Archive: October 27, 2024

Trick or Treat

Sunday,  10/27/24  09:20 PM

You might be cool, but are you "Ori dressed as a Minion horizoning the fleet in the Westlake Yacht Club's Trick or Treat regatta" cool?

 
 

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Archive: October 31, 2014

boo!

Friday,  10/31/14  11:35 PM

Boo!  Happy Halloween everyone ... (and so when did ghosts start saying boo?)

The costume at right most definitely gets my vote for scariest of 2014.  IRS targeting, Benghazi, Fast and Furious, Obamacare, Solyndra, Syria, the VA, Iraq, Ebola, ... the hits just keep on coming.  Next Tuesday can't come fast enough!

Good to know: slutty Halloween costumes, a cultural history.  "Halloween was about sex before it was about 'trick or treat,' and the wonder is that we ever saw it any other way.

Personally I've detected a shift; there now seem to be more scary slash weird costumes and less plain sexy witch / caveman dressing up.  Everyone has to be something amazing.  And the influence of mobile is strong; seems like every third person is an iPhone app :) 

So be it; I will say, Facebook is always fun on Halloween.

Tonight we celebrated Halloween ... by going out to see a movie, Gone Girl.  A weird movie.  The first 2/3 was great; a good setup for a nice whodunit, in which you ping ponged between hating the guy and hating the girl more.  And then the last 1/3 blew it away; a weird unbelievable pat ending which made no sense and left you wondering "so what"?  The critics liked it but we did not. 

 

 

boo, two

Friday,  10/31/14  11:55 PM

Another kind of boo :(, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suffers deadly crash.  Crap.  Testing spaceships is fraught with peril, two steps forward, one step back.

Check out this post from Doug Messier, yesterday, before the crash:

The rubber hybrid engine did get a workout in three flight tests, but the vibrations and oscillations it produced were so severe the motor couldn't be fired for more than 20 seconds. The engine was sufficient to get SpaceShipTwo through the sound barrier, but it couldn't get the vehicle anywhere near space.

It was not until May 2014 – after spending nearly a decade on the program, and a reported $150 million on engine development – Virgin Galactic announced it would be switching to a different type of hybrid engine, one powered by nitrous oxide and plastic. They are hoping for much better performance in flight.

Flight tests with the plastic engine are set to begin shortly. It remains unclear whether the new engine will get SpaceShipTwo above the Karman line at 100 km (62 miles), which is internationally recognized boundary of space. Ten years after SpaceShipOne, its successor might not be able to replicate what its predecessor achieved.

It seems like just yesterday SpaceShipOne was collecting the Ansari X Prize for "reaching space", and yet here we are ten years later, and seemingly no closer to space tourism. 

And it must be pointed out, the 100km barrier might be the definitional boundary of "space", but the International Space Station is in low Earth orbit at 400km, 4 times as far and 16 times more difficult to reach.

Let's hope this is a learning experience and progress continues!

 
 

Archive: October 19, 2013

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Saturday,  10/19/13  04:47 PM

Today is the second anniversary of Steve Jobs' passing, and to commemorate Business Insider posted a few key quotes.

I like them all but especially this one, headed:

On your working life

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

It's always been a nice sentiment and all the more so for being true, but it's especially relevant to me just now.  Stay tuned as I will have some interesting news about *my* working life.

This quote is from Steve's amazing Stanford Commencement speech, delivered in June 2005 when he was already ill with the cancer that ultimately took his life (though we didn't know it at the time).  The speech ends, Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.  Indeed...

 
 

Archive: October 31, 2012

 

Archive: October 20, 2011

extreme yak shaving

Thursday,  10/20/11  12:07 PM

Hey y'all it's been a couple of weeks since I posted about "stuff"; just wanted you to know I am engaged in some extreme yak shaving.  (Also, I had the slight interruption of riding the Furnace Creek 508 :)

I've been loving my iPhone for a while, and more recently have begun loving my iPad too.  Although it wasn't immediately apparent why anyone with a smartphone and a laptop would want a tablet, I've slowly begun realizing the tablet form factor makes it nice for "occasional" computing in alternative locations, like my backyard, my bathroom, and ... my bed.  I can read just about anything on the iPad; emails, web pages, RSS feeds, etc., and can compose email, send messages (with IOS 5 and iMessage), and do some light editing.  But I can't blog :(

The problem isn't fundamental; it's perfectly possible to blog from an iPad.  But when *I* blog I do it in a certain way, and that way involves tools that are only usable from within Windows: SharpReader to read feeds, Photoshop to edit pictures, and Citydesk to update the blog.  This mechanism dates back eight+ years to when I started blogging, and in the intervening time I've thought about overhauling the whole thing a few times.  Now I'm biting the bullet.  My plan is to do it all from email, so I can blog from anywhere, on any device, at any time.  Of course this requires a bit of work (!) with several nested levels of things to build, and so in the meantime I'm not blogging at all. 

