Duane Gran’s log of thoughts

According to the Healthspan Calculator I’m going to live to be 101.7 years old. Now I have plenty of time to write that great American novel.

A fantastic bill, the Count Every Vote Act of 2005 (pdf) has been submitted by Senators Kerry and Clinton that would reform elections in the following ways:

1. Paper records of electronic voting
2. Election-day registration
3. Election Day as a national holiday
4. Restoration of voting rights for former felons

I’m perfectly happy with the first three, but I expect that last one will get cut if the bill has any chance in passing. While I think there are sound arguments for restoring voting rights for felons, opponents will cast this as an “example” of how the Democratic base is composed of thugs and deadbeats. Other than this point, I think it stands a chance. It definitely passes the test of reason and makes me wonder why didn’t have such legislation years ago.

Via slashdot

Wal-Mart Tire and Lube unionization rejected overwhelmingly

The UFCW claims that walmart stacked the department with employees unfavorable to the cause and prevented them from overseeing the vote to unionize. At least they are trying. I can only hope that we can break through on this front.

A Daily Progress article explores the issues of economic development in Charlottesville. A particular quote from the article jumped out at me:

To some, the phrase [economic development] conjures images of a degraded environment of endless strip malls, traffic-choked roads and rampant sprawl.

The reason it conjures such images is because the characterization is largely accurate. I live in a place with tremendous character, being the home of Thomas Jefferson and so on. I think it is a right-fine slice of heaven, mostly because it is a cool Liberal enclave and the weather is mostly good. Much of the character is from the local businesses, but you wouldn’t know it from a drive (it is a death wish to walk or bike there) on the north end of town.

The place is becoming dominated by chain restaurants and various tacky establishments with walmart as the ringleader. Our economic development has been a disaster and the scene is pretty much the same in other small cities. When economic developers bring jobs that don’t involve wearing a paper hat at a drive through window I’ll cut them some slack.

Library Journal - Revenge of the Blog People!

From Michael Gorman, president-elect of the American Library Association:

It is obvious that the Blog People read what they want to read rather than what is in front of them and judge me to be wrong on the basis of what they think rather than what I actually wrote. Given the quality of the writing in the blogs I have seen, I doubt that many of the Blog People are in the habit of sustained reading of complex texts. It is entirely possible that their intellectual needs are met by an accumulation of random facts and paragraphs. In that case, their rejection of my view is quite understandable.

Before writing the above missive, Gorman made a novel suggestion that Google Print is not the holy grail of universal knowledge that technologists may believe it to be. I, for one, happen to agree, but before being corrupted by a certain sect of Postmodern literary critics I would have had the same blithe optimism about book digitization. Spend a few years digitizing materials and you will long for a dead wood book too.

He was summarily flamed by the Blog People (his words) for suggesting that people should read a book and that he didn’t have high hopes for Google Print. While I agree with his assessment of the Google plan for world domination, or whatever they have in mind, I think he generalizes too much about blogs. Naturally I’m biased a little, but since I also have worked in Libraries a bit, I hope I can add something to the debate.

Blogs are basically like a diary, as a particular comment on slashdot.org made. Some people make the poor judgment to air their dirty laundry on the Internet, but many others contribute some insightful thoughts. In this way, they are more than diaries. They are conversations that link and relate concepts. Like most things uttered, the vast majority is rubbish and a few instigate thought and action.

Gorman’s exposure to the blog world seems a tad narrow for the wide reaching conclusion he makes. Should these blogs persist, I have no doubt that some digital anthropologist will take interest in how we process the debates and ideas of our age. If so, maybe Gorman and I are in agreement that the cultural record will be less than flattering, given the quality of most blogs.

I experimented with a cool utility called GenJar which analyzes Java sources and produces a JAR file composed only of the executable classes needed for the application. At the University, we deploy an application via Java Web Start, so download time is an important facet of the user experience.

As a result, I was able to trim the application from 2.5 to 1 megabyte of space for download, without losing any functionality.

