Washington General Election 2019

There's direct democracy... and then this ridiculous ballot.

THIRTY THREE separate votes to make. Of these:

• 12 Advisory Votes. These are decisions that were already made, and the results of the vote has will not change the decision in any way. I'm not being sarcastic, the result of the vote is not used in any way. It's interesting as a forced broadcast mechanism about tax changes, but from a voting standpoint is, literally, pointless.
• 16 county bureaucrat positions, of which 7 are uncontested. Seriously, you think I have enough opinions about the Commissioner of the wastewater district to write in a new candidate? Only one of the positions is even partisan.

But hidden in the second page, is a full-on constitutional amendment. That's some clever obfuscation

Referendum Measure 88: Bring back affirmative action

The state Democratic party has always liked affirmative action, and was rather miffed when the people passed I-200 to ban preferential treatment. And thus why this is a "Referendum Measure"; this is what happens when the legislature attempts to pass an initiative without a vote. But it got noticed, and a vote was forced.

Objectively, affirmative action is state-sponsored discrimination. If used carefully with the right intent in the right venues, it's discrimination that can be used to remedy historical injustice and support groups that are disadvantaged to this day. But it's still discrimination. In this case, discrimination in the exclusive hands of a "Governor's Commission", a group that has no reason not to apply it's power broadly, indiscriminately, and in a politically biased manner.

The law asserts that it does not allow quotas or preferential treatment:

Under I-1000, quotas and preferential treatment are prohibited, and no one who is unqualified will be selected due to preferential treatment.

However the text seems to rely on a very narrow definition of preferential treatment for this protection, that could be trivially circumvented, and relies on partisan parties to enforce it. It seems like any protections against diversity quotas would be quickly rendered moot.

Proponents argue that something must be done to remedy ongoing discrimination in our society, and I agree wholeheartedly. Where I disagree is in the false dichotomy that the only way to eliminate discrimination is to apply reverse discrimination, and that we have accept this practice without any meaningful safeguards against abuse.

Rejected.

Initiative Measure No. 976: Or why your car tabs are so expensive

Yes, our vehicle registration fees are ridiculously high. I just cracked $1000/yr on the Tesla.

But registration taxes are progressive; they tax owners of newer and more expensive cars far more than older cheaper cars, and direct funds towards infrastructure needed by all citizens (roads and transit). The money has to come from somewhere. If not here, then it's going to be a property tax increase, or *gasp* a state income tax. Want to sign us up for that?

I can support changing the valuation mechanism for vehicles, though realistically it doesn't matter. If they change the appraisal outcomes, the tax rate will just adjust to match.

Rejected.

Senate Joint Resolution 8200: Washington watches too much Designated Survivor.

The continuity of government rules in the State constitution allows government to fill vacancies as necessary in case of an enemy attack. At the time, the concern was Cuban missiles blowing up Olympia. Washington now admits that a giant earthquake or tsunami or volcano is a far more likely disaster than a bunch of us hippies getting nuked, and want to add "catastrophic incidents" to the definition.

Could "catastrophic incidents" be redefined and abused? Maybe. But it's no worse than "enemy attack" (see also: any Jack Ryan movie). Anyways, the powers Section 42 establishes in such cases are specific around continuity of government; the focus on vacancies makes these powers only slightly useful.

Approved.

County Nonbinding Advisory Proposition No. 1: Ban Fireworks in Urban Areas.

Non-binding because they already know the answer will be no.

I get it, July 4th is miserable for firefighters, because we keep lighting each others' roofs on fire.

But fireworks are fun, and unincorporated county is the last bastion of freedom given how City Councils micromanage the existence of their residents.

REJECTED!!!

Home Display Setup

Here's my display board. It's in the hallway to the family room. It is currently showing:

• Daily agenda, including chores list.
• Multi-week family calendar.
• Clock.
• Thermostat.
• 4-day weather forecast.

This was initially inspired by the DakBoard 24" display, but I figured I could do better than the $349 retail price by building it myself.

Hardware shopping list:

• HP 23" IPS monitor VH240a ($109)
• CanaKit Raspberry Pi Zero W ($25)
• Swift Mount SWIFT110-AP ($11)
• 1ft HDMI to Mini HDMI ($9)
• Velcro Command Strips ($6)

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Pi Zero W is not by any means a powerful device for GUI; if you want to YouTube or use other rich media, it may be time to upgrade to one of the more powerful devices. But it's cheap, and works great for DakBoard.

Software:

• DakBoard. You can do a simple site for free, but for $5.95 a month, you can get a premium account with a lot more customization. Admittedly, with a bit of HTML, one could accomplish the same thing for free, but DakBoard's customization tools are actually pretty cool.
• Google Calendar. We created two shared calendars - one for family schedule, one for family chores. The separate calendars allow me to show the chores on the agenda without putting it on the calendar view.
• Google Photos. Because seriously, what else would you use? I have a shared album with my display photos, that goes not only to my large display, but also to all the Google Home smart displays in the house.
• Nest Thermostat integration.

Setting up a Raspberry Pi is a whole separate topic. I'll share if people have questions.

The Good and the Bad of the Tesla Model 3 Performance

My dream car - 2018 Tesla Model 3 AWD Performance:

I've owned the car for a couple of months now, have experienced the reality of EV life, and being bought into the Tesla cult. I still to this day smile every time I drive off in this car

The Great

It's SO fast! Acceleration is immediate, consistent, and intense. An official 3.5s 0-60mph time, but real-world measurements place it closer to 3.2s. It's hard to convey just how amazing the instant power and perfect traction of an EV are for the driving experience.

Phone key. Much maligned in early releases, and rightfully so - many owners had inconsistent results unlocking and driving their car, across popular brands of phone. But I was lucky enough to receive the car almost immediately after a major app update, and it has worked reliably. I walk up to my car: it's unlocked. I walk away, it's locked. I shift to drive, it drives. It feels primitive by comparison to actually have to carry a separate chunk of plastic around.