Except to report that I am engaged in some Extreme yak shaving.  Please stand by :)

 
 

Archive: October 31, 2010

the hunt for read October

Sunday,  10/31/10  10:10 PM

Yes, I know, I know, I missed October.  It happens.  But it was quite a month, and so I thought I'd go back and review a rather perfect 10/10...

NY 9/20: The Face of Facebook.  A fascinating look at Mark Zuckerberg... 

Zuckerberg on The Social Network:  "We build products that 500 million people see… If 5 million people see a movie, it doesn’t really matter that much.

NY 9/27: Desperately Seeking Susan.  I read this with a catch in my throat... can it really have been twenty-five years since this came out?  I had such a crush ... on Rosanna Arquette. 

NY 9/27: In Praise of Inflation.  An interesting prescription... it is odd that the government has "printed" so much money and yet rates remain low. 

Jean-Louis Gassée: The OS Doesn't Matter…  The war is over, Unix has won.  Note his closing remarks on App Stores... 

CNN Money: Fastest-growing rising stars: Intuitive Surgical.  I've been a huge fan ever since my daughter Megan was operated on by a forerunner to the DaVinci, back in 2001... 

TheScientist: Redesigning Scientific Reputation.  An interesting discussion... about a controversial subject. 

I missed 10/10/10: Happy 42 day!  (If this makes sense to you, you might be a geek :) 





 

a meme is born (NY 9/27/10)



Wired: Steven Levy on Kindles in the Tabletized World.  I have to agree; right now, the iPad is not going to replace the Kindle.  As screen technology evolves, that could change... 

DarkDaily: Tech-Savvy Doctors Are Putting Smartphones and iPads to Work in their Medical Practice.  There is no stopping the iPad juggernaut... (even if they aren't as good as Kindles for reading) 

Eric Raymond: Tetris, Torture, and the Gorilla-Arm Problem.  Aka, why the tablet form factor has advantages. 

Zeldman: The iPad as the new Flash.  "In the minds of many, the iPad is like Flash that pays."  Yep. 



 

iPads are certainly be used for publishing magazines!
what an awesome picture


If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft.  Totally great. 

Cancellara wins fourth world time trial title.  He is so good, nobody was surprised.  David Miller and Tony Martin finished 2nd and 3rd. 

Thor Hushovd wins world road racing title.  Wow, great for him.  What a terrific year for a terrific rider.  It will be great to see him in the rainbow jersey next year. 




 

rough shoulder :)


A great teatise: Colour my World.  "Colour does not exist. Not out in the world at any rate. All that exists in the world is a smooth continuum of light of different wavelengths. Colour is a construction of our brains."  Amazing when you think about it, and this post makes you... 

Tim Oren: Driving with Google's bots.  "Perhaps what we're seeing is the result of the biggest cabal of Google engineers ever, using their 20% innovation time to pull off a state-of-the-art robotics project right under the eyes and flapping ears of Silicon Valley's pundits."  That would be ... 

Too bad: Facebook's Like button used to be the Awesome button.  That would have been ... Awesome! 




 

the nesting instinct (NY 10/04/10)


FuturePundit: Love seen as pain killer.  Huh.  I must say some of the most severe pain I've experienced has been caused by love. 

Oatmeal: How to pet a kitty.  Dead on. 

Here we have the incredible Points of Control map.  Check it out... about Google and powered by Google :) 

Yay, Josh Newman is back!  Mobile Chicken Sex.  Yes of course you have to read it...  and then Get to Work.  "The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who'll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration.  Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work."  Amen. 

Scott "Dilbert" Adams ponders The "I wonder" App.  This is *so* going to happen, you can just feel it.  How long will it take?  I don't know, but 15 years ago I had to explain the Internet to everyone, and now... 




 

snatching compromise from the jaws of disaster (NY 10/04/10)



Excellent news: Coming Sooner: The Hobbit.  Who isn't waiting for this? 

