The Sanity Project

New Hampshire libraries and free speech   Recently updated !

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged liberty libraries New Hampshire on by

Writing this makes me nervous. It deals with institutions I’m close to, and it’s one of those cases where both sides look bad. But it’s important to say it, and it might have a positive effect just because I’m so close. These events happened a while ago, but I just learned about them while researching something else. (That happens a lot.)

On one side we have Arlene Quaratiello, a minor New Hampshire politician and librarian who takes a restrictive view on what libraries should carry. On the other side we have the Dudley-Tucker Library in Raymond, New Hampshire, which violated her First Amendment rights. Quaratiello, who lives in Atkinson (which is also Karoline Leavitt’s home; what is it about that town?), wrote to a local news site endorsing two candidates for library trustee. She emailed a Republican Party chapter urging them to run conservative candidates for library trustee positions. Her letter advocated “protecting our children from the increasing amount of inappropriate material available … without sacrificing the intellectual freedom that has always characterized public libraries.”

This is at least worrisome, but it’s her right in the United States to express those views. She expressed them on her own time, using her personal resources. In spite of that, the Dudley-Tucker Library, where she was Assistant Director, terminated her. The reason given was “lack of separation of personal/political values and agendas from DTL policies, procedures, and occurrences” and that she supposedly was “not able to maintain the separation between personal and Library tenets.”
(more…)

Upcoming silent film: Peter Pan in Newmarket   Recently updated !

This entry was posted in Movies and tagged movies silent movies on by

A new venue! On Wednesday, February 11, I’ll be accompanying the 1924 silent film Peter Pan at the Newmarket, NH Library! It went over well when I did it in Plaistow, and the audience participated where they were supposed to.

If Newmarket is more convenient for you than Plaistow, or if you’d just like to see it again, drop in! There’s no charge and no requirement to sign up, and there will be refreshments.

Deceptive Unitil “refund” offer by SmartEnergy 1   Recently updated !

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged New Hampshire scams on by

A few days ago I got an item in the mail supposedly offering me a $100 refund as a Unitil customer. The name on the return address was “SmartEnergy,” not Unitil, so it immediately looked fake. It is.

The text inside says:

“Your order is not automatic.

To get started, you must call:

1-800-485-4839

Your REFUND OPTIONS (choose one):
I. Mail me a $100 Visa Prepaid Card
II. Mail me a $100 refund check

SmartEnergy would like to issue you a $100 refund.

(more…)

New Hampshire’s questionable alert system

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged New Hampshire privacy technology on by

The state of New Hampshire has a system where you can sign up to get emergency alerts. In itself, that’s a good thing, but the way it’s run raises red flags. The registration site is on genasys.com, and registering requires providing more personal information than necessary. The probability is close to 1 that Genasys sells this information. It’s also easy to exploit the system to annoy people.
(more…)

Thoughts on the four dark laws of engagement

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged Internet SanityProject on by

Derek Thompson has listed four “dark laws of online engagement” that explain a lot of what’s wrong with social media, and perhaps a significant part of what’s wrong with America. He discusses their effect on people, especially young men, who are socially isolated. I’d like to look at the way they distort the information that we get on the Internet.
(more…)

ICE watching in Maine

This entry was posted in Personal and tagged ICE Maine on by

On Wednesday I learned that ICE had launched an incursion into Maine. They call it “Operation Catch of the Day,” implying that human beings are just fish to be swept up in their net. Maine is alarmingly close to home. I considered what I could do and decided that going to Maine to watch for ICE activity would be useful. Yesterday (as of Friday, when this will be posted) I drove to York, which is about an hour from home. The biggest trouble area is in Lewiston, which is twice as far, but I decided I couldn’t justify that much travel. Besides, ICE might strike anywhere in Maine.

I followed recommended precautions: Have a plan. Let people know your plans. Turn off phone face unlocking. Dress inconspicuously. Bring food and water.
(more…)

Auburn and Troy, NH: ICE hazard, seek alternate routes

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged ICE liberty New Hampshire on by

The towns of Auburn and Troy, New Hampshire, have set up “task force agreements” with ICE. According to the Boston Globe, they let the local police ” interrogate people suspected of being present in the country illegally and arrest those accused of violating immigration laws.” The ICE standard of “suspicion” includes looking foreign or speaking with a foreign accent. Accusation (by whom?) is an abnormally low bar for arrest; probable cause is normally required. The Troy police have made at least a dozen arrests for ICE. The towns of Colebrook and Carroll, in the northern part of the state, also have entered agreements with ICE, as have the New Hampshire State Police.
(more…)

Comparing four Beethoven recordings

This entry was posted in Music and tagged music on by

I’ve never been very good at noticing differences in performances of classical pieces and picking a favorite. Occasionally one really jumps out, like the Zurich Tonhalle’s recording of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, but usually the differences are subtle. It takes careful listening even to notice that there are differences. As an exercise, I picked out four recordings of a piece I know well and listened to them repeatedly to compare them. There really are differences.

The piece I picked was Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3. The recordings were:
(more…)