Hello
This is a test post for internal purposes.
How did you find this site?
And why?
Hello
This is a test post for internal purposes.
How did you find this site?
And why?
Posted in Uncategorized
Not really sure what to do with this site, beyond keeping it as an archive to use when writing about the Same Old Stuff lol.
I mean, does anyone even care about anything that happened before 2014? or 2015? Sure doesn’t seem like it in SF 2.0, where tech “geniuses” techbrosplain local politics and regional land use constantly, without a clue as to what the f they are talking about.
Oh well.
Posted in Uncategorized
I’m attending the California Democratic Convention in Los Angeles this weekend. It’s unclear how much actually “news” or Democrat-on-Democrat political fighting will occur, but if anything fun happens I’ll let you know.
You can follow me on Twitter at my main account, @njudah where I’ll hashtag the relevant entries with #cadem2014. If anything warrants a longer form post, I’ll post here from some hotel computer. It should provide for at least some entertainment, if nothing else.
I’ve been going to most of these things since 2003, depending on where they’re located, and often I find just talking to the various people working behind the scenes, I learn a bit more than just what makes the daily news. Thus, I’ll pass along any interesting details, should they pop up!
Turned on the Internet this morning and it seems there was a firestorm of criticism being leveled at Yahoo.com for their changes to their long time Yahoo Mail service. Reading the coverage, it sounds pretty bad for those who relied on this service.
I haven’t used Yahoo mail much in years (although in the late 90s/early 2000s I relied on a primitive but reliable version of the service when I traveled).
After reading some of the specifics, I have to say I’m not really that surprised. Yahoo is under a lot of pressure to reinvent it self, and fast and start making something called “money” to justify all those salaries that ride the Yahoo Bus** south every day.
Unfortunately, they seem to have chosen the route that is common for companies, big and small in this so called “tech”*** sector – pay lots of people to endlessly fiddle around with a product, changing details big and small, and often, to seem like they are doing something, when they’re really not.
It would be unfair, however, to simply play the “let’s beat on poor dying Yahoo” game. Take a look at the Pain in the Ass known as ios7. Apple too, chose to add lots of gadgety bullshit we didn’t need (really, did I need my home screen to look like it’s in “3D”) and added an endless array of setting, pretty pictures and such. They also took a lot of the ease of use that was the hallmark of previous iOS’s (iOSes?).
It doesn’t really hit you until you use someone’s phone using iOS6 and you realize Apple in the post-Jobs era that this, like other products from the tech*** world was a classic example of fiddling by committee, not creating any true innovation. One can only wonder if Mr. Jobs would have really approved.
Oh, but we could go on. Facebook? HA! They took “fiddling” to a whole new level – how many times have they made revisions based on all sorts of BS. Remember when the directive was a vague notion to “be more like Twitter!” a few years ago? No? Well then how about the endless ticky tacky settings regarding “privacy” users have faced since the beginning?
Don’t get me wrong – not all companies do this and there are many mobile applications, online services and so on that actually do something useful and do continue to improve such products. Square comes to mind for its usefulness for independent merchants and those splitting the check at the restaurant, for example.
That said, it would be nice if we perhaps saw some of the Really Big Companies with Lots of Salaries tone down the fiddling, and get back to work making their products more useful.
For now, I’ll continue to use only the ones that work (free or not) and avoid the fiddlers.
**Same goes for everyone on one of those GoogleYahooFacebookBauer bus things.
***This is really for another entire post, but I think we have to stop describing the majority of these companies that call themselves “tech” as such, and instead call them for what they are – advertising companies.
The “products” are not really the services they purport to provide (Google Mail, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, etc) – that’s a secondary use. What they are really selling are their users who will look at said ads and supposedly click on them or whatever to buy something later on.
There’s no shame in that at all – I used to work for a company that bought online ads all the time and there’s many options for advertisers out there that didn’t exist 10 years ago. However, let’s not suggest these “tech” companies are on a par with those companies that built the US space program, create new medicines that cure disease, or build the many, many weapons that Americans like and seem to need.
Posted in California Life
Why The Decision to Cut Saturday Mail Is Not Only Stupid, But Also Makes No Sense
If you haven’t heard, the US Postal Service will no longer deliver mail on Saturdays. This is a stupid idea, but not for the reasons you might think. The cause is also a bit more complex than what your “friends” in Congress and on TV would have you believe.
First: why this is stupid. For many years I worked with the US Postal Service producing large direct mail projects for candidates and organizations around the country. During that time I got to learn a lot about how the USPS actually works, and learned a lot from executives at the USPS whose job was to work with high volume mail producers to expedite their projects as efficiently as possible.
