Ok, slightly more seriously. I found myself getting coffee at the cafee in Parks Library far too frequently in the last few weeks and decided enough was enough. By the time I hit week 2 of this purchace I’ll have recouped my coffee maker losses in cafe savings. Who personifys their product? Seriously? This thing cries out to be achnoledged in the morning as a member of your household. Like so: “NO DIMMIE I don’t want to play right now! *grumble* Oh good morning Mr. Coffee, why thank you for this fantstic brew.”

The elephant in the room of course is the fact that I’m now drinking coffee on a regular basis. I’m attempting to offset this by brushing my teeth at the very end of my morning routine.

1. She likes to drink from the sink.
2. She likes to look at herself in the mirror
3. She likes to dirty the mirror up by wiping her paws on it.

You would think that 3 would be counter productive to 2. I think that she may realize this but puts greater value in seeing me frustrated and cleaning the mirror then she does in seeing a perfect image of herself. Then again… she does seem to only dirty one side of it, maybe she’s already thought this through.

Unrelated: She still loves being a parrot cat.

Senator Obama has decided to forgo the use of both funds from lobbyists and the federal government. This means he’s relying solely on the donations of individuals. His campaign is being funded by everyone, and thus no one. He is beholden to no interests but those of the voters and I think this is crucial for the message of change that he brings.

If you also wish to donate you can do so here.

Dimmie is safely at my parent’s place with me in Dubuque. She’s not very adventurous and doesn’t really like exploring unless she knows someone is watching her. She has a real fondness of sitting on shoulders and being a bit of a parrot, without the mimmicing speech. I’ve uploaded a few more photos to flickr which you can find here. I’m sure there will be more.

This is me at work on Wednesday. Now look away and look back again.

This is me at work on Thursday. Seriously. This last week at work has been dreadfully bored. I have to make myself look busy because my boss gets antsy when he thinks we’re not doing anything. When people ask to go home early because there is nothing to do he gets antsy because he’s worried he wont have enough staff for the imaginary rush of customers that are going to come in. Guess what, the imaginary rush is just that… imaginary.

*Little Brother not Pictured. No reason to believe that they’re actually related other than the fact that they were playing an arcade game together.

(I saw this on my way home from work today outside the Black Engineering Building at Iowa State.)

FYI this was scheduled for publishing on June 14th so I’m still claiming that I’m keeping my streek of timely potw posts up. I’m not sure what happened, Wordpress baffles me sometimes. I’ve got annother scheduled to go up mid next week, hopefully that’ll get published correctly.

A few weeks ago Ian had been looking for a book on the board game Go which lead us to Borders. When we couldn’t find one we were directed to the “Gaming” section (we couldn’t find it before) which consisted of three shelves similar to the one you see here. The ancient and widely played game of Go had a single book (which Ian bought bringing the total to zero) Sudoku however had the section pictured here.

Every book in that picture is a Sudoku book. Every last one. There are annother three rows of sudoku books on the next shelf over. Do they really need that many Sudoku books? :/

In a healthy democracy, which sadly I’d say we have one on the mend but not healthy, this kind of argumentation would be swept away by legislators and government officials of every political persuasion because confusion and lies don’t aid us as a nation and shouldn’t guide our decision making. Our decision making should be a collaborative process that involves everyone. As much as I disagree with Iowa’s Republican Senator Chuck Grassley I’ve been impressed by his willingness to stay involved in the process of health care reform legislation in the Senate. As such, I believed that Senator Grassley would be just the kind of legislator to have no tolerance for this kind of tactic.

I unfortunately was wrong. See video below.

I almost went to this very town hall meeting but didn’t because I realized the crowds would be huge. (Adel’s, captured in part here, was moved outside because the library couldn’t accommodate the 500+ people that attended.) As you can see Senator Grassley is either misinformed himself or has decided to propagate this rumor, either of which I’m greatly upset by. The Senator was reportedly challenged later on the matter by an individual wishing for him to admit that there is no such provision in the house bill and he dodged the question. All of this culminated in me deciding that I needed to write a letter to the Senator which you can find below.

Senator Grassley,

I’m writing to you today absolutely appalled at your behavior at your recent town hall meetings. I’m a progressive democrat but have always felt that you, along with Senator Harkin, do a good job representing all of Iowa. I think Iowa would be poorly represented by two Democrats, or two Republicans, and I, like most Iowans I believe, feel that one Democrat and one Republican is a good balance for our Senate delegation. As such I’ve never voted against you, that however I believe is likely to change.

