Last Monday, the Town Board held a public hearing on the budget for 2013-2014. Not many members of the public attended the 5:30 meeting, and there were few public comments. It took only a few minutes for the Town Board to approve the budget ordinance for the coming year.
Earlier this Spring, as reported in Town Dock, the Board considered a proposal to raise taxes to cover expenses resulting from my suit against the Town. Town Dock explained: "There will not be an increase in property taxes, even though, this
spring, Commissioners had bounced that idea around for a week or two.
Town Manager Bob Maxbauer claimed a tax hike was necessary to pay the
town’s attorneys to fight lawsuits over the South Avenue and Avenue A
rights of way. (Resident Dave Cox has sued the Town, saying towns
can’t exchange or sell rights of way, as Oriental did in the Chris
Fulcher land swap.
"Maxbauer wanted the Board to raise taxes 3 cents for every $100
valuation which would have brought in $63,000 – even though the Town’s
attorney has estimated the cost of the lawsuit and appeal could run
between $20,000 and $50,000. Commissioner Sherrill Styron said at one
budget meeting that he wanted at least a penny tax to “make David Cox
look bad” but in the end, the Board declined, in this election year, to
raise the property tax at all."
I assume that Sherrill Styron's remark about raising taxes to make me look bad was offered in jest.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
SCOTUS Gets It Right
Last week's decision by the Supreme Court disallowing patents for naturally occurring genes represents the final triumph of common sense.
So how come the patent office has been granting such patents for 30 years?
One thing the case shows is that foolish government actions can be overurned in our court system, but only if someone complains.
Long live complainants (otherwise known as plaintiffs).
So how come the patent office has been granting such patents for 30 years?
One thing the case shows is that foolish government actions can be overurned in our court system, but only if someone complains.
Long live complainants (otherwise known as plaintiffs).
Monday, June 17, 2013
Tell Me Again About Our Great Recovery
Those who think the economy is taking off should take a look at the following graph from the Federal Reserve:
I think this graph tells us a lot more about the economy than "unemployment" figures. The problem with unemployment figures is the way they are calculated. If you keep looking for work and run out of unemployment benefits, by definition you no longer count as part of the work force. Therefore you are not unemployed.
The employment to population ratio shows how many are employed, an easier and more stable figure. Not much improvement lately.
It didn't have to be this way. We needed to focus on putting people back to work. We have a jobs problem, not a deficit problem.
I think this graph tells us a lot more about the economy than "unemployment" figures. The problem with unemployment figures is the way they are calculated. If you keep looking for work and run out of unemployment benefits, by definition you no longer count as part of the work force. Therefore you are not unemployed.
The employment to population ratio shows how many are employed, an easier and more stable figure. Not much improvement lately.
It didn't have to be this way. We needed to focus on putting people back to work. We have a jobs problem, not a deficit problem.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Have We Been Derped?
Actually, I'm still a bit unsure as to whether Derp is just a noun, or whether it can be a verb as well.
What is a derp? Economist Noah Smith in his blog Noahpinion gives a complete and somewhat humorous explanation here.
It turns out it is connected with epistemology and also with Bayesian analysis. And posteriors.
It explains why some people aren't interested in evidence.
Paul Krugman has a discussion of derpiness here. Even conservative economists use the term.
As for epistemology, epistemic closure (meaning closed minds) can have real world consequences. Here, for example.
This problem has been around for a long time in human affairs. Ecclesiastes had something to say about it:
"...wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness...." Ecclesiastes 2:13-14.
What is a derp? Economist Noah Smith in his blog Noahpinion gives a complete and somewhat humorous explanation here.
It turns out it is connected with epistemology and also with Bayesian analysis. And posteriors.
It explains why some people aren't interested in evidence.
Paul Krugman has a discussion of derpiness here. Even conservative economists use the term.
As for epistemology, epistemic closure (meaning closed minds) can have real world consequences. Here, for example.
This problem has been around for a long time in human affairs. Ecclesiastes had something to say about it:
"...wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness...." Ecclesiastes 2:13-14.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
When Did You First Hear That Public Schools Were Failing?
I started school in the first grade (we had no kindergarten) in Greenwood, Mississippi in September, 1943. We had one first grade teacher and no teaching assistants for over thirty students. Our reader was Dick and Jane.
I never heard anyone complain that public schools were failing.
In third and fourth grade, I attended school in a two-room, four grade country school house in rural Tulsa County, OK. The room was spartan. No library. No hall. We entered class through a door leading directly outside. There was no bathroom. Only an outdoor privy. I rode a bus over an hour to get there.
