January 2005

Truck driver or doctor, who should pay more?

January 6, 2005

The nightmare is all too real. An out of control gas tanker barrels down on a commuter on the way home from work. A long day on the road has made the driver tired, and he doesn't step on the breaks soon enough. When he does they don't respond as they should, the company, with its record of terrible maintenance is on the hook as the commuter is badly shaken up but escapes relatively unharmed.

Across town a woman goes in for a checkup after having shoulder surgery. The wound is a little puffier than it should but appears normal. It is a day later when the septic infection, a result of the improper sterilization of the surgeon's knife, sets in. By the time the problem is recognized the patient is left with life long pain.

Who should be held responsible? Should the commuter be awarded a million dollar settlement while the malpractice patient gets no more than a quarter of that amount. A few scary seconds versus a lifetime of pain and suffering? This is not the case today but if the administration gets the cap on medical malpractice they want it could soon be the case for your son or daughter.

Winter in the Mohave

January 6, 2005

Taking a walk on Sunday I snapped a few pictures of Sandy Valley at sunset. Here's the start to 2005.

Maybe Fear Factor isn't so bad after all...

January 6, 2005

Sometimes it takes a truly terrible experience to make one appreciate the mediocre. Until a few minutes ago I thought that Fear Factor ranked amongst the worst of shows on television. But the new series that the Boston Globe calls mediocre sets a new low. Wickedly Perfect has an incredible power. After just 10 minutes the prospect of lying down in the middle of Interstate 15 on a busy holiday weekend seems marvelous. At least it will mean the show will be over. My prediction -and they are so often correct this should really matter - this show will sink in the ratings faster than the XFL.

CNN wants to change but not really

January 6, 2005

In canceling Crossfire CNN's chief explained that they are going to do more "roll-up-your-sleeves storytelling". That is all well and good. Now surf on over to the CNN/Netscape home page and you'll see the image at the right. So there is a major roll up your sleeves story about election problems in Ohio with a forum titled "Dems Going Too Far?" So a major media outlet wants to get a conversation going and instead of asking a question about the election problems in Ohio chooses to focus on the means by which the minority party in the American government is attempting to raise a critical issue. Roll up your sleeves and jump into the mud instead of roll-up-your-sleeves storytelling.

Some poor village

January 6, 2005

Some poor village is being deprived of their local dolt. It is really not fair and said incompetent should be returned as quickly as possible. So this is really a story about the clown who bothered to file suit against Apple claiming they unlawfully bundled the iPod and the iTunes Music Store. The claim purports that because the only out of the box solution that works with iTunes Music Store is the iPod. According to the BBC the litigant said he was forced to buy an iPod if he wanted to take his music with him to listen to.

Apple sues Think Secret

January 5, 2005

Daring Fireball has a story exploring the reasoning behind the recent decision by Apple Computer to sue Think Secret for posting information that Apple calls trade secrets.

Daring Fireball's assertion that one of Apple's main goals is revealing the identities of people responsible for the leaks. The story and Apple's suit seem to presume there are one or more cooperative sources for information. Isn't it just possible though, that as in the case of Apple's Graphing Calculator their security might not be 100% foolproof. What if instead of getting information from inside sources someone has developed a method, including being in the right place to overhear conversations, some productive dumpster diving etc.

OK you're going to say but surely a company the size of Apple would have better control of information. But it doesn't take a lot leaks to let the cat out of the bag. The nature of some of Think Secret's information over the years suggests they have gotten some very good information and it isn't hard to reach the conclusion that some or all of it had to have been intentionally passed, but it doesn't mean it all is.

Is it possible to be too organized?

January 5, 2005

Maybe I'm getting too organized when during the first week of the year I'm getting ready to figure out what kind of chunk the Internal Revenue Service will be taking out of my account come April. Hope springs eternal that there might be a refund, but it is better to be pleasantly surprised by one than to expect it and be devistated by being told to pay up. The IRS has been busy revising the State Sales Tax deduction tables in order to make changes for errors made in the calculations for Arkansas, California and Virginia.

Sandy Valley Citizens Advisory Council

January 4, 2005

News came from the Clark County Board of County Commissioners today that I was among the group appointed to the Sandy Valley Citizens Advisory Council at their meeting on Monday.

The opportunity to take my turn serving the community and giving something back is welcomed. Next week at our first meeting one of the issues that will be raised is the upcoming hearing (PDF) where the Sandy Valley Motor Cross track in San Bernardino County California, will be applying for changes to their use permit in order to change the number of spectators allowed, permit the use of lights and change the permitted operating hours. The hearing has been continued for a date on February 10.

This would likely not be a big issue at all. However, there is of course history. When the permits were granted they limited several factors related to the track. By the summer of 2004 the proprietor of the track had laid aside many of the provisions and operated outside the permitted hours, ran lights late into the night and ran afoul of the local community. Of course they did not run afoul of all of the community, but to some who took offense at the light pollution created by the track and raised other issues. By the end of the summer the lights were off, days were limited to the permitted days and the war of words was begun. The Sagebrush (now renamed the Sandy Valley News) had a series of letters to the editor. Pro and con the various sides weighed in.

Tool or cat toy?

January 4, 2005

Chris Pirillo seems to think that laser levels are designed to be used as tools to do productive work. After a day of rain and a night of more rain to follow, it seems there is an alternate use for them (maybe the primary use, who knows). Simply point it at the floor and move in circles. Within moments the cat will be neurotically chasing the red spot around on the floor. It is better than the old "chase your tail" game that was en vogue last week.

As alluded to above the rain is still coming. We just closed out a year of nearly twice the annual rainfall. We're very near the average monthly rainfall for January and there is plenty of this storm to go, not to mention a few more weeks of January. In the desert you never wish for less rain, at the same time it is rare you think that it has been a long time since things were dry.

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