Biba, Erin. What Is Time? One Physicist Hunts for the Ultimate Theory. Wired 2010-02-26 05:36.

Ghose, Tia. Millions of Tons of Water Ice Found at Moon’s North Pole. Wired 2010-03-01 20:24.

Kravets, David. Lawmakers Punt Patriot Act to Obama. Wired 2010-02-26 15:52.

Madrigal, Alexis. First Mirrors Polished for Next-Gen Space Telescope. Wired 2010-03-02 18:20.

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Hey, y’all, this is very late as the caucuses are about to get under way in about an hour, but here are a few handy things to read and/or bring with you (this is somewhat biased toward DFL caucus-goers):

Get familiar with the candidates (Democratic, Republican, and Independent) by checking out the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s awesome and inclusive candidates’ profiles.

The agenda for tonight‡. If you stay for the caucus meeting, you will (most likely) approve and follow this to-do list. A few things on it:

  • Electing precinct chair and associate chairs
  • Electing delegates to the Senate District or County Unit convention in a month or two
  • Gubernatorial straw poll!
  • Resolutions for the party platform — see link below for form

‡The file includes a resolution form filled out that supports single-payer health care.

Parliamentary Procedure Pocket Reference (via UC Berkeley). For all you nerds who want to say “I rise to a point of parliamentary inquiry”!

Minnesota Secretary of State’s precinct caucus brochure.

DFL precinct caucus guide.

DFL Official Call — long explanation of rules and procedures — and DFL 2008-2010 Party Platform — things they support or oppose.

DFL resolution form.

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My soon-to-be recycled HTC T-Mobile G1 phone

My soon-to-be recycled HTC T-Mobile G1 phone

Last week, my Android obsession led me to buy Google’s Nexus One, which meant that I had a G1 lying around. I didn’t really want to go through the process of selling it myself, and I delayed any action until I became sure that my Nexus One wasn’t having the 3G connectivity problems with T-Mobile.

Alas, no issues in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul metropolitan area, so I’m ready to part ways with my old Android friend.

I found an interesting and exciting place on the “series of tubes” called Gazelle. They’re a Boston-based consumer electronics recycling and reselling company.

If you want to get started now, head straight over to Gazelle!

The catalog of technology they will recycle and for which they will pay you is extremely extensive, and the process for doing so is very streamlined.

  1. Find the item(s) you want to recycle/sell.
  2. Self-evaluate its/their condition and functionality.
  3. Gazelle gives you a real-time estimate of what they’ll pay you for it/them (and also the predicted value for it/them in the next few months).
  4. Optionally, Gazelle will send you a box for the item(s) if it qualifies.
  5. Otherwise, they will email you a shipping label to print, which you bring, with the boxed item(s), to the nearest UPS.
  6. They receive your item(s), evaluate it themselves, update you on any price change, and if you accept…
  7. You receive your payment via check, PayPal, prepaid Visa card, or a few other options.

Of course, you also feel good for not throwing out your old stuff! :)

Gazelle’s got a Twitter account.

If you click the link below and recycle your electronics, I’ll get a $10 referral, and you can in turn refer your friends and colleagues! Enjoy!

Get Cash For Your Gadgets at gazelle.com!

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Avatar theatrical release poster
After having seen a truly scintillating and visually orgasmic (so much so, in fact, that I developed a headache) IMAX 3D presentation of James Cameron’s Avatar, I began to put together a pattern emerging, to me anyway, in works of popular art and literature. Avatar and another contributor to this pattern, Disney-Pixar’s Wall·E, are generally straightforward in packing their punch.

Humans are evil — regardless of their intentions, malign or not — and more than likely will end up destroying or depleting themselves and their resources.
Wall·E theatrical release poster
I’m not really trying at verbose criticism, but why do we indulge in constructing massive, ever-more-awesome narratives to apologize for ourselves, our wars, our destruction, our sad state of existence? These and other stories are chillingly beautiful and evoke strong emotions, so I understand the appeal. The apologetics are just stupefyingly idiotic — that we might redeem our blight on the Earth through artistic acknowledgment. Let’s at least do something about our innumerable crises in addition to nostalgically memorializing them, please? Kthxbai.

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Pictured left to right, Brittney (16), Kaytlyn (6), and Aaron (5).

Cross-posted on my Posterous.

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Cross-posted on my Posterous.

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I'm on the route 23 bus right now, and I just passed by an anti-foreclosure protest. You go people!!!

(Apologies for poor camera phone/low-light quality.)

Cross-posted on my Posterous.

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Metro Transit logo

Metro Transit logo

Last Saturday, I filed a complaint on the Metro Transit “Comment on our Service” page, regarding the consistently shoddy and inconsistent bus service that usually graces us on nights and weekends. Specifically, I am speaking toward routes 6 and 23; however, I think the issue is not isolated.

As of Wednesday, I received the reply to my message, quoted below (with the transportation manager’s name and number redacted for privacy):

I apologize for the inconvenience caused you by this operator running late. I have tracked his work and see he was running late almost all day on 11/7/2009.

I will be speaking with this operator and also have one of our Street Supervisors trail this bus to see what is happening to cause such extreme delays.

If you continue to have problems, please contact us again.

Sincerely,
[redacted]
Assist. Transportation Manager
REF#: [redacted]

I am pretty impressed so far. I hope the effort continues to evolve toward resolution.

I also want to stress constructive complaints versus destructive complaints. I think that filing my complaint in the space they provide is helpful both to them and me. What is not helpful is those who unnecessarily accost bus drivers while on-duty. It will only worsen the problem and reduce the driver’s feeling of safety in his or her workplace.

