Smart watch died, Part 4 - 5 March 2025

After going thru the required communications with Google Customer Service, I was finally able to package up the busted smart watch and ship it back to Google.  I was annoyed that I had to supply the shipping material and take it up to FedEx, but the FedEx process was smooth once I got there.  If I had a routine 9-5 job, it would have been a real pain to get to the FedEx office quickly.  FedEx conveyed the shipment quickly to Google and it has been a silent period.  No news from Google.  I received word today that they had inspected the returned item and were shipping a replacement.  Today's notice included a tracking number, but it seems that only the label has been printed. That is, UPS does not yet have the shipment but will pick up the shipment soon (tomorrow?) and they will deliver it eventually.  Note that this is a common technique - Google "prints a label" to make it sound like they are making fast progress, but the tracking number is not meaningful until UPS actually gets the shipment.

I am glad that Google has finally verified that the failure is a valid failure and is covered by the warranty for replacement, but I am still surprised at how s...l...o...w the customer-service process has been for a $200+ item.  

Smart watch died, part 3 - 26 February 2025

Through the magic of Federal Express, I returned the exploded Pixel Watch to Google for replacement.  

My experience continued the Google strangeness.  I received an email with an "RMA" (Return Merchandise Authorization) code and instructions and a confirmation email from Fedex.  In the RMA instructions, I was directed to return only the watch, and not anything else.  There was also a QR code that Fedex was to use to print the RMA lable.  An hour or so later, I received an email that continued the chain on the original support ticket.  It told me to disregard the directions in the RMA emails, that I should print the attached RMA label, and that I should package up everything (explicitly including the watch, the band, and the charging "puck") and take it all to Fedex to be returned.

After some rumination, I decided to follow the second set of directions.  I printed the RMA label, boxed everything up with bubble wrap, and took it all to Fedex (watch, band, and charging puck).  Fedex was very efficient and I only spent about 90 seconds in the storefront.  My round-trip was 30+ minutes of driving, but the storefront portion was efficient.

The package now goes to Google where they will inspect it and decide, yet again, if I deserve a replacement unit.  I am supposed to get the replacement unit in about five business days - early March.

Smart watch died, part 2 - 24 February 2025

I thought everything was all set to get a replacement for my dead-and-exploded smart Pixel Watch.  

Yeah, not quite.  After supplying my address and the serial number, I received a confirmation email that I would get a return-shipment label for my dead-and-exploded watch.  Overnight, I received an email requesting a photo of the serial number (that I previously copied over).  If you are not familiar with the watch, the serial number is hidden under one of the attachment points for the watchband.  It is embossed on a curved surface in small letters, but I took a photo and sent it back in return email.  Because it is so hard to read, I also took a photo of the serial number on the side of the box (I still have the box).  Google Support keeps asking for the same information over and over.  SMH.

The folks are all nice, but their customer management system is - what is the technical term? oh, yeah - the Google CMS is hoarked.  

Smart watch died - 23 February 2025

It is said that all good things must pass, but this is not that story.  Almost exactly a year ago, I bought a Google Pixel Watch, a smart watch.  I tried it out for a while and, really, there is not much benefit.  Clocks are everywhere including one on the phone in your pocket, so the timekeeping function is not really useful.  Various notifications come up on your phone in your pocket, thus notifications on your wrist are just a minor benefit.  The step-counting feature is wildly inconsistent and the heartrate info is only mildly useful.  The sleep tracking is not particularly reliable, so the inconvenience and discomfort of wearing a watch to bed is not helpful for sleep.  And, finally, you have to constantly charge the darn thing - at least daily - and if you wear it to bed, you cannot charge overnight so you have to take it off during the day but then all the other advantages are shot while it sits on the charger for an hour or so.

In the end, the $200 cost is simply not justifiable.  The $40 smart watches are no better.  And who really needs a watch these days?

With all this in mind, I am sad to report that my Pixel Watch baked itself on the charger:  it swelled up and exploded itself.  It was not a violent explosion, there was no shrapnel, but the watch seal is broken and it is no longer waterproof or even water-resistant.  The guts are just hanging out.  I played 20 Questions with Pixel Watch support.  They have been very responsive, but they only want to ask 1-2 questions at a time, so our email exchange went back and forth over several days.  They now seem to have everything they need, finally I thought, and so they have passed the support case to the next level for a decision in yet another deferral.

I am expecting them to offer a refurbished Pixel Watch as a replacement.  I am happy to return the dead watch to them.  We shall see how this plays out.