The phone key has failed maybe twice since I took delivery. In that case, I have the card key in my wallet; which is enough to get me going while I reboot the phone.

Charging at home. My theory was that, between charging at work, and free supercharging for life, I would never spend a single Wh of my own electricity. Well, ownership has taught me something: the $1's a month I'll spend on electricity is worth it for the convenience of just plugging in at home. I don't have to worry about when or where to charge, because I'm full every morning. Whereas, when I end up driving the minivan, I'm invariably looking at "20 miles range" and debating whether I have time to gas up.

Admittedly I'm charging on 120V. It's VERY slow to charge - it would take three days to charge from empty! But since I'm constantly topping up,it's never a problem. For the rare time I'm running under 50%, I'll stop at the local supercharger and get full in under an hour (for free!).

Single-pedal driving. With regenerative braking at max, you very rarely have to actually use the brakes, except to come to a full stop. This is weird for many drivers at first, but within an hour or so I really appreciated it. It makes downhill a far better experience, and takes a lot of effort out of driving in traffic.

Modern conveniences. Hey, I haven't owned a new car in awhile. It's nice that my garage door opens and closes automatically as I approach.That my seat and mirrors remember my position. A full suite of distance sensors, backup camera. USB power.

The OK

It's good, but could be better.

Center touchscreen. It really sold me on the car - the eyeline seemed so perfect. I still love it, but I admit the right-of-driver position adds just a hint of eye fatigue over the front dash. The biggest challenge is blind-spot warnings - those I would have preferred in front of me (like the Model S).

Autopilot. Works as advertised - you can pop onto the freeway, whether stop-and-go or full speed, and it will drive for you. For morning commute, it will probably save my life one day. With a little care, it will even work on city streets (you just have to handle stop signs and lights... for now...). Honestly, with the AI and sensors, it probably handles highway driving better than I do, given it's better perception of acceleration and instant reaction time.

Still, I wish they handled lane splits/merges better. Also, vehicles changing lanes is very much binary - they give no accommodation to a vehicle signaling a lane change until they are at least 50% in the lane. I still find myself taking over in these situations in deference to the drivers around me,

Auto-parking is still not consistently detecting spots, though it parks well when it sees one. Reverse-in parking is just a gimmick.

The Meh

Even I can admit it's not perfect... and not everything can be fixed in a software patch.

Battery Preconditioning and SoC dependence. Certain things behave differently based on the state of the battery. If your battery is cold, regenerative braking is greatly reduced. The "battery preconditioning" available on the Model S is honestly not effective on the Model 3. Regenerative braking is also reduced when the battery is full. Similarly on a low-charge battery, the top end of your power starts dropping off around 20% charge - 5 seconds to highway speed seems entirely reasonable unless you are used to doing it in 3.

Comfort. I'm told by everyone that my car is amazingly comfortable. It looks and feels premium through and through. There's amazing levels of adjustment that let me sit better than any other car. But there is just something about that driver's seat that my butt won't get used to.

I've gotten used to the firm and forward headrest, though from my reading, this is a common design in newer cars. Apparently you're not supposed to actually rest your head on a headrest? Easy for someone without an XL head to say...

The claim that three carseats will fit across the back of a Model 3 seems dubious from my experience.

Automatic wipers. The sensor underestimates the conditions, simple as that. In Seattle weather, you'll have to turn them up manually. Here's hoping to a fix in a software update.

Bluetooth. I've had issues with frequent media subsystem crashes (lose audio for ~5s), though I think a recent update has finally nipped that one in the bud. Still, it isn't always 100% to connect to my phone, or lose connection getting into the car.

Also, seriously, I don't want to use your stupid Tesla voice commands that control almost nothing. Let me trigger my phone assistant from the wheel!

App Control. Great idea, but limited by the "Waking Up" problem. If the car is idle, it can take upwards of one minute to establish a connection. If you want to quickly preheat the car, it can be frustrating to sit staring at a spinner.

On the other hand, a public API! I can (and eventually will) fix this through the power of coding.

Note the wakeup issue does not apply to phone key.

The Real Problem

Hint: all the problems with this car are around the Tesla delivery centers that serve them.

Delivery scheduled last-minute while I was away, then rescheduled for weeks later once they confirmed the delivery.

They didn't process my payment until almost a week after I took delivery (while insisting I had paid weeks earlier) - and support calls to follow up were about 40 minutes hold time on average.

The referral process was a mess; if you're not buying it online, the dealer is liable to skip the step entirely, then manually submit the request into some black box system that might or might not work. My referral bonus (free supercharging) didn't show up online until two months after I took delivery, though to be fair they never actually billed me for supercharging.

They did not even order my license plates for 40 days (out of 45 allowed days in Washington). My tags expired, and I was stuck driving a rental Chevy Impala while they got me plates. I'm no car snob, but I think I'm at the point where I can say with conviction that, as a Tesla driver, that a Chevy Impala is beneath me. It was an awful experience.

There's a (very minor) issue with my steering column; a known issue that should be a quick fix. Great, first service appointment is a month out. But, even then, they cancelled it without telling me, because the part was back-ordered. Seriously, Elon invented Paypal, but can't send me an email notice that my appointment changed?

2018 Midterm Election

While midterms are hardly the most exciting ballots, we have a few interesting initiatives this time around.

But, the news for me this time around... the lack of news! The major news outlets, in an attempt to retain their integrity and their revenues, have taken to paywalls. Regional news organizations like the Times and the Herald are hiding their articles behind subscriptions, including their endorsements! While I appreciate the need for these organizations to stay afloat in the era of the Internet, their content is over-priced and over-bundled. By hiding their editorial endorsements behind their paywalls, they surrender any credibility as political influencers, or the privilege of acting as trusted intermediaries of voters.