One thing that was made abundantly clear was that the one day of the week that the USPS had the least to do was Tuesday. This was for a number of unrelated reasons, owing mostly to how people pay their bills (especially credit cards) and when businesses would mail out fliers and other such things for weekly sales specials. The point is, if the USPS must cut service, cutting Tuesday makes more sense for them, and for you, the customer.
Removing Saturday mail causes more problems than it solves. Many people are busy during the week and use Saturday to get caught up on chores and the like. Not everyone can, or will, pay all their bills online, and getting rid of Saturday service is just going to make things more miserable during the week than they need to be. If you have a US Post Office box, you may or may no longer have access to it on weekends like you do now.
Worse, when you consider that many jurisdictions are openly encouraging “vote-by-mail,” and some states voting by mail only it doesn’t take a genius to see how killing mail on Saturdays could be worse than killing it on Tuesday. (I know that doesn’t seem to make sense, but if you spend enough time at huge mail facilities, trust me, it does).
There’s more, however. In addition to competition from online services and the ongoing Great Depression “Recession,” the USPS has been prohibited from providing additional services in your neighborhood, the USPS has an unprecedented mandate to fund a huge pension fund. They’ve been ordered to fund 75 years worth of pensions RIGHT NOW, something no other pension fund is required to do .
Needless to say, if you want to know where all the money is going , it isn’t going to postal service – it’s going to fund a pension fund in a way no other fund has to comply with. So far, few in Congress have spoken out, with the notable exception of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). have tried to speak out, but of course the chorus of the Know Nothing Party, and the Spineless Corporate Party tend to drown him out on the tv.
For those who sing the siren song of “privatize it,” I’ll simply leave you with how well that’s worked overseas. If you’ve ever had the stalwart efficiency of private monopolized internet service and cable tv providers in the US, or their esteemed counterparts in the health care industry, then you already can guess how well that would work here.
For decades our postal service has served us fairly well. Yes, it’s frustrating when there’s a long line, and a service that has to serve everyone, regardless of where they live, isn’t going to run perfectly. To see it get destroyed by the morons in Congress for the sake of a quasi-religious devotion to doctrine, however, is not only stupid, it makes no sense.
Here we go again. Another San Francisco style cluster-frak in progress.
Let’s be clear – I now hate PG&E. After the way they totally f*cked up the pipeline situation in San Bruno, BS-ed their way about it, and caused so much damage, any past ties with these guys was done. Needless to say to have the concept of a “choice” to go elsewhere on its face should be like, awesome.
Enter San Francisco’s classic way to ruin things for the benefit of the politicians: the so-called Clean Energy SF “program.” It sounds all so politically correct – SF will “build” clean energy sources and people can choose them. OMG TEH AWESOME!
There’s just one problem – we’re trading one Big Energy giant for another. Worse, we’re going to see our power bills go up, at a time when many people can’t afford it. Even WORSE, you are going to be told to do as you’re told. If you want out, you’ll have to file papers and pay money to say “no.” (so “progressive” and “democratic.”)
In other words, it’s the classic “Skinheads vs. Geraldo” Battle: you like the idea that Geraldo Rivera gets his nose broken because he’s a jerkwad, but you hate the fact you are rooting for stupid skinhead nazis because they did it. In the end you wish you could root for someone to kick both their asses, because they both suck.
There are many pluses to energy that doesn’t require dead dinosaurs to make things happen – after all, I’ve promoted these at the N-Judah Chronicles because only an idiot thinks that gasoline and coal will be cheap for ever, and an economy based on dead dinosaurs, is, well, gonna die.
Fine and fine.That said, the mad desire of a few progressive politicians, who continue to use City Hall as the stage for stunts to improve their chances for higher office (all on the public’s dime) is poisoning good public policy. I don’t need my power bill doubled, all to service the corporate masters at Shell Oil to boost their prospects – especially if the goal is public power, we already have the solution. It’s called, the Hetch Hetchy system.
Now, oddly enough, the same “pwogwessive activists” who are on fire to give Shell Oil a death grip on ratepaying citizens in SF, are also the ones who want to pay for a “study” (oh see how it always starts as a “study” by people who predetermine the outcome before they start) to dismantle Hetch Hetcy, which provides cheap, non-carbon producing power that makes Muni run and electrifies City agencies.
See what they did there?
One has to wonder whose of pockets got lined on this deal – Shell gets your utility bill and jacks it up, and can burn cow poop if it likes, and can still call it “clean energy” – even if in fact that’s bullsh*t.
