“Political” Science

March 9, 2010

Much of the hoopla over the global warming controversy seems to be the “shocking revelation” that science is being used by (and thus ostensibly soiled and manipulated) by politicians. So? Science has always had a strong thread in and of politics, just like all other human endeavors, including religion. The only non-political human endeavor is probably solitude – and it’s only apolitical to the solitaire. As soon as one other wonders about or tries to find the  hermit, his solitude becomes part of a political debate. All human interaction includes politics. The more people, the more complicated the politics.

Science as the ultimate objectivity has always been an ideal not a fact. Scientists are human, too – with mortgages and egos and tuition debt, too.  Most research is at some level politically funded – whether the funder is the Catholic Church, the Exxon Corporation, or government. (We all know how apolitical government is. Right?) Who gets the money for what research – in our culture often a variable of potential profit in the research product – is part of the process. Unfortunately, money as the engine of research comes with a built-in corruptibility factor – sometimes very subtle, sometimes openly controversial, but rarely completely out of the picture.  Which is worse good science with bad intentions or bad science with good intentions?  Add to that debate “whose science” and “whose morality” then define “good” and “bad.” Yeah, I know.

Still there’s good scientists (and some not-so-good) working hard in their labs zealously pursuing “truth.”  There probably is even such a thing as “pure” science happening somewhere in some labs. But even the most ardent and disciplined objectivists among us are still subjective human beings. The process leading up to who gets a lab, how they design the experiment and who does what with any discoveries will always be a function of politics.  The “science” that reaches the masses will always have spin. Most of the “masses” wouldn’t understand the science if you spoon fed it to them straight from the scientist’s mouth. I have great respect for Al Gore’s intentions. I voted for him when he ran for President partially because of his environmental stance. I  have warmist leanings. I am not, however, blind to the inconvenient truth that Al Gore is not a scientist – he “just plays one in a movie.” But science without politics wouldn’t get very far.

And with well-established criteria for peer review and reproducible results, science tends to self-regulate. The global warming controversy really emphasizes the stability of the scientific ideal not its erosion. It’s the old torpedo effect of all human progress – we launch out of the tube in the general direction of our target, we stray off course, we make corrections.

Challenge and controversy have always been a part of scientific progress, whether the battle is between scientists and institutions, or scientists and other scientists. Today’s unavoidable transparency just makes the noise a lot louder and faster – out where we all get to watch and comment. And after all, it is science that brought us the internet – the vehicle of its own exposure.

By Trish | Posted in Hermit's Rants, Psychology, Science, Solitude | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Global Warming Humming

March 4, 2010

Global warming (anthropogenic or otherwise) is a hard sell to anyone who’s freezing his butt off fighting the hardest winter he can remember. And though repackaging global warming as climate change is probably a wise move, it’s just human nature to let broader perspectives and scientific conjectures rest completely while coping with the immediacy of “what’s happening to me right now.” (If you haven’t seen Stephen Colbert’s recent comedy sketch about this, I highly recommend it. I particularly liked Colbert’s professor of peekaboo-ology.)

Climate change is almost a non-term here in Western Washington where the weather is so variable year to year, climate change seems almost normal.  Unlike the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, we’ve just had our warmest winter on record. Last winter we had our taste of the ice age.

But in spite of recent controversies which expose some extremely-careless or just-plain-bad science, there’s some good science behind global warming, too.  Weather extremes are integral to the theory, so discounting the whole idea because your butt’s cold today is definitely throwing the baby out with the bath water.

On the other hand, there’s some very smart people countering the theory and some very good science behind their counter claims. Ironically, the very reason we find global warming so hard to believe when our butts are cold mirrors the reason why global warming has rational skeptics. It really is difficult for us humans (including scientists) to stand far enough back from our tiny little lives to get accurate, objective perceptions. From a geological perspective, the global warming theory itself is just a report on what’s happening right now. Several decades of climate statistics do not necessarily make an arguable trend. Well, obviously it is arguable, but that’s not the same as provable.

