Observations Along the Road

Roadkill Along the Information Superhighway

Some Local News Times (for varying values of Local)

Written By: cahwyguy - Thu Apr 04, 2013 @ 6:58 pm PDT
Posted in news-chum , , | No Comments »

userpic=simpsonsThis has been a weird week, what with April Fools day at the start, and a roadtrip to UC Berkeley tomorrow. But here are a few items about various “local” things that have caught my eye this week:

Music: The Six String Conspiracy (Rick Ruskin): “Frere Jacques”

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Saturday Link Clearing: Pens, Knitting, Pas. Playhouse, Vegas, and Power

Written By: cahwyguy - Sat Mar 30, 2013 @ 7:41 am PDT
Posted in news-chum , , , , , | 1 Comment »

userpic=fountain-penIt’s Saturday, and you know what that means — time to clear out the saved links for the week. As always, these links are usually discovered through my reading of the papers and by what comes across my RSS feeds (which I’m now reading via Newsblur):

  • Fountain Pens. Those who know me know I do fit the stereotype in some ways and not in others. Yes, I carry a pocket protector. However, I use it to protect my pocket as it is full of fountain pens. Thus, I found this Boing-Boing article about the Namiki Retractible Fountain Pen quite interesting. It would really depend on the quality of the nib. I’ve actually found that Schaeffers — especially the cheap Shaeffers — work the best for me.  Parkers occasionally work, but I’ve never been able to get the fancier pens — especially Cross Fountain Pens — to work well for this left-handed writer.
  • Knitting. Whereas I love fountain pens, my daughter loves to knit. This article made me think of her: a mobile knitting truck that serves as a locally sourced store for lovers of yarn.
  • Theatre. The Pasadena Playhouse has announced their 2013-2014 season, and my response is a big yawn. Perhaps their bankruptcy soured me on them, but I haven’t been that impressed with their season announcements, which usually change by the time the show is presented. They may have the occasionally good show (I’ve heard good things about the Janis Joplin concert currently there, but I’m not into Joplin); however, overall their seasons are predictable. The chestnut. The black show. The new musical. The TBA. The 2013-2014 season is no different. It starts with the musical jukebox tuner “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” (Sept. 18 to Oct. 13). That’s followed by a new play, “Stoneface” (Nov. 5 to Dec. 1), with French Stewart portraying silent film star Buster Keaton. “Stoneface” might be interesting. After that is the play for African-American audiences, Weinraub’s “Above the Fold” (Jan 28 to Feb. 23)–a fictional story of a female African American reporter who travels to a Southern university where four white fraternity boys have been accused of raping a young African American woman. Next up is the chestnut, Noël Coward’s “A Song at Twilight” (March 18 to April 13, 2014). Closing the season, as usual, is the “To Be Announced” production (May 27 to June 22, 2014), directed by playhouse artistic director Sheldon Epps. One potential show of interest.
  • Las Vegas. Those who know me know that I find Las Vegas History interesting. Here’s an interesting story from the LA Times on a man who is trying to get out of Nevada’s infamous Black Book that bars people from casinos for life. No one has ever done that, except by dying.
  • Los Angeles. Lastly, you all know I love LA. Here’s a fascinating map of power consumption across Los Angeles by neighborhood. We’re in a lower-use neighborhood, except during the hot summer months. Other neighborhoods are much much worse. However, some neighborhoods in LA, for some reason, are simply not mapped.

