someaquarist's Xanga

Media bias

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:09:56 GMT

There has been a lot of talk about media bias in the last year. The conversation has kind of turned into a shouting match this week. A new Pew research poll found that there was nearly twice the positive media coverage of Barack Obama as compared to John McCain. Naturally, there are a number of people unhappy about this and a number of people saying "I told you so." I even read an article by a reporter today saying that he was ashamed of his profession, in light of the recent poll.

Before I go on, let me be clear. I do not believe that Barack Obama is the Messiah. I am also not ready to say that the media has not been biased. I am ready to say that using the Pew research poll doesn't make sense. Plain and simple: It is not a measurement of media bias.

I was thinking about the results of this recent poll and actually trying to decide what it means, rather than allow other people to tell me what it means. To me, it doesn't necessarily reveal a bias. Now, if there was a bias, you would expect this poll to show the bias. However, if there was absolutely no bias, would you expect the ratio of positive/negative stories to be identical for both candidates? I wouldn't.

Take for example the unlikely scenario that Hitler came back from the dead and decided to run for President of the United States. Now, in this scenario, I can imagine approximately 99.98% of Hitler's press coverage would be negative. [Wait a second, did you just call McCain Hitler? No, no I didn't. I'm just trying to make a point.] Obviously, we have to admit that the number of negative and positive news reports about a candidate do not describe bias.

Here's another point I'd like to make. By saying that the ratios should be the same for each candidate, people are implying that a media source should not release a story about a candidate unless they have another story about the other candidate that is also positive or negative. This is absurd! If Hitler did come back from the dead and had the gall to run for US President, I would hope that FOX News and MSNBC alike would report about his past, as well as any new mischief he had wreaked since his rise from ashes. And I would not expect those news agencies to spend countless hours trying to find a comparable number of positive stories to balance the negative ones they had about Hitler. I would simply expect those news agencies to report news they discover - whether that news be important (Hitler plans to bomb Iran his first day in office) or off-topic (Hitler has been working out 3 times a week at the gym; Hitler spent $20 grand on a new tuxedo).

Do you know of any ways to logically measure the media bias in America?

Here are 2 very unscientific measurements of media bias. Ascribing to the way bias is being defined today, I am being 'unbiased,' giving one example for each party .

1. FOX News has continually used Barack Obama's middle name - Hussein - when referring to the Democratic Candidate. Why is this bias? It's NOT because other media outlets have not used Obama's middle name, but because FOX News has not once used John McCain's middle name - which is Sidney, by the way. Can you believe that? Sidney. Who would vote for a guy with that middle name!?!

2. The LA Times is reportedly "sitting on" a video of Barack Obama speaking at a dinner. According to other news outlets, the footage includes Obama praising a University of Chicago professor who had previously been "a mouthpiece" of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. This professor and Sen. Obama served together at the U. of Chicago for several years. If the reports are true, the LA Times should definitely release the video - or else they are clearly showing their bias to the world.

Collections

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:49:12 GMT

Many people are defined by the things they collect. Maybe not defined, but collections can tell a lot about a person – what is important to the person, what is interesting to the person, or what is unique to (or about) the person.

I have had collections throughout my life of a number of things. When I was younger I had a number of toy collections: matchbox cars, Ninja turtles and G.I. Joes. I also had some more traditional collections, like stamps and coins. My toy collections showed how I liked to spend my time. And I guess you could say that my traditional collections showed how I was carrying on traditions in my family, since both of those collections were started by my dad.

As I grew older I became very interested in music, both listening and playing. So it’s not any surprise that I collected music albums (cassette tapes and CDs). I also collected musical instruments (2 acoustic guitars, 1 electric, 1 bass, 2 saxophones and a bunch of odds and ends).

About 10 years ago, while vacationing in Washington D.C., I decided to start a new collection to keep track of my trips. I bought my first floating pen at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. Before I had left DC, I think I already had 5 or 6 pens in my collection. Today I have around 120, about 15 of which are from out of the country. It’s an eccentric thing to collect, but I really like my pens. I built a display case for them about 5 years ago and they proudly hang on my wall in the living room. It’s a pretty good discussion piece.

The past couple of years my hobbies have centered around aquariums, plants and reading. I have written quite a bit on my xanga about books and what I am reading. I have acquired a bit of a collection of books – unintentionally – over the years. I have also collected – quite intentionally – a number of plants. These 2 new collections can tell quite a lot about me.

