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Planet Dave! Thursday, October 28, 2004
Jason Talks about Tuesday's Election
And now a word from PlanetDave's political corespondent, Jason.
"I don’t think I know anyone who’s undecided on the big vote, so I’ll talk about the little votes that barely matter to any of us. But first, I have to gripe a little bit.
"I’ve looked over my ballot online, and there are 2 things that I find disappointing, and both of them are signs of a very weak democracy. In most of the local elections (Ann Arbor / Washtenaw County) the Republican party hasn’t bothered to enter a candidate. And with the exception of the presidential race, there isn’t a single race on my ballot in which both the republican and democratic candidates have bothered to create a campaign web page. Dawn Reamer wants to be my congressional representative, and she hasn’t bothered to create any method for me to find out who she is beyond being a republican. She might be a bad example because a reincarnated Abe Lincoln probably couldn’t get elected in my district unless he switched parties. But looking at the statewide candidates that are on the ballot, there is almost no attempt to reach out to candidates there either. Out of the democratic and republic candidates to the State Board of Ed or State University regents, 5 of the 16 candidates haven’t created web sites. So rather then voting for the board of education based on their views on things like charter schools, people like Marianne McGuire figure that the facts that she is a democrat, a female, and has an Irish name, are all of the facts that the electorate needs to make an informed decision. Well, I’ve believed for a while that no matter which party people are supporting, even at the presidential level, most voting decisions are based predominantly on ignorance. But I think that we should still try. And unlike Alan Keyes, I think that we need more democracy in the system, and not less.
"Speaking of democracy (as opposed to the Republic for which the flag stands) we do get to vote on a couple of state ballot proposals. Proposal 2 is the simple one, so I’ll start there. This is the anti-gay marriage amendment. If you are in favor of gay marriage, or civil unions then you should vote No. If you are opposed to gay marriage then you may or may not want to vote Yes. The actual wording of the proposal is pretty stark. It would amend the state constitution to provide that “the union of a man in woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.”
"That underlined clause will probably have to be hammered out through the courts somewhat, but it may mean that companies in michigan will be legally prohibited from giving any domestic partner benefits to either gay or straight domestic partners who are not legally married. That would probably be the only real change in state law if the proposal passes. There are already laws on the books in Michigan blocking gay marriage, so with either a yes or a no, marriage in Michigan will be limited to a man and woman relationship.
"Proposal one is a tricky one. There have been tons of commercials attempting to “inform” us about the issues here. And the commercials for the proposal have seemed to be pretty honest. Whereas the ones against it (largely featuring Governor Granholm) are largely full of sh*t, to put it mildly. Based off of that alone, I would lean towards voting for the proposal. Plus the proposal is essentially for more democracy which I think is a good thing. So the proposal will require the following:
o Require voter approval of any form of gambling authorized by law after Jan. 1, 2004.
o Require voter approval of any new state lottery games utilizing "table games" or "player operated mechanical or electronic devices" introduced after Jan. 1, 2004.
o Provide that when voter approval is required, statewide voter approval and voter approval in the city or township where gambling will take place must be obtained.
o Specify that the voter approval requirement does not apply to Indian tribal gaming or gambling in up to three casinos located in the City of Detroit.
"It pretty much a big fight between 2 sets of big gambling businesses. On the pro prop one side, there are the Detroit Casinos, and the Indian Casinos; because the proposition makes it harder for new sources of competition to get started. On the anti prop one side, there are some casino companies that are not currently operating in Michigan, plus several horse racing tracks (Northville Downs in Granholm’s hometown). Granholm’s opposition may come from a combination of hometown interests, and plans for increasing state revenues from 2 sources: Racinos, and Video Lottery terminals. I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to either of these, and I don’t think that many people would be either, so what would be the harm in letting people vote on it."
In his email, Jason went on to predict that both proposals would pass.
I've got a question about Proposal 2. The way I read it, it's either discriminatory or a big waste of time. Would an employer be able to simply extend benefits to spouses and domestic partners? Does the government have any right to tell an employer who he can't extend benefits to? Or is it legally restricted to spouses?
What a stupid thing to waste time on. Will someone please tell me why I should want to limit something that has absolutely no impact on my life?
Sunday, October 24, 2004
"A man once told me that he believes every word in the bible."
