tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195377182024-03-13T20:10:55.706-07:00My Life’s Storm(a title from a typo)Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-1559547768139018352020-11-01T16:07:00.001-08:002020-11-01T16:07:13.043-08:00The real problem with the electoral college<p> Thing
is, the big problem with the Electoral College isn’t the distorted
representation. I always thought it was, but no, that really doesn't
make a difference right now.</p><div class="ecm0bbzt e5nlhep0 a8c37x1j"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql gk29lw5a a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d9wwppkn fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb hrzyx87i jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Because
nearly EVERY electoral vote goes to whoever has the most votes in the
state, regardless of how many of that state's residents voted for
someone else. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">As
a result, in most states, the majority of the votes are <i>thrown out </i>
when they contribute to the Electoral College. Only Maine and Nebraska
have *any* proportional representation, and even that doesnʼt usually
split their electoral vote (though it did in Maine in 2016). </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">On
November 9th, 2016, I started trying to understand what went so
horribly wrong. I made a spreadsheet, because that’s how I often cope
with distress. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">The final Electoral Vote tally was <b>Clinton 43.7%, Trump 56.3%</b>.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">If
we took the 538 electoral votes we have, but reallocated them with a
minimum of 1 per state, rather than three, the final Electoral vote
tally would have been <b>Clinton 43.9%, Trump 56.1%</b>.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">If
we increased the size of the House to a minimum of [population of
United States] ÷ [population of smallest-population state], which would be 548
Representatives, then used the same formula we currently have for
Electoral Votes, the final EV tally would have been <b>43% to 57%</b>.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">If we had those 651 Electoral votes (548 + 100 + 3 for DC), but reallocated them with a minimum of <i>one</i> per state, <b>43.9% to 56%</b>.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Finally,
if there were 10,000 Electoral votes, and they were allocated strictly
based on population, the result would have been... <b>43.6% to 56.4%</b>. (On
that one I didn’t do the work of rounding the individual statesʼ
allotment of electoral votes... but that probably would have made less
than half a percentage point of difference.)</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">BUT,
if ALL states awarded their electoral votes proportionally based on the
popular vote in that state, there would be some difficult rounding
issues to solve but with a rough calculation, the EVs would have gone
<b>Clinton 257, Trump 249, Other 32</b> (most to Gary Johnson, but some to
Stein and at least two to other candidates: one to that guy in Utah, and
one to a third-party candidate in California). </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">No
one would have had a majority... but, even <i>with</i> the disproportional
representation, Clinton would have won the highest number of Electoral votes,
which is far more reflective of the popular vote.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">AND,
if we allocated electoral votes this way in EVERY state... there would
be no more <span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql gk29lw5a a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d9wwppkn fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb hrzyx87i jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">“</span>safe” states. There would be no more <i>swing</i> states. There
would just be states where there are more votes to win, and fewer. Where
you have a better chance of increasing your proportion, and a worse
chance. The whole country would be a battleground. We would all be in
play. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">And
that would be a very, VERY different political landscape. It would be
one where minor parties could negotiate to throw support at a major
candidate for platform concessions. It would be one where campaign
events were more often in dense urban areas, because that's where the
most votes are. Candidates wouldn't just come to California to raise
money... they'd actually stay and talk to the rest of us plebes.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Obviously,
the National Vote Interstate Compact would also achieve that outcome,
but if we can’t get that, and we <i>can</i> get this (a law that all states
have to award their electoral votes proportional to their popular vote,
with specific rules for rounding), it would still be a really good
change.</div></div></span></div>Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-33860471878988271142020-07-28T02:14:00.000-07:002020-07-28T02:14:37.102-07:00"Why are the poor sleepless?"<div class="_3cjCphgls6DH-irkVaA0GM" data-test-id="comment"><div class="_292iotee39Lmt0MkQZ2hPV RichTextJSON-root" style="color: #1a1a1b;"><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM">This question was asked on a social media platform, and I assure you, it was a relevant (if perhaps naive) question.</p><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM">Many people discussed work hours, multiple jobs, STRESS, and other factors that cut into things before I got there. So I added this:<br /></p><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM">Think about every time you spend money to save time, all day, every day.</p><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM">Maybe
you drive instead of taking the bus. Maybe you buy your carrots
pre-shredded instead of whole. Maybe you stop at the fancy grocery store
that's on your way home, instead of going a little out of your way to
hit up the local bargain market.</p><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM">There
are also bigger things. People who can hire a nanny don't have to drop
their kids off at daycare. People might move closer to work, even though
it's more expensive. One might hire a housekeeper, a gardener, a
professional organizer. Pay someone else to do their taxes, wash their
car, fix their broken furniture. (Or just buy new furniture.)</p><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM">You
know the saying, "Time is money"? It doesn't just mean that taking too
long costs money to businesses. It's a fact of our lives that we
exchange money for time routinely.</p><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM">Unless we don't have the money. And there's no way to get any more time.</p></div></div><style></style>Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-3664255617318323932019-06-15T01:02:00.000-07:002019-06-15T01:04:24.165-07:00Creation. Science.At first, there was no First. It was the time before the Before. A singular infinite Moment, without beginning or end, past or future, light or darkness. It was All, and it was One.<p><p>
With a bang, the Moment ended, the All became Many. The Many sorted into Others: Matter, and Energy. Dark, and Light. Proton, neutron, electron. Gravity, momentum, potential, kinesis.<p><p>
The Many heard the call of Gravity, and began to form new Ones. Clouds spun about each other, pressing close, as though containing a memory of the All. The pressure grew. Hydrogen became Helium became all that comes after. These clouds became the Stars.<p><p>
The Stars then collected, spinning about each other again, seeking and perpetually missing the inescapable darkness at the center of the path. Some collections grew arms; others became disks, and still others formed neither structure. All of them simply Were, and some still Are.<p><p>
As the Stars formed and grew and built new atoms, they flung out Matter with their immense Energy. Matter fled, and yet was captured by Gravity, first of its star, and then of itself. The memory of All is repeated, as mass collects, and forms satellites. These satellites become comets, asteroids, and the Planets.<p><p>
Planetary matter churns, cools, finds bonds between atoms to form molecules. The right amount of Hydrogen with the right amount of Oxygen becomes the miracle of Water. The right temperature keeps Water liquid, and it absorbs Energy released by its Star. <p><p>
Energy hits atoms and molecules on a Planet, exciting them. The complex rules by which they exist form organization between them to absorb and use this Energy. Systems develop, that become Cells. Cells absorb energy and convert it to movement, secretion, reproduction.<p><p>
The Energy flood continues. Cells find other Cells, and again collect together, forming new Ones. Cells find themselves better at one thing or another; responding to light, converting starlight to molecules of stored energy, relocating the One to where it can become Many more quickly.<p><p>
The Many Ones spread across the planet, finding a path for movement and growth in the great seas of liquid Water. They grow more complex, constantly absorbing the energy of the Star and converting it to Life. Cells specialize more, develop new systems. Systems develop to combine two Ones to create new combinations. The process is imperfect. The new Ones are not always like the old. Sometimes, the difference doesn’t matter. Sometimes it does, and spells Death. And sometimes, a difference comes that advances the path of Life. <p><p>
A difference such as this spreads, until all the Ones that survive have it. Conditions change, differences that once made no difference now advance the path of Life. The Many Ones continue to spread, finding new conditions in new places, and changing over generations. The Tree of Life grows new branches.<p><p>
Life reaches a point of complexity where different Ones find each other, and find greater survival together than apart. Symbiosis, Parasitism, Collaboration, Domestication. The Lives of the Many Ones find their path together, or separately. They coexist, or they outcompete. Change continues. Energy still pours from the Star, and complexity grows. <p><p>
There arises an organism that is different. It does not only have reflex and instinct; it desires. It fears. It inquires. No longer must it wait for the long slow process of generational change to bring it new comforts and successes. Now it bends Matter to its will, forming it into clubs, blades, and arrows; clothes, tents, and dwellings; paints, charcoals, and engravings. It discovers new layers of need as it satisfies the old. It harnesses the power of plants, bending them to its will, helping them to grow even as it changes them to ones that can no longer grow without help. It harnesses the power of animals, teaching them to hunt differently and guard the People and their Possessions; teaching them to bear burdens and the People themselves.<p><p>
Life serves but one purpose: to continue. And so it does, until a Change comes that spells Death. <p><p>
Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-61844109985895667742018-03-19T01:54:00.000-07:002018-03-19T01:55:34.069-07:00Disabling the Facebook PlatformFor some of us, it’s not a surprise that those cute Facebook quizzes that tell you which Hogwarts house your spirit animal belongs to are actually a data mining tool. But I guess most people didn’t really realize how much they were giving away.<br />
<br />
But now this article is out... <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election" target="_blank">Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach</a> and now people are paying a little more attention.<br />
<br />
Some memes have gone around about disabling the Facebook Platform option, which cuts you off from <i>all</i> of these access points in one fell swoop. But I do tech support sometimes. I know this stuff is hard for a lot of people. So I made an illustrated primer. Note: you can click on the pictures to see them bigger.<br />
<br />
<b>Step 1:</b> Go into Settings.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQPXUkMxr43y17eyakMcobbRC2HSm0Yqcw8Gb3qa-saGno3VQ2kzEI-YBaTGBCrBpBQuf20LgFB0_UTjDCuxYxLjAwqwAz5iAvhMM4S0NtByCcgPLFeA7UcbB3wfgd9-Nvedd/s1600/settings.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="794" data-original-width="1047" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQPXUkMxr43y17eyakMcobbRC2HSm0Yqcw8Gb3qa-saGno3VQ2kzEI-YBaTGBCrBpBQuf20LgFB0_UTjDCuxYxLjAwqwAz5iAvhMM4S0NtByCcgPLFeA7UcbB3wfgd9-Nvedd/s320/settings.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
First, click on the little triangle in the upper right, next to where your Notifications show up (circled in red with a number 1 next to it). Then in the menu that shows up, click on Settings (circled in red with a number 2 next to it).<br />
<br />
<b>Step 2: </b>Select Apps.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwHbF71ddPmNEgMNZvc8Z7L-Ap4Bh7HVbz26M2KrbY3vwPpeEHUeVeZYEOorNOOArwNRYZU6BkUCOkGtMN9Kj0rUkbsMlqL1Kuj5PFQMVg3R5tAPsg4SUyHMCGTOpItWzK8ejP/s1600/apps.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1258" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwHbF71ddPmNEgMNZvc8Z7L-Ap4Bh7HVbz26M2KrbY3vwPpeEHUeVeZYEOorNOOArwNRYZU6BkUCOkGtMN9Kj0rUkbsMlqL1Kuj5PFQMVg3R5tAPsg4SUyHMCGTOpItWzK8ejP/s320/apps.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Again, the red circle, this time at the lower left, is your target. Note that I obliterated my name and other select information from this screenshot. This is an example of being necessarily cagey with our private information.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>Step 3: </b>Edit your Apps, Websites, and Plugins Setting. </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Qty0j32egqI1PlPGU0nMxSiugXzxIxfEAxk-MCbYPN3Tg2hx1GRa2n4S40zLRXwJNumgXlxm4LE5cx_AqXTtfcUPwnjImDD7zT_JwIwn19mEq_F4SS3YvOAcCaKaK0fAT5Z7/s1600/apps+screen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="905" data-original-width="1245" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Qty0j32egqI1PlPGU0nMxSiugXzxIxfEAxk-MCbYPN3Tg2hx1GRa2n4S40zLRXwJNumgXlxm4LE5cx_AqXTtfcUPwnjImDD7zT_JwIwn19mEq_F4SS3YvOAcCaKaK0fAT5Z7/s320/apps+screen.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
This one’s easy... just click the red-circled Edit button. The blue circle indicates an area that may have MANY MANY things in it-- these are all the apps that are <i>currently </i>connected to your Facebook account and have access to your data. When we know better, we do better. There were a few in this section when I did this the first time, too.<br />
<br />
<b>Step 4: </b>DISABLE PLATFORM.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-6rxmdb6aYeeJwZkDeZof9CzfXzb-DhUOIUf-ZoLYJq49GzvF32soOYXRnewHhxqzBQXrYx9cV1F7yiUhYCcLBHLa0SkK9Dm5GQFvFRxAjFSp7H0s91Y2hgSOAO0XCTT7eHZr/s1600/disable.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="1247" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-6rxmdb6aYeeJwZkDeZof9CzfXzb-DhUOIUf-ZoLYJq49GzvF32soOYXRnewHhxqzBQXrYx9cV1F7yiUhYCcLBHLa0SkK9Dm5GQFvFRxAjFSp7H0s91Y2hgSOAO0XCTT7eHZr/s320/disable.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
There’s a huge explanation of all the wonderful stuff you will miss out on if you do this. It’s okay. You can create your own relationship with these websites. I got a lovely email from Kickstarter letting me know that I could visit their site to add a password and create an independent account. (It totally looked like a scam email.)<br />
<br />
But I do appreciate how "Disable Platform" sounds like something Captain Jean-Luc Picard tells Worf to do during a hostile engagement.<br />
<br />
You’re all done! Now you will get an error message telling you to enable Platform if you want to take the latest quiz to find out which Walking Dead character your breakfast is. But that's okay. We all know it’s Shane anyway. (Maybe. I don't watch The Walking Dead. I picked him out from the Wiki.)Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-87967342465417743552018-01-29T17:43:00.001-08:002018-01-29T17:48:02.239-08:00The Social Security Heist: It's Worse Than You Thought
<p>Had an epiphany today in a discussion about Social Security.
<p>
<p>We are all familiar with this graph, right?