Guess I'll have to rely on Ballotpedia. *sigh*. I'll decline to include any paywall links in this article, no matter the relevance.

As usual, I don't respond to advisory votes because they're pointless, nor positions lower than State Legislature because voting on bureaucrats is ridiculous.

I-1631 - the carbon tax
It's another try at a carbon tax. Unlike last time with I-731, it's not revenue neutral - it's a fee, and the money will be invested in clean energy, and offsetting cost impact in low-income communities. Unlike a tax, the money can't go into the general fund (which Washington's lesiglature would eagerly waste). We give up the sales tax reduction of I-731, but the expected increase in consumer energy costs is also predicted to be much lower (eg. an increase of $0.14/gal for gas vs. $0.25/gal).

Climate change is strongly supported by science, and the recent UN report makes it clear that change is needed urgently to prevent a catastrophic increase in planetary temperatures. A carbon tax may not be the best idea, but appears to be the only idea so far. Presumably why we keep having initiatives on them.

Bill Gates says yes. You know, the billionaire philanthropist trying to cure polio and stuff. He knows a thing or two.

Rob McKenna, our former Attorney General, says no. But he forgot to mention - he works for Chevron now. Skeeze!

I'd have preferred I-731... but I'll accept this.

** YES **

I-1634 - banning a "grocery" tax
They don't want to prevent all tax on "groceries", they just want to make sure no local jurisdiction can pass a tax that unfairly applies to just "groceries".

Oh, and "groceries" is soda. Just soda. This is about nothing more than preventing future soda taxes. They're trying to lock down any local jurisdiction that would dare to copy Seattle.

Diabetes is bad. And sin tax works, as illustrated by every cigarette tax ever. And dishonest campaigns get voted against on principle.

** NO **

I-1639 - gun control
This was a hard one for me. I'm very pro gun control. Guns are fun, and we should all go shoot paper zombies now and then. But it's entirely reasonable to jump through a few hurdles to prove I can do so safely (or at least I will be able to do it safely once I complete the proposed mandatory safety training). I would also have to be realllllllly dumb to store my gun somewhere where an intruder (or my preschooler) could get at it, and I wholeheartedly support prosecuting those that do.

But ugh, some parts of this law are dumb. Gun registries are known almost exclusively for their spectacular failures. Mandating "guns are dangerous, mmkay" language is just... weird... but I suppose harmless. I really don't like the age-based restrictions - if you have proper vetting systems in the first place, rely on them rather than blindly painting every teen as a school shooter waiting to happen.

I could go either way, but the downsides of the bill seem like mostly harmless chaff. Gun control could make us safer, and I will still be able to get assault rifles easy enough, because I'm good at paperwork.

**YES**

I-940 - police accountability
There's some training in there as a distraction (lol... first aid? really?), but the actual meat of the initiative is removing the "malice" requirement for prosecuting police use of deadly force, and requiring independent investigation into incidents of deadly force.

The new standard seems plenty strong still. There's a two part test - what a reasonable officer would have believed necessary, and a good faith belief by the officer that deadly force was warranted.

Accountability is good in general, especially when it comes to killing people. If police don't want more accountability, they should probably stop killing so many unarmed suspects.

**YES**

Snohomish County Prop 1 - 911 Tax
This makes me mad. We pay for 911. At least in our wireless bills, probably in a few other hidden places too.

But they want more money... and they want to do it with a sales tax... the most regressive possible way to tax. WHY?

... but 911 needs to work. So, I'll wave the finger of shame firmly at the County, plug my nose, and accept this.

**YES**

US Senate
Maria Cantwell (D - incumbent) vs Susan Hutchison (R)

Great article on the debate from KING5.

If you're going to warn about "junk science" in the climate change debate, that's a deal breaker.

In housing, Cantwell is advocating to build more supply. Please, do this. Hutchison is blaming government red tape and permitting fees, not nearly as credible.

**Cantwell**

US Congressional District 2
Rick Larsen (D - incumbent) vs Brian Luke

I say this every two years. Rick Larsen is brilliant and stands for all the right things, and has been doing so since 2001. Healthcare, transportation, education, STEM. Though less publicized this time around (we seem to have bigger problems), he continues to be a strong advocate for campaign finance reform.

Brian Luke seems like a classic Libertarian. Anti-debt, anti-foreign-military-deployment, anti-regulation. Honestly, these are not bad things if executed honestly; but that is unlikely if he has to work with the Republican party.

**Larsen**

Washington Senate LD21
Marko Liias (D - incumbent) vs Mario Lotmore (R)

At first, I was actually interested in Lotmore, notably for his statement's support for STEM and multi-family housing.

.. his website fixed that. Anti-transit (he's probably right, but we can't just give up and drive SOVs forever). Support for I-1634 (banning soda tax). General fiscal hawk. A bit too 2nd amendment happy.

**Liias**

Washington House LD21.1
Strom Peterson (D - incumbent) vs Amy Schaper (R)

Social conservatives are generally a hard pass for me, and this is the hardest of the hard passes. Schaper is anti-LGBTQ in as many words, anti Planned Parenthood, anti-contraception. Add standard Republican fiscal conservatism just in case this wasn't already clear boat full of fail tacos.

**Peterson**

Washington House LD21.2

Lillian Ortiz-Self (D - incumbent) vs Petra Bigea (R)

Whenever I make notes on Ortiz-Self, the word "boring" ends up being associated with her platform. As far as I can tell, she mostly makes her name supporting teachers' unions.

But Bigea has the classic "taxes are the source of all our woes" so popular with the Republican candidates.

Sometimes I wish Legislative District 21 would actually have something interesting to say...

**Ortiz-Self**

What are "Titan keys" and why would I want one?

Google recently announced their "Titan Security Key", that's grabbed some headlines [CNET]. But what is it, and why is it a big deal?

