ABC Wednesday Archives - Page 32 of 91

X is for xkcd

You cannot change the laws of physics,

xkcd is a comic strip by Randall Munroe that addresses issues that either 1) I have thought of but wish I had said better, or 2) hadn’t thought of, but wish I had. He describes xkcd as “a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.”

I mean, I’ve BEEN to this meeting. Totally exhausting. Haven’t you?

xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. “Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).”

I HAVE been known to interrupt myself, interrupt myself like that, I have. Indeed.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. So “This means you’re free to copy and reuse any of my drawings (noncommercially) as long as you tell people where they’re from.”

This reminds me of a song called Star Trekkin’ by The Firm. No, not THAT The Firm. You should take a listen. Scotty is saying “You cannot change the laws of physics.”

Romeo was a bit of a butthead.

I’m pretty sure that the first time I was actively aware of xkcd was from this now classic, and somewhat profane – you WERE warned – explanation of the First Amendment.

Finally, separated by a common language uses it as well.

ABC Wednesday – Round 18

The penultimate: ABC Wednesday Round 19

You are invited to participate, every week, or as you can, with ABC Wednesday.

At some basic level, I don’t much like being in charge of a lot of things. This month, I’m relinquishing the presidency of the Friends of the Albany Public Library, though I’m staying on the board, even as I join the board of the Albany Public Library Foundation.

I’m also planning to give up being the president of the NY/PA Olin Family Reunion next month. That’s been a four-year term, and I’ll be happy to pass the torch.

So too, I’ll stop being the administrator of ABC Wednesday, the meme where one participates with others, literally from around the world, in sharing a picture, a poem, an essay, SOMETHING with the various letters of the alphabet. But it’s not ending right away. We will have two more trips through the alphabet, ABC Wednesday Round 19 starting the week of July 5.

Usually, our friend Troy has done the badge for the round, but this time, Gattina from the team has created it.

ABC Wednesday was started nine years ago by Denise Nesbitt. I’ve been participating since the letter K in Round 5, and became administrator some point later, though I really don’t remember when anymore. I assign who reads which posts, making sure somebody is writing the introductions (and writing them myself, when necessary) and inserting the link that allows everyone to participate.

Oh, speaking of that link thing, from InLinkz: I only use it once a week. So if someone I know, who has a Blogger/Blogspot blog wanted to get other people to link to THEIR blogs, for some reason – this means you, fillyjonk, SamuraiFrog, Jaquandor, AmeriNZ, and some others – I could be talked into it.

Or it can a WordPress blog. Like this one. I am inviting you, if you have a blog, to link it below. Because I can.

As noted, ABC Wednesday will end with Round 20, with a badge by Troy. But you are invited to participate, every week, or as you can. I do think it’s advantageous to do so weekly, as it generates a lot of comments for me. Personally, I visit practically everyone who posts. I’m especially looking for folks who will visit others each week, especially since I’ve lost one of our more steadfast members.

Note that we’re VERY flexible with the letter X, with eXit or eXcel.

One last thing: if someone wants to take over ABC Wednesday, email me at rogerogreen AT gmail DOT com. I’ll tell you what it entails. Heck, I might even participate if I don’t have to be in charge. Whether or not there’s an ABC Wednesday, I may continue my alphabetic journey twice a year.

V is for Voting

I will have a plethora of opportunities to cast my ballot, at two different venues.

It’s a bit too much.

I am a huge supporter of the right to vote. But, in the city of Albany, I’ll have WAY too many opportunities in 2016. And except for the first item, this would also apply to the rest of the state.

*High school referendum revote: February 9. Polls Open 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Vote at the elementary school.

*Presidential Primary: April 19. Polls Open 12 noon-9 p.m. Vote at the library.

The polling hours, not incidentally, are a source of irritation among some of us in upstate New York. Nine hours represent the shortest number of hours of any state in the country. Meanwhile, the polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., the GREATEST number of hours in the country, if you live in New York City or the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam, and Erie; all are downstate, except for Erie County, which includes the city of Buffalo.