Jeff Bezos buys Bond, James Bond - 22 February 2025

With all the other crap going down, this is an issue that we can all agree on.  After a couple years of tug-of-war, it was announced this week that Jeff Bezos had cut a deal with Broccoli et al to take full ownership of the James Bond franchise, probably via the Amazon Studios house.  Of course, we are all excited to hear about this after the enormous success of Amazon Studios with the Lord of the Rings franchise.

For those having trouble hearing in the back - this is satire.  My prediction:  James Bond is now a dead franchise.  Bezos and Amazon will milk it for a few years, then it will decay and fade into reruns of the original films. 

Canal tour in France - 5 February 2025

 We will be touring central-ish France on a canal boat in September 2025.  This is the approximate route from Joigny to Carbigny.  The route is basically:

• Joigny
• Laroche-Migennes
• Auxerre
• Vincelles
• Vermenton
• Chatel-Censoir
• Clamency
• Tannay
• Corbigny

And this is that Google Maps thinks:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/PJ15PVhd8ZhTVqzZ8

Visually, the map is

<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m70!1m12!1m3!1d335115.56231645454!2d3.2302702323324364!3d47.63993289774817!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!4m55!3e2!4m5!1s0x47efaaf33866dee3%3A0x409ce34b30d61b0!2s89300%20Joigny%2C%20France!3m2!1d47.981432!2d3.398961!4m5!1s0x47ee546cc4d33a5b%3A0x5145dd886fb5fe19!2sLaroche%20-%20Migennes%2C%20Migennes%2C%20France!3m2!1d47.9610062!2d3.5129557!4m5!1s0x47ee4f30b735afe1%3A0x2ee6537abaa22791!2sAuxerre%2C%20France!3m2!1d47.798201999999996!2d3.573781!4m5!1s0x47ee3880ee126e05%3A0x7f80fb365607c1ea!2sVincelles%2C%2089290%2C%20France!3m2!1d47.703336799999995!2d3.6330201!4m5!1s0x47ee157d8f7b35ab%3A0x409ce34b30d5410!2sVermenton%2C%2089270%2C%20France!3m2!1d47.664224!2d3.7349919999999996!4m5!1s0x47ee2494e3388f59%3A0x409ce34b30d6840!2sCh%C3%A2tel-Censoir%2C%20France!3m2!1d47.531206999999995!2d3.6346529999999997!4m5!1s0x47ee28d915f9ae97%3A0xc69a79b1e23260ba!2sClamecy%2C%20France!3m2!1d47.459604999999996!2d3.518769!4m5!1s0x47f1d8504715b9bb%3A0x409ce34b3107a80!2sTannay%2C%2058190%2C%20France!3m2!1d47.366608899999996!2d3.590982!4m5!1s0x47f1dd16e11c0021%3A0xb76c6da30dd4dc99!2sCorbigny%2C%2058800%2C%20France!3m2!1d47.257618!2d3.684328!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1738791939747!5m2!1sen!2sus" width="600" height="450" style="border:0;" allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade"></iframe>

Trip to the Canary Islands - 20 January 2025

We have just returned from two weeks in the Canary Islands, one week on La Gomera and one on Tenerife.  These are some of my initial impressions.  

The islands are very different, La Gomera is much smaller but has been more fully settled (in history, that is - today, Tenerife has a much larger population).  The Canary tourism draws two main audiences from Europe, one audience stays by the coast for beaches, golfing, and nightlife, the other is a trekking theme.  We were trekking folks.  The two main groups coming are English and French; there may be Spaniards, too, but they all speak Spanish and are hard to tell from the natives.  There are a scattering of other folks, too, like the Netherlands and Germans, but the English and French are the main groups.  This shows up in the dining - although there are few German restaurants (I do not know why), there are LOTS of English pubs and restaurants along with the local style restaurants.  

I used a tracking app on my phone and added it up - I talked about 150km (93 miles) over 65 hours and climbed 4657m (14000 ft) over 17 days.  Because of flight connections, we spent a night and 19 hours in Iceland, where we did a food tour of Reykjavik in the morning before our connecting flight.  Our sons were able to join us; they walked farther than I did, but I do not think that is a surprise.  

We enjoyed the trip, but the Canaries are interesting islands.  There is not a lot of "there" there - the islands are isolated and volcanic, and they are (overall) very dry.  There is a wet side to each island because they poke up into the winds and the mountains capture some moisture, but a lot of the area of the islands are pretty barren and dry.  There are no native mammals, and the original settlers (c. the year zero) brought goats and lived a subsistence living, isolated for 1400 years from the mainland.  There is not much reason to go to these islands, so no one did.  Because the islands are volcanic, life before the Spaniards was neolithic - no metals, just stone tools.  The Spaniards came around 1400 and pretty much killed or enslaved the populations by 1460 or so.  Columbus showed up several times starting in 1492 and each time, he picked up water, food, and slaves.  Even into the time of Franco, life was brutal and so there was a mass exodus from the Canaries to Venezuela, even by the descendents of the Spanish.  Pretty ugly history.  