To talk about security keys, one must first understand multi-factor authentication. Each "factor" is a way to prove who I am to somebody who wants to provide me a service.

What I know! I prove who I am because I know a secret that only I should know. Passwords are the common example of this, as well as their cousin, PIN numbers. The weakness is that secrets are hard to keep, and easy to duplicate. Anyone who discovers my password can pretend to be me.

What I have! I prove who I am because I possess something that should belong to me. Credit cards work this way - if I have the card, I can swipe it and make a purchase - sorry, nobody ever looks at the signature. It's usually harder (but not impossible) to copy something I possess, and requires the evil impersonator to be physically close to my possession.

Who I am! I prove who I am because I can be physically identified. This is how a driver's license works - the photo should match how I look. Fingerprints are a popular way to validate people as well. The problem being that physical properties can be hard to verify - is that fingerprint a real finger, or just a piece of tape copying a fingerprint off a door handle?

Two factor authentication systems require TWO of the above factors to prove who I am. These are far more secure, since an impersonator would have to circumvent two different security systems, usually in very different ways. A common example of a two-factor authentication system is a debit card - to use the card I have to have the card in my hand (what I have) and enter a PIN number (what I know). To steal my money, you would have to get both at the same time without my knowledge (or else I'll just change my PIN or replace the card).

Security keys are designed to be a second factor in such a system. Systems that support them require both your password and the presence of the key before they let you log in. This makes my account more secure - if my password is discovered, nobody can use my account because I have the key. If my key is stolen, the thief can't use it for anything without knowing my password.

This does NOT mean you don't need a password anymore. A security key is actually not very secure on its own, because people overall are shockingly good at losing things. A security key's power is specifically in it's use as a second factor.

The Google Titan Security Key is just Google's take on security keys - and are conceptually similar to offerings from other companies (eg. YubiCo).

But why do I need a security key?
Because your password is bad. You used the same password for your bank account as you did on Snapchat, and you told your friend that password so they could continue your streak. But you can't change that password now, because it's the same password you've used since you were 16 years old. It's the password you shared with that Nigerian Prince who needed it to send you your lottery winnings, and entered it accidentally in that response from that email from bankofamedica.com. But really, your password was just your middle name with a 1 on the end, so it was not hard to guess in the first place.

Your password is probably already hacked. If you don't think so, Have I Been Pwned is a fun reality check.

Where can I use it?
There's two variants being offered by Google - one for phones (bluetooth and tap), and one for computers (USB).

The downside is that not many online services support security keys yet, but a few big players do: notably Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

Questions you never asked?
Q: Do I need to use the key every time I use a website?
A: No, most sites will remember you on a particular computer or phone after you use your key once (for 30 days or so).

Q: How does it work with phones?
A: Phone support is still not the greatest, but if you have the right phone and the right security key, you can tap it to the back of the phone.

Q: What if I lose the key?
A: They're made to be cheap enough that you could have more than one. As long as you have one working key left, you can use it to deactivate old keys and add new keys. Generally you can also reset your account through a phone call or other hoops.

Amazon Music

[Update 2/6/17: Don't know if Amazon Music just hit a eureka moment with my data, or the engineers at Amazon made improvements... but stations are noticeably improved in their variety and depth since I first wrote this post. I'm hearing new bands I've never heard before, and not a single Hardwired song hit in days. Good job, Amazon!]

I've been an adherent of Microsoft's music service (no, I never owned a Zune) pretty much from the earliest days of Zune Music on the PC. I've lived through the resulting brands - Xbox Music, and now Groove Music. I saw the birth and death of download song credits, the switch from WMA to MP3, and the embrace of mobile devices. Finally, in 2016, I gave up on the Microsoft music ecosystem.

It was a good service. It had most of the music I wanted to listen to for streaming, and built-in OneDrive coordination in their clients for anything they were missing. "Radio" for continuous streams seeded on a band name. Decent clients for all the major platforms.

There was really only one problem, that I couldn't get over: too often, I would press "Play" and music wouldn't start. Network issue? Backend congestion?  Client bugs? OS faults? Who knows. Probably a combination of these over the years. But it's a fatal issue. This is a clear "bullshit test" - the basic proof of the most important base scenario in a system. It should never fail.

Should I blame Groove? Yes! Because another app has a great bullshit test - Netflix. When I push play on Netflix, video shows up. Every time, on every device, consistently fast. Streaming video is indisputably a much harder problem. If Netflix can stream video, Groove music should be child's play in comparison.

So when Amazon released their unlimited streaming family plan, I jumped on the opportunity. For $5 more a month than Groove, my entire family could jump on the service? Sold! Microsoft never offered a family plan (and we all asked... a lot!). Maybe this service would work better.

A few months in.... how do I feel?
Eh. Not bad. A bit better than Groove.

Amazon Music does everything it needs to. Clients on major platforms - notably a Win32 client, and an Android app. A collection to stream that seems (at least in the metal world) to be even richer than Groove. "Stations" to keep a constant stream of music going. An affordable family plan!

Most importantly, it works! I can play music quite reliably. I can make playlists. Download music to my devices. My most important feature - I can start a station and have music play all day while I work and/or travel.

But it's not perfect.

The clients are not yet mature. I like the clients. They look and feel nice for the most part. However, it's still pretty easy to find bugs in main flows (eg. adding music to collection). I also expect navigation will change as they discover how their apps are used. Finally - yes, occasionally I won't get music when I expect to. But it's rare, and more importantly it's recoverable. The client knows its having trouble, indicates it clearly, and lets you retry as needed.

Stations are not very creative yet. Unlike Groove, there is only a subset of artists for which you can start a station, and there's no good way to predict which artists will be covered. Once you choose a station, the song selection is appropriate but bland much like a physical radio station. A "greatest hits" feel - you'll like what you hear, but probably never hear anything new.

