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In Texas we have constitutional amendments proposed to us all the time. For example, one of the more recent ones was an amendment to define marraige which I voted against, but this post is not about the pros and cons of that issue.

We had another 11 amendments proposed to us today which will undoubtedly pass; all seemed basically unnecessary to me.

The highlight is Proposition 11 which is an attempt to restrict the government's eminent domain or the right to buy your property and turn it into a highway offramp. They have always been able to do this but recently eminent domain has been stretched to include property that could improve urban areas and increase tax revenue for the state. So in some situations around the country, they have been able to force grandma to sell her house so they could gentrify the neighborhood and open an Anthropology next to a Starbucks because that improves tax revenue etc.

Well the Proposition proposed to us was supposed to prevent such property seizure by private enterprise, but they included some deliberately flexible language that allows certain organizations to essentially seize property:

"entities granted the power of eminent domain under law or for the elimination of urban blight"

This is troublesome and even my friends at the Libertarian party of Texas, who would normally be all over limiting eminent domain, couldn't make up their minds about it. (I would paste a link in here, but every attempt I've made to paste in this post has simply done nothing?)

I chose to vote for Prop 11, thinking that some regulation on this sensitive topic is probably better than none. At least some claims will be thrown out immediately and someone's property will be protected.

I chose not to vote on 2 other propositions (3 and 5) that seemed written in such a way that no one could possibly understand their intent unless they were standing on the floor of the legislature helping to write them. I don't use this internet abbreviation lightly when I type - WTF!

I went with the Libertarian recommendations on most of the propositions, but split from them on Prop 7. Call me paranoid of military dictator overlords, but I think that if you're in the military you should retire before you run for elected office.

There was one item on the ballot other than the 11 amendments and even though I was a political science major and am actively interested in local politics, I still don't really know what the school board does. I mean, I know they make decisions about the budget appropriated to them and probably sanction texbooks as well as appoint the superintendant, but how am I supposed to choose who would be best at that job? The shool board election is a bit of a political 'foot in the door,' and the job would probably be done better by an actual career educator.

I did not cast a vote for School Board.


Also, I'm running for Dallas School Board next year




Not really

This is a scene I wrote out of a large sci fi/fantasy story. Xtranormal is just a funny little way to produce it quickly and I wanted to play around with making my own little movie. . .

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=20090714211846981


Andrew-"I don't know how I really feel about this, but I've got to tell you that I've found something that just can't be explained without considering the black rock stories"

Jude-"What do you mean? We heard all kinds of stories out there"

Andrew-"You might not remember, but once or twice grandpa mentioned his own ancestor Paul Davidson. I can't remember if it was his grandfather or great grandfather. He said that God had told Paul that he had to find and do something with a treasure that was "poisoning the planet" while "under the control" of a group called the CAFO"

Jude-"I remember. He claimed God told Paul to 'seal' the treasure. . . I just thought he was making it up - kinda. He was so serious about it though and it was weird that he said 'under the control' But why would God tell Paul to get some treasure."

Andrew-"I don't know, but I found something in the library that I'd never seen before. I don't know where it came from, but its one of grandfather's old books. Actually it looks older than him - pre colonial. In it there is reference to an object that seems to control people. I can't really read much of it but it talks about a "collection" "poisoning the spirit" and there are news clippings of some old disaster. Its a power plant explosion of some kind. Someone has written in notes that are even harder to read. Then there is a receipt of some kind that is also hand written and a sketch of the belt buckle that grandpa gave me.

Jude-"So grandpa was taking notes about his life and you found it. We knew the buckle was special to him. . . ."

Andrew-"I can't explain it but I think there is something more. I've been wearing the buckle lately and I've felt more of a . . . . connection to grandfather. I can sense something special about it. I even started carrying it around when I'm not wearing it on a belt."

Jude-"You need to get some sleep. Are you trying tell me the buckle is magic? Maybe it came from our ancestor who got it from God, because we all know about the magic clothing that they talk about in the sacred texts. In case you didn't pick up on that, it was sarcasm."

Andrew-"It sounds ridiculous. I don't even believe I'm thinking it, but there is one more thing I haven't told you. There is a letter from grandfather to our father and in it he tells father that the buckle was made from metal from before the colonies and that the metal was recovered from the W.O. headquarters by Paul Davidson.

Jude-"Whats the W.O.?"