No one complained that public schools were failing.
I attended fifth and started sixth grade in temporary classrooms in Midwest City, OK. There was one teacher for over thirty students.
No one complained that the schools were failing.
I completed sixth through eighth grades in a rural school East of Oklahoma City. There were two grades in each classroom. I had the same teacher for all four grades. Many of my classmates had never set foot out of Oklahoma County. Many had never visited the state capital, ten miles away. Many students quit when they reached sixteen.
No one complained the schools were failing.
I was taken by bus ten miles into Oklahoma City for ninth and tenth grades. On the school grounds, older boys bullied younger ones and stole lunch money. Ninth grade students showed up for class some mornings drunk. Some stole cars and went joy riding. Most smoked. Many were sexually active from about the seventh grade on. Teachers were mediocre.
No one ever said the schools were failing.
We moved to Anchorage, Alaska. I walked two miles to school every day through snow drifts, often in below zero weather before sunrise.
No one ever said the schools were failing.
I graduated from the University of Mississippi and eventually received graduate degrees from Tufts and Harvard. I had no trouble competing.
Apparently I wasn't irreparably damaged by all those public schools.
Oh, by the way, what did those schools have in common? They were segregated (except for Anchorage - we had one African American in the high school).
When did I first start hearing that public schools were failing? Not until after school integration.
Could there be a connection?
Here's a good article from Huffington Post by an author who sends his children to public schools. He explains why.
My children also went to public schools. They aren't noticeably deprived or intellectually deficient.
I never heard anyone complain that public schools were failing.
In third and fourth grade, I attended school in a two-room, four grade country school house in rural Tulsa County, OK. The room was spartan. No library. No hall. We entered class through a door leading directly outside. There was no bathroom. Only an outdoor privy. I rode a bus over an hour to get there.
No one complained that public schools were failing.
I attended fifth and started sixth grade in temporary classrooms in Midwest City, OK. There was one teacher for over thirty students.
No one complained that the schools were failing.
I completed sixth through eighth grades in a rural school East of Oklahoma City. There were two grades in each classroom. I had the same teacher for all four grades. Many of my classmates had never set foot out of Oklahoma County. Many had never visited the state capital, ten miles away. Many students quit when they reached sixteen.
No one complained the schools were failing.
I was taken by bus ten miles into Oklahoma City for ninth and tenth grades. On the school grounds, older boys bullied younger ones and stole lunch money. Ninth grade students showed up for class some mornings drunk. Some stole cars and went joy riding. Most smoked. Many were sexually active from about the seventh grade on. Teachers were mediocre.
No one ever said the schools were failing.
We moved to Anchorage, Alaska. I walked two miles to school every day through snow drifts, often in below zero weather before sunrise.
No one ever said the schools were failing.
I graduated from the University of Mississippi and eventually received graduate degrees from Tufts and Harvard. I had no trouble competing.
Apparently I wasn't irreparably damaged by all those public schools.
Oh, by the way, what did those schools have in common? They were segregated (except for Anchorage - we had one African American in the high school).
When did I first start hearing that public schools were failing? Not until after school integration.
Could there be a connection?
Here's a good article from Huffington Post by an author who sends his children to public schools. He explains why.
My children also went to public schools. They aren't noticeably deprived or intellectually deficient.
Sequester: A Destructive Solution To A Non-Problem
Two years ago, the newspapers and TV pundits were warning about a vast "debt crisis."
There never was a debt crisis. There were substantial deficits resulting from the economic collapse from our real estate bubble. Economic collapse and resulting loss of jobs triggered increased expenditures on the social safety net and reduced revenue.
This was not a problem - it is a feature of our economy. It is called "counter-cyclical" expenditure, and is designed to moderate the business cycle and prevent the economy from going into a tailspin. This time, the economic collapse was so severe, it took additional measures to avoid a collapse.
It could have been worse. Much worse.
By now, it could be much better, had we acted on a scale required by the situation. But especially after the 2010 election, the House of Representatives, under Republican leadership, did everything they could to sabotage recovery.
In early 2011, the newly sworn-in Republican House threatened to shut down the government if they didn't get their way.
The result was the sequester bill.
Just as recovery was beginning to happen (though more vigorous recovery efforts would have speeded things up), the sequester is now kicking in. As a nation, we are pressing on the brake while trying to accelerate up the on-ramp of recovery.
Bad idea.
Here's what I had to say about it two years ago.
The underlying problem isn't getting better.
