Jay's Journally Journal

Vacation/Work in the Western Indian Ocean

2009-12-15T08:14:23Z

The below posting looks FANTASTIC. Spend 3-6 months conduct ecological surveys, swimming, and taking pictures.

I used to be a lifeguard, environmental marine research is certainly not new to me, nor is hard work.
Je etude francais trois ans. Je n' parle pas tres bien mais c'est suffie. (probably)

If it is possible, this is definitely what I want to do after passing the bar before I get my results back confirming I passed. The only concern I have is I just might decide to never come back...

****************************************************

Field Assistant opportunity for coral reef study -  Comoros Islands, Western Indian Ocean

Our research team is looking for field assistants for 3-6 months of assistance from September 2010 through March 2011. Individuals could volunteer from Sept-Dec; January-March, or September - March. Qualified individuals should meet the following criteria:
- strong swimmer
- has experience snorkeling in open water
- has *at least* sophomore standing as of start date
- has an interest in ecological study
- willing to work long days
- willing to work with a team in an international setting

- Speaking ability in French would be helpful, but is not required.

_Duties_:

- Conduct coral benthic surveys

- Monitor sediment traps & temperature gauges

- Assist with photography, community  interviews and surveys

- Input field data into MS Excel

Field assistants will have the opportunity to:
- earn undergraduate research credits,
- gain field experience in reef survey methods and in socioeconomic interviews
- conduct research for an undergraduate thesis, if interested.

Send cover letter explaining related experience, why you are interested in the volunteer position, and what you hope to gain from this experience, and dates available. Please include your resume and two letters of reference to

Boycotting Facebook - New (horrid) Privacy changes

2009-12-14T00:44:12Z

This article best represents the issue:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/12/facebooks-new-privacy-changes-good-bad-and-ugly

I noticed the "ugly" myself and immediately deactivated my account, although not even I noticed the changes to the Facebook apps privacy settings discussed in the article above.
My horrified shocked reaction, personally, was because of the change to publicly post everybody's friends list to EVERYBODY ON THE INTERNET. According to the above article, there is a very difficult way to disable this. Before I deactivated my account I looked for over an hour for some way to do this, including searching Facebook help, Googling, you name it. I didn't find it and I am convinced it wasn't there when I looked and suspect it was only just added. Probably because of the rush of people like me to deactivate our accounts who cited the friends list issue as the reason for our deactivation.

Too little, too late. I have never been a big fan of Facebook, but saw some use in it and at least I could block the many apps, and features I didn't like. I've seen a gradual, and sometimes not so gradual, slide from Facebook's beginning exclusively within networks of universities, to its current commercial atrocity and enough is enough. I am pissed, Facebook has lost all credibility with me.

*Sigh* but I am also the primary web coordinator for the Biotech Law Group's Facebook page.... What am I supposed to do about that now? Maybe I'll have to resign, or maybe something can be worked out. At least there isn't anything planned until January.

Reverse contract adhesion - Unshrinking your license

2009-11-24T04:27:08Z

With all of the shrink-wrap, and click through, licenses I have the urge to suggest the following, or wonder what would happen.

The next time you buy software, don't open it, and first send a letter (probably certified?) to the software company stating a counter-adhesion contract. State that unless [the company] rejects your terms by mailing you a rejection (which you promise to reimburse for postage) within 30 days of receipt of the letter they are bound by the terms of your agreement.

E.g. Setup the license to be exactly the opposite of a typical adhesion contract.

Mail it to the central office, in which it might eventually find its way to the legal department, but even if it does it probably won't receive a timely response. So after 40 days (time for mail transit!) you can open your software uninhibited by unnecessarily restrictive licensing terms.

Note: Don't go so far as to misappropriate the software, they might have other causes of actions against you if you take it too far.
Don't go looking for a lawsuit, if you want to litigate it you might be able to seek declaratory judgment of some sort.

Perks: The company is bound by the legal rules, just like an individual would be. The Edison case from contracts regarding surety and satisfaction made it clear that large companies are not excused from legal duties to respond/not cash the check just because they are large and there is the bureaucracy. Thus, if the companies legal department never sees your letter the company is still bound. Think about it... you are still bound by adhesion contracts even if you didn't show them to your lawyer.
Plus, if it does get litigated it is putting the company in a position where it doesn't want to establish bad precedent for itself so it can't strongly argue that the adhesion contract is unenforceable - and if it does, then it is even better because the precedent establishes the unenforceability of all kinds of adhesion contracts and immediately brings fair use and the first sale doctrine back into play.

