People Farming

It was a comment on this blog which struck me immediately upon reading it. The subsequent discussion in the comment thread was how antisocial behavior on the part of massive numbers of homeless people setting up massive, festering camps in the downtown areas of certain cities was making those cities less and less inviting for ordinary people. In the final analysis, no one really wants to come to work in a place where they have to step around feces on the sidewalk, dodge the aggressive panhandler outside a downtown restaurant, or run from the homicidal crazy looking to shove someone off the subway platform in front of an oncoming train. Downtown retailers can’t keep on in business long when the merchandise walks out the door, assisted by undocumented shoppers; so, eventually the normals that is, those of us with jobs, property, and a liking for clean, non-threatening surroundings decamp the urban jungle for something a little less edgy, usually taking our dollars, investments, responsible civic behavior, and tax base with us.
Why on earth do certain cities San Francisco and Los Angeles being the two which spring to mind almost at once allow this to continue? What benefit does it give to see gracious, scenic, and culturally-attractive cities descend into a condition which repels longtime residents and new visitors alike? What’s in it for the civic managers of such urban centers … and as it was pointed out, there’s money in it.

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Extremely Cool

Here’s a 22-year-old who builds microchips in his parents’ garage.   His most recent production contains 1200 transistors, he made a 6-transistor version when he was a senior in high school.   The famous Intel 4004 microprocessor contained 2300 transistors, and he’s hoping to get to that level soon.

The article also mentions Jeri Ellsworth…in 2002, she created a system to emulate the old Commodore 64 computer, and also other systems of that period, so that she and other people could play old games that had been developed for them.   This led to Mammoth Toys hiring her to create a computer on a chip for the C64 Direct-to-TV joystick…it sold over half a million units.

Haven’t watched it yet, but she describes her own adventures in making microchips at home in the YouTube series Cooking with Jeri.

Great to see this kind of spirit!

 

 

 

Making It Hard/Impossible

Email I read today from an industry HR person. It is pretty difficult right now negotiating the local, state, and federal ever moving goalposts on workplace safety.

This whole thing and lack of consistency are insane. It goes from one extreme to the other: if you’ve been exposed and not symptomatic, come to work, wear a mask. If you’re a healthcare worker in CA, fine to come in if you are positive and asymptomatic. Oh, wait, if you’re positive, you can’t come to work, even if asymptotic if you are not a healthcare worker or work in any other state. You don’t have to wear a mask if everyone in your area is vaxed. Wait, we can’t disclose status due to HIPPA, so everyone should mask. Plus, even if you’re vaxed, you can still transmit it, so you should mask. Oh, actually, if you are asymptomatic and positive and mask, you probably can’t transmit it, so you’ll be ok to work in the hospital in NY soon. The messaging is so mixed. Depends on where you are reading the info and what day it is.

CTU Illegal Strikes

The Chicago Teachers Union. Is there an organization more worthy of scorn and ridicule? Hard to say.

I will say this. Coming from someone who owns a business that is determined essential infrastructure, I have little no sympathy for these walkouts illegal strikes.

When all of the teachers agree not to go to a grocery store, have their heating and air conditioning maintained, fly, or basically do anything not in their domicile, then we can talk.

Until then, all of us “essentials” who have been working through this thing from day one don