Photography and videography can be for me a way to look deeper into what I have in some sense already seen. At the same time, with a good photograph, I can see what I didn't see the first time.
Recently I took a photograph of the street scene along Grant Avenue in San Francisco at the corner in front of the Triton Hotel and Cafe Presse. It's a bit like a Breugel painting in that you see a couple being tourists gazing at the patrons in the cafe. Then your eyes are drawn to a foursome striding accross Grant street together, eager looks on their mature faces.
Behind them a couple is standing close together on the sidewalk, and she is looking intensely into his taller eyes, and just behind them, in the window of the cafe, sits a woman holding herself as she gazes out at us. Just to the right, a number of passers by look intently up Grant Street through the gate into China Town.
The photo started as a quick shot, and I was attracted by the juxtaposition of the Yellow and Blue from the Hotel Triton Sign along with the deep reds of the Cafe Presse framing the many human characters swarming around the intersection.
Once I put the image into photoshop, I looked to see where to crop, and learned that it was precisely the exploration of the rich image that rewards the viewer. Taking the image into After Effects allowed me to implement this vision in a limited fashion.
I used motion graphics to take the incredibly detailed image made with the Nikon D300 and the 18-200mm vr Nikkor lens and explore it with the virtual camera. I made a quicktime movie that is available at this URL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aKDhzOW5NA
At the same intersection, I also saw a man taking a photo while holding up a drawing in one hand that would appear in his picture as in front of the Chinatown gate. He was doing what an AT&T Cellphone commercial showed a father doing to send reports of his travel back home to his daughter. You can see the original commercial and my photos here at this URL:
http://www.geocities.com/bbamboo/FatherTakingPicturesForAChild.html
This web page combines the use of Google Maps to show what the father saw as he took the picture, and Google Earth where you can see both where he stood and where I stood to take the picture. This amazing technology allows us to learn more about our photos "after the fact". With Google Maps, you can see the street scene in a static sense using their photos of the building fronts. I used it to confirm my location by comparing the background in the photo of the dad taking the picture, and also to confirm my point of view. Amazing.
In another case, I took a landscape photo of what looked like a ring of trees, sent the photo to my mother who asked about the tree ring. I went to Google Earth and "flew" to where I took the photo, stood on the virtual road turnout, and pointed at the scene in my photo.
I discovered that the feature that I'd photographed was in fact a spiral planting of evergreens planted ajacent to a new vinyard near Petaluma. Again, without the ability to "fly" above the landscape and to examine more closely the subject of my photo, I would never have known that what appeared to me as a ring of trees was actually a deliberately planted spiral line of trees!
There are other times when I will use a video editor to look at video in the same manner, exploring the details of an interaction, playing it over with different temporal and/or spatial zoom, sometimes looping it to see the evolution of an encounter.
This is a way of viewing video that is deeper than the vicarious mode we're usually in when television is entertainment.
There is more to video, and it's only available when one can interactively explore a bit of video with your hands on the controls of a powerful non-linear video editing system. Time warping is a great tool for exploriing human interactions.
It's image editing as exploration, analysis and learning.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Lessons from an old cat
Kiwi came to us as a rescue cat, taken from her mother before she was ready to be weened, we saw her at the vet still with her litter-mates. She was the only one who looked her in the eye and meowed, the others hissed. The vet said that she'd be a small cat, and she came home with us that day.
As she grew up, she imprinted on Alicia Star as the mommy cat. She tried to nurse from Alicia Star even as she was bigger than Alicia Star! Alicia was the roshi of the cat brood, indeed the roshi of 7 Myrtle Avenue. Alicia accecpted Kiwi as her pal and companion though her cat son Alex remained her favorite.
During the years at Myrtle Avenue, Kiwi grew to be a 20+lb cat who loved to eat, loved to be in the bamboo garden sleeping in the sun, and who was loyal to me through thick and thin. She wasn't the favorite, and she always wanted approval from the senior cats.
Kiwi would follow me as I walked along the railroad tracks behind the stream at Myrtle Street, lagging a bit behind Alex and Alicia Star, but always wanting to be part of the pack. While the others walked with me on the railroad rail, she'd be content to walk along the railroad ties with us. Sometimes I'd carry her across the stream, sometimes we'd "ditch her" and leave her to figure how to cross on her own. Her great girth limited her atheletic prowess and I never guessed that she'd become the 6 1/2 lb fragile being with a big heart that she is today.
As arthritus fused her lower spine, her ability to get around became more and more limited. Her colon stopped processing properly and she had some incidents where she became impacted and needed vet intervention to continue living. We started her on stool softener, lactulose drops twice a day. This worked for a while.
Then the vet discovered that her kidneys were failing. We started giving her fluids every now and then as supportive therapy. Didn't expect her to live long, but since she was still interested and such a wonderful companion, I gave her a spot on the floor and kept up her daily therapy.
It took me too long to realize that she needed a heating pad, but I bought her a big one ( large enough for Carol and Kiwi to be on it together) and set her up with an incondesent lightbulb over her for radient heat.
The wonderful vet Bill Eshthimer told me that Kiwi needed supplimental fluids via needle under the skin a few times a week. I had given fluids to cats before, and while it's important therapy, in the past it always signaled end of life approaching. I started giving Kiwi fluids, even though my technique was poor.
Unlike most cats, Kiwi allowed me to give her fluids despite my clumsyness with the needle, and patiently waited for the process to complete most times. Her docile nature served her well and I improved with practice. Dr. Bill helped me to learn sterile technique and patiently tutored me in how to insert the needle properly. As I gained in skill, the pain inflicted on the cat diminished, and it got easier to be regular.
She became incontenent, so I gave her fresh bedding twice or three times a day, washing her towels a few times a week. She had some more crises with blockages, and a stand in vet suggested a diet change that really helped her to be back on regular with her digestion.
Her inability to move around has made keeping her clean tough, but she still relates to Carol and wakes me every morning with a squak and a purrr. Kiwi wakes me every morning with her squalk-meow just before the alarm is to go off at 5am. I change her bedding, feed her and give her fluids every other morning.
The yoga of service work, the zen of practice in this tiny corner of the room has been a blessing for me. In one way, the question is should I be doing for a human instead of an "animal"? The answer that I've found is that for me this is the practice that calls me now, knowing that it won't go on indefinately, knowing that it won't end well, but taking each moment together as a gift.
So while I thought that this was a kitty hospice commitment that would last a few weeks, it's turned out to be a blessing that has continued for a couple years now. I'm so grateful for the time with her, and while it's been difficult for both of us, her good attitude and appreciation for what we do for her is both a reward and a lesson.
I used to think that you should "put down" ( kill) a cat with such limitations but when the standard is "are they in pain?" and do they still want to live?, the answer is quite different. The effort is sometimes taxing, but the reward is subtle and lesson one that only unfolds over time.
The service to this small being brings me joy, and wonder. How is it that our love can be sustained through such trials? This small being has such a big heart, and it's a small thing to be able to repay her for the years that she nourished my spirit, for the times that I was too harsh, for the times that I ignored her simple needs. Yet the mystery of life isn't revealed, but the benefits are unrolling as we breathe. Precious being, thanks for this morning, thanks for this day and the time with Sharon, Kiwi, Carol and Snowy.
Time to go to work to earn the money to support this tribe.
Thanks
Kiwi came to us as a rescue cat, taken from her mother before she was ready to be weened, we saw her at the vet still with her litter-mates. She was the only one who looked her in the eye and meowed, the others hissed. The vet said that she'd be a small cat, and she came home with us that day.
As she grew up, she imprinted on Alicia Star as the mommy cat. She tried to nurse from Alicia Star even as she was bigger than Alicia Star! Alicia was the roshi of the cat brood, indeed the roshi of 7 Myrtle Avenue. Alicia accecpted Kiwi as her pal and companion though her cat son Alex remained her favorite.