If I had money and time I could see reverse-adhesion contracts really going somewhere.

This is NOT LEGAL ADVICE, and if somebody actually follows any of the above for any reason you might want to seek actual legal advice instead of my academic pontifications.

What !?! Canceling my classes? (Biotech Law Seminar)

2009-11-18T04:19:53Z

I found out this morning that my school is considering canceling the Biotech Law Seminar for next semester due to low enrollment. I am enrolled in that class…

So now I am starting a messaging campaign to prevent my class from being canceled.

Part of the problem of low enrollment is caused by scheduling. The course is scheduled 9am-10:40am, and a large number of classes begin at 10:30 so there is a short overlap preventing students from enrolling in both.

First, earlier today I suggested to my schools administration that the Biotech Law Seminar be moved 10 minutes earlier so it would not conflict. They have said that is a good suggestion and will follow up.

Second, I am going to start directly soliciting potentially interested students to enroll, namely messaging members of the Biotech Law Group (BLG) a student club. (FYI, I heard about this because I am an officer of BLG and was asked to do this.)

So, third: The Biotech Law Seminar is reported to be one of the best courses offered. Students who have taken it have “absolutely loved it.” If you are one of my fellow students, spread the word to let students potentially interested in Biotech to sign-up now or risk being unable to take such wonderful courses in the future. Also let students know about the possible schedule adjustment to reduce conflicts.

------------------------------------------------------------------

It seems like if I weren’t a good lawyer then I would never be able to get the classes I need to actually graduate law school. Foolish of me to think that I would learn how to be a lawyer from my classes; No, that’s not how my school does things. Apparently my law school decided to give me a heavy course load in bureaucratic maneuvers, mandatory independent study. I feel fortunate to have had such an excellent education at Cal Poly before having to sludge through this now.

p.s. From earlier, the law library has actually removed my library spot several weeks ago. I have finally settled into my new ~~home~~ spot in the CHTLJ office. My desk doesn’t have quite as much space as the desks in the library but it is even quieter with less foot-traffic AND it doesn’t seem to close.

p.s.s. I am now a registered agent at the USPTO. I am no. 65316. =)

3 for 3 - Dep't of Energy - Solar Decathlon

2009-10-28T17:12:41Z

For the 2005 Solar Decathlon I was a member of Cal Poly's team and we managed to take 3rd place overall. Yay!

I started law school at Santa Clara University in 2007, and coincidentally SCU took 3rd place overall in the 2007 Solar Decathlon.

Guess how SCU placed for the 2009 Solar Decathlon? Yep, 3rd place overall.

Its an eerie coincidence (not referring to the Erie doctrine). Almost as eerie as finding out that my name was written in the sidewalk in the concrete in the walk of the house I lived at my 1st semester at SCU. (It said Jay '87, so it had been there 20 years...)

Tentative Spring 2010 classes

2009-10-18T21:17:29Z

I will only need 10 units to graduate, but 12 units if I want to stay full-time.

I am pretty sure I will be taking:
Biotech Law Seminar, Patent Law Practice, Patent Prosecution, Computer and High Tech Law Journal.
which totals 7 units

And I will be taking some set of these that either add up to 3 or 5 units:
Remedies (3 units)
Pretrial Litigation Techniques [w/ Prof. Galloway] (2 units)
Law Practice Management (Winter session Jan 4-9) [w/ Prof. Galloway] (1 unit)

I have heard professor Galloway is awesome so I am really tempted to forsake Remedies to take the latter two. However, if financial aid tells me I need to stay a full-time student then I'll be taking remedies anyways. For now I just try to register for all of the above and figure it out my options after I know which classes I am even able to register for.

Is just a little bit of G..C..TA!

2009-09-19T12:22:05Z

This:

http://practicality.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/video-bio-rad-gtca-song/

*Warning* May cause involuntary chortling.

Reposted from _scientists_.

Weekend Wedding Win

2009-09-09T05:15:17Z

Incredibly busy weekend, but total win.