Not only does my book collection state that I love books. It also says that I value knowledge and states what topics appeal to me. Two weeks ago I ventured out to my first Bibliophiles of Oklahoma meeting. Some of the members of this small group of book lovers are serious, committed book collectors. One of them collects books about early American archaeology. I admitted to the others that I am not much of a collector, just someone who likes books and likes to read. They asked what books I own and I immediately started categorizing. “I like dystopian novels and I like books on Christian thought – especially C.S. Lewis.” They pointed out to me that I have some pretty distinct collections myself, owning about 10 Lewis books and at least 5 dystopians. Alas, I am a bibliophile. Just because I don’t have a strong desire to collect first editions of books, doesn’t mean that I’m not a book collector.

My plant collecting was spurred on a little more last week, when I received an email from a plant collector in Florida who saw a post on my plant blog about Aglaonemas. I really like this genus of plant and started collecting them whenever I run across a different species or variety. I probably have about 5 different Ags. Anyway, my fellow Ag collector has decided to help me in my collecting and will be sending me a couple of boxes of plants that he has been raising for years and had propagated. He has also sent me tons of information on growing Ags and other aroid plants.

I guess I can’t deny my affinity for these plants, since I am pretty excited to get home each day to see if there are any boxes on my porch.

Dystopias

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:06:48 GMT

When I was in 7^th grade I read the book 1984 by George Orwell. Since then I have been hooked on the sub-genre of fiction called “dystopian.” Yesterday I got the book “We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin from the library. A couple of sentences into the book I knew that I had found another great dystopian novel. Dystopian novels are really a subset of science-fiction. Dystopian books are those that paint a bleak picture of the future – the opposite of utopia. “Wow! How exciting!” you say, sarcastically. “Why wouldn’t everyone want to read about bleak futures for our world!?!”

Since my first reading of 1984 I have read several other books that can be characterized as dystopian: Anthem by Ayn Rand, The Giver by Lois Lowry, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick, the Left Behind series by LaHaye and Jenkins, the Circle trilogy by Ted Dekker, Killing Time by Caleb Carr, Animal Farm by George Orwell, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and Ringworld by Larry Niven. I’ve also seen several dystopian movies: Children of Men, Minority Report, I Robot, Clockwork Orange, I am Legend, Gattaca, Aeon Flux, Blade Runner, Code 46, Equilibrium, The Island, A Scanner Darkly, V for Vendetta, THX 1138, The Matrix trilogy, Waterworld, the Truman Show, Terminator series and Twelve Monkeys. Those 2 lists contain many of my favorite books and movies, although there are a couple of books in movies in that list that I don’t really care for.

You might still be wondering why this type of novel is so intriguing to me. To me, these books are statements. Each one of them is written by an author who sees something in our current society – a trend or a school of thought, maybe – that they feel is disruptive/unhealthy/detrimental – has some sort of negative impact. They then write about a future world – sometimes very similar to our own, sometimes very different – in which the principle idea or set of ideas has been enacted on a large scale and has resulted in a nightmarish world. Many times the focus is on a type of government (i.e., 1984 and We). In others the focus is on a specific technology or the advancement of technology in general (i.e., Gattaca and The Island).

These stories are precautionary tales. In a world where most human interventions are described as “advancements,” it is interesting to take note of the (often unintended) negative impacts of our actions – as the adage goes – before it is too late. I like to think about what consequences we might face in the future based on the decisions that our civilization makes today. I like to think about how future problems can be avoided if we are wise and consider all of our options. I like to think about how following one set of extreme views have led down very dark paths in the past and that a healthy future is one in which all people are allowed to express their ideas – not a society in which the individual is dead (see Equilibrium for a great example).

While almost every one of these stories openly reveals the author’s bias, collectively the stories are not one sided. They have been written by many different authors from many different viewpoints.

These stories are thought experiments. In a way, they allow us to “learn from the past” without having to experience it. That may sound funny, but these stories can lay out powerful visions of what our world could look like if we yield to one way of thinking.

