Platinum Voting: Knowing what you are voting for...

So, I still have not decided about voting for individual candidates in the coming election. But, this weekend I decided that I was going to vote on individual ballot issues. First thing to do, find out what I will be voting on. Ironically, this took some effort. The state of Virginia posted lots of information on how to register, where to vote, and answers to any questions you may have about any number of voting problems, but there was no link that said "Issues that will be on the Ballot." Frustrated initially by this, I started using google to search for information. This proved to be a complete waste of time(and proof that Google is not perfect when it comes to search). I guess it goes back to the whole theory that we care more about personalities in politics than we do about issues. There was untold amounts of information about McCain or Obama, but little about the referendum to completely reconstitute the way Arlington does public/affordable housing.

Anyway, after some searching and the realization that I had completely overlooked a part of the Virginia Elections website, I found the page that had all the information I could want. A list of every constitutional amendment being proposed for the state + local referendums: check. A detailed explanations of what the changes mean relative to the status quo: check. A non-partisan analysis: truly remarkable and check.

Anyway, for those platinum readers who haven't voted and want to be prepared for Nov. 4th, go here for some good old fashioned info about issues that are probably a little more important than this. Make sure to scroll down about 3/4 of the way down the page.

Merry voting everyone. I promise I'm going to stay away from politics for the next few posts...promise.

Is Platinumness a means or an end?

Two of my favorite individuals in the world are Dr. Milton Friedman and Dr. Gregory House. Friedman pretty much rocked my worldview when he said, "One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results." House amuses me when he says things like, "Dying people lie too. Wish they'd worked less, been nicer, opened orphanages for kittens. If you really want to do something, you do it. You don't save it for a sound bite." I suppose it's because both have a way of simplifying relatively complex phenomena into one liners that I can digest pretty easily. But a question that I'm intrigued by is how their different approaches reveal different views on what constitutes platinumness.

Friedman, as the quote above suggests, obviously has a respect for the processes and knowledge required to make good decisions, although he'd be the first one to assume his lack of knowledge about any number of things. At the same time, if you spend millions of dollars and have pretty much nothing to show for it, whatever your claim is about the desired end result, it calls into question your ability to understand whether you understand the root causes of said phenomena and going one step further, calls into question whether or not the said problem is even a real "problem" as it is described. Under what I believe is Friedman's line of reasoning, platinum behavior is derived from a mixture of understanding how good premises lead to good processes which then lead to better ends for everyone.

House, on the other hand, has a much more fun way of deciding platinum behavior; Do the ends get accomplished? Usually, his end is quite simple; save the patient at all costs. The means by which this is accomplished are completely irrelevant. Through this analysis, House disregards conventions like meeting with the patients his team treats, being nice to people, and following any sort of hospital protocol. It's an alluring way to live, although the assumption all along is that House will eventually solve the problem. When he doesn't, and I've only seen two episodes in five years where this has happened (both of which involved team members, not House, making mistakes) it throws his whole analysis into a bit of turmoil, because it reveals that there are limits to the kind of success one can have with such a methodology. At the same time, the show is a testament to a weird kind of American individualism that could give a flying fuck what conventions are, mainly because they are designed and implemented not for the benefit of the individual, but so that most people will not have to actually grapple with reality as House sees it - "Everyone lies." Thus, the logic goes, if results (saving lives) are the only thing that matters, why even pretend to care about all these things that seem to gray the clear truth that awaits when cold reason works it's way through a problem.

So the question remains about platinum behavior. Is it an end (House) or is more of a means that leads to positive ends (Friedman)? Obviously, I find both approaches attractive. But being neither brilliant nor a malcontent (at least right now), it is difficult to implement either approach in my daily life. Instead, I'll apply the ideas of both men in the best way I know how: watching my favorite tv show on hulu and reading books by a nobel prize winner.

Panamanian Platinumness

For those that say that bailouts and central banks are the only way to "control" the ebbs and flows of markets, Reuters has a short and sweet article that goes to the heart of why, in my humble opinion, we have a crisis going on. Panama's banks are in a somewhat literal sense, platinum....

Greenberry's, a secret platinum stronghold...