That's the first line in a recent post by the Real Live Preacher. Go read the rest of it. Good stuff. RLP seems to have a take on faith and religion similar to mine. As a search for answers. Not the simple "just because" answers you sometimes hear in Sunday school. Real answers. Difficult answers. The type that are rarer than questions. The type that only create more questions. The type that only make you more unsure of everything else. The type that make you question things you used to hold as fact. I guess I treat my faith kind of like science that way. With the assumtion that I'm probably wrong about most things. With the understanding that I'll never figure it all out. Heck, I might not even figure out the tiniest little bit. But I'm driven by what I am, by what God made me through millions of years of evolution. Birds fly. Fish swim. Humans look for answers. Even when we don't find any. It's the search that has the meaning.
Where can I get solar-spectrum bulbs?
A while back, /. had a post about a free e-book on saving energy. Well, the book got slashdoted and due to web hosting costs, it's no longer free. After reading the little bit that's still free, I'm not that interested in getting it. Looks like it's mostly "don't be stupid" stuff like turning off your outside lights at night and using fluorescent bulbs. As a star gazer, I think outside lights are just plain rude. But the fluorescent thing got me wondering. On my fish tank I have solar spectrum fluorescent bulbs. Rather than the anger inducing stark white, they're a nice yellowish that make all the colors in the tank very pleasant to look at. Now, they make fluorescent bulbs that fit in normal light bulb sockets. Does anyone know if there are bulbs like that that are also solar spectrum? I once found FULL spectrum bulbs that fit that bill. But they looked (to me) like the same abrasive white as overhead fluorescent. My question to you, where can I get nice sun colored fluorescent bulbs for my light fixtures? (And it that really how you spell fluorescent? That's what my spell checker says, and I'm not sure I buy it.)
HAL 9000 on the Auction Block
From /., "The Cinerama 160 degree lens used to both play and film the viewpoint of the famous paranoid processor. He's now up for sale on eBay, for the starting bid of just $150,000(USD). This looks like the real deal, complete with letters of authenticity and some extra goodies like "...an original '2001' movie program, a copy of the original script, two issues of American Cinematographer Magazines on the production of '2001' published in 1968, and the movie '2010' published in 1985. Also included is videotape showing how HAL 9000 originated and was used by Stanley Kubrick."" I see it didn't sell. I can't help but feel a little disappointed by that.
Monday, October 18, 2004
Better Trade in that Kryptonite Lock.
You know those cool locks with the circular keys? Like the kind on some bike locks? Turns out you can pick them with a ball point pen. Don't believe me? See for yourself.
Cooking For Engineers
Bet you didn't think they could improve on recipe notation. And if you're not an engineer, you probably still don't think they can. Man, those diagrams make cooking seem a lot less daunting.
Paper Ornithopter
Ok, it's not really an ornithopter. But the Flapper is one of the coolest paper airplanes I've ever seen. Doesn't fly terribly well, but it flaps! And apparently you don't have to follow the directions very closely for it to work.
Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2003-2004
From /., "Project Censored has come out with its list of the most censored media stores of 2003-2004. Some of the gems are "Bush Administration Censors Science", "U.S. Develops Lethal New Viruses", "Media and Government Ignore Dwindling Oil Supplies" and "Reinstating the Draft"."
Slashdot | Both Tea And No Tea - Updated Hitchhiker's Game
From /., "To coincide with the new radio series of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the BBC will be reviving the old Infocom Hitchhiker's text adventure game, to appear on Radio 4's website. It's not just a straight port, either - apparently 'the new version of the game will be illustrated by Rod Lord, who won a BAFTA for his graphics for the original Hitchhiker TV series.' Hoopy!" Great. Another game to obsess over.
The brain's own antipsychotic medication
From Boing Boing, "Anandamide is a cannabis-like substance produced by the brain. Researchers at the University of Cologne and UC Irvine who observed that schizophrenics have higher adandamide levels than healthy individuals. The odd thing though is that within the group of people suffering from schizophrenia, the individuals with the most severe symptoms had the lowest anandamide levels. The new theory is that rather than causing psychosis, anandamide helps control it and that those with the worst symptoms might be producing too little of the substance in response." My favorite quote from the article, "All of us are potentially psychotic." Word.
The internet is for porn
The funniest thing about this song is how true it is to the Sesame Street style of music. It's from the Broadway musical, Avenue Q.
The GOP doesn't reflect America
Michael Moore has an article in which he discusses interviews he conducted outside of the Republican Convention. What he found out was that most Republicans aren't as extremist as the GOP would have us believe. Most don't share the extreme ideals of the people actually running the party. So why do they vote republican? Mostly for the money.