FOX News doctors AP reports to mimic White House Terminology

Since April 2002, FOX News has consistently doctored Associated Press articles featured on the FOX News website concerning terrorist attacks in the Middle East to conform to Bush administration terminology. Without any editorial notation disclosing that words in the AP articles have been changed, FOX News replaces the terms “suicide bomber” and “suicide bombing” with “homicide bomber” and “homicide bombing” to describe attackers who kill themselves and others with explosives. In at least one case, FOX News actually altered an AP quote from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) to fit this naming convention, and then revised it to restore the quote without noting either the original alteration or its correction.

I’m not sure if I should be upset about the flagrant abuse of journalism ethics or upset that I’m not surprised. I respect that people will nit-pick over terminology and that word choice affects meaning; however, it is flat out wrong to whitewash a quote.

Institute for Justice: Private Property Rights Cases: Kelo v. New London

In 1998, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer built a plant next to Fort Trumbull and the City determined that someone else could make better use of the land than the Fort Trumbull residents. The City handed over its power of eminent domain—the ability to take private property for public use—to the New London Development Corporation (NLDC), a private body, to take the entire neighborhood for private development. As the Fort Trumbull neighbors found out, when private entities wield government’s awesome power of eminent domain and can justify taking property with the nebulous claim of “economic development,” all homeowners are in trouble.

Eminent domain is a hot issue for anyone who owns land, but the original intent was for the public good, not for private profit. I’m generally in favor of eminent domain, but not if it is abused for the benefit of corporations.

Governors eye education

I quote:

For every 100 freshmen entering high school, 68 will graduate on time. Forty will go on to college with only 27 returning for their sophomore year and just 18 receiving college degrees, according to data compiled by Achieve Inc.

Surely something needs to be done, but what is the solution? I’m concerned that all the talk about accountability with the No Child Left Behind program puts schools in an awkward place where they teach to the test. The real test is life, where the grades are largely pass/fail. I don’t have solutions, but I see the success rate of high school as the higher priority than college.

South Korea has best-dressed homeless

The Korea Customs Service distributed more than 3,500 fake pieces in the southern city of Pusan this month with the permission of the fashion houses whose designs had been pirated.

Actually, it wouldn’t be difficult for most homeless people to dress better than the average American. Such is the plight of fashion sense around these parts anymore.

ajax: a new approach to web applications

I’ve built some pretty complex web applications and google suggest was one of the most jaw-dropping things I’ve seen on the web for a while. Cutting down on the request-response cycle is a big win for usability. However, it isn’t easy to do by a long shot and it adds exponentially to the complexity of a web app.

That said, users don’t care about that stuff, so I expect to see this technology in higher demand. There might be a market for tool developers to make it easier to pull of the magic. God knows I wouldn’t want to do it by hand, as I’ve done in the past.

A Forbes article attempts to read the tea leaves in a public statement by Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve Chairman. Greenspan doesn’t believe there is a bubble, but economists have much to be concerned about when home prices outpace incomes year after year. One can only downsize for so long until home ownership is untenable for all but the wealthy. On the other hand, since home ownership is at an all time high (roughly 65% last I heard) I’m not overly moved by that argument.

My immediate concern as a landlord and home owner is one of investment. These days the numbers just don’t add up to acquire an investment property. A 250k property will have about a $1200 monthly mortgage. In my local market it is hard to charge much over $1400 for rent. This is not a high margin, especially given the amount of capital cost to invest in real estate. When rates rise I expect rent to increase as well, which may change the situation.

Last night I went to see Joshua Bell at The Paramount. Wow. I’m so impressed on many levels. Bell, as usual, is a wonder to behold. The theatre house itself met all my expectations and more. I’ve been watching the restoration project for years, attending fund raisers, and generally have been eager to see it. It is a real gem to have in our community.

I only bring out the lightning rod when needed, hence today I am quoting Noam Chomsky. To most people, including me, he is off the left side of the chart, but something he said made me think. It should do the same for you.