Most of the island is covered by lava or scrub (knee-high shrubs scattered rather sparsely).  On the wet sides, there are forests, but the trees rarely exceed 20 feet in height.  These forests are lingering remnants of the forests that covered the entire Mediterranean area about 10 million years ago, and the Canary forests have survived due to isolation. They are pleasant to walk through, but even on the "wet side", the streams are often seasonal, dry most of the year.  The largest continuously flowing "river" on La Gomera is only wide enough to step over.  

I am getting long, so I shall pause. More later.

DOGE 2025 - 14 November 2024

Donald Trump has announced his new initiative for governmental efficiency.  This is a derivative idea pushed most famously by Elon Musk.

DOGE, the proposed Department of Government Efficiency, is an Office because only Congress can create or destroy a Department.  So it is really OOGE, and I am not sure how to pronounce that.  Ooze?  Seems apt.

It  has “Efficiency” right there in the name, but it has two co-chairs?  Two?  This is "efficiency"?

The two leaders are to be Vivek Ramaswamy ("failed presidential candidate") and Elon Musk ("purchaser of politicians").  I am gonna love seeing Vivek and Elon share leadership.  Pass me the popcorn.  

Medicare Part D choices for 2025 - 13 November 2024

I reviewed the new (2025) Medicare Plan D drug plan options a month or so ago, when the information first came out, and I just re-reviewed them all.  In 2024, I have a plan that is $3.30/month and the drugs I use are at no additional cost.  For 2025, that same plan goes up to $36/month and the drugs now come at an added cost for an annualized total of $908.  Yes, the plan goes from about $50/year to $900/year.  Naturally, I looked at other plans.  

I found two that are zero cost.  Yep, $0/month and $0 for the drugs.  It is worthy of onte that one has Costco as the preferred pharmacy and the other has Bartell as the preferred pharmacy; the drugs have cost at the non-preferred pharmacy, and both offer no-cost drugs by mail.  Finally, the third cheapest option is also $0/month but the drugs cost about $50/yr.  

I conclude that I am the product.

If the plan costs nothing and the drugs cost nothing, then my information is being collected to be bought and sold.  Yeah, there is HIPAA "to protect me" but I am sure they have clever ways to, uh, comply while still selling information.  

The nine plans available to me run between $0 and $2150 (annualized).  At that top end, there is no deductible, but it is about $600 more expensive than the next most expensive - and the deductible is about $600.  Strange, that.

I assume I will spend the rest of my life on this merry-go-round, chasing low-cost options each year, and getting "collected" by various insurance companies each time I switch.

Taking stock of the 2024 election - 12 November 2024

Today, Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo wrote an article entitled Backchannel Vol. 5 No. 26: The Aftermath of Competitive Hyperbole.  In it, he writes:

Democrats are not well-served by a meltdown, a spiral of demoralization that zaps their energy to counter the Trump administration and bounce back in two and four years. Understanding what happened is important because it impacts the future.

He is right.  The Competitive Hyperbole is the story of the hour/day/week hogging the headlines and the airwaves but it illuminates nothing.  There was no "Trump mandate" and it was a close race, even with the House and Senate races assessed.  Trump has a thin, thin margin.  Democrats need to point out that There Is No Trump Mandate forcefully & repeatedly.  The so-called analysis is just the same old players playing their same old talking points to their same old audiences.  Bernie sees it as a failure to court the middle class because, of course he does.  Others see it as a failure to boldly support Palestine because, of course they do.  And so on.  The fact is that Kamala is the second woman presidential candidate to lose and was only the second non-white candidate to run.  We are talking about simple sexism and racism in the electorate.  Exactly how we fix it - well, I have opinions, but the important thing is to abandon familiar, comfortable arguments and really understand what actually happened.  

I do not know who will rise to lead the Democrats.  Mr. Jeffries?  Ms. AOC?  I know it will not be Bernie or a Palestinian advocate, and it cannot be a "bipartisan" throwback.  I do know that Democrats must absorb the pain, stop the blame, unify the aim, and get back into the fight.