Stations are obsessed with Metallica. Specifically "Hardwired... to Self-Destruct". Sure, this album is popular, but EVERY rock station I generate will disproportionately select songs from this particular album. Never once any other Metallica album. Nor have I seen this treatment with any other album. This seems to be immune to the Thumbs Down. This is so pervasive in the rock genre, that I cannot possibly believe it's an accident.

No social. I have a family plan. Put my family's playlists somewhere, for those rare cases where I let my daughter choose the music in the car.

US Decision 2016

MY FIRST UNITED STATES PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION! YEAH!

I admittedly feel a little cheated - a choice between a rich lawyer career politician that is the very definition of "business as usual", or a bumbling psychopath, or a bunch of throwaway candidates. Seriously, I get to spectate on Obama vs McCain, then my first election is on this bunch of jokers?

Still, just in case it's not obvious, vote Clinton. For the love of all that is good in this country, vote Clinton. She may not be perfect, but she's got a proven track record in both the legislature and executive, and is most importantly NOT A PSYCHOPATH!

Moving on. The interesting votes here were the initiatives, and there's a lot to cover.

To clear up one misconception I've heard repeated lately, you DON'T have to vote on every issue. I've used that right, for minor races that I'm neither qualified nor interested in participating in. There's a lot of them.

Will my ballot count if I choose not to vote on certain issues or candidates?Yes, it will. You can choose to skip any measures or offices you don't wish to vote in. All the votes you cast will be counted.
From <https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/faq_vote_by_mail.aspx>

Initiatives and Propositions

I-1433 - Minimum Wage
Increment the minimum wage from $9.47/hr incrementally to $13.50 by 2020, then return to our inflation-indexed system after that. Requires paid sick leave at 1hr/week worked.

Largely inspired by the success of a similar initiative in Seattle. However, Seattle is not particularly representative of the cost of living east of the Cascades. CNN's Cost of Living Calculator suggests housing prices in Spokane are 50% lower than Seattle, and other costs are lower across the board.

But on the other hand, can an individual really live on less than $20k a year, even in Spokane? According to the MIT living wage calculator... well maybe if you're single, but no, not even close for a family (even with two working parents). Vague threats of the doom of small businesses have very little evidence that stands up to scrutiny. On the other hand, more income in people's pockets translate directly to more sales tax for government, and more spending for all businesses. Sounds like a win.
YES

I-1464 - Voter-financing of Elections
Offers 3 x $50 credits per voter to finance state legislative races, financed by eliminating the out-of-state sales tax exemption. Places further limits on lobbyists.

A short KING5 debate for those who want the TL;DR of both sides.

In an executive summary, it sound great! Cut back corporate money in elections, and instead fund campaigns based on the will of the people. It's what we've all wanted since Citizens United. Sure, that tax exemption might impact some of the border towns with Oregon, but meh, let them pay their share for my Puget Sound sensibilities. ;)

But there was one huge flaw that I just could not get over. This puts significant limits on lobbyists, and increases transparency on "gray money" from nested PACs. However, it explicitly excluded anything to do with "dark money" - contributions from non-profits. This notably includes unions, which are a huge force in Washington. The theory is that specific dark money contributors threatened to use said money to torpedo the initiative.

I sympathize with the problematic position the bill's sponsors are in, but creating a further imbalance in campaign finance is going to make things worse.
NO

I-1491 - Extreme Risk Firearm Ban
Allow household members to petition court to issue 1 year firearm purchase ban against someone at risk to commit violence.

Will it be effective? Probably not, unless the many other loopholes allowing easy acquisition of guns are closed. But that could well happen (Clinton is big proponent). Anyways, the fact that it goes through the judicial system means the system is about as fair as it could hope to be, and if it prevents even a few gun crimes, it's a win.
YES

I-1501 - Identity Theft for Seniors
It's a scam! It's been widely reported that this has nothing to do with identity theft, and everything to do with a powerful union trying to hide it's list of government employee records from its political opponents.

Whether you support the Service Employees International Union or not, the level of deception in play in this initiative is horrifying and should not be rewarded.
NO

I-732 Carbon Taxes
Implement a carbon tax system on polluters. Offset predicted price increases for consumers with a 1% reduction in sales tax plus an additional credit for low income families.

Carbon taxes are one of the popular ways at the moment to try and artificially increase the cost of fossil fuels in comparison to clean energy. If it works, we reduce our impact on the environment! Hey, I like the environment! But it comes with a price: predicted 5-15% increases in utility bills, and $0.25/gal for gas. That's where the sales tax reduction comes in to try and offset that cost. In theory they should exactly offset. Some opponents suggest that, even with the additional credits, it won't entirely offset for low-income families.

The other key opposition is that the money could be better spent supporting clean energy, rather than making it revenue neutral for Washingtonians, and that the impact for environmental protection may be limited.

But really - lower sales tax AND a potential environmental benefit? Sounds like a win-win to me!
YES

I-735 - Overturn Citizens United
Citizens United is the well-known Supreme Court decision that essentially says that corporations spending to independently influence elections is "free speech". Since that's protected by the Bill of Rights, it's impossible to pass laws interfering with it. This then opened the floodgates for the "super PACs" to influence elections through rich donors.

Fixing this requires a constitutional amendment. That requires the states to be on board.

Voting for this just requests that the State back an amendment. So it doesn't really do anything, but on the other hand it's almost free (just a couple hundred dollars in mailing letters). Anything that can make it more likely, no matter how unlikely, to overturn Citizens United, is worth the effort.
YES

Sound Transit Proposition 1 - "ST3" Light Rail
Sound Transit asks for $54B to build a crapton of light rail, and add more express bus routes.

Transit is good. Our highways, as great as they are, are full during rush hour. All the tolling in the world won't change that - there's only so much space for car lanes, and it simply doesn't scale with our population. Transit of some sort is the only way to scale.