Music: Zorba (1983 Broadway Revival Cast): “The Crow”

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Funding Los Angeles

Written By: cahwyguy - Thu Mar 07, 2013 @ 11:26 am PDT
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userpic=los-angelesWhile quickly eating my lunch, I wanted to share a few more election thoughts. One of the measures that failed yesterday was a proposal to increase the sales tax. I personally voted against it because I thought our sales tax was high enough on the heels of Prop 30. But now the wailing and whining has begun about where to cut. All sorts of dire predictions are in place about the cuts. A few thoughts of my own:

  • This isn’t the gas tax. Sales tax revenue should go up with inflation if people are able to purchase things. So the best way to increase the revenue to the city is not raising the sales tax, but making it so more people have more jobs and can spend.
  • Complaining about salary increases for city workers and saying they should be 0 (zero) is wrong. City workers deserve raises for performance, just as any other worker does. The salaries, however, must be commensurate with industry, and raises in hard times should only be sufficient to cover inflation. As part of the effort to address the failure of Measure A, the city needs to do a comprehensive review of all city managed salaries to determine which ones are in line with equivalent industries and which are not — and should correct the discrepancies.
  • Similarly, pension reform is solely needed. Pensions should be a reward for staying with a particular employer for a significant portion of a career. If someone stays with the city for 20 years, they deserve a pension. This length of service means people shouldn’t be able to get multiple pensions, or if they do, they should be prorated for the percentage of their career at that company. Lastly, one shouldn’t be able to get a pension until one actually retires (i.e., has earned income below a particular level or is above a particular age).
  • All the complaints about teachers salaries in all of this are completely misguided. Teachers are not paid by the city; they are paid by LAUSD. LAUSD is a special district, like MWD. Remember your high school government classes. Special districts are independent from cities, and serve a singular purpose. Reforming LAUSD salaries and pensions is an LAUSD concern, not an LA City concern.
  • For as much as the trolls in online news articles want to carp about city employees, they are talking about the exception, not the rule. The media often portrays city workers as lazy, and often it is the problematic worker that sticks in the mind. But the vast majority of city workers are hard-working tasks who toil thanklessly to keep this city operating — from the law and safety professional to the engineers doing building inspections, running the elections, and maintaining facilities. We shouldn’t penalize the good folks because of a few bad apples.
  • Similar to the salary review, there should be an efficiency review to determine if the city can do particular tasks more efficiently (modeling the implementations based on what is done in successful industries). I’m sure this review will uncover outmoded and inefficient systems.
  • Where possible, regulations should be aligned with county, state, and US government regulations. Use US government rules that are applied to contractors for travel (i.e., the GSA per-diem rules). Use US government processes to secure systems. Don’t reinvent something when there is something already existant and working.

Gee, I’m sounding like a political candidate here. Guess I better get off the soapbox.

Music: Capitol Collectors Series (Margaret Whiting): “Old Devil Moon”

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Mapping the LA Election

Written By: cahwyguy - Wed Mar 06, 2013 @ 11:16 am PDT
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userpic=valley-los_angelesWhile eating lunch, I’ve been staring and playing with this really neat map of yesterday’s election published by the LA Times. Here are some of my observations on this map:

  • It is interesting to note how the electorate split this election, and how it differs from past elections. If you switch to the precinct winner view, you’ll see a very clear split of support: the valley predominantly went for Greuel, the main part of the city went for Garcetti, and south-central went for Perry. Now look at past elections, and you’ll see a very different split: as opposed to Valley/City, the split is East/West (which if you know the city, is a more hispanic/non-hispanic split).
  • In all of the past primaries, including this one, South-Central tends to support a candidate different than the rest of the city.
  • Kevin James was the only avowed Republican running in the race, and if you look at the level of his support throughout the city, you can see why Republicans in general are having trouble in Los Angeles. There are only select pockets in the city where there is Republican strength. It would be interesting if the Times map went back further — in particular, to the election of Richard Riordan — to see how the pockets of Republican strength have changed.
  • The results demonstrate the power of one vote — in this case, mine. At the last minute, I changed my vote from Perry to Garcetti, because I didn’t like Perry’s stance on the subway in Beverly Hills. Look at the vote totals in my precinct, #9006270A. This is the green precinct surrounded by blue (on the N and W) and magenta (on the S and E) in the northern SF valley (near Lassen and Wilbur, if you know streets). The totals were: 64 Garcetti, 63 Greuel, and 62 James. This means, had I supported James instead (as Don W wanted), it would have been a tie for the top three in our district. Even if I had done as originally planned and gone for Perry, it would have been a tie between Garcetti and Greuel. Wow.
  • Turnout in the election was piss-poor, on the order of 16%. C’mon folks — if you want the right to complain about your government, you need to exercise your right to put better people in office. Don’t carp without doing something about it. (Steve Lopez at the LA Times expresses a similar opinion). Oh, and those of you who are apathetic about elections and couldn’t be bothered to vote: do you really want the extremists — on either side — to be dictating your political future? Shouldn’t you be out there making sure your voice is heard? Mark Lacter, over at LA Observed, has some interesting opinions of his own regarding why people didn’t turn out. One of them is that transit should have played a larger role in the discussion. In support of that, here’s another neat interactive map: Average Commute Times in Southern California.