In a talk given in 1997, Chomsky ridiculed the concept of “anti-Americanism” as a symptom of totalitarian thinking:

It’s the kind of term you only find in totalitarian societies, as far as I know. So like in the Soviet Union, anti-Sovietism was considered the gravest of all crimes. …

But try, say, publishing a book on anti-Italianism and see what happens on the streets on Rome or Milan, people won’t even bother laughing, it’s a ludicrous idea. The idea of Italianism or, you know, Norwayism or something like that would just be objects of ridicule in societies that have some kind of residue of a democratic culture inside people’s heads, I don’t mean in the formal systems. But in totalitarian societies it is used and as far as I know the United States is the only free society that has such a concept. (audio source)

Source: Noam Chomsky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It should concern us when criticism of the US or its foreign policy is rebuked as “anti-American.” President Bush deflects pointed questions about the Iraq war by accusing the questioner of disrespecting the sacrifice of the military. I certainly don’t think of myself as anti-American, but I bet that there are plenty who would label me as such because I challenge my government when it is wrong.

Incidentally, fans of Chomsky should check out this parody: post modern haircut

The Millionaire Next Door vs. the Politician in Washington

I quote,

The millionaire next door, as described in Stanley and Danko’s book, is in a constant struggle with the politician in Washington. This is not a class war — many of the politicians, lawyers, and academics on the left earn incomes that are in the top 10 or 20 percent of all Americans. Rather, it is a values war, between a group whose core values are thrift and self-reliance and a group whose core values are paternalism and redistribution.

I read The Millionaire Next Door as well as The Millionaire Mind and regard myself as a PAW (prodigious accumulator of wealth), yet I don’t agree with Arnold Kling’s simplistic belief that everyone who is self-reliant is diametrically opposed to those who value social justice. He paints a picture of meddling persons in Washington who desire paternalism, but glosses over the fact that many Progressives are in fact wealthy. How could this be?

I posit that a person can simultaneously be self-reliant and be concerned about those who lack the education, means or will to do likewise. His characterization of responsible libertarians and money grubbing derelicts is just another version of how Conservatives blame the poor for their situation. If you can levy enough blame on the poor (while feeling emboldened by your own good habits) it can assure you that you have no obligation to do something about the problems of the poor.

To be absolutely clear, much of the criticism of the poor for their bad habits is factually correct. I just believe that it doesn’t abdicate us from a responsibility to help.

Social Insecurity

The figures are thought provoking, but I wonder if this is an accurate portrayal? I’m skeptical of privatization, namely because it does nothing to allay the primary problem of funding payments for future recipients in the next 30 years.

Conservatives and Rivals Press a Struggling PBS

I quote,

She [Pat Mitchell, President of PBS] also said she had not been personally pressured to change programming by Republicans at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides federal money to the system. But she said her programmers had worked with their counterparts at the corporation, which is led by White House appointees, in developing several new shows, including a talk show for the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.

Apparently the path to avoiding Liberal bias is to inject PBS with Conservative bias. Won’t someone please think of Elmo!

New Tolls, Not Taxes, Favored for Area Roads

I quote from the article:

Supporters argue that tolls are an equitable way for people to pay for roads — if you drive it, you pay for it. Detractors question whether a system of toll roads would save money or draw enough users. They also worry that the system would price out the poor.

I’m not sure if tolls favor or hurt the poor, but I do believe that such measures are popular when taxes are so unpopular. We see various alternate funding measures in other places as well, namely housing assessments. Nobody likes taxes, but there is no substantial difference if per-use charges take its place. My personal preference is for taxes, but I realize that tolls help distribute the cost to non-residents who use the roads.

Today marks the start of the Kyoto Protocol, which may be remembered in decades to come as the defining international effort to address pollution and responsible industry. It isn’t perfect, but it is a good start. The site below is a helpful guide to see who is on board and what policy changes will come about via the Protocol:

CAN Europe: Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol

For anyone reading the news lately, it should be glaringly obvious that the United States is not among the listed participants. In short, everyone in the world thinks that someone has to be done about pollution. Except the biggest polluter. I hope in the future that we might adopt the Kyoto Protocol, even if we must come late to the party.

Coffee may ward off liver cancer

I love it when one of my vices becomes a virtue.