California Special Election, May 19, 2009 — Voter’s Guide From RTL

Keeping this short,  a buddy of mine (RTL) recently emailed his voter’s guide for the upcoming California Statewide Special Election.  And in a somewhat rare event, we agree on almost every measure to vote "NO ", with the exception of 1F where I’m not sure RTL explains himself well enough.  I’ve added my comments to 1F in brackets [] below RTL’s explanation.  So, without further ado, we give you the elocutionist’s 2009 Voter’s Guide.  (Should that be voters’ guide?  Kidding.)

…begin quoted text…

I was going to wait until we got closer to the Special Election, but many of the localities are using mail in ballots so I had to send this early.

You’ve received RTL’s Special Election Voter Guide!

I’ve read every bill the state is proposing so you don’t have to.  It is absolute legalese garbage,  which is what happens when you send a bunch of lawyers to Sacramento.

The key to 1A is knowing that car registration doubled and sales taxes increased this year, and these taxes will stay in effect for 2 more years.  Don’t even think for a second that a spending limit is worth paying higher taxes for 2 years.  Californian’s passed spending limits in 1979 and 1990 to no avail.

RTL says NO on 1A

1B is $9.3 Billion funding for Kindergarten through junior college, from the increased taxes that were just passed.  Currently, we spend almost $72 billion on k-12.  In 2006 it was around $8400 per student, which for a class of 30 is $250,000 per classroom.  Assuming the teacher is lucky and makes $50,000 of that, where is the other $200K going?  They don’t need more money they need to get rid of the middlemen whetting their beak off the taxpayers.

RTL says NO on 1B

1C "Modernizes" the lottery so that it can make $5 billion dollars more.  The lottery is a joke, it was created in 1984 to help pay for education.   I saw one book in my 13 years that said, "paid for by California lottery."  It is really just a tax on the stupid.  I think someone wants a sweetheart deal from the director of the lottery.  The bill is filled with all sorts of talk of removing requirements for bids from suppliers and contractors,

"This bill would delete the requirement that the director award
contracts to the responsible supplier submitting the lowest proposal."  awesome!

RTL says NO on 1C

1D takes all the sin tax money you spend on fine cigars and cigarettes that were going to teach kids not to smoke and county health programs and allows the state to redistribute the funds to programs that they can’t afford to pay for.

"(d) The California Children and Families Trust Fund shall be used
to provide direct health care services, human services, including
services for at-risk families who are involved with the child welfare
system administered by the county welfare department, and direct
early education services, including preschool and child care."

Can you guess where this is going?

RTL says NO on 1D

1E diverts money from a mental health prop that passed in 2004 [prop 63 ].  (Why we keep passing these propositions that cost us more money I’ll never know.)  It was passed to pay for those people, not to jack their funds to cover the general fund.

RTL says NO on 1E

1F says that legislators cannot receive raises when there is a deficit.  There has been a deficit for years, so there has to be something to it.  Plus all of them voted for this initiative to be on the ballot.  I don’t trust it.  Plus it says if there is a negative balance in the Special Fund For Economic Uncertainties , what the hell is that?  How about if there is a deficit in the General Fund?

[Editor’s Note : 1F says no state officer’s annual salary shall increase if the Director of Finance certifies, based on estimates, that the "rainy day fund" will have a negative balance greater than or equal to roughly one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000).  Medical, dental, insurance, and other similar benefits would still be eligible for an increase.  A YES vote on 1F is a way to voice your frustration, which the legislators know and why they all voted to have the initiative on the ballot — it would have been bad press to vote against it, making the naysayer look greedy and unsympathetic to the situation.]

"This measure would prohibit the commission from adopting in a
fiscal year a resolution that would increase the salary of Members of
the Legislature or other state officers if the Director of Finance
determines that there will be a negative balance in the Special Fund
for Economic Uncertainties at the end of that fiscal year."

RTL says NO on 1F

Hope that helps, leave me a comment if you have any questions.

Have a great day!

References
California Special Election Policy Report
Per pupil spending
Total California School Spending

—
Sent from my crappy computer on my desk

…end quoted text…

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Don't Write These Words

In my college-going days, one of my Software Engineering courses had a professor who put a sound deal of emphasis on the documentation side of programming — the written description of the solution to the problem our software was trying to solve. For a wannabe English minor with a focus in grammar like myself, his courses were a nice break from all the number- and theory-oriented course load required of the curriculum. I don’t know if said professor is still teaching, and I’m not that concerned, but he was one of the ones who left me with something worth remembering, and that was his list of words we weren’t to use in our writing, the "bad words list." (Surprisingly or not, it’s one of those handouts I’ve held onto all these years later, and I still make some kind of effort not to include those words in my writing, but then I also chuckle a bit when I notice that I have included one.) Long story short, here’s the list as last updated in November 1997:

Bad Words List

Avoid using these words in documents and on tests. They convey little
information and won’t help the reader understand.