But it’s the furor of this discourse that deserves applause. It means awareness of environmental degradation (whatever the cause) has whole-heartedly entered our public consciousness. A recent New York Times article pointed out that therapists are even seeing a trend in environmental issues as a significant cause for family discord. And as much I hate to see families in stress, the environmental dialog matters; and the things that matter most to us should be discussed (and sometimes argued about) in our homes.  An integral environmental consciousness – public and private – represents true progress.

I have warmist leanings.  There’s much more to the theory than whether you should be driving a Prius or a Hummer. But selling global warming as yet another variety of armageddonism is counterproductive and unnecessary. Extremes always create backlash. Most of the noise between warmists and their skeptics is not about whether humans are negatively impacting the environment,  it’s about how, what’s the timeline and what’s the fix.

Anyone completely devoid of environmental awareness at this point is either under-educated, living in impoverished desperation, or choosing to remain intentionally blind. Lack of education and impoverished desperation are both forgivable, and illiteracy and poverty must be addressed as part a holistic environmental dialog.  But intentional blindness, whether motivated by greed or just laziness, is no excuse at all.

But that’s another human foible, isn’t it – it often takes the noise of controversy to force our eyes open. It’s called awakening.

“When people generally are aware of a problem, it can be said to have entered the public consciousness. When people get on their hind legs and holler, the problem has not only entered the public consciousness — it has also become a part of the public conscience. At that point, things in our democracy begin to hum.”

- Hubert Humphrey

By Trish | Posted in Education, Family, Hermit's Rants, Nature, Psychology, Science, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Tree Power Up: Tall Inspiration

January 30, 2010

I’ve admitted here before that I love big trees.  When we first moved here,  I actually considered affectionately naming some of our big evergreens – but I changed my mind.  Naming them would be insulting, I think – it would imply a level of intimacy we may not deserve. After all, part of my love is for their wildness. Naming things always implies dominion or control.  We own these trees in paper legality only – control of them is illusory. It would diminish them to attach names. You never really own any other living thing – you just borrow it – to look at, to cherish or befriend, to use as a resource when necessary.

I’d also hate to get too attached.  Big trees fall. Some have to be cut down.

And most of our trees grew to their glory before we arrived here – without  the need for words or names. They just are, surviving tough conditions right where they stand, beyond analysis or judgments – and they’re mighty nonetheless. Passive endurance resulting in magnificent splendor. Unintentional artistry. (Though some would say it’s intentional.)

Look upward while standing quietly beneath a big tree. You cannot avoid feeling the power. Imagine what it takes to oppose gravity to that extent, processing sunlight, circulating nutrients and water to such great heights?

Big trees demonstrate the great wisdom of nature – they bend to buffeting winds, lean toward sunlight or bow to obstacles as necessary. When partially knocked down, they slowly redirect themselves back skyward, fortifying themselves even more at the bending point. They shed the unnecessary to better endure and prosper. I admire them.

Hard to believe such giants start out smaller than this volunteer western red cedar struggling for a foothold in our driveway gravel. This 3″ youngster was a seed last summer. I pot and replant more of these little buggers than is practical, but it’s hard for me to think of them as weeds.

The great tree symbology in James Cameron’s Avatar pleased me.  Avatar’s popularity demonstrates a positive direction in our collective consciousness. As little as twenty-five years ago, I doubt if Avatar (with or without 3D) would have captured such a large audience. Twenty-five years ago, only us die hard sci-fi types would have gone. Sure, there are probably more sci-fi enthusiasts now than ever before, but Avatar goes beyond sci-fi – it touches our growing ecological and spiritual awareness – our acknowledgment of an immutable connectedness.

A serendipitious tree article showed up in Griz’ Nuts & Volts Magazine last month. An Idaho company, Voltree manufactures a bioenergy harvester which attaches to a living tree and uses the tree’s metabolic processes to create electricity. The small electrical generators do not harm the tree. (At least we don’t believe they harm the tree.) Of course, the amount of energy you can generate this way is limited – these generators are used to power passive surveillance and scientific monitoring equipment. Still, it’s a kind of symbiosis that tickles me.