During the years at Myrtle Avenue, Kiwi grew to be a 20+lb cat who loved to eat, loved to be in the bamboo garden sleeping in the sun, and who was loyal to me through thick and thin. She wasn't the favorite, and she always wanted approval from the senior cats.
Kiwi would follow me as I walked along the railroad tracks behind the stream at Myrtle Street, lagging a bit behind Alex and Alicia Star, but always wanting to be part of the pack. While the others walked with me on the railroad rail, she'd be content to walk along the railroad ties with us. Sometimes I'd carry her across the stream, sometimes we'd "ditch her" and leave her to figure how to cross on her own. Her great girth limited her atheletic prowess and I never guessed that she'd become the 6 1/2 lb fragile being with a big heart that she is today.
As arthritus fused her lower spine, her ability to get around became more and more limited. Her colon stopped processing properly and she had some incidents where she became impacted and needed vet intervention to continue living. We started her on stool softener, lactulose drops twice a day. This worked for a while.
Then the vet discovered that her kidneys were failing. We started giving her fluids every now and then as supportive therapy. Didn't expect her to live long, but since she was still interested and such a wonderful companion, I gave her a spot on the floor and kept up her daily therapy.
It took me too long to realize that she needed a heating pad, but I bought her a big one ( large enough for Carol and Kiwi to be on it together) and set her up with an incondesent lightbulb over her for radient heat.
The wonderful vet Bill Eshthimer told me that Kiwi needed supplimental fluids via needle under the skin a few times a week. I had given fluids to cats before, and while it's important therapy, in the past it always signaled end of life approaching. I started giving Kiwi fluids, even though my technique was poor.
Unlike most cats, Kiwi allowed me to give her fluids despite my clumsyness with the needle, and patiently waited for the process to complete most times. Her docile nature served her well and I improved with practice. Dr. Bill helped me to learn sterile technique and patiently tutored me in how to insert the needle properly. As I gained in skill, the pain inflicted on the cat diminished, and it got easier to be regular.
She became incontenent, so I gave her fresh bedding twice or three times a day, washing her towels a few times a week. She had some more crises with blockages, and a stand in vet suggested a diet change that really helped her to be back on regular with her digestion.
Her inability to move around has made keeping her clean tough, but she still relates to Carol and wakes me every morning with a squak and a purrr. Kiwi wakes me every morning with her squalk-meow just before the alarm is to go off at 5am. I change her bedding, feed her and give her fluids every other morning.
The yoga of service work, the zen of practice in this tiny corner of the room has been a blessing for me. In one way, the question is should I be doing for a human instead of an "animal"? The answer that I've found is that for me this is the practice that calls me now, knowing that it won't go on indefinately, knowing that it won't end well, but taking each moment together as a gift.
So while I thought that this was a kitty hospice commitment that would last a few weeks, it's turned out to be a blessing that has continued for a couple years now. I'm so grateful for the time with her, and while it's been difficult for both of us, her good attitude and appreciation for what we do for her is both a reward and a lesson.
I used to think that you should "put down" ( kill) a cat with such limitations but when the standard is "are they in pain?" and do they still want to live?, the answer is quite different. The effort is sometimes taxing, but the reward is subtle and lesson one that only unfolds over time.
The service to this small being brings me joy, and wonder. How is it that our love can be sustained through such trials? This small being has such a big heart, and it's a small thing to be able to repay her for the years that she nourished my spirit, for the times that I was too harsh, for the times that I ignored her simple needs. Yet the mystery of life isn't revealed, but the benefits are unrolling as we breathe. Precious being, thanks for this morning, thanks for this day and the time with Sharon, Kiwi, Carol and Snowy.
Time to go to work to earn the money to support this tribe.
Thanks
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Now that the housing bubble has burst, real estate prices are plunging, bank credit is evaporating, and the economic contraction is like a spasm, the void in our economy is acting like a shock wave.
Funding of the war hasn't been from new taxes, rather it has come from a combination of taxes on the increased economic activity revolving around the extraction of equity from the real estate that has occured during the interest rate decline of the last few years, and from shifting government resources from domestic progams into war related expenses. Because new taxes have been minimal, the resources invested in public capital like basic research,;human health; environmental protection; infrastructure renewal; NASA; consumer protection have declined.
The interaction of policy with this extraction of public capital has been particularly stupid with respect to basic research. The restrictions on visas cut the supply of intellectual talent that came to the US for study at the same time as much basic research support was cut by the federal government. This at a time when our international competitors are compeating for the brightest minds on the global stage. One result is that China and India are on the way to becomming research powerhouses. Increasing investment and encouraging research involvement by foreign graduates at US Universities and national labs is an obvious high leverage shift that should be implemented immediately.
Some applied research area's should be funded at a higher level, with my favorites being plasma physics, atmosperic research, agricultural research, species conservation, flywheel battery storage, alternative energy, bio fuels and sustainable production, energy conservation, ecosystem conservation, extending our network capital investment, research infrastructure support.
Unfortunately now that the resources are squandered and the common capital depleated, our options narrow. It's a shame to have wasted the last 17 years in the greenhouse warming cycle, but it would be criminal to squander the next 17.
I strongly support the defense of my country, and believe that the best national security policy must balance the investment in the domestic infrastructure with the funding of overseas power exercises. We must be skillful in how we strike the balance, and our national command authority could do better, must do better.
Overextending to try to right a policy ship that is listing to port and has lost headway drains our precious capital, yet there are basic military realities that we must support over the long term.
There are some simple policy choices that could vastly improve our nation and would improve our security. One of the first things we must change is our care of veterans: it is a national disgrace that veterans health care is in crises, ignores so much battle trauma. Funding childrens medical and health care is another no-brainer. Credible elections would be another, reform of our sentencing laws and practices is another. Now that much of the mechanism has been dismantled, some agencies would take time to reconstitute, so the sooner we start the better.
Such measures will reduce dispair, and improve the cohesiveness of our society. Improving our research institutions and reducing the ideological management of research could improve our economy. Improving our energy efficiency and energy distribution systems could also improve our national security.
The present administration has an ideological agenda that opposes development of public capital, favors only increased corporate capital and control. I hope that extending the war will be rethought, and more creative and realistic planners be given a voice. I hope that the administration will listen a bit more, though there isn't much basis for optimism.
Still, the connectivity and collective intelligence that emerges as the web develops is an agent of change beyond government imagination. New opportunities, and new vulnerabilities. We need to think about how to guard the freedom of the network, universal access, and so on. It needs to be codified into law or the web will loose it's extra edge in synergizing the colletive exercise of intellegence.
Funding of the war hasn't been from new taxes, rather it has come from a combination of taxes on the increased economic activity revolving around the extraction of equity from the real estate that has occured during the interest rate decline of the last few years, and from shifting government resources from domestic progams into war related expenses. Because new taxes have been minimal, the resources invested in public capital like basic research,;human health; environmental protection; infrastructure renewal; NASA; consumer protection have declined.
The interaction of policy with this extraction of public capital has been particularly stupid with respect to basic research. The restrictions on visas cut the supply of intellectual talent that came to the US for study at the same time as much basic research support was cut by the federal government. This at a time when our international competitors are compeating for the brightest minds on the global stage. One result is that China and India are on the way to becomming research powerhouses. Increasing investment and encouraging research involvement by foreign graduates at US Universities and national labs is an obvious high leverage shift that should be implemented immediately.
Some applied research area's should be funded at a higher level, with my favorites being plasma physics, atmosperic research, agricultural research, species conservation, flywheel battery storage, alternative energy, bio fuels and sustainable production, energy conservation, ecosystem conservation, extending our network capital investment, research infrastructure support.
Unfortunately now that the resources are squandered and the common capital depleated, our options narrow. It's a shame to have wasted the last 17 years in the greenhouse warming cycle, but it would be criminal to squander the next 17.
I strongly support the defense of my country, and believe that the best national security policy must balance the investment in the domestic infrastructure with the funding of overseas power exercises. We must be skillful in how we strike the balance, and our national command authority could do better, must do better.
