Author: Muttrox

My favorite political candidate ever is Howard Stern. His platform was very simple, consisting of:

1. Bring back the death penalty
2. All road construction to be done at night
3. Then resign

The road construction is the interesting one. It goes without saying that Howard Stern would be a terrible public official (thus the resignation). But he put his finger on something — that it’s easy for governments to forget what is important in day-to-day life. Highway construction isn’t as important as a balanced budget, income equality, povery, literacy, etc., but in an average day I’m more affected by construction schedules.

Which brings me to my own local government, DeKalb County. In all my “everyday” interactions, I have always been impressed. I have called different departments about trash disposal, taxes, becoming a notary, buying a tax lien property, and more. Every time, I have been able to talk to a knowledgeable, polite human being in a reasonable time. This is no small feat.

They recently changed out the water meter for my house. To do this, they had to dig a large patch out of my front lawn. They replanted the whole area. It’s the best looking part of my lawn.

This week, they have been going through our whole street laying fiber optic cable for the school system. To do this, every 15 feet or so, they dig through whoevers lawn they happen to be at, about 4 feet deep, and using air hoses, wire, rope, and a lot of human sweat, lay a 6″ flexible tube through the ground. I was very impressed by the amount of thought and energy that had gone into minimizing the disruption to the homeowners and their property. All the holes were carefully filled in, tamped in with some neato jackhammerish tool. They then took the grass chunks they had placed off to one side, and rebuilt the lawn as it was before. The degree of care they took lengthened their work day by at least 30%. So far, it looks like it will only be a few more days and no one will be able to tell the trauma my lawn underwent.

Of all the counties I could have been in,
I say Hooray for the one I’m in!

(bonus points if any non-parents can name that quote…)

Georgia’s own Cynthia McKinney is fighting the establishment once again. It’s a coin flip with her — she says things no one else will say. Sometimes she’s right, often she’s wrong. This time she’s very wrong.

The issue at hand is a recent incident at the Capitol building. She was physically grabbed by the police, she hit one of them back, they are considering arresting her. More details: Representatives do not have to go through standard security procedures. McKinney went in through the special route, the police did not recognize her as a Rep, the rest followed.

A couple days ago, McKinney called a press conference to claim the whole thing is based on racism, and that she has often been singled out. The NYT printed this without much comment, though they did use the least flattering picture one could imagine.

So far, I was inclined toward McKinney’s side. But ah, there was one small detail buried within…

Ms. McKinney, a lawmaker known for provocative statements, acknowledged that she had not been wearing the lapel pin that would have identified her as a member of Congress. But she said the police responsible for protecting lawmakers should recognize them on sight

With a little more digging, one can see the same stance back in 2002. “the Capitol Police pinned a picture of McKinney to an office wall, warning officers to learn her face because she refuses to wear her member’s pin.”

It’s simple.  She broke the rules. The onus is on her to wear the lapel pin, the onus is not on every security guard at the capitol to know 435 representatives by sight. Which, by the way, seems like a bit of a high standard. Does she imagine they should be training every night with a face book, and calling emergency all nighters after every election to get to know the new ones? How on earth is this racism, or even an issue? It’s just common sense. If I refuse to wear my badge at work, I can’t expect security to know who I am and treat me like someone special. She’s exhibiting the kind of arrogance and lack of accountability that she would rightly condemn in a GOP politician.

I’m not usually one for the “I used to play it so it must be cool” crowd, I was mostly cured of that by an extremely hipper-than-thou roommate.  Here I make an exception for Gnip Gnop.  How great is this game?  Strategy consisted of literally having enough endurance to keep pounding the buttons harder and faster and longer than the other guy.  Good times.

It constantly amazes me how many businesses don’t realize you can’t make money without customers. I went out recently to take a couple of test drives (the Muttrox family is upgrading). Probably everyone in the world but me knew that no car dealership is open on Sunday until noon.

Why not? Their job is to serve the customer. I know I am not the only one who goes out shopping on Sunday morning. Every hit Home Depot or Costco? Lines out the door. Even at the closed dealerships, I saw a good half-dozen either people like myself who figured as long as they were there they might as well poke around.