Andrew-"I had to look it up. Its a 22nd century organization that had a mission to bring freedom and equality to the old nations. I found a picture of their headquarters and it turns out that they were originally called the Confederation for Amical Freedom and Order."

Jude-"C.A.F.O."

Andrew-"The last part of the letter tells father that Paul recovered another object from the W.O. and explains how grandfather buried it near black rock after he originally came to Richmond Prime. The instructions are detailed and could double as instructions for burying some kind of poisonous waste. 10cm think Iron within Titanium . . ."

Jude-"I don't know what to say. I guess there could be something buried out there. I never really knew what grandpa was doing most of the time out there."

Andrew-"I didn't either, but if there is something there, I think we should try to find it. I think this is related somehow to Saratoga."

Jude-"What if there is something there? It sounds like granpa wanted to keep it hidden, and what will we do with it once we find it."

Andrew-"I think that whatever this thing is, its important. I also think that the recent interest by the veritas faction sounds a lot like the same thing that this W.O. was supposed to be about. Specifically their interest in what they describe as 'moral phenomenon.'

Jude-"Not this again, Crystal works for a subsidiary of that group and its the best job she's ever had - they are great."

Andrew-"I know, I know - look just come home and lets go out to black rock and find out if there is anything to this. We owe it to dad and grandpa, and I can't tell anyone else. They don't know the stories and they didn't know grandpa like you and me."

Jude-"Ok, I'll do it for grandpa, but dad was an ass. It'd be nice to get a trip home after so long, I've been missing that stupid breakfast cereal that we can't get out here."

Andrew-"Thanks J, grandpa would want us to do this, I just can feel it or something like I'm being lead back to black rock"

I just wanted to say goodbye to an old work friend of mine named Adam Lokey. I don't have any kind of canned way to deal with his death, instead its this kind of thing that makes me question well intentioned lessons about "God's Plan for Our Lives," but Adam probably wouldn't want me to dwell on that.

I can't say that I knew Adam very well but we were amoung a group of 'young-lings' at my previous job, and we frenquently shared common observations of work and life and love etc.

I remember that just when I thought my job couldn't get any more boring, Adam showed me what he knew about color. We were looking at something specific for work and he broke down the color variation in a way that really made me see him as an artist. I was impressed.

Adam once made me a surprise mix CD of Wes Andersen movie music which I listened to all the time in the years we worked together. I loved it and had never even considered listening to that music before he shared it with me. I was impressed.

Adam played indoor soccer with a group of guys one year from work (and his and my past). It was then that I understood his illness and how it impacted every segment of his life. He dealt with it like a nobleman bearing his burden for the realm -Nobless Oblige. I was impressed and humbled as any minor health complaint of mine paled in comparison to what he dealt with.

Goodbye Adam, you changed me and I was lucky to have known you.

A friend asked me to translate the following:
L'affilié recevra dans le cadre de ce contrat une rémunération sous forme de commission équivalente à 2% du chiffre d'affaires HT réalisé par une commande enregistrée sur le site dans les 15 jours qui suivent la première visite. Ce chiffre d'affaires comptabilisé s'entend hors taxes, hors impayés, retours et remboursement, frais de transport et frais de douane, commande provenant de manière identifiée du site de l'affilié généré pour la vente des produits high tech RueDuCommerce. Il est entendu que les internautes refusant les cookies ne pourront être comptabilisés.

I don't know the rules for run-on sentences in French, but this type of language always makes me think that they are ok or at least the rules are very different. Here is what I came up with quickly.

The party will receive, as specified in this contract, payment in the form of a commission of 2% of the sales figure which will have been created by a given order entered on the site within 15 days following the first visit. This figure is accounted, by excluding taxes, debts, returns, transportation fees and customs fees. The origination of the order will be identified from the site of the generating party and will be for the sale of "RueDuCommerce" high tech products. It is understood that users refusing cookies will not be accounted for.

This is what an online translation site came up with

The affiliated member will accept a remuneration as part of this contract in form of identical commission in 2 % of the turnover HT accomplished by an order recorded on the site in the 15 days which follow the first visit. This counted turnover agrees duty-free, except unpaid debts, returns and refund, transport charges and expenses of customhouse, commands coming of a way identified by the site of the affiliated member generated for the sale of the high-tech products RueDuCommerce. It is heard

Mine is better, but its interesting to see that the online service also seemed to be confused by the run-on

and expenses of customhouse, commands coming

That comma should really be a sentence break in English. French grammar fun - good times!