Also, I think that I was called today by a member of the Transit Managers and Supervisors Association. I did not answer the call because I didn’t recognize the number, and there was no message left. A Google search, however, calls up this page.

UPDATE (2009-11-13 14:31): So I just got another email from a Metro Transit Street Supervisor. Text follows:

Hello Mr. Maki. I checked into your concern about the route 23 running behind schedule thus causing you to be late for work. I’d like to apologize for any inconvenience our service may have caused you. We at Metro Transit value you as a customer and that’s not indicative of the service we try to provide to the public. We have identified the problem and plan to address the matter immediately. If you don’t notice an improvement in the service don’t hesitate to contact us so we can get to the bottom of the matter. Thank you so much for riding with Metro Transit and please continue to utilize our service. Have a wonderful day.

Sincerely,
[redacted]
District/street Supv
REF#: [redacted]

Wow. I’m excited to see improvement, and if the response from the managers and supervisors are any indication, that should happen soon.

Thank you Metro Transit!

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Me with "I Voted" sticker

Me with "I Voted" sticker

Now, it’s very predictable given my last post, but I was the 59th voter in Precinct 5 of Ward 9 in the city of Minneapolis today.

I want to reiterate that you should get out there and vote and get out the vote (i.e. friends don’t let friends not vote).

There are some important issues and candidacies on the table today, whether it’s LGBT equality in places like Washington state or Maine, whether to eliminate the Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation, whether to preserve the current funding levels of the Anoka-Hennepin Independent School District No. 11, whether Saint Paul should join Minneapolis in using ranked choice, or instant runoff, voting in municipal elections. . . . I could go on and on.

Get out there and exercise your power!

If anyone’s really excited about election day, you might find me at the Minneapolis DFL victory party at the Graves 601 Hotel downtown. ;)

P.S. The results of the races and ballot questions in Minneapolis are here.

P.P.S. The results of the races and ballot questions in Saint Paul are here.

P.P.P.S. The results of the Anoka-Hennepin School District referendum (and School Board races) are here.

P.P.P.P.S. The results of the Washington state — “YES” votes are good — and Maine — “NO” votes are good — LGBT ballot questions are here and here respectively.

P.P.P.P.P.S. The results of the gubernatorial contest in New Jersey are here.

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"I Voted" stickerHey civics-oriented people all around,

I’m voting today, and I think you should, too!

For the sake of me talking to a wall, I’m going to list for whom and what I’m voting on my ballot (or for whom or what I would vote on other ballots) below.

(Also, I think all anti-LGBT initiatives out there should be voted down. I support Jon Corzine for governor of New Jersey. I’m ambivalent regarding Michael Bloomberg’s seemingly impending reelection as mayor of New York City.)

This is the 2009 elections in my eyes and in a nutshell.

UPDATE (01:47): Two 3rd choices on here are a bit tongue-in-cheek, as I did not find a candidate with whom I was comfortable enough. I’ll leave you to guess which. :)

Minneapolis Mayor
1st choice 2nd choice 3rd choice
R.T. Rybak
DFL
R.T. Rybak		 Tom Fiske
Socialist Workers		 Joey Lombard
Is Awesome
Joey Lombard

Minneapolis City Council — Ward Nine
1st choice 2nd choice 3rd choice
Gary Schiff
DFL
Gary Schiff		 Dave Bicking
Green
Dave Bicking		 Khalif Jama
DFL

Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation
1st choice 2nd choice 3rd choice
David Wheeler
David Wheeler		 Carol Becker
Carol Becker		 R. Michael Martens
R. Michael Martens

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Commissioners — At Large
1st choice 2nd choice 3rd choice
Annie Young
Annie Young		 Mary Merrill Anderson
Mary Merrill Anderson		 Tom Nordyke
Tom Nordyke

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Commissioner — District Three
1st choice 2nd choice 3rd choice
Scott Vreeland
Scott Vreeland		 Mike Wendorf Sir Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A.
Sir Dr. Stephen Tiberius Colbert, D.F.A.

Charter Amendment Number 168 — Proposal to Change the Composition of the Board of Estimate and Taxation
Should the City of Minneapolis adopt a change in its charter to the composition of the Board of Estimate and Taxation so that the Board’s membership consists of the members of the City Council, with the actions of the Board subject to the powers and duties of the Mayor?
YES

Saint Paul Mayor
Christopher B. Coleman
Christopher B. Coleman

Instant Runoff Voting Charter Amendment (Saint Paul)
Shall Chapter 7 of the City Charter be amended to require that the method for electing the Mayor and City Council members be by Single Transferable Voting, sometimes known as Ranked Choice Voting or Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), which is a method without a separate primary election by which voters rank candidates for an office in order of preference on a single ballot: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and so on; and votes are then counted in rounds until one candidate emerges with a majority of votes cast; and with ballot format and rules for counting votes adopted by ordinance?
YES

School District Ballot Question — Approval of School District Referendum Revenue Authorization (Anoka-Hennepin School District #11)
The board of Anoka-Hennepin Independent School District No. 11 has proposed to increase its general education revenue by $165.62 per pupil. A portion of this proposed referendum revenue authorization would replace the portion of the school district’s prior authorization which has expired. The proposed referendum revenue authorization would be an increase of $33 per pupil over the school district’s expired authorization. The proposed new referendum revenue authorization would increase each year by the rate of inflation and be applicable for eight years unless otherwise revoked or reduced as provided by law.
Shall the increase in the revenue proposed by the board of Anoka-Hennepin Independent School District No. 11 be approved?
YES

Question 1 — People’s Veto (Maine)
Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?
NO
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