Notice to the States

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:26:41 GMT

This is a notice to all of the states in the union, and all of the citizens of those United States -
In recent decades the presidential primaries and caucuses have become increasingly important. States are either viewed as red states, blue states or swing states. Other labels, such as "must-wins", are tossed around constantly. In our current society, travel is easy for candidates who can raise millions of dollars. States that have early primaries are likely to host all of the candidates and draw a lot of national attention. It is the early primaries that are most noted because the nominee has not yet been decided. [Of course, this year, we are about to finish the primaries without a nominee.] Some states have moved their primaries earlier in order to draw more attention to their state and to be a stronger voice in the deciding of the nominee. With the surge of early primary schedules, the Democratic National Committee and GOP put in place some rules about the schedule. If a state breaks the rules, their votes will be ignored. Apparently this wasn't understood by some (2 of 50) states. No one is sure why they didn't understand, but there will be no excuses the next time around, so play by the rules.

Some are arguing that we call ourselves a democracy and yet we don't listen to the popular opinion of our citizens. Well, the truth is we live in a democratic republic. Our elected officials make all of the decisions. We get to elect them (that's the democratic part) and then they (the republic) get to make all the decisions for us. That's how it is. We get to show our approval/disapproval by reelecting the incumbents or electing someone new. We can even run for their position, if we feel so inclined.

Floridians and Michiganders-
Stop whining about the injustice of not being seated at the Democratic Convention. You (meaning, your representatives) broke the rules and you were told you would be punished. 48 other states followed the rules and 48 other states will be seated. I feel bad for your individual citizens, who would like to have their votes counted. Unfortunately, the state leaders chose to move their primaries to impermissible dates and no one squawked until it was much too late. Those state leaders are to blame.

My state (Oklahoma) played by the rules and scheduled our primary for February 5. Because we were scheduled on a date with 20 other primaries (and we are not a large state), we weren't visited by any of the candidates. We were considered of little importance. So, do we need to make some changes to our rules? Maybe. But we can't change the rules for 2008. It's too late.

We'll find out Saturday if the DNC will stick with its word, or if they will make a statement that states can ignore the rules and appeal them later when it doesn't suit them.

Book Progress

Wed, 21 May 2008 16:49:25 GMT

I just thought I would write a little update on the progress of my reading quest. Last year I only read 16 books all year long. I am happy to report that today, not even half way through the year, I have already completed 13 books. And there have only been 20.5 weeks in the year, so I am not even that far behind the book-a-week mark. I expect that I will finish year 2008 somewhere around 30 books. That would be pretty good, and beat my previous best of 25 in 2006.

Here are the books I have read so far:

Hominids - Sawyer
The Catcher in the Rye - Salinger
Humans - Sawyer
Hybrids - Sawyer
Lolita - Nabokov
Screwtape Letters - Lewis
Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana - Rice
The World Without Us - Weisman
The Secret Message of Jesus - McLaren
The Pleasure of My Company - Martin
The Creation - E.O. Wilson
The Metamorphosis - Kafka
If I Did It - O.J. Simpson

Next on the list to read:

Blessed Unrest - Hawken
The Irresistible Revolution - Claiborne
Serve God, Save the Planet - Matthew
We - Zamyatin
The Handmaid's Tale - Atwood

Transit

Fri, 16 May 2008 14:12:38 GMT

A couple of weeks ago I had just left my house, driving to work, when I noticed a guy standing on the side of the road in business attire. I quickly realized he was waiting on a bus. I hadn't paid much attention to the bus routes before, although I had noticed some stops relatively close to my house. I was really surprised to see that there was a bus stop within a couple minute walk from my house. I know that the Norman buses all tie in to campus and it got me to thinking that I could easily ride the bus to work everyday, since I work on the south research campus of OU.

So I did some investigating and found out that I can actually ride the bus for free, too, since the private company I work for is a university partner! I looked at all of the route schedules and realized that it would take me about 45 minutes to ride the 2 buses I needed to get to work, whereas it only takes 10 minutes for me to drive myself. So I started reconsidering the use of the bus. It was discouraging because I knew it would save me gas money, as well as be supporting our local transit service, which I think is a great thing. So I started trying to figure out how to make it work. The first bus I would use would take me from near my house to campus (after a number of stops). The second bus took me from campus right up to my office building. I have ridden my bike to campus a number of times and I know that it is a pretty quick trip - about 10 minutes. So I looked at the timing of this commute and realized it was the perfect match. I could get in some exercise and use the transit system, and get to work in about 20-25 minutes - doable, I decided.

I have been trying to use the service everyday that I can - which has turned out to be less days than I would like. Some days I have lunch with Christie and her family and I really need my car to get to and from work quickly at lunch time. Other days I have a meeting at church or for the library, right after I get off work - so I don't have time for a 20 minute commute home to get my car. Other days it is rainy.