Voltree’s products are the kind of green technology we’re heading toward  (very slowly) – ways to use our resources without depleting or harming them.  We are starting to make those critical connections – artistically, figuratively, literally.

Of course, you get a lot more energy (quicker) from a tree if you chop it down and burn it to heat the shelter you’ve built with it’s carcass.  (Intentional shock value.)  See my next post Tree Power Down: Timber!

By Trish | Posted in Art, Hermit's Rants, Home, Movies, Nature, Philosophy, Science, Spirituality | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Seed of a Fearless Peace

December 25, 2009

There resides within each of us
The seed of a fearless peace.
In some it sprouts
Uncalled.
For others it rests
In deep dormancy
Beneath multi-colored
Layers of life’s soil.

The wise, the lost
And the questioning
Conduct a search,
Initiated perhaps by
Suggestion from another,
By curiosity or
By sobering need.

And once found
This fearless peace
Will break soil,
Though it may wither
Without nurture
Or acknowledgement,
Needing for further growth
A careful balance of
Sustenance and liquidity,
Both oft delivered by
The very soil of life
Through which
The tender sprout
First emerged.

The highest purpose
Of this fearless peace
Is to expand outward
Breaking through to
Sunlight
In such abundance
That it may sustain itself
Beyond its lowly roots
Sometimes entangling
In celebratory union
With other emergents
In a shared dynamic,
Which in symbiotic
Expression prompts
At least one other
To conduct a search
For the seed within.

You cannot buy this seed
Of  fearless peace.
Nor can any other
Gift it to you.
A proferred trellis
May provide
A temporary brace,
Timely fertilizer helps,
As does the
Occasional flashlight.
But ultimately
You must leap
Beyond the trellis,
Beyond even the bed,
Sometimes through darkness,
Launching yourself
In self-sufficient
Commitment -
Into thin air!

Remarkably,
The leap itself
Provides something
Of an indestructible
Bridge to quiet certainty,
Leaving you thereafter
Paradoxically more grounded
Rather than less
Like you’d think.

For now
The fearless peace within
Exists beyond uprooting,
A recognized
And constant presence
Within and without,
Unshakable ever after
Which with minimal vigilance
Becomes your chosen
And preferred
State of being
And resting place.

There are many names
For this fearless peace
In the multiple
Tongues of man.
With words and rituals
For the process
Of its discovery
And cultivation.
Use caution near those
Who would exclude
All names other
Than their preferred
As less perfect
In some way.
And question those
Who use exclusion,
Or any other rule,
As an excuse to
Cultivate fear
And stray from peace
Entirely.

There resides
Within each of us
The seed of a fearless peace,
Present before any words
And thus beyond all names,
Awaiting excavation
And destined to be found
By all of us and each of us
Sooner
Or later.

Trish Wareing, (c)  2009

By Trish | Posted in Hermit's Rants, Philosophy, Poetry, Spirituality | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Loving, Liking, & Living With: The Vista from the Long Haul

December 16, 2009

Michelle Obama, to Oprah on The Christmas at the White House special (via psychobabble):
“I think we have a wonderful marriage. I love my husband.  He’s my best friend. But I always like to talk honestly about it because I think about other young couples who think there are no struggles to get here. And there [...]

Solitude, SHOULD & The Hermit Uncertainty Principle

November 22, 2009

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I admit it. One of my attractions to solitude is the free pass it provides – a free pass from should. When you live in solitude, no one cares if you’re naked or nocturnal – as long as you’re self-supporting (sometimes tough in solitude) and not bothering anyone (extremely easy in solitude). Why would anyone [...]

Life on the Cusp: The Well-Balanced Maniac

October 25, 2009

According to one friend, my October Balance post was a clear expression of my astrological sign: Libra. Well – perhaps. Personally, I file astrology under occasionalLibra fun, entertainment – and maybe an attractive piece of jewelry.  I’ve never had my chart done, I rarely invest more than a passing thought or occasional glance at my horoscope; but today, for some reason, I decided to do a little follow-up research on a comment from my youth (by a hopeful suitor).  After all, the vast annals of Astrology.com are just a few clicks away now.

