Post election rambling

Well we made it through another election.
Of course the dust will take a while to settle.
In more than a few cases, victory comes down to just a few votes.
49 to 51 percent is more often than not the final percentages.
Landslides do happen, especially when a candidate runs unopposed.

The percentages always make me wonder.
I am not a math guy, far from it.
I am at heart a skeptic.
Percentages are often presented as news without context.
So candidate X won with 51 percent of the vote.
The average person sees that bit of information and assumes that 51 percent of the population made that choice.
Not so much.
These days a mid term election may have an average  40-45 percent of  eligible voters casting votes.
As much as 60 percent for a presidential election.
To be fair, some voting districts have very high turnouts and some have much lower.
For purposes of this exercise let's just work with 45 percent.
In that case, the winning candidate receives 51 percent of the 45 percent.
That is approximately 23 percent of the total potential, eligible votes.
In a landslide, potentially  45 - 60 percent of the eligible votes will be cast for the winner.
I guess the point is that even in the most favorable situation, barely 60 percent of eligible votes decide the election, in most perhaps no more than 25 percent decide.

Based on the victory a 'mandate' may be claimed.
I suppose these numbers have sustained the nation for a couple of hundred years, so what's the fuss.
We could do so much better.

These are a couple of references I looked at, after the fact.
I am pretty good ballpark wise for the mid-term years, a bit low for the Presidential years.
This from IDEA  ( International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance )
http://www.idea.int/vt/countryview.cfm?CountryCode=US
The U.S. Election Administration report for 2010, Table 29  http://www.eac.goc
http://www.eac.gov/assets/1/Documents/990-281_EAC_EAVS_508_revised.pdf

Chasing an honest page

It seems like more and more established web sites are relying upon Click bait stories.
Relying on Click Bait for what, you might ask.
I am guessing that many have been bought up by investors looking for established traffic to generate revenue.
Should I feel some sort of loss, when a source of information I have enjoyed/expected more from dries up?
The search for reasonable sources of information of a non-fiction sort is beginning to resemble the futility of a hamster wheel.
I realize that I am never the first to 'discover' a new site.
If I am lucky, I may be an early bookmarker. But I realize that I have been lead to the site by buzz of some kind.
As the buzz gets louder and stronger the it is only a matter of time before it too is absorbed and things change.
The search goes on, but more often than not the promising site is a dead end. A carefully contrived site that is on an accelerated depreciation schedule.
Gaming the system for quick returns and payout, then dump and run.

Keep looking and keep the shields up. There be pirates in these waters.

About time for some more filler.

So, with Amazon throwing their weight around  I find it even more difficult to want to shop there.
It is tough to pass up a loss leader with free shipping.
But they will remain the vendor of last resort.
In many ways Amazon is a lot like Wallmart, cheap and ubiquitous.
I would rather shop or deal with a local maker or merchant directly.

Time to get a dash cam

I am currently enjoying a fairly short commute.
It is between two and six miles, ten to twenty minutes.
I have been witnessing an increasing number of really blatant traffic violations.
Passing stopped school buses, turning left at red lights, running solid red traffic lights.
All in a short commute.

So I have decided to buy and install a dash cam and use it to record and post the really blatant stuff here.

I suppose that I should look up the rules about posting license plate numbers.
Don't really think it matters, but I would obscure the plates of the normal drivers.

Just need to wade through the various brands and models.
A quick search yields a bunch in a very wide range of prices.
High definition picture and an easily editable recording format would be the important features.

Any suggestions?

The Walk

Last night I was out walking the dogs.
It is an everyday routine.
Two or three times a day.
Almost every day for years.
It is a task that I enjoy.
I look forward to the walk, even if I really don't feel up to being outside.
The dogs seem to enjoy a walk. It is good for all of us.

But I digress.
My next door neighbor was walking down the street, alone.
I asked him where his dog Ajax was.
"Ajax died today", was his reply.
I expressed condolences, he nodded and continued onward.

He was taking 'The Walk'.
Retracing the path taken so many times before.
But now alone.

It brought back too many memories of the time I did 'The Walk'.
It made me sad to remember, it still does.
It has been years since, and we have two new wonderful companions to continue the walks into the future.

To a certain degree the day to day tasks of living with companion animals seem a lot like work.
Something that just has to be done.
Until the day that, suddenly,  your services are no longer needed.
What do you do then?
You Walk to honor your friend.

A Modest Proposal for traffic safety.

The GPS receiver has become a must have accessory for many automobile owners.

Its amazing powers of location coupled with an accurate map can help to guide the most directionally challenged to their destination.
The problem arises  when the GPS's internal map no longer matches the reality of the road.
Updates are available from the manufacturers, usually at a cost.
There is a technological cost as well. The units generally do not update themselves.
They require a web connected PC or Mac, software, cables, and the ability for follow instructions.
In short, beyond the capabilities of most users.
Most people will use the same GPS until it physically fails.
It is painfully obvious when a GPS directed driver with an out of date map meets a new traffic pattern.
The car slows, turn signals go on, but the expected turn does not materialize.
The car stops in traffic, the drivers brain apparently has locked up.
Most of the time there is adequate signage directing drivers to the appropriate turn or ramp for the new traffic pattern.
The magic box, does not show the new traffic pattern , so the only solution must be illegal U-turns and making your own road.

The solution could be found in several places.
GPS units could be required to update their maps regularly, without user intervention. That would require a radio system , and cost more.

Automotive GPS systems could use something like Google Maps or TeleNav which do not hold local maps, but download map tiles of the area via a cellular data connection.
These maps are generally updated more frequently. Most smartphones have this capability today.
Just Bluetooth or WiFi link the phone with the auto navigation system.

The basic GPS could be cheaper and not upgradeable. They just quit after some time period, 1 year or there about. That GPS would go out of date, but then become unusable and no longer a problem.
Not very sustainable.

Make the portable GPS easier to update, with reminders. Really annoying reminders.
 Keep the price about the same.

I just want to keep people headed in the right direction, in spite of their techno toys.

In the spirit of easter

So today was a slow day.
I ripped old vinyl to FLAC's.
Got them on the NAS so I can enjoy them again.
The workflow took a while to get used to.
I am using Audacity, a right nice product. Version 2.0 was just released a couple of weeks ago.
It would be nice to have something that would automatically split the tracks, but hey if I Really wanted something like that I should learn to write the proper scripts or something like that.
Looking through the old albums was fun.
It makes more sense to me at this time to rip old records rather than buy new cd's.
I don't listen to them enough to worry about the quality and I already spent the money thirty years ago.
Anyhow it was nice to listen to some classics from the '70's .