Here is a simple idea. Stay open all weekend. Close on your lowest traffic weekday. You should be open when customers are most ready to interact with you. To do otherwise is idiocy. Dealerships should be open 9-9 Sat and Sun, and close down some other day if they need a break. On weekdays, their hours should be noon through 9, so people can shop after hours.

It’s not just car dealerships. Many industries can’t seem to grasp the basics of how to get paying customers in the store. We’ve all heard the phrase “banking hours”, it’s well-known for a reason. What about doctor’s offices? Why is it on the weekends you can’t find a primary care physician, the best you can get is “Doctor in a Box”. Why shouldn’t a successful practice be fully staffed on weekends. Wouldn’t most people rather not take off work hours if they could help it? Suppose something goes wrong on the weekend, should you end up at the emergency room, clogging the system for people with real problems? Any retail business serving consumers would be better off opening late and closing late, and staying open weekends over weekdays.

Late one night, a drunk guy is crawling around under a lamppost. A cop comes up and asks him what he’s doing.

“I’m looking for my keys,” the drunk says. “I lost them about three blocks away.”

“So why aren’t you looking for them where you dropped them?” the cop asks.

The drunk looks at the cop, amazed that he’d ask so obvious a question. “Because the light is better here.”

Many retail businesses are looking for their keys in the wrong place.

Sen Russ Feingold introducing legislation to censure President Bush over the illegal wiretapping. If you are interested, the writeup (about 2 pages long) is here, or see the official document. Needless to say, I agree 100% with the resolution, and am thankful there is an attempt to bring accountability to lawbreaking. Greenwald also has a great writeup on it.

Update:

The NYT had a big article about the censure motion yesterday. Well, sort of about the motion, it was really all about the politics of raising the motion. Nowhere is there the substance of what the censure is for, if there is any validity to it, or even Feingold’s own relevant quotes about the censure. You would have a hard time reading the article understanding why Feingold actually brought up a censure vote.

True, it is a politically oriented piece, so it’s focus is not about the content of the censure resolution. But why not? Why is it so hard for the media to cover politics as anything but a horse race? Is it any wonder the public is so woefully wrong about so many basic matters of fact, when the facts are never presented to them?History has shown my 2004 election analysis was dead on. Bush lied, and the media let him. People believed the lies and put him in office. I wonder if this will change anytime soon

The Supreme Court recently heard and ruled on Rumsfeld vs Forum. This is the case that tested the impact of the Solomon amendment. This amendment said that all universities had to give the military equal access to recruiting as any other recruitment, in order to recieve federal funding. That is, at any job fair or such, they would be allowed whatever others were.

Many Law Schools were against this. Their reasoning was that they are bastions of free speech and anti-discrimination. The military’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” violates soliders rights of free speech and expression. These schools had passed policies saying that any recruiter that didn’t meet their standards in regards to rights granted would not be allowed on campus, or some similar “downgrading”. This applied to any organization, including the military.

The two sides have been battling in court for a long time until it finally made it all the way to the top last week. Whereupon the law schools were spanked, and spanked hard, in an 8-0 decision that left no doubt. Our new Chief Justice had the best line, when during oral arguments he told the law schools, “What you’re saying is, ‘This is a message we believe in strongly, but we don’t believe in it, to the tune of $100 million.’ “.

Bravo. The Law Schools stance has always been incredibly hypocritical. If they felt that strongly about the don’t ask don’t tell policy, they could simply stop taking federal monies.

In addtion, it was simply wrong. The military is different than other organizations. It’s mission is not to maximize profit, it’s mission is to kill others so that we are kept safe. The military organization is not at all like any other, in many ways. Despite all the military metaphors littering modern corporate vocabulary, they are worlds apart, and thank goodness for that.

The New Republic had a very nice article about this (subscription only). For some strange reason, it’s littered with advice to Hilary on the topic, but it’s take is generally on.  The military has increasingly become associated with the heartland, and with the GOP.  In Vietnam, many of the soliders were from fine universites, and military service was still considered a noble calling.  The irony of the chickenhawks (Bush, Cheney, etc.) in power questioning the service of the Democrats who served (Gore, Kerry, etc.) is absurd, but it points out how the pendulum has swung.  By excluding the military from the elite and Ivy League schools, the military has been pushed to recruit where it can.  This has led to the solidifying of the military as a reliable GOP block.

