Autographs - Paul Hawken

(Click the images to enlarge them.)

I was an avid reader of the Whole Earth Catalog and its spin-offs. Paul Hawken wrote occasional pieces in one of them, CoEvolution Quarterly. It was there that I read his invitation to submit title suggestions for his upcoming book.

I made the winning suggestion, but I wasn't the only one, so he split the cash prize.

This is one more instance of an author autograph not in the book.

(Index of autographs)

Political ads (March 2013)

I sent this letter to the Los Angeles Times (not published):

As a resident of the City of Los Angeles, I've been inundated by campaign mailers for weeks now. I throw them all away without a glance, but I do pause to thank all the electioneers for helping ease the U.S. Postal Service's budget deficit.

Handling crimes on campus

Last week, the Los Angeles Times ran an article about college administrators becoming sexual misconduct detectives. I sent the following letter (not published):

It's clear to me that colleges shouldn't be doing criminal investigations.

Accusers should be given all necessary support and counseling, and they should be told to go to the police to file a criminal complaint.

On GMO foods

1. I don't have a fundamental issue with it.

2. I think GMO labeling will happen. Those who care are already using "No GMO" labels. Big Food is wasting lots of time and money fighting it, only to incite more opposition.

3. Given how pervasive the technology is, the GMO label will be so common that it will quickly become ignored.

On Internet privacy

February 11, 2014 was designated The Day We Fight Back Against Mass Surveillance. I wrote a short Facebook post as my contribution:

1. Assume that all data that can be collected will be collected.

2. "You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it." - Scott McNealy, 1999 (See wikiquote.)

Keep your religion to yourself

In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on prayer before government meetings, I sent the following letter to the Los Angeles Times (not published):

Keep your religion to yourself.

Why is that so hard?

Let me elaborate here:

• If you're not with co-religionists, keep your religion to yourself.
• Pray anytime and anywhere you like, but silently.
• If you shove your religion in my face, I may not react sweetly.
• Don't expect me to respect your religion. I probably respect it less than I do the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
• I don't want your imaginary god's blessing when I sneeze. Try “Good health to you” or, shorter, “Gesundheit” or “Salud”.

(I wrote much the same a couple of years ago.)
(See also Why I am an angry atheist.)

Telemarketing

As I wrote back in 2001, I still respond to telemarketers with, "Please put me on your do-not-call list," and I hang up.

But I think I'm going to occasionally try something new. When they pause, I'll say:

I don't do business with lawbreakers.
You're breaking the law by calling me.
Please put me on your do-not-call list.

And then I'll hang up.

Perhaps they will try to say, as they sometimes do, "But we spoke last year, and you asked me to call you back later."

That will give me the perfect opportunity to say, "I also don't do business with liars," and I'll hang up.

Why Victor still isn't visiting the U.S.

It's past time for me to update "Why Victor can't visit the U.S."

Last June, the day after the Supreme Court overturned the "Defense of Marriage Act", I heard for the first time about K-1 fiancé visas. It was immediately clear to me that Victor would be able to use this to enter the U.S.

But I had questions. I wasn't sure how to show that Victor would not become a financial burden to U.S. taxpayers. If Victor once entered the U.S. illegally more than 20 years ago (hypothetically speaking!), would that be a problem? What would Victor's citizenship status be, in both Mexico and the U.S. after we married? If he returned to live in Mexico after we're married, could he then easily visit me repeatedly at length for years afterwards? Do I need a prenuptial agreement? And more along these lines.

I eventually did speak with a gay immigration attorney and got some answers. The biggest problem is that the U.S. State Department has a stunted idea of married living arrangements. They make no provision for a married couple who do not want to live permanently together in the U.S.

Victor is not quite ready to retire, and is not ready to move here permanently. We envision some years, maybe many years, of exchanging weeks- and months-long visits in one another's countries.

But if Victor used a K-1 visa to come to Los Angeles and we got married, in the eyes of the State Department, he is immediately an applicant for permanent residency, and could not leave the U.S. for more than six months at a time. We could probably work with that, but it's not ideal.

So we have decided not to pursue the K-1 visa at this time.

Instead, many years after we gave up on it in the past, we might try a simple tourist visa again. Maybe next year, or maybe when Victor retires. And, if that fails again, maybe then we will pursue the K-1 visa.

So there are more possibilities, but there's not yet a perfect solution.


[2015 update]

Fighting vandalism in the near future

When we have the "internet of things" and ubiquitous sensors, here's one small use that would warm my heart: anti-vandalism.

Consider graffiti:

First of all, spray paint cans won't operate on any surface if you don't have the owner's permission.

If some young punk somehow manages to start to tag some graffiti, his identity is captured, and he hears, by name, that he is being fined.

On second offense, not only is the fine multiplied, but a swarm of paint drones tag swatches of his hair, his body, his clothes, his bag, and his ride.

Etc.

Words, politics, memorization

I dislike most memorization, although my love of words makes vocabulary an exception. However, when I'm learning a foreign language, I resist learning a lot of grammar rules, especially those that make no sense to me.

One small example is the gender of nouns in languages such as German and Spanish. Not only is it entirely illogical (a bridge shouldn't have gender), it also offends my anti-sexist politics.

So, imagine my thoughts when, on my umpteenth walk through one section of Mérida, I finally noticed these two storefronts, less than 50 yards apart, with competing gender for the same noun (Click the image to enlarge):

I had a rapid series of thoughts:

First, I looked two and three times and simply wondered

• "WTF?"
• "What does that word mean, anyway?"
• "What does my dictionary say about that word?"
• "Next time, I have to bring my camera!"

Next, I was amused and annoyed: "They're just doing that to intentionally confuse non-Spanish speakers like me!"

Next: "Well, what do you know? Maybe gender of nouns is becoming less important even in Spanish! Maybe there's hope!"

When I got to the dictionary, I found both el huerto and la huerta (garden) listed!