Thursday:
21:30 Class ends.
23:00 Arrive at home in East bay, Dinner & finish drafting namecards.

Friday
06:00 Finished printing first side of namecards after dealing with paper jams and processing delays. 600kb file goes to … 133mb in postscript! -> minutes per page instead of pages per minute to measure print times.
Hours of gathering stuff people forgot to bring
13:00 Depart for wedding site
15:00 arrive, begin helping with BBQ dinner for 70.
16:00 Wedding ceremony rehearsal.
17:30 Continue cooking.
20:00 Meet and talk with wedding guests
21:00 Begin cutting, folding, taping wedding namecards.

Saturday
00:55 Finished
02:10 Arrive home at San Jose apartment, sleep
07:22 Wake up, dress for wedding
09:00 Legislation class
11:35 walk out of legislative class early in order to arrive on time
13:35 Setup table numbers and wedding namecards for wedding reception
13:40 Bridal party photos
15:00 Wedding
Shuttling people up hill to reception
Discovery of math errors on wedding cards
Frantic race to bottom of hill to collect stapler and scissors, and back up to post seating lists to tables.
Breath again. 

Sunday
01:00 Wedding party ends, sleep
07:30 Wakeup, breakfast
09:00 Unload my bag from my car to my cabin. [30 hours after arrival…]
10:00 Champagne brunch
Fun & games, ultimate Frisbee, and amazing food.
Movie night – Star Wars Series

Monday
09:00 sleep in = check
…
Pack up everything and check out
Laundry
Reading for Tuesday classes

Today:
…
19:30 Legislation Final Exam, handwritten, 1.25 hrs

===============================
RESULTS

Total score: 1,000,028,800 pts

Math errors: -300 pts
Copying and pasting mistake: -7500 pts
Running up and down the hill: -200 pts
Exercise: +1200 pts

Food for the weekend: +28,000
Chocolate consumed: Chocolate BONUS!

Movies: +2,000 geek pts
Final Exams: pending, but 5,000 geek pts for completion

Loss of sleep: -400
Sleeping in: +1000
Friends Married: +1,000,000,000 pts

I passed

2009-08-21T03:08:21Z

Wednesday I passed the patent bar. The previous week and a half I have been virtual nonexistent, and I apologize for being so unavailable. I am now ridiculously busy playing catch-up with all the work I should have been doing if I wasn't studying for the patent bar.

Notes on the patent bar: It is brutal. I have the urge to frame the little automatic computer printout saying I passed. In contrast, my bachelors degree was just filed away for safe keeping. Rationale: The patent bar is the only test I have had to take twice; plus passing was kind of a new years resolution of mine which seems to have taken most of the year to complete.

Curious facts: I was assigned the exact same seat in the testing center during the examination as when I took it the first time.

So now I will be a registered practitioner before the USPTO (following a lengthy wait for bureaucratic processing).

Meme, light

2009-07-24T04:07:19Z

Let others know a little more about yourself by re-posting and tagging your friends. Re-post note as your name "ology"

1) What is your salad dressing of choice?
Olive oil w/ Balsamic vinegar – its a staple of mine.

2) What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
I’m not a regular, so whichever one I am being invited to as a guest.

3) What food could you eat for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of it?
Vegetable soup

4) what are your pizza toppings of choice?
Artichoke, pesto, red onion, garlic, and mushrooms.

5) What do you like to put on your toast?
Just about anything

6) how many televisions are in your house?
Ø

7) what color cell phone do you have?
Grey

8) Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right

9) Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
Wisdom teeth

10) What is the last heavy item you lifted?
Multiple bags of groceries

11) Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
No

12) If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
Yes! Londo Mollari and the movie Big Fish both come to mind :)

13) If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
I might change my name to [redacted for public internet posting]

14) Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1,000?
Depends: size of bottle, brand and type, allowable time period to drink, availability of alternative containers to transfer the liquid to in order to speed up process, etc.

15) How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
1 (sandals)

16) what’s your goal for the year?
Pass the Patent Bar

17) Last person you talked to on the phone?
Mom

18) Last person you hugged?
Mom

19) Favorite Season?
Spring

20) Favorite Holiday?
New Years

21) Favorite day of the week?
Saturday

22) Favorite Month?
July

23) First place you went this morning?
SCU library

24) what’s the last movie you saw?
Up.

