people are not "news" so their stories do not appear in a mass media focused on sensational trivia. No, their tragedies and triumphs are the real stuff of which our world is made. Understanding them is the key to staying sane in a world that is increasingly polarized by those with a political agenda.

If you really want to find out about an area of the world today, read the blogs of the people who live there. You will get all sides of every issue and will be able to make up your mind as to what is really going on there.

Thanks to Instapundit for the link.

Sharyn McCrumb shows us that hatred has a long half-life

Last Thursday night in Floyd, VA, Sharon McCrumb held a large audience spell-bound as she traced the roots of the bitter Civil War activities in Appalachia back to Roman times.

She sketched out a compelling vision of the eternal division between the "Romanized" English of the flatlands and the individuated mountain people of Scotland and Ireland, which exists to this very day in some areas.

As she so wryly put it, "the mountain people do not play well with others". Their choice of remote places to live puts them at an economic disadvantage compared to the massively organized agrarian/industrial complex of the flatlanders.

The more prosperous and "cultured" English flatlanders characterized the starving farmers of Ireland as "hillbillies" and left them to fend for themselves during the great Potato Famine of 1845.

Throughout the Famine years, large quantities of native-grown wheat, barley, oats and oatmeal sailed out of places such as Limerick and Waterford for England, even though local Irish were dying of starvation.

This all came back to roost when the Civil War reached Appalachia. The Southern states  were governed by plantation owners of English descent and when they conscripted the Irish and Scottish people from the mountains of Appalachia into the Confederate Army, all hell broke loose.

Appalachian guerrilas actively supported the Union and may have been instrumental in bringing the Confederacy down.

Sharon McCrumb has used this theme of hatred to write Ghost Riders, which is an engrossing novel of present-day Civil War reenactors encountering spirits of the past. After hearing her speak, I immediately bought the book.

I have become a fan. Sharon McCrumb is an incredible storyteller! Her bio contains more about her research on the cultural chasm described earlier.

The Friends of the Jessie Peterman Library and the Virgina Foundation for the Humanities have scored again with their Celebrate the Past, Look to the Future Series of readings by celebrated authors.

Unfortunately, they don't have a website so you will have to call 540-745-2947 for information on the rest of this series.

It's time to talk blogging again in Floyd

Set your calendars for Thursday, April 13 at 11 AM. We'll gather in the Cafe Del Sol and answer more of your questions.

Let's plan on 11:00 - 11:30 for introductions and caffeination. From 11:30 on we will exchange information on writing posts, getting more attention for our ideas, and tips for making blogging easier.

There will be a discussion on using your blog to generate business and how this differs from a news -letter or advertising.

Feel free to bring your laptops as the Cafe Del Sol has free wi-fi.

See you there.

Blogs to the left of me, blogs to the right of me...

The Floyd Open Forum on Blogging was interesting for all concerned. Here is the short version of the story:

We wedged 10 amusing and entertaining people into the Northeast corner of the Cafe Del Sol and everybody talked at once for almost two hours. Blogging cards were exchanged, advice was sought and exchanged, and two non-bloggers caught the blogging bug.

Local bloggers included: Linda Wright, Leslie Shelon, Jamie Reynolds, Doug Thompson, Fred First, and Colleen Redman.

Topics covered included: blogs for artists, how blogs change your life, blogging tips, and hands-on demonstration of useful blog features. We even got into technical bits like permalinks and trackbacks which were mysteries to many of the newer bloggers.

It was a high energy meeting all around. Questions were flying and three separate discussion groups were running, some with live demonstrations.

The non-bloggers were amazed at how generous the experienced bloggers were with suggestions and advice. They finally realized that bloggers want to see other people start blogging!

I explained that blogging is not a zero-sum game. There is infinite space on the internet and we all benefit when new people join us in the blogosphere.

We covered so much ground that we decided that we should wait at least two weeks before meeting again. By then, we expect that two of the non-bloggers will be blogging. We will announce them as soon as their blogs launch.

If you are an artist/businessperson interested in promoting yourself via a blog, why not plan on attending the next open forum. You may be pleasantly surprised at the help and encouragement you will receive.

Update: Linda Wright picked up a few new tips during the forum and is sharing them with her buddies at homesteadblogger.com.

Floyd Open Forum on Blogging

I will be hosting an "Open Forum on Blogging" session at the Cafe Del Sol
this morning from 11:00am to 1:00pm.

If you are an artist, an artisan, or a frustrated writer, you owe it to yourself to drop in and find out why blogging is considered citizen publishing on a grand scale. Discover what it takes to create a weblog and how it can transform your life and your business.

It is open to all bloggers and would-be bloggers and will be relatively unstructured. This is not a presentation. It will be an open question and answer session with some hands-on examples. Bring your laptop as there is free wi-fi available at the Cafe Del Sol.

The purpose of this open forum is to answer questions and promote the spread of blogging in the Floyd area.

Experienced bloggers from a variety of fields will be there to answer questions. They will be happy to share what they have learned during the years they have been blogging.

The time and place again:

Cafe Del Sol in Floyd, VA
this morning from 11:00am to 1:00pm

Cost: Zip, Nada, Nichts,  it's free!

But it would be a nice idea to buy lots of coffee and maybe lunch at the Cafe.
Be sure and leave something in the tip jar for the friendly staff!