But the rain didn't stop me on Wednesday! I knew there was a chance of rain, but I took the chance anyway. My commute home ended up being rather soggy.

I think, in all, I have used my bus/bike commute system about 7 times in the last month or month in a half. I figure if I can use it once or twice a week I will be saving $150-$300 each year (1 gallon of gas for each day's commute) in gas and will be adding less CO2 to the atmosphere.

Green Faith

Wed, 07 May 2008 18:23:11 GMT

Since the beginning of time, religious communities have had enormous impacts on the way society has dealt with the issues of the day. In many ways, the religious groups set the tone. History has seen a constant struggle of religious communities to lead the way in terms of society’s response to the concerns of the day. Religious leaders are often respected by their broader communities and expected to lay down the ethics and guidelines for society as a whole. At times these leaders have set ambitious goals to progress society. Other times, they have failed society by encouraging prejudice and hatred. A short summary of recent U.S. history gives us some of these accounts.

The Good:
Abolition of Slavery
Civil Rights Movement

The Bad and the Ugly:
The Massacre of Native Americans

Today’s concerns focus on the environment here on Earth, our changing climate, and our waning energy resources. They focus on how humans have been treating the planet, disregarding the possible consequences, and ignoring the idea that our small everyday habits can have huge impacts. The religious communities need to jump to the forefront with these issues. They need to do as they have done in the past, and acknowledge the destructive path that humans are travelling and point us to a new standard – one that embraces our technology, our ingenuity, and our collective resolve to confront the problems that face our planet.

The bad news is that at many times during our history, there have been religious leaders on the "wrong" side of the issues. Religious leaders have fought against equal rights of minorities and women. They have (literally) fought to defend their right to own slaves. They have fought to destroy a native race of people, arguing that the faithful Christians deserved the land. Many times, the religious community was able to rebound (or should I say repent?) and find the just and righteous direction before it was too late.

Today there are a number of people who are casting skepticism among faith communities about whether humankind is truly having an impact on our environment and climate. Others are even claiming that humans have this right, being the dominant species on the planet.

The good news is that environmental concerns are quickly becoming a focus for the faith communities. If you do a google search on religion, climate change, environment, etc. you will find a plethora of communities that are stepping up to combat the challenges we face. A number of books (The Irresistible Revolution; Serve God, Save the Planet; Redeeming Creation; Saving God’s Green Earth; It’s Easy Being Green; Everything Must Change; For the Beauty of the Earth; The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth) have recently been written about this topic, and some religious leaders are dedicating their ministry to this message.

I challenge you to start an environmental stewardship committee in your church. Get church members together who already share some of these concerns. Have everyone on the team do some research about what you can do to help your church building become more green. Figure out what you can do to help your community become better recyclers, etc. Plan some community clean up days. And most importantly, have your committee work to educate the rest of the congregation. There is a growing number of resources out there on the internet (GreenFaith, FUSE).

In order for the green movement to have a truly lasting impact on our planet, we need to involve everyone. It has to be a grassroots effort that reaches out to every person. This is the work we are called to do.

[Editorial note: When I titled this blog I had no idea there was an organization by the same name.]

The Green Movement

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:31:32 GMT

It seems the world is abuzz about "green." My own life has taken a turn for the green. I haven’t had a huge makeover in the way I do things, but I have made a number of small changes over the last couple of years.

I have become somewhat obsessed with recycling. I sometimes go out of my way to pick up an abandoned plastic bottle or newspaper so that I see it gets to a designated recycling location. In one of my last meteorology classes we watched a couple of videos about climate change. The thing that really hit me was watching the huge towers of coal-burning power plants, pouring soot into the atmosphere. I realized that every time I plug in an appliance, I am directly impacting the environment – I am putting CO₂ into the atmosphere. So, I started unplugging things. I started leaving lights off, unless I really needed them. I read my book in bed with a flash light that is powered by human winding of a lever. I’ve started saving rain water as much as possible to use for watering my plants. Before I shower in the morning, I save the cold water that would otherwise be wasted while I am waiting for it to be a suitable temperature. I’ll carry items the long way through the house, rather than use the electric garage door, to get to the front yard.