My birthday means my sun sign is not simply Libra.  Having been born near the change date from one sun sign to the next, I’m actually a Libra-Scorpio Cusp.  According to my suitor (way back then):  “Libra-Scorpio Cusps are well-balanced sex maniacs.”

My reply:  “If one is going to be a sex maniac, it’s probably best to be well-balanced about it.”  Whether this fellow and I further explored this interesting label is none of your business, and whatever happened was billions of years ago anyway.

My online research today was a quick check to see if there is any astrological basis at all for the sex-maniac comment.  (I’ve long been aware of the Libran balance part of the equation.) Here’s Astrology.com’s initial paragraph about Libra-Scorpio Cusps:

Libra is the seventh sign of the zodiac; Scorpio is the eighth. After Libra’s intellectual exploration of other people, Scorpio’s interest is in discovering other people’s emotions and how they respond to the world around them. Scorpio is the sign of sex and death, the beginning and ending, and they explore these ideas from an emotional standpoint. Libra/Scorpios strive to create balance and harmony between self and other through investigation and probing. They are often strongly intuitive and penetrating. They have a need to be liked.

So since Scorpio is the sign of sex and death, and Libra goes for balance and harmony, there is some astrological legitimacy to my date’s synopsis.  Of course, I might be a well-balanced death maniac – but that was less relevant to my date’s objective.  No, I do not remember what his astrological sign was, so who knows if we were astrologically compatible – which probably didn’t really matter to either of us. I also don’t remember his name – take that little nugget of information off to wherever you wish.

Like most healthy human beings, there was a phase of my youth in which hormones and curiosity combined to rank sex quite high on the motivational priority scale of my life.  I don’t think I was ever particularly maniacal in its pursuit, though.  I think my sexual philosophy was then and is still quite well-balanced:

  1. Best when pursued within the context of a caring emotional bond, though not without its merits as an emotional-bond initiator and cultivator.
  2. Enjoy fully (both physically and emotionally). Sex is a celebration of life. If you aren’t incorporating a fair amout of smiling and laughing  (well, at least giggling) into the exchange, you may be taking sex (and possibly life) too seriously.
  3. Not worth risking your life over.

I don’t think I’ve ever been particularly maniacal about anything really:  not sex, death, money, love, politics. I lean toward the well-balanced side of the cusp – which is undoubtedly astrologically verified by the fact that my birthday’s on the Libra side of the cusp not the Scorpio.

Astrology.com”s “need to be liked” sentence seems a little off. Sure, I like to be liked, but I think my love of solitude takes me at least one rung down from NEED.

Ah-hah!  Maybe I’m maniacal about solitude?

Nah – I’m even a balanced hybrid in the hermit arena.

My wanderings into astrology today confirmed that the descriptions are general enough to apply to (and flatter) almost anyone who’s curious enough to follow the path – a worthy choice for an hour’s entertainment.  I am not passing judgment on those who are serious astrology buffs. I realize there is much more to the whole deal than simple sun signs and birthdays. If that’s where your interest takes you – go for it.

An interesting curiosity surfaced though: one of the most astrologically compatible mates for a Libra-Scorpio cusp is a Sagittarius-Capricorn cusp.

Coincidentally, my true-love, Griz, is a Sagittarius-Capricorn cusp. How about that? Worth a ponder…

“In the magical universe, there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen.” – William S. Burroughs

By Trish | Posted in Art, Family, Friends, Hermit's Rants, Humor, Spirituality | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

The Reminder: If You Could Comprehend the Physics…You’d Probably Wet Your Pants

October 16, 2009

On my routine shipping run into Stanwood this afternoon, I missed mortal injury or death by a few millimeters plus the seemingly disconnected, minor decisions of several other drivers. It’s one of those situations where if you could comprehend the physics while you’re participating and watching, you’d probably wet your pants. But what actually happens is you watch with only enough time to groan “OMG” and then it’s all over. You and everyone else has escaped unharmed, and you drive away in sort of a daze.