Sir, I’m absolutely appalled at your, and other members of the Republican Party’s behavior on this mater of “death committees.” You know better than most Iowans about legislation, this and the law that may come out of it, and know very well that the measure in the House’s bill has nothing to do with counseling people to suicide, it’s about counseling them on death and the end of their lives.

With all due respect sir, do you have plans set up for the unfortunate time that you pass away? If you don’t have plans, and didn’t know how to set them up wouldn’t you like your health coverage aid you in paying for this crucial advice? I think every Iowan deserves to live, and die, with dignity and in a manner they see fit and accordance with our laws. If an Iowan doesn’t understand the services that hospice provides, or doesn’t realize that there is a life changing medial breakthrough on the horizon I would hope they could get the advice they need on the matter. I would hope that you, as our Senator, would support our ability to receive this advice and counseling on this very important matter.

Showing complete disregard for these needs of your constituents isn’t what appalls me most however Senator. What makes me absolutely furious about your actions is that you propagate this lie. Sir, your position in our republic is to represent us in Washington and to inform us on those proceedings so we can be more capable and better informed citizens. If our elected officials are incapable of informing us factually of what is happening in Washington then they are incapable of serving their post.

Senator, I was once honored to be able to say that you and Senator Harkin are both my representatives in the Senate. I hope the day returns that I am able to say that again.

A concerned citizen, upset constituent, and appalled voter,

Trevin Ward

If anyone else wishes to contact Senator Grassley, or any other Congressman, on the matter you are welcome to use ann and all of my letter.

The complete set of questions which cover most people’s quandaries on the topic follow:

[I]f the battery only has a limited number of charges, it is best to let it run down completely every time you unplug it at all, even if you’re only driving home from work and the computer is sleeping, or even if you just move the laptop from one outlet to another across the room? Also, since it’s best to unplug phones as soon as they are done charging, is it also best to do that with laptops? Does the laptop run off battery or wall power when it’s plugged in?

So the first question here is effectively should you always complete discharge your battery before charging it up again. The answer is pretty much a no. Modern Lithium Ion batteries (which nearly all portable electronics with built in rechargeables use) are far more effective than older battery types. This is especially true for laptop batteries. Laptop batteries include hardware inside the battery pack to monitor current capacity and store various statistics so the computer can use the battery more effectively. Every once and a while it doesn’t hurt to let the battery completely discharge and recharge as this will give that circuitry a full charge cycle to judge the battery’s effectiveness off of, otherwise it’s not a necessity.

A number of people have heard that fully discharging and recharging batteries can extend their lifetime. This isn’t the case with lithium ion batteries in laptops. Lithium ion batteries’ lifetime are measured in charge cycles. A charge cycle is a complete discharge worth of use and a complete charge worth of charging. That can mean a charge cycle is a full discharge and charge or it could mean four quarter discharges and charges, or two half discharges and charges or any combination you can think of. Fully discharging your battery just because you happen to drive home with it asleep in the car is going to result in unnecessary charge cycles and thus a shorter battery lifetime. Most recent (although not the very most recent) Apple laptops are rated for 300 charge cycles. 300 charge cycles may not be a lot but for a frame of reference I use my laptop relatively heavily and my year and a half old battery only has 95 charge cycles on it. If you have an Apple you can find out for yourself by opening System Profiler and going to the Power section.

What happens when the battery hits 300 charge cycles? It’s just not as effective anymore. Again using Apples as an example after 300 charge cycles all but the newest Macbooks and Macbook Pros’ batteries should still be able to provide 80% capacity after 300 charge cycles. Unessesaraly discharing and recharging a laptop’s battery is simply going to result in the computer needing a new battery sooner.

The second question (Should laptops be unplugged after charging like cell phones?) is partially answered by the above answer but not quite. First off, cell phone batteries are typically designed to last far longer and can because cell phones need much less power than a laptop. The reason it’s recommended to unplug your phone after charging isn’t because it harms the phone (or the charger) it’s simply because it draws more power than is needed. Some (and many non-smart phones) cell phones and other smaller portable devices are actually designed in such a way that the battery is continuously used and the charger is simply recharging the battery even while you’re using it plugged into the wall.

