photo credit: pirate_renee

For the umpteenth time, the California State Legislature has failed to pass the state budget on July 1st as directed in the State Constitution. This time, Governor Schwarzenegger plans to lay off as many as 22,000 temporary, part-time and contract state workers, and reduce pay to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour, in a state with one of the highest costs of living in the nation. I happen to know several state workers, and this plan could prove devastating to them. Mortgage companies and credit card companies aren’t happy about late or missed payments, and this move could result in the damage of thousands of credit ratings.

I haven’t been able to determine whether these drastic cuts will apply to the Legislature or their employees, but somehow I doubt it.

Here’s what I don’t understand. In the real world, if you don’t do your job, you are usually fired. The job of the State Legislature is to pass the state budget by July 1st. We can’t fire them, because they would just be replaced with other politicians who would continue doing the same poor job. In my eyes, rather than hurting the working class, we should at the very least stop paying the Legislature until the budget is passed, WITHOUT reimbursing them later. I can guarantee that such an action would definitely motivate them to do their jobs.

photo credit: Silveira Neto

I must be such a nerd. Like most people, I know what a high-five is and why you do it. But thanks to an article in the Jul 2008 issue of Wired magazine, I now know that there are at least 4 different versions! Heck, I still haven’t gotten the clenched fingers handshake down, now I have to learn the 4 different ways to high-five? See just how cool/hip you really are:

In the classic high-five, the person to initiate is “The Man,” or Woman if that is the case. You can’t look at the hand you are high-fiving, you’re supposed to be looking at his/her elbow. Finally, you are supposed to cup your hand, not keep it straight. Slap your hands together and make an exclamation about whatever has gotten you so excited.

There’s one called “The Todd.” You would think I would know about this one, but I didn’t. I’d sue for copyright infringement, but since I can’t do it, I would probably lose my case. In this version, you implore your victim to “show The (don’t forget the “The”) [insert your name here] some love!” Now you high five with the hand held flat, not cupped, and you do it as hard as you can. Ouch! Then you take your numb hand and try to snap your fingers out in front of you. No thanks.

The next one is called “The Top Gun” where you do the classic high-five straight overhead, except you only make contact with the outside edge of your hand, kind of like a karate chop. Then you drop your arm down to the 6 o’clock position and do it again. Then oddly enough, you are supposed to howl at the moon like a dog or a wolf.

Finally, there is the “21 Jump Street.” This one must be reserved for conference rooms or some other hidden space, because I can’t imagine anyone doing this in public. This involves a team, probably of at least 3 or more people. Everyone extends their hands toward the middle, just like you did in Little League baseball or high school football. Then you wiggle your fingers while moving your hands upward in unison. Makes me think of the Three Stooges for some reason. At the peak, everyone pretends their hands are guns with the thumb as the hammer, and fires off into the air. I think they should throw in a little hop at the same time, just to show how serious they are.

I totally flunked this cool/hip test and would be completely lost if someone expected me to perform one of these maneuvers. Good thing there is no such thing as a high-five on the Internet.

1945: First atomic bomb exploded near Alamogordo, New Mexico 

Whenever these kinds of anniversaries come up, I always find myself thinking about the genie that we have let loose upon the world. Today is the 63rd anniversary of the day the United States tested the first atomic bomb in 1945 near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The following month we dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, leading to the end of World War II.

People still debate that action. Should we have bombed a deserted island within view of the Japanese High Command instead? Was it necessary to bomb two cities in Japan instead of just one? I can’t get into these debates, because I wasn’t there as a part of the decision making process. I wasn’t there when we were at war.

But now it seems as if the genie has turned against us. Our government won’t come right out and say it, but I believe their biggest fear is that one of the “unfriendly” nations out there is going to get their hands on a bomb and detonate it within the U.S. That’s why we resort to saber rattling, economic sanctions, and other activities to deter anyone else from getting the bomb.

You have to wonder - will future historians talk about us as the first country to use an atomic weapon on another country, and also the last country to have a nuclear weapon used on it?

I don’t get very excited about software apps, so when something really special comes along, I want to share it with everyone. Note: I am *NOT* getting paid or compensated in any way, nor do I gain any additional benefit by posting this.

If you are like me, you are constantly coming up with things you wish you could store and easily retrieve. Things like ideas that I try to remember to jot down in my paper notebook, items I find on the web, photographs, whatever. I’ve tried at least three different “notebook” type applications on my computer, and none of them have really done the job. I always forget to keep my paper notebook handy. The problem is, I am not always sitting in front of my computer when these things that I want to remember come about.

The first cool thing about Evermind is that it is an Internet application. You download the basic program to your computer, PC or Mac, on as many computers as you like. Then whatever information you enter is uploaded to Evermind’s server, and it is all synchronized.

Next cool thing is - the basic service is free of charge! If you decide that you are really going to use this tool seriously and want to save a lot of data, their premium service only costs $5 a month or $45 per year.

Next cool thing - all of this information is indexed and searchable! You can create multiple notebooks. So let’s say you are writing a book. You can create one notebook that contains everything you want to save about your book. Character names, dialogue, even snapshots of people you want to model your characters after. You can upload this using your iPhone (I think other smartphones work too, but I haven’t worked on that aspect yet) and it will be waiting for you when you get back to your home office.

Let’s say you are at a friend’s house, or an internet cafe, and this amazing idea strikes you. You can use any computer on the internet to access your information, even without the basic program installed! This is simply a really great application and I am all signed up. 

Check it out here:  http://www.evernote.com

Be sure to watch their demo video. There are still some features I am trying to figure out, but what I have figured out already makes this a killer app!

I’m a photo nut and actually do some freelance photography on the side. So I keep up with the latest news in photography. My camera offers 10 megapixal images, which is considered enough to enlarge a photograph to billboard sizes and is used by professional photographers. Canon recently came out with a new model of the Rebel that offers 12 MP. I personally don’t think there is much of a difference between 10 and 12 MP.

But now I have read about a new camera from Denmark called the Phase One A/S P 65+ digital back camera system. This baby offers a whopping 36, yes 36! megapixal resolution. For a moment my heart sank, because I just dropped a good amount of money on a new Nikon D80 digital SLR camera. I figured this camera would last for several years, maybe even the rest of my life. When I heard about a 36MP camera and compared it to my measly 10MP camera, I thought maybe I bought too soon. But I’m okay - it turns out that this new camera STARTS at $39,900. Yes, almost $40 thousand dollars for a camera. That doesn’t even include a lens! I don’t think I will be buying one any time soon.