It doesn't hurt that the routes they're proposing basically go from my front doorstep to anywhere I would conceivably want to go in Puget Sound.

On the other hand, it's a lot of money for a long-term payout. Proponents predict $169/pp*yr, which is a lot of money. For a family like mine (long in real property and harboring an problematic Amazon addiction), that's on the low end of the price tag. And it's not planned to be done until 2040 - I'll be old and gray before I get to use the full system.

This was a hard one for me. But in the end, I have to look at the fact that I see a lot of recent progress both moving the light rail North, and the initial forays into the Eastside line. This is the right direction for our region, so I have to suck it up and pay my share.
YES

Senate Resolution 8210 - Redistricting Schedule
Move the redistricting deadline to November 15th.

Requires a State Constitutional amendment, but it's pretty simple. Computers make redistricting easier, so they'd prefer to do it a bit earlier, before the Spring election season. Nobody opposed this.
APPROVED

Significant Candidates

United States Senator

Patty Murray (D) the incumbent vs Chris Vance (R).

Patty Murray's been there forever (four terms so far), and has had a great deal of success in politics. Points to her for ending No Child Left Behind. Negative points for supporting TPP fasttrack.

What surprised me was Chris Vance. His website emphasizes his positions that are distinct from what we generally consider Republican values these days. He has a concrete plan to repair Obamacare with a public payer option! Agrees not to contradict the will of Washingtonians on our liberal social issues. Acknowledges climate change (though not a fan of carbon taxes). A solid and positive immigration reform plan.

.. and he immediately denounced Trump.

Realistically, Democrats need the Senate and there's really nothing wrong with Murray, so she has to get the vote. But I felt a bad that there wasn't some way to reward Vance for acting like a Republican that I could have (in another time) supported. Maybe if I get "democracy credits" from I-1464, I'll send one his way. ;)

Patty Murray

United States Representative - District 2

Rick Larsen (D) the incumbant vs Marc Hennemann (R).

I've been a fan of Rick Larsen since I've been able to vote. He's a key player in campaign finance reform, and overall supports a lot of the social issues that are important to me (eg. Planned Parenthood). Also incumbent since forever (eight terms so far), so he must be doing something right.

Hennemann has no notable qualifications, experience, or positions.

Rick Larsen

State Governor

Jay Inslee (D) incumbent vs Bill Bryant (R).

This is where I started to get a bit bored, which is not a good thing when considering a State Governor. Pretty much partisan positions and attack ads from both sides make me uninterested in this race. Bill Bryant hasn't done much to impress, but has avoided some key pitfalls, like finally rejecting Trump.He opposes minimum the minimum wage increase, but only to do a regional system. Still, Inslee did manage a historic college tuition drop, handled the Skagit Bridge collapse well.

Jay Inslee

Lieutenant Governor

Cyrus Habib (D) vs Marty McClendon (R)

A blind laywer, I'm mostly certain Habib is actually Daredevil. He was sharply criticized by the outgoing Lieutenant Governor for several statements made during the primaries, including the assertion that he'd use the position in far more of a partisan activist manner than it is intended.

On the other hand, McClendon is boring and follows the traditional fiscal conservative lines - no new regulation, cut government costs, etc, and his platform talks more about his personal values than his qualifications.

Cyrus Habib

Secretary of State

Kim Wyman (R) incumbent vs Tina Podlodowski (D)

I can't complain about Washington's elections, nor business registration. Vote by mail continues to be epic. It's easy to set up a small business - the websites aren't pretty, but they get the job done.

On the other hand, there are accusations that Wyman is standing in the way of voter registration for minorities, whereas Podlodowski is running on a platform of making voting easier for everyone, including free postage.

Tina Podlodowski

The boring stuff

Advisory votes are dumb. 

Snohomish County had several charter propositions, but they were mostly boring, along the lines of "lets take this already working system, and codify it directly in the charter so it can never evolve". I think they are mistaking rewriting fundamental governmental documents with just everyday county management.

From 1 to 7: R, R, A, A, R, A, R. If anyone ACTUALLY cares, I can explain why.

State Reps are seriously boring for my district. Even in the primaries, it was pretty clear that incumbents already had the 21st district locked up and there weren't really credible contenders. I voted, but it's clear the decision was made years ago.

Voting on secondary executive and judicial positions is ridiculous. I mostly skipped these.

Compy 2016 - Rifter.

It's been five and a half years since I last built a PC for myself, constructing "CORVETTE" on Bloomfield-generation technology. Now, motivated by an overwhelming need to embrace virtual reality, I've built myself a new PC. I've named it "RIFTER", an homage to my favorite Minmatar frigate in EVE, plus a reference to the Oculus Rift headset I hope to own soon.

Specs are:

• Intel Core I5-6600K + Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
• G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000)
• EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 SC GAMING ACX 3.0, 8GB GDDR5
• Gigabyte LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX DDR4 Motherboards GA-Z170X-Gaming 3
• Samsung 950 PRO Series - 512GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD  
• WD Black 1TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch
• EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GS, 80+ GOLD 650W
• NZXT Phantom 410 Mid Tower USB 3.0 Gaming Case - Gunmetal with Black Trim

So far I'm thrilled with everything in this build, except maybe the case. The Phantom 410 is great, but has some quirks.

• Middle drive bays are fully removable, increasing airflow and space for the video card, while still leaving a few full drive bays available.
• The 3.5" mounting brackets are hokey trash. Cheap plastic with some cheaper tool-free mounting bolts. I got it in, but it was frustrating.
• Some grommeted paths to backside of the case was a clever addition. However, they're not attached well. And all the inbox cables are zapped to the middle grommet.
• A pet peeve of mine - the thumbscrews to remove the case sides don't thread all that well.
• Occasionally a buzzing sound, not sure from where. But you can Fonz

Everything worked perfectly the first time, except for network, which required a special driver. Also there was only one DVI port (vs. three DisplayPort) so I had to pick up some special adaptors for my 10 year old monitors.