Also, for already registered voters, any change to party enrollment was to have been requested by October 9th, 2015 in order for it to have gone into effect and be applicable for ANY primary election occurring in 2016. The deadline for new voter registrations was March 25th. This meant that you were a registered voter in 2015, but not enrolled as either a Democrat or Republican, then decided in November 2015, that you wanted to vote in five months for Bernie or Hillary or Ted or the Donald or John Kasich, you were out of luck.

New York has, by a period of at least three months, the most restrictive access to the primary ballot.

*City School District of Albany’s budget vote: May 17. Polls open 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Vote at the elementary school.

Also includes the library trustees and the library budget, but NOT the school board, which is elected in November.

*Federal Primary Election: June 28. Polls Open 12 noon-9 p.m. Vote at the library.

Member, United States Senate (1)
Member, U.S. House of Representatives, 20th Congressional District

There has been a push to combine at least the Presidential primary with that for other federal candidates, or the non-Presidential federal primary with the state and local contests. OBVIOUSLY, that hasn’t worked out yet.

(As it turns out, I have nothing to vote for here, but others in the state will.)

*Primary Election: September 13. Polls Open 12 noon- 9 p.m. Vote at the library.

These may not all be contested, but these are the offices that could be up:

New York State Senate
Justice of the Supreme Court, 3rd JD (2)
Member, New York State Assembly
District Attorney (County) – 4-year term
County Court Judge (1) – 10-year term
Albany City Court Judge (1) – 10-year term

*General Election: November 8. Polls Open 6 a.m.- 9 p.m. Vote at the library.

As you can see, I will have a plethora of opportunities to cast my ballot, at two different venues. If there were contests at each of these levels, that’d be SIX times I’d vote; alas, it’s only five, merely tying my personal record from 1976, two of which were school budget votes.

ABC Wednesday – Round 18

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome in 1984.

Muhammad Ali was born on January 17, 1942. When I was growing up, my grandfather McKinley told me that being the heavyweight champ in boxing was a most notable achievement.

This brash young man out of Louisville, KY, named Cassius Clay, who had won the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, and tossed his medal into the river, because being an Olympic champion, did not inure one from racism. (Or he just lost it.) He was an underdog against reigning champ Sonny Liston.

Most thought his pre-fight chatter that he would “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” was just talk. But he beat Liston on February 25, 1964, in Miami, becoming the youngest boxer to take the title from a reigning heavyweight champion. His new name was announced shortly after that fight.

Ali was stripped of his title in 1967 for his refusal to be drafted into the Army service. He was denied a boxing license, first in the state of New York, and eventually by every state. He was convicted on June 20 of that year of draft evasion. He was not allowed to “fight from March 1967 to October 1970—from ages 25 to almost 29—as his case worked its way through the appeal process. In 1971, the US Supreme Court overturned his conviction in a unanimous 8-0 ruling (Thurgood Marshall abstained from the case).”

After Losing three and a half years in boxing, Ali had his first fight against champ Joe Frazier, held at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971. Ali suffered his first professional defeat.

When he defeated Frazier in a rematch a couple of years later, after Frazier had lost the crown to George Foreman, Ali regained the title against Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, on October 30, 1974. In February 1978, he lost to young Leon Spinks in Las Vegas, but won a rematch a little over a year later, making him the first heavyweight champion to win the belt three times.

It was Ali’s name change, fighting to have it accepted against the conventions of the day, and his successful opposition to the Vietnam war, more than his boxing, that most interested me about the man.

Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome in 1984. Yet he remains one of the best-known, and beloved, persons in the world, as he engaged in philanthropy, “involved in raising funds for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center in Phoenix, Arizona; supported the Special Olympics and the Make a Wish Foundation among other organizations, and has traveled to numerous countries… to help out those in need. In 1998, he was chosen to be a United Nations Messenger of Peace because of his work in developing countries. In 2005, Ali received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush.”

I was saddened, but not surprised that he died this weekend at the age of 74.