  • and/or, etc., misc.

    • It is always possible to re-write the sentence to remove these vague terms.

  • basically, basic

    • A common speech filler; in a document, it is of the same genre as generally and is basically unclear.

  • compatible

    • These are hundreds of different opinions on this word. Say what you mean.  (e.g. The computer must be able to run Doom.)

  • easy, easier, easiest, easily, simply, hard, harder, hardest

    • These are impossible to test. State some specific number to write a clear sentence.

  • efficient, more efficient, less efficient

    • Unless you are discussing furnaces, this word is vague. Say
    what you mean.

  • flexible, flexibility

    • Unless you are discussing gymnastics, this word is vague. Say
    what you mean.

  • quickly, more quickly, less quickly, fast, faster

    • Same problem as easy.

  • maximize, minimize, optimize

    • These are precise in mathematics; in English they are basically unclear.  State clearly what parameters you are trying to maximize or minimize.

  • module, modular, modularity

    • These terms have a wide variety of definitions, probably more than compatible.

  • user friendly

    • Are you kidding?

  • usually, generally, should, probably

    • These are all of the same, unclear, genre. Write what you mean.   Document readers hate these words.

  • very

    • If emphasis is needed, use a precise word.

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Don’t Write These Words

In my college-going days, one of my Software Engineering courses had a professor who put a sound deal of emphasis on the documentation side of programming — the written description of the solution to the problem our software was trying to solve. For a wannabe English minor with a focus in grammar like myself, his courses were a nice break from all the number- and theory-oriented course load required of the curriculum. I don’t know if said professor is still teaching, and I’m not that concerned, but he was one of the ones who left me with something worth remembering, and that was his list of words we weren’t to use in our writing, the "bad words list." (Surprisingly or not, it’s one of those handouts I’ve held onto all these years later, and I still make some kind of effort not to include those words in my writing, but then I also chuckle a bit when I notice that I have included one.) Long story short, here’s the list as last updated in November 1997:

Bad Words List

Avoid using these words in documents and on tests. They convey little
information and won’t help the reader understand.

  • and/or, etc., misc.

    • It is always possible to re-write the sentence to remove these vague terms.

  • basically, basic

    • A common speech filler; in a document, it is of the same genre as generally and is basically unclear.

  • compatible

    • These are hundreds of different opinions on this word. Say what you mean.  (e.g. The computer must be able to run Doom.)

  • easy, easier, easiest, easily, simply, hard, harder, hardest

    • These are impossible to test. State some specific number to write a clear sentence.

  • efficient, more efficient, less efficient

    • Unless you are discussing furnaces, this word is vague. Say
    what you mean.

  • flexible, flexibility

    • Unless you are discussing gymnastics, this word is vague. Say
    what you mean.

  • quickly, more quickly, less quickly, fast, faster

    • Same problem as easy.

  • maximize, minimize, optimize

    • These are precise in mathematics; in English they are basically unclear.  State clearly what parameters you are trying to maximize or minimize.

  • module, modular, modularity

    • These terms have a wide variety of definitions, probably more than compatible.

  • user friendly

    • Are you kidding?

  • usually, generally, should, probably

    • These are all of the same, unclear, genre. Write what you mean.   Document readers hate these words.

  • very

    • If emphasis is needed, use a precise word.

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Twitter On Oprah, Ashton Kutcher Vs CNN

Some wild and crazy times have fallen upon the Twitterverse, and all the Twits are following to see who will win the race to one million followers — @aplusk or @cnnbrk ?  By the time you read this, the verdict will surely have been determined and Ashton Kuthcer will be on the Oprah show to talk about his Twitter experience along with Twitter CEO Evan Williams.  Together, the two will help Oprah make her first tweet live from the show.  She’s recently created her account @oprah and already has more than 50 thousand followers, and she hasn’t tweeted a peep.  Wow!

The actual interesting part isn’t that these clowns are amassing celebrity-like followings (because, you know — they’re, like, celebrities), but that Twitter is getting a ton of exposure to the, quote-unquote, real world.  More than 5 million new Twitter accounts were created in March alone, so imagine what Oprah will bring.  That’s right, probably a lot of folks you’re not going to be too interested in following.  Which says more about the fact you’re here reading this than it does about the millions of people soon to start tweeting their daily afternoon housecleaning activities.  Oh golly.