Based upon aforementioned compliance standards at the office--i.e. keeping the always platinum promise--I regret to inform you that I cannot inform you about this wonderful new platinum joint I just encountered--Greenberry's Coffee (ampersand) Tea Company. If I were to tell you about it, which I definitely won't right now, I would likely say that my sole encounter is through a friend who offered to bring me a cup as a + externality from her own purposeful venture. I of course agreed. Turn down coffee, not I! ... said the surprisingly homogenous office worker.

If I were to not rate it on a platinum scale due to said aforementioned compliance standards, I would definitely not tell you that I give it two platinum thumbs high in the air and a surprise frown/raised eyebrow. Which is quite a bit for having not really told you anything.

Likely sources also provide scant evidence for citing of famed blogger Tyler Cowen at said coffee shop, of which I am definitely not even talking about right now.

So if you get a chance you should not head to Greenberry's Coffee (ampersand) Tea Company during work hours. Such an action would be outside platinum principles and I would be forced to refer anyone who blames such an action on me to this here post. So as to further imply that in no way do I endorse heading to Greenberry's for a delicious cup of glory juice in such a way that hinders platinumdum and in no way am I even talking about this right now.

To Vote or Not Vote?

The question that has persisted in me since the latter part of my junior year in college has been how to engage in the political process. First and foremost the question has always been what is the lowest level of political activity I can engage in while getting the biggest bang for my buck(i.e. time + my standards for ethical human behavior). Seeing actual advocacy of an individual politician as being much better than parties, which in America have few principles and even less integrity, I've consistently been on the lookout for individuals who I'd be willing to vote for.

Sophomore year of college, before the 2004 elections and as a part of my job requirement as an RA, I put on a (poorly attended) speaker panel where students and professors at the school spoke on the question of "Should You Vote." Although sparsely attended due to my lack of planning, I thought the panel involved some of the most interesting discussion about the role of voting in a democracy that I've ever seen. Since then, I've been incredibly conflicted about when, how, and who I should vote for in any year.

Therefore, I'm here to announce that at this moment I have found a politician I feel slightly(and this is me going out on a limb) willing to support....Adrian Fenty. While I believe that Fenty knows pretty little about the ways to stimulate the DC economy and even less about why the size of government can probably be attributed to the complete poverty that many of his constituents live in, I also note that most mayors don't have to contend with the U.S. Congress when it comes to their budget. All that aside, the one area that I could not give Fenty more credit for is with respect to is taking control of DC Public Schools away from the school board and choosing Michelle Rhee to be school Chancelor. His unflinching support of her and her work in DCPS is nothing short of a miracle in the politics of public education. Articles abound about her and him, but this video does a nice job of summarizing what's currently going on. Needless to say, this blogger thinks MR is very platinum and arguably one of the most skilled politicians I've ever seen.

Alas, Fenty is not up for re-election and I live in VA. The previous paragraph was pretty much a waste of your time in that case. I apologize.

In the end, I'm really not sure if I will vote, or if I do vote will I just leave that box blank. I suppose the only real thing left to do is learn more about the local elections where I live. Does anyone have anything helpful to say about any of this? Is there ANY real platinum political activity?

On the road again...

Sorry for the long delay, friends!

This is something I can’t pass up posting about: Ford MyKey.  It eerily reminds me of the GPS tracking devices that came out a couple of years ago—black boxes installed in a teen’s car—to monitor the speed, seat belt usage, and yes, even a curfew.

Ford MyKey, which will be equipped on a certain number of select models in 2010, allows parents to program a teen’s key to not only monitor but prevent the teen from driving above 80 mph, chime when the teen drives above 45, 55, and 65 mph, and it even offers a noise level control to prevent the teen from increasing the volume past a certain point.

I can’t help but echo the following from an interviewee in the article: “If your parents are holding your hand, you’re never going to learn.”  But that could be because of how I was raised, and maybe because someday I’ll raise my children with a little more room for a trusting relationship to grow between us. 

What I really want to ask is: Does this really protect teens?  Does loud music make teens more prone to accidents?  What about texting while driving?  Do most accidents involving teens occur when a teen is driving in excess of 80 mph?  If not, then why have the limit at all?  It seems like a gimmick with a false sense of safety to me.