While you’re driving on, you think about what happened – the near miss and all the circumstances that led up to it – the hazardous speed of a dump truck driver, the carelessness of a pick-up driver on his way home from work, the fortunate carefulness of a guy pulling a loaded, four-horse trailer, and the untimely coincidence of your own presence behind the horses. It’s one of those things that changes your attitude for the rest of the day. You feel more alive because you are alive - full of gratitude that, this time, the sequence played out in your favor.

Decision No. 1: Me without my DRIVER ON. At the first intersection after leaving home, I could have pulled out in front of Horse-Trailer-Guy. There was really enough room, but even though I was on a non-congested rural road, I knew I didn’t have my driver together yet. It’s one of the hazards of frequently traversing uncongested rural roads -  you can go for a long time without thinking very hard about driving. Most of the time, doing so poses no hazard to you or anyone else. I’m not a pushy driver, generally, though I can press it when I have to. But when I know the driver hasn’t kicked in yet, I’m more cautious. So today, I let Horse-Trailer-Guy go by before I pulled onto to the next, slightly busier road behind him.

And as soon as Horse-Trailer-Guy went by, I admonished myself for not getting in front of him. He moves horses around here all the time. He’s undoubtedly a very good mover of horses – he’s cautious and slow around corners and at stops. He gives the horses time to adjust to the motion. But it’s a pain in the butt to follow him to Stanwood with no way to get around.  I was settling in to being stuck behind him for the whole trip as we approached the intersection of our “reminder.”

The intersection of our close call was where Old Highway 99 meets 300th Street NW. Old Highway 99 parallels Interstate 5 in this area and the intersection of our near demise is really an awkward, though staggered, five-point junction, with a mom & pop convenience store/gas station on one corner. There are no Stop signs on Hwy 99, but speed limits through this awkward junction are reduced from 50 to 35 mph. Horse-Trailer-Guy and I were moving north on Highway 99 where we would both turn left just before the gas station. Because we had just turned onto Hwy 99 from one of the other five points, our speed was less than 25 mph.

Decision No. 2:   Dump-Truck-Guy was hauling ass southbound on Hwy 99 at what I assess at more than 60 mph (with absolutely no slowing for the junction). His was an empty side-dumper, double tractor trailer.  It was almost 4 p.m, Friday afternoon.DumpTruckCrunch Dump-Truck-Guy was either on his way back to the barn because he had plans for Friday night, maybe he needed to make it to his son’s football game – or he was trying to get one more load in before the end of the day. He should have been on I-5 if he wanted to haul ass, but he must have thought he could bypass the state patrol, or take a shortcut on 99. He may not have been familiar with this slow-down junction, or (like so many of us on these low volume rural highways), he just wasn’t concentrating on his driving.

Decision No. 3:  Pick-Up Truck Guy was pulling out after just buying his beer and cigarettes at the convenience store. I think he was in “Friday afternoon, now-the-fun-begins, I’m-almost-home-and-the-driving-is-easy” mode. Pick-Up-Truck-Guy didn’t have a clear sight up Highway 99 or he just didn’t look at all (because, after all, we were on uncongested, quiet rural highways), but (whatever) he decided to pull out from the left into the path of the oncoming dump truck.

Decsion No. 4:  Horse Trailer Guy had a clear view of the impending disaster (which I did not initially because my vision was obstructed by the horse trailer).  Fortunately for us all – fast-thinking, Horse-Trailer-Guy pulled his rig toward the right just in time so the fast-moving dump-truck barreling down on us could swerve across the line to narrowly avoid colliding with the front end of the pick-up. It is also fortunate that Pick-Up-Truck-Guy got stopped partially into the lane and, thus, didn’t T-bone or get T-boned; and Dump-Truck Guy maintained control of his empty trailers in the swerve, even though it looked like they were heeled over on one set of wheels.  If Pick-Up-Truck-Guy did not soil himself when the wall of tractor/trailers barreled through his view out the windshield, he should have.