These Horse's Mouth's Waves of the Day are my waves of the month :) 

Mini cannon will explode your tiny mind.  Indeed it did.  The sound track and video editing on this are superb, too. 

Jeff Atwood: The Keyboard Cult.  I must tell you, I have a 10-year-old Micron clicky keyboard [typing on it right now] but my favorite of all time was the IBM 3101, a metal keyboard you could *pound*... 

In case you missed it: Apple's 'Back to the Mac' event, in 104 seconds.  As John Gruber notes, Really great. Incredible. Beautiful. Thank you.  



 

what a great idea (NY 10/11/10)



The only five countries where pension systems can survive.  The U.S. isn't one of them.  #1 is The Netherlands... 

The Universal Robotic Hand can grip anything.  How cool is that? 

A beautiful piece in Esquire: The world's most famous brain.  Jacopo Annise is my customer, I am most proud :) 

Question of the day: Would you go to Mars and never come back?  It is definite that *someday* such choices will be available to us...  maybe I might go to Titan (and never come back).  Hmmm... 




And finally, from Bicycling magazine:
 

 

 
 

Archive: October 31, 2009

the Stonehouse

Saturday,  10/31/09  12:41 PM

So I'm back!  Got back from Washington DC yesterday, worked furiously (coding!), and then we took off for Montecito to celebrate Shirley's birthday with our good friends Kevin and Cynthia. 


heading out to dinner: Shirley, Megan, Ole

We had dinner at the Stonehouse at San Ysidero Ranch, and I must tell you it was one of the best dinners we've ever had.  I would put that place right up there with the French Laundry.  The atmosphere was amazing, from the softly lit olive trees lining the long drive up the hill, to the Stonehouse itself - an old farmhouse, perfectly decorated, to the beautiful gardens and misty views of Montecito.  And the service was impeccable.  And the food!  Shirley had a perfect Filet Mignon, I had perfect lamb, and we paired it with a pair of Mayacamus Cabernets which I must tell you were pretty close to perfect.  We have always liked Mayacamus - it is well regarded, but underrated - and boy was it fantastic.  Oh and thanks Cynthia for the wonderful cake.  A pretty excellent evening all around.

Mayacamus Cabernet
oh yeah this is the good stuff


the Stonehouse
highly recommended
we will be back :)

We spent the night, drove back this morning, and are now in full preparation for Halloween.  I do think I will squeeze in a little bike ride...

 

touring the lakes

Saturday,  10/31/09  04:05 PM

Got a chance to do a nice little ride, touring the local lakes as it turned out... and working in a couple of stiff climbs.


Westlake Lake, filled with ducks as usual

After a nice ride around Westlake, I climbed Decker Canyon, whew...  bringing me to the top of Mulholland...


Mulholland, at the top of Decker Canyon

And then down and around to Encinal Canyon, another stiff climb, whew...


top of Encinal Canyon, leading back to Mulholland

Then back across Mulholland and back down Decker, passing lovely little Lake Eleanor...


Lake Eleanor, also filled with ducks (as always)

And then finally a little detour into Sherwood, and passing Lake Sherwood...


Lake Sherwood, placid and [yes] filled with ducks

And finally back up Westlake and home!  A great little loop, 30 miles, with about 3,000' of climbing.  Perfect for pre-Halloween.  And now, this:

 

Saturday,  10/31/09  04:51 PM

A quick blogging pass before trick or treating...  (and I must say, it is kind of weird that the time hasn't changed yet, usually it gets dark around 6:00 and that when we go out, but tonight it is going to be around 7:00, huh.)

The Economist notes Falling Fertility.  "As industrialisation swept through what is now the developed world, fertility fell sharply, first in France, then in Britain, then throughout Europe and America.  When people got richer, families got smaller; and as families got smaller, people got richer."  The problem is that richer isn't better from a genetic standpoint.  As strange conundrum... 

Philip Greenspun comments: Health Insurance is a basic human right.  This is such a weird concept to me.  Clearly if we provide health benefits to people who cannot otherwise afford them, then we are talking about socialism; those who have pay for those who have not.  It is a sort of forced altruism, and this never works.  The solution has to be for society to reduce the cost of healthcare to the point where everyone - or at least almost everyone - can afford it.  This cannot be done by government intervention, it can only be done by letting the markets work.  BTW this isn't a moral issue, it is an economic issue. 