Overextending to try to right a policy ship that is listing to port and has lost headway drains our precious capital, yet there are basic military realities that we must support over the long term.
There are some simple policy choices that could vastly improve our nation and would improve our security. One of the first things we must change is our care of veterans: it is a national disgrace that veterans health care is in crises, ignores so much battle trauma. Funding childrens medical and health care is another no-brainer. Credible elections would be another, reform of our sentencing laws and practices is another. Now that much of the mechanism has been dismantled, some agencies would take time to reconstitute, so the sooner we start the better.
Such measures will reduce dispair, and improve the cohesiveness of our society. Improving our research institutions and reducing the ideological management of research could improve our economy. Improving our energy efficiency and energy distribution systems could also improve our national security.
The present administration has an ideological agenda that opposes development of public capital, favors only increased corporate capital and control. I hope that extending the war will be rethought, and more creative and realistic planners be given a voice. I hope that the administration will listen a bit more, though there isn't much basis for optimism.
Still, the connectivity and collective intelligence that emerges as the web develops is an agent of change beyond government imagination. New opportunities, and new vulnerabilities. We need to think about how to guard the freedom of the network, universal access, and so on. It needs to be codified into law or the web will loose it's extra edge in synergizing the colletive exercise of intellegence.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
A quite remarkable development is occuring her in Marin county as the public access television station is forced to seek a new home Comcast stops hosting this vital public service and evicts the studio from it's long time location on Anderson Drive in San Rafael. The county joint powers authority that regulates telecommunications, Marin Telecommunications Agency, has blessed the formation of a non-profit organization that will operate Public Access television.
It's been a long public process starting with a small group of active producers who wanted to nurture public access television in Marin back in 1996 who met at Sandy Marker's home in Corte Madera to strategize. Starting from a small group of advocates who went to Marin Telecommunications Agency public meetings to speak out for Access television as an important public commons, the new town square, the group wouldn't let the cable companies and the MTA kill off public access.
For some years the MTA board was indifferent to public access issues, then actively hostile. Several groups in the county became interested in nurturing and preserving this fragile avenue for free speach including Media Action Marin, a liberal libertarian coalition that included social justice groups and individuals interested in free speach.
The Marin Telecommunications Agency board meetings became rather contentious and eventually the board formed an advisory committee to take public input and advise the board on public access issues. This was the genisis of the Marin Access Advisory Committee eventually known by it's acronym, MAAC.
MAAC met monthly with members appointed by the MTA and developed a number of reports that defined the role of public access, and articulated a vision of how the service could benefit the community in Marin. One of the first things that MAAC did was to redefine it's mission from just Public Access television to include Educational Access Television and Government Access television ( PEG). At first, the MTA wasn't supportive of the idea that government public meetings should be made televised.
Indeed, the San Rafael City Manager at the time, Ron Gould was so hostile to public access that he threw out an MTA consultant who came to discuss putting city council meetings on tv! The county administrator who was assigned to support the MTA attended meetings of MAAC but characterized the group as a fringe group of political activists.
Reality is that the MAAC group had elements from many aspects of Marin life including Len Schlosser who represented seniors ( his show "A Time for All Ages" is still popular years after he passed on), Jerry Catigan ( Marin Special Olympics and environmentalist ), two lawyers, and some public access producers. Over time the MAAC developed the idea that public access is a vital public commons that exists as a concession to the commercial operation that uses the public right of way, a tiny slice of the bandwidth reserved for the public amidst the vast array of commercial channels.
Over time, the composition of the Marin Telecommunications Agency changed and the long time members of the board learned about public television. Despite many lost opportunities to make favorable deals with cable operators, the MAAC continued to advocate for public access and just wouldn't go away.
Persistence had it's reward, eventually the Marin Telecommunications Agency board attracted some members with telecommunications competence. Eventually the agency Exectutive Director was told to hire a consultant to help with negotiations as the board recognized that their director was not able to negotiate on his own with the big cable companies.
Once the outside experts validated a number of the points that MAAC had been advocating for years, the credibility of the advisory group solidified and the process of negotiating a cable franchise that would preserve public access was on solid ground. It still took over 5 years for the county to negotiate an agreement.
Over the years the offers from the cable companies went down in value. As the MTA fiddled around, the offers dwindled from an AT&T offer of $12 million over 10 years down to about 3Million over 1o years made by Comcast.
The national context shifted as well, and it became clear that if the MTA failed to act, changes in law could leave Marin without any public access benefits. Over time the cable companies starved the public access operation, carved out channel time for leased informercials at the expense of public time, and generally discouraged any local production.
Once the new MTA board got serious about supporting public access channels, the executive director changed his tune, brought in Tom Robinson from CBG communications and negotiated a franchise that preserves public access.
The MAAC recommended that a non-profit be established to run public access as a designated access provider (DAP) as an independent public organization funded in part by franchise fees to be a fair broker of the channel time, and to educate the public, to provide the means to produce shows and as a host to the vital public commons. Initially the idea was rejected by the executive director and the MTA board but as the executive director was edged out and replaced by a community orientated person, the idea gained credibility.
Marin now has the Marin Community Media Center, Inc. as a non-profit that will operate public access television in Marin though it is only two months old and just beginning to organize itself.
The vision of the newly formed board of directors includes traditional public access, but also video on demand, web access, community radio and media literacy. The vision for the Media Center is inclusionary, embracing the many populations in Marin County such as the seniors, hispanics, asian community, native americans, youth, arts, cultural groups and religious groups.
The 2007 Marin Telecommunications Board has distinguished itself by taking this bold step, and is negotiating an agreement with the College of Marin to host the main production facility. Marin county is creating a new institution that will nurture the public commons and provide a connection space for our community institutions, organizations and individuals if it can reach out and develop public support.
For me the evolution has been gradual, sometimes imperceptible and yet very rewarding. When I started this journey it seemed impossible that Marin would every have a non-profit that would operate in the public interest supported by the Marin Telecommunications Agency and the public. Today it is a reality.
One side effect of my service on MAAC: I met my wife Sharon at a MAAC meeting!
It's been a long public process starting with a small group of active producers who wanted to nurture public access television in Marin back in 1996 who met at Sandy Marker's home in Corte Madera to strategize. Starting from a small group of advocates who went to Marin Telecommunications Agency public meetings to speak out for Access television as an important public commons, the new town square, the group wouldn't let the cable companies and the MTA kill off public access.
For some years the MTA board was indifferent to public access issues, then actively hostile. Several groups in the county became interested in nurturing and preserving this fragile avenue for free speach including Media Action Marin, a liberal libertarian coalition that included social justice groups and individuals interested in free speach.
The Marin Telecommunications Agency board meetings became rather contentious and eventually the board formed an advisory committee to take public input and advise the board on public access issues. This was the genisis of the Marin Access Advisory Committee eventually known by it's acronym, MAAC.
MAAC met monthly with members appointed by the MTA and developed a number of reports that defined the role of public access, and articulated a vision of how the service could benefit the community in Marin. One of the first things that MAAC did was to redefine it's mission from just Public Access television to include Educational Access Television and Government Access television ( PEG). At first, the MTA wasn't supportive of the idea that government public meetings should be made televised.
Indeed, the San Rafael City Manager at the time, Ron Gould was so hostile to public access that he threw out an MTA consultant who came to discuss putting city council meetings on tv! The county administrator who was assigned to support the MTA attended meetings of MAAC but characterized the group as a fringe group of political activists.
Reality is that the MAAC group had elements from many aspects of Marin life including Len Schlosser who represented seniors ( his show "A Time for All Ages" is still popular years after he passed on), Jerry Catigan ( Marin Special Olympics and environmentalist ), two lawyers, and some public access producers. Over time the MAAC developed the idea that public access is a vital public commons that exists as a concession to the commercial operation that uses the public right of way, a tiny slice of the bandwidth reserved for the public amidst the vast array of commercial channels.