I was far enough behind the horse trailer that the dump truck was back in his own lane by the time he whizzed by me, but because of my alignment, I think I’m the only one who had a clear sight of what a near miss this was – there were mere inches between the tractor-trailer and the pick-up. And blink…

We all went merrily on our ways – although I did notice Pick-Up-Truck-Guy pulled back into the convenience store parking lot – possibly to tidy up a bit.

As I faithfully (and with no desire to pass)  followed Horse-Trailer-Guy the rest of the way into Stanwood, I contemplated what would have happened if the pick-up had even slightly tapped the empty dump trailers going at that velocity. Not only would the pick-up have spun or rolled to who knows where, but the trailers would undoubtedly have launched or slid right into me and the horses.  That thought put a lump in my gut for the rest of my drive.

Just a routine trip into town on a Friday afternoon.  Of course, being the thinker that I am, I spent the rest of my errand-running sojourn working on the profound themes: the fragility of life, the criticality of timing, fate vs free will and the proverbial WHEW! And, yes, I did have a glass of riesling when I got home this evening.

I’d like to report that I came home more compassionate and loving with absolute gratitude for all the joys of my life – and there was fair amount of that. But during one phase this evening, when the adrenaline had worn off, I actually got a little bitchy – sniping at Griz for not helping with the salad and inappropriately critiquing a poker move he was explaining. It was weird really – an irresistible compulsion to have my say about the inconsequential. The close call had not only enlivened my joie de vivre;  but in so pointedly reminding me of my helplessness against the fates, it had stimulated some regressive need to resolve or control small matters close at hand.

Post traumatic stress?  Hardly – because there was hardly any trauma really. But it was a tiny opportunity to imagine with compassion how difficult it must surely be for those who face real life-and-death situations daily, day-in and day-out, month-in and month-out – soldiers, rescuers, police officers – or just innocent citizens where war, disaster, or “police actions” rule their lives.

And don’t worry about Griz and me. We’re at that fortunate part of our relationship where any disagreement – even a little irrational, emotion-based bitchiness (by either of us) – is something we recover from rapidly. In fifteen minutes, we were laughing again.  It’s all Dump-Truck-Guy’s fault, anyway.

By Trish | Posted in Family, Hermit's Rants, Home, Philosophy, Psychology | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Repost: This Mountain View Is Owned By the USOC

October 9, 2009

Michael Atkins over at Seattle Trademark Lawyer recently posted an update on the USOC’s bullying tactics regarding their ownership of the word “Olympic.” The Olympic Committee is opposing trademark registration by Olympia’s newspaper, The Olympian, which has been using the name since 1982. I’m sure the USOC is most unhappy with The Olympian’s website which is accessible to people outside of  Western Washington. (Horrors!) The Olympian is actually a very small newspaper, so I doubt the site actually gets all that much interstate traffic. Clearly, the USOC is pushing for a simple and more global resolution – like changing the name of the mountain range and the state capital. I agree with Michael – “GIMME A BREAK.”

Now that Olympic fever is heating up north of the border, I’ve decided to repost my 2008 rant about this matter as a pin prick to the USOC and Washington’s esteemed congressional delegation (insert audio raspberry here):

If you’ve ever been to Seattle on a clear day and looked westward across Puget Sound, you’ve probably seen the Olympic Mountains. “The Olympics are out,” is a common signal of good weather in Seattle’s often-cloudy climate. But watch what you say! The term “Olympics” is a registered trademark of the United States Olympic Committee which vigorously defends its control over the word. Yes, even when the word is used to describe the mountains.

In 1788, English Captain John Meares saw the Olympic Mountains and found them beautiful enough to “house the gods” so he named Mount Olympus after it’s Greek counterpart.

In 1909 Teddy Roosevelt created the Mount Olympus National Monument.

In 1938 this became the Olympic National Park.

The Peninsula upon which the Olympic Mountains rest is called the Olympic Penninsula. The capital of Washington State (the gateway city to the Peninsula) is Olympia.