Sorry, friends, but if you fall for this one, you’ll have only yourself to blame for high power bills powered by burning cow poo. If you give promotions to the likes of John Avalos, David Campos and other “progressive” ilk, then you have no one but yourselves to blame as well. Do you really think they care about you at all? Think again – to them you are nothing but trained seals to clap when nice things and a few fish are tossed your way. Meanwhile they laugh all the way to the bank.
As for I, I will opt out of this scam for sure, and I’ll happily sign up for any other energy concern that uses non-dead dinosaur, non-polluting sources to keep my iPhone charged. I won’t, however allow my Muni to be forced to use expensive, shitty PG&E power to drive up Muni fares for the benefit of a few politicians who make six figures and don’t care about the middle class. Mitt Romney isn’t the only one that gives the finger to 47% of the country – in So-Called Progressive San Francisco, it’s the left that’s the side that says what’s yours is theirs, regardless if you can afford to pay.
Posted in Uncategorized
Several months ago, a rumor began about the possibility of me running for the Board of Supervisors in 2012. Naturally, this got the SF Internet Rumor Mill treatment for a while, and then as the months passed, quieted down. As many people still ask me if I’m running or not, I am saying today that the answer, sadly, is “no.”
I’ve entertained this notion as I have met people around the City, writing about City politics (particularly when it comes to Muni), who have encouraged me to run. The fact is I have a better understanding of how the SFMTA and Muni works than any other candidate, declared or not in the race for District 5, and I’m well aware of how the corruption, the lawmaking process and the money work at City Hall also. My only promise would be that I would never beholden to them, while others may or may not be.
If I was somehow elected, I’d owe no one anything and I would focus on getting things done at City Hall, not spending endless hours debating phony non-binding resolutions or catering to loud, small groups that too often get the ear of City Hall over Everyone Else.
As I began to research this, however, a few problems began to emerge. When I plotted a Google Map of every potential supporter of mine, a pattern emerged – many people did not live in the district (even if they lived in the Inner Sunset!). This is due in part to the fact that once again, the So-Called Progressives jammed a portion of the Inner Sunset into one of the most leftist districts in town. (Thanks for nothing, once again, guys!)
This has had the effect of dividing the Inner Sunset (for example I can walk a few blocks from my home and end up in District 7), and would put me at a disadvantage. Basically this means it doesn’t matter if the Appointed Incumbent can’t find the Inner Sunset on a map, because ultimately she can blow it off and still win election. Meanwhile, many voters would regard me as someone from the Farallon Islands, at best. So, this made me realize that right here, right now, this may not be a great idea.
The second, of course is money. Now that I no longer work in consulting, and have a little spare cash, I thought at first I’d be able to finance the startup capital to get the campaign going in a credible manner. However, much of my money is tied up right now in a couple of business ventures that are pending, so I can’t tap it like I thought. Plus – I had to ask myself how much I wanted to spend money on dead tree mail and online ads vs. health care or a vacation (an alien concept to me in recent years) or on things for my family. You can guess where I land on that.
More importantly, the Appointed Incumbent will have the billionaire 1% types and others who funded Ed Lee’s campaign last year AND the support of city labor unions who rely on the City for members to enhance their power. Going up against both of those without at least a solid base of support within a district meant that at best I’d raise “name ID” for a future run.
The prospect of that, and of having to spend most of my time at some forum answering the same questions in 1 minute or less made the prospect, at least for now, not worth it. Besides, when I do something I do it to win, not to “place” and would want to go to City Hall to do something, not just see myself on TV and blab on about stuff like most do.
Still, I have to say that many, many people came forward and offered support. I couldn’t possibly name them all here, but it was truly amazing to have people I never heard of tell me “do it!” and offer true support. I have also had many amazing offline conversations not just about the problems Our City faces, but how there seems to be a Silent Majority out there of folks just waiting to do their best and make SF once again the “City That Knows How.”
In recent times plenty of politicians have appropriated words like that, only to offer us more politics of the clubhouse and corruption. Needless to say, it’s nice to know not everyone thinks this is sustainable over the long term.
Finally, let me say this: I made the mistake in my early adulthood of getting as far away from San Francisco as I could, for whatever reason. While Washington DC and Seattle were nice places, it is only when I returned in 2000 that I realized this is where I belong, despite the nonsense. To paraphrase Mat Honan’s essay a while back, San Francisco has plenty of problems, but despite all that, I’d rather live here than elsewhere. If there’s some way I can continue to make things better, I want to go to there.*
For now, I’m going to keep on blogging, writing, and listening to the people about their daily lives and I’ll get involved when events warrant as a citizen. I want to thank again my friends, as well as the friends I didn’t know I had, for their support, and look forward to one day enlisting all of your help for something positive for Our Fair City.
