I've been waiting patiently for Qwest to make FIOS available in my area, so I went out to check availability.  Unfortunately, the only method they provide is to join their forums and post a message with your address, which is then responded to by a Customer Service drone.  So, a week later I finally get a message from Q-Maureen:

From: Q-MaureenM

Date: 01-28-2009 10:38 PM

Unfortunately the premier speeds are not scheduled for your area. Sorry and thanks for your patience with this site. 

As for my part, I passed the written skills test for Trikes this morning.  Next step is some short drives to work the batts...

 

 

Well, I let her charge all night, and checked the E-Meter this morning, and only had 162 volts.  Certainly these batteries are in tough shape.  I left her charging all day and came home to 164 volts. 

 

Couple of things could be affecting the results.  The battery cooling fans run as soon as the big red button is raised, and with temperatures in the 30's the batts are probably blocks of frozen lead.

 

I'll try to cycle them a few times and see if I can get them broken in a bit.  I studied for my trike test this evening, and I'm going to go take the written exam in the morning.  I should be able to take her to the Green My Ride event on Saturday.

In our republic, there is a "gentleman's agreement" that delegates to the electoral college will not change their vote against the will of the people (the popular vote).  In the Democratic party, a pledged delegate (not super delegate) is not supposed to change their pledged vote, though any delegate is free to do so (another gentleman's agreement).  As a delegate for Obama from Washington 46th district, 2275 precinct, I consider my duty as a delegate a binding pledge between me and the folks who elected me to represent them in the District Caucus.  The people, who choose Obama 6 to 1.

 

Now, Senator Clinton is targeting not just the superdelegates, but pledged delegates such as myself (link).   I admire her tenacity, but it evokes themes that lead to the problems at the convention in Chicago in 1968.

 

I was going to call it a day at the District Caucus on Saturday, April 5th, but instead, I'm going to push forward and run for the next level, the State Convention, then the next level, the National Convention in Denver.

 

If you're a pledged delegate, you need to ask yourself, what does my pledge mean?

 

Over at Daylight Atheism, Ebonmuse is Belaboring the Obvious: should we continue to argue against irrationality and for rationality.  Will it make any difference?  From Ebonmuse's post:

---

There's no doubt that conversions are rare, on both sides. And I also don't think there's any doubt that rational persuasion is usually ineffective. As anyone who's debated a fundamentalist can testify, it's all too often the case that even the most persuasive evidence and reason simply run off a sloping roof of blind faith. So, is there any point in debating believers at all? Are all our books and websites just belaboring the obvious, repeating ourselves to no avail putting forward arguments that are as true as they are ineffective? Are human beings, as a whole, too irrational for rational argument to ever make a difference.

---

I'm nearly 40, I grew up before the internet in a small town in the midwest.  Until I was 11 or 12, I didn't realize there was anything other than Christians and Jews (well, there were muslims, but they lived far away and attacked our soldiers in Beruit, held people hostage in Iran, etc).  Suffice it to say, I had little understanding of religion (and probably less of life outside my insular home town).  We didn't attend church regularly, and I didn't really think much about religion.  My grandfather was a baptist preacher, so we attended at Easter, Christmas, etc, but Dad never went.  Grandpa was a pretty rational fellow.  (Though I doubt his flock knew that).  He read a lot and I know he understood evolution. 

 

From a young age I was interested in Science, and I could never quite put my finger on the problems I felt when I heard nonsense like the flood, or revelations, or the total nosequiter of dying for someone else's guilt (the Jesus thing).  One fall when I was 11 or 12, maybe younger,  I saw Sagan's Cosmos on PBS. Suddenly I had a framework to understand the history of science and where I fit.

 

 

Most people, even Christians do respond to rationality.  However, they also practice compartmentalization, (on purpose or not) where by religion isn't scrutinized as strictly as the rest of their life is.  Even if we don't convert people, those who hear the message of rationality will at least know we exist.  Yes, we have to continue the debate. 

Belaboring the obvious?  Not to the kid who hasn't heard the message.

 

I think Senator Clinton's campaign is getting desperate.    FactCheck.org breaks it down.

 

Here’s an abridged list of why I am supporting Barack Obama for President:

 

·         He spoke out against the war early.  (In fact, my friends who still live in Illinois have told me that was considerably unpopular downstate.) Iraq

·         He has pledged to support Net Neutrality. If you haven’t heard about Net Neutrality, it is one of the most important issues regarding the future of the internet.  Microsoft AND Google AND Amazon AND Lawrence Lessig all agree this it is important to support Net Neutrality for free speech to endure on the internet.  (I doubt you could ever get all of those parties to agree on much else) Technology

·         He has an energy policy that will raise CAFÉ standard, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and support our economy (and it ain’t “See Exxon’s mission statement”) Energy and Environment

 

I have profound respect for Senator Hillary Clinton.   She would make a fine President.  But now is not the time for Hillary.  McCain has the Republican ticket, and much of the independent vote. 

 

It’s time to elect a leader who is not known for partisan politics.  

It’s time to elect a leader who the world can look at and see that America is moving forward.  
It’s time to elect a leader who can bring hope to America. 

 

It’s time to elect Barack Obama.

 

But you don’t have to take my word for it.  Lawrence Lessig as an excellent online presentation that explains why he is supporting Obama.