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/US_productivity_and_real_wages.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/US_productivity_and_real_wages.jpg" width="400" height="256" data-original-width="800" data-original-height="512" /></a></div>
<p>
<p>So somewhere around 1973 (probably caused by my birth), wages stagnated as productivity continued to climb. We all know where that money went: into the pockets of the folks at the top.
<p>
<p>In 1973, the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour and the Social Security Maximum Taxable Earnings was $10,800 per year, or about $5.19 in hourly full-time equivalents-- exceeding the minimum wage by a factor of 3.2. Interestingly, the median individual income in 1974 (not sure why the Census table stops there) was $5,335, so the cap was at approximately twice the median. (The cap applies to individual income, not to household income.)
<p>
<p>As income accrued to the higher end of the bracket, often not even as wages, but as capital gains, it <i>was not taxed</i> for Social Security. This has been going on for more than FORTY YEARS.
<p>
<p>Consider, for a moment, that if over the last ~44 years, this money had been going into our pockets and taxed for Social Security at a rate ranging from 5.85% (in 1973) to 6.2% (now), how much <i>more</i> money would currently be in the trust fund.
<p>
<p>This is money they stole from ALL OF US. Not just in our wages, but in our long-term security.
<p>
<p>I thought I was <i>already</i> angry....Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-78583831233627107492017-09-27T15:13:00.002-07:002017-09-27T15:13:23.583-07:00Yes, ALL White People. Even me.<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span><span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span>You're <b>not racist</b>. And you want that recognized. Is that so wrong?</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span><span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span>When
I was in undergrad, an otherwise insufferable Sociology professor
provided me with one of the most important experiences of my life. He
wrote on the board before class instructions about where to sit in the
room, based on our race/ethnicity. (A lot of people ended up sitting on
the steps because they had a multiracial identity.) Then, he said, "Now
let's talk about race."</span><br /><br /><span>I don't remember much of the
conversation, but I remember one woman, who was Black, speaking up.
Now, I'd had occasion to interact with her, and she seemed unfriendly as
heck; I was quite put off by her. So I wasn't surprised (and was
substantially indignant) when she said, "I expect white people to be
racist."</span><br /><br /><span>But she went on.</span><br /><br /><span>"Because,
in my experience, they usually are. And it saves me a lot of trouble
and heartache to assume it from the outset, and let them prove they're
not."</span><br /><br /><span>Oh. OH. That was important. </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span><span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span>And now here we are again, still. We are debating <i>whether</i> it's okay to talk about white people and our role in institutional racism. And some white people are getting mighty indignant. They are offended that one would characterize "white people" as racist. They want their feelings protected so they can safely engage. </span><br /><br /><span>Going all </span><a class="_58cn" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/notallwhitepeople?source=feed_text&story_id=1698958693479816&hc_location=ufi" target="_blank"><span class="_58cl">#</span><span class="_58cm">Notallwhitepeople</span></a><span>
about stuff like this is basically expecting black people to *keep*
giving us a chance, no matter HOW many times they've been hurt and
damaged... to never, ever develop any defense against the constant
onslaught of microaggressions and macroaggressions, to turn the other
cheek over and over, day after day, their entire lives. </span><br /><br /><span>It <i>is</i>, in fact, putting yourself above them, because they are black and you are white. Which we have a word for.</span></span></span></span></span></span>Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-44626517342237926412017-02-01T20:51:00.000-08:002017-02-01T20:56:26.721-08:00California: The Little Big DogWhen we met Moo, we thought she was 10 months old, and would top out at 45-50 lbs. This was about six months younger and 10 lbs. heavier than we'd intended, but once we met her, there was no question: this was (and is) <i>our</i> dog.<br />
<br />
She'd had a kind of a tumultuous life up to that point. Rescued off the street at just three weeks, she was fostered out by the animal shelter, adopted by a family with not one, but <i>two</i> toddlers, and then re-fostered by a neighbor when they just couldn't keep up with a puppy. That neighbor worked at my mom's vet, so my mom saw the posting and knew we were looking to adopt a dog. The rest is Moo-story.<br />
<br />
Perhaps because of that early life, or maybe it's just her personality, Moo is a paradoxically rambunctious but careful dog. We knew from her history that she was social with other big dogs, but didn't know about smaller ones. The first time we encountered a family with a couple of cocker spaniels out on a walk, we learned: she just ramped <i>everything</i> down. Her go-to move for small dogs was to roll over and let them conquer her. They've always been her best friends.<br />
<br />
Presently, we examined her paperwork from the shelter more carefully, and learned she was SIX months, not 10, when we adopted her. She didn't stop at 50 lbs., or 60, or 65... her most recent weigh-in was 75.2 lbs. She is a BIG DOG.<br />
<br />
Except, she's not.<br />
<br />
I've come to realize that she is absolutely sure she's a small dog. She's never tried to jump on our bed, or take food off the table. She will sit on the couch... but just with her back legs, forepaws on the floor. She will do the same with a person's lap if it's on the couch. And when our little dog, a Shibahuahua weighing in at a scrappy 11.6 lbs., decides to lie down in the middle of Moo's crate, she just looks at us all sad, like, "Where do I go now? There's no more room for me. She took it all." It's not even in her repertoire to kick the dog that is literally 15% of her size out of <i>her own</i> crate.<br />
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Deep down, she just doesn't believe that she is the size she is, that she has the strength she does.<br />
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As a California native, I'm proud of our progressive environmental regulations and our diversity and inclusiveness and our thriving industries. I'm proud of being a world destination, and love showing off Los Angeles to anyone who visits me. I'd be proud of our awesome weather, but I guess that'd be a little weird, since no one <i>does</i> anything to make that happen.<br />
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But it baffles me that we seem to be a little big dog. Here we are, with an economy larger than France, with 12% of the US population, the two largest seaports in the country, and the busiest cargo airport in the country... but when someone gets in our crate, we just don't know what to DO about that.<br />
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It's time we realize how big we are, how strong we are, and how much we are worth... to the nation, and to the world. Only then do we have a shot at demonstrating that value to our allies or enemies. And that is what will let us stay strong, vibrant, and thriving.Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-82193621045165760142016-12-22T23:44:00.000-08:002016-12-23T00:04:22.007-08:00Hard WorkAmerican culture tends to assume that people who have a lot—of money, power, stuff, whatever—work hard for it. Maybe they didn't at first; maybe they started off with an advantage... but they have to work to keep it and grow it. And that people who have little must be lazy.<br />
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This assumption has deep roots in the Puritan ethic that played a huge role in founding our country. The Calvinists who believed that their fates were predestined and completely unaffected by their actions still saw success and prosperity as signs of their favor from God. And, although their fate after death was already written, they did not seek to anger God by frivolous activities and self-adornment; their asceticism meant that their hard-won profits were re-invested in their livelihood.<br />
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But today, while we have shed that asceticism and instead revel in pursuit of worldly signs of wealth—nice cars, big houses, designer clothes, or even less conspicuous consumption such as constantly climate-controlled houses or lights on in every room—we retain the notion that affluence is a sign that you are favored by God. Even if we don't consciously understand it this way, we still implicitly assume that those who have, worked for it; those who lack, deserve it.<br />
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We've entered a Bizarro world where, not only do we assume that wealth requires hard work, we actually rate the hardness of work based on the wealth it generates. We think of “flipping burgers” as easy, even as we watch people sweating over fryers, running back and forth to fill orders, and taking flak from abusive customers with a smile on their face. We think, “I would never want to do that.” and yet, we consider it “easy.” We don't think it's easy because we have any reason to think the work itself is not hard to do, but merely because it is low pay. And then in a strange tautology, we think the work should be low-paid because it is so easy.<br />
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Consider how hard is the work of a megacorp CEO sitting at a desk larger than my son's bed, in an office larger than the typical American living room, with an en-suite bathroom and multiple assistants for various tasks? To be sure, CEOs <span style="font-style: italic;">do</span> work hard. They often work 60+ hours a week, evenings, weekends, travel away from their family, manage meetings with very powerful people and millions of dollars on the line. Their work is stressful. But when they are taking home millions of dollars per year, how do we compare that to the “hardness” of their work?<br />
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On the other hand, consider a man who wakes at 4 a.m. to get ready for his first job. He showers quickly, dresses in worn but rugged clothes, and reports to a shuttle point by 5:30 to go to a far-flung construction site. By 7 a.m., he's doing heavy lifting and working with tools that can maim or kill if used incorrectly. As the sun rises in the sky he starts sweating. The dust kicks up and sticks to his brow. He gets a half hour for lunch, and an occasional bathroom break; he knows they're supposed to give him two 15-minute breaks on the clock, and he knows of union jobs where that happens, but he's never been able to get one. Here, he's an “independent contractor,” hired as a temp with no benefits, no paid time off, no job security. Keep your head down and don't complain; you're lucky to even <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> a job.<br />
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He comes home at 5:30, showers, grabs a bite to eat, and leaves for his evening retail job. If he's lucky, it's in a tipped establishment and he can smile and accommodate his way to more money. If he's unlucky, it's again temp work, seasonal, could end at any moment... and an inconsistent number of hours stocking shelves, ringing up customers, and trying not to take it personally when people yell at him for not being able to meet their every unreasonable demand.<br />
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Meanwhile, he barely sees his spouse and children. That's who he's doing this for: working 60+ hours a week at low wages, so that his spouse can work a more flexible job and sometimes show up for the kids' holiday programs and school open houses. But 80 hours a week doesn't cut it anymore for a family of four. If they are compensated for 50 weeks a year (because in jobs at this tier, you don't get vacation time, and sometimes don't even get sick time), at 80 hours a week, at an average of $10/hour (nearly 40% higher than the Federal minimum wage), after payroll taxes they've got about $3,000/month to pay rent (that's not enough income to get a mortgage), buy groceries, put gas in a car or buy a bus pass, pay utilities, buy clothing and school supplies, pay for after-school care, and handle any other expenses that come up – such as a $2,000 emergency room visit or a $4,000 blown head gasket in their 12-year-old car. Health insurance? Savings? Laughable—every dime is spent the second it comes in.<br />
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Who works “harder”? That's a ridiculous question; the work isn't remotely comparable. They both work hard. But does the CEO's vastly higher compensation actually cause him to “work harder”? At some point, does more money actually get more product?<br />
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Now we've elected a President who definitely “has.” His home glitters, his name illuminates skylines. He travels in the rarefied circles of world leaders and business magnates. He's famous for being rich, and rich for being famous. He can lose $916 million in one year—enough to give every Pennsylvanian in poverty $550—and just keep on chugging.<br />
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Does he know what it means to work hard?<br />
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Many of us assumed he did. We assumed that it <span style="font-style: italic;">has</span> to be hard work to maintain that empire. But the more we get to know him, the more it seems that he doesn't ever actually do that work himself. Intelligence briefings are boring—go meet with Kanye. Let's take a phone call from Taiwan; it's too complicated to understand why that pisses off China. Rather than finding people with impeccable qualifications and distinction in the relevant field, let's just pick our friends and colleagues, or their spouses, to fill our Cabinet. It would be <span style="font-style: italic;">too much work</span> to do otherwise.<br />
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We need to change our understanding of work, and hard work, and how it relates to assets. We need to remember that farm work is hard. Caring for children is hard. Preparing safe and appetizing food is hard. Stopping fires is hard. Chasing down criminals is hard. Cleaning offices is hard. Constructing new buildings is hard. Mining coal is hard. Managing a store is hard. We ALL work hard. We ALL deserve to be able to come home after 40 hours a week, know that there's enough food, that our housing situation is stable, and spend time with our children and partners free of stress and worry. This isn't a rural issue or an urban issue. It's not a white issue or a black issue. It's not a coastal issue or a plains issue. It's not a Boomer issue or a Millennial issue. It is a human issue.<br />
<br />Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-29101411932847557622016-08-21T21:22:00.000-07:002019-07-04T23:32:08.157-07:00Sushi CakeUpdated July 4, 2019 with new pictures (at the end). <br />
