Aren Cambre's Blog » Interesting

Allen Vaught copies constituient’s email

Aren Cambre — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:09:25 +0000

I sent an email about the primary election to my neighborhood association. 16 days later, my Democrat state legislator Allen Vaught sent an email about primaries to his constituents.

Guess where some of his email came from? Compare snippets:

Aren Cambre’s Jan. 31 email	Allen Vaught’s Feb. 16 email
What is the primary? It’s where YOU choose who represents your party at the fall election.	The primary is the election in which you choose who represents your party in each race during the November general election.
You don’t register with a party. … You just show up and vote in either party’s primary.	In Texas, you do not “register” with a party; therefore, you may vote in either party’s primary election.
You must vote in the primary to participate in the party’s convention process.	You must vote in the primary to participate in that party’s convention process…

Imitation is sincerest form of flattery?

Both the emails are below in full. You’ll notice my email clearly inspired the highlighted part of his email.

Aren Cambre’s Jan. 31 email	Allen Vaught’s Feb. 16 email
Neighbors, Feb. 1 is the last day to register to vote in the March 2 primary. Verify your registration at http://dalcoelections.org/voters.asp What is the primary? It’s where YOU choose who represents your party at the fall election. These should clarify some misconceptions: You don’t register with a party. Texas has no concept of “registered Republican” or “registered Democrat.” You just show up and vote in either party’s primary. This doesn’t bind your fall vote. For example, if you vote in the Democrat primary, you can still vote for Republicans in the fall election. You can vote in either party’s primary. Here’s where it can make a difference: If you believe that one party will win a particular office, then that party’s primary is when the race is effectively decided. You don’t have to make a selection in every race. You can vote on all races, zero races (blank ballot), or anywhere in between. You must vote in the primary to participate in the party’s convention process. In our precinct (2230), the Republican and Democrat precinct conventions generally start at 7:30 PM at the polling location. Register to vote, and hope to see you at our polling location on March 2! Aren Cambre, President Lake Park Estates Neighborhood Association, Inc. A 501(c)(4) nonprofit	Dear Friends: Election time is upon us again and I would like to encourage you to vote. I have included some information in this email which I hope will help you cast an informed vote. March 2^nd is the Primary Election for both the Democratic and Republican Parties. The primary is the election in which you choose who represents your party in each race during the November general election. There are many candidates on the ballot all the way from precinct chairs to the Governor. In Texas, you do not “register” with a party; therefore, you may vote in either party’s primary election. Regardless of which party’s primary you vote in, you may vote however you would like in November. You must vote in the primary to participate in that party’s convention process, which usually takes place around 7:30 pm directly after the close of voting on March 2^nd at your precinct’s polling location. Sample ballots for each party’s primary are located here: http://www.dalcoelections.org/march22010/index.asp. For more detailed information on the candidates that you may be voting on please see the following websites: Dallas County Republican Party http://www.dallasgop.org/candidates Dallas County Democratic Party http://www.dallasdemocrats.org/election/2010/candidates Dallas Morning News Voters Guide http://www.thevoterguide.org/v/dallas/race-index.do You may vote early during the following dates and times: Tu-F Feb 16-19 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. Sat Feb 20 7:00 A.M. – 7:00 P.M. Sun Feb 21 1:00 P.M. - 6:00 P.M. M-F Feb 22-26 7:00 A.M. – 7:00 P.M. Early voting locations may be found on the Dallas County Elections website, located here: http://www.dalcoelections.org/march22010/EVLocations.htm Election Day is Tuesday, March 2^nd from 7am – 7pm. You must vote in your voting precinct on election day. If you are not sure where to vote, more information may be obtained by contacting the Dallas County Elections Department (214) 819-6300 or by visiting their website at www.dalcoelections.org. I encourage you to cast an informed vote because as you know, our democracy rests upon the act of voting. Respectfully, State Representative Allen Vaught House District 107

Aren Cambre’s Jan. 31 email

Allen Vaught’s Feb. 16 email

Neighbors,

Feb. 1 is the last day to register to vote in the March 2 primary. Verify your registration at http://dalcoelections.org/voters.asp

What is the primary? It’s where YOU choose who represents your party at the fall election.

These should clarify some misconceptions:

You don’t register with a party. Texas has no concept of “registered Republican” or “registered Democrat.” You just show up and vote in either party’s primary.
This doesn’t bind your fall vote. For example, if you vote in the Democrat primary, you can still vote for Republicans in the fall election.
You can vote in either party’s primary. Here’s where it can make a difference: If you believe that one party will win a particular office, then that party’s primary is when the race is effectively decided.
You don’t have to make a selection in every race. You can vote on all races, zero races (blank ballot), or anywhere in between.
You must vote in the primary to participate in the party’s convention process. In our precinct (2230), the Republican and Democrat precinct conventions generally start at 7:30 PM at the polling location.

Aren Cambre, President
Lake Park Estates Neighborhood Association, Inc.
A 501(c)(4) nonprofit

Dear Friends:

Election time is upon us again and I would like to encourage you to vote. I have included some information in this email which I hope will help you cast an informed vote.

March 2^nd is the Primary Election for both the Democratic and Republican Parties. The primary is the election in which you choose who represents your party in each race during the November general election. There are many candidates on the ballot all the way from precinct chairs to the Governor.

In Texas, you do not “register” with a party; therefore, you may vote in either party’s primary election. Regardless of which party’s primary you vote in, you may vote however you would like in November. You must vote in the primary to participate in that party’s convention process, which usually takes place around 7:30 pm directly after the close of voting on March 2^nd at your precinct’s polling location.

Sample ballots for each party’s primary are located here: http://www.dalcoelections.org/march22010/index.asp.

For more detailed information on the candidates that you may be voting on please see the following websites:

Dallas County Republican Party http://www.dallasgop.org/candidates

Dallas County Democratic Party http://www.dallasdemocrats.org/election/2010/candidates

Dallas Morning News Voters Guide http://www.thevoterguide.org/v/dallas/race-index.do

You may vote early during the following dates and times:

Tu-F Feb 16-19 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.

Sat Feb 20 7:00 A.M. – 7:00 P.M.

Sun Feb 21 1:00 P.M. - 6:00 P.M.

M-F Feb 22-26 7:00 A.M. – 7:00 P.M.

Early voting locations may be found on the Dallas County Elections website, located here: http://www.dalcoelections.org/march22010/EVLocations.htm

Election Day is Tuesday, March 2^nd from 7am – 7pm. You must vote in your voting precinct on election day. If you are not sure where to vote, more information may be obtained by contacting the Dallas County Elections Department (214) 819-6300 or by visiting their website at www.dalcoelections.org.

I encourage you to cast an informed vote because as you know, our democracy rests upon the act of voting.

Respectfully,

State Representative Allen Vaught

House District 107

The Lancet, research, future of journals, and global warming

Aren Cambre — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:25:43 +0000

I am listening to a podcast of A Shot of Reality on NPR’s On The Media’s Feb. 5, 2010 show.

The host is interviewing Richard Horton, the editor of The Lancet, a British medical journal recently made (in)famous for feeding the vaccine/autism hoax.

The editor says The Lancet must be more careful in the future.

Translation: more of The Lancet’s future articles will support the status quo. This will reduce hoaxes, but it crowds out legitimate alternative theories.

Are academic journals even relevant? Whatever relevancy they have is mainly because the research community is clinging to an outdated model. And let’s don’t forget these wickedly expensive journals have their own fiscal incentive to perpetuate themselves.

Research is living and constantly evolving. Why then rely on a content delivery method that can only create frozen, dead documents? Where corrections require new, frozen documents? This is silly.

Some say if we don’t have journals, we effectively lose the peer review process because respected academics aren’t the gatekeepers. Hardly. Wikipedia’s not perfect, but it shows that a completely open model, that even allows anonymous editing, can produce highly reliable information. Services like the Educause-sponsored academia.edu show it shouldn’t be hard to limit involvement just to the research community–not to the “select few” researchers but the entire community. This increases veracity by at least an order of magnitude.

Richard Horton said that Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the originator of the fraudulent research, was respected politically and academically for years, and his words were taken as “gospel truth.”

Doesn’t this sound familiar? Doesn’t this sound like James Hansen, Al Gore, IPCC, etc.? All of whom deliver polemic research so political, agenda-driven, and error-full that people are stating to question the scientific basis of global warming?

WFAA scapegoats Atmos Energy and tries to raise Dallas’s gas bills

Aren Cambre — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:11:35 +0000

The Texas Railroad Commission and WFAA channel 8 are scapegoating Atmos Energy, Dallas’s natural gas provider, for house explosions it did not cause.

The state blamed Atmos for a May 2009 Irving home explosion. Tonight, Brett Shipp, a WFAA reporter, all but blamed Atmos for a November 2009 Mesquite home explosion.

The theory is that deteriorating “Normac couplings” in buried gas distribution lines are leaking the fuel, causing these explosions.

It’s a load of crap.

In the Irving case, the state blamed a leaking fitting “under the street.” Yes, as in, under the street, 20+ feet in front of the house.

Um, no.

Natural gas is lighter than air. It goes higher as quickly as it can. That means it’s not going to travel sideways 20-40 feet into someone’s house. Also, it dissipates rapidly like any other gas, like a poofy cloud. So any gas that could reach the outside of a house from a buried line would be faint.

The state’s asinine theory probably breaks several laws of physics. That wisping gas would have to travel laterally from this coupling, in a focused vector, through a yard and through a concrete foundation, and accumulate in a house.

The Mesquite situation is similar. The WFAA cameras clearly showed a gas meter all the way by a fence. And Google Maps Street View shows that the gas lines are in the alley, separated from the house by many feet and a wood fence. (Picture of the next door neighbor’s gas meter in the alley–the exploded house is at 2505 Catalina.) These allegedly faulty couplings would be in lines buried under the alley, at least 20 feet from the house!

Sorry, this house could not have possibly been exploded by Atmos. Something was wrong with something inside the house; that’s the homeowner’s responsibility. It’s irresponsible for WFAA to tar Atmos Energy for this.

Why does this matter? WFAA is campaigning for Atmos to replace tens of thousands of these Normac couplings. Maybe they leak more than statistically ideal, but I have yet to see a convincing case that these couplings routinely cause imminent danger.

Furthermore, the cost of replacement is tens of millions of dollars. Guess who pays that? You and me, gas customers! So basically WFAA is campaigning for our rates to be increased to fix a problem that has not been proven to cause any harm.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Nestle’s reduced size mint chocolate chip bag

Aren Cambre — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:43:42 +0000

Nestle makes a “limited edition” dark chocolate chip and mint chip mixture for Christmas. Here it is, next to a normal bag:

Regular bag on top, mint on bottom

Visual queues say they’re the same except for the mixture of mint chips.

Nope! Compare bag sizes:

Regular bag: 12 oz
Mint bag: 10 oz

Chocolate chip cookie recipes need 12 oz bags. Even Nestle’s own toll house cookies recipe needs 12 oz!

I wish Nestle could have made the size difference more clear. How many recipes get turned upside down when the cook discovers that Nestle shorted him 17%?

Return to Innocence does not feature an American Indian

Aren Cambre — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:27:18 +0000

This may surprise attendees of the 1994 National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC).

Order of the Arrow is an honor society of Boy Scouts that uses American Indian imagery. The 1994 NOAC conference’s closing ceremony prominently featured then-popular Return to Innocence by Enigma in an Indian-themed ceremony.

Only problem is that’s not an Indian voice. It’s an aboriginal Taiwanese chant.

So now you know. The NOAC planners are probably blushing.

Here’s the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JpJjsHgYHA

Texaco Star Academic Challenge: Aren on TV!

Aren Cambre — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:49:32 +0000

Below is is my Texaco Star Academic Challenge performance from 1993 or 1994. Yes, Clear Brook High School made it to TV.

At least wait through my part of “meet the contestants.”

Get the Flash Player to see this video.

Shattery front door

Aren Cambre — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:11:37 +0000

My glass storm door shattered yesterday. Opening the wood front door made a vacuum that made it give up. It wasn’t that hot, so I guess the glass may have had a defect or other stressor that finally gave up.

A neighbor across the street heard the shatter. He was outside for a while before I opened the door, and he and I think he would have noticed if my glass was already shattered but still in place before I opened it.

A new door is only around $200, and the current one’s warranty does not cover glass, so we’re just going to buy a new door. I’ll throw it up over the next few weeks.

Looking from the front:

Detail view of shattery glass:

Re: 6 door Ford F-250 work truck

Aren Cambre — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:44:57 +0000

Jeremy Callahan found the answer to the 6 door work truck question: made by Custom Autos by Tim of Guthrie, OK, and the exact truck is at http://www.customautosbytim.com/8.html.

6 door Ford F-250 work truck

Aren Cambre — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:59:11 +0000

I saw this at work:

6 door work truck

That’s a 6 door Ford F-250! It’s otherwise a plain jane work truck.

It has to be modified, but I couldn’t find any coachbuilder marques. The closest was the dealer:

6 door work truck's dealer, England Ford in Hinton, OK

Who makes this? What is it?

Yum

Aren Cambre — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 03:41:40 +0000

(No flash, really steady hand.)

Blue Bell Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream

Hot fudge

Chocolate chips

Cacao nibs