To see why this is so, try substituting something else for health care, like car ownership, as in "car ownership is a basic human right".  Okay, so that means those of us who can afford cars have to pay for those who can't.  We will actually have less money for cars as a result, and will probably not be able to afford as nice a car, just so the poorer members of our society can have one.  Does this make sense?  How about taxing everyone and then having the government give everyone cars?  Well that isn't going to work either, is it...  The best solution is to let Ford and Toyota and Tata flourish, so that they can provide low cost cars.

So, you want to be a VC, eh?  Prepare yourself for a wild ride, as this infographic from Fortune shows...  I will say that despite the tough times and uncertain future, the VC industry is not going to die; those who think so are unfamiliar with the tenacity and appetite for risk found in that group :) 

The Motorola Druid is out, and Engadget has a review.  The verdict: really nice.  Of course they compare it to an iPhone, and in some ways it is lacking in comparison, but it is a legitimate competitor.  Considering that it is on Verizon, the largest cell carrier, and that Verizon customers can't buy iPhones, I'm sure it will be successful.  Count me among those who didn't think the Android platform was going to matter, and count me among those who were wrong. 

So it is the first weekend of November.  Shopping Season!  Yep I have officially seen Christmas decorations and heard Christmas music, and the retail march is on...  I wonder how this year will stack up for retailers?  Probably a bit better than last year, but I don't think we'll be "back to normal".  Too many people are out of work, and too many others are worried about their future. 

Wow, the world's biggest ocean liner is also the ugliest.  "The Oasis of the Sea is five times larger than the Titanic, the $1.5 billion ship has seven neighborhoods, an ice rink, a small golf course and a 750-seat outdoor amphitheater.  It has 2,700 cabins and can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members."  Looks like a floating appartment building to me, with all the charm that implies...  [ via the horse's mouth

ZooBorn of the weekend: Ripley, the Barking Owl chick.  Wins "best facial expression" hands down :)  And also appears to be blogging... 

 
 

Archive: October 31, 2008

BOO!

Friday,  10/31/08  09:17 AM

Wow, here we are, Halloween and the last day of October.  BOO!

October began for me with the observation that you can't script October, made as I was recovering from being really sick.  I couldn't ride the Furnace Creek 508 as I'd planned, and pretty much everything else was unscriptable from that point, too; the financial markets melted down suddenly, dragging the U.S. into a recession, and, well:

And last but not least:

Just another month...  ho hum :)

BTW one of the cool things about my archive, which I still think is really cool, is that I can view all the posts I've made in October, all at once, and in forward chronological order.  Pretty useful when you want to write about, um, what happened in October :)

I wonder what November will bring?  In the world, the election, of course, and the post election reaction and analysis.  Closer to home, I've planned a business trip to Brazil and another to Chicago, Aperio is shipping a release, and there is 2009 budgeting to do, I will be back on my bike as much as possible, and of course we have Thanksgiving, college football, and the start of the Christmas season which given the economy will be pretty weird this year.  I'm guessing you can't script November, either...

 

 

Ole votes

Friday,  10/31/08  12:31 PM

Want to know how I voted?  Okay, here you go...

Federal Positions

  • President / Vice-President: John McCain / Sarah Palin.  I like John McCain but voted this way primarily because I cannot support Obama, due to his liberal views.  I must report that as I cast this vote I couldn't help thinking "cool, I just voted for a woman for Vice President".
  • U.S. Representative, 24th district: Elton Gallegly.  A good incumbent, and [as I always say], a red guy in a blue state.

California State Positions

  • California State Senator, 19th district: Tony Strickland.   Moving from the State Assembly where he was my representative for six years (then he hit the term limit, and his wife Audra took over, see next bullet).  Good guy, I like him.  We hear from him a lot about what he likes and doesn't like, and why; I may not agree with all of it, but I like the transparency.
  • California State Assembly, 37th district: Audra Strickland.  She succeeded her husband Tony (see above) when he was term-limited, has similar views and has done a similar good job (with similar good communication).  Having her and her husband in the Assembly and Senate, respectively, working together (presumably!) will help.

Local Positions

  • Conejo Valley Unified School District: Scott Lamp + John Andersen.  None of my kids attend Conejo Valley schools anymore (they attend Oaks Christian, a private High / Middle School), but of course this still matters a lot.  Scott is running on getting rid of the weird math program they've been experimenting with and going back to the state curriculum; that's good enough for me.  And I like the way John laid out his views in the sample ballot (not to mention, I agreed with them :).
  • Thousand Oaks City Council: Tom Glancy + Jacqui Irwin.  Both incumbent members of the City Council.  Thousand Oaks is really well run, the City Council is doing a great job, and all the current members deserve re-election.
  • Calleguas Water District: Scott Quady.  As an environmental scientist, he should be in a good position to bring some science to the art of supplying our area with water...