Driving in France (Brittany, Normandy, & Vendee) - 23 June 2024

Driving in a foreign country can be intimidating.  As Americans, we tend to assume it is the same "over there" as it is "over here".  While this is generally true, there are some specific exceptions.  This list is based on my experience in 2020-2024 and should not be taken as legal advice.  I choose not to drive in Paris, so the rules and conventions may be different there.  These comments are not exhaustive and your mileage my vary.  Stay alert.

Metric.  Of course, all the units are metric - kilometers per hour (km/h, sometimes "clicks"), kilometers (km, sometimes "clicks"), and meters (m).  Speed limits are posted in km/h, usually a multiple of ten.  The gauges in the car are in the same units, so conversion is not required, but as an American, I like to think in terms of miles, so I take the value in km and drop the last digit, then multiple by six and round up to a multiple of five.  For example, 70 km/h becomes 7 * 6, giving 42 and rounding up to 45;  100 km/h becomes 10 * 6, giving 60 mph.  

Roundabouts.  In Boston, these are called rotaries but we call them roundabouts in the Pacific Northwest.  They are beloved structures in France (outside Paris) to the point that traffic lights are relatively rare and there are very few STOP signs.  On various errands, I would barely touch my brakes while covering 35 km because everything was a rotary rather than a STOP sign or traffic light.  There are two key tricks for rotaries - entry and exit.

Rotary entry is a merge process.  You wan to avoid stopping; instead, adjust your entry speed so that you fit into traffic.  In rush hour, this may not be possible and you will stop to wait for an entry, but mostly you will slow a bit to merge into the flowing traffic.  That is it - other drivers expect it and will be surprised (unpleasantly) should you stop.

Rotary exit can be confusing, so stay alert.  The first thing is to know which exit you want.  Larger rotaries will have five or more roads meeting, so you may want an exit other than a right angle (right, straight, left).  Some rotaries also have blocked exits (these do not count) or exits for special purposes like maintenance or parking lots (especially park-and-ride lots), and these do count.  When I say "count", your GPS (or navigator) should tell you which exit number you want.  For example, "second exit" is often the equivalent of straight through.  In another style, my wife and I would talk about "virtual left" meaning to take the exit around 270 degrees, which could be more or fewer than the third exit.  

While many rotaries are effectively a single lane, there are larger rotaries with two entrance, travel, and exit lanes and people will use all the lanes.  When you enter a rotary in a two-lane entry, keep to your lane:  right lane to the outer lane and left land to the center lane.  Be alert for someone traveling on your left who wants to exit - let them in.  It helps to signal your intentions - signal left to stay in the rotary and signal right when you are going to take the next exit.  

Tolls.  The major roads, Routes National or N-number roads, will likely have tolls and some smaller roads may, too, as well as larger bridges.  France has an automated toll system and your rental car my have a transponder; check with the agent when you pick up the car.  Cars with transponders can use the lanes marked for "e" or "EZ", typically to the left side of the block of toll booths.  If you want to pay in cash, the marked lanes are typically to the right.  The lanes in the middle are for payment by credit cards, and these allow "contactless" (aka "tap") if your card is capable.  Sometimes there are special lanes to the far right for trucks, so stay out of their way. My experience is that the contactless lanes happily accept Apple Pay and Google Wallet, either from a phone or from a smartwatch.  

Toll tickets.  As you enter a Route National, you will probably pick up a ticket at the booth.  As you exit the Route National, you will insert the ticket, then present payment (e.g., contactless card).  In another style, you will simply pay a fixed toll at a toll booth, but there will still be EZ, card, and cash lanes.

Speed limits.  Speed limits on the N-number roads tend to be 130 km/h, but this varies and can be as low as 100-110 km/h, and the exit speeds are closer to 70 km/h.  Speed limits on mid-sized roads are usually around 100 km/h and speed limits on the smaller roads are 80-90 km/h, varying.  As the mid and smaller roads enter towns, the speed limits will drop quickly to about 70 km/h and then down to 50 km/h.  These are typical speed limits and you should always check the posted speeds.  

Speeding tickets.  Many towns are equipped with traffic cameras that will record your license plate number and speed.  If you are speeding, the Republique Francaise will send you an Avis de Contravention - a speeding ticket.  The report (ticket) will tell you when and where the contravention happened and what the infraction was, such as "exces de vitesse" for speeding, a parking ticket, etc.  This will cost you a fine, conveniently payable by credit card.  The rental car company will also send you a letter explaining that they were contacted by the government to ask for information about the registered driver(s).  The rental car will charge you for this contact using the payment information on record (fees vary, but expect euro 40-50).  There are many variables to determine the cost of a speeding ticket, but expect euro 45-180, depending on how quickly you pay and how fast you were going.

So there you have some thoughts on driving in France.