25) Do you smile often?
I try to

26) Do you always answer your phone?
Honestly, I am terrible. It is almost always off.

27) It's four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it?
Mia, not because she would text me at 4am, but because she is one of the only people who sends texts to me instead of calling. Plus she is frequently on the east coast and 7am isn’t quite as unreasonable.

28) If you could change your eye color what would it be?
My eyes already change color depending on lighting conditions =)

29) What flavor drink do you get at Sonic?
H2O

30) Have you ever had a pet fish?
Yes

31) Favorite Christmas song?
Consumer’s 12 days of Christmas (comedic parody)

32) What's on your wish list for your birthday?
Lets see, March… probably hoping for a kickass moot court oral argument.

33) Can you do push ups?
I can't do as many as I used to, law school is terrible for physical fitness. People have also commented that I show signs of male pattern baldness. I tell them no, that’s just the physical manifestation of the severe emotional distress caused by the law school environment.

34) Can you do chin up?
Yes

35) Does the future make you more nervous or excited
Both

36) Do you have any saved texts?
I don’t think so.

37) Ever been in a car wreck?
No, just minor fender benders.

38) Do you have an accent?
No

39) What is the last song to make you cry?
I don't recall, there was something in my eye.

40) Plans tonight?
Study, prepare for examination – eat and sleep (hopefully)

41) Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
No, but I was spitting distance and close enough to see the very bottom is radioactive

42) Name 3 things you bought yesterday.
I did not buy anything yesterday.

43) Have you ever been given roses?
No

44) Any current hates?
No.

45) Met someone who changed your life?
Yes. More people than I can count in a reasonable period of time

46) How did you bring in the New Year?
With family at our annual New Years gathering in Tahoe

47) What song represents you?”
"Tank!"

48) Name three people who might complete this?
N/A

49) What were you doing at 12 AM last night?
Waking up, then drafting email. I work on a 24hr clock.

50) What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning?
Should I get up, or just roll over?

Now your turn! :)

CA Selling off hopes and dreams of students for a premium $$$$ to try to balance budget

2009-07-11T01:06:09Z

A proposal by UC San Diego professors has been made to close UC Merced in order to help close the budget gap. This is on top of the 23% some odd percent tuition fee increase which is itself on top of the regular annual 10% fee increase.

I've tracked the cost of things before and this is something else. The rate of increase is starting to resemble percentages only associated with the usury lending practices of predatory credit card companies. I think it is fair to say that college students will be paying more than their fair share of increased taxes next year.

And now CA is considering closing a university. If the CA legislature proposed selling off park land for development, or selling huge tracks of lumber or other natural resources there would be an outcry (off-shore oil drilling anybody?) but if we are selling off the hopes and dreams of our younger citizens, that... is ok?

Message from Pandora

2009-07-10T02:59:17Z

Pandora is moving proprietary. Some of my friends wanted the details, so here is the message copied and pasted below the cut

Hi, it’s Tim -

I hope this email finds you enjoying a great summer Pandora soundtrack.

I’m writing with some important news. Please forgive the lengthy email; it requires some explaining.

First, I want to let you know that we’ve reached a resolution to the calamitous Internet radio royalty ruling of 2007. After more than two precarious years, we are finally on safe ground with a long-term agreement for survivable royalty rates – thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our listeners who voiced an absolute avalanche of support for us on Capitol Hill. We are deeply thankful.

While we did the best we could to lower the rates, we are going to have to make an adjustment that will affect about 10% of our users who are our heaviest listeners. Specifically, we are going to begin limiting listening to 40 hours per month on the web. Because we have to pay royalty fees per song and per listener, it makes very heavy listeners hard to support on advertising alone. Most listeners will never hit this cap, but it seems that you might.

We hate the idea of capping anyone's usage, so we've been working to devise an alternative for listeners like you. We've come up with two solutions and we hope that one of them will work for you:

*

Your first option is to continue listening just as you have been and, if and when you reach the 40 hour limit in a given month, to pay just $0.99 for unlimited listening for the rest of that month. This isn't a subscription. You can pay by credit card and your card will be charged for just that one month. You'll be able to keep listening as much as you'd like for the remainder of the month. We hope this is relatively painless and affordable - the same price as a single song download.