If you don't know, "Getting Things Done" is a sort of method of organization and a book of the same title by Mr. David Allen. I'm not the right person to introduce you to this because, as stated above, I don't really GET the need for it. Also, I haven't read the book.

The reason I'm interested enough to rise from the grave and resurrect my blog on this topic is that I have several friends (and now celebrities that I admire) that use this method to stay organized.

Celebrities:
-http://www.nerdist.com (Chris Hardwick)
-http://lifehacker.com/5199293/comedian-rob-corddry-is-no-messy-ironist (Interview with Rob Corddry)

I understand the need to improve yourself with organization, but what I don't really get is the moment when it hits you that you need to implement someone else's technique. This isn't that strange a concept. One might use someone else's techniques for something tactical like "How to Milk a Cow" or "How to Debug a Stack Dump." One might also use another's technique for self improvement. . . which is probably what this is. I myself have found great value in examining Steven Covey's 7 Habits.

So, I guess I need some comments from people who might read this. Why do you feel you need help "Getting Things Done?" I can speculate as to the answer, but it always comes done to some kind of personality difference akin to introvert vs. extravert.

This led me to an interesting observation. I think that I actually gain confidence and energy by organizing. Sort of like an extravert would gain some energy by talking an interacting or an introvert would do the same by reading a book or taking a bath. I think there is a personality type out there who actually spends energy organizing.

Since the introvert vs. extravert thing has helped me a great deal in attempting to understand people, I'm hoping this realization will be equally beneficial. I'm already thinking about how it impacts my marriage.

My hastily drawn conclusion is that because it actually builds me up to organize then I don’t need to move tasks out of mind. I actually like the act of keeping them there and I develop ways that I’m not even aware of to keep track of them. The opposite conclusion is that people who spend energy to organize need to use a method like what Allen proposes.

If you are interested in Allen’s book look it up on Wikipedia or Amazon. There is stuff everywhere about it.

[10:50] wongojack: I generally just don't think Japanese fiction is very good
[10:51] wongojack: I think we have much more mature perspectives on life and human interaction [in this country]
[10:51] wongojack: I've got some detailed thoughts on this that I don't want to bore you with
[10:52] K: please do...
[10:52] wongojack: Basically Japan hasn't gone through the decades of social change that our country has
[10:52] K: is it the whole hello kitty and obsession with that sort of stuff?
[10:53] wongojack: they were pulled from a near fudal society into the modern world after WWII
[10:53] wongojack: now they have a world class economy but still live within severe sexism and classism
[10:53] K: that's true
[10:54] wongojack: as a result their fiction doesn't depict a realistic 'tableau' of emotion and feeling
[10:54] wongojack: certain things are not accepted as acceptable for mainstream content
[10:54] wongojack: Their attempts to write ream after ream of gender bending manga should be applauded as a step in the right direction, but that doesn't make it interesting
[10:55] wongojack: I play a lot of video games and the same sort of thing comes up over an over- the stories are less than what they could be because of the cultural limitations regarding what is appropriate
[10:56] K: i've never thought about it. it's true that most of the stories I enjoy from Japan are ones of history and past cultures that, as you said, don't exist any longer.
[10:56] wongojack: Chinese fiction on the other hand always seems to be able to really tell stories without that same impedement
[10:57] wongojack: but they have other things that get in the way
[10:57] wongojack: still, I usually prefer things that are Chinese to things that are Japanese
[10:58] K: food? :)
[10:58] K: i do love me some sushi
[10:58] wongojack: Actually me too; Japanese food is usually better than Chinese
[10:59] wongojack: Having traveled I really admire our 'social progress' in this country. We usually don't let things get in the way of expressing ourselves and I think we are typically better adjusted psychologically for it
[11:01] K: you'd think from watching the media, films, and TV, that our country is terrible, uneducated, and filled with uncaring people.
[11:01] K: that's kind of a blanket statement. i don't really think that - but I have to say it has definitely opened peoples' eyes to what more we can do to help other people and the world.
[11:02] wongojack: the problem is that people see our way of treating each other as different than their own
[11:02] wongojack: we are fast and efficient
[11:03] wongojack: But we offer therapy for em because we can be serious with each other without cracking a joke; talk about how we aren't really very good at some things; and we think about what really matters to us
[11:04] wongojack: In France they see that kind of self-honesty and don't trust it.
[11:04] wongojack: But its like a therapy patient before and after 2 years of therapy; you have no idea what the benefits are before you start but they can end up being life changing