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When D4S1 was turning 7, I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. I've made all their birthday cakes myself (except that one year that my best friend was in town and did it for me), because we found out when he was nine months old that he reacted to wheat. So I needed to know... chocolate? Vanilla? Carrot? Peanut Butter and Jelly? I didn't give him a prepopulated drop-down list, I figured he knew what the choices were.<br />
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His response was, "I wish there was a way to have a sushi cake."<br />
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That was not in the universe of things I thought he might say.<br />
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I asked for more information. "Do you mean a cake that looks like sushi, or a cake <i>made of </i>sushi?"<br />
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"A cake made of sushi!" he responded with enthusiasm.<br />
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"You know, I think I could do that."<br />
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And so I did. I pressed a layer of rice into a springform pan, then added a layer of fillings, and kept doing that. And it worked!<br />
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Every year since, we've done the same thing. I've gotten pretty good at it. This year, R8S2 asked for one for his 8th birthday.<br />
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For the Cultural Potluck at the end of this past school year, D4S1 said he wanted to bring sushi. I reminded him that we are in no part Japanese. This did not dissuade him. I decided that, given its relevance to our family's particular culture, sushi cake was an acceptable contribution. While I completely failed to get pictures of them, I made two smaller cakes... one with fish and one vegan. I figured that sixth graders would be shy about consuming raw fish. I was wrong; that one reportedly disappeared in short order, while there were leftovers of the vegan one. Lesson learned.</div>
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I've now made nine different sushi cakes in all. It takes me about 45 minutes to do the actual assembly and decoration, but there's some prep work with making the rice and slicing the fillings. </div>
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People ask how I do it. It's not terribly hard, though having the right equipment helps. Here's the rundown...<br />
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<b>What you'll need:</b><br />
Sushi rice (regular short-grain rice can work too, but sushi rice is finished slightly differently)<br />
Rice vinegar<br />
Sugar<br />
Sea salt<br />
Sushi fillings (vegetables, fish, whatever you desire)<br />
Seaweed for decorating (optional)<br />
Large bowl, preferably wooden<br />
Rice paddle or other similar implement<br />
Springform pan (I have never tried doing this in a regular cake pan. I really don't know if it would come out.)<br />
Wax paper<br />
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<b>What to do:</b><br />
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<i>Make Sushi Rice</i><br />
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4 cups Sushi Rice (uncooked)<br />
water sufficient to cook<br />
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Cook sushi rice per instructions. If you have a rice maker with a sushi rice setting, that works great. If it's a Zojirushi, that's 6 of the little cups that came with it (which are 2/3rds of an American cup).<br />
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Mix together:<br />
1/2 cup Rice Vinegar<br />
3/8 cup sugar (6 tablespoons)<br />
2 tsp. sea salt<br />
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until the sugar and salt are dissolved.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNSqpBCTAfmRtKssdMWYMZoI-d0oQdEUczIP5xEicGuTtBKlBg1zNh_M2PfFZmk4Zc_r7Tf8L8PnsjY3mpjvGWvcgqFSSd_mGNDPYNOIElEAlR2vWlvusRf89NB5vccOtwEr0g/s1600/20150704_153447.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNSqpBCTAfmRtKssdMWYMZoI-d0oQdEUczIP5xEicGuTtBKlBg1zNh_M2PfFZmk4Zc_r7Tf8L8PnsjY3mpjvGWvcgqFSSd_mGNDPYNOIElEAlR2vWlvusRf89NB5vccOtwEr0g/s320/20150704_153447.jpg" width="320" /></a>Dump the rice into a large bowl (a wooden salad bowl is great for this), and pour over the vinegar/sugar/salt mixture. Mix with a rice paddle or large spoon until thoroughly integrated.<br />
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While that cools a bit, chop up your fillings of choice. Our favorites are cucumber; avocado; sashimi-grade salmon, yellowtail, and tuna; salmon roe; and shrimp (butterflied). If you choose to use raw fish, make sure you are using a source that is intended to be consumed raw. Use anything you like in sushi... crab meat, cream cheese, tamago, tofu... it's all good. (By the way, the shrimp come already cooked and butterflied that way in a frozen package from the market where I get all my sushi-specific stuff. I have no idea how to make them look like that.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNjrRMuot2C1L0pBBTVxRoAoLNxFlIZ8eLnfK-G0OmkxndfNL4uXDdh4YdRG8jN4KDw0Ii5tIzz66op6_Ox8iFn3ee4kb29_MF9r-MVpNPHmcweKjPxQofajll-VwLgntQofZC/s1600/20150704_153436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNjrRMuot2C1L0pBBTVxRoAoLNxFlIZ8eLnfK-G0OmkxndfNL4uXDdh4YdRG8jN4KDw0Ii5tIzz66op6_Ox8iFn3ee4kb29_MF9r-MVpNPHmcweKjPxQofajll-VwLgntQofZC/s640/20150704_153436.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1VBD-E9A4N-_Qq5imtq0bIS2q5Zz-rDy_iUket292iLQluEA4e1c0DglJpzvYfSFNqMVzgbRuAoUHd_pbyleUnGyYFEhcxBZv3cjW2M-uXV1JNzOfTsqkhDeFuRbPAJAm4BFa/s1600/20160821_182853.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1VBD-E9A4N-_Qq5imtq0bIS2q5Zz-rDy_iUket292iLQluEA4e1c0DglJpzvYfSFNqMVzgbRuAoUHd_pbyleUnGyYFEhcxBZv3cjW2M-uXV1JNzOfTsqkhDeFuRbPAJAm4BFa/s400/20160821_182853.jpg" width="400" /></a>Take a 9" springform pan and cut a circle of wax paper that fits pretty well in the bottom.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxyzieuEXJgH8VjrdPBBsGC2AX-j2JMxx5qEpVMkeLY6p91Diy6Zf7Jjtl5mj2EMuqFWHnnifXKh-tpgwY9eXEAAYlbcyRLzaie1nQUEXQc8Q77zjJbcANcL8Ub6Mv0MDeJeW6/s1600/20150704_153920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxyzieuEXJgH8VjrdPBBsGC2AX-j2JMxx5qEpVMkeLY6p91Diy6Zf7Jjtl5mj2EMuqFWHnnifXKh-tpgwY9eXEAAYlbcyRLzaie1nQUEXQc8Q77zjJbcANcL8Ub6Mv0MDeJeW6/s400/20150704_153920.jpg" width="400" /></a>Using a rice paddle or something similar (maybe a rubber spatula or something? I haven't tried other tools), press a thin layer of sushi rice into the bottom of the pan. I used to use my hands for this (get them wet first, so the rice doesn't stick to them!) but the paddle gets a tighter layer. Press it allll the way to the edges-- you want the edges really tight so your cake looks smooth and round (and doesn't fall apart) when you take it out of the pan. The layer shouldn't be more than a quarter-inch thick-- the thinnest you can do without being able to see the wax paper through it.<br />
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Add your ingredients in a radial pattern. This is something I've refined over the years-- at first I'd just line them up across the pan, but that makes the cake harder to cut. So I started arranging them in a radial pattern and that works much better.<br />
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More recently I've used even smaller pieces:<br />
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Now, repeat until you've filled the pan:<br />
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Next, turn it over onto your chosen cake platter:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nK3VNf63GBMdxZPY50slN7QSR8CNDl-xL7e3QFZn68HdL_3tMIAyAUZMNac6vzv72ZF0ksf6FiT4LnWzw25rheuMnVbqWD_U45qsFh49RHfyle5Ak2FehPy6LE9m0-XG_0sF/s1600/20150704_160818.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nK3VNf63GBMdxZPY50slN7QSR8CNDl-xL7e3QFZn68HdL_3tMIAyAUZMNac6vzv72ZF0ksf6FiT4LnWzw25rheuMnVbqWD_U45qsFh49RHfyle5Ak2FehPy6LE9m0-XG_0sF/s320/20150704_160818.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj93Eh9rSBHmn92O37iFZeLvZBgIt8EQDf6RruGn1xCfEhuhiSpWAfwFJwklDC6G9g2Ak5LdcrcETE8F8wxbD3hsvBQ3myrBKGwyytDSqjCZpD2ETT4LH7s-1PG4dAbnrsoDB0o/s1600/20150704_160823.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj93Eh9rSBHmn92O37iFZeLvZBgIt8EQDf6RruGn1xCfEhuhiSpWAfwFJwklDC6G9g2Ak5LdcrcETE8F8wxbD3hsvBQ3myrBKGwyytDSqjCZpD2ETT4LH7s-1PG4dAbnrsoDB0o/s320/20150704_160823.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
I have another piece of wax paper here as sort of a doily for the base. I'm not good at making doilies out of wax paper. See, sushi cake does not require any great general artistry or craftiness.<br />
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Next remove the sides of the springform pan:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Ndpk-OIJO6gcMgJc75Z_2DwkmrHZrupVDA8J8zD0s1bJIhaEIeHrHQEhY0qXJOASC4QPPXK4TFKFlhrHbaLXKC6SA1Eo0c9Wrr_Q_nLBR62F3wN22rhV26G_p9dvSPyCT5Dr/s1600/20150704_160846.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Ndpk-OIJO6gcMgJc75Z_2DwkmrHZrupVDA8J8zD0s1bJIhaEIeHrHQEhY0qXJOASC4QPPXK4TFKFlhrHbaLXKC6SA1Eo0c9Wrr_Q_nLBR62F3wN22rhV26G_p9dvSPyCT5Dr/s400/20150704_160846.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
And then the bottom:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ7CTtFxbPnczlsVSk78O8oYYh-qMPHYy3Qe6tjrGJ277ca7YliiLSPX__aRVu8CygXtVUfmFerxsBPFb3QagrlQaezURS6HfuJo3V3FDaFzb2mW-C675bTmM1gn4qHnAGxNzm/s1600/20150704_161036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ7CTtFxbPnczlsVSk78O8oYYh-qMPHYy3Qe6tjrGJ277ca7YliiLSPX__aRVu8CygXtVUfmFerxsBPFb3QagrlQaezURS6HfuJo3V3FDaFzb2mW-C675bTmM1gn4qHnAGxNzm/s400/20150704_161036.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
This was when I was still figuring out how to line the pan. Now that I use the wax paper, it comes out like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHHHlXWNCXL_2xC6Y_1ZVakxoh0AVy3LMmkIvAUsBhn0649U-NynVZ15OWkRX3me6Ej-rxT03Krz-C8HBqahFP0ZPbCqvJvmZpxMYfpkuTDz2dPunRSyij1KAzp5urm0-k0Ky1/s1600/20160704_164648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHHHlXWNCXL_2xC6Y_1ZVakxoh0AVy3LMmkIvAUsBhn0649U-NynVZ15OWkRX3me6Ej-rxT03Krz-C8HBqahFP0ZPbCqvJvmZpxMYfpkuTDz2dPunRSyij1KAzp5urm0-k0Ky1/s400/20160704_164648.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Next you decorate. This is really just a matter of arranging things in an artful pattern on top. But this year, I actually cut letters and numbers out of seaweed to put D4S1's name on it:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_iLvW-35yxPiRZNs_x2_5n6mZUEEpHChyRvrfXZvUyHCEP6hpOlHsU-ZaJHngo6Ecbf_db6l3-AlOOtoSeI6j-uNza35_hJBXTOAh9QngkNPcPVO66cSsWiQR8nMP5GLHIrme/s1600/20160704_170958.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_iLvW-35yxPiRZNs_x2_5n6mZUEEpHChyRvrfXZvUyHCEP6hpOlHsU-ZaJHngo6Ecbf_db6l3-AlOOtoSeI6j-uNza35_hJBXTOAh9QngkNPcPVO66cSsWiQR8nMP5GLHIrme/s400/20160704_170958.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAr2wWnPjlQ1vdGEBHHac6ZKStOdBUY2yIQY7fMYLcifmrdjrugvgItcYaCMOw-7gDi1nXWph74VyQAPpW5nzTpgX9bmPAsdInEcHa-qoDGkb8Udi7hWMdXF5zckj4WTNNkk9P/s1600/20160704_171003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAr2wWnPjlQ1vdGEBHHac6ZKStOdBUY2yIQY7fMYLcifmrdjrugvgItcYaCMOw-7gDi1nXWph74VyQAPpW5nzTpgX9bmPAsdInEcHa-qoDGkb8Udi7hWMdXF5zckj4WTNNkk9P/s400/20160704_171003.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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The Sushi Cake has developed quite a bit over the years. My first year, this is what it looked like:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRS_n1OkDtsjVJz3qMqdQnpalZC-pZ9uKgNb1GVFXcuvBB3fxcJJ8bAYXHJ-dOHwN-8srGGDuoK-RKl7Gjz2Tb-yLRI_bFxauq8jYLKlUAYFoQwXjA3wC2Asp4w3tnqwrjy1j/s1600/DSD00182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRS_n1OkDtsjVJz3qMqdQnpalZC-pZ9uKgNb1GVFXcuvBB3fxcJJ8bAYXHJ-dOHwN-8srGGDuoK-RKl7Gjz2Tb-yLRI_bFxauq8jYLKlUAYFoQwXjA3wC2Asp4w3tnqwrjy1j/s400/DSD00182.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I tried lining the entire pan with seaweed. It made sense in my head. It doesn't work that well.<br />
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For his 8th birthday, I used rice molds to try to make it cuter:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXurc-I6dSx4GTRmpUz8mdlHe912TLCfhczapnKQ-c4ZgdLbGihq2N4Mk8KpZ3f6nNLpXyNiXoCZnL4D_wkwW0W0eENTYUBmhyTZjE4Gq9V8qf3DGzei8cEPswqZudS9Nex4Fb/s1600/DSD00581.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXurc-I6dSx4GTRmpUz8mdlHe912TLCfhczapnKQ-c4ZgdLbGihq2N4Mk8KpZ3f6nNLpXyNiXoCZnL4D_wkwW0W0eENTYUBmhyTZjE4Gq9V8qf3DGzei8cEPswqZudS9Nex4Fb/s400/DSD00581.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
...but the seaweed REALLY doesn't work well on the inside of the pan. It just kinda melts.<br />
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I started to get that by year three:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYtGp9Aie2nWgelnAY3I4kkk6rJAZASb3MrRb6QxAdeDJRJNL5S2cMGgvBYAAS_EZvFr9gY5WnmnKMGazhfeVfoFiGZlv5BnuApk_BuIEgVs-8yXGqYmr7rQU67u19TijOE1vw/s1600/IMG899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYtGp9Aie2nWgelnAY3I4kkk6rJAZASb3MrRb6QxAdeDJRJNL5S2cMGgvBYAAS_EZvFr9gY5WnmnKMGazhfeVfoFiGZlv5BnuApk_BuIEgVs-8yXGqYmr7rQU67u19TijOE1vw/s400/IMG899.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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That was, you'll never guess, his 9th birthday. After that, he said, "Mommy, will you please put the salmon roe <i>inside</i> the cake too?"<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiEfE9gZn8fU-W2hfIqQD1uHtSfvO_qZrLVVPNYczpOtvBPMUAqJdS_LZ565gG-T8B1W6G9xXO2YmbO9gP1Xfmr7Jl4aQh4LEVDTli2pS4R2wvh5SIhQ67oLCHhOCAncTWyl40/s1600/20150704_161738+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiEfE9gZn8fU-W2hfIqQD1uHtSfvO_qZrLVVPNYczpOtvBPMUAqJdS_LZ565gG-T8B1W6G9xXO2YmbO9gP1Xfmr7Jl4aQh4LEVDTli2pS4R2wvh5SIhQ67oLCHhOCAncTWyl40/s400/20150704_161738+%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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...but they're still fun to decorate with some.<br />