No, none of that.  As Twitter grows its user base, so grows the streaming real-time conversation of what’s happening at any given moment in real time.  The value in this is so amazing that I can’t quite get my head around it.  Third party tools are just starting to tap the near infinite resource to maximize all the glory that is…well, I don’t know what it is, but it’s huge.  Trust me.  All these guys – Twitter Search , Twitt(url)y , TwitterFall , (and my favorites) OneRiot , and StockTwits – are quickly having their existences validated and being given greater purpose as they continually refine their algorithms to sift and filter the larger and larger stream of chatter.  Without these groups of programmers, Twitter is a wasteful time sink.

The information is freely out there – on Twitter on the Interweb – find and support the tools that properly exploit it to meet your needs.

Update: Ashton pushed through for the win, check it out .

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Hot Italian — Pizzeria, Boutique, And Gelato

Hot Italian, Pizza & Panini Bar Sacramento’s latest midtown mishmash of shopping, dining, and Dyson-cool hand drying can be found at the corner of 16th and Q, just east of the Freemont Park, in the old Young’s Fireside Shop building. Still in somewhat of a soft open mode and under construction, the place is coming along nicely and they have one of the more interesting bike racks around town.  (I’ll have to get back with a camera and capture the moment.)  High ceilings and a complete surrounding of hard surfaces (concrete and tile) make for the usual too-loud-to-chat-when-the-place-is-busy atmosphere, but feel free to talk louder.  However, don’t let this deter you, show up when things are slow and have a seat along the west windows to enjoy the view of the park while you eat.  Very nice.

I’ll get to the food in a minute.  Hot Italian is sporting the latest in hygienic hand drying hardware, the Dyson Airblade , part of an overall effort to go Green.  The Airblade is amazing and well worth the visit, even if all you do is stop in to wash up.  Although, I’m sure management would prefer you stick around a bit and have a bite to eat first.  Long story short, I send everyone I can to wash their hands for the experience.

Back to it then, eh.  Hot Italian is everything you’d expect from a trendy clothing shop doubling as a restaurant bar that comes fully loaded with a Gelato/Espresso station.  (Seriously, you can order your food then take a stroll through the clothing racks, if you fancy such an outing.)  The clothes shopping isn’t for me, surely you know this, but the food is tops.  I’ve enjoyed all the specialty pizzas and a couple salads, but I’m still eager to get back for the panini and a few of the other items.  The food is the real draw, even if you don’t wash your hands for the experience.

Most importantly, the service has been grade A, which is sometimes hard to come by, but will definitely keep me away if a place is lacking.  The crew is friendly, helpful, and patient…sometimes it takes me a minute to figure out what I want, but what can you expect with such a fine menu? An all around nice location I’ve been happy to talk up around town.

I’ll leave you with this:  Take a date, have a salad, split a pizza, top it off with a little Gelato, and enjoy the perfect start to a glorious night.

"È tempo di mangiare non di telefonare"

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Chrome Breaks Google Or WebBroswerSaysWhat?

I couldn’t say for sure if it’s just a late April Fool’s post, but Alex Chitu at Google Operating System has searched the Chrome help forum and compiled a list of humorous quotations from users seeking help .  My favorite from the list:
"Should I remove my original Google now that I have installed Google Chrome?"  At first read, it gives me reason to chuckle.  But then I realize these people really exist with their limited computer-use knowledge base and that I often assist similar folks in real life, which will some day bring me baldness and all its glory.

Bringing us back to the basic problem: how are people that aren’t interested in software or computers supposed to know the difference between an email client and a web browser?  Confuse the matter more by using a web browser to read email and it’s reasonable to see how anyone could get mixed up with all this.  Most people just want it to work, they don’t have much use for how or why it works.

There’s no easy answer for how to fix it, if there’s a fix at all.  (I’d argue that some day this won’t be a problem, but let’s stay on topic for now.)  The easiest answer would be to stop all software updates and new software releases while simultaneously educating all users to a minimum standard.  Not exactly realistic nor ideal, I want my software updated, and I get a kick out of useful new applications.  But I don’t have time to educate the world.  So I’ll do what I can for the folks nearest me, and you do your part to educate those nearest you.

At the same time, I find it hard to believe there are many folks who both know how to exchange information via an oline forum and can’t tell the difference between Google the search service and Google Chrome the web browsing product.

Nano Blogging, The New Mirco Blog

When 140 characters is just too much to read or furnish, there’s the new 26-character, nano-blog alternative. Flutter.  Take a peak, leave a Flap:

If Flutter’s too much, take peace of mind in knowing we’re months away from Flutter intern Laura’s new 10-character service Shttr.  All the benefits of Flutter, but without the vowels.  Talk about quick, efficient communication.  No longer will quips be outdated by the time you finish reading them!