Jury Duty Across the Years - 20 June 2024

I have had several calls for jury duty in multiple states across multiple decades.  My early jury duty was in Chicago in the 1980s, then there was a long blank period in Massachusetts, and then three calls to jury duty in Washington.  Each of them contributed to my understanding of the legal process in the United States.  Although not entirely pleasant, I strongly recommend that everyone serve on a jury duty at some time in their life, earlier if possible.

The first jury duty call was in metro Chicago.  Chicago had a one-day-one trial jury process.  We reported for jury duty for one day, and if not empaneled onto a jury, we were done.  If we were empaneled, we served for one case.  

For this case, we waited in a pool for the morning and were released for lunch.  When we came back from lunch at 1pm, we were told that the defendant had accepted a plea deal and we were dismissed.  Evidently this is common.

The second jury duty call in Chicago was for a drug case.  I was put on a jury for a drug case.  A defendant had been found in a basement apartment, fleeing from police officers.  An officer came into the room to see the defendant sitting on the bed in skimpy clothing (I no longer recall the details, but "underwear and a man's shirt" would not be too far off).  Searching the room, the officer found a syringe in the wastebasket.  The officer arrested the woman on drug possession charges.   A lab report (submitted in evidence) later confirmed the presence of an illicit drug on the syringe.  The officer told the jury that the defendant must have been holding the syringe when the cops burst in, she dashed to her bedroom and tossed the syringe into the wastebasket.

Complication #1: The officer did not see the syringe or any drugs in the hands of the defendant, and she testified that the drugs belonged to her boyfriend (not present at the time of the arrest).  

Complication #2: her fingerprints were not on the syringe.

If convicted, this would be the third drug conviction for the defendant and she would be sent to prison for a long, long time (10 years or longer).

The officer told the jury that a group of officers were responding to a report of domestic violence when they came across the defendant.  When she ran, they chased her into the basement apartment.

Complication #3:  The defendant did not live at the address associated with the domestic violence.  The police were at the wrong address. 

Given a choice of conviction or release, the jury did not find enough evidence of a crime by the defendant.  

The next jury duty call was in Massachusetts.  The MA rules were for two-days-one-trial and my first day in the pool was uneventful.  I was selected on the second day for a workman's compensation case.  A man working as a plasterer was standing on a moveable scaffold when it collapsed, injuring the man.  He had been studying to become a mycologist, and the injury meant that he was incapable of performing the physical duties of raising mushrooms (hefting heavy bags of compost, etc.).  The man was suing the scaffold company for lost wages and lost opportunities.  Each side brought in witnesses and experts to present their story.  The dueling experts were professors, one explaining that the caster would fail in a way to cause the injury, and the other explaining that the caster failing could not happen without damage to the caster (therefore the scaffolding company would not be liable and someone else would be).  Everyone agreed that the accident happened and that a failed caster contributed; the question was the cause and timing of the failure of the caster and the answer would point to a different party.  Some miscellaneous facts that I recall:  the scaffold was discarded after it failed and the claimant had to return to the worksite to pull it from the on-site garbage pile; there was no chain of custody of the scaffold;  and the casters were to be inspected each day before use by the workmen before they used the scaffold.  

It was a hung jury split down the middle, six and six.  We were told after the trial that the injured workman had already been covered for medical expenses under Workman's Compensation (fund, laws).  We were not told this and only presented with a question of liability and the damages (if any) were to be based on liability and lost income.  This was also the second trial; the first trial had also resulted in a hung jury.  I do not know if the workman went for a third trial.  

I was called for jury duty since then, but my wife received the call and explained that I had just served for a week of jury duty withn the year, and the clerk marked by records so that I would be exempted for two years.  That was twenty years ago and I have not been called since.

As citizens, we have few formal duties.  Follow the laws, vote, and serve on juries.  Service on a jury gives deep and personal insight into how the laws are applied and how citizens are deprived of their liberty.  We should each welcome jury duty.

Celebration and Sorrow - 30 May 2024

Today is a day of celebration.  A citizen perpetrated a crime and has received a conviction from a jury of his peers deciding unanimously.  

The sorrow is that said citizen was able to manipulate the system to avoid responsibility and evade accountability while rising to the highest office in the land.  

Yet, somehow, his machinations are not yet over.  It is not a simple matter of remanding him to authorities to be held until sentencing; in fact, he roams free.  The battle continues.

CNN reports Trump Guilty on All 34 Felony Counts 

I Became a Boomer Today - 24 April 2024

An interaction on social media (SM) today convinced me that I am no longer a person but am a boomer.  Sadness ensues.