*

Your second option is to upgrade to our premium version called Pandora One. Pandora One costs $36 per year. In addition to unlimited monthly listening and no advertising, Pandora One offers very high quality 192 Kbps streams, an elegant desktop application that eliminates the need for a browser, personalized skins for the Pandora player, and a number of other features: http://www.pandora.com/pandora_one.

If neither of these options works for you, I hope you'll keep listening to the free version - 40 hours each month will go a long way, especially if you're really careful about hitting pause when you’re not listening. We’ll be sure to let you know if you start getting close to the limit, and we’ve created a counter you can access to see how many hours you’ve already used each month.

We’ll be implementing this change starting this month (July), I’d welcome your feedback and suggestions. The combination of our usage patterns and the "per song per listener" royalty cost creates a financial reality that we can't ignore...but we very much want you to continue listening for years to come.

Please don't hesitate to email me back with your thoughts.

Sincerely,
tim_signature.jpg

Tim
Founder

This is a one-time account message.

Field trip - Candy Factory

2009-07-01T01:44:59Z

Tomorrow most of the law firm where I work is taking a field trip to tour a candy factory owned by one of the partners. All of the interns (e.g. me) are invited and so is everybody else at the firm who hasn't had the opportunity yet to visit their candy factory.

This job comes with sweet perks! (but I just might bring a toothbrush..)

Web Browser ridiculousness :)

2009-06-25T04:20:08Z

So for work, I am using three web browsers simultaneously in order to do my work.

I use Internet Explorer for browsing the firm's database of discovery production documents on the case. (required by database software)
I use Mozilla for internet if I have to look something up, but primarily to update the case outline on the private wiki we have.
I use Chrome for Pandora radio while I work. I suspect the primary reason I like doing this is it looks different on my task bar so I can ignore it while swapping between windows of the other two.

I can't decide whether this is an effective use of technology, or just technological chicanery.

Libertarian ≠ Liberty

2009-06-14T16:58:02Z

A hilarious short video on the "success" of libertarianism, in Somalia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDv4sYwjO0

A must watch. :)

Letter to Schwarzenegger - California Higher Education Funding, Cal Grants

2009-05-27T04:37:39Z

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger

I have just received news that your proposed solution to balance the state budget includes a proposal to eliminate the Cal Grant program. Now I have heard many bad ideas but this one is outright shocking. I cannot believe you could seriously consider such an option at a time like this.

Perhaps you are unaware of some facts.
(1) First, California's higher education system has been put under tremendous strain over the last decade.
(2) Investments into higher education have proven to be the single best investment the State can make, and an investment that is unitarily critical to the State's future economic prosperity.
(3) "Tidal Wave II" threatens higher education with unprecedented challenges.

========
(1) California's higher education system has been under tremendous strain over the last decade. I graduated from California Polytechnic State University with a bachelors degree within 4 years in 2007. It is much more uncommon to have college students graduating within 4 years these days. A major contributing factor to the protracted time to graduation is the increasing number of students who are working longer hours while in college in order to pay their own way through college. As fees have continued to go up nearly 10% every year the number of hours students spend working, and not studying, increases significantly. My first quarter at Cal Poly in the summer of 2003 I paid $748 dollars in tuition. My last quarter at Cal Poly I paid $1,450 in tuition. I graduated early when compared to the average college student and my tuition still rose 94%, nearly doubling during my tenure.
This has already happened and you might realize how that is utterly ridiculous.
If the costs of production in any company were to double in four short years you would expect the company to be on the verge of collapse. Higher education has strained under this significant increased burden being placed on it. It is the tenacity, resilience, and bright minds of California students who have managed to shoulder this burden. However, eliminating Cal Grants is just too much for an already straining system. Working your way through college goes from being difficult to being impossible. The effects of eliminating Cal Grants may solve the short term budget problems this year, but the costs will certainly be devastating. California will lose many of the entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists, doctors and artists. That would be a desecration of the American dream, and in future years will have a deleterious effect on the California treasury as well.
Even if you don't care about the students who will be devastated by this, at least consider the State's own fiscal health.

(2) Investments into higher education have proven to be the single best investment the State can make, and an investment that is unitarily critical to the State's future economic prosperity. Studies have shown that for every $1 of spending in higher education there is a budgetary return of between $5-8 dollars (depending on the study). Education is monetarily a sound reliable investment. Additionally, students are the State's future. Twenty years from now it is unquestionable that a majority of this states economic and political leaders will be graduates from this States higher education system.