LINKS

The late Ed Bradley’s interview with Ali on 60 Minutes in 1996

Michael Rivest: The greatest is Gone

Ali on the wall.

U is for Uber-less Albany

Uber, and Lyft, can operate in New York City, but in upstate New York cities such as Albany, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, insurance laws make it difficult to get coverage for drivers.

An article in March 2016 appeared in the local business journal: Schenectady sauce maker, frustrated with ‘apologizing’ for Albany’s cabs, calls for Uber upstate.

“Adine Viscusi [co-owner of Casa Visco] easily takes planes, trains and Ubers to get from the airport to hotels and bodegas when she attends national trade shows. In Albany, she can barely catch a cab… Viscusi said she doesn’t normally take cabs in Albany, but a recent trip from the Amtrak station in Rensselaer has made her a vocal critic.

“‘The cab was a 25-year-old minivan with ripped seats. There was a pack of Newports and Axe in the console. The door on one side didn’t open,’ Viscusi said. ‘It was so embarrassing. To travel so seamlessly from planes, trains, Uber, and rental car. You get to Albany and it’s grinding to a halt. It’s like welcome to the 80s.'”

Another article in the same periodical: “‘It’s so embarrassing to have important people come here and have them get into a beaten-up taxi cab,'” CommerceHub CEO Frank Poore said.

“‘Not all taxi cabs are bad, but many times I have had people show up with drivers who are smoking, or who have to wait for a cab for 30 minutes, or are picking up other people along the ride.'”

Reportedly, Uber, and Lyft, can operate in New York City, but in upstate New York cities such as Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse, insurance laws make it difficult to get coverage for drivers.

“Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last year that ride-sharing companies should be regulated with a ‘statewide license.’ Legislation has yet to make it to his desk and… there’s been little to no visible progress on the issue this year.” Still, it’s believed that Legalizing Uber would save upstate lives by getting drunk drivers off the road.

There is such a pent-up demand for these services that, when blogger Chuck Miller wrote an April 1 story about Uber reaching an agreement to come to Albany, it was believed by more than a few.

While I don’t have a real need for Uber myself – I don’t have the app – I do have feelings about Albany cabs. I HATE them, for the reasons the businesspeople stated. In fact, I haven’t ridden an Albany cab in well over a decade and was surprised to discover the conditions are no better than they were last century.

I missed a wedding within Albany in 1986; I called 1.5 hours before the event, and an hour later, the cab still had not arrived. We walked – it was 87F – and got there on time for the recessional.

Of course, not everyone loves ride-sharing services. Blogger Dustbury notes the pushback by a taxicab association. And for good reason: Uber and Lyft have devastated L.A.’s taxi industry as trips plummet. “Since the ride-hailing services began operating in Southern California three years ago, the number of L.A. taxi trips arranged in advance has fallen by 42%, according to city data, and the total number of trips has plummeted by nearly a third.”

And Uber has its issues. From the Boston Globe:

“On April 21, [2016] the ride-hailing company agreed to pay up to $100 million to drivers in Massachusetts and California who’d sued over being classified as independent contractors. The settlement didn’t resolve the underlying issue, but it did include another provision that could significantly alter the experience of Uber drivers and passengers alike: The company stopped telling passengers that a tip is included with its fees.

“Instead, it’s now telling them that no tip is included or required. In practice, this means that some drivers may post signs seeking tips — but Uber is declining to build a tipping function into its app.” Uber says tipping is unfair because riders are biased.

Austin, TX no longer has Uber.

And Tucson Weekly reports, Say Goodbye to Creepy Uber Drivers, Ladies.

Chariot, the ride-sharing service, set to go live on April 19, is “driven by women, exclusively for women,” according to the app’s website. “It operates similarly to Uber or Lyft, but only women, girls and boys under 13 can request a Chariot, and all drivers are, unsurprisingly, women… This is meant to make us ride-sharing ladies feel less at risk of being violated by male Uber or Lyft drivers. Nice.”

ABC Wednesday – Round 18