It started this morning when a well-known SM personality opined that YouTube had done her a disservice.  To quote her question, "did the algorithm just fuck me over?"  Seeing someone somewhere on the Internet making a mistake, I was compelled to query in response,

“Never assign to malice what mere incompetence can explain” - does that apply here?

The SM personality replied,

I didn't suggest malice. I just said it's weird.

Confused by this, I replied,

I apologize if I am being argumentative, but your wording is stronger: “but did the algorithm just fuck me over?” I do not think I am being thin-skinned or puritanical. 

But back to my point, I suggest it is an inept programmer acting under deadlines rather than a focused attempt to fuck over or protect any individual. I have no data to support this beyond anecdotal experience.

The SM personality replied,

when comments are off, the algorithm stops recommending your video and therefore views go down. calm down, you're being weird

I was puzzled by this because I was not being weird or un-calm, I was quoting the SM personality.  My confusion was magnified when someone else replied to me,

it sounds like you are being both thin-skinned and puritanical tbf

that's a perfectly reasonable thing to say and not imply malice

So, the word "fuck" is now an ordinary verb and polite conversational manners are passe.  Thus, I have become a boomer.  I did think of several clever responses but I decided that they would fall on deaf ears and so I just walked away from the stupidity.

Working Remotely has Problems - 23 April 2024

WFH, or Work From Home, has gotten a lot of support since COVID-19 started to ravage the US and the world.   When some people decided to move their homes greater and greater distances from the traditional offices, the WFH concept was been expanded to include working remotely and a cottage industry has grown up to advocate for remote work.  In the articles I have seen the analysis is shallow and focuses on two things, the benefits to the employee (reduced or eliminated commute costs, etc.) and the benefit to the corporation being mainly reduced rent for offices that are not longer needed.  But we need to get real.  

Working remotely has problems, big problems.

In a recent news article in The Stranger, a Seattle popular newspaper, a report was posted:

Texas Attorney General drops challenge of Seattle hospital: In December, a Seattle hospital filed a lawsuit against Texas AG Ken Paxton after he demanded the hospital turn over the medical records of Texas children who receive gender-affirming care from the hospital. Paxton dropped the request for medical records as part of a settlement agreement with the hospital, according to KOMO. However, the hospital also had to drop its registration to do business in Texas. That won't affect children receiving gender-affirming care, but it may be annoying to the hospital employees who live in Texas and work remotely for the hospital. [23 April 2024 as reported by Ashley Nerbovig]

To recap briefly, the Texas AG (Attorney General) had demanded medical records from a Seattle hospital based on Texas state laws and the hospital sued the Texas AG (I do not know why they did not simply ignore the demand, but that is not material.)  They settled the suit and mutually agreed to drop everything.

As part of the agreement, the hospital cancelled its registration to do business in Texas.  I do not know what else a Seattle hospital might do in Texas, but the Seattle hospital can no longer have employees based in Texas because the hospital no longer is registered in Texas.  I deduce from the report that the hospital must have have employees in Texas or plans to have employees in Texas.  A company (or hospital) that has employees in a state must usually pay taxes and provide benefits for the employees to that state, and that implies some sort of registration process so that the state knows who the employer is and what reports and payments are required.  Texas has no state income tax but they do have unemployment tax and other state-specific fees and taxes, therefore the hospital  must register as an employer if they have anyone working in Texas.  (Attendance at conferences, business meetings, and training events and other business travel are usually exempted from the definition of "working".)  

As a result of this decision to drop the case and drop registration, the Seattle hospital must move or terminate all employees in Texas because they no longer have a business registration there.

This is a consequence of working remotely that most employees do not see and most analysts do not include.  If a complay has even one employee in a state, they must be prepared to withhold taxes, pay taxes, and pay for benefits in that state.  If a company has health insurance for employees but the insurance company is not registered to work in a particular state, the company cannot offer benefits in that state without a special contract with another insurance company(s).  This is a burden that most companies would take only reluctanctly (read that: only for VPs or perhaps Directors, but not for regular employees below an executive level).  The situation is made yet more complex and expensive is "remote" includes other countries.

At the end of the day, this requirement for registration in every state is one of the key reasons that working remotely is a bad idea.

Document Destruction - 19 April 2024

I still get a lot of paper documents and statements in the postal mail.  I know enough about email that I do not trust it for reliable delivery, but that is a topic for another screed.  I get regular notices of attempts to "recover" my password that I did not request.  Security - actually computer insecurity - is a real thing.  With all the hacks and breaks in the world, it is still important to clean up your paper trail.  Here is my suggestion.