Over time, the composition of the Marin Telecommunications Agency changed and the long time members of the board learned about public television. Despite many lost opportunities to make favorable deals with cable operators, the MAAC continued to advocate for public access and just wouldn't go away.
Persistence had it's reward, eventually the Marin Telecommunications Agency board attracted some members with telecommunications competence. Eventually the agency Exectutive Director was told to hire a consultant to help with negotiations as the board recognized that their director was not able to negotiate on his own with the big cable companies.
Once the outside experts validated a number of the points that MAAC had been advocating for years, the credibility of the advisory group solidified and the process of negotiating a cable franchise that would preserve public access was on solid ground. It still took over 5 years for the county to negotiate an agreement.
Over the years the offers from the cable companies went down in value. As the MTA fiddled around, the offers dwindled from an AT&T offer of $12 million over 10 years down to about 3Million over 1o years made by Comcast.
The national context shifted as well, and it became clear that if the MTA failed to act, changes in law could leave Marin without any public access benefits. Over time the cable companies starved the public access operation, carved out channel time for leased informercials at the expense of public time, and generally discouraged any local production.
Once the new MTA board got serious about supporting public access channels, the executive director changed his tune, brought in Tom Robinson from CBG communications and negotiated a franchise that preserves public access.
The MAAC recommended that a non-profit be established to run public access as a designated access provider (DAP) as an independent public organization funded in part by franchise fees to be a fair broker of the channel time, and to educate the public, to provide the means to produce shows and as a host to the vital public commons. Initially the idea was rejected by the executive director and the MTA board but as the executive director was edged out and replaced by a community orientated person, the idea gained credibility.
Marin now has the Marin Community Media Center, Inc. as a non-profit that will operate public access television in Marin though it is only two months old and just beginning to organize itself.
The vision of the newly formed board of directors includes traditional public access, but also video on demand, web access, community radio and media literacy. The vision for the Media Center is inclusionary, embracing the many populations in Marin County such as the seniors, hispanics, asian community, native americans, youth, arts, cultural groups and religious groups.
The 2007 Marin Telecommunications Board has distinguished itself by taking this bold step, and is negotiating an agreement with the College of Marin to host the main production facility. Marin county is creating a new institution that will nurture the public commons and provide a connection space for our community institutions, organizations and individuals if it can reach out and develop public support.
For me the evolution has been gradual, sometimes imperceptible and yet very rewarding. When I started this journey it seemed impossible that Marin would every have a non-profit that would operate in the public interest supported by the Marin Telecommunications Agency and the public. Today it is a reality.
One side effect of my service on MAAC: I met my wife Sharon at a MAAC meeting!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Deliberate infliction of damage to the economy during the assertion of police powers over "illegal aliens, illegal immigrants" appears to be a policy that the Bush executive is about to implement in a series of visible events designed to make the news. It appears to be a way of using political leverage to force congress to change laws combined with authoritarian action that will feed the conservative fixation on blaming undocumented people for the woes of the day. Administration spokes people deny that the upcomming campaign against illegals in the workplace aims to influence legislation, even while stating that a change in the law is needed.
Already the precedent is set that people defined as illegal aliens won't be given the rights of a citizen, won't be treated with the care and respect that are core American values from our history. More raids, and media events and the process of desensitization erodes further the civil contract. Yet without some respect for immigration laws, the floods of refugees would swamp the countries in what Thomas Barnet calls "the core".
The present system sees billions flowing to Latin America as wages are sent back to families and home towns, money that is the best foreign aid, going where it is needed most in an efficient manner, foreign aid that is earned not charity. The money that these folks send home creates relationship with the US, and contributes indirectly to our security. Guest worker programs and better visa control would help to reduce abuses, as would an increase in State Department funding targeted at providing more field consulate visa and immigration personnel. Some complain that illegal’s only pay some taxes, and while that is true, some assert that they take less in services than they put in on average.
The recent campaign by ICE that targeted people from Latin America in raids all across the U.S. that typically hit before dawn also spit families, and disrupted our community. If the arrests had to be made, provisions to help the families should be made. They should be able to communicate with families and loved ones. To employ the detention camps, to fly folks immediately to a different region of the country away from their support networks creates a maximum impact on the community without yielding more than a marginal difference
Even the official who announced the new round of enforcement actions said that he expected that the effect would hurt industries such as health care, agriculture, hospitality. The economic effect combined with the credit crunch and the real estate devaluation are waves that will swash through our lives for years. Since the service economy is the core of our economic engine, damage here is going to hurt lots of folks.
The administration wants reform, I want reform ( though in a different direction than advocated by the "neo cons"), and this new policy initiative moves a conservative policy agenda ahead with the cynical calculation that by excessive enforcement of laws on the books the democratic congress and key republicans in congress will move to change the law as requested by the Karl Rove directed White House political operatives.
In an presidential election cycle it's hardly surprising to see moves aimed at "activating the republican base" at this stage in the campaign. Closer to the general election I expect to see a moderation that is designed to co-opt the counter reaction that will be generated by this exaggerated enforcement exercise.
Yet another cynical exercise of power from folks who are divorced from the folks who will be paying the price for this pandering to the political "base". It's time that we work our an immigration policy that brings the folks who will add to our society, and that fairly addresses immigration from Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. Our policy should grant citizenship based on things like the ability to contribute to society, the ability to join our society, and criteria that honors the family. Reforms that force more into illegal status just encourage exploitation.
Now both sides of the political spectrum must come together to pass legislation that begins the humanization of the process, that adds the resources to the agencies earmarked to improve passport, visa, and immigration services. Now both Democrats and Republicans must lead the way to reform and address the 12 million who are here now without documents, to be more efficient in catching and deporting the violent criminals, and to spend the money to do real health screening for the folks comming into the country.
Already the precedent is set that people defined as illegal aliens won't be given the rights of a citizen, won't be treated with the care and respect that are core American values from our history. More raids, and media events and the process of desensitization erodes further the civil contract. Yet without some respect for immigration laws, the floods of refugees would swamp the countries in what Thomas Barnet calls "the core".
The present system sees billions flowing to Latin America as wages are sent back to families and home towns, money that is the best foreign aid, going where it is needed most in an efficient manner, foreign aid that is earned not charity. The money that these folks send home creates relationship with the US, and contributes indirectly to our security. Guest worker programs and better visa control would help to reduce abuses, as would an increase in State Department funding targeted at providing more field consulate visa and immigration personnel. Some complain that illegal’s only pay some taxes, and while that is true, some assert that they take less in services than they put in on average.
The recent campaign by ICE that targeted people from Latin America in raids all across the U.S. that typically hit before dawn also spit families, and disrupted our community. If the arrests had to be made, provisions to help the families should be made. They should be able to communicate with families and loved ones. To employ the detention camps, to fly folks immediately to a different region of the country away from their support networks creates a maximum impact on the community without yielding more than a marginal difference
Even the official who announced the new round of enforcement actions said that he expected that the effect would hurt industries such as health care, agriculture, hospitality. The economic effect combined with the credit crunch and the real estate devaluation are waves that will swash through our lives for years. Since the service economy is the core of our economic engine, damage here is going to hurt lots of folks.
The administration wants reform, I want reform ( though in a different direction than advocated by the "neo cons"), and this new policy initiative moves a conservative policy agenda ahead with the cynical calculation that by excessive enforcement of laws on the books the democratic congress and key republicans in congress will move to change the law as requested by the Karl Rove directed White House political operatives.
In an presidential election cycle it's hardly surprising to see moves aimed at "activating the republican base" at this stage in the campaign. Closer to the general election I expect to see a moderation that is designed to co-opt the counter reaction that will be generated by this exaggerated enforcement exercise.
Yet another cynical exercise of power from folks who are divorced from the folks who will be paying the price for this pandering to the political "base". It's time that we work our an immigration policy that brings the folks who will add to our society, and that fairly addresses immigration from Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. Our policy should grant citizenship based on things like the ability to contribute to society, the ability to join our society, and criteria that honors the family. Reforms that force more into illegal status just encourage exploitation.