California State Ballot Measures

  • 1A - No.  This is a bond act for new passenger trains.  I would love to have better trains in California, but we can't afford it.  This kind of thing is going to have to be privately financed.
  • 2 - No.  Standard for confining farm animals.  I love animals but this is not the sort of thing for which we need laws.  We have too many restrictions as it is.  (I can't help it; every time I say "I love animals" I think "especially medium rare, with a wine reduction sauce".  Sorry.)
  • 3 - No.  Children's hospital bond act.  Uh, this is tough, I am really all for having more and better health care, but I really don't think public money is the way to go.  And, we can't afford it.  Sorry.
  • 4 - No.  Prohibits abortion for minors until 48 hours after notification of parent.  Absolutely no.  If a teen doesn't want her baby, she should not have it, period.
  • 5 - No.  Increase spending on rehabilitation of non-violent drug offenders.  I'd rather spend the money on children's hospitals, but I already said no to that, so this has to be no.
  • 6 - No.  Increase in funding for police and law enforcement.  I'm sure this would be useful, but I can't believe it is essential, and we're poor people in California these days.
  • 7 - No.  Renewable energy generation.  Requires government-owned facilities to generate 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010.  Setting aside the issue of whether this is even possible, it doesn't seem like a good idea to make energy more expensive right now.  This is a classic example of overreaching with government legislation.
  • 8 - No.  Eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry.  Setting aside whether you support gay marriage rights (I do, BTW, really, who cares if gay people want to marry?) this is not an issue for state law.  We have too many laws telling us what we can and can't do already.  The education provisions of this are onerous too; it tells schools what they can and can't teach.
  • 9 - Yes.  Victim's rights, parole changes (aka "Marsy's Law").  This seems like a set of good changes; I can't quite parse all the impact, but as I read about who is in favor and who is opposed, I mostly agree with those in favor on other issues also.
  • 10 - No.  Government support for alternative fuel vehicles.  I am 100% in favor of alternative fuel vehicles, and 100% opposed to using government money to subsidize their adoption.  Let the markets decide.
  • 11 - Yes.  Redistricting initiative.  Changes authority for establishing state office boundaries from elected officials to a commission.  Absolutely.  We need to take control over districting from the people who represent those districts.  Right now the gerrymandering is way out of hand.
  • 12 - No.  Veterans bond act.  I am a big supporter of veterans and respect them and thank them for everything they've done for all of us, but this is not a good use of state funds at a time when those funds are under severe pressure.

Local Measures

  • T - No.  Term limits for Ventura County Supervisors.  I'm not a big fan of term limits.  If an individual performs in their position and gets reelected by their constituents, good for them.

Don't you just love absentee ballots?  So much easier to do this ahead of time in the comfort of your office, with Google to hand, than to do it in the rush of election day in some little polling booth.

Oh, and I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if you don't feel like voting and/or don't know who or what you're voting for, DON'T VOTE.  You'll only dilute mine :)

 

 
 

Archive: October 31, 2007

 

Archive: October 15, 2006

Ole votes

Sunday,  10/15/06  03:38 PM

I spent this afternoon voting, in the comfort of my [home] office, with football playing in the background.  Picture me browsing to websites, reading the Official Voter Information Guide and the candidates' statements in the Sample Ballot, and actually spending time thinking about the issues.  Weird, isn't it?

I know, most people don't do this, most people have never heard of most of the candidates and don't trouble to inform themselves, most people don't understand the issues they're voting about.  So be it, our system is not perfect.

Anyway, here are my votes in case you wanted to know...

California State positions

  • Governor - Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • Lieutenant Governor - Tom McClintock
  • Secretary of State - Bruce McPherson.  Tough call over Debra Bowen, even though she's way liberal.
  • Controller - Tony Strickland.  An uninformed decision but I like his website.
  • Treasurer - Claude Parrish.  This is a vote against Bill Lockyer.
  • Attorney General - Chuck Poochigian.  A vote against Jerry Brown.
  • Insurance Commissioner - Steve Poizner.  A vote against Cruz Bustamante.
  • Member, State Board of Equalization, 2nd district - Bill Leonard.  Doesn't like the parcel tax (prop 88), neither do I.
  • State Assembly, 37th district - Audra Strickland.  I agree with her positions on virtually every issue.