This isn’t the case with laptops. Laptops will run off of the power adapter (third question handled!) while plugged into the wall and charge the battery if needed at the same time. Once the battery is charged the adapter simply powers the computer and the battery is left to be ready when you need to move away from the wall.

Questions ANSWERED!

The next step however is likely to be the inevitable attempt to amend the Iowa Constitution. In Iowa this is an incredibly difficult task. To amend the Constitution the measure must pass in both houses of the State Legislature in two consecutive legislatures (there has to be an election in between). Even then this only puts it on a ballot measure. The process at it’s fastest will take years, and that’s if the legislature is cooperative. The Speaker of the Iowa House and the Majority Leader have both spoken strongly in favor of the ruling today, it’s unlikely that the legislature will move quickly, if at all.

I really don’t have much more to say. I’m proud of my state for so strongly upholding civil liberties. The opinion is incredibly easy to read and explains the legal principles very well. If you’re interested in reading it you can find it here.

Interestingly, last year, and every year I’ve noted the creation of Tedger.com….. I got the date wrong. I just did a whois lookup on Tedger.com and found out that even though I thought it was the 31st, it’s actually the 29th. It’s like a pet that I never knew the actual birthdate of except it’s on the internet so I can look it up and look silly.

Happy 4th birthday Tedger.com!

Brothersward.tedger.com will soon be live and will automatically import all YouTube videos from the account “brothersward” on YouTube. I’ll have a link in the header sometime soon.

Brendan’s video response follows:

I propose a video blog project to my brother. We’ll see if he takes me up on it. The first episodes of Brotherhood 2.0 that I refer to are here.

Not only a third post but a second video! I’m having fun with these. Need to work on lighting. No joke, I cut about twelve minutes of BSG stuff.

On my walk home from my brother’s I was thinking about how many themes the series covered throughout it’s length. It did it masterfully and concurrently, not addressing an issue and moving on, Galactica dealt with them all at once. Having come to the end I can say that I found this more fulfilling than it could have been with episodic storytelling, like you might find in a show like most Star Trek series.

I’ve decided to share my thoughts on the themes found in Galactica. This wont contain many spoilers but if you haven’t seen the finale I suggest you do so before you continue reading.

Birth, death, and rebirth

The theme of birth, death, and rebirth is one of the more overt themes of the series. Throughout the length of the show one of the most frequently uttered phrases is “All of this has happened before, all of this will happen again.” The theme extends to the cycle of civilizations characterized in the show but also to the characters themselves.

Cylon Resurrection

We learn early in the series that the Cylons have the ability to resurrect themselves after death. Death is painful, but is not absolute, it “becomes a learning experience.” The Cylons did not always have this technology and when they lose it they seek out the ability to rebuild it at all costs. The Cylons are no better because of their capability to learn from mistakes that kill them, and in some cases they are worse off. It’s only when the Cylon’s, and most specifically Cavil’s, ability to resurrect is forever lost that the cycle of destruction is broken. It’s was a cycle, birth is part of it, but so is death; Cavil represented the destructive death part of it.

Kara Thrace

The resurrection of Kara gives us another example of resurrection. In her first life Kara was a self proclaimed screw up. She never knew what she wanted for herself and it wasn’t till the very end that she finally learned what her place was in the world. We learn near the very end of the series that Kara’s greatest fear wasn’t death, but to be forgotten. Kara sought glory in the Ancient Greek sense but at the loss of personal fulfillment. Kara’s resurrection gave us the flip side to Cylon resurrection, someone able to achieve fulfillment in their goals after being given a second chance.

Laura Roslin

I firmly believe that the initial cure to Roslin’s cancer was resurrection in disguise. Like Kara, Roslin was able to fulfill her personal destiny when given a second chance.

Technology vs. Humanity

This one is a slight twist on the classic technology vs. nature. This theme is inherent in the setting of the show. Humanity was nearly destroyed by technology once and they were once again pushed to the brink. The Cylons are self-aware but they are human creations. Galactica isn’t like Frankenstein though. Humanity is able to use technology to save themselves, in the personified technology if the Cylons, make peace.

The Divine

There is a constant undercurrent of the divine in Galactica ranging from the Greek inspired gods of the Twelve Colonies to the monotheistic god of the Cylons. In the very end it’s suggested that god is a force of nature. Galatica doesn’t attempt to define the divine, we’re never told if the Cylons or the Humans had it right, it just is. Never the less the divine exists in the world of Galatica, but it’s undefinable.