Now both sides of the political spectrum must come together to pass legislation that begins the humanization of the process, that adds the resources to the agencies earmarked to improve passport, visa, and immigration services. Now both Democrats and Republicans must lead the way to reform and address the 12 million who are here now without documents, to be more efficient in catching and deporting the violent criminals, and to spend the money to do real health screening for the folks comming into the country.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Carbon offsets are controversial these days, but as our understanding of how the feedbacks work in the dyanmics of planting trees, the utility of this mechanism is clear.
It's true that forests sequester co2 and alter the weather, but now we know that a tree planted in the tropics does more to cool the earth than a tree planted in a temperate zone. Work with Global Climate Models at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory uncovered some of the complex dynamics that occur as forest cover fluxuates.
Much more research is needed into the ways that shifts in forest affect climate dynamics. Livermore has studied how water in mountains changes from this epoch as the precipitation comes in shorter, perhaps more intense, more liquid form as climate changes evolve. In california for example the snow pack will be gone in summer, glaciers gone, and that will of course affect streams and the rivers below.
Clearly then the forests will also be affected in a major way. We need more resources here, as our models are not much used yet to explore the ways that our offset programs can achieve maximum leverage.
This means that we need an effective mechanism to ensure that the tree planting is efficient and effectively established in the right areas. So we must learn how to operate real carbon offset programs. How to prevent and catch fraud, a way to make a viable economic system. This will not only create jobs, it can be a weapon against desertification. It can help our watersheds.
I say this in the context of a belief that we need to make every effort to reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency, offsets must not absolve the purchaser of the duty to work to reduce emissions. I recognize that some changes will take time and carbon offsets could create a stabilizing and conserving effect on the climate.
The agenda now includes developing effective communications that will convey the importance of building honest, scientifically valid systems providing carbon offsets. The science and understanding of why one forest is better for the climate than another must become common knowledge.
Bruce Bagnoli
It's true that forests sequester co2 and alter the weather, but now we know that a tree planted in the tropics does more to cool the earth than a tree planted in a temperate zone. Work with Global Climate Models at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory uncovered some of the complex dynamics that occur as forest cover fluxuates.
Much more research is needed into the ways that shifts in forest affect climate dynamics. Livermore has studied how water in mountains changes from this epoch as the precipitation comes in shorter, perhaps more intense, more liquid form as climate changes evolve. In california for example the snow pack will be gone in summer, glaciers gone, and that will of course affect streams and the rivers below.
Clearly then the forests will also be affected in a major way. We need more resources here, as our models are not much used yet to explore the ways that our offset programs can achieve maximum leverage.
This means that we need an effective mechanism to ensure that the tree planting is efficient and effectively established in the right areas. So we must learn how to operate real carbon offset programs. How to prevent and catch fraud, a way to make a viable economic system. This will not only create jobs, it can be a weapon against desertification. It can help our watersheds.
I say this in the context of a belief that we need to make every effort to reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency, offsets must not absolve the purchaser of the duty to work to reduce emissions. I recognize that some changes will take time and carbon offsets could create a stabilizing and conserving effect on the climate.
The agenda now includes developing effective communications that will convey the importance of building honest, scientifically valid systems providing carbon offsets. The science and understanding of why one forest is better for the climate than another must become common knowledge.
Bruce Bagnoli
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Suvival notes :
These desperate times call for desperate measures, we must keep the carbon in the atmosphere below 450 ppm according to Dr. Hansen, to avoid the "run away" feedbacks that may make our planet so hot that our descendents will suffer for hundreds of years, and our civilization will be the cause of the worst extinction event since the astroid hit 230 million years ago!
In his latest scientific post : Implications of "peak oil" for atmospheric CO2 and climate by P.A. Kharecha, J.E. Hansen (NASA GISS and Columbia Univ. Earth Institute)our dilema is explained at some length.
The action that we must take is really quite simple : We must work with China and the emerging Asian economies to build Coal fired power plants that sequester the CO2 produced or die.
Simple, yet a profound challenge as until now it has been everyone for themselves and the "market" will sort it out. Since the "market" is an artificial construct, it needs to be changed to fit our current situation, and this can be done if we value both the current environment and our future generations.
THe problem is that there is no real technology that is up to the challenge since we dabble in this vital technology but haven't committed to commercialization of sequestration.
The action needed is to engage with the Chinese as if our lives depend on it ( they do) and immediately begin to produce electric cars for their market, immediately begin to build nuclear power plants on an industrial scale in China to meet their need while we develop the technology for sequestration on a global scale. China won't do this without economic help from the rest of the world, and we must also do this whereever economic growth would attract a new coal fired plant.
The United States should immediately devote a significant resource stream to developing the sequestration techonology and retrofit our many coal plants as a first step, a technology development program, and a leadership act.
Without dealing with the issue of Coal, we risk raising the CO2 beyond the 450 ppm level, and that's a point where the feedback loop will rapidly get out of control.
Hansen and Kharecha don't discuss what happens when the feedback loop goes non-linear but the scenarios we've all seen on the media for global warming understate the reality. Once the co2 gets to a certain ( we don't know precisely where this is) level, then other sources of carbon release kick in like the release of trapped methane hydrates, forest die back, Amazon desert feedback, and the rest. The increase in temprature would be huge, and while the earth may have feedback mechanisms that will compensate, we won't live long enough to find out. The feedback that may balance warming above the 450 ppm level might take the form of an ice age, something that's limited us before. Indeed during the last ice age there may have been only 10,000 humans in Europe and New York may have been covered in a glacier. Either way, it's ugly for civilization and avoidable.
The big message is that if we act now, we can avoid the big desert, the oven. Only if we act together as intellegent beings will we be spared. We don't have to look to the sky for an astroid threatening us, as our threat is already on the horizon and it's only avoidable if we act now.
These desperate times call for desperate measures, we must keep the carbon in the atmosphere below 450 ppm according to Dr. Hansen, to avoid the "run away" feedbacks that may make our planet so hot that our descendents will suffer for hundreds of years, and our civilization will be the cause of the worst extinction event since the astroid hit 230 million years ago!
In his latest scientific post : Implications of "peak oil" for atmospheric CO2 and climate by P.A. Kharecha, J.E. Hansen (NASA GISS and Columbia Univ. Earth Institute)our dilema is explained at some length.
The action that we must take is really quite simple : We must work with China and the emerging Asian economies to build Coal fired power plants that sequester the CO2 produced or die.
Simple, yet a profound challenge as until now it has been everyone for themselves and the "market" will sort it out. Since the "market" is an artificial construct, it needs to be changed to fit our current situation, and this can be done if we value both the current environment and our future generations.
THe problem is that there is no real technology that is up to the challenge since we dabble in this vital technology but haven't committed to commercialization of sequestration.
The action needed is to engage with the Chinese as if our lives depend on it ( they do) and immediately begin to produce electric cars for their market, immediately begin to build nuclear power plants on an industrial scale in China to meet their need while we develop the technology for sequestration on a global scale. China won't do this without economic help from the rest of the world, and we must also do this whereever economic growth would attract a new coal fired plant.
The United States should immediately devote a significant resource stream to developing the sequestration techonology and retrofit our many coal plants as a first step, a technology development program, and a leadership act.
Without dealing with the issue of Coal, we risk raising the CO2 beyond the 450 ppm level, and that's a point where the feedback loop will rapidly get out of control.
Hansen and Kharecha don't discuss what happens when the feedback loop goes non-linear but the scenarios we've all seen on the media for global warming understate the reality. Once the co2 gets to a certain ( we don't know precisely where this is) level, then other sources of carbon release kick in like the release of trapped methane hydrates, forest die back, Amazon desert feedback, and the rest. The increase in temprature would be huge, and while the earth may have feedback mechanisms that will compensate, we won't live long enough to find out. The feedback that may balance warming above the 450 ppm level might take the form of an ice age, something that's limited us before. Indeed during the last ice age there may have been only 10,000 humans in Europe and New York may have been covered in a glacier. Either way, it's ugly for civilization and avoidable.