Federal positions

  • Senator - Dick Mountjoy.  I like him, plus a vote against Dianne Feinstein, who I voted for originally but who has disappointed me over and over and moved to the left while in office.
  • Representative, 24th district - Elton Gallegly.  He's been a great representative for a red district in a blue state.

Judicial positions

  • Joyce Kennard - Yes.
  • Carol Corrigan - Yes.
  • Robert Mallano - Yes.
  • Frances Rothschild - Yes.
  • Roger Boren - Yes.
  • Victoria Chavez - No.  A thousand times no.  No on her dad, too, except he's not on the ballot.
  • Patti Kitching - Yes.
  • Richard Alrich - Yes.
  • Norman Epstein - Yes.  Liberal but smart.
  • Thomas Willhite - Yes.
  • Nora Manella - Yes.
  • Steven Suzukawa - Yes.
  • Richard Mosk - No.  On the Christopher Commission and Iran - United States Claims Tribunal.  Not real world.
  • Sandy Kriegler - Yes.
  • Arthur Gilbert - Yes.  Has a blog :)
  • Dennis Perluss - Yes.  A Davis appointee but surprisingly rational anyway.
  • Fred Woods - Yes.  Solid citizen.
  • Laurie Zelon - No.  She and Madeleine Flier are flaming liberals, both appointed by Davis.
  • Candace Cooper - No.  Not enough on the web about her considering how long she's been on the court (appointed by Davis in 2001).
  • Madeleine Flier - No.  See Laurie Zelon above.

Community positions

  • Community College District - Cheryl Heitmann.  Seems to be doing a good job.
  • Conejo Valley School District - Mike Dunn, Pat Phelps, Tim Stephens.  Based mostly on statements in voter guides.
  • Thousand Oaks City Council - Dennis Gillette, John Diguiseppe, Bob Wilson.  I like the current council, our city is in great shape.  I'm voting incumbents.
  • Conejo Recreation and Parks - Joe Gibson, Susan Holt, Mike Berger.  Based on voter guide.

We interrupt my vote for a rant.  Why oh why do we have voter information published in Spanish?  There is one official language in California, and it isn't Spanish.  I'm Dutch, why don't we publish voter information in Dutch?  There must be people from hundreds of countries speaking thousands of languages living in California; why not publish voter information in every used language?  It doesn't make sense.  People who can't speak English or comprehend written English should not vote.  Simple as that.  Okay, now back to voting...

State propositions

  • 1A - No.  I think gas taxes probably should be used for transportation improvements, but I don't like earmarked taxes.  Let the Governor and Legislature have flexibility to reallocate when necessary.
  • 1B - Yes.  $20B bond issue for state and local transportation improvements.  Although there's an argument that we shouldn't use bonds for this stuff ("borrowing against the future") the fact is that these investments are needed and we can't fund them out of tax revenue, and shouldn't choke economic growth by raising taxes.  So...
  • 1C - No.  $3B bond issue for housing and development programs.  Unlike 1B, It isn't clear that these investments really are investments, or whether they're needed.
  • 1D - No.  $10B bond issue for school infrastructure.  Unlike 1B, I don't think school infrastructure is a one-time upgrade; rather, this is ongoing maintenance and investments needed, and should be funded from tax revenues.
  • 1E - Yes.  $4B bond issue for flood management projects.  This feels like 1B to me, so I'm for it.

Note: 1A through 1E are generally being promoted as a package, supported by [among many others] Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  I have chosen to vote for them a la carte...  despite all being bond issues they have less to do with each other than supporters of the package claim.

