Wayward Landlubber

When I was just a lad in the 1950s, this time of year we would often hear flocks of Canada Geese flying overhead in a kind of elongated upside-down V pattern; one leg longer than the other. Loud honks moved  unctiously through the lines of geese overhead.  It was a sign of fall. School will be starting soon, dad would be preparing for hunting season. That the area west of Woodburn where I-5 cuts through, used to be a lake. Canada Geese used to drop in to linger for awhile before returning to their migration. Over the years a small population of Canada Geese have become resident in the Salem area. Why not? There's grass seed fields, and  grain fields all over, without the bitter winter cold, and rivers, streams, and lakes, usually. Part of their adopted territory is in SE Salem, in the field where The Data Hyperstorage construction is planned.  I don't know if our resident goose population is ready to turn back to the nicer country from which it is named, it would be ...

I was listening to NPR about how AI is programmed to think. Some of our erstwhile citizens are afraid of programmed thinking, preferring to call it propaganda. Then they vote for the party where independent thinking is discouraged and wealth controls the propaganda. It's confusing. The guest was a code programmer for AI. According to this guest, AI is programmed to anticipate the next word you type. Sort of like the selected words offered at the bottom of your screen to make your writing better, if you bother to notice (if you bother to notice, you probably aren't a writer). That's good. A teacher looking over your shoulder as you write away. Most of us rarely notice it. What happens, though, if the writer has a large vocabulary at their disposal. What if they aren't maga? How does A I, or maga, know about words it doesn't know when they can't tell the difference between etymology and entomology? So far in its short life, A I has a mixed endorsement. It is being...

It is a somewhat less than noble quality in our nation these days, that wealthy people have Hedge Funds to improve their investment portfolio. What could possibly go wrong? Among those investments in heged funds, managed for a healthy share of the profits, is housing. I suppose the old way wasn't working out for the few dozen billionaire families.  My parents bought their first house in 1956. It was a big 2-story house with a wrap-around front porch and a large garden area in back, along with pear and apple trees. It was  purchased on the GI Bill for maybe $25,000. It needed a lot of work which took place throughout my grade school and high school years. My dad was a Teamster, driving Cement truck for Canby Readymix when they bought it. My mom was a housewife. After a few years the local Ambulance service needed a new owner. My parents purchased it out of civic concern, though given the time I doubt my mom had much to say. When my dad was working we had a call list of fire, po...

FREEDOM Everybody claims to want freedom, though few care to understand the nature of freedom. Some think freedom is not having another cabin in the same visual area. Some think freedom is not having someone telling you what to do. Some think freedom is being free to tell others  what your magic being demands of you. Some seek the freedom to abuse people whom they think should be subjects, some merely want the freedom to stand up against that which diminishes them. In truth, freedom, like liberty, requires dedication to an other group of beings, so that you both can find other groups of beings to rid the world of that which wishes to oppress you. Because there is nowhere in the galaxy where there is not some being who wishes to be a Supreme being. For a while we came close. It was a good idea 250 years ago and still today. We may take pride in continuing to pursue those lofty ambitions, even as we fell on our faces thanks to poor leadership. And it worked, sorta, until we stumbled ...

Defenestration has a rich history, far richer than the simple act of throwing a dude out a 4th-floor window might imply. The word comes from a Latin word, fenestre, meaning window. It seems to be in fashion in Moscow in recent years. At first it was merely people who had different ideas of government than those held by Vladimir Putin. In very recent times, the victims seem to be closely connected to the leadership of Russia. Why not? Using the oppressive tactics of your oppressor is quite satisfying. Maybe someday soon, we shall see a flying Vladimir Putin splat onto the cobblestones.    This eastern European tradition goes back to the late 15th Century and remained popular through the 17th Century. It was started in Prague, Czechoslavakia. It had a lot to do with the emerging Protestant Reformation that became the Hundred Years war. Though Protestanism surely must have been revolutionary, the good Lutherans prefered to call it reforming. Ya gotta like that. Never-the-less, fo...

It used to take a long time to get a controversial issue before a legislative body. You had environmental requirements to be considered, legal issues, land-use, and concerns for over-taxing water and sewage installations. This was not that long ago within my political memory. At some time around the 1980s, this changed. Thanks to generous campaign donations to conservative groups in the political underworld, and a political party willing to kiss the ring of a president who can threaten their political future, the government supposedly, of the people, is now wholly in the greased palms of a conservative Supreme Court and members of both parties who mostly infest the right.  This is not just a national issue. It applies to local governments as well. Even in blue states. Which brings us to the proposed Data Center in SE Salem near the county jail. Not yet two weeks ago word emerged of a proposed Data Center. It has the stink of a done deal. Many of us speaking before you tonight do no...