Way to go, Supreme Court.  I hope the next few decisions are this easy.

(Blogroll is the geek term for those links on the right.)

Deleted:
Jabley – Hurry up and graduate so you can update your blog. I’m sorry, but your last post was on Harriet Miers.
The Daily Howler – This is one of my favorite sites. Years and years of carefully documented media biases, errors, and general stupidity. However, the author has more or less thrown in the towel. The focus of the site has shifte to education, with occasional forays back to media idiocies.

Added:
Digby – One of the best left blogs around. It’s gotten a bit acerbic lately (6 years of a self-annointed king can do that to ya), but I am still constantly amazed at the sheer amount of content that underlies it. Not just a bunch of stupid links like Atrios (one of the worst blogs around), but well supported ideas, bringing together diverse historical documents for support.
Glenn Greenwald – My new favorite. Again, very factual, very analytic. If you think there’s the least bit of “right” in the Bushies/NSA scandal, read on.
The Poor Man – Just cracks me up.

Updated: Jabley’s back. And Beltway Observations got renamed for the fourth time.

I must bring up a contentious issue. Some years ago, it came to my attention that many people don’t understand where the top of a pizza slice is. Allow me to set the record straight, clearly and without any ambiguity. The first photo is right-side-up. The top of a slice of pizza is the point. The bottom is the crust. End of story.

RIGHT!
WRONG!

Based on past polling, it is clear that my view is in the minority. Nevertheless, having consumed a truly awesome amount of pizza in my lifetime, I feel my opinion suffices. Yes, I am America’s leading authority on your basic cheese pizza. (The only voice that could sway me is that of my oldest brother, my only rival in total lifetime slices consumed.)

Take your standard everyday analog clock. You wouldn’t think that a device that’s been around this long would have bugs in it, would you? I never really thought about it until I started teaching my son how to tell time.

Telling time is easy. You look at the hour hand. See what number it points to. That’s what o’clock it is. If it points to 7, it’s 7:00 o’clock. If it’s between two numbers, it’s between o’clocks. Halfway between 4 and 5? It’s half-past 4 o’clock. Almost at 11, but not quite? It’s almost 11 o’clock, but not quite. The hour hand tells you the time to within 10 or 15 minutes. Almost all the information on the clock is in the hour hand.

So which hand is more prominent? Not the hour hand, the minute hand. The minute hand is always the long one, which means it draws the eye more, and is easier to read. This is an interface bug. The most important information should be the most prominent.

I guess it’s just one of those things you don’t think about once you internalize it, like the way we Americans use a fork and knife. (Ever think about how often you have to change hands? Watch your own hands the next time you eat, you’ll be amazed how much time you spend moving forks and knives from hand A to hand B.)

Stop yammering about Cheney’s hunting accident. It’s not important. It has no larger ramifications. Last week, Peter Daou wrote an excellent post about Scandal Fatigue, widely cited, and yet this week every blog is taking time out to try and make points on the Cheney incident. Every time you talk about this, you’re not talking about illegal wiretapping, torture, lying AGs, record deficits, corrupt majority leaders, etc.

I ate at Romano’s Macaroni Grill for the first time last week. I was particularly intruiged by their “Create your own pasta” dish. (I accidentally called it “Make your own pasta” when I ordered, our waitress instantly corrected me. Lordy.) To create your own pasta, you are a given a menu. You pick any of six noodles, eight sauces, up to three vegetables out ten, five meats, and a couple of salads (numbers are from memory). That’s a good amount of variety. And in fact the meal was delightful and I will return. So why am I blogging? Because of the catchphrase on the menu. “The possibilities are endless”. No, they’re not. The possibilities are not endless, they are finite, countable, and easily calculated.
6 noodles X
8 sauces X
120 vegetable combinations X
5 meats X
3 salads (none, A, or B) =
86,400 combinations*. Very finite.