(3) For many years now those researching higher education policy have noticed a significant challenge facing higher education which they have dubbed "tidal wave II." This refers to the tremendous increase in demand for higher education as the baby boomers children graduate from high school in unprecedented numbers. I have heard estimates predicting the peak will occur around 2010. At a time when higher education is facing the most significant challenges of this century the State should be matching the most unprecedented demand for higher education with correspondingly unprecedented support. That is what would be required in order to simply maintain existing levels of service. I am truly afraid to consider what will happen if the State instead makes an unprecedented failure to support higher education.

Please, do not forget the importance of having a strong higher education system and consider alternatives to eliminating Cal Grants or further cutting funding. The Oil Severance Tax for Higher Education (AB 656) is one of a great many alternative options to balance the budget.

Yay! We are the prevailing party!

2009-05-12T03:18:49Z

I just found out that we won. The small firm I work represented the prevailing party for my very first real pleading.

~I say "my pleading" because I was predominantly responsible for the research and drafting of the relevant argument. It was supervised, reviewed, and argued by the firm's attorney (e.g. not unauthorized practice of law).

My record so far:
Undefeated (quick, take a picture while it lasts....)

TV Series commentary - Warning, contains spoilers

2009-05-03T06:19:03Z

Bones v. Lie to Me

Bones is one of my favorite TV shows because of the main character, Temperance Brennan's ("Bones") philosophy and reliance on only the facts. The show really makes a strong point about how scientists and "squints" rely on the facts, and not their gut intuition, in order to arrive at conclusions. It even goes so far as to mention the basics of hypothesis testing. First you have an untested hypothesis which you cannot rely on, then you test it until you have either eliminated it as a possibility or eliminated all other reasonable possibilities.
Bones promotes evidence based reasoning!

In contrast, Lie to Me seems to be based on promoting a myth that you can reliably detect whether or not a person is lying based on their facial expressions, a physical reaction, a reliable physiological reaction. Lie to Me appears to promote reading into a situation assumptions which can lead to very real damaging consequences. It is inappropriate and harmful to believe in the myth that Lie to Me is based on. Ironically, the TV show itself must necessarily prove its own premise false. On the TV show they have actors who are acting out the reactions which supposedly cannot be faked. Yet here they are, faking it, as they are paid to do as actors, and we are expected to buy into it at some level? The lie detector is a very popular myth, but that is what it is, a myth. I prefer the tried and true method of lie detection: Logic. If you face an apparent contradiction then you know one of the premises must be false, sometimes known as a proof by contradiction.
I am definitely in the Bones camp on this one and prefer facts and logic.

Bones

The season finale for Bones was awful, in more ways than one.
(1)They made a terrible choice on who they picked to be Gormogon. I think it should have been Dr. Sweets. It doesn't make sense in the show itself for it to be Zack because who was making off with the statue while Zack being exploded distracted everybody?
However, the primary reason I declare it to be an incredibly poor choice on behalf of the writers is because it runs counter to a central theme of the show itself - rely on the evidence and logic. To say arguably the most logic based character bought into such terrible, nay probably psychotic reasoning is untenable.
You can see the writers backpedaling like mad to try to undo their mistake. In the next few episodes they bring him back and say that he didn't actually kill the lobbyist, and that he only said he did because he had lead the master Gormogon to him which is "as good as having killed him." Notice the metaphor. Zack doesn't use metaphors. It is completely out of character for him. I would bet those lines were just the writers trying to backpedal like mad to undo their mistake - after finding out the audiences strong disapproval, such as mine.
Fortunately, if you just ignore the season finale then the rest of the episodes are excellent and I duly recommend watching, if you have the time.

Dollhouse

Ever notice how Dollhouse is strikingly similar to the old British television series The Prisoner? You have the people imprisoned against their will, the heavy handed psychology, and the complicated cover-ups, plotting and conspiracies.

Yet another example of why we need to change our voting system...

2009-05-03T04:23:42Z

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/us/politics/29specter.html

Senator Specter switched sides in order to avoid losing a republican primary.
[Because he is a moderate].