I start with a paper shredder.  I used to use a strip shredder that produce long strips from the sheets fed into the top.  This was OK, but newer shredders are "crosscut", and they produce "chips" of paper that are far harder to reassemble.  Go for a crosscut shredder; strip shredders are obsolete.

Many years ago, it was sufficient to simply dispose of the shredded strips in the garbage, but this is easily improved (in a defensive cannot-reassemble sense).  I started mixing the shredded paper in with the used cat litter.  I would dump the cat litter into paper grocery bags and put the shredded paper on the bottom.  This may not stop someone from reassembling your shreds, but it will certainly make it unpleasant for them.  If you lack cat litter, coffee grounds will work well as a mixer.

This worked well for a long time, but I have two further improvements to offer.

As a base protocol, I shred anything that has personal information on it, especially anything that has an account number or other ID on it.  However, this helps a reassembler because they have some guarantee that they are spending their time and effort to assemble something of value.  They can even focus on areas and shredded bits that have, say, numbers in the hope that the number will prove to be the account number.  Do not give them any hints.  A simple and effective improvement is to shred a lot of stuff that is generic or not sensitive.  First, shred the envelopes that the documents come in.  Second, shred all the supplementary informaton in the envelope - privacy notices, advertisements, and the like - after you take it out of the envelope.  The shredders tend to clump pages as part of the shredding process, so take things out of the envelopes to disassociate them.  Expanding this, shred nonsensitive information:  junk mail.  This increases the bulk, making it harder to find the good stuff.  Further, it confuses the reassembler because they have far more material to select from.  

The last improvement is probably the most effective.  Compost the shreddings.  I mix my shreds with coffee grounds.  Use your home grounds and augment the bulk with used coffee grounds in bulk from your local coffee shop.  They will be happy to provide you with the day's bag of used grounds.  The used grounds may contain a few paper filters, but they will break down, too.  Mixing shredded paper and coffee grounds in roughly equal parts is a good mix for your compost pile.  I think the coffee grounds qualify as "green" and the paper as "brown".  If you have read much about compost piles, you will recognize that green-brown blending accelerates the compost action.  Be sure to moisten everything to get the pile cooking.  In the short term, the wetted coffee will stain all the paper brown, making it much less legible.  In the long term, you will have dirt for your garden, dirt that cannot be reassembled into anything.  You can add any vegetable or yard trimmings that you wish to your compost.  There are particular warnings against using certain weeds in home composting, and I would strongly recommend against using animal waste of any kind in a garden compost pile - no dairy, no meats, no bones, no grease, and no animal waste.

In summary, the shredded paper and coffee grounds will create a soil amendment that is totally secure and cannot be reassembled or read.  Even the composting process obliterates much of the information on the shreds, so this is pretty good security for a homeowner.

As usual with any security process or advice, adapt this to your particular circumstances.  If you oversee a lot of wealth, this advice may not be sufficient for you.  If you oversee nominal or minimal wealth, this is a low-cost, low-effort way to protect your personal information.

Does this make me antisocial? - 12 April 2024

The Kardashians have been on TV for 20 years or so, and I have never seen a single episode.  I was reminded of this by the death yesterday of O.J. Simpson, the footballer-criminal.  The Simpsons has been on TV for over 20 years.  I have seen two or three episodes, maybe.  The Apprentice was on TV for a decade and I have seen zero episodes.  Shows like The Voice, America's Got Talent, the various dating shows, the Survivor series of series, and American Gladiator - I have seen none of these.  Not a single episode.  

Does this make me antisocial?

Eclipsis Ipsa - 8 April 2024

Astronomy is the Sport of Optimists in the PNW. 

Twas a bit of a disappointment in Seattle today.  It was supposed to be the day of the great North American Eclipse of 2024, but we had two things going against us.  First, it was overcast and raining.  I know this comes as a surprise given the general climate in Seattle, but we had some sunny days this past week and will have a few more this coming week, but not today.  Second, we were only in the 10-20% band, so the eclipse, had it been visible, would have been a small notch in the bottom of the disc of the sun.  Not a terribly memorable visual and not much of an impact on the overall solar illumination.

As a small consolation, have some chocolate-covered gummi bears.

Eclipse Mania 2024 - 06 April 2024

A solar eclipse will scan across the United States on Monday, 8 April 2024.  In a long stripe running from Texas to Maine, the ground track of totality will be a midda thrill for millions of viewers.  Some of them have questions and the Internet, in its infinite wisdom has answers, many of which are wrong.  The following are real questions with real answers.

Will it be safe to look directly at the sun?  No.  