The big message is that if we act now, we can avoid the big desert, the oven. Only if we act together as intellegent beings will we be spared. We don't have to look to the sky for an astroid threatening us, as our threat is already on the horizon and it's only avoidable if we act now.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Just last night I read a post to arXiv.org by J.E. Hansen urging scientists to speak out on sea level rise before it is too late. http://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0703/0703220.pdf It's about Scientific reticence, but it's really a call for a Paul Revere to bring us to our senses while there is still time to act to prevent the greatest calamity in history.
Our science gives us the chance to look ahead and see that without acting now, the world will loose forever many of the beautiful ecosystems that god gave us in trust, and we may loose our civilization as well. I'm not exaggerating at all, maybe understating the seriousness of the problem.
Hansen himself has been censored by the Bush Administration and speaks in a guarded manner, the voice that has already been attacked but won't be silenced because he can clearly see that this train is heading for a wreck and we can still avert the crash if we act!
Hansen looks at the non-linear way that ice sheets change in response to warming, factors in what we know about the changes to our climate, and comes to the conclusion that we can make a difference if we act now, a difference that will be important to our descendents and to the billions of life forms that may continue to live for millions of years if we act now.
It's really a moral question, is our short term greed reason enough to condem our descendents to a world where climate change brutally destroys ecosystems, societies and countless families ? Can we use the intelligence to find a way to live on earth without destroying the very environment that we depend on? Are we smarter than the yeast that makes our beer?
The thing about non-linear climate change and environmental response to that change is that by the time it's obvious to most, it will be too late to do more than cringe and cry. We'll be so busy then adjusting and coping that the chance to build the sort of systems that could enable our civilization to continue will be gone. Desperate times will force competition for scarce resources like food, water, and peace.
When we look ahead and see the wreck, stepping on the brakes is not only the right thing to do, it's relatively painless. Except that the challenge is that we've created this new organism called the corporation and it's rootless. Corporations have no real stake in the future, no built in mechanism to consider their fate and to act in the best interests of humans and other life forms.
The emergence of corporations must be only a stage in their evolution, since for our civilization to be worthy of continuance we must evolve corporations to incorporate a forward vision, to have some value placed on how they relate to the future history of the planet. We can do it, but we haven't and it's the biggest challenge to our civilization in our history.
We humans must resolve to live in harmony with our fellow beings, to live with the understanding that all life is sacred. We have no right to kill future generations of beings here with us for some abstract corporate gain.
Even with conventional economics when we discount the future costs of coping with the disasters that we know are coming, it's worth acting now. The folks who just want to "get theirs" before things change have suppressed the knowledge of what could be done, what is coming for reasons that I condemn but don't understand. No doubt there is much that I don't understand that is known by the ones who distract us with the latest "crises", but the outlines are clear and our opportunity is real : Act now and both we and our descendents will benefit for ever!
Thanks to Dr. Hansen for not keeping quiet, to Al Gore for bringing "an Inconvenient Truth" to the millions and to the Hopi for reminding us that we sit in a kiva that has been home forever, a kiva that need not become an oven.
om
Our science gives us the chance to look ahead and see that without acting now, the world will loose forever many of the beautiful ecosystems that god gave us in trust, and we may loose our civilization as well. I'm not exaggerating at all, maybe understating the seriousness of the problem.
Hansen himself has been censored by the Bush Administration and speaks in a guarded manner, the voice that has already been attacked but won't be silenced because he can clearly see that this train is heading for a wreck and we can still avert the crash if we act!
Hansen looks at the non-linear way that ice sheets change in response to warming, factors in what we know about the changes to our climate, and comes to the conclusion that we can make a difference if we act now, a difference that will be important to our descendents and to the billions of life forms that may continue to live for millions of years if we act now.
It's really a moral question, is our short term greed reason enough to condem our descendents to a world where climate change brutally destroys ecosystems, societies and countless families ? Can we use the intelligence to find a way to live on earth without destroying the very environment that we depend on? Are we smarter than the yeast that makes our beer?
The thing about non-linear climate change and environmental response to that change is that by the time it's obvious to most, it will be too late to do more than cringe and cry. We'll be so busy then adjusting and coping that the chance to build the sort of systems that could enable our civilization to continue will be gone. Desperate times will force competition for scarce resources like food, water, and peace.
When we look ahead and see the wreck, stepping on the brakes is not only the right thing to do, it's relatively painless. Except that the challenge is that we've created this new organism called the corporation and it's rootless. Corporations have no real stake in the future, no built in mechanism to consider their fate and to act in the best interests of humans and other life forms.
The emergence of corporations must be only a stage in their evolution, since for our civilization to be worthy of continuance we must evolve corporations to incorporate a forward vision, to have some value placed on how they relate to the future history of the planet. We can do it, but we haven't and it's the biggest challenge to our civilization in our history.
We humans must resolve to live in harmony with our fellow beings, to live with the understanding that all life is sacred. We have no right to kill future generations of beings here with us for some abstract corporate gain.
Even with conventional economics when we discount the future costs of coping with the disasters that we know are coming, it's worth acting now. The folks who just want to "get theirs" before things change have suppressed the knowledge of what could be done, what is coming for reasons that I condemn but don't understand. No doubt there is much that I don't understand that is known by the ones who distract us with the latest "crises", but the outlines are clear and our opportunity is real : Act now and both we and our descendents will benefit for ever!
Thanks to Dr. Hansen for not keeping quiet, to Al Gore for bringing "an Inconvenient Truth" to the millions and to the Hopi for reminding us that we sit in a kiva that has been home forever, a kiva that need not become an oven.
om
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Doing lessons learned on a project gone sour exposes the most basic lesson in project management : when communication is muddled, trouble follows!
The project that I was given to try to resusutate started out as a "partnership" and a lump sum job. Once it got rolling, the design project manager jumped right in, and immediately ran into internal difficulty staffing the project with skilled professionals skilled in collaboration as part of a geographiclly distributed team. The company had just acquired a design firm, but the technical integration of the cad groups was incomplete.
On the client side, the data that was promised on the existing conditions including "as built" drawings and program information for the new project turned out to be incomplete and fragmented. The actual data flow took six months to evolve instead of the 4 weeks promised during the bidding for the work, and both sides became defensive.
Forensic examination of the contract reveals that the bidding manual from the client and the proposal from the design firm contain contridictory statements, and both are included by reference into the contract.
The two project managers, client and design firm, never really came to grips with the differing assumptions, approaches and espectations until divergence was too great to resolve. The design firm offered to provide a project plan, but instead just jumped right in and started "fast tracking". Indeed the project plan was never given to the client.
Had the project plan been given to the client, or had the client actually read the design proposal, the job might have been saved.
Once the fast track got rolling, the defensive design PM gave notice on only two occasions that change orders were needed, when an extra review of a mechanical system was needed, and when a hazardous material situation was encountered. In both cases the PM for the client gave approval, and honored that approval to some degree.
However the design PM failed to follow the risk management steps included in the proposal. Specifically the proposal called for a design development phase that would culminate in a client sign off. The proposal stated that any change after this point would be a change order, but such sign off was not obtained.
The proposal stated that any field engineering over a certain allotment would be T&M, but when this allowance was exceeded, notice was not given nor approval to continue received.
The design PM became busy with other jobs, and his time on site deminished. The abusive PM was covering a lack of construction management that went undetected until a new PM was askled to see what went wrong.
Once the CM process was set right, the change orders deminished and the job started to run "right". Once the new PM was on the job, the client's failure to follow the contract was brought out and change orders were sought to cover the changed conditions. Unfortunately the situation was beyond fixing and the job terminated with acromony all around.