All seriousness aside, "share your thoughts – brie"

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None Naked Writing

It’s been said, probably to others, but somewhere to me as well, that you can’t write anything that anyone will care to read until you learn to write nakedly.  To put yourself out there, and expose yourself in whatever it is you’re saying or sharing.  I don’t agree one hundred percent, but I agree enough to believe it.  Which isn’t to say that I can’t keep folks interested without taking off my pants, but only that people will only truly be interested when I show them my pant-less writing sessions.  That’s right, I have those posts but I’m not inclined nor obligated to post them. So it goes.

In the old days of Internet writing, when it was reasonable to be anonymous, I maintained pages of posts where I wrote more freely, but still kept the more honest words to myself.  Only to admit, my dearest compadres know where to read me. Perhaps someday I’ll be willing to share the same with all of you.   In the mean time, we’ll have to agree and settle on these words I place here.  No hard feelings, no lost emotions.  Just one opinion to another.

Assuming, though, that you’re not hear to read about things of which I’ve never written, but rather to figure out how to write better than you do now — know that exposing yourself is the path to faithful readers.  People want to relate to writers/others that are not perfect.  Share your stories, share your faults.  In the not so famous words of writer/rapper Ice Cube, "do your thang, man, fuck what they lookin’ at."

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Slacker Radio In A Blackberry World

I’d never heard for Slacker radio, but we’ll get to that. First, Blackberry announced, or released, or opened its application store, which they call Blackberry App World . I fiddled with a few downloads, only the free ones of course, and not many stayed on my Storm longer than the day was long. Having said that, I am excited for the store’s opening. But not because it means I can get potentially cool and useless new apps for my smart phone, but because I like to see programmers writing small, efficient  programs for constricted environments. You know, like the days before processors and RAM were in too much abundance.  It’s a food feeling.

Moving on.

Slacker radio, what the heck is that?  (Slacker is more like Pandora than it is like last.fm.)  And why hadn’t I heard of it before?  Your radio everywhere .  That’s what they call it.  I’ve only had a short bit of time to tinker with its service, but what I was presented with impressed me. And I’m talking about what was streamed to my mobile phone.  Buffering was adequate so there weren’t any skips in the song.  Navigation and song or station selection through the app was clean and easy to manipulate.  Not sure what it does to the battery life of my phone since I have logged a lot of consecutive minutes of playback.  And I can say the speaker on the Storm isn’t horrible.

While I think the blackberry app world leads its fan base further from the professional working world,  it’s nice to finally see Blackberry step up on this front.  This opens the doors for developers to create quality apps (enterprise or recreational) on the Blackberry, allowing BB addicts to fully utilize all the cloud 2.0 web services they’re hooked on.

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Market Profiling Or Deep Packet Inspection

What we mean :  Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can, if they choose to, inspect every packet of data passing through its servers or inspection points.   A process known as deep packet inspection that you can read all about over at Wikipedia .  End users are typically okay with this process when the ISP admits doing so to prevent the spread of malware or harmful software potentially moving through its network to subscribers.  (Assuming the users even know this is happening.)  But what if after the ISP was finished inspecting for viruses it continued examining the header to see where you’re spending your browsing hours exploring the Internet?  All of a sudden Google Chrome’s incognito mode isn’t so private and secret —  your wife can’t see you’ve spent hours surfing porn, but someone else can — the ISP now knows which catalogs should be sent to your house, or at least they have the information available for marketing professionals to buy.

The ISP can profile all sorts of traffic information about its users and arrange it by whatever category the highest bidder is willing to pay.  You get the point.

Why it matters: It doesn’t.  It does.  No it doesn’t.  Yes it does.  "Hush a minute, will ya."  Market profiles across broad demographics are horrible, but having a bit of software that can craft unique profiles to each individual is wonderful. (Maybe "horrible" is too strong, but the former should definitely be considered a tool from your grandfather’s marketing toolkit.) And a basket full of accurately tailored profiles is worth a lot more to anyone aiming to make a load of cash by unloading bunch of crap.  So it goes.

At the same time, it’s privacy advocates who have a problem with profiling based on a user’s navigation habits.  Which is why it does matter.  Not because of the privacy advocates, but because subscribers are not paying to be monitored, they are paying to have internet service provided.

In the end: I’m not accusing any ISP of performing such immoral and possibly illegal activities as monitoring its users activity beyond what is "necessary to ensure the safety of its network and users."  But even if they are collecting all the data, I’m not saying it’s being sold to third-parties.  I’m not saying it’s being handed over to law enforcement agencies.  No, none of that big brother looking over your shoulder nonsense.  I’m not saying any of that. I’m not even saying I know anything about marketing or selling stuff.

All I’m saying is, it seems like a good idea to have advertisements presented to me that might actually impress me to let loose of my cash.  Not that it matters much, I’ll only buy a product endorsed by xkcd.com .

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