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By the fifth time, I was starting to get the hang of it:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3fBl4ZWxbCS20gu-zY4e_KAnxfwhwjoR5ZmbwH84D-jUX63fd1tQ5LC_HlvyF_xLxYMtcNlTNXj-OxqrZOe-iMYaF1e88wVQwyU13pMzDH8zyAkx7A8tKIwKChmGKFY_0yUXp/s1600/20140704_174332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3fBl4ZWxbCS20gu-zY4e_KAnxfwhwjoR5ZmbwH84D-jUX63fd1tQ5LC_HlvyF_xLxYMtcNlTNXj-OxqrZOe-iMYaF1e88wVQwyU13pMzDH8zyAkx7A8tKIwKChmGKFY_0yUXp/s400/20140704_174332.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And then this year is when R8S2 asked for his own:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzXP5VXHgoJ6a8fsXQAAV96KIa_hBorse4dC_ZrUSp-qyOG2ptNnT7YIGeZ_Fx3i7xlsBm9W2TYQQcQauDhc-5V7qsVaBsdxkV5Bvhwf-1dSxQ4PuJisXfunwFEE-UTryhLSXt/s1600/20160422_190546_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzXP5VXHgoJ6a8fsXQAAV96KIa_hBorse4dC_ZrUSp-qyOG2ptNnT7YIGeZ_Fx3i7xlsBm9W2TYQQcQauDhc-5V7qsVaBsdxkV5Bvhwf-1dSxQ4PuJisXfunwFEE-UTryhLSXt/s400/20160422_190546_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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2017:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikP9xu7UMSjD_Yufhzk5VTXB2MlFdwac9ja7hhemoPqKtvLuCr_anQ-ZaKHXXkqInYR5mWYwEFo9wLH5bGaNxanxXpMqFhW68t6_Eqohkt6b4r4KCpayiw8XKoNRuZ0aShF3IK/s1600/20170704_161520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikP9xu7UMSjD_Yufhzk5VTXB2MlFdwac9ja7hhemoPqKtvLuCr_anQ-ZaKHXXkqInYR5mWYwEFo9wLH5bGaNxanxXpMqFhW68t6_Eqohkt6b4r4KCpayiw8XKoNRuZ0aShF3IK/s320/20170704_161520.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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2018 (birthday boy included):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihG7asI_z4n0IX92Z6KxMPnj-1l6IIYAEbWME0NawBjEOiY9KKZPL86O8xz-eoighJomVGqXVJTBD1pJpvMKpscbpDmQYIKv9AiC66OkzJItgf4kJYMisuBiOWS62N-g4XkFQp/s1600/20180704_141624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihG7asI_z4n0IX92Z6KxMPnj-1l6IIYAEbWME0NawBjEOiY9KKZPL86O8xz-eoighJomVGqXVJTBD1pJpvMKpscbpDmQYIKv9AiC66OkzJItgf4kJYMisuBiOWS62N-g4XkFQp/s320/20180704_141624.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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2019: <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-GJqVuMvfczx2dUlRl4buk5N3gauynEa4bMd3SGHbKTRPqCtWoMTbwedJ-Z-SC-RE2alhGur_C4NWEZfkDUDjuQOC4NIYixWsX4bcnI-uX9fA_C2vPL0j6lY3xhJmd6-rd55x/s1600/20190704_191040.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-GJqVuMvfczx2dUlRl4buk5N3gauynEa4bMd3SGHbKTRPqCtWoMTbwedJ-Z-SC-RE2alhGur_C4NWEZfkDUDjuQOC4NIYixWsX4bcnI-uX9fA_C2vPL0j6lY3xhJmd6-rd55x/s320/20190704_191040.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
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And there's a detail of a slice.<br />
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Still finding ebi (shrimp) and ikura (salmon roe) to be the go-tos for decoration, but this year I found a small biscuit cutter that let me cut the cucumber slices into prettier shapes. Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-82600424420097416372015-09-05T14:15:00.000-07:002015-09-05T14:15:47.056-07:00Un(der)employment<span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text0/=010">An <a href="https://www.facebook.com/teapartycat?fref=nf" target="_blank">unemployed cat</a> posted on social media that the unemployment rate has fallen to 5.1%, showing strong recovery.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text0/=010"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text0/=010">A commenter noted:</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text0/=010">"Most
unemployed lost benefits long ago and are no longer counted among the
statistics or percentages. Makes 'unemployment' look great when in
reality it's not."</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text0/=010"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.0"></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text0/=1$text0/=010">That
is an oft-repeated point, and so I found myself curious about it. I
looked at the labor force participation rate over time on </span><a class="" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$range0/=10" dir="ltr" href="http://bls.gov/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">BLS.gov</a><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text0/=010">
(it's impossible to find by navigating the site, and there's no direct
link, but if you google <a href="http://lmgtfy.com/?q=labor+force+participation+rate+over+time" target="_blank">labor force participation over time</a> you get
right to it).</span><br data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text1/=010" /><br data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text3/=010" /><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text4/=010"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn7IziF7DxNHX_iBWXZumeLPQyjoCsdULpkr8LrrPD0ErJaSwL6k9D5wAnrDZQOM-t7wPR2FAKiTnXFGlszJF4JwLobYqy8ph0fMtT2uZjZ3js2y1pGixBNuBA_J_kI6bEfqCd/s1600/labor+force+participation.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn7IziF7DxNHX_iBWXZumeLPQyjoCsdULpkr8LrrPD0ErJaSwL6k9D5wAnrDZQOM-t7wPR2FAKiTnXFGlszJF4JwLobYqy8ph0fMtT2uZjZ3js2y1pGixBNuBA_J_kI6bEfqCd/s320/labor+force+participation.png" width="320" /></a><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text0/=010"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text4/=010">The graph at the left shows the rate from 1960 to now. The first mark on the Y
axis is 60%; the top of the scale (which we never quite reached) is
67.5%. </span><br data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text5/=010" /><br data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text7/=010" /><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text8/=010">Overall,
participation went up steadily (with a few bobbles) from around 1970 to
1990. This is the period when women were entering the workforce in
larger numbers (or just refusing to leave when they got married/had
kids). It peaks, but only gently, around the dot-com bubble, and starts
sliding downward right about 2008, when the bottom fell out of the
market. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text0/=010"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text8/=010">So yes, labor force participation has dropped off since the crash, and in a steady way that certainly looks like people basically "aging out" of the tally. </span><br data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text9/=010" /><br data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text11/=010" /><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text12/=010">But there's one further factor to consider: the population pyramid.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.indexmundi.com/graphs/population-pyramids/united-states-population-pyramid-2014.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.indexmundi.com/graphs/population-pyramids/united-states-population-pyramid-2014.gif" height="222" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$comment1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text0/=010"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text1/=1$text12/=010"> </span><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text0/=010"> The bulge of the Baby Boomers has just started to cross the 65
threshold. How much of that drop-off are long-term unemployed, and how
much are people who figured this is a decent time to get out anyway,
since they're retirement age? </span><br data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text1/=010" /><br data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text3/=010" /><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text4/=010">There's
also the impact of the <a href="http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/timeline/" target="_blank">ACA</a>. That will be more visible in the coming
years, but certainly, with the ability to buy HMO and PPO coverage
individually off of health insurance marketplaces for comparable prices
to group employer insurance, regardless of existing conditions, some
people who only held jobs so they were eligible for insurance have and
will continue to leave the force. Leading up to HIE implementation, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/us/politics/budget-office-revises-estimates-of-health-care-enrollment.html" target="_blank">CBO estimated</a> that would be about two million full-time equivalents (where one person working full time is one FTE, and two people each working 20 hours a week is also one FTE). </span><br data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text5/=010" /><br data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text7/=010" /><span data-reactid=".ej.1:4:1:$replies1054406484572098_1054533784559368/=10.1:2:$comment1054406484572098_1054889537857126/=10.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end/=1$text8/=010">What
absolutely <i>none</i> of this addresses, however, is underemployment. I
think it likely that the biggest issue isn't people who are no longer
counted in the workforce, even though they need to support themselves or
their families... but people who are scraping by on jobs that fail to
make any reasonable use of their skills and education. Jobs that pay
less than they used to, for the same work. People with Bachelor's
degrees praying for a minimum-wage boost so they can get their car
fixed, finally. To a large extent, the jobs we're regaining are <a href="http://nelp.org/publication/tracking-the-low-wage-recovery-industry-employment-wages/" target="_blank">simply the wrong jobs</a>. I think it's this, more than anything else, that leaves people unsatisfied to hear "Unemployment drops to 5.1%." It just doesn't look that way from down here.</span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span>Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-13859690641900429482013-10-30T21:55:00.001-07:002013-10-30T21:55:04.641-07:00M/F/O<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]"><span data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]">Posted on Facebook in reply to this link: <a href="http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2013/10/29/op-ed-why-are-americans-terrified-transgender-6-year-olds">Why Are Americans Terrified of Transgender 6-year-olds?</a></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]"><span data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]"> </span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]"><span data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]">People
are <i>deeply</i> unsettled by any ambiguity whatsoever around gender. Just
take a look at some clips from the "It's Pat!" skits on Saturday Night
Live poking fun at this human trait.</span><br data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[1]" /><br data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[2]" /><span data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]">Try
going into any toy store and saying "I need to get a birthday present
for a two-year-old." They will immediately ask, before saying ANYTHING
else, "Boy or girl?" They can't even BEGIN to process the request for
help picking out a toy for a toddler until they have entered the correct
gender category. For two-year-olds, who themselves don't yet have a
fixed gender identity!</span><br data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[4]" /><br data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[5]" /><span data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[6]">I
remember in one of my Sociology classes learning about an experiment
conducted in the viewing area at a maternity ward (back when babies all
sat behind glass in the nursery). The researcher stood there admiring a
particular baby. Another person or family would come along to gawk at
their new relative, and he'd strike up a conversation. He'd ask who they
were there to see, and say admiring things about their baby. They'd
reciprocate, and he'd say, "That's my new niece over there." They'd then
remark on those ballerina toes, or adorable cheeks, or beautiful curls.
"What a delicate little angel!" they'd say.</span><br data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[7]" /><br data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[8]" /><span data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[9]">They
leave, next family comes in. Lather, rinse, repeat, only this time,
"...nephew." Same baby. "Wow, look at him shake that fist! He'll be a
tough one!" "He's built for football!" "What a little bruiser!" SAME
DAMN BABY.</span><br data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[10]" /><br data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[11]" /><span data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[12]">My
own experiment: I've got two children. We didn't find out gender in
advance for either of them. Cue fifteen random strangers a day asking
"What are you having?" and not even knowing what to DO when I didn't
know. My shower cake was half "It's a Boy" and half "It's a Girl"
because the bakery literally didn't have <i>any</i> gender-neutral
decorations. <span class="emoticon emoticon_confused" title="o.O"></span></span><br data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[13]" /><br data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[14]" /><span data-reactid=".r[4puds].[1][4][1]{comment586662118036817_5665743}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[15]">We
are nearly compulsive about reinforcing gender identity, as soon as
possible, with everyone. We form our mental image of who a person is
based on their gender first. It's no <i>wonder</i> that people who don't fit
the assigned binary gender framework cause unease. We begin ALL social
interaction with gender, and don't know how to proceed without it.
That's what we need to change. People first.</span></span></span>Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-8921556105050538062013-08-22T21:20:00.000-07:002013-08-22T21:21:30.499-07:00Not Me? Prove It.<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2]"><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[0]">Inspired by a screenshot from notallmenarelikethat.tumblr.com, which (apparently) showed graphic online abuse based on gender, and (apparently) followed up with commentary that said, basically, "We cannot trust men to be allies, and feminism doesn't need them." I didn't read the original post; I've seen enough to get the idea. But I read the reactions of many people very upset at the notion that men would not be accepted as allies. And then I responded:</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2]"><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[0]">This
reminds me of an experience I had in college. A Sociology professor who
thought he was some hot s**t wrote on the board one day instructions
that divided the class into different areas of the hall based on race.
(Many people sat in the aisles because they didn't identify with just
one race, but anyway.)</span><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[1]" /><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[2]" /><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[3]">Then, we talked about race.</span><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[4]" /><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[5]" /><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[6]">It
was slow at first, but yes, it had the intended effect: with a
homogenous group around you, it was easier to be honest and say the
things you're usually afraid to say.</span><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[7]" /><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[8]" /><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[9]">Then one African-American woman dropped a bombshell: "I expect all white people to be racist."</span><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[10]" /><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[11]" /><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[12]">I'd
noticed that she seemed generally not friendly, and definitely not
interested in talking to me. Now it made sense, and I was offended.</span><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[13]" /><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[14]" /><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[15]">She
went on, though. "...because it's been my experience that they usually
are, so if I just make that assumption up-front, I save myself a lot of
heartache and hassle."</span><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[16]" /><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[17]" /><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[18]">WHOA.