Whenever Christie and I were in California last year we went to a small grocery store that encouraged the use of reusable canvass grocery bags. We bought a couple, having always been frustrated with the enormous number of plastic Wal-Mart bags we always bring home. When we got back home, I emailed Wal-Mart and told them it would be a great idea if they used this approach, too. They could make money from selling the bags, they would save money by not having to make as many plastic bags, and they could claim they were helping clean up the environment – or at least not helping destroy it. Anyway, I imagine I was not the only person who encouraged Wal-Mart to get their own canvass bags, but they have them now! We have about 10 canvass bags that we use all the time now.

I’ve started reading about the environment - books and websites. In fact, TreeHugger is my homepage, and I keep up with their 20+ blogs per day. It’s a great site.

I realize that in many ways the green movement has become one of the trends of the day. However, if people begin to make changes now – regardless of their objective – the changes can become lasting habits and have a lasting impact.

I went to a meeting my last semester at OU of a new group that was forming. Their goal is to try and make OU a green campus. The guest speaker, from the Sierra Club, spoke about the role of different communities in driving the movement towards more sustainable life practices. One of the communities he talked about was the faith community (religious groups, churches, etc.). That will be the topic of my next post.

Norman's new library

Mon, 05 May 2008 16:52:19 GMT

About 6 months ago I was leaving the Norman Public Library when I noticed a poster announcing a meeting about the new library. New library? I didn't know anything about it, but I was pretty excited about the possibility. There were a couple of public meetings, soliciting input from the Norman community, about the possibility of building a new library in Norman. Apparently this process had been going on since 2003. Christie and I tried to go to a couple of meetings, but we kept having scheduling conflicts, and we finally made it to our first meeting around the end of the year.

I got really excited about this project! Looking around on the internet, I found a website for the citizen's committee for a new library in Norman (www.newnormanlibrary.com). The website was in need of a facelift. I noticed that the dates were old and I wanted to know what was going on with this process. I emailed the committee chairs a couple of times, requesting information about the library. After my second email one of the chairs asked if I would be interested in working on the website. Christie and I joined the group in January and have spent a lot of our free time over the last couple of months dedicated to this project. I became the volunteer webmaster and have developed a brand new website with tons of information about the two propositions concerning the library - a new library building and millage increase for library supplies and increased hours of operation.

We have spent the last 4 weekends going door-to-door in Norman, talking to registered voters, asking them to support the issue, which is on the ballot next Tuesday, May 13. In addition, the May 13 ballot includes a safety proposition and a senior citizens proposition. We have had the opportunity to support all 4 of these issues and inform the voters of Norman about them. It has been a really neat experience and one that makes me feel even more a part of this community where I have lived my whole life. I really love Norman and I am excited about the opportunities that await us. And the citizens I have talked with are excited, too - including Barry Switzer.

The Norman library has served the community so well, but has not been able to keep up with the growth of our city and the demands for service in the existing location. The new library will a high-quality building in downtown Norman, and promises to bring a lot of revitalization to the area. With time and careful planning, our downtown area will once again be a must-see part of town and maybe even a tourist draw.

Earth Day!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:02:22 GMT

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is Earth Day!
Celebrate by taking a walk. But before you leave the house, make sure you turn off the lights. In fact, make sure to unplug your TV and microwave, as well. (They're consuming energy even when not powered on.) And take one of those Wal-Mart sacks on your walk (you know, one of the 30 sacks given to you on your last grocery trip, when you bought 30 items). As you walk through your neighborhood, passing plastic bottles and McDonald's wrappers tossed out of someone's window, why don't you go ahead and put those things in your Wal-Mart sack. Enjoy the outdoors. Marvel at the beautiful Creation all around you - the Creation that is hard to take in when buzzing around town in your car, with your window rolled up, air conditioner running and radio playing. Listen to the sounds of the birds and enjoy the natural air conditioner of the breeze in your face, evaporating the sweat from your arms.
When you get back home, sort through the rubble you collected on your walk. Chances are, most of it is recyclable. If you don't know where to take your recyclable materials, challenge yourself to find out! Most public schools have paper recycling dumpsters in their parking lots nowadays. They actually get money each time their dumpster is filled and encourage their communities to help out by filling their dumpster! Hopefully your community has somewhere that you can deposit cardboard, glass, paper and plastic, as well.
By the time you have finished your walking and recycling, you're probably ready for some grub. Consider eating some local foods - something from inside your state, at least. Unless it's unbearably hot or freezing cold (not the case in most of the country), consider sleeping with your window open tonight.

And hey, if you don't have to plug your TV back in immediately, don't. :)