Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Substitute Teacher Workshop scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed until October 5, 2023. Spruce Mountain Adult Ed will be in touch with registered students. Sorry for the inconvenience!
All posts by Walter
Meeting Mrs. Miller!
Meeting Mrs. Miller is a story I wrote for the Blog “Amish America” run by Eric Wesner. I’ve been a long-time fan because it’s one of the most credible Amish-related sites on the Internet! I’m honored to have contributed!
For those who are “local,” Mrs. Miller is an Old Order Amish woman who is part of a fairly new Amish Community in the Corinth, Maine area. Stop by and say “Hello!” As I mentioned in the article, when I told her I was promoting her on the Internet, she said, “I’ve heard of that.” I’m not sure she fully appreciates how lucky she is on that point–there are days when I wish I wasn’t so familiar with it.
But then, how would you know about her and her stand if it weren’t for the Internet? Just don’t buy all her bread before I get there, please! She also runs out of homemade butter quickly.
Can It, Please!
I recently whined on Facebook about the number of email assaults I receive regarding real estate, noting that most violate Federal Law and ethical considerations. I also suggested that I might write a blog post highlighting some of the provisions of the “CAN-SPAM Act.” Since the Facebook post received a few (very few) “likes,” I am proceeding.
Real Estate Peeps may feel free to ignore it but do so at your own peril. When you send emails regarding listings and open houses to groups of people, it is considered commercial email, and the CAN-SPAM Act regulates it.
The CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act) is a U.S. federal law enacted in 2003 to regulate commercial email messages and prevent spam. Here’s a summary of its essential requirements:
- Unsubscribe Option: Commercial emails must include a clear and conspicuous way for recipients to opt out of future emails. The unsubscribe mechanism must be functional for at least 30 days after sending the email. This is one of the most common violations I see.
- Identification: The email must clearly identify itself as a commercial message and include accurate sender information. Sender information includes the sender’s physical postal address. Note that you can run, but you cannot hide.
- Deceptive Subject Lines: Subject lines must accurately reflect the content of the email. Misleading or deceptive subject lines are prohibited. This should be obvious.
- Sending Practices: It’s prohibited to use false or misleading header information, use deceptive routing or relay techniques, or employ any other deceptive means to hide the origin of the email. Again, you can run, but you cannot hide.
- Honor Opt-Out Requests: Once a recipient opts out, the sender has ten business days to honor the request. The sender cannot transfer the recipient’s email to another entity for sending additional emails.
- Monitoring of Third Parties: Companies using third-party marketers to send emails on their behalf are still responsible for ensuring that those emails comply with CAN-SPAM. You can delegate the job but not the responsibility.
- Penalties: Violations of the CAN-SPAM Act can result in substantial penalties, including fines per email sent in violation of the law. The most significant penalties are alienating potential clients and losing the respect of others.
I think the most significant penalties are alienating potential clients and losing the respect of others.
Regarding penalties, here’s a funny story for you. I (and, I’m sure many others) received an unsolicited email from a self-proclaimed marketing expert who promised to increase my business geometrically. It did not contain much humility and assured me the expert knew many marketing secrets and tricks. It also violated a number of the provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act.
I figured out how to reply to it (not usually a good idea, but I thought it would be entertaining), expressing interest in the magic offered, particularly given that the marketing the expert was doing on their own behalf violated Federal Law on many points.
I have not heard from the SPE (Self Proclaimed Expert) since.
It’s important to note that this summary provides a general overview of the CAN-SPAM Act, and there may be additional details and nuances in the full text of the law. It’s essential for businesses engaging in email marketing to understand and comply with the Act’s requirements to avoid legal consequences.
Note this does not address the advertising rules enacted by the Maine Real Estate Commission, other federal and state marketing regulations, or company policy.
When Artificial Intelligence Isn’t…
Sometimes, you have to see the humor in it.
I’ve not been particularly fearful of the increasing use of AI. Some of my writer colleagues are freaking out. While I’m certainly not an expert, I think an essential limitation of AI is the linear aspect–at least at this point.
There’s a fundamental difference between “intelligence” and “thinking.” Intelligence means knowing you don’t start sentences with a contraction. But a thinking writer will do so to make a point. (See what I just did there?)
So here’s a story for you. I received a $50 debit card thanks to a settled class action suit. It could only be used for online purchases, functioning like a prepaid credit card. The instructions warned that the transaction would be denied if an attempted purchase was more than the balance on the card.
I purchased using the card for $48.52, leaving a $1.48 balance on it. My financial thinking hated acknowledging that I would be “losing” that $1.48 unless I made an online purchase for less than that.
This is not too complicated so far, right?