That made me stop. Was I aware of pervasive casual racism? More or
less, as a concept. It wasn't a part of my daily life, but yeah, I knew
it was out there for some people. But I'd never stopped to think about
what it would DO to a person.</span><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[19]" /><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[20]" /><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[21]">"So
yeah, they have to prove to me that they're NOT racist. And that's just
the way it is." And now I know I have to prove it, and I can't expect
someone who has lived a life of not-me white people belittling and
dismissing and victimizing them to assume I'm any different. </span><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[22]" /><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[23]" /><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[24]">But,
dammit, I HAVEN'T had to live a life of people assuming I was
uneducated, uncouth, and downright criminal from one glance at my face.
So I decided right then and there I could put up with "proving it." It
was a really, really small thing in the grand scheme.</span><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[25]" /><br data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[26]" /><span data-reactid=".r[h7vt].[1][4][1]{comment556889097680786_5511301}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[27]">So
be an ally. But don't get bent out of shape that you have to prove it.
Because yes, people have been hurt, sometimes really horrifically, by
people "just like you" only not in ways we can't see. And they are
simply learning from experience. Give them a different experience, but
don't be shocked that they learned from what others taught them. That's
just the way it is.</span></span></span>Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-22040888204813464032012-11-12T21:35:00.000-08:002013-08-22T21:37:36.363-07:00God bless the child that can pay his own way.<style type="text/css">
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<br />
Mitt Romney, May 17, 2012: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“There are
47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter
what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are
dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who
believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who
believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing,
to you name it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should
give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter
what. And I mean, the president starts off with 48, 49, 48—he
starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income
tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our
message of low taxes doesn't connect. And he'll be out there talking
about tax cuts for the rich. I mean that's what they sell every four
years. And so my job is not to worry about those people—I'll never
convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care
for their lives.”</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=19537718" name=".reactRoot[21].[1][2][1]{comment10152262467710634_36961353}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0].[0]"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=19537718" name=".reactRoot[21].[1][2][1]{comment10152262467710634_36961353}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=19537718" name=".reactRoot[21].[1][2][1]{comment10152262467710634_36961353}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=19537718" name=".reactRoot[21].[1][2][1]{comment10152262467710634_36961353}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=19537718" name=".reactRoot[21].[1][2][1]{comment10152262467710634_36961353}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[3]..[0]"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=19537718" name=".reactRoot[21].[1][2][1]{comment10152262467710634_36961353}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[3]."></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=19537718" name=".reactRoot[21].[1][2][1]{comment10152262467710634_36961353}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[3]"></a>
Bill O'Reilly, November 6, 2012: </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“It’s a changing country, the
demographics are changing. It’s not a traditional America anymore,
and there are 50 percent of the voting public who want stuff. They
want things. And who is going to give them things? President Obama.”</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What I found most shocking about these
two quotes... and most similar... is the lack of any sort of
acknowledgment that people might actually <i>deserve</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
“stuff”. Might actually </span><i>be</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
“entitled.” </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Is it possible that, if you work 60 hours a week, moving
constantly, doing the things that other people don't want to do for
themselves, stuff that requires lifting belts and work gloves, where
you don't get paid vacations or sick days, that you have <i>earned</i>
health care, food, and housing? Is that enough for Mitt Romney? Is it enough for Bill O'Reilly?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Here
in California, the minimum wage is $8.00/hour. Plenty of really
grueling jobs pay that wage. I'm not an accountant, and don't even do my own taxes... but I'll keep things simple. Here's the math for a family of four
with one full-time, one part-time job at minimum wage:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">60
hours per week x 52 weeks per year x $8.00/hour: <b>$24,960 </b>gross pay
possible</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">...but
let's say four days per year, on average, they're too sick to work.
Because they're “contractors” instead of full-fledged employees,
they don't get paid sick time (it's rampant all over the place... my
mother-in-law has been a tech writer “on contract” for the last
13 years). So take off...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">8
hours x 4 days x $8.00/hour: <b>$256</b> so the gross is now <b>$24,704</b>. This
assumes no vacation, no taking a morning off to go see their kid's
holiday pageant at school, nothing.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">But,
these are still wages, so in spite of no paid vacation or sick time,
they still pay payroll taxes. They're kind of complicated; there's
several different ones. At least the $110,000 wage cap for social
security deductions doesn't come into play. Here's what your
hypothetical family will be paying:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">FICA +
Medicare: 7.65% of gross pay $24,704 = <b>$1,889.86</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Federal
Unemployment Insurance: 0.9%* of the first $7,000 = <b>$63</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">State
Disability Insurance: 1.0% of gross pay $24,704 =<b> $247.04</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">State
Unemployment Insurance: 1.5% to 6.2% depending on employer's record;
using average 3.85% of first $7,000 = <b>$269.50</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">There's
also an Employment and Training Tax, but it maxes out at $7 and isn't
paid by all employers, so I'll just ignore it for now.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">*
Usually FUI is 0.6%, but California is paying its bills late, so we
have to pay more into the Federal system.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">The
grand total of all wage taxes paid in a year by this family is now
<b>$2,469.40.</b> But they haven't paid income taxes yet, so they're still
in that 47%.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">What
do they have left at this point? <b>$22,234.60</b> per year, for a family of
four.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">So do
they pay income taxes? Well, let's take a look at the standard
deductions, and the Child Tax Credit:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">This
family, assuming they're married, middle-aged, and not blind,
qualifies for a standard deduction of $11,600, though there's the
whole part about deducting the children and the tax credit. <a href="http://www.smartmoney.com/spend/family-money/my-kids-are-worth-how-much-15809/">Some sources</a> say such a family gets a total of $15,200 in deductions,
which makes their taxable income <b>$7,034.60</b>.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">According
to the <a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040tt.pdf">IRS tables</a> for 2011, this family will owe <b>$703</b> in Federal
income taxes. However, since they have two children and make less
than $110,000/year, they can claim $2,000 in child tax credits. These
are now the tax-free folks who actually get money </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">back
</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">from
the government after a negative Federal tax bill. They can receive a
credit of <b>$1,297</b>, to add to the $22,234.60 they take home.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We
haven't even looked at what that <b>$23,531.60</b> will pay for. This family
has </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">no</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
health insurance, </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">no</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
401(k) or IRA, and has to buy housing, food, transportation,
clothing, and utilities. (But we're upset that they might get an
Obamaphone.)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Why
aren't they working more hours, though? Surely if they worked 80
hours a week, they'd be taxpaying citizens?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">A
family with two parents who work a total of 60 hours a week can get
by without paying for childcare. Once you have two parents working
full-time, though, you have to pay someone to care for the kids when
they're not in school (if they're not under five and still not
eligible for free education... another thing we don't think these
people deserve). At minimum wage, the math just doesn't work out. Some families can rely on a grandparent or other relative for childcare, but if this person is not working, the wage-earning family likely is still somewhat responsible for the caregiver's expenses.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But
let's say that their local school happens to offer some sort of free
after school program, so they can both work 40 hours a week. Or one
works 30 and the other works two jobs... somehow they get to 80
hours. They are </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">still</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
not paying taxes. With two children, you need a taxable income of
$19,000 or more to exceed the tax credit, and the 80-hour a week
minimum wage four-person family is at $14,634.92. Even if they get
bumped up to $9/hour <i>and</i> 80 hours/week, they're in the 47%.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">All
they had to do was back-breaking, often humiliating, sometimes
dangerous work, cleaning up after other people, 80 hours a week. And
they think that this </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">entitles
</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">them
to health care, food, and housing? They think that they should have <i>stuff</i>?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In
the Republican world, poverty is not just a moral failing. Your
economic standing is a measure of your worth as a human being. If you
do not </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">already
</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">have
something, that is sufficient to determine that you are not deserving
of that thing. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">“<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Bless_the_Child_%28Billie_Holiday_song%29">Them that's got shall get</a>, them that's not shall lose. So the Bible says, and it still is news.”</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-21982124266909863052012-11-10T20:15:00.001-08:002013-08-22T21:34:29.122-07:00The Invisible Hand is coming to get you!<span data-jsid="text">The Invisible Hand works as well as it ever did... it was always a thought experiment. Adam Smith postulated that the Invisible Hand would act in a self-regulating market in the presence of three things: perfect information, perfect competition, and perfect mobility.<br /><br />None of those are possible. However, labeling and fraud regulation bring us closer to perfect information. Anti-trust laws bring us closer to perfect competition. Perfect mobility is harder to accomplish through regulation, but the abolishment of Jim Crow laws, redlining, and other such practices that dictated where people could live and do business helped. More recently, the Internet (developed by the Defense Department and a public university) has done much to bring us closer to perfect mobility.<br /><br />The Invisible Hand was never thought to prevent market fluctuations, though. In fact, Adam Smith and those who study him acknowledge freely that the efficient free market often *does not* address the needs of people. In a free market, those who can't perform will die. This is where the irrationality studied by behavioral economists comes in... we are social creatures, and so there is some "rational" behavior that gets overridden by our survival instincts. We know that if we always work against each other, we'll die. At first, only the weaker ones, but eventually, we will all die off because we fundamentally need each other.<br /><br />Where the Invisible Hand seems to be failing, it is actually a failure of the very regulations intended to preserve it. Deregulation destroys a self-regulating market, by moving us further from perfect information (like information about what candidates the company donates money to), perfect competition (next I have to explain to the FCC why they shouldn't let AT&T buy T-Mobile), and perfect mobility (so long as we order on Amazon).</span>Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-55764023021569592002012-01-02T19:41:00.000-08:002016-08-21T17:37:38.309-07:00Talk is Cheap.They say talk is cheap. They're right. There's no cheaper way to share information.<br />
<br />
We went to the playground yesterday. D4S1* saw two people on the see-saw and said he wished he could teeter a totter. After noting that one of the people on it was a mom-looking person, I suggested he ask if he could join them, as he'd probably be successful. He did, and us parents followed R8S2 over to the track so he could ride his balance bike. We made visual contact every few minutes, but D4S1 is good at hollering if he doesn't think things are right, so he was pretty much on his own.<br />
<br />
After a while, R8S2 asked to go play with his big brother. As we approached the zip line area, a woman who I belatedly figured out was the same one from the see saw came up to me and said "I just have to tell you how much fun my son is having playing with yours!" They'd been sticking together ever since the see saw, and having a ball.<br />
<br />
We got to talking. I'll call her "Naomi." Her family was visiting from Springfield, Missouri, but she grew up in Orange County. She noted that she'd been homesick the whole last six years since they relocated, and they'd love to come back. We chatted about kids and their personalities, about home prices and their differences, and so on.<br />
<br />
She asked about the Rose Parade... they were thinking of going. I couldn't help but share my fortune; I had two grandstand tickets, GREAT seats, and so D4S2 and I would be going. I was looking forward to seeing the <a href="http://occupytheroseparade.org/">Occupy </a><a href="http://occupytheroseparade.org/">the Rose Parade</a> float.<br />
<br />
Blank look. "You know... <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street">Occupy Wall Street</a>? <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-occupy-20111229,0,2850379.story">Occupy Los Angeles</a>?" Shakes head.<br />
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"No... what is that?"<br />
<br />
Now, I don't-- didn't, anyway-- consider myself <span style="font-style: italic;">completely</span> disconnected from mainstream culture. Yeah, I make different choices; we don't have TV (we have <span style="font-style: italic;">a</span> TV, which plays DVDs and console games), I don't read a newspaper... I get most of my news from links my friends post, and from my Google News Saved Search for things relevant to homelessness. But it really just floored me: there are still people who don't know that Zucotti Park on Wall Street in New York was occupied around the clock for nearly two full months; that the lawn around Los Angeles City Hall was similarly occupied for two months (starting and ending a couple of weeks later), and that similar protests have happened in cities across the nation.<br />
<br />
So... I talked.<br />
<br />
I knew little to nothing about this woman's political inclinations, history, background. I had no idea where here sympathies would lie, how her family earned money, what her gut reaction would be. I kept it simple, which is hard; it's complicated. I started with the what: thousands of people setting up camp in public places, in protest of corporate greed, the illegal actions taken by Wall Street firms that precipitated the financial crisis (with no charges filed), the people whose homes have been foreclosed illegally, the aggregation of wealth and political power with the 1%. I mentioned the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJmmnMkuEM">pepper-sprayed UC Davis students</a> (and even mimed the cop's casual stroll as he sprayed them), but didn't get into <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/02/us-usa-wallstreet-olsen-idUSTRE7A17TB20111102">Scott</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEj_4fqDbnM">Olsen</a>.<br />