In 1978, Congress enacted the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act , granting the U.S. Olympic Committee trademark and licensing control over all things associated with the terms “Olympic(s)” as a means of funding United States Olympic game activities without the use of tax dollars. I concede, this is an excellent idea.

In 1998, the Act was re-upped as the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act preserving much of the original language and, if anything, strengthening the U.S. Olympic Committee’s control over all things “Olympic.” “They basically took the word Olympic out of the English language and gave it to USOC,” says Professor Bob Jarvis, who specializes in sports law at Nova Southeastern University.

In 1999, Jeff Bezos was named Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year.” (Hang on to that seemingly unrelated gem.)

The Stevens Act does make an exception for use of the Olympic name in trade names or marks when associated with the “naturally occuring mountains or geographical region of the same name that were named prior to February 6, 1998.” But, as if the restriction isn’t clear (or strong) enough, the Act goes on to LIMIT any such geographically “Olympic” enterprise to “goods or services [which] are operated, sold, and marketed in the State of Washington west of the Cascade Mountain range and [for which] operations, sales, and marketing outside of this area are not substantial.“

If you think the U.S. Olympic Committee isn’t serious about fiercely defending their monopoly on the words, complete with the attending limitations, or that it’s only concerned when the term “Olympic” clearly attempts to capitalize on an association with the Olympic Games, talk to Jason Bausher who wanted to augment his mountain-guide income and trademark a little $12 booklet “Best of the Olympic Peninsula.” Kathy Charlton, owner of Olympic Cellars Winery, recently settled a trademark dispute with the USOC. At Olympic Cellars’ website, Charlton states “Contrary to what the USOC claims, there is no confusion as to whether the name ‘Olympic’ refers to one of our businesses, the Peninsula where we’re located or the Olympic Games themselves. When you hear the name ‘Olympic Cellars Winery’ is your first thought of a swimmer racing across the pool at the Olympic Games? I don’t think so.

“About the only way one of our local businesses could ever escape the harassment of the USOC is to become a giant like AT&T, VISA, McDonalds, Nike, Bank of America or Anheuser-Busch and actually help sponsor the Olympics! And they’ll need to do that without the help of national recognition or basic use of the Internet. When someone pulls that off, I’ll be the first to raise a glass of Vino.”

The 2010 Winter Olympic Games will take place in Vancouver, British Columbia – a ferry-ride, or customs line away from Western Washington. Is the USOC’s recent zeal the result of this critical proximity? I’m not sure that makes a difference to me.

As a Washington State resident and small business owner (Tools-n-Gizmos.com) , I’m outraged that Washington State’s Congressional delegation was asleep at the wheel when this little “stay in Washington State” clause was allowed to slip through unchallenged in the Stevens Act. Western Washington State is a tech savvy place. It is the home of Amazon.com (not to mention Microsoft and innumerable other dot coms, past and present). Was the value of internet marketing (especially for a growing small business) that obscure in 1998? If so, how come Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was Time’s Man-of-the-Year in 1999?

It seems to me this “stay in Washington” restriction is abusive and needs to be reconsidered. Of course, the abused small enterprises (which are limited from growth!) can’t hire enough legal power to face off with with USOC lawyers and take the matter all the way to the Supreme Court. It’s just easier and less expensive to “submit” and change the business name or withdraw from internet marketing. It’s a little like being diagnosed with an orphan disease – the funds aren’t available for the research, and it doesn’t impact enough people for anyone with clout to care.

This is the kind of absurdity that makes me want to actually hide in the woods, not just live here. It’s a small matter, affecting few – but it’s one of those aggravating little signs of erosion that we don’t notice until the dam breaks.

“We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it a home.” – Edward R. Murrow

By Trish | Posted in Hermit's Rants, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comment (1)

Hermit Research: Pseudonyms & Tracking Collars

September 27, 2009

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I  looked out the front window this morning just in time to see two grad students fitting Griz with a tracking collar before he recovered from the effects of their tranquilizer dart.
Then I woke up.
But I know what prompted the dream: yet another hermit researcher found this blog and hoped for an interview with a “contemporary [...]