 

Or you can listen to Will i. Am’s Yes We Can.

 

I mentioned in my previous post that I bought an electric car motorcycle.  The following is the harrowing tale of getting the damn thing licensed and titled in Washington State. 

 

After receiving the Sparrow from the seller, back in November, I noticed the title wasn’t in the vehicle.   I called the seller and asked where the title was, after a few phone calls and emails he finally sent it the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Cool, now just go to the DOL website to see what else I need.  YIKES!

 

November 21^st.

Signed Title in hand – check

 

Early December I go into DOL location to get it licensed.  Here’s what they tell me:

 

1.       You need the title signed again (the seller signed in the wrong place).

2.       You need a NOTORIZED Bill of Sale

3.       You need a NOTORIZED Odometer Form

4.       Oh, and there’s a fee for every day after 10.

 

Fortunately, only #1 turned out to be true.  How the hell was I going to explain to the seller that I needed him to get a bunch of paperwork notorized?!

 

I package up the title, with a SASE and sent it back to the seller (in California).   He returns home after  New Years with the title properly signed, but I screwed up the mileage (I forgot about 10ths), so instead of 2410.7, I wrote 24,107 (a hell of a lot of miles for a Sparrow, actually). 

 

So I scratch out the 7 and move the “,” to the proper place.

 

Saturday (that’s important) Jan 5^th, I go back into the DOL location to try again with Connor in tow.

 

Okay, she says, you’ll need an emissions test.  I say, “I can’t do that, its electric.”    She says “Oh, should be no problem we test Priuses all the time”.  “No, you don’t understand,  it’s not a hybrid, it’s electric.”  “Oh, wait, it’s a motorcycle”, she says noting the title.  Agreeing to avoid further discussion I say yes, it’s a motorcycle.    “We don’t test motorcycles.”  Excellent, I think.

 

So now onto the mileage.  She says, well you crossed this out.  I say yeah, I forgot about tenths.  “That’s a problem” she says.  Okay, how can we fix it?

 

Just write what you did here on this piece of paper and sign and notarize it.  (BTW: they provide notary services, how convenient).

 

So, everything seems to be going well at this point.  Then she tries to look it up to validate the price I paid was legitimate (so as to prevent me from screwing the state out of its sales taxes – to be used for a stadium of some sort, no doubt).

 

Unfortunately, “Corbin Sparrow” isn’t in the system.  She’ll have to call Olympia to get confirmation.  Which of course, means I have to wait until Tuesday (because they aren’t open on Mondays)…

 

So, fast forward to Tuesday.  I go back in, and get the same person (who I thought would remember me from Saturday – turns out no).

 

So she calls Olympia, Olympia says the Sparrow is valued at  (Get this) $57,000 (I paid 13k).    “Tell her is she really believes its work worth that, I’ll sell it to her for half that and she could pocket the rest”, I say incredulouslyJ.    Back and forth ensues between the woman behind the counter and Olympia.  (At one point, I expected her to pick up her shoe and say “size 5” as in the Monty Python sketch).

 

Then the woman in Olympia apparently found the MyersMotors site and wanted to charge me 30k!  Now adamant, I say “ NO, it’s barely worth the 13k I paid, nobody would pay that much for a used Sparrow.  The NMG is a different car.”   Well, kinda a different car, and probably what the Sparrow is actually worth new, but Corbin sold it for much less than it cost him to make.

 

They finally relented.  Twelve hundred smackers later, I have my license plate and tabs.  (Title will arrive in the mail in 2 – 6 weeks).

 

Next stop, motorcycle (trike) endorsement…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For both of you who read this, I apologize, I’ve been really busy so I’ve slacked on maintenance of Backlit-Cows.  Here’s a quick roll-up of the last few months:

 

Work

I’ve been busy while all around me chaos ensues.  Overall a good review, but no level increase in August, means time to move.  More on that as details unfold.

 

Home

Dad’s been here since the end of August working on the addition, I pay the bills and help him out whenever I can (including running plans downtown).  It looks great and is really top-notch construction.  It’s amazing  how efficient Dad is at this.  The neighbors across the street are doing a very similar remodel, and they’ve already filled two industrial dumpster loads with waste.  Dad and I don’t even have a single dumpster load, and we’ve not taken anything to the dump yet.

 

Transportation

Holy Shit!  I bought an electric car!  Well, technically it’s a motorcycle.  Okay, a trike.  Anyway, I bought Corbin Sparrow #66, a bright red jellybean.   The previous owner souped it up with a PFC-30 charger and a Zilla motor controller.  Now, I just need to license it and myself, insure it and I’m off to the HOV lanes 24/7!  I’m hoping to cut my commute down considerably with this new toy.

 

Giving

We just completed our annual giving campaign here at work, and I gave to my normal non-profits (KUOW and KEXP) and today I ordered an OLPC as part of the Give One/Get One campaign.  There’s just 15 days left to Give One/Get One, give one, get one today.

 

 

 

 

NPR’s Weekend Edition has a great discussion with Ellery Schempp.  As a young man, Ellery refused to read the bible out loud, which prompted the Supreme Court case in 1963 that removed forced prayer in US public schools.

 

Link

 

 

Check out this YouTube of Marcus Brigstocke’s standup…

 

(via Pharyngula)