  • 83 - No.  Increased punishments and restrictions on sex offenders.  If I thought this would help prevent sexual abuse I'd vote for it, but I don't, so this would be just more money thrown away on bad people.
  • 84 - No.  $5.4B bond issue for water quality and flood control.  I might not understand this well enough to make the right decision, but it feels to me like a special interest thing which isn't really needed.
  • 85 - No.  Makes it more difficult for minors to get an abortion.  I think anyone who is pregnant and doesn't want a baby should get an abortion, especially minors who are less likely to care for the kid.
  • 86 - No.  Excise tax on cigarettes.  I don't like "sin taxes" and this one especially doesn't seem to make sense.  Seems to have special interest language in it, too, to protect hospitals from antitrust laws.
  • 87 - No.  $4B tax hike to fund alternative energy [sic].  I am a big fan of alternative entropy but I don't think government subsidy is the way to get there.  Instead let's remove government barriers to private enterprise solutions.  Anyway this kind of tax is a waste of money.
  • 88 - No.  This is the infamous parcel tax.  Although this is a way to carve back on Prop 13, which was a big mistake, we should change Prop 13, not enact new taxes in different configurations to work around it.  Also, it isn't progressive (that is, doesn't scale to the value of the parcel), which seems unfair.  Backed by Reed Hastings (Netflix) and John Doerr (Kleiner Perkins).
  • 89 - No.  Public campaign funding.  I don't think candidates' campaigns are a good use of public funds, sorry, even though I understand and somewhat accept the argument that in the absence of public funding, rich candidates have an advantage.  I think they do anyway (!), and people should raise money for their campaigns based on merit.
  • 90 - No.  An anti-Kelo attempt to restrict public seizure of private property.  I am sympathetic to the intent of this proposition, but unfortunately it goes too far by requiring government to compensate property owners for actions which change the value of their property, as well as actions which seize the property.  This could trigger a rash of lawsuits and restrict governments from conducting business.  ("You didn't put the new school next door to my property, so it is now less valuable!")

Thanks for your attention!

By the way, I am not one of those people who say to everyone: "you should vote!"  Instead, if you don't know what you're voting about, don't vote!  If you know the people and understand the issues, and we disagree, so be it.  But if you don't know the people and don't understand the issues, then please don't dilute my vote with yours.

 
 

Archive: October 31, 2005

 

Archive: October 31, 2004

New Years' Resolution

Sunday,  10/31/04  10:29 PM

Last year in December I decided that in 2004 I was going to lose some weight.  I didn't.

If you met me you wouldn't know it, but I'm over 200 lbs.  I'm 5'10" and kind of stocky so I hide it pretty well, but really there's no way I should weigh 200+.  Over the past fifteen years my weight has been approximately year-1800; in 1989 I weighed 189, in 1995 I weighed 195, and by 2000 I weighed 200.  From there I ballooned to as much as 210, and it was not good.  So last December I resolved I was going to gradually get myself under 200, and then under 190.  If I could do that I might need some new clothes but I'd be content.

Not me - yet

Well it didn't happen.  I get plenty of exercise, but unfortunately my wife is a terrific cook, we love to eat out, and I often stay up late working and munching as I do so.  So I've stayed pegged at around 205.  Clearly something has to change.

Therefore I've decided to make a New Year's Resolution.  I hereby resolve that by January 1, 2005 I will weigh less than 200 lbs.  From there I want to weigh less than 190 by January 1, 2006.  We'll see whether I can pull it off.

Since I've been stable at about 205 for two years, I'll have to change something to make this happen.  I've decided to change one thing.  I'm going to eat breakfast.  This might seem a bit weird but bear with me.  According to experts you're supposed to eat three square meals per day, and avoid munching in between.  I don't do this at all, I'm lucky if I eat two.  I hardly ever eat breakfast.  Sometimes I eat lunch, but often I just graze during the day.  Then I eat dinner, and I keep grazing.  Maybe if I eat breakfast I'll avoid grazing so much, and that will help.

I know - what a stupid blog post.  Who cares about my weight or my eating habits?  But I figure a bit of public pressure can't hurt.  From time to time I'm going to post my progress, and you can make fun of me.  We'll see what happens...

 

Escher for real

Sunday,  10/31/04  11:07 PM

This is awfully cool - these guys make 3D sculpture which looks like M.C.Escher's amazing 2D illustrations.  The sculpture is designed on a computer and then printed with a 3D printer.  As Neo would say: Whoa.


Escher -Belvedere
the real thing


"Escher for real"
looking like Belvedere


"Escher for real"
how it was done

And for extra credit, these guys made Belvedere out of Lego.  Double whoa.

In an even more amazing act of Lego legerdemain, they also made "Ascending and Descending":


Escher - Ascending and Descending


"Escher in Lego"

Whoa.

 
 

Archive: October 31, 2003

Friday,  10/31/03  12:37 PM

What a hectic week.  At the Microsoft PDC, traveling to San Diego, Shirley's birthday, and now Halloween!  Whew.  But it's all happening (anyway)...

Happy Halloween!