This job would have been well served if the design PM had issued a project plan and uncovered the differences in assumptions by both sides. The design PM should have notified the client of the impact that their failure to provide the as-built data and the programming information as promised had on the design effort. The design firm should have modified the plan and the contract once it became apparent that the lump sum job was being treated as a T&M job.
The uncomfortable outcome was just about inevitable once the design PM decided to avoid the uncomfortable little notifications and negotiations. I didn't start out with the assumption that both sides were acting in bad faith, and I started out with a guide who didn't disclose the problems initially. Actually, the critical failure to deliver a project plan wasn't disclosed until the week before termination, as I was drafting what I thought was to be an amendment to the project plan. Turns out my plan would have been the first, but it was stillborn.
I was new to the whole place, but once I saw the "lay of the land" my experience in project management told me that the patient was very sick.
Unfortunately it took me a long time to uncover the whole mess, and digging through the mud got me covered as well. We'll see how this unraveling evolves, but it isn't pretty!
Bruce
The project that I was given to try to resusutate started out as a "partnership" and a lump sum job. Once it got rolling, the design project manager jumped right in, and immediately ran into internal difficulty staffing the project with skilled professionals skilled in collaboration as part of a geographiclly distributed team. The company had just acquired a design firm, but the technical integration of the cad groups was incomplete.
On the client side, the data that was promised on the existing conditions including "as built" drawings and program information for the new project turned out to be incomplete and fragmented. The actual data flow took six months to evolve instead of the 4 weeks promised during the bidding for the work, and both sides became defensive.
Forensic examination of the contract reveals that the bidding manual from the client and the proposal from the design firm contain contridictory statements, and both are included by reference into the contract.
The two project managers, client and design firm, never really came to grips with the differing assumptions, approaches and espectations until divergence was too great to resolve. The design firm offered to provide a project plan, but instead just jumped right in and started "fast tracking". Indeed the project plan was never given to the client.
Had the project plan been given to the client, or had the client actually read the design proposal, the job might have been saved.
Once the fast track got rolling, the defensive design PM gave notice on only two occasions that change orders were needed, when an extra review of a mechanical system was needed, and when a hazardous material situation was encountered. In both cases the PM for the client gave approval, and honored that approval to some degree.
However the design PM failed to follow the risk management steps included in the proposal. Specifically the proposal called for a design development phase that would culminate in a client sign off. The proposal stated that any change after this point would be a change order, but such sign off was not obtained.
The proposal stated that any field engineering over a certain allotment would be T&M, but when this allowance was exceeded, notice was not given nor approval to continue received.
The design PM became busy with other jobs, and his time on site deminished. The abusive PM was covering a lack of construction management that went undetected until a new PM was askled to see what went wrong.
Once the CM process was set right, the change orders deminished and the job started to run "right". Once the new PM was on the job, the client's failure to follow the contract was brought out and change orders were sought to cover the changed conditions. Unfortunately the situation was beyond fixing and the job terminated with acromony all around.
This job would have been well served if the design PM had issued a project plan and uncovered the differences in assumptions by both sides. The design PM should have notified the client of the impact that their failure to provide the as-built data and the programming information as promised had on the design effort. The design firm should have modified the plan and the contract once it became apparent that the lump sum job was being treated as a T&M job.
The uncomfortable outcome was just about inevitable once the design PM decided to avoid the uncomfortable little notifications and negotiations. I didn't start out with the assumption that both sides were acting in bad faith, and I started out with a guide who didn't disclose the problems initially. Actually, the critical failure to deliver a project plan wasn't disclosed until the week before termination, as I was drafting what I thought was to be an amendment to the project plan. Turns out my plan would have been the first, but it was stillborn.
I was new to the whole place, but once I saw the "lay of the land" my experience in project management told me that the patient was very sick.
Unfortunately it took me a long time to uncover the whole mess, and digging through the mud got me covered as well. We'll see how this unraveling evolves, but it isn't pretty!
Bruce
Thursday, February 01, 2007
What to do about warming ?
There are some immediate steps that will be helpful so I'll list them here :
First we need to immediately recognize the value of our fellow beings on Earth, and take steps to conserve the habitat for endangered species, to learn how to create new ecological niches that contain habitat for the entire web of the engangered ecosystems as these cannot ever be replaced, not in a million years!
Second, research into conservation of energy, research into new sustainable energy sources, and research into climate science must be accelerated. The Bush administration must immediately cease to attempt to censor scientific inquiry, and should expose the industry propaganda that seeks to discredit legimate science while allowing the vital peer review process to proceed. We need solid science and there is still a lot to learn in this nacent field.
The satellite systems that monitor the climate, biology and geophysics of the earth must be made a high priority and data gatherinig must be resumed. The Bush administration seriously impaired this aspect of scientific inquiry and it must be turned around so that we can know as much as possible about the effects of our actions, the changes underway. We need to improve our simulations so we need to have better data to check our models, and we need to use our simulators to try out actions and policy changes that we contemplate before it is too late.
Since many of the changes are inevitable, simple justice dictates that we start now to respond to the changes that are comming such as moving development away from land that will be flooded, creating new zones where poor folks can live, conserving farm land that is above the new flood plains, etc.
This will be vastly less expensive if we are smart. An example is in the California Delta, where developers want to build thousands of new homes on land that will be flooded in the next 50 years even if we reverse the long term trends ( and I don't believe that we have the collective intelligence and will to do so). The corrupt system we now call government won't stop the development, and once the people are living in vulnerable locations it is only a matter of time before some event produces a catastrophy where many thousands or more will perish. This is only avoidable if we take the steps to prevent development where we know floods will come. Doesn't cost anything to conserve this land in reality, just telling some greedy folks who want the rest of us to fund their dreams of riches "no"......
Public health is going to be a huge issue, we need millions more workers who can manage epidemics, who can help deal with the spread of tropical diseases as the climate favors insects, as vectors multiply and as deserts spread. The dispora flowing from the shifts in clear water as the mountains dry up, as the deserts consume crop land and as the seas consume the flat land where so many millions now live will be a challenge unparalled in historical times.
We indeed do live in "interesting times" as the Chinese curse goes.....
By responding now we give our descendents a gift that keeps on giving for thousands of years, by failing to respond we doom ourselves and our descendents to a world that is so sad, so full of pain and dying. I think that life on earth will endure, but we must face the consequences of our inadvertant production of so much climate change, recognize our opportunity and act to make it better. There is tremendous opportunity, new industries and plenty of challenge but to fail to act with clear purpose will be to choose a course with suffering beyond any that we have ever imagined.
There are some immediate steps that will be helpful so I'll list them here :
First we need to immediately recognize the value of our fellow beings on Earth, and take steps to conserve the habitat for endangered species, to learn how to create new ecological niches that contain habitat for the entire web of the engangered ecosystems as these cannot ever be replaced, not in a million years!
Second, research into conservation of energy, research into new sustainable energy sources, and research into climate science must be accelerated. The Bush administration must immediately cease to attempt to censor scientific inquiry, and should expose the industry propaganda that seeks to discredit legimate science while allowing the vital peer review process to proceed. We need solid science and there is still a lot to learn in this nacent field.
The satellite systems that monitor the climate, biology and geophysics of the earth must be made a high priority and data gatherinig must be resumed. The Bush administration seriously impaired this aspect of scientific inquiry and it must be turned around so that we can know as much as possible about the effects of our actions, the changes underway. We need to improve our simulations so we need to have better data to check our models, and we need to use our simulators to try out actions and policy changes that we contemplate before it is too late.
Since many of the changes are inevitable, simple justice dictates that we start now to respond to the changes that are comming such as moving development away from land that will be flooded, creating new zones where poor folks can live, conserving farm land that is above the new flood plains, etc.