A month later, I received an email advising me that my $12.76 purchase was denied because it exceeded the balance on the card. That would make sense, except that I hadn’t used the card. So the most logical conclusion to me (and, I’m sure, you) was the card has been “compromised.” We are both intelligent and thinking.
So I emailed my concern to the card provider. “Noemi” almost immediately advised that I’d been assigned a case number and would be hearing soon. (Apparently, Noemi must follow a proscribed, linear system to pretend it can think. )
When the reply came, AI generated it (emphasis on Artificial), reminding me that I was not allowed to make purchases that exceeded the balance, etc. It insulted my intelligence, but I reminded myself our relationship wouldn’t have much emotion. Noemi isn’t concerned about my feelings.
After some thinking (there’s that word again), I realized my only risk here was $1.48, which I’d already determined I would lose. But for the entertainment value, I continued to converse with Noemi via email.
Noemi continued sending me useless information reflecting its lack of understanding of my emails and inability to think.
ME: “I’m reporting this because there’s a problem with your system and this compromised card. The good news is the system denied the charge.”
NOEMI: “Please contact the vendor to dispute the charge.”
I briefly considered additional experimentation. Could I find a keyword for Noemi to recognize and generate a different response? I suspect that will become a required skill in the future, but I didn’t see much to gain this time.
One thing that does scare me a bit is that many humans are adopting this linear thinking pattern. I remember a conversation during COVID with a doctor’s office that was refusing to see me because “You have symptoms of COVID.”
I replied, “But I tested negative. The symptoms are attributed to my COPD.” (I should add this was a routine, non-essential visit.)
The human replied, “I’m sorry, but our policy is that we don’t see patients with COVID symptoms.” I thought her voice had a robotic tone.
I said, “Can you take a message for the doctor?” (Artificial intelligence likes closed-end questions that require a “yes” or “no” answer.) “Please advise the doctor that she will never see me again since I will always have these symptoms.”
Several days later, I received a call advising they had changed their policy and I could please come in next Tuesday.
So the good news is the bad news. AI doesn’t think like humans do–that’s the good news. But humans sometimes “think” the way AI does–that’s the bad news. I’m more concerned with human thinking than artificial intelligence. How about you?
The News is Where You Find It
We recently returned from vacation—most of it spent in “Amish Country” in Pennsylvania. I do have some stories to tell. (Search the site using the keyword “Amish.”)
As I do every year, I picked up a copy of The Budget newspaper. The Budget is a weekly newspaper published in Ohio for and by members of various plain Anabaptist Christian communities, including the Amish, Amish Mennonite, Beachy Amish, and plain Mennonite and Brethren communities.
There is no online version, and they do not maintain a website. The only way to subscribe is to send a note with a check. That will not be surprising if you know much about the “plain people.” What may surprise you is that it has been around since 1890 and, in spite of the failure rate of most print newspapers, shows no signs of weakening or losing “market share.” According to at least one source, it is one of the largest paid weekly circulation newspapers in the country. (This is an excellent article about The Budget!)
Since this is not going to qualify as a heavily researched article, suffice it to say that the Amish are organized into an estimated 600 districts around the country and Canada. I’m mentioning that because the newspaper is structured based on those districts. A simple description is that “scribes” (reporters) from each district submit news about their district each week for publication. It appears that most articles are submitted by snail mail or fax machine. (Most Amish are not big fans of technology.)
For one interested in communication and newsletter publishing, it’s a fascinating publication on a number of points. To oversimplify, it’s fascinating that it works and how it works. I’ve speculated that it works in a large part because of the absence of technology. But more importantly, the publishers understand and meet the needs of their market. A typical report from a district will include important details like which family hosted church most recently, who is getting married, who is recovering from illness or an accident, who is visiting relatives, and who is being visited by relatives. There’s often a mention of the weather and how the crops are doing.
Amish beliefs and culture place a great deal of importance on the family and the community. Amish couples may have as many as fifteen children in the more conservative groups, Six to eight is generally accepted as the average. The Budget helps those families stay connected even as family members move to another district.
The editors of The Budget know the information critical to maintaining a strong community, and they provide it. I recall one article reporting a recent farm accident and listing the schedule for the neighbors who are helping.
So where do we Englisch (non-Amish) find information about our families and communities? Before you answer “social media,” I’ve recently seen the suggestion that we should drop the word “social” and call it, more accurately, “media.” Given the algorithms, Facebook’s tendency to decide what users should see, what is relevant, and the emphasis on advertising, it’s probably fair to say families and community are not a high priority or value for the social media providers.
Is it at least interesting (if not concerning) non-Amish society isn’t starving for the information critical to maintaining strong communities? Is this a reflection of our society or a missed opportunity? That seems to be something worthy of thought.