According to Senator Specter (and polling data) he is too moderate to fair well in the very conservative Republican primary. Only those who are more active in politics vote in the primary, which makes primaries tend disproportionately towards the political extremes.
However, winning a primary election does not mean you have won the election overall. Senator Specter contends that it is not fair and not right to have the election decided during the primary. For the less politically savvy think of it like a playoff bracket. Do you want to put the two best teams against each other in the first round of elimination? No. You want to have them in entirely different brackets.
To an extent, I agree. More people vote in the general election, so having the election decided by the general election is more democratic.
On another level the entire setup of political chicanery is ridiculous.
Within our current voting system this ridiculous party switching purely for political, and not ideological, reasons actually makes pragmatic sense (assuming the polling is accurate). Thus our voting system itself is a ridiculous system.

This is another clear example of why we should switch our political system.

Our current system relies on many layers of filtering in order to avoid more than two candidates in the final election. (e.g. avoid "spoiler" candidates)
(1) There are the primaries.
(2) Then there is the general election.
(3) Finally there is a runoff election.

Our system splits what should be a single decision making process into multiple parts. Many problems have been observed when this is done including the fact that the number of people who vote in primary and runoff elections is significantly lower than in general elections. This seriously undermines the representational legitimacy of both the primary and runoff elections, and thereby tends to undermine the legitimacy of the entire process.

You might also notice that holding one election process, at the cost of three elections (primary/general/runoff) is 3X as expensive as it needs to be. If you want to talk about wasteful government spending...

The fact is that any preferential based voting system resolves the election in a single vote. They are much simpler. You vote for who you want, and the candidate with the most support wins. Look at Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), Choice Voting (used by San Francisco since 2004), and Proportional Representation (PR). I don't want my elections to be decided in a ridiculous three part system primary/general/runoff. I want one single election where you vote and the politicians can then spend their time actually working and doing their job instead of having to constantly campaigning for re-election.

This article is part of a larger series of articles addressing preferential voting pointing out how preferential voting is cheaper, more democratic, increases voter turnout, discourages negative campaigning, encourages campaigns on the issues, encourages honesty in politics and better ensures the candidate with the most popular support is elected. However, for the sake of brevity this article will end here after addressing this one point.

Easter and Little Children

2009-04-13T18:29:29Z

This is a hilarious conversation I heard recently.

Child: Tomorrow is Easter so you owe me chocolate Easter eggs.
Parent: Do you even know why we celebrate Easter?
Child: Because its the day God died?

. . .
Apparently Easter is now Nietche's holiday; and we celebrate by eating chocolate and having scavenger hunts.

General Life update

2009-03-28T00:42:57Z

Probably a lot of things I should post, to keep the LJ reasonably up-to-date. Overall, things are going well.

I found a job. The work is wonderfully engaging, interesting, and allows me to use my mind. The work schedule is wonderfully flexible too, and part time which is good for right now. The work is basically working as a second attorney for a local sole practitioner. I have my own office (time-shared on days I am not there) and I wear a suit for work. Perfect for my current life situation; except its minimum wage. Yeah, it boggles the mind a bit - wearing a suit to work, and getting paid minimum wage. I am basically doing the work for a letter of recommendation and the work experience. I am pretty sure it is worth it because nothing says your work is outstanding better than doing outstanding work.

I recently heard back from the USPTO giving me the "OK" to take the patent bar. I signed up for April 8th. I'll be doing quite a bit of studying from now until then. Thankfully, the job is part time so I should have plenty of time for this.
Sure, I could reschedule the test for later, or take it a second time, but I think I would just rather pass the first time so I am going to plan and work on doing that instead.

Birthdays and protecting my identity

2009-03-16T03:01:18Z

As one of my friends recalled a little while ago I have a March birthday. . . .
I like seeing old and new friends. I like planning (usually small) social gathering/events.
I don't like receiving gifts merely because I am a year older. This year what I really want is a good job as a summer associate, law/patent clerk/agent; however, that doesn't seem like something anybody could give me. It is something I'll find myself.

Two other considerations is a birth date is generally included as one piece of identifying information and I think it is easier for my friends to not have to keep track of one more date. Therefore I decided to keep the actual day a secret. If you are one of those people who insists on wishing friends a happy birthday, just pick any day in March convenient for you. Maybe, one day, keeping this info secret might help protect me against identity theft. Who knows?