This will be vastly less expensive if we are smart. An example is in the California Delta, where developers want to build thousands of new homes on land that will be flooded in the next 50 years even if we reverse the long term trends ( and I don't believe that we have the collective intelligence and will to do so). The corrupt system we now call government won't stop the development, and once the people are living in vulnerable locations it is only a matter of time before some event produces a catastrophy where many thousands or more will perish. This is only avoidable if we take the steps to prevent development where we know floods will come. Doesn't cost anything to conserve this land in reality, just telling some greedy folks who want the rest of us to fund their dreams of riches "no"......
Public health is going to be a huge issue, we need millions more workers who can manage epidemics, who can help deal with the spread of tropical diseases as the climate favors insects, as vectors multiply and as deserts spread. The dispora flowing from the shifts in clear water as the mountains dry up, as the deserts consume crop land and as the seas consume the flat land where so many millions now live will be a challenge unparalled in historical times.
We indeed do live in "interesting times" as the Chinese curse goes.....
By responding now we give our descendents a gift that keeps on giving for thousands of years, by failing to respond we doom ourselves and our descendents to a world that is so sad, so full of pain and dying. I think that life on earth will endure, but we must face the consequences of our inadvertant production of so much climate change, recognize our opportunity and act to make it better. There is tremendous opportunity, new industries and plenty of challenge but to fail to act with clear purpose will be to choose a course with suffering beyond any that we have ever imagined.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Anxiety
The shift in the climate is a big threat to our civilization, and it's clear that some parts of our government are seriously thinking about the implications despite the President's denials that climate change is real. The military has conducted research, NASA has a big effort underway, and the National lab system is working on aspects of this though much of that work is evidently not in the public domain. Big banks and insurance companies are interested, as well as agencies like California's water management organizations.
Since it's evident that climate shifts are occuring, and that the velocity of change is perhaps faster than most of us imagined, we are headded into a time of significant history as if in a fog.
While it appears as if there will be mass extinctions, huge deserts emerging and shrinking water resources in mountain area's, opportunities will also emerge in the short term at least. No doubt the emergence of huge weather systems with wind and rain intensity that exceeds our present experience will produce events that challenge our ability to cope especially in third world countries, events that will for the first time exceed the ability of our "first world" countries to cope.
The shift in the climate is a big threat to our civilization, and it's clear that some parts of our government are seriously thinking about the implications despite the President's denials that climate change is real. The military has conducted research, NASA has a big effort underway, and the National lab system is working on aspects of this though much of that work is evidently not in the public domain. Big banks and insurance companies are interested, as well as agencies like California's water management organizations.
Since it's evident that climate shifts are occuring, and that the velocity of change is perhaps faster than most of us imagined, we are headded into a time of significant history as if in a fog.
While it appears as if there will be mass extinctions, huge deserts emerging and shrinking water resources in mountain area's, opportunities will also emerge in the short term at least. No doubt the emergence of huge weather systems with wind and rain intensity that exceeds our present experience will produce events that challenge our ability to cope especially in third world countries, events that will for the first time exceed the ability of our "first world" countries to cope.
There have been some apocalyptic movies that warn of the consequences of a large storm in a city like New York, but they really don't convey the disruption to society that would occur if such an event hits in the next 50 years. Perhaps the government simply can't figure what to do and doesn't want to freak out the population, perhaps the senior leaders know that the forces that are unleashed are beyond our control.
It seems as if China and India are developing at a rate where the environmental consequences will compound at the critical point in the evolution of the CO2 and greenhouse gas build up, and that human greed is an unstoppable force. We seem to have the collective intellegence of yeast, awating the build up of "fermentation byproducts" ( in this case greenhouse gases) that will bring our population into balance with the global carrying capacity.
Unfortunately the loss of the species that have developed over the past 250 million years will make this a bleak place for our descendents unless we rapidly plan for how to preserve the genetic information, and learn enough to adapt and build a modern "noah's ark" to help the species move into the future, to enable human civilization to evolve into a form that can live sustainabily.
There seems to be an emerging consensus that this challenge is real, that we face an imperitive although some like Dr. Lovelock think it may be too late. Even if it is too late for many, there is nothing else to do but respond as best as we can, and we owe it to our descendents and fellow beings to work on the problem while we are here.
Facinating to see the historical sweep of the development of our understanding of climate change caused by our civilization as the consciousness emerges. We have a considerable collective intellegence and perhaps can shape the evolution of the shift in some less harmful ways. Certainly the development of sustainable energy technologies will spawn new industries, the use of climate models allows us to consider mitigation strategies, predict effects of the evolving weather patterns, and devise responses to the ecological shifts that are now inevitable.
One thing that is also clear is that there will be intense competition for natural resources as the basic hydrology changes, as sea level rises and as land suitable for farming shifts due to desertification, climate changes and so on. The good news is that given time, human civilization is quite adaptable and that politics will be shaped by the natural system changes.
I'm optimistic that enclaves will develop where the knowledge of how to live in our new world will be preserved for our descendents, but anxious for my future, for my family and my community. Looking at the map showing sea level rise, my home is right on the shore of the 2075 bay.........and likely I'll be gone by then. How much should we/can we do now?
Clearly the preservation of species is key, learning how to husband whole ecosystems and to help them to move and find new geographical niches would be a gift to our descendents that would keep on giving for thousands of years. This opportunity is unique in history and I hope we are able to embrace it.
Bruce Bagnoli
Monday, January 01, 2007
Physics for fun
Laser generated proton beam or ion beam fast ignition is an idea that I've thought about for some time. Recently, when I discovered a paper in a the December 2006 journal Physics of Plasmas by a Bolivian physicist ( Phys. Plasmas 13, 122704 Fast ignition of a compressed inertial confinement fusion hemispherical capsule by two proton beams by Mauro Temporal ) I was excited to learn what he designed.
His idea is elegant, with the two beams generated by the same cone from targets located at different distances from the point of the same cone, doing two different tasks. One makes the spark, the other does isochoric heating/shock wave generation.
Temporal proposes that a variation on the Japanese cone in capsule method be used, though his variation uses a hemispherical capsule compared with the original Osaka design using a spherical capsule with a cone inserted into the center that channels the beam. ( see for example : M. Tabak et al, Phys Plasmas 1, 1626 (1994) or R.Kodama, T Yamanaka et al, Nature (London) 412,798(2001) :: R. Kodama, T. Yamanaka et al, Nucl.Fusion 44, s276 (2004) and so on.
My idea is to use two colliding beams that meet in the capsule to ignite the burn using conventional laser hohlraum compression, with the proton beams produced by petawatt lasers in the same chain as the compression lasers to ensure correct timing. I suggest that two cones be used, and that the capsule be prolate. Alternately one could employ the colliding beam approach with a Z-pinch for a higher yield.
My idea takes advantage of the fact that colliding beams generate a higher energy though higher energy particles may also escape the assembled system in higher fraction. Using higher Z ions would allow the bragg peak to deposit energy in the right place more precisely though things rapidly get complicated using such schemes.
My two colliding beam design may trigger the burn with a simple geometry and be applicable to z-pinch systems as well. In the Z-pinch system my device design would potentially ignite a larger fraction of the material and use the energy very efficiently.
Anyway, its fun thinking about the dynamics of these tiny energy sources and to explore the concepts even without access to the experimental facilities that would test ideas and expose the many flaws in our designs. As Klaus Berkner (LBL) said " experimentalists keep the theorists from drifting away....". Since I’m not limited by the real known physics, I can dream up science fiction devices that work in my mind but may never work in our world. I can gloss over real issues like RT or M instabilities, or perhaps I can find solutions that work, who knows?
It is wonderful to see Temporal’s original thought process, as most of the thoughts and current developments by the main labs are necessarily obscured from those of us outside the main efforts and seldom see the light of publication in the open journals.
A Bolivian physicist, who knows if his ideas will ever be tested or will work, but the same can be said for my ideas as well. The Andes have produced some great physicists including Peruvian Pier Oddone ( now at Fermi lab I think).
Fun with numbers.
Bruce Bagnoli
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