PS: As for the 2012 race for Supervisor: I’m happy to have any candidate meet with me and tell me why they are the best person for the job, but they can’t use canned rhetoric or try and BS me. If one does emerge that warrants your vote, I’ll let you know.
PS2: While I may not be running, you can watch this entertaining trailer about a friend of mine in Seattle who challenged the Establishment back in 2001 (the pre Twitter/Facebook era) that’s coming out soon. Although my effort might have been a bit better organized, it would have retained an anti-Establishment tone. Also, you really should support my friend Kevin Montgomery and get him to run in District 9.
*Does anyone get this joke?
Posted in San Francisco Politics
It seems like every year we, the People, are confronted with some malfeasance by male elected officials committed while in office that involve them “doing it” with people or in places they’re not supposed to. We are subjected to hearing about their (gross) sex lives, everyone gets in a huff, and nothing good comes out of it once the scandal is over.
This is a multi-partisan issue – think just in the last few years about politicians local (Newsom & Mirkarimi) state (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mike Duvall and Gary Condit to name a few ) and national (Bill Clinton, David Vittner, Bob Packwood, and many more) who’ve had problems all because they can’t control themselves.
Clearly, this is an issue of both health and morals. Since many male politicians have seen fit to play the game of “Who Can Create the Handmaid’s Tale in Real Life” with bills to regulate birth control, abortions, de funding rape crisis centers and the like, all in the name of health and morals, maybe it’s simply time to take this to its logical conclusion: demand all male politicians use condoms during their affairs so as to limit the potential extra-marital births and for public health.
This way, we could be assured that even if we have electeds who have affairs, the worst they’ll do is make themselves look bad, and not bring in children to this world who will be put in the spotlight during a messy court case or custody battle, and we’d be assured no one is spreading diseases whilst in office. I can imagine several scenarios where this law might have diminished certain scandals to where they might not have been such a boil on the body politics.
Flame away, Internet! See how loud and crazy you can get in the comments!
PS: None of the lists I made are to be considered comprehensive at all – I didn’t have time to super Google a comprehensive list. We all know, though, that no one party has a monopoly on this kind of crap, and as far as I’m concerned, most politicians are either super corrupt, super immoral, or super neutral and just do whatever the lobbyists say. Both parties are full of people like this.
Watching the twists and turns of the San Francisco Redisricting Commission as they create new district maps for the Board of Supervisors has been like watching several well-meaning people play ping pong all at once, on meth in the dark. Things happen so fast, and change so dynamically, usually with no MSM coverage, by the time you think you know what’s going on, things have changed. Again. And again. AND…well you get the idea.
It was just about a week ago when I looked at what was the latest map, and it partially corrected the injustice committed on residents of the Inner Sunset by partisan progressive interests 10+ years ago-forcing part of the neighborhood into District 5, while cutting out many of the blocks of the Inner Sunset and put them into District 7. This injustice had the following effects:
– Many of us were forced into a district that elected Matt Gonzalez and Ross Mirkarimi, both “progressives,’ who paid more attention to more politically correct parts of the district. It also ensured that anyone from the Inner Sunset would have a harder time getting elected, since people in say, the Western Addition probably regard the Inner Sunset as they do the Farallon Islands – far, far away.
– The residents of the Inner Sunset were divided into two districts, making contact with the appropriate Board member confusing. Also, as I’ve stated before, this meant trying to get two busy Supervisors to attend a neighborhood meeting to express concerns. In Allegedly Sophisticated and Smart San Francisco, this is stupid.
Just recently there seemed to be a fix in the works that would have at least contained more of the Inner Sunset in District 5, thus solving at least part of the problem. Unfortunately just a few days ago, the Commission decided to roll back the borders, citing the ‘traditional’ borders from 2002.
NEWS FLASH, Commissioners: that “historical” border was a partisan gerrymander hack designed by partisan progressives to jam a few precincts in to try and “help” narrow progressive itnerests, the residents be damned. Relying on this precedent is, for all intents and purposes, bullshit.
There are two remaining meetings of the Commission – one is tonight at 6pm at City Hall, Room 406. The other is this Saturday, April 14th, at 10:00am in Room 400. Both should be televised at SFGovTV online and on cable, but you never can tell if it’s going to be live or just taped it seems. UPDATE: Our Friend Paul Hogarth says the live link should be this one at SFGOVTV online.
I am going to try and attend tonight but it is a close call since I have to go spend most of the day out of town and given the commuting foibles of going from county to county, might not make it.
However, there’s nothing stopping you from going. The one good thing about the Commission is that they will listen if people show up, and will try to do their best to accommodate people, without worrying about what a few political bosses think. So that’s a good thing.
Posted in San Francisco Politics