It is never safe to look directly at the sun.  Use certified eclipse glasses, not just cheap drugstore/internet glasses and not welder's glass, but filter-glasses that have been certified by a real agency.

Will my cell phone service be reduced or curtailed?  No.

The solar eclipse involves the sun, the moon, and visible light.  There is nothing that relates the sun, the moon, or visible light to cell phones.  None.  Carry on.

Will there be a Zombie Apocalypse triggered by the eclipse?  No.

The last solar eclipse did not trigger one and this one will not, either.  No eclipse has ever triggered Zombies.  Ever.

 Will there be the Rapture?  No.

No eclipse has ever triggered the Rapture and this one will not.

Will there be earthquakes, rain of blood, locusts, or other natural disasters?  No.

There is always a chance of earthquakes, volcanos, and other natural disasters, but if they happen, it will have nothing to do with the solar eclipse.

Will animals behave strangely during the totality?  Yes.

Birds will go silent and other animals may show signs of sleepiness.  This is well-documented from previous solar eclipses.  Nature and life will return to normal as the local eclipse ends.

If you are in the path of totality - congratulations!  Enjoy the show.  Protect your eyes.  If you are outside the path of totality, maybe next time.  Maybe I will see you in 2044 or 2045!

AI Is Going Great, Part 1 - 3 April 2024

A couple years ago, Amazon.com announced automated stores in which customers pick up items, put them into a cart or bag, and then "just walk out".  A cloud of cameras and scanners would watch the selection process of each customer and automatically total up the bill.  AI would drive the whole systems.  Well, not so much.  It turns out the whole system was driven by 1000 people in India paid to watch the cameras and create the receipts for "automatic" checkout.

According to a report today, 

Amazon ditches "Just Walk Out" tech: The futuristic cornerstone of Amazon's grocery store experience was a lie. Amazon advertised this experience where a completely automated process tracked your moves in the store, watching what you grabbed and tallying your bill as you "just walked out," nullifying the need for any pesky cashiers. However, it turns out the process wasn't automated at all. Instead, over 1,000 people in India were watching the cameras and assembling bills for whatever you put in your basket. 

https://gizmodo.com/amazon-reportedly-ditches-just-walk-out-grocery-stores-1851381116

Ratcheting as a Management Technique - 26 March 2024

I have experienced ratcheting, a subtle management technique that is easy to apply and hard to detect.  I do not recommend it - in fact, I abhor it - but there are some defenses.

Ratcheting is a simple method of management in which a manager continually asks for more and more work in less and less work time, often sliding into uncompensated overtime.  The most obvous technique is to simply assign more work or more complex work while holding a deadline steady.  I will not be able to cover all techniques with examples, but some examples will help explain the practice of ratcheting.

"Hey, about that report on router efficiency - can you include some analysis of the file servers, too?"  

"I was thinking about that analysis of router efficiency.  Can you also apply some regression analysis and give us some idea of the problems caused by each primary traffic type?"

Alternatively, the manager can pull in the expected delivery date.

"The meeting to present the report on router usage got pulled up to Thursday, so be sure you are ready for that."

"I have a preparatory meeting with the VP, so I need your preliminary numbers by noon, tomorrow.  Keep working on the final numbers, but be sure there are no surprises in the interim."

The obvious defense is to agree and then ask what other work can be dropped or delayed to compensate.  The ratcheting response is to minimize the work or the disruption.

"It is just an Excel sheet, so you should be able to pull in that deadline."

"The changes are pretty simple and the text editor / word processor program should handle most of the work."

The offered techniques for work simplification usually do not affect the workload.  The "automated work" is often just a fraction of the total workload.  In my work, the bulk of my energy was usually spent in collecting and cleaning the input data while the analysis was pretty mechanical;  filling in the gaps required thought and not just typing.

Finally, the ratcheting causes some sort of breakdown.  The employee explodes or rejects the new work and the manager backs down.  A little.  This is when the ratcheting technique makes clear its value.  Now that the employee is used to the higher level of work, the manager pauses a little bit, and then resumes the ratcheting when the employee has calmed down.  The employee gets a day or two of relief and then the ratcheting starts all over again.

Complementing the ratcheting technique is the continuous offer of benefits or a threat of consequences.  The manager promises the extra effort will "help your career" in some non-specific way that never quite materializes, or lack of the extra effort will put the employee behind the curve of the rest of the team and their bonus or promotion prospects will suffer.  This latter has then benefit that the employee feels they are disappointing the rest of the team and so the extra work is required as a matter of group loyalty.  None of this is true and none of it ever happens, but the employee is now acclimated to the new work level.

If you feel stressed at work, take a moment to look for evidence of ratcheting.