News: We Need to Raise Taxes for Shareholders and Cut Them for Companies
Updated on Sunday, November 6, 2022
We Need to Raise Taxes for Shareholders and Cut Them for Companies
Yes - totally agree with this.
I Thought He Came With You (ITHCWY) is Robert Ellison's blog.
Sunrise
Inverted tiny planet rendering of an unusually red sunrise in San Francisco.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Sunrise #photo #sunrise #tinyplanet Sunrise in San Francisco, California, rendered as an inverted tiny planet. )
Trees at Lands End
Rain falling through trees at Lands End, San Francisco (Golden Gate National Recreation Area).
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Trees at Lands End #photo #sanfrancisco #landsend #trees Photo of rain falling through trees at Lands End, San Francisco, California (Golden Gate National Recreation Area). )
Multi-plane Camera
Photo of a multi-plane camera at the Walt Disney Family Museum.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Multi-plane Camera #photo #presidio Photo of a multi-plane camera taken at the Walt Disney Family Museum. )
West Portal Halloween
Long exposure of trick or treating on Wawona street in West Portal, San Francisco.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: West Portal Halloween #photo #westportal #halloween Photo of West Portal Halloween on Wawona Street (long exposure), San Francisco, California. )
Book reviews for October 2016
Updated on Friday, February 24, 2017
The Hurricane by Hugh Howey
4/5
Affecting story of a boy (and family) who are forced to disconnect thanks to a category five storm. First non sci-fi Howey that I've read and it's one of his best.
Presence by Richard MacManus
2/5
Plodding retread of VR tropes.
How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
3/5
The Elephant in the Room by Jon Ronson
3/5
Jon Ronson visits with the Alt Right. It's good but not a revelation.
Overcomplicated: Technology at the Limits of Comprehension by Samuel Arbesman
3/5
Everything is getting more complicated. This book suggests we abandon the physics based approach of trying to understand systems in a reductionist way and switch to biological thinking - sample, study the ecology, embrace a glimpse of understanding and forget knowing everything. Gulp.
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Securing the Internet of Things
Updated on Wednesday, February 22, 2017
We can’t trust manufactures to build secure connected devices and so routers need to be updated to solve this problem once per network.
The distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack on Friday, October 21 was apparently caused by dodgy webcams. But next time it will be Nest or Alexa or Hue - not picking on Google, Amazon or Philips specifically here, those just happen to be the IOT devices currently plugged into my home network. My washing machine and drier would be as well but fortunately LG’s dismal app has saved me from myself by not working for toffee. Oh, I have some DropCams too. And my car is connected. The next attack will probably just come from me.
My fix: update routers to sandbox these devices. A Nest thermostat can only talk to nest.com. If it wants to DDOS Reddit too bad, no connection allowed no matter how badly the device is compromised.
When a new device is connected the router looks it up (MAC address registry?) and then puts it in the appropriate sandbox.
If Nest needs to connect to weather.gov to check the forecast then Google would need to proxy this via nest.com. If the device goes bad it’s only got one domain to attack (so there’s a pretty good incentive for the manufacturer to make sure it doesn’t).
The only downside is new routers or new router firmware. Given the current state of IOT I’d buy one.
As usual if any of my billionaire investor readers are interested get in touch.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Securing the Internet of Things #marketing #iot #google #philips #lg #amazon A proposal to secure the internet of things via sandboxing to manufacturer owned URL by MAC address. No more DDOS from toasters. )
Where did that app icon go, Android?
Updated on Sunday, May 16, 2021
As much as I’m looking forward to Daydream VR and trying to train my Google Assistant to swear there is one big problem left with Android that Mountain View should tackle first.
Where the fuck did my icon go Android?
Every so often when I update apps an icon is missing from my home screen. It’s one of sixteen apps that I use frequently enough to have pinned there but I can’t remember what it was until my muscle memory sends my finger flying to the empty square an hour or day later. Until then I’m distracted and can’t focus and scroll helplessly through the recently updated list in Google Play trying to figure out which of the updates is the culprit.
It’s not the first time I’ve been through this so I took a screenshot of my home screen just so I could not go through this again. But Google Photos backed it up and deleted it to save space so it’s somewhere in Drive that I can’t find doing me no good at all. When I figure this out I’m going to borrow my daughter’s instax and keep a hard copy in my wallet.
Google booking me a restaurant and a babysitter at a whim won’t save the time I lose to hunting down missing apps.
It might be fixed in Nougat but I can’t update for an unknown number of months because of device/carrier/manufacturer fragmentation so that’s still Google’s fault.
I have been a HTC loyalist so maybe it’s Sense and not Android in which case sorry Google, I should get mad at HTC instead.
I’m pretty sure it was Goodreads.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Where did that app icon go, Android? #etc #google Why oh why does Android sometimes feel the need to remove the icon for an app from your home screen when updating it? )
I'm with Her
Updated on Sunday, May 23, 2021
This blog has never endorsed a presidential candidate before. This isn't due to hundreds of years of editorial balance, it's because I only became a US Citizen in 2010. I became rapidly disillusioned with Obama (I voted Green in 2012). I'd prefer to have seen a candidate further to the left this time. But it's clear that there is only one way to vote this November and Hillary will have my wholehearted support.
To my Republican friends: Hillary is not going to repeal the 2nd amendment (as much as I'd like to see this happen). She's a moderate and you'll hate some of what she does but America will still be standing in four or eight years and you'll get your chance again. In your heart of hearts you know that Trump would be a disaster for the country and the world. Concede this one graciously and ease off with the desperate hateful last ditch attempt to smear Hillary with a perverted reflection of your candidate's reality.
Democrats: Please vote. I know that a Trump victory is looking increasingly remote but it's really important that Hillary wins the popular vote as well as the electoral college. So no fooling around with Stein or Johnson even if you're in a safe state. Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Hampshire, Indiana and North Carolina, a flip in the Senate would be great as well. I'd love Hillary to both win and be able to get something done as well.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: I'm with Her #politics #election #hillary ITHCWY official endorsement of Hillary Clinton for the 2016 presidential election. )
San Francisco November 2016 Propositions
The voter guide for November 2016 reminds me of The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. You've got propositions A, B and C, D, E and F, G, H and I, J, K and L, M, N and O, P, Q and R, S, T and U, V, W and X. Y is missing and so is the microscopic and invisible little proposition Z. We do get an RR for BART though.
Also missing is the Voom, the magic powder that makes all the mess go away. Really this slate of city propositions is the government failing to do it's job and punting to the voters. I'm tempted to send the Board of Supervisors a week of my work to handle while I struggle through theirs. Maybe the supervisors should be limited to whatever they feel the most important one is?
As much as I hate it I have to do the best job I can. This is shorter than my state guide because after slogging through that I'm losing my will to live. Here goes:
Proposition A: San Francisco Unified School District Bond Issue
Yes. Necessary funds to fix and build schools.
Proposition B: San Francisco Community College
Yes. We need to continue to resuscitate City College.
Proposition C: San Francisco Affordable Housing Bond Issue
Yes. Repurposes unspent seismic upgrade bonds to housing.
Proposition D: San Francisco Vacancy Appointments
No. This one is just weird - someone appointed to a vacant supervisor spot can’t then run for election? Makes no sense.
Proposition E: San Francisco City Responsibility for Street Trees and Sidewalks Amendment
No. Ring fences money for tree maintenance. This was shifted to property owners and should probably stay there. I’m also generally opposed to untouchable money in the city budget.
Proposition F: San Francisco Youth Voting in Local Elections
No. Students shouldn’t be voting for the school board.
Proposition G: San Francisco Police Oversight Amendment
Yes. SFPD clearly needs more supervision.
Proposition H: San Francisco Establishment of a Public Advocate Office Amendment
No. We don’t need to pay for someone to write reports. Seems like a recipe for pointless infighting. If we get fed up with the Mayor we can elect a new one.
Proposition I: San Francisco Funding for Seniors and Adults with Disabilities Amendment
No. Should be funded by the city without needing any special ring fencing. I don’t want to be involved in setting the right level.
Proposition J: San Francisco Homeless Services and Transportation Funds Amendment
Yes. Spends the money from Prop K on transportation and homelessness.
Proposition K: San Francisco Sales Tax Increase
Yes. I don’t love it because it’s regressive but it’s a small increase for a couple of good causes (see K above).
Proposition L: San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Governance Amendment
No. Leave the Mayor in charge of the MUNI board.
Proposition M: San Francisco Housing and Development Commission Establishment Amendment
No. Doesn’t need a new body of politicians.
Proposition N: San Francisco Non-Citizen Voting in School Board Elections
No. Only citizens should get to vote.
Proposition O: San Francisco Office Development in Candlestick Point and Hunters Point
Yes. Allows more office space to be created in a much needed development project.
Proposition P: San Francisco Minimum Three-Proposal Requirement for Affordable Housing Projects on City Property
No. Makes it harder to get projects going. Most projects have multiple bidders already.
Proposition Q: San Francisco Prohibiting Tents on Public Sidewalks
No. Focus on more shelter space instead. Speeding up the process of kicking people into non-existent services isn’t helping anyone.
Proposition R: San Francisco Neighborhood Crime Unit Creation
No. Not that I’m a fan of graffiti or other neighborhood blight but forcing SFPD to allocate offices to it full time means that more serious crime might not get the attention it needs.
Proposition S: San Francisco Allocation of Hotel Tax Funds
No. The money should continue to go to the general fund and not be locked down for a specific purpose.
Proposition T: San Francisco Restricting Gifts and Campaign Contributions from Lobbyists
Yes. More constraints and time in the sunshine for lobbyists.
Proposition U: San Francisco Income Qualifications for Affordable Housing
No. Not enough to go around as it is so it doesn’t make sense to make it easier to apply for.
Proposition V: San Francisco Soda and Sugary Beverages Tax
No. Regressive and of dubious value. And I only just voted on this in 2014.
Proposition W: San Francisco Real Estate Transfer Tax
No. This tax is already higher than other bay area cities and the funds raised would be ring fenced.
Proposition X: San Francisco Replacement Space Requirement for Development Projects
No. Should be part of the regular planning process and not a proposition.
Measure RR: San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District
Yes. BART desperately needs the upgrades.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: San Francisco November 2016 Propositions #politics #propositions #election #sanfrancisco ITHCWY voter guide to the November 2016 San Francisco propositions and a rant about the Board of Supervisors failing to do their job. )