Music: Bark! The Musical (Original Cast): “Dirty Filthy Old Flea Bag”

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Election Reminder / A Plea on Political Discussions

Written By: cahwyguy - Mon Mar 04, 2013 @ 11:44 am PDT
Posted in politics, rant , , | 4 Comments »

userpic=voteFirst, I’d like to use my lunch break to remind my readers in Los Angeles that there is an election tomorrow, March 9, and your vote is very important. I’ve done two posts with my thoughts on the elections and the contests on the Sample Ballot. You can find my analysis of the mayor’s race here; a separate post covered all the other municipal and special district posts, as well as the two local measures. As always, I would like your thoughts on my thoughts.

While eating lunch was was reading about the kerfluffle about a Veterans Monument near Orcutt. As always, I’m reading the comments, and I’m seeing the usual vitriol against liberals. This is something that was bothering me all weekend on Facebook, where I constantly see ad hominem  attacks on liberal spokescritters (i.e., attacking the person, not what they way), and liberals targeted in a blanket way (e.g,. “blood-sucking liberals”). Before you say anything, I also seem similar rhetoric from my politically-active liberal friends against the conservative side, and it also bothers me.

As a result, a plea to my friends who want to have political discussions (this is primarily targeted at the American political spectrum; adapt as necessary):

First, remember the people who disagree with you are not anti-America, anti-American, or hell-bent on destroying this country. On the liberal side, they are not socialists (socialism is, as they say in Princess Bride, something different than you think). On the conservative side, they are not bible-belt thumpers who want to introduce a theocracy. They are people with whom you have honest disagreements, but who are working for the same goal: a strong, united, Nation.

Second, remember that using ad hominem attacks and broad-brush name calling will only serve to further the partisanship, and shut people down from hearing what you say. It may be fun, and it may bring you comments from your side, but it does nothing to help your cause, whichever side you are on.

Third, remember that the goal in our discussions is not to sway the person to your side. The goal for any discussion must be to understand from where the other side is coming.* That doesn’t mean we have to agree with the conclusion, mind you. It means that we must respect the other side enough to listen, understand their chain of reasoning, and recognize that they see it as a valid solution to whatever problem is being discussed. By understanding each other, we can move closer to finding solutions.
[*: What, you have some other goal? What is it? To preach to the converted; to post articles to people already convinced of your view simply to drag the other side through the mud? That's just being mean and childish. Grow up! I'll challenge your views, and you challenge mine.]

Fourth, remember that this country was built on compromise, not rigidity. The Constitution and Declaration of Independence are all the results of compromises from different factions. The current hyper-partisanship of “my way or the highway” is not within the American tradition. American tradition means that each side understands and respects each other, and each side gives some to end up with a result that neither is comfortable with, but that both can live with. America doesn’t instantly find the best solution to problems; we wander back and forth from side to side, like a pendulum, slowly closing in on the right answer. We often forget that, especially in the “I want it now!” generation.