If you cannot make it, you will be able to read the results on several local weblogs. We plan to repeat the forum on a weekly basis until the subject of blogging is thoroughly exhausted - or we are. :)

See you there!

Blogger emulates mass media and makes fool of himself

This post has been removed as it was based on faulty observation on my part.

Thanks to the bloggers who brought this to my attention.

I failed to do enough fact-checking.before posting.

The modified post title will be left standing as a reminder to do better in the future.

Carnival of the Capitalists is up on ProHipHop

This weeks Carnival of the Capitalists  is a tasty collection of fifty business-related blog posts covering a wide range of business and consumer issues.

What I found most interesting was that these posts by fifty different bloggers were often insightful and humorous. I also found some new bloggers worth adding to my blogroll. Check this one out.

Things could be worse...

You are getting older and your job may be in jeopardy, but at least you aren't living in Belarus and campaigning against president Lukashenka.

Alexander Kazulin and Alexander Milinkevich find that the KGB is doing their best to ensure the election results will be unanimously in favor of Lukashenka, who has the reputation of being "Europe's last dictator".

Public beatings and intimidation by uniformed goon squads mark the end of any hope for a democratic election process.

As is too often the case these days, Reuters and some of the mainstream media are parroting the KGB party line and staunchly supporting the dictator's actions.

What is it about Reuters and the rest of these MSM guys? They get handed a prepared statement and promote it as news? Don't they realize there are bloggers fact-checking them at every turn?

Fortunately Steve Rosenberg of the BBC is painting a different picture. Read his article, Pomp and Punch-ups in Belarus. He says being in Minsk this week is like being back in the USSR.

Strike Belarus off your list of quaint vacation places unless you have a taste for dictatorships. It sounds like it is going to get uglier there before it gets better.

Hat tip to Instapundit.

Another reason why mainstream media is losing readers

A Failure of the Press

When we were attacked on Sept. 11, we knew the main reason for the attack was that Islamists hated our way of life, our virtues, our freedoms. What we never imagined was that the free press -- an institution at the heart of those virtues and freedoms -- would be among the first to surrender.

This provocative quote from a Washington Post article titled  A Failure of the Press by William J. Bennett and Alan M. Dershowitz represents another indication that people across the political spectrum are beginning to realize that the press has betrayed not only its duties but its responsibilities.

It has gone so far that the bias of the media is no longer an issue. The real question now is where will this abdication of responsibility end?

Reporting opinion as news has given way to outright support of organizations and causes which seek to destroy our American way of life. We really don't need more enemies when the Fourth Estate is acting like a Fifth Column or is cowed by threats. See When fear cows the media By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist,  February 19, 2006.

To counter this spreading of disinformation and opinion as reality, we should refer to original sources before passing on inflammatory information as gospel. Otherwise we are like those clueless people who pass on bogus spam warnings or those people who absolutely believe that 9-11 was an inside job.

This isn't a matter of political leanings. It is a necessity that we have a free and open press which expresses opinions and presents news. When opinion masquerades as news, there is a natural reaction in the physical universe and we see blogs supplanting MSM media when this occurs.

What is the future?

I think there is still a bright future for mainstream media, but it will have to clean house first. Today's news is suspect and like the old story of finding too much rat shit in the coffee grounds, we are looking for other suppliers of news.

If I read the Daily Kos, I know in advance what the agenda is and can sift fact from opinion. If I read Instapundit, I know I am reading a Libertarian viewpoint. If I read Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler or Capitol Hill Blue, I know within seconds where the writer's sympathies lie and can evaluate whether to believe the information presented. In addition, I can follow the links to see if they lead to actual source material or merely to others who have similar opinions and no facts.

I think the smaller independent newspapers get this already and have enlisted bloggers to help them stay balanced and still keep the costs down.

What news media do you trust?

Tag: mainstream media

Sky King - a surprising role model

I wrote an earlier post, Meanwhile, back at the ranch,  about the Sky King radio show and its secret decoder rings.

I recently discovered that there is much more to the Sky King saga. Many baby boomers became pilots because of the lasting influence of Sky King and his Cessna named Songbird.

It probably isn't so surprising because the flying rancher and his team fought crime in high-tech style. He flew a twin-engine plane and used two-way radio equipment to outwit and overcome the bad guys. He was a western hero of the future in many respects and this captured the imagination of his youthful audience.

There were four radio Sky Kings including Jack Lester and the announcer was a fellow named Mike Wallace, who went on to become famous in his own right.

The TV version of Sky King starred Kirby Grant as Sky with Gloria Winters as Penny.

There is a treasure trove of Sky King material on Kent Volgamore's Kay Vee's place including DVDs and pictures. The pictures shown here are just a preview of those on Kent's site.

Be sure and check out the testimonials from the men and women who became military, commercial, and private pilots as result of listening to Sky King and Penny on the radio or watching them on TV.

This poem by Jim Dilly captures the spirit of what Sky King meant to these people.

SKY KING
by Jim Dilly

My heroes have always been cowboys and they all carried guns-
and they all rode horses-that is all but one.

When he went to the rescue he flew a Cessna plane.
His ranch was called the "Flying Crown" and "Sky King" was his name.

Like all cowboys of his time he always fought for right,
and watching him there on TV lead many of us to flight.

Every Saturday morning our hero would arrive with a pair of roaring engines
out of the clear blue western skies.
Many lives were touched by this TV man
and many of the pilots today are pilots because of him.

We need a hero like him more now than w