Olympic Blunders
My brother Andy emailed me a list of blunders by Olympic comentators and interviewees. I see Snopes compiled a list with even more. Some of these are priceless.
Excerpts of an Interview With President Bush
More from Jamie. This time it's excerpts from an interview with Dubbya. How is this guy the leader of the free world?
Drunk Ass Bear
Got this article from Kelly and Jamie. It's about a black bear's drinking binge in Washington. Read the whole thing. The last paragraph's probably the funniest.
Tricks of the Trade
Every trade has a few simple tricks that make all the difference. Here are some of them. Fascinating reading.
4-inch Telescope Finds New Planet
From /., "After a backyard astronomy size telescope first tracked the periodic dimming of a star 500 light-years away, the Keck I telescope in Hawaii later confirmed that a Jupiter-size planet orbits the star. A press release from Harvard gives details. This is the first result of the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey, a project using small telescopes and cheap equipment to search for extrasolar planets."
Myst IV - Revelation
Great. Just what I need. Another video game to obsess over. Damn, it looks cool.
The Onion's 2004 Election Guide
Not sure how to stay up on all the facts surrounding the upcoming election? No problem. The Onion has a wonderful Election Guide to help you along. Required reading for any voter that takes this civic duty seriously.
Gravitation Anomaly Measured
From /., "Is there a hole in Einstein's Theory of Relativity? A story in The Economist talks about an apparent gravitation anomaly recorded during solar eclipses. According to Chris Duif at the Delft University of Technology, the 'Allais effect' is real, unexplained, and could be linked to another anomaly involving a the Pioneer spacecraft. More detailed information can be found in the paper he has just posted on arXiv.org." This could, of course, have something to do with why the Pioneer craft aren't moving like we think they should. (The article gets into that a little.)
Thursday, October 14, 2004
U.S. Senator on Terrorist Watch List
Stupid Security pointed out the story of a United States senator who's name ended up on the TSA's terrorist watch list. It took him three weeks to get this all sorted out. (The story also hit the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Herald.) I can't help but wonder how much longer than three weeks it would take to clear up if one didn't have the connections of a U.S. Senator. /. pointed out that this also happened to Rep. John Lewis.
Cooling Toronto Using Lake Ontario
From /., "Air cooled by the frigid waters deep in Lake Ontario started bringing relief to buildings in downtown Toronto on Tuesday after the valves were symbolically opened on the multi-million-dollar project. The company says that they have the capacity to air condition 100 office buildings or 8,000 homes - the equivalent of 32 million square feet of building space. They note that the cooling system reduces energy usage, freeing up megawatts from the Ontario's electrical grid, minimizes ozone-depleting refrigerants and reduces the amount of carbon dioxide entering the air."
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
A Couple Things About Freeway Driving
First, if you're going to change lanes, turn your damn head and check your blind spot.
Second, if you signal a lane change I will go out of my way to let you in. If you don't signal a lane change, I will assume you don't want to change lanes. Inching into my lane is not an appropriate method of communicating a desire to change lanes. Do not expect me to respond to such an act in a friendly manner.
Third, the left lane is for passing. If you're not passing, you shouldn't be there. It may seem strange to you that there are people in this world who would want to drive faster than 68mph. Don't try to understand, just move the Hell over.
Monday, October 11, 2004
It's about time they added explosives to the plunger.
Ok, maybe a CO2 cartridge doesn't really count as an explosive. But this still seems like a Tim Allen invention.
Deep Sea Creatures
I've said it before, I'll say it again. This planet has some really screwed up life forms.
Librarians to the Rescue
From /., "Citing concerns over materials being distributed to American students by the BSA, MPAA, and RIAA's evil minions, the American Library Association will begin distributing its own, more balanced material this winter. The material will deal with insignificant and oft-overlooked details like fair use. More information on Wired News."
Brilliant Marketing for KY Jelly
Apparently this ad isn't actually endorsed by Johnson & Johnson. Too bad that kind of ad would never go over well in our up tight society. I notice France isn't quite so prudish about their advertising.
Rap Lyrics Translated
One More Chance, by Notorious B.I.G., translated into the King's English. This is one of the funniest things I've ever read.
Firefly in Theaters, April 22
For anyone who didn't know, Serenity is a movie that's a continuation of the Firefly TV series. Apparently they're done filming. It's all in the hands of the editors, now. I'm gonna go camp out for tickets! Who can I count on to bring me food and changes of chothing through the winter?
And if you haven't seen Firefly, you should come over and ask me to show you a few episodes. Not only is it for your own good, but it would make my day.