But Romano’s is not the only offender. Let’s talk about Waffle House. They claim prominently on their menu how many ways there are to prepare a burger. On their website, they claim at least 70,778,880 different ways.

This was deconstructed nicely in this article. Here’s how you do math for something like this. How many possible toppings are there? Eight. Each one can either be there or not — two ways for each topping. So you take two, and multiply it by itself eight times. This equals 256. How do you get from 256 to 70 million? You can’t. You can get weasely to get closer. For instance, you could either have a bun top, bun bottom, or not. That’s another factor of 4. You could get the burger rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, well done. That’s a factor of 5. That gets you to 5,120. We are almost halfway to supporting their claim (because 5,120 squared is almost 70 million.) But we’ve used everything we got.

Here’s one way to explain the discrepancy. Consider the clientele and employee base at Waffle House. Do they strike you as particulary sophisticated when it comes to mathematics? I’d guess over half the people who eat there need a tip calculator to figure out what 15% of $10.00 is. The workers are no better. It’s the bottom of the barrel, no getting around it. The management doesn’t look like they’re taking Number Theory courses at night either. So based on this limited sample, we conclude that everyone associated with Waffle House is a drooling idiot of some kind. I conclude that their advertising claim is false, but is merely due to stupidity rather than malice.

*Interestingly, this number is the exact number of seconds in a day. I often need to use this at work to convert dates to datetimes and back. From now on, all my code will call it the “Romano” factor.

Ever since I started Muttroxia, I’ve been wanting to do a post about the things I like about the Bush administration. I suppose it was part of an effort to seem non-partisan, or objective or something like that. Problem was, every time I sat down to write, I couldn’t come up with much. It was going to be a top 10, but I ended up with only four. And since one of them (#4) was a unanimous decision by 300 million Americans, it’s not really all that amazing. And they all have asterisks. Oh well, when you’re grading Worst President Ever, there’s not a lot to work with.

The things I like fall under two broad themes.

Economics: These folks believe in the power of the free market. To a large degree, so do I. They often put it places it doesn’t belong (Social Security, Health Savings Accounts), but sometimes it goes somewhere I like.

1) No Child Left Behind – Without accountability, it is foolish to hope for change. Hoping for A while rewarding for B does not work. Bush deserves credit for bring market forces to bear in the educational system, and installing a system where performance is rewarded. There are major major problems with the implementation and details (not enough money, testing standards that don’t take gifted or special needs students into account, no real option for students or schools that just failed) — but the idea has merit, and to some degree, this is the pain that is needed to get to a better place in the future.

2) Market-based trading of pollution emissions – Again, there is plenty of room to argue about how exactly this program was implemented. Nevertheless, bringing market forces into the area of environmental pollution is a great idea. As far as I know, it has been proven over and over to produce the best results the quickest, and do it in a way consonant with both democracy and capitalism.

Black and White foreign policy: These folks believe in good and evil. They believe that some societies are just bad, and deserve to be treated like dirt. They should not be negotiated with, they should not be given the same status as mature democracies, etc. Many times, this leads to huge foreign policy mistakes (Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, etc.), but if I happen to agree with the judgement, it’s refreshing not to have the President pretending that these societies are every bit as good as everyone else, just different. That’s simply not true, and we all know it.

3) Calling out the Palestinians – There’s never been a shadow of a doubt that the Arab world is the bad guy in the Arab/Israeli conflict. No one with an ounce of perspective can claim otherwise. The line from Yasir Arafat, who invented modern terrorism, to Osama Bin Laden is self-evident. To his credit, Bush did not treat Arafat like a hero or diplomat or peace monger. His stance was very clear, that until Palestine cleaned up it’s act, there’s nothing to talk about. Despite the recent triumph of Hamas at the polls, there have been any number of positive developments since he took this stance.

4) Taking out the Taliban – Yes, he let Osama get away. Yes, he invented a war in Iraq, and let Al Queda flourish. But at least for a couple months, he did what any sane person would have done. Al Queda, through the Taliban, ran Afghanistan. We took ’em out. They were evil, and we dumped them. Too bad we didn’t follow through, but at least the start was right.