As installed, 100MHz x 36 --> 3600MHz on CPU, maxes CPU at about 52'C on a Prime95 Torture Test. RAM at 1066 MHZ.

3DMark:

Also, some good news.

This is in stock configuration on a cleared CMOS. This system, it is not made for stock. I haven't enabled the XMP profile in my RAM. I haven't touched the CPU multiplier. Vcore is untouched. This system is designed to go faster, and with some very simple tweaks in the BIOS, this thing is going to fly. But that is for the next post...

In the meantime, some build pictures.

Preparing motherboard; CPU, cooler, RAM.

It runs! Note the red highlights throughout the case. The GPU glows too.

My case. Looks a bit like a Cylon.

Washington Primary 2016

The first time was exciting, even if largely meaningless. This time around, a mixed bag. On one hand, an extraordinary 17 Federal Senator candidates, and an amazingly diverse Lieutenant Governor's race. On the other, State Representative races were downright sparse, practically abandoned to incumbents. Then the standard assortment of non-partisan minor offices that who could possibly care about.

Patty Murray: the quintessential D.C. Democrat insider (as much as anyone from Washington State can be anyways), and practically guaranteed a Federal Senate position for the billionth time. But she voted for Trade Promotion Authority - a step towards the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Pretty much every other candidate, no matter their position on trade, gets to blast her on TPP. With so many independents in the race, there are options, at least at the primary stage.

Rick Larsen: incumbent since forever. Notable in that he continues to be a key driver in efforts to reform US campaign finance and overturning Citizens United. This is good.

The Lieutenant Governor's race is very diverse and contested for an essentially bureaucratic role. I'm about 95% sure that Cyrus Habib is actually Daredevil. Unfortunately, also lambasted by the previous long-time incumbent.

Perennial candidate Mike the Mover (now "Uncle Mover") is going for Federal Senate this time, and GoodSpaceGuy wants to be State Governor. Strangely, GoodSpaceGuy's statement no longer mentioning space exploration, but now focused on abolishing the minimum wage. Uncle Mover... well something to do with family values... just read it.

Kerbal Space Program

It's been a long time since I've been genuinely addicted to a game. Sure, I've burned a couple of weeks each revisiting some old GOG favorites (Lands of Lore, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper, Tie Fighter just to name a few), and even ground a League of Legends character to level cap. Still, nothing quite had that enduring quality like those early years poured into World of Warcraft.

Now, I'm looking at 234 hours invested in Kerbal Space Program, and wondering how my next game addiction after WoW ended up as a single-player indie game.

Kerbal Space Program is available on Steam, GOG, their own store and soon on Xbox One. It combines the aspects of a flight simulator with a detailed orbital mechanics simulator. A beautiful planetscape is rendered below you, a starfield above... but you're staring at your calculator in your lap deciding if you have enough delta-V to get back into the atmosphere.

The best way to describe it:
Kerbal Space Program is to Newtonian physics what EVE Online is to macroeconomics.

The primary objective is, as you'd expect, to build a space program. But it's hardly all you can do. Atmospheric planes are first-class citizens, and you can fly around as well as any flight simulator. With some creativity you can get seaplanes built, jetboats, or even submarines. Quadcopters. Even basic vehicles can rove around the landscape.

But it's addictive. Mostly due to the inevitable descent into "Kerbal Engineering". You can piece together some pretty crazy rockets, and they'll mostly fly. Manned. And then invariably they'll get stuck, and you'll need an even crazier approach to rescue your people. With each success, you get more ambitious, build crazier contraptions, get them even more stuck, and the cycle repeats.

The quadricopter. 4 jet engines on a small remote control frame.

Easy to fly. Surprisingly difficult to land.

Seaplane landing near the old hangar.

Capable of landing and taking off again effectively from land or sea.

Assembling an interplanetary mission in space.

A small space station, a lander, and of course tons of gas.

ThinkServer

Lownewulf receives [Lenovo ThinkServer TS140]!

For a long time, I've wanted a NAS, or really, anything that could attach storage that doesn't require my aging gaming rig running Windows insider builds to be the storage hub of my home. But NAS is stupidly expensive (hundreds of dollars, plus disks). So when Corndart told me a whisper-quiet server-grade PC could be had for less than $300, I was skeptical.

Well, one Newegg eBay pre-Black-Friday special and $279.99 later, my server was on its way.

It's a very simple piece of hardware. Single 4GB DIMM, single 500GB 7200RPM HDD. Single onboard NIC, onboard VGA port, and a bunch of USB ports.

My strategy is simple:

1. Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2.
   It's free, it'll run VMs, and I can manage it all from my computer using our glorious overlord's clicky UIs.
2. VM: Ubuntu Server - Wily Werewolf.
   It's also free, boots in seconds, can run just about anything with practically no resource overhead, and I can connect with PuTTY anywhere anytime.
3. Install Tor, BOINC, Plex, Samba, Transmission.

A few gotchas I hit along the way.

• Though you'd think OEMs would have caught up by now. The BIOS was set up with everything off: virtualization, TCG, and secure boot to start. I understand why (prevent security or compatibility issues during install), but nothing stings quite like having everything set up for remote desktop then having to get down and plug all the wires back in to launch the BIOS.
• While 2012 R2 uses Generation 2 VMs, the configuration format for Windows 10 is different, so no export from my desktop. Though, even just pulling the VHD directly, it wouldn't boot, suggesting something is fundamentally different with the guest environment on Windows 10. Thankfully Ubuntu is pretty easy to install.
• Managing the OS is pretty easy. A physical login --> cmdline manager command to enable Remote Desktop --> Powershell: Enable-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup "Remote Desktop" --> I can pull the VGA cable. Same command with "File and Printer Sharing" and I'm able to share
• In contrast, the absolute hardest thing to get working was remote Hyper-V management. I do this regularly in my day job, so I know it works, but it's nearly impossible to get security right without a domain backing the credentials. In the end, I couldn't figure it out myself; it took a mixture of mystery cmdkey commands and an outdated Hyper-V remote configuration tool, both on the server and my local client, but it now works.

The TS140 is old (I think officially past end of life), and even the several years newer Xeon E3-1225 has trouble keeping up with my desktop workhorse (an i7 920). But it's still plenty powerful as a home server. Even committing two out of four cores full time to BOINC, the thing can serve up .m4v files in Plex while barely pushing the needle on the CPU graph.

Side note - two cores of BOINC costs approximately 32W.

First REAL Vote

On one hand, the two-party system has made electing representatives boring, compared to my first primary. The resulting two candidates were exclusively the pair of vetted Republican and Democrat candidates. In most cases, the GOP candidates that made it through are so far off the rails of sanity (FairTax, anti-net-neutrality, anti-healthcare) that there's not a lot to talk about. However, that is offset by the initiative process, where Washington residents can throw up for a vote just about any idea for which they can collect a few petition signatures. Lots to engage with there!

Initiative 1351
Mandate reduced class sizes in K-12 though hiring 25k employees, at a price tag of $5B in the first four years, and $2B a year after that. No specific guidance where to come up with the money, though this would authorize the school districts to raise property taxes to collect a subset of this (roughly half?).

My biggest question here was: how big (in context) is $4.7B? For this, we can refer to the FY13 Operating Budget, which operates on a two-year cycle. The total pie is ~$60B, though the "Near General Fund-State" (NGFS) portion is only half that at ~$31B. K-12 education is by far the biggest piece of this historically at about $13.6B. The impact in the first four years would be $2.35B per budget, or a 17% increase to K-12 spending, or a 7.6% overall increase in NGFS spending.

Assuming Democrats will never cut anything ever, call it a 7.6% tax increase spent in education. That's a lot of money, but if it dramatically improves school quality in Washington (which has a poor reputation), the money might be worth it. If nothing else, the increased tax bill would be far less than sending my two kids to private schools.

So the real question is, will this dramatically improve school quality?

Well, the real telling factoid I saw was this: of 25,000 new employees, only 7,400 will be teachers.

Clearly something other than class size is driving this proposal, given that most of the employees are not teachers, and that non-employee issues of class size (notably physical space) are largely ignored.

Initiative 591
Why even describe it? It's a one-page proposal, and only a few lines worth of meaningful directive.

• It is unlawful for any government agency to confiscate guns or other firearms from citizens without due process. 
• It is unlawful for any government agency to require background checks on the recipient of a firearm unless a uniform national standard is required.

Libertarians against States' rights. Fun. Also completely insane.


Initiative 594
A much longer bill, which prevents the sale or transfer of guns between non-dealers without a background check; the proposed mechanism being that a licensed dealer acts as an intermediary between private parties.

Yes, this law would be illegal under Initiative 591. If both pass, hilarity ensues.

The crux is that there are currently several (legal) means by which you can buy a gun privately without being vetted, and this law intends to close them all. Opponents are concerned that this criminalizes (what they consider) normal behavior, such as lending their guns to friends.

Most of this concern is around "temporary transfers" (ie. lending a gun). The proposal includes exceptions for this category including: spouses, parent-child, anything at a licensed gun range, anything at a shooting event, and hunting.

Advisory: Senate Bill 6505
Advisory = the law already passed, and they ask if you want to maintain or repeal it. The results are completely ignored either way, but they make interesting reading at least.

This prevented the marijuana industry from being counted as agriculture, which apparently gets significant tax breaks. The argument against this is that the end result of being taxed at every stage brings a roughly 44% government tax on marijuana products by the time it reaches the consumer.

Welcome to Washington. We have no income tax. So we sales tax ALL OF THE THINGS!


Advisory: House Bill 1287
Shifts some tax burden away from off-reservation tribal holdings (a notable example often given was Salish Lodge), similar to the benefits that would be given for a local government. Presumably, this tax burden shifts onto the non-tribal land owners in the community, though there isn't an explicit requirement for this.

Tribes are for this because they avoid taxes, though it's phrased as avoiding discrimination compared to a city government. Impacted cities are against this because they lose a significant revenue stream.

My First US Vote!

... okay, so it's just a primary... for midterm elections... and neither senator is up... but still, DEMOCRACY IS HAPPENING! Don't spoil this for me.

 

Washington is all vote-by-mail, which takes away a bit of the excitement of going to a polling station. Still, can't argue with the convenience. It is also a top-two open primary state - the process chooses two candidates to go into the general election without any regard for party affiliation.

 

So far, I have on my plate: Federal Representative, State Representative x 2, State Senator, County Executive, and County Prosecuting Attorney.

 

From what I can tell, US elections are both more fun and less fun than their Canadian counterparts. The US is a two-party system, while some Canadian federal elections have had as many as five meaningfully represented parties. However, despite the polarization of US politics, I'd argue it's actually less partisan. The legislative process is much more complex here, so legislation can initiate from many sources, and legislators can and do vote against party lines - so one party member is not the equivalent of another.

 

For now, I'm still building my list of resources. Also, learning about Washington State - my studying for the naturalization test (and TV) helped build my knowledge of Federal civics, but left me clueless when it comes to non-partisan primaries, multi-seat legislative districts, and all the other fun quirks of Washington state government.

 

My best resource so far has been Project Vote Smart. What differentiated it from others (notably govtrack.us and opencongress.org) was the details on non-incumbents, and the details at all level of government including State level. Other sites do very well at tracking current Federal congressmen, but it's hard to judge an incumbent when the challengers are unknowns.

 

So, I'm taking a lot of notes, and hopefully figure out some sane decisions before the baby comes. In two years, I should have plenty of practice and be ready for the serious elections for President and others.