Yahoo has amazing pictures of the California fires taken from space.  Looks like the weather has changed and the firefighters are finally getting the upper hand.  750,000 acres have burned, claiming 3,700 structures, and 20 lives have been lost.  The fires aren't contained yet but with snow forecast for this weekend, the end is in sight.  Wow.

Don Park has similar pictures from NASA.  "It's the Santa Ana wind, high deserts' middlefinger to Pacific Ocean."

The Ventura County Star carries these pictures from readers, closer to the ground.

And MODIS has great maps of all the fires....

If you don't live in Southern California, it might be hard to imagine such a severe change in weather.  Tuesday we had 95° heat with dry 40mph winds.  Friday we have 45° with a cool breeze and patchy showers.  Yep, it is a desert.

Ted Castronove pointed out Earth Fires Destabilize Virtual Governments.  "In other words, a firestorm has knocked out the government that rules over 750,000 accounts.  There will be no police officers on the streets tonight."  Fascinating.  [ via Cory Doctorow ]

Speaking of virtual worlds, is there a there there?  Wired looks at "there" and wonders.  "One of There's main objectives is to attract women.  The theory goes that women will attract men into the world, while the reverse is not true."  Has anyone been there?  What's it like?

California isn't the only place on fire, consider the sun, which just erupted with one of the largest solar flares ever recorded.  If you're having trouble with cell phone reception, this could be why.

[ Later: there's another flare coming, too.. ]

Rand Simberg wonders if there are signs of intelligent life in U.S. space policy.  There are rumors President Bush may redirect national efforts back to the Moon, with Mars as a more distant goal (in time and space).  We'll stay tuned...

Steven Den Beste posted a characteristic long and rambly discussion of the Great Chipmunk Space Race.  Interesting as orbital relativity may be, skim through to the review of the mechanics of "space elevators", it's good stuff.

AdAge: Why PVR Technology is Good for Marketers.  "In fact, TiVo and other PVRs are a boon to marketers. It's only the broadcast networks that are in trouble."  Yep.  (boldface is mine.)  [ via Matt Haughey ]

Oh, and the Pioneer DVD recorders with built-in Tivo are out!  They look very nice.  Now you can make digital backups of content recorded from broadcast channels.  No ethernet jacks, though; I think the importance of IP distribution of video is still unclear.  To some.

And here we have a DVD recorder which uses Windows Media 9 compression.  This enables it to record 6 hours of video at "DVD quality", and up to 15 hours with less quality.  The race is on - WMA vs. MPEG.  Who will win?  You will!

Microsoft announced Portable Media Center, an architecture for digital media players to be available in the second half of 2004.  Media as in video, presumably.  So when will the videoPod be out?

Adam Curry posted some great pictures of the Concorde's last flight.  It might have been un-economic, but what a beautiful machine.

From MIT comes "memory glasses"; "Whatever you need to remember is programmed into a tiny computer that you wear.  The computer sends messages in the form of light to a mini TV screen on the glasses.  The messages -- like someone's name, or a word like keys or medicine -- flash before your eyes at 180th of a second. It's too fast for the eyes to notice, but not the brain."  Excellent.  I actually think this type of technology will be used for a lot more than memory.  Imagine looking at a person and having their identity recognized automatically and all the online information about them flash up on a screen.  It will happen.

Want to know whether you're male or female?  Among other ways to tell, you can use the Gender Genie.  Enter a block of text and it will tell you the likely gender of the author.  Cool.

Daring Fireball skewers Proteron’s Samuel Caughron.  "Oh, really?  For hundreds of millions of users, the feature [command-tab] has existed for over 10 years, after it debuted in version 3 of Microsoft Windows."  Don't you just love a nice fisking?

Driving while stupid, from aptly-named collision detection.  "To use two mobile phones is the height of stupidity."  Especially when Sprint's service for Treo 600s incorporates three-way calling :)

wholemovement is a site devoted to origami made from paper plates.  Check it out, absolutely amazing!

CNN reports new shopping carts may talk to you.  Oh no!  Just the other day I was in a market with TV monitors playing ads aimed at people standing in line to check out.  I'm not going back to that market.

Finally, the brain-teaser of the day, courtesy of David Burbridge:

"Imagine a cube, which is going to be cut in two by a straight saw cut.  The saw-cut section, the raw face of the cut, can clearly be of various shapes, a square, or triangular (if a corner were cut off).  How would you cut the cube so that the section may be a perfect plane hexagon?"

I'll post the solution tomorrow...  [ Later: not quite tomorrow! ]