<br />
Then I mentioned the evictions, the <a href="http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/11/homeland-security-coordinated-18-city-police-crackdown-on-occupy-protest.html">coordination services provided by the Department of Homeland Security</a>, and the next phase, where some people are occupying foreclosed, bank-owned, vacant homes with families who have lost their homes in the financial crisis.<br />
<br />
"Wow, I had no idea about any of that! I really need to start reading a newspaper."<br />
<br />
And then I got to the <span style="font-style: italic;">really </span>sad part: the newspaper probably wouldn't help much. Where mainstream media *does* cover Occupy, it tends to do so in a somewhat patronizing manner, focusing on things like littering or the homeless moving in, rather than the issues.<br />
<br />
[Said in a perfectly reasonable, not at all self-righteous or dismissive, tone] "Well, maybe then these Occupy folks need to get better with the media..."<br />
<br />
That's when I explained that they have a lot of people who are pretty good with media... but that there's no way to package this. I pointed out that it's leaderless; that you can't state in succinct, media-friendly soundbites what "the 99%" want. That it's a conglomeration of <span style="font-style: italic;">different</span> ideas and goals and priorities. That it's about being heard, being represented; it's not about picking someone to be in charge and package the message. It's complex, and it has to stay that way, or it stops being what it is.<br />
<br />
The boys stopped playing ball with a random family and got on the swings. As we pushed them (<a href="http://kidsincowtown.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/img_0679.jpg">these swings</a> are specially designed to be accessible; they're too big and heavy for the kids to swing themselves... which I suspect is why they like them so much), she asked me what I do, and I told her (grant writer for a homeless services agency). She asked me about feeding the homeless, and what I thought about whether it did any good (as a one-time thing). I told her I thought that, if done right, it could serve an important purpose in humanizing people who have felt dehumanized by their day-to-day experience. But on the other hand, hunger sometimes motivates people to connect to services, so isolating feeding people may prolong the time they spend on the street... so it could go either way.<br />
<br />
As we headed back over toward the zip line behind our sons, I touched on NDAA and SOPA. She asked what I thought of Obama, and I told her. She confided that she finds herself consciously <span style="font-style: italic;">hiding</span> her political beliefs; she fears what her community's reaction would be if they found out she voted for him. She mentioned religion in a positive light; I recommended <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheChristianLeft">The Christian Left</a>, but she wondered what would happen if her neighbors saw she had "liked" it. I gave her some tips on double-talk for those situations ("Oh, I know, but they have some really good Christian messages...") and also mentioned that I have two Facebook accounts: one for work, and one for the rest of my life.<br />
<br />
I was so uplifted by our conversation, the ability to share important information about the world with another person, the <span style="font-style: italic;">progress </span>made in that hour... and dismayed by how isolated a person can be thanks to an intolerant community.<br />
<br />
So I've decided: I need to talk more. I need to talk about what's going on. I don't need to lecture or advocate or evangelize... I just need to say "This is happening." Then people, like Naomi, at least have an opportunity to make up their own minds about it.<br />
<br />
* For the sake of anonymity, I'm not using my children's actual names. I decided to give them codes, like they're Star Wars droids. The first letter is their first initial; the second is the last digit of their birth year; the third is their gender (S for son... it's the same for both, but would be D for any daughters I had in another universe) and the final digit is birth order.Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-88065764250009915512012-01-02T13:59:00.000-08:002012-01-02T19:41:30.235-08:00The case for progressive taxation<span jsid="text" class="commentBody"><div id="id_4f02166be53974680034354" class="text_exposed_root text_exposed">I commonly hear people talk about how it's unfair when taxes are used to "redistribute" wealth.<br /><br />I might agree with them, except, it's NOT redistribution. It's creating the infrastructure and resources that enable people to succeed, both modestly and wildly.<br /><br />Say you have a great idea and some real business talent. You start a company. You get a ba<span class="text_exposed_show">nk loan; the bank can lend you that money because of the deposits of its other customers, many of whom are individuals saving for college, retirement, or a rainy day. They <span style="font-style: italic;">can</span> save because they make more than they spend... they're middle class.<br /><br />You hire people. The people you hire are literate and numerate. They know how to operate a computer and how to follow written and verbal instructions. They know how to communicate with their boss and their colleagues clearly and productively.<br /><br />You buy equipment, much of it expensive. You get a fire/life/safety alarm system that automatically rings the police department or fire department if anything goes wrong.<br /><br />You contact distributors via phone and email to get them to stock your products.<br /><br />You manufacture your goods and ship them, via rail, roads, air, or sea. Shipping costs figure into your prices.<br /><br />You are successful, and you become rich. But you ONLY were able to do it because of public services and infrastructure, including police, fire, schools, roads, rails, airports, sea ports, and <span style="font-style: italic;">everything</span> that provides stability to the middle and working class so that money keeps flowing in the economy.<br /><br />"Your fair share" of the costs of operating those things is GREATER, because you got MORE benefit out of them. Rather than benefiting just from sending your own kids to public school, you benefited from all the parents of all your employees being able to educate their children for free. You own more capital, so the expenses we have that ensure your capital is secure (fire and police) disproportionately benefit you. You're making heavier use of the transportation infrastructure, and most of that use doesn't include user fees intended to pay the full costs of building or maintaining that infrastructure.<br /><br />Sad thing is... the elites who succeeded wildly in business used to understand this. When did we forget that stability, infrastructure, and education are requirements for a successful first-world economy?</span></div></span>Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-87142847806767035542011-10-19T22:06:00.000-07:002011-10-19T22:19:38.336-07:00Octopi Wall Street<div>Credit goes to my husband for the title.</div><div><br /></div><div>So first of all, there's this thing going around like a bad cold:</div><div>https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/300992_2121412038332_1336751787_32024846_450161612_n.jpg</div><div><br /></div><div>Don't get me wrong: I'm firmly on the side of the 99%. Things are, to put it simply, [bleep]ed, and we need to un[bleep] it pronto.</div><div><br /></div><div>But here's what I posted to one friend in response to the above:</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>Item #1 means that people who aren't independently wealthy can't afford to run for Congress. They'd be giving up retirement plans in the private sector to do so.</blockquote></div><div><blockquote>The Congressional pension operates much like pensions in any other job, where you get credit for the time you were there; it's not a free ride for every Congresscritter ever. It's to ensure that people can afford to leave jobs with decent retirement plans to run for and hold Congressional seats.</blockquote></div><div><blockquote>Item #2: Congress pays into Social Security just like everyone else (which means that they only pay on their pay up to $106,800/year).</blockquote></div><div><blockquote>Item #3: Some jobs still have pension plans, but they're evaporating. There's also a lot of concern about the baby boomers, as they reach retirement age, often with inadequate savings for retirement. Also, Congress members DO pay into their pension plan, just like most public-sector employees. Also, there's some serious problems with suddenly going BACK on a system; what would we do to a private company that had a nice pension plan if they suddenly said "Um, we're changing it for EVERYONE from this point forward, no matter what we told you in the past (on which basis you made certain decisions about your financial planning)?</blockquote></div><div><blockquote>Great summary here: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blcongress.htm</blockquote></div><div><blockquote>Item #4: 3% is too low a cap. 6% is more realistic. During the late 1970s, we had runaway inflation that got into double digits... a few years of that and Congressional pay would lose a ton of value with a 3% cap. Inflation has only dipped below 3% a handful of years in the last three decades.</blockquote></div><div><blockquote>Item #5: Congress DOES participate in the same health care system as The American People: a system of private insurance tied to employment, where the employer subsidizes the premium (if you're lucky). There is *no* public insurance plan for the general population.</blockquote></div><div><blockquote>Item #6: I'm perfectly fine with Congress getting parking tickets. Otherwise, not sure which laws they're categorically exempt from. They enjoy the same benefits with respect to law enforcement that ANY affluent white person does.</blockquote></div><div><blockquote>Item #7: Term limits encourage ambitious people who are always looking at their next campaign, rather than people who really want to do *this* job. They also create huge inefficiencies due to turnover; anyone who's ever been in management knows that you take a hit every time you have to get a new person up to speed on a job.</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div>Now, some of those are fairly cut-and-dried; others are more nuanced, and perhaps simply opinion... but informed opinion. Still, you start right off with this being based on things that simply AREN'T TRUE (I mean, a quick Google of Congress Social Security gets you a Snopes link for crying out loud; are they even TRYING?), and you go to things that probably will have negative effects... hard to take any of it seriously.</div><div><br /></div><div>And for all I know, that's the point. This was started by some troll who wants to embarrass or distract the progressives. It's working; people are passing this on without a single thought.</div><div><br /></div><div>But the conversation continued. And I was asked my opinion on how we DO fix it. So I answered:</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>First: amend the Constitution to more strictly define a "person" as an organism. Corporations aren't people; they can't die, or be imprisoned, or be left destitute... they can be formed and dissolved at need, they can be immortal or ephemeral as their creators determine. They are shells, not people; they need no rights, because the people who created them have rights.</blockquote></div><div><blockquote>We also need to realize that money isn't speech, but that's secondary to taking personhood away from immortal legal entities. Maybe we need to define rights about how people use money, but equating it to free expression doesn't work.</blockquote></div><div><blockquote>And we need to remember that WE elected Congress. Not "They," WE THE PEOPLE. We can't divorce ourselves from the constituency we are part of. We need to talk to our friends, our neighbors, our community groups, churches, families... and teach them to really see it through; think about how various policies will affect them, personally, and the world they live in. We need to adopt a habit of long-term, big-picture thinking.</blockquote></div><div><blockquote>I happen to think that getting free of TV advertising would go a long way to helping with this last part; it affects *everyone* who sees it, even on fast-forward. If you don't believe me, go on a strict no-commercial diet for, say, six months. DVDs (or books and talking to friends ;-) only. You'll be AMAZED at what you thought was normal when you were exposed to it every day.</blockquote></div><div>The advertising bit is something I'm trying to work on in a bigger way. First it was going to be a blog post, then I started realizing the scope was more like an article, and now it's kind of turned into a book. The impact of advertising on politics is its own chapter. But I digress.</div><div><br /></div><div>I went to the rally on the International Day of Action, October 15th, here locally. It was stupendous. I took my kids; they were impressed (hey, we get to walk in the STREET!). I had intelligent conversations with random strangers all around me. I was amazed at the variety and creativity of the signs people were holding.</div><div><br /></div><div>And most of all, I'm excited that it seems like we're finally <i>doing</i> something. I can't wait to see where it goes, and hopefully, to be a part of it.</div>Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-63943295516014811272011-05-25T22:57:00.001-07:002011-05-25T23:11:30.475-07:00When is my child ready for artificial colors?There is a great deal of information out there to help parents know when to transition their child to solid foods. We also generally know that baby's first foods should be wholesome, natural, and free of artificial colors.<br /><br />So how do you know when your child is ready to take the next step, to artificially-colored food? Here's a few guiding principles that can help you identify artificial coloring readiness:<br /><br /><ul><li>Has your child begun refusing all foods that aren't screaming red, neon green, or electric blue? If so, it may be time to make the switch to foods that are colors never found in nature.</li><li>If your child is excessively calm or lethargic, the <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607613063/abstract">stimulant effect</a> that artificial colors have on many children may be just the pick-me-up they need.</li><li>Is your child the victim of taunting or bullying from other kids because they won't drink the Kool-Aid? Introducing them to artificial colors may help their social life.</li><li>Talk to your doctor about whether your child is getting enough petroleum products in their diet. Added colorings may boost their intake of fossil fuels.</li><li>If your child needs to take medicine, they may accept it better if it is bright pink or blood red.</li><li>Once artificial flavors have been introduced, colors may be necessary to distinguish "the green flavor" from "the purple flavor."<br /></li></ul>Adding artificial colors doesn't have to be difficult. You can find them in many mundane products, from marshmallows to hummus. There are thousands of artificially colored products readily available in your neighborhood supermarket, and many of them are targeted directly at children.<br /><br />If you're reading from the European Union, you may find it more difficult to get your child their daily dose of artificial colors. Try ordering groceries from US-based companies online, or ask friends to stock up on artificially colored foods when on vacation in the States.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">[mandatory "this is satire" disclaimer for those who need it. I do not actually think any child ever needs artificial colors in their diet.]</span>Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-86339170012408290902011-04-28T13:42:00.000-07:002011-04-28T13:49:59.959-07:00Standardized testing isn't the answer, but...<span jsid="text">The conundrum becomes, how <span style="font-style: italic;">do</span> we ensure that teachers are doing something? Standardized testing scales well. It allows you to create quantitative measures for an enormous number of students and their teachers quickly and at relatively low cost. The time investment is reasonable. It's where the light is good*... that's why we keep looking at it.<br /><br />But it's not where we're losing our keys, so we need to look there, even though it's harder. But, what do we do? <span style="font-style: italic;">Increase</span> the administration load, when it's already crushing our schools in some cases, so that teachers can have better supervision? And then what do we do about the inherently subjective nature of such evaluations? What if the teacher and supervisor get along well, because they're the same gender and race, live in the same neighborhood, and have kids the same age? Can we trust that they will see the teacher's work objectively, without coloring it more rosily due to their affinity with that teacher?<br /><br />Ultimately, I think we need to involve a LOT more voices in the process. Students and their families should be submitting teacher evaluations each semester, just as colleges collect professorial evaluations. Teachers should do peer evaluations, possibly trading with other schools. And it should be done in a cooperative, not adversarial, manner... teachers who are having problems should be offered training, support, etc. to identify the causes of those problems and address them, so that they don't have huge incentive to try to cover their tracks.