There never was a debt crisis. There were substantial deficits resulting from the economic collapse from our real estate bubble. Economic collapse and resulting loss of jobs triggered increased expenditures on the social safety net and reduced revenue.
This was not a problem - it is a feature of our economy. It is called "counter-cyclical" expenditure, and is designed to moderate the business cycle and prevent the economy from going into a tailspin. This time, the economic collapse was so severe, it took additional measures to avoid a collapse.
It could have been worse. Much worse.
By now, it could be much better, had we acted on a scale required by the situation. But especially after the 2010 election, the House of Representatives, under Republican leadership, did everything they could to sabotage recovery.
In early 2011, the newly sworn-in Republican House threatened to shut down the government if they didn't get their way.
The result was the sequester bill.
Just as recovery was beginning to happen (though more vigorous recovery efforts would have speeded things up), the sequester is now kicking in. As a nation, we are pressing on the brake while trying to accelerate up the on-ramp of recovery.
Bad idea.
Here's what I had to say about it two years ago.
The underlying problem isn't getting better.
Friday, June 14, 2013
More On Communications Intelligence
I realize my previous post on communications intelligence might have been a bit much for some readers. My excuse is that I was personally fascinated with the case of Stanley Johnston revealing through the Chicago Tribune that the US knew in advance where and when the Japanese would attack Midway. How Johnston may have learned of this remains a bit speculative.
What I find equally interesting is that Johnston, who was embarked as a journalist aboard USS Lexington (CV-2) during the battle of the Coral Sea, seems not to have been aware of the role played by communications intelligence in that battle. How did the US fleet know to be where they were at the time they were in order to engage the Japanese?
Johnston's book, Queen Of The Flattops, about the last days and eventual loss of Lexington remains a masterpiece of war coverage.
Two movies about the war in the Pacific provide some information about the role of communications intelligence: "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Midway." My favorite is Tora! Tora! Tora!
A recent series on public television, "Bletchley Circle," touches on the special skills of the (mostly women) who worked on breaking German codes during WWII.
Two works by Alexander Solzhenitsyn are of interest. In August, 1914, Solzhenitsyn describes the utter disaster of the Russian army at the Battle of Tannenberg, largely due to administrative incompetence in delivering radio code books to the field in time for the attack. As a result, Russian forces could only communicate with each other in the clear. The Germans knew every Russian move in advance. Whether the code books would have been effective had they been distributed is another question.
During the Winter War of 1939 between Finland and the Soviet Union, it is said that Finnish forces intercepted encrypted Soviet radio communications, transmitted the intercepts to Swedish experts at Uppsala University. The intercepts were decrypted and the information sent back to Finland. This intelligence enabled Finnish ski troops to operate with devastating effectiveness against Soviet units.
The other related book by Solzhenitsyn is First Circle. That book describes the work of Soviet convicts in developing technical means of voice recognition to identify a dissident from a recording.
These efforts were all forerunners of today's cyberwar.
What I find equally interesting is that Johnston, who was embarked as a journalist aboard USS Lexington (CV-2) during the battle of the Coral Sea, seems not to have been aware of the role played by communications intelligence in that battle. How did the US fleet know to be where they were at the time they were in order to engage the Japanese?
Johnston's book, Queen Of The Flattops, about the last days and eventual loss of Lexington remains a masterpiece of war coverage.
Two movies about the war in the Pacific provide some information about the role of communications intelligence: "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Midway." My favorite is Tora! Tora! Tora!
A recent series on public television, "Bletchley Circle," touches on the special skills of the (mostly women) who worked on breaking German codes during WWII.
Two works by Alexander Solzhenitsyn are of interest. In August, 1914, Solzhenitsyn describes the utter disaster of the Russian army at the Battle of Tannenberg, largely due to administrative incompetence in delivering radio code books to the field in time for the attack. As a result, Russian forces could only communicate with each other in the clear. The Germans knew every Russian move in advance. Whether the code books would have been effective had they been distributed is another question.
During the Winter War of 1939 between Finland and the Soviet Union, it is said that Finnish forces intercepted encrypted Soviet radio communications, transmitted the intercepts to Swedish experts at Uppsala University. The intercepts were decrypted and the information sent back to Finland. This intelligence enabled Finnish ski troops to operate with devastating effectiveness against Soviet units.
The other related book by Solzhenitsyn is First Circle. That book describes the work of Soviet convicts in developing technical means of voice recognition to identify a dissident from a recording.
These efforts were all forerunners of today's cyberwar.
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