Lastly, remember that our political problems were not caused solely by one party or another. It is very rare that both houses of Congress and the President are the same party, and that there are supermajorities in both houses. This means that both parties have been involved in making whatever decisions are problematic. Take the sequester (please!). Last year, there was almost a moderate grand compromise between the Administration, the Republican house leadership, and the Democratic senate leadership. Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor talked John Boehner out of supporting the compromise (this is on the record), and so the sequester was created to establish a game of chicken that neither side would want to lose. Both houses had to pass the sequester legislation, and the President had to sign it. Then, as opposed to solving the problem before the sequester kicked in, neither congressional side was willing to find a compromise the other could accept. Every one shares in the fault. Except, of course, my congresscritter. My congresscritter is doing a great job (and, by the way, that’s the problem: everyone likes their congresscritter; it is the other ones that are scum).

Music: As Day Follows Night (Sarah Blasko): “Sleeper Awake”

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Unexpected Byproducts of Change: Water, Atheists, He/She, Bookstores, and Tide

Written By: cahwyguy - Thu Feb 07, 2013 @ 11:28 am PDT
Posted in news-chum , , , | 1 Comment »

userpic=pacific-coast-routeToday’s lunchtime news chum brings together a collection of articles, all loosely related by being unexpected byproducts of change:

 

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Architectural Relics: Las Vegas, Nike Missile Silos, and Train/Subway Stations

Written By: cahwyguy - Wed Feb 06, 2013 @ 11:42 am PDT
Posted in news-chum , , , , | 1 Comment »

userpic=las-vegasToday’s lunchtime “News to Chew On”™ deals with relics. No, I’m not talking about the US Postal Service, which has decided to stop Saturday delivery in August. Rather, I’m talking about architectural relics:

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Tales of My City and My State

Written By: cahwyguy - Mon Jan 07, 2013 @ 5:56 pm PDT
Posted in obituaries , , , | No Comments »

Huell-HowserRalph-StoryJack-Smithuserpic=californiaToday, my city and my state lost one of its greatest boosters, and his passing reminds me of other great journalistic boosters for my city and state. In their memory this post is dedicated.

Today’s news brings the sad report of the death of California icon Huell Howser. Howser, a transplant from Tennessee, grew to be one of the greatest booster of Los Angeles, Southern California, and all the quirks and oddities of California. Starting in the mid-1980s with Videolog, he rapidly developed a folksy style over a series of travelogue programs covering our great state. I know he was out to Orange Empire Railway Museum numerous times (which increased attendance every time), and even did a video report on the subway tunnels of the Pacific Electric. He was evidently as nice in person as he was on TV, and just enjoyed telling people about this wonderful state. I’m glad to see KCET will continue to air his shows.

Thinking of Huell made me remember another lost icon of Los Angeles, Ralph Story. Story died in 2006, and I wrote up some recollections then.  Story worked for KCBS (then KNXT) and KABC. I remember Story from his award winning series “Ralph Story’s LA”, which explored the history of Los Angeles. I particularly remember the segment he did on the Pacific Electric Railway tunnels near Echo Park.

I tend to like to do things in 3s, so I wanted a third person who boosted LA and has passed away. My wife came up with the answer: Jack Smith of the Los Angeles Times. Smith was a columnist who did regular columns on Los Angeles and Southern California; many of these were collected into books such as “The Big Orange” (for you Bay Area folks, substitute Herb Caen). Smith died in 1996, and I’m not sure the Times has had a columnist like him since. About the closest is Steve Lopez.

While writing this remembrance up, one other booster came to mind, but it is neither dead or off-the-air… however, it hasn’t had the same impact. KABC’s program, Eye on L.A., is a long running travelogue series hosted by whomever KABC had on staff (I remember Chuck Henry hosting it, but there have been others). However, it hasn’t exclusively focused on Los Angeles, or even California.

So, Huell, we thank your for your love of Los Angeles and California, and for continuing in the tradition of Ralph Story and Jack Smith, bringing the stories of the people to the people. You will be missed.

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