Be nice if there were some yea-sayers mixed in with the naysayers.
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Speciation
"calling a Chihuahua a wolf is like calling someone at the Discovery Institute a scientist"
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Government Transparency & Data
Uncle Sam just put a bunch of stuff online. I haven't had a chance to sift through it yet. There must be something useful in there.
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Property Taxes
IME, people really get in the faces of City and County officials when it comes to property taxes. This post is for those people. There are other lines on your property tax bills...
One of those line items just went up 3.3 percent and... "No one spoke at a public hearing that was held before the vote."
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
One of those line items just went up 3.3 percent and... "No one spoke at a public hearing that was held before the vote."
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Breathalyzer Source Code
I've heard about this trick where folks who get nabbed on DUIs and DWIs get the case thrown out by demanding to see the source code that the breathalyzer runs to measure the alcohol level. Companies usually refuse this request because source code is almost always a tightly held trade secret for proprietary applications. (As opposed to open source applications where the code is available so others can make adaptations and review the functionality.)
The code for the "DRAEGER ALCOTEST 7110 MKIII-C" device was submitted for analysis and the summary paragraph of the report says, "There is no doubt that the Supreme Court should declare this machine to be unreliable. If this happens, based on an agreement entered into over 4 years ago between the State and Draeger, the taxpayers of New Jersey can recover the almost $7 million spent on these machines."
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
The code for the "DRAEGER ALCOTEST 7110 MKIII-C" device was submitted for analysis and the summary paragraph of the report says, "There is no doubt that the Supreme Court should declare this machine to be unreliable. If this happens, based on an agreement entered into over 4 years ago between the State and Draeger, the taxpayers of New Jersey can recover the almost $7 million spent on these machines."
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Message Control Through Volume
Public perception is influenced by emphasizing the points that will win over the audience.
This Whitehouse masterfully works on mass perception by aggregating the points they want emphasized and then linking back to the full report. People are always going to read the summary, not many folks-- often including me-- are going to click through to the full documentation. There's just too much to consume to fully understand the big picture.
On the other hand, the previous Whitehouse worked public opinion through highly disciplined message control. That team only put the information out there that they wanted the public to know. This is another strategy for influencing perception.
Either way, when the beholder doesn't see the whole picture they will draw conclusions based on what they do see. Every team uses these and other strategies to get "friendly" messages in front of the audience.
Sometimes the in the zealousness for victory and success folks go over the line. Here's an article about Merck's efforts to sway perception of the drug Vioxx.
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
This Whitehouse masterfully works on mass perception by aggregating the points they want emphasized and then linking back to the full report. People are always going to read the summary, not many folks-- often including me-- are going to click through to the full documentation. There's just too much to consume to fully understand the big picture.
On the other hand, the previous Whitehouse worked public opinion through highly disciplined message control. That team only put the information out there that they wanted the public to know. This is another strategy for influencing perception.
Either way, when the beholder doesn't see the whole picture they will draw conclusions based on what they do see. Every team uses these and other strategies to get "friendly" messages in front of the audience.
Sometimes the in the zealousness for victory and success folks go over the line. Here's an article about Merck's efforts to sway perception of the drug Vioxx.
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Fear and Irony
The Whitehouse put out a press release about obsolete and under performing programs to be cut in the budget.
So I go here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/TRS/
Which points me to here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/tsr.pdf
Where I get: "File not found."
Too funny.
I like much of what President Obama is doing. Even so, my first thought was that some powerful congressman called and said, "You are cutting WHAT?!" causing the actual document to be hastily pulled.
We spend a great deal as a country. It is good to see efforts to see that we are spending effectively.
Edit: Typo! http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/trs.pdf
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
So I go here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/TRS/
Which points me to here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/tsr.pdf
Where I get: "File not found."
Too funny.
I like much of what President Obama is doing. Even so, my first thought was that some powerful congressman called and said, "You are cutting WHAT?!" causing the actual document to be hastily pulled.
We spend a great deal as a country. It is good to see efforts to see that we are spending effectively.
Edit: Typo! http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/trs.pdf
http://danslotd.blogspot.com
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
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