In short, I try not to make a "big deal" about my birthday. Thanks :)

Prop 8 - petition

2009-02-11T16:31:54Z

Passing along the word: http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/divorce.

barrackar @ 2009-02-05T21:53:00

2009-02-06T05:54:08Z

One Word

USING ONLY ONE WORD! It's not as easy as you might think! Copy this page, paste into a new note and change the answers to suit you, then pass it on. It's hard to only use one word answers, but give it your best shot! Be sure to tag the person you received it from!

1. Where is your cell phone?
desk

2. Your significant other?
Not

3. Your hair?
Malleable

4. Your mother?
Overworked

5. Your father?
Home

6. Your favorite?
Science

7. Your dream last night?
Ø

8. Your favorite drink?
Smoothie

9. Your dream/goal?
Metastatic

10. What room you are in?
Bedroom

11. Your hobby?
Hiking

12. Your fear?
Misunderstandings

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?
Office

14. Where were you last night?
Politicing

15. Something that you aren't?
Angry

16. Muffins?
Homemade?

17. Wish list item?
Kettle

18. Where you grew up?
Bay

19. Last thing you did?
Type

20. What are you wearing?
Normal

21. Your TV?
Ha!

22. Your pets?
Percy

23. Friends?
Dispersed

24. Your life?
Unemployed

25. Your mood?
Complacent

26. Missing someone(s)?
Yes

27. Car?
Problems.

28. Something you're not wearing?
Tie

29. Your favorite store?
Bakery

30. Your favorite color?
White

33. When is the last time you laughed?
#2

34. Last time you cried?
2008

35. Who will resend this?
Whoever

36. One place that I go to over and over?
Home

37. One person who emails me regularly?
Spam

38. My favorite place to eat?
View

Solving California's Budget Problems

2009-02-06T04:10:15Z

California has been having significant budget problems. Some say there is a structural deficit of over $42 Billion dollars.

Those familiar with politics point to the State's constitutional requirement for any budget to pass by 2/3rds through the legislature.

Stated Problem: A minority of legislators can hold the State budget hostage. There is deadlock and no budget is passed and if there is one, it is very late. Many commenters have already described in significant detail how very bad this is for the State.

Proponents of prop. 11 pointed out how the districting promotes election of candidates from the political extremes. Gov. Schwarzenegger campaigned on a platform on promoting cooperation among in the legislature. Yet, the deadlock remains as strong as ever. This requires real reform, and not merely colorful rhetoric.

Proposed Solution

The goal is to end the deadlock; however, the 2/3rds requirement was created for a reason. The budget is so important that it should require a broader consensus than merely 50%. The intent was to require an increased level of compromise and bipartisanship. The 2/3rds objective fails in creating compromise but instead promotes deadlock.

Change the requirement so the legislature votes on the budget with a preferential voting system.

Normally:
The legislators are presented with a single bill, and it if doesn't pass then there is no budget. There is delay and it costs the State, us taxpayers, a significant amount of money.

Under preferential voting:
(a) Every legislator can create their own version of the budget, if they so choose.
(b) When the legislature votes, they rank all of the budgets submitted. 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice, etc.
(c) The preferential voting system selects the budget with the most legislative support. A budget is guaranteed to be selected, and therefore guaranteed to be on time (assuming the vote itself is on time).
The budget selected will also necessarily be a consensus budget. Legislators would have a strong incentive to draft compromise budgets. Thus the protections intended by the 2/3rds requirement would be met, but in a process that actually achieves what was intended.

Notes on preferential voting in this case

There are many different varieties of preferential voting, but they all have something in common: They all require a ranking of candidates and none of them require any run-off or second vote.
In this situation I would personally recommend Condorcet voting, but any preferential voting system would be light-years ahead of what we currently use.

The most commonly known preferential voting system is Instant-Runoff Voting (IRV) (also known as choice voting, and Single-Transferable Voting(STV))
Advantages

Legislators are held accountable. They cannot claim they didn't like a small portion of any budget they vote for because they could always have ranked higher the budget proposals without that section.
A budget is guaranteed to be on time.
The budget is guaranteed to be what would be the consensus budget.
No excuses.

Anybody please send me critiques and comments so I can understand why we aren't doing this.