Consider the following.  According to AP, “Ford's research shows that parents would be more likely to let teens use their vehicles with the system, Sherwood said, and if it gets them the car more often, the number of teens objecting [MyKey] drops by nearly half.”  More teens out driving because of this system than there otherwise would’ve been in its absence?  Isn’t that even more dangerous?  The likelihood of dying or getting injured in a car accident is one of the greatest risks we face on a daily basis.  And to play a little Devil’s Advocate here, what about increased traffic congestion and the accompanying dreaded pollution emissions?

I’m thinking this could be very nonplatinum, but who knows what the results will be for sure.  Thoughts?

Tao of the Dow is made of platinum...

The team and I have been taking bets for where the Dow closes on a day-to-day basis at work. We all bet around 10,000 today, which was expected after other markets did well over the night... The day ended up being an adventure where we were statistically trying to map the progress of Wall St.'s finest, it looked something like an episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." The gang becomes Investment Bankers...  Anyway, this is what the newspaper reported for our little race in the next day daily. (and by newspaper I really mean me writing a mass email)

Jen and toxic takes the cake in a truly remarkable sweep. The first part of the day showed promising growth as the market rallied to a high of 10,124.03. Both Karl and Hannah thought for sure they were going to be on the underbelly of capitalism's angelic bull as she soured towards the heavens, but the reality of government intervention proved unproductive yet again; looks like uncle Sam’s safety net has some serious holes in it. Momma Dow explored the sub Atlantic trenches as she ended with a 9,447.11. Putting new feelings to the old classic song lyric "Get Low." Drop it like its hot Dr. Dow. Here we were thinking the roller coaster was gong to start but it's still falling… This is going to be awesome!!

Reporters say that when Jen heard the news of her victory earlier this evening she apparently started beating her chest and shouting, "You think you can mess with Pen!! You don't know me!! Say My NAME B&%*@!!" Onlookers and co-workers alike fled the scene as she grew to an unusual size and proceeded to pillage the town. Which was a complete non-sequitur for the cute little Asian girl she had us think she was: and she never looked better.

Congrats Jen.

Don't register to vote in DC... try it, I dare you.

My Aunt just reminded me (yet again) to register to vote... Many of you--locals--may be aware of the massive campaign to rock the vote (i.e. Ba-rock the vote, partisan?) that has hit the metro like a fire at Metro Center (historic reference #1). If you are not, than you must either: be richer than me, never leave the house, or never watch MTV. I, of course, am none of the above. If I were richer than me, then that would be a pretty cool party trick. The point being, that voter promotion campaigns have hit the streets like an LA riot (historic reference #2) and I, a poor independent, was less than prepared (me < prepared) for the shock of having to explain a not so well developed political perspective to hordes of voter enthusiasts barracking me in the face with civic duty (pun so intended). My caring Aunt got wind of this and offered her wisdom, which was followed weekly prompts and prods to get off of my button and register. Not many times in my life do I associate well with an angry mule, but this being one of them I felt the need to respond to her with the following message.

"Yea I registered to vote. ‘Ended up being that I couldn't not register to vote. Every time I hit the metro some overly excited cute girl had a clipboard and a smile waiting for me. No decent person who took the metro in the past 3 months could escape their powers. I felt like a dolphin in a tuna net: it was very strategic of them... I resisted at first, signaling that had somewhere to go, very Scrooge of me. But after copious attempts at faking somewhere important to be... my defenses broke down like a west coast football team and they reeled me in, not even the catch of the day. (I felt dirty, and used, and registered)."

Maybe its because I'm disillusioned with politicians, maybe its because I'm becoming a grumpy old man, or maybe its because to the best of my own capabilities I really can't resist a good conversation with a cute girl, but the legend has it that Lincoln's heart did not grow three sizes that day. Fact it stayed the same because its made of platinum.

Dad on a Metro

I was on the Metro about a week ago and saw a man and his young (8-10 year old) son. The son was attempting to figure out where the Metro was taking them using the maps inside the car. The father lifted the son up, showed him the point at which they were starting and told him what was their end stop. The father then asked the son to tell him how many stops they needed to go and what was the route they would need to take to get there. The father sat down and the son, standing on the seat, worked out the problem. When he had the answer, the son promptly turned and enthusiastically told his father. When the father asked him why he hadn't chosen an alternative path, the son looked at the father incredulously and said, "Because that's not the fastest way Dad! This one is much better."

When I see people doing things like this with their kids, I can't help but smile.