<br /><br />But all that is a lot of <span style="font-style: italic;">work</span>, real work. People have to read comments, correlate information, control for various factors. We do need to look at whether a black teacher in a predominantly white district (or a white teacher in a predominantly black district, or an Asian teacher in a predominantly Latino district, or whatever) is consistently receiving lower scores, but without "backup," i.e. no one seems to be able to <span style="font-style: italic;">describe </span>the problem... so maybe the only problem is <a href="https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/">implicit bias</a>.<br /><br />I don't think we can give up standardized testing completely. I think it's part of the equation. But people usually are teachers for long careers... and we have the technology to track outcomes for their students over a longer time horizon. If you've been a Kindergarten teacher for 12 years, and it turns out that 70% of your students are going on to college in a district where the typical rate is 40%, you can actually <span style="font-style: italic;">find out</span> if there's a statistically significant correlation there and if maybe you're doing something right. You don't have to wait for college, though... you can look at how students are doing in terms of discipline, grade level of achievement, awards and recognition, and so on starting from the year after they leave you. I think that, with the right approach to data-mining, we could really illuminate some success stories -- and failures -- in our educational system.<br /><br />Ultimately, though, when you observe that failure is more common than success across a school, you <span style="font-style: italic;">must</span> look higher than the teachers. To have keep good employees, you need good management. Administration needs to be held accountable for their performance in a major way. Heck, if the front office staff is rude and lazy, it will impact performance negatively, because parents will feel disconnected, teachers will have trouble getting the resources they need, etc.<br /><br />Every time the organization I work for submits a large grant proposal, we have to provide (several things, but among them) our 990 tax form and an evaluation plan. The 990 tells people what our overhead ratio is... how much are we spending on management and support staff like finance and human resources compared to how much we're spending providing direct services? And, how will we be able to tell if what we're doing <span style="font-style: italic;">works</span>? Could we hold schools to that standard? What do you suppose the overhead ratio is for your school?<br /><br />* For those who aren't familiar with the joke...<br />A police officer happens upon a drunk, searching for something on the sidewalk and in the gutter under a streetlight. He asks the guy if he needs help.<br />"Yeah, I lost my keys! Can't find them anywhere!"<br />The cop helps the guy search for a few minutes, but finds nothing. He asks, "Are you sure you dropped them here?"<br />"Aw, nah, I dropped them about 20 yards down that way."<br />"But... why are you looking here?" the cop asked.<br />"The light's better!"<br /></span>Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-41129482892643923902011-04-10T15:55:00.000-07:002011-04-10T19:22:44.638-07:00Health Care is a Market Failure, Part I: Shopping for a DoctorI call this "Part I" because I'm sure I'll return to the topic. There are a LOT of ways in which health care is a market failure.<br /><br />First of all, background:<br /><ul><li>A "market failure" is a good or service that cannot be efficiently distributed by a free market. These items usually have to be regulated heavily in order to be distributed in an efficient manner.</li><li>Adam Smith postulated a free market that could be completely regulated by the "Invisible Hand" as having three characteristics: Perfect Information, Perfect Competition, and Perfect Mobility. None of these is possible... but market regulation is generally about compensating for particular shortcomings in one of those categories.</li></ul>So now the question: how do you shop for a doctor? Maybe we can start by looking at how you shop for other things...<br /><br />If you want to know what brand of jeans to buy, you go to some stores, look for the size, cut, and color you're interested in, and try them on. Then you buy the ones that have the best combination of comfort and looking good (or at least not bad) on you.<br /><br />If you want to figure out which TV to buy, you look at the features and specifications of each model, read reviews online, and go to a store to look at them. You don't know until you get it home how it's going to really look in your house, but you can usually choose something satisfactory by looking at the available information.<br /><br />If you are trying to figure out which multivitamin works for you, you look at what quantities of each nutrient it has, what the fillers are, and so forth, then you buy a small bottle to try out. If you buy it at the right store, you can return it if it upsets your stomach or you have trouble swallowing it or something.<br /><br />So what's the problem with doctor-shopping? First of all, there's practically NO information available about how a particular doctor practices. My health insurer lists for me where the doctor graduated, what year, and what hospitals they're affiliated with. These factors may influence my decision, but what I <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> care about is: will this doctor respect my observations and experience? Does s/he keep up with the latest research? Is his/her philosophy of care more focused on preventive, natural health, or on pharmaceutical or surgical interventions? If I come in with a complaint, how will the doctor proceed after ruling out the obvious and most dangerous stuff?<br /><br />I'm very fortunate that, with my health care, I can basically make an appointment with any in-network doctor, pay the co-pay, and see them. I don't have to have a primary care physician or stay in a particular group. But this is still unsatisfactory: I go through a HUGE amount of paperwork and effort to go to an appointment that is intended as a doctor's visit, when all I want is to find out whether I like this doctor.<br /><br />It's obvious why doctors don't schedule prospective patient interviews: there's no ICD9 code for them. They can't bill insurance for them, so they won't get paid. Few patients are willing to spend several hundred dollars out-of-pocket interviewing a handful of doctors. There's no trial size or satisfaction guarantee, much less the ability to try one on. And perhaps most important, we have absolutely no conception of how price compares between doctors. They're all going to charge "reasonable and customary" rates, because that's what they can get, no matter who the patient is.<br /><br />What this means is,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> doctors do not have to compete with each other for patients</span>. People pick a doctor based on whether they are in-network and convenient, and may switch from a doctor that has atrocious front-office staff or ridiculous wait times for appointments, but in general, we don't shop for a doctor we like. Instead, we put up with a doctor we're not deeply unsatisfied with.<br /><br />Without competition, doctors have no incentive to differentiate their service, or even improve it. They will keep up their continuing education to the bare minimum to maintain licensure, they will schedule their patients as tightly together as they can without causing a riot, and they will give up on figuring out what's wrong after they've determined that you're not likely to die. They won't charge more for better service, or charge less for no-frills service, so everyone gets about the same mediocre attitude from the front office. They won't figure out how to reduce the paperwork burden on their patients. They won't invest in technology unless it improves their bottom line, because they're not in the habit of advertising that they have an EHR or that you can get lab results via email.<br /><br />Now, yes, there are doctors who are different. They truly care about their patients and strive to create a healthy environment in their offices. They create brochures and websites to educate prospective patients about their services. They are rare, and they also often don't take insurance... because enough people know of them and love them that they don't have to, and because they simply can't take as many patients and keep up quality, so there has to be a throttle somewhere. (This also dramatically reduces their overhead, because they don't have to hire a bevy of medical billers to keep up with all the different insurance companies' claim forms and procedures... they just send you, the patient, an invoice.)<br /><br />As much as I want single-payer health care, that model doesn't really address this particular problem. It may help a bit, by dramatically simplifying medical billing infrastructure (maybe we could finally get on ICD10!), but it won't change the competition. In fact, it may worsen the situation... one of the reasons why doctors don't bother promoting their services is because everyone needs a doctor, and there really aren't enough of them. As <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-08-17-doctor-gp-shortage_N.htm">medical students continue to choose residencies in specialties over the primary care disciplines</a>, this is becoming a bigger choke point, and single-payer health care would increase the market for primary care without increasing the pool of doctors.<br /><br />I don't have a pat solution for this one. Require doctors to schedule five-minute interviews with prospective patients? Create a standard questionnaire for all doctors to fill out, so their answers can be posted somewhere? Clearly, part of the solution is that we need more primary care doctors, and the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-08-17-doctor-gp-shortage_N.htm">methods</a> to make that happen are still fairly muddy (<a href="http://www.medrants.com/archives/6110">money is a big factor</a>). Still, this is one compelling example of why the current health care system cannot efficiently distribute services, and needs overhaul.Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-14476814376579966482010-11-20T15:56:00.000-08:002010-11-20T16:09:14.667-08:00Consent of the GovernedFirst, a Facebook Friend posted this link:<br /><a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/12-facts-that-will-blow-your-mind-%e2%80%93-federal-employees-and-members-of-congress-are-getting-rich-while-those-of-us-who-pay-their-salaries-suffer.html">12 Facts That Will Blow Your Mind – Federal Employees And Members Of Congress Are Getting Rich While Those Of Us Who Pay Their Salaries Suffer</a><br /><br />So I had a few responses. Here they are, as commented on the thread:<br /><span jsid="text"><div id="id_4ce85da7576ef3845609501" class="text_exposed_root text_exposed"><blockquote>#1: What's the source of her money? Just her salary as a Congresscritter?<br />#2: The Federal Government employs doctors, dual-PhDs, and people at CEO-level responsibility for government agencies. $150k a year is *low* for those types of jobs<span class="text_exposed_hide">...</span><span class="text_exposed_show">. Do we want all the inmates in our Federal prisons to be seen by doctors who can't get a "real" job? Is that in the interest of public safety?<br />#3: ...which is why we need campaign reform. You can't become a member of Congress without your own war chest.<br />#4: there were 4,434,431 US government employees (including uniformed military personnel) as of 2009 (<a href="http://www.opm.gov/feddata/HistoricalTables/TotalGovernmentSince1962.asp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span>http://www.opm.gov/feddata</span><wbr><span class="word_break"></span><span>/HistoricalTables/TotalGov</span><wbr><span class="word_break"></span>ernmentSince1962.asp</a>). So that's an average of $100,000 in *total compensation*... which includes things like military pensions, health benefits, etc. The typical ratio for benefits to compensation in the non-profit sector is 25%; it's probably higher for government jobs, as our military members and many civil servants have excellent benefits (like fully-paid health care or actual pensions rather than just 401ks). So then we're talking about more like an average salary of $75,000... including 1.3 million active-duty military members, thousands of doctors, etc.<br />#5: ...because we want the "average American" crafting legislation and advising on foreign policy? the average American can't find Germany on a map. Let's instead talk about how many people are making *far* below "average".<br />#6: ...so? The right of labor to organize is protected by law, for good reason. Wal-Mart employees aren't. Who do we want in charge of spending our tax dollars?<br />#7: Again, we need campaign reform. These people were rich long before they became electeds.<br />#8: We're complaining because people got raises? How many people were making $140k in 2005? $140k in 2005 is $156k now, just due to inflation.<br />#9: Don't know much about this issue. How much insider trading do members of Congress do? Which members of Congress have had legislation put before them that would make it illegal and refused to vote for it? What about the current legislation in the works... does it address the issue?<br />#10: And what's the difference in responsibility? You can slip the matre'd a ten-spot and get a table faster... do we want that at the IRS? The airport? Our prisons?<br />#11: I'll agree that benefits in the private sector suck.<br />#12: I want to invest in what they did. How much of that was real estate, btw? And how much did they lose in the crash?<br /><br />This is an incredibly biased, misleading, and destructive way of looking at isolated pieces of information context-free to try to just get people against government. Get the *whole* story; don't let the pundits make your opinions for you.</span></blockquote><span class="text_exposed_show">The OP then asked an insightful and useful question for such a dialogue, which was (paraphrased; I haven't solicited permission to quote anyone) "What does government mean to you?"<br /><br />So, here it is... again, as posted:<br /></span><span jsid="text"></span></div></span><span jsid="text"><div id="id_4ce85da7576ef3845609501" class="text_exposed_root text_exposed"><span jsid="text"></span><blockquote><span jsid="text">Government is a social contract among the governed. In a hypothetical state of nature without government, there is only natural and acquired power. Natural power is attributes like strength, beauty, and intelligence, which can be used to <span class="text_exposed_hide">...</span><span class="text_exposed_show">acquire power. Acquired power consists of things like resources, loyalty, or fame.<br /><br />In the state of nature, those with less natural and/or acquired power (usually highly correlated) are consistently at a disadvantage to those with more. As social creatures, we depend on each other for not just the "extras," but bare survival... people cannot be healthy and whole in isolation. But in the state of nature, there is little one can do to prevent antisocial behavior on the part of someone more powerful. An individual lacks second-strike capacity: if I kill you for your food, you are now dead and can't take action against me.<br /><br />So we form alliances. Ten people with less power can create a social contract, and best one person who is more powerful than each of them individually. Eventually, even the powerful realize they are better off by engaging in and complying with the social contract.<br /><br />Modern government has come a long way in developing methods of negotiating and re-negotiating that contract, but in the end, it's still the same thing. Government is made up of people. We agree. We don't all, individually, agree with everything "government" does, but we all agree to be bound by the decisions of government, because we are better off than if we "go it alone." As social creatures, we are infinitely healthier and better-off in alliance than isolated.<br /><br />When "government" is misbehaving, it's our job, as those who imbue government with its power, to find out why and fix it. To me, an awful lot of the issues we face today can be addressed by reforming campaign finance, so that people, rather than money, elect our government. I also think we need to get back to truth-telling; we seem to have no power to stop those with the acquired power of fame from just flat-out lying to influence people's opinions on the job of government. This causes them to vote, again and again, against the interests of themselves and most people, to the advantage of a few.<br /><br />The social contract is breaking down. We don't fix that by breaking it further, but by remembering that these people only have the power to damage us because WE GAVE IT TO THEM. We can choose to give that power elsehow, too</span></span></blockquote></div></span>...Never mind that "elsehow" doesn't appear to be in my browser's spelling dictionary. I like it.<br /><br />For anyone who wants to know more about the social contract and the state of nature, start with Hobbes's <span style="font-style: italic;">Leviathan</span>. Rousseau also did a lot on this. I had to read this stuff for some Sociology class, you should too. ;-)Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-17460703434054292582010-11-18T21:04:00.001-08:002010-11-18T21:27:10.300-08:00I made this.I remember looking down at my approximately seven month old baby almost six years ago now, and realizing with a shock that nearly every molecule in his body came from mine.<br /><br />WOW. Powerful thought, huh? At that point, he was still making "food face" every time we tried to give him something solid, so he was still pretty much exclusively nursing, as he had been since birth (aside from the 20 ccs of infant formula the pediatrician at the hospital pushed on us because we didn't know what a wet disposable looked like :-/). So not only had the original 8 pounds 6 ounces of him come directly out of my body, the raw material he'd turned into the next 15 pounds had, too. (Yes, my 7-month-old was about 24 pounds. That's not a math error.)<br /><br />So I'm reading <span style="font-style: italic;">The Upside of Irrationality</span> by Dan Ariely, who is a behavioral economist at Duke University, and there's a chapter on the meaning of labor. Turns out, when we make things ourselves, we value them more. He calls it The Ikea Effect, and says, "...to increase your feelings of pride and ownership in your daily life, you should take a larger part in creating more of the things you use in your daily life."<br /><br />This triggered my memory of that moment, when I realized this whole entire person on my lap was something I made (with some design assistance from my husband). How does that change how I value my child(ren)? Or, to put it a devastating way... how does the near-universal adoption of formula feeding for part or all of infancy compromise a mother's natural, normal pride in and value of her child?<br /><br />A couple of pages later, he goes on at more length about how this phenomenon enters our everyday lives:<br /><blockquote>Similarly, we think we will not enjoy assembling furniture, so we buy the ready-made version. We want to enjoy movies in surround sound, but we imagine the stress involved in trying to connect a four-speaker stereo system to a television, so we hire someone else to do it for us. We like sitting in a garden but don't want to get sweaty and dirty digging up a garden space or mowing the lawn, so we pay a gardener to cut the grass and plant some flowers. We want to enjoy a nice meal, but shopping and cooking are too much trouble, so we eat out or just pop something in the microwave.<br /><br />Sadly, in surrendering our effort in these activities... we may actually give up a lot of deep enjoyment because, in fact, it's often effort that ultimately creates long-term satisfaction.</blockquote>Another WOW. This touches on so many things. People ask me "what do you EAT?" when they hear what I don't: gluten, dairy, soy, corn, eggs, nightshades (not to mention artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives). What I eat is mostly what I make myself. Yes, doughnut day at work drives me crazy sometimes, and there are days where my brain throws its own little fit at the idea of having to jump straight into dinner prep as soon as I get home (once I've gotten snacks for the kids, nursed the baby, and started the older one on his homework). Every so often, I think, "I wish I could just call Crispy Crust and be done with it."<br /><br />And then I'm glad I can't. Because if I could, I would... and I wouldn't feel good about it. I'd feel like a cop-out, a lazy bum, someone who isn't doing the right thing. Our modern world tempts us constantly to cut corners and compromise, and in the process cheats us out of so much satisfaction. While our Big List of food allergies makes things tricky, it also forces me to make, invent, and create.<br /><br />And therefore, to enjoy.Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-36551569178091730672010-11-17T21:29:00.000-08:002010-11-17T21:47:46.805-08:00We interrupt this important message with mindless drivel.I haven't finished the Prop 13 post yet. I've realized it needs more work; the basic idea is there, but there's math and stuff. Usually it's fun, but right now* I'm not in the mood.<br /><br />But I want to write. So here's a little exercise in semi-automatic writing**... we'll see where it goes.<br /><br />I'm optimistic about the incoming Congress. I have this hope, that doesn't seem entirely unrealistic to me, that one or both of the following things will happen:<br /><br />1. The frosh Congresscritters, suddenly having this as their real *job* with staffers who, some of them, may actually have some experience and background in running a Congressional district, might learn a thing or two about how things work. Like <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45181.html">waiting periods</a> <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/17/republican-rep-elect-refutes-claim-lost-congressional-health-care-rules/">for health care</a>, and why we thought it'd be a good idea to abolish them. Or why it's cheaper to provide a social safety net than to just let people languish on the street. Or any number of things.<br /><br />2. Because the Tea Party is somewhat outside the scope of the mainstream Republican party, some of the veteran Republicans may find it makes sense for them to break ranks and side with the Democrats on any number of things. Which is a nice way of saying that they'll be afraid of looking like idiots by association.<br /><br />Sure, it may just be a ridiculous deadlock. I can hope, at the very least, the the Democrats will have learned by now that "bipartisan cooperation" takes two to tango, and the conservatives didn't come to the dance. Then, at least, they can be doing things, passing things through the Senate, the tsk-tsking when the House turns them down over and over. If only they'd done that the first two years, we might not be in this position.<br /><br />But overall, I have severe politics fatigue. I <span style="font-style: italic;">try </span>to care. Really I do. But it's so disgusting what some of these people want to do to us, to <span style="font-style: italic;">me</span>. Hell yes I take it personally. Knowing that my family would be in deep doo-doo with health care if my husband lost his job? That's personal. Knowing that there are homeless people picking through my trash cans because we can't seem to find it in our hearts to provide decent social services? That's personal. Knowing that my son's elementary school is about to lose their librarian and their plant manager, and while the school is raising huge noise of protest, nothing is going to change because there's <span style="font-style: italic;">no money</span> because me and my neighbors all have nicely insulated property tax rates? That's VERY personal.<br /><br />And sometimes I make the mistake of reading the comments on articles on the <a href="http://www.latimes.com"><span style="font-style: italic;">Los Angeles Times</span></a> website. Wow that hurts. I'm surrounded by hateful, hurtful people who vote. How do I meet that without wanting to crawl into a hole?<br /><br />But on the upside... it could be worse! That's the ticket. I should just go back to that optimism thing I was enjoying earlier.<br /><br />* i.e., the last three weeks.<br />** Automatic writing is an exercise my mom used to have her English classes do. You set a timer for five minutes, and you don't stop writing the whole time. Even if you're not actually creating prose, you just keep the words flowing. You don't correct, you don't even really think... you just put words to paper. It's different on a computer, and I'm <span style="font-style: italic;">far</span> too compulsive for not correcting things... hence, semi-automatic. But now it sounds like a weapon. "Words are better weapons... words are the way to break through without blood." Peter Dee, "...And Stuff."Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-81327046172685709072010-10-26T20:34:00.000-07:002010-10-26T21:33:41.560-07:00Prop 13: California's Mother-in-lawJuly 4th, 1979, I learned that Proposition 13 was evil. From our balcony in Echo Park, we had always watched the various municipal fireworks displays put on by Parks and Recreation and other public entities. It was a heck of a show; we would get our own "safe & sane" sparklers and snakes, and maybe even a fountain, but the <span style="font-style: italic;">real</span> show was after the lights went down, on the public dime.<br /><br />But that year was different. I was very eager for the shows to start, but my parents cautioned me to temper my five-year-old enthusiasm, because "Since Proposition 13," there would not be nearly as many shows.<br /><br />They were right. We saw a few poofs of color, dimmed by smog, from the Coliseum and a couple other large venues... but very little else. I shook my head around and pretended that the afterimages of the city lights were fireworks. I also plotted the demise of "Proposition 13."<br /><br />Nowadays, things have changed. The smog is barely a fraction of what it was, thanks to smog checks, CAFE standards, and a dramatic reduction in industrial activity. And the fireworks are better than ever, thanks to the Internet and a still-porous southern border. With the money saved on property taxes, thousands of Angelenos are able to buy professional-quality fireworks to set off from their backyards. Meanwhile, we spend far more on Independence Day overtime for cops and firefighters than we used to before Prop 13, and we have less money to do it with.<br /><br />But the truth is, Proposition 13 solved a real and pressing problem. The real estate market is quite a bit more volatile than other markets; before Prop 13, your assessed value could go up tens of thousands of dollars in a single year, raising your tax bill by several hundred dollars. Let's remember, it was 1978, and hundreds of dollars was worth more than three times as much. The fact is, in just a couple of years, a neighborhood becoming suddenly fashionable could push a family out of a home they'd owned for 10 years, just because they could no longer afford the tax bill. Looking at it with today's prices, I sold a house in Echo Park in 2001 for $238k. That same house, at the market peak in 2006 or so, would have sold for probably $650k. Without Prop 13, the property taxes would have gone up by $12,000 in five years. That's unsustainable for most households, and prevents strong communities from persisting.<br /><br />But it went too far... way, WAY too far. Here's a chart to help explain:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkK5lK1Afh2hy9d8VlSF_smwPzTCLOS1qh74I_u7QEXSoJX9jzZQpsKamlY6zY4uBecn8qBFy56N4m7XXDO66OVAfB5tj1exQgri03udU5LYd9GPPeuB_OVCbfAl0tBEbnYFEj/s1600/real+value+of+property+assessment.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 327px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkK5lK1Afh2hy9d8VlSF_smwPzTCLOS1qh74I_u7QEXSoJX9jzZQpsKamlY6zY4uBecn8qBFy56N4m7XXDO66OVAfB5tj1exQgri03udU5LYd9GPPeuB_OVCbfAl0tBEbnYFEj/s400/real+value+of+property+assessment.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532574066903452834" border="0" /></a>Citation: me. I did this for my term paper in Urban Planning 253 ("Sprawl"). That's why it only goes to 2000; I did this in 2005, and that was the latest data I could get. Someday, I'll update it.<br /><br />It still illustrates the issue. The line shows the real value (inflation-adjusted value) of property assessments by year of tenure as a percentage of inflation-adjusted purchase value. Basically, every year, inflation pushes prices higher and the value of the dollar lower (those are really equivalent statements), which means that even if your neighborhood is static, your house will be worth a greater number of dollars. However, the limitation that Prop 13 put on how fast your assessed value (the value used to calculate your taxes) could rise meant that assessed value couldn't keep up with real dollar value... in other words, when adjusted for inflation, your assessed value got <span style="font-style: italic;">lower </span>every year. Based on inflation rates (which were very high in the late 1970s - early 1980s, but were very low by the end of the 1990s), the assessed value of a house bought in 1978 would be just barely over half as much as the number you would get if you put the original purchase price into <a href="http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl">an inflation calculator</a>. This isn't looking at market value in any way... just the extent to which inflation outpaced the maximum 2% increase instituted by Prop 13.<br /><br />The color coding has to do with what proportion of the housing stock, as of the 2000 census, had been purchased in that year (or before, in the case of 1978). As you can see, a quarter of houses fell into the bottom category, with assessments that were 60% or less of what the owner originally paid for the house. (The selected break points between tenure categories were selected based on large changes in inflation rates, if I recall correctly.)<br /><br />So here's the problem in a nutshell: Prop 13 totally destroyed our ability to maintain infrastructure, sponsor first-class education, or even give people fireworks displays so they wouldn't have to make their own. But at the same time, it did create one important positive change: it let families plan their expenses when they bought a house, and know that, barring catastrophe, they should be able to continue to live there. Just as many people find their mother-in-law reorganizes the cabinets all wrong, teaches their children things they don't want them to learn, and makes them feel ungraceful or unbeautiful or otherwise unworthy... but she did create someone worth loving and marrying, which balances for a lot of ills.<br /><br />I hate Prop 13, but we can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. It needs to be fixed, not abolished. But this post is too long already, so you'll just have to wait with bated breath to find out my glorious plan for doing so. (Then I have to somehow get Jerry Brown and the entire California Legislature to read my blog.)Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19537718.post-53657734307916665212010-10-25T21:30:00.000-07:002011-06-24T21:59:17.101-07:00Not MY fantasyLike approximately 11,999,999 other people on this planet, I play <a href="http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml">World of Warcraft</a>. At least, I have before, and almost certainly will again, though my account is currently inactive. I've never been a hardcore player... the game wasn't released until after my first child was born, so I've never spent 13 hours straight raiding like I did in my EverQuest days. But I have a max level main and a level 70 alt, plus a couple other fairly high-level characters. I mostly play with my husband, though that's more a matter of convenience than anything else; when a child may have an emergency at any moment, it's good to have someone around to auto-follow.<br /><br />So we decided to go to <a href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/">Blizzcon</a> this year. Friends were going, and it seemed like a good idea. It may even have been one, but that's not what I'm writing about here. Those who know of Blizzcon, have been before, or follow it at all, may have heard this year's wasn't as good as prior years. I have no idea; this was my first one. I privately refer to it as Glitzcon. It was very shiny, but not particularly useful. I may get sucked into Diablo III. But I digress.<br /><br />During the WoW open Q&A, a female human asked something very much like: "I really love that the game contains all these strong female characters, and I'm glad that you've included women who are clearly leaders. I was just wondering, is it possible that in Cataclysm [the upcoming expansion], there may be some that don't look like they just stepped out of a Victoria's Secret catalog?"<br /><br />First crowd reaction: cheers. Those voices were female. Secondary reaction: boos. Much louder, as those were the male voices... which made up roughly 75% of the audience. One guy nearby shouted, "Hey, it's FANTASY!"<br /><br />Which is the justification: don't take it hard, honey, because this is <span style="font-style: italic;">fantasy.</span> And it is. And frankly, I'm not so bothered by the laws-of-physics-defying bustiers and long belts in place of skirts.<br /><br />What bothers me is that the guys are all fully dressed.<br /><br />And this is about something bigger than a game, or even a genre of games. Feminism has long placed undue emphasis on the way <span style="font-style: italic;">women</span> are perceived, represented, and portrayed. But the problem isn't how women are dressed or scripted... it is the <span style="font-style: italic;">difference</span> between how women and men are displayed.<br /><br />In your next journey through World of Warcraft or a similar game, look around you. See how many glistening biceps and totally cut pecs you see on display. Count the briefs, loincloths, and cut-offs sported by unrealistically beautiful manly men. Inventory the six packs, the open vests, the torn shirts.<br /><br />You'll only need one hand, I bet.<br /><br />And why is it like that? Well, here's a guess: it may have something to do with the demographics of the folks making the game. Of the five lead artists, designers, coders, etc. on stage, five were men. And they know what men want: to know that their sexuality is unquestioned. They do NOT want to be confronted with sexy male figures when they're trying to relax! That's gay, or something.<br /><br />So why is it expected that women should be comfortable with the same thing? Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. (Which apparently means that if we kill you, pluck you, chop off your head and feet, and cook you, no one cares whether you're male or female, just how you taste with gravy.)<br /><br />Last I heard, nearly half of WoW players are female. As half of people are female, this suggests there may be some untapped market out there. It may be time for the designers to break themselves out of the tautology of [most players are male] ∴ [all eye candy is female] ∴ [most players are male].<br /><br />And while we're at it, maybe the guys who like to suggest that women are being overly sensitive when they point out these disparities can take a good, hard look at a Google Image Search of <a href="http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&biw=1428&bih=729&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=construction+worker+shirtless&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=">construction worker shirtless</a> and see just how comfortable they would be with the shoe on the other foot. I think we've been awfully patient. (Update: or just take a gander at the artwork <a href="http://rosalarian.tumblr.com/post/2325861377/dressed-to-kill">here</a>.)<br /><br />/em hopes the Blizzard team doesn't decide to initiate equity with the Goblin race.Ironicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13582499795861297737noreply@blogger.com0