Daylight

2009 vs. 1600

Video / ruled / the publishing house

Caption contest

Submit your caption as a comment.

The antonym of cubicle

I value being able to look out my office window and see pieces of the river in winter, and trees amidst the houses, and squirrels, and occasional large birds, but my office is nothing like this:



Maybe if every object on my desk blocked my view of the outdoors, I’d keep my desk less cluttered.

City Hall: “This conversation is over”

Back in 2006, we changed some aspects of our house: we tore down a shed, removed an enclosed porch, and added a deck. This was all done with a building permit, and I thought that the building department would tell the assessor’s office what changes had been made. That never happened.

So this year I filed an application for abatement to get those changes entered. I asked them to remove the charge for the shed we tore down, remove the charge for the back enclosed porch we took off, and add a charge for the new wood deck we built. I wasn’t sure how it would all balance out, since I didn't know how they valued enclosed porches and decks, but I wanted the official record of our house to at least show the outline of our house correctly.

Turns out they were willing to do all of that, even though they refused to answer questions before, during, or after the process. And the net result lowers our property tax bill slightly, so that’s ok. But the last thing that I asked them about on the application, the chimney that is listed as a bonus item on our property, was apparently one item too many to even ask about.

Almost every house on our street has a chimney. Some have more than one. But we’re the only ones who get charged extra for a chimney. Since property taxes are supposed to be assessed fairly, I think we shouldn’t be charged extra if nobody else is charged extra. But according to the assessor’s office, my view is ludicrous. So ludicrous that they refuse to actually respond to my request or any more questions. I apparently exceeded my secret allotment of questions. “This conversation,” I was told, “is over.”

It turns out that it’s possible to gather more information by the simple expedient of continuing to converse. I learned that they can print out a property card that has far more information than the version available on-line. A finished enclosed porch is worth $60.43 per square foot, a wood deck is worth $8.81 per square foot, unfinished attic space is worth $8.63 per square foot, unfinished basement space is worth $17.27 per square foot, and regular living space is worth $86.33 per square foot. We may have a mixed use occupancy certificate. They pull information from MLS listings when a house is listed for sale, even though those listings are frequently exaggerated or simply wrong. They have no idea how to do a basic count from their own database of how many properties have a particular feature. They charge for printing out listings, but they don’t know how much they charge and there isn’t actually a way to request those printouts. And they really, truly, deeply despise homeowners. Almost as much as they despise answering the phone.

But I still don’t know why my street address changes at random from 11 to 13. Or why they changed Lisa’s last name in their records, or how to change it back. And I still don’t know why my chimney is worth $2600 more than anyone else’s chimney, or why it’s worth $700 more than it was last year. Perhaps there’s a silver lining. In my chimney.

A friendly elephant seal

Our time at the elephant seal rookery near San Simeon, CA last January was amazing, but we couldn’t get quite this close:

The unwelcome approach of January 19

In a bit over a week, those of us in Massachusetts will be asked to go to the polls and choose a new United States Senator to serve out the rest of Ted Kennedy’s term. I will go to the polls, but I will not vote for a candidate on the ballot.

Martha Coakley is deeply unprincipled. She serves her own ambition, and nothing else. She does not believe in the rule of law, or fairness, or justice. She willfully damaged her community as a prosecutor over and over again. She sanctioned child molestation, shielded predators, and persecuted the innocent. And when given the responsibility to hire and train young attorneys, she coached them to lie to judges, conceal evidence, and do everything in their considerable power to destroy people’s lives, innocent or not, in a quest for headlines.

I will not consent to give a person like that my vote.

While I would prefer that political candidates be, on the whole, cut from better cloth than they generally are, I do not refuse to vote for candidates simply because they are thoroughly flawed. I do not refuse to vote for candidates simply because their ideals, principles, beliefs, goals, or actions are at odds with some of mine. I can overlook a lot, but I cannot vote for a person I truly believe is evil. I believe with all my heart that Martha Coakley’s success has been a triumph of evil.

I know that there are many good people and informed people who will vote for Martha Coakley. You, dear reader, may be one of those people. You may believe that Martha Coakley cannot possibly be as bad or dangerous or immoral as all that, or you may believe that there are other concerns which warrant voting for someone who is. If so, please know that I disagree.

I do not wish for a Scott Brown victory next week. But despite my abhorrence of many of Scott Brown’s positions, I think that encouraging Martha Coakley's long-term political ambitions would be worse for our commonwealth and for our country.

The likely outcome of this election is a small turnout and a huge victory for Martha Coakley, just as she had in the primary. The best outcome, in my opinion, would be a small victory for Martha Coakley and a large turnout of people not voting for any of these candidates. A higher than expected number of voters who do not vote for any of the candidates on the ballot is the best way to encourage new candidates in the 2012 election for this seat, the election that will seat a Senator for 6 years instead of 2. Your vote cannot stop the media from telling fictions about the significance of this election or the reasons for your vote. But your vote should reflect your conscience.

If you share my values and would be swayed by my opinion, please vote for the write-in candidate of your imagination. That is what I will do on January 19.

Happy New Year

Local restaurant web sites

I don't know about the restaurants themselves, but I like their web sites:

Stephanie's on Newbury
Craigie On Main
Za

How do you experience books?

Hot cocoa, the way it used to be

Dear Big Train,

I've been a huge fan of your hot cocoa, which used to be made with sugar, milk, and cocoa. I was extremely disappointed when you changed the ingredients to add maltodextrin, salt, carrageenan, natural flavor, guar gum, and xantham gum. Adding those ingredients means that many people with food allergies, including my wife, can no longer drink your hot cocoa.

When your ingredients list was simpler, I served your hot cocoa to friends, gave boxes of it away, and praised your product to anyone who would listen. I no longer do that, and I wish I could. I hope you'll consider going back to the simpler recipe, and I hope you'll let me know if and when you do, so that I can go back to buying cases of your hot cocoa.

P.S. I'm posting this here because your e-mail addresses won't accept this e-mail, claiming that it's spam. I'm hoping you have a Google Alert set for Big Train.

P.P.S. Does anyone know of a hot cocoa mix that is still made with just sugar, milk, and cocoa powder? I really liked having a hot cocoa that didn't require keeping milk on hand.

The New Yorker's mother dresses it funny

Actually, The New Yorker just smells bad. The fragrance strip ads are back, and their subscription department says they no longer honor subscriber requests to receive unscented issues. In fact, The New Yorker couldn’t even be bothered to tell subscribers who had standing requests to receive unscented issues that they would no longer honor those requests.

I’ve been a subscriber for a very long time. I read every issue, though I usually skip or skim the short story near the back. And I’m going to miss the magazine.

Messing with your (cultural) expectations

Interactive Health Solutions guts a hippo HIPAA

From terms and conditions that are only revealed (and must be agreed to) after a patient has provided their name, address, phone number, e-mail address, birth date, and employer:

"I understand that the information attained through this Health Profile will be held confidentially. However, I give permission to Interactive Health Solutions to share my medical data with a third party for the purpose of my disease management and health improvement."

I'm confused: will the information be shared or not?

IHS says that the information will not be shared, but that they will only screen patients who agree to give permission for the information to be shared.

If IHS shares my medical data with a third party, are there any limits on what the third party does with my medical data?

There's no substantive limit on the reasons why IHS would be allowed to share my medical data. If IHS decides that the purpose of my health improvement would be best served by making my medical data public (to obtain as broad support as possible for my health improvement goals), or by giving my medical data to a drug company (so the drug company can contact me about wonderful new targeted drugs), or by giving my medical data to my employer (so my employer can revise their health insurance plan to better accommodate people with my health condition), or by giving my medical data to Geraldo Rivera (so Geraldo can focus an expose on getting me treatment), I've given permission for any or all of those disclosures.

Why is the first sentence there at all? As I understand it, my medical data won't be held confidentially at all. Employees are offered $300 to do this health screening if and only if they are willing to give Interactive Health Solutions permission to share their medical data with third parties.

This is making a mockery of HIPAA. And it's underpaying me for my medical data, which is currently getting bids of $500 and up on ebay.