Angels/Demons

Gauis describes them as angles, until he does most people simply referred to them as the Six in his head, or the Gauis in Caprica’s. They aren’t all good though, Head Six certainly does things that are bad. I think they’re both angels and demons. I think they were meant as allegory but I think the show allows you to assume they are as allegorical or literal as you would like them to be. Like the rest of the divine this is left purposely unresolved. I don’t think however that the rebirth of Kara is an angel, even if it’s tied into this idea of the divine.

Ideals and the Practical

This plays itself out a number of ways. Most prominently in the debate of security vs ideals. Constantly the democracy of the Fleet is placed at odds with the security of it. The democracy and the ideals never give way though. I almost called this paragraph “Ideals vs. the Practical” but in the end that isn’t genuine either. Much like most things I think Galatica suggests that there is a balance to be struck and to suggest that one can only exist with the exclusion of the other in a zero sum game is flawed.

Love

The theme of love is one of the more subtle in Galactica in that many may pass it over as a plot point. It isn’t, and the final episode convinced me of this. The Cylons believe that the thing they were lacking to reproduce was love but the theme extends beyond that. There is forgiveness in love and if the leadership of the Battlestar Galatica and the Fleet is anything, it’s forgiving. Adama repeatedly forgives the mistakes of others, he knows they can’t go on without each other and that forgiveness.

Adama and Roslin

The most profound exploration of love, and really any of these themes for me, is the love story of William Adama and Laura Roslin. In many ways William Adama is a character I can see a little bit of myself in, or at least my ideal self. Along those lines the relationship of Adama and Roslin is something I’ve really connected with in the show. I know, I’m a total sap, but I think, and clearly the shows writers think, that love is important.

The series is finally over. I’m not sad to see it go though. Right now I feel the same way I do when I finish a good book or reach the end of a good movie. I feel that I’m a better person than I was at the beginning of the show, that I’ve learned a little bit, explored a little bit. Fiction gives us the ability to explore things that aren’t. Science fiction pushes that a little further, but in the end, good science fiction is not unlike any other fiction.

There are likely themes I missed because I didn’t think of them while writing them but I thought I’d share what I could remember to commit to written words.

I recommend hitting the “HQ” for slightly higher quality video. I’ve already learned a few things if I ever decide to do this again.

Additionally, the whole sidebar thing is a YouTube convention. Given that I’m embedding this in my blog it doens’t make as much sense. If you’re curious these are the guys I’m referring to.

As someone who studies politics, as both a practiced human activity and as social science, there is one thing that is clear, politics cannot happen in isolation. Isolation is the realm of tyranny and rulers, not the realm of politics and governors. To be a good President, to truly represent us as a nation, one must be connected to the public and to it’s politics. The Founding Fathers created the United States Government as an institution that protected and enshrined politics as the center of the way we govern ourselves. They modeled, in principal, our government off of classical Greek ideas of the polis, the public space. A place reserved for politics to keep out tyranny, a place where all citizens¹ are equal in their potential for excellence. A good politician in both the polis and in American Government are connected to the public, this connection allows them the flexibility and capability to act.

In the days of the early American Republic being connected to the public literally meant opening the doors of the White House. In the early 20th Century it meant traveling the country by train and car to hear the voices of citizens. In the mid-20th Century it meant more, and included television as a medium of public discussion.² In the early 21st Century it means the internet, and e-mail, and BlackBerrys. For President Obama to be connected in the best possible way with the public he must have access to the communication tools of our time. The New York Times article tells us he will be the first President to have a computer at his desk int he Oval Office, this is a step in the right direction but isn’t everything, he should have every tool at his disposal. He is the President after all.

The Wall Street Journal article reminds us that we’re an increasingly connected populace, using e-mail, and IMs, and social networking. I’m not suggesting that the “Change We Need” is a President with a Facebook page (although he does have one, just not one he personally manages) just one that is connected to the world in the same ways we are. Good politicians are connected to the public, and like it or not, this is the way we increasingly connect with each other. As such it’s the way we can increasingly interact and connect with the President, and this can only mean good things for our politics, our nation, and the public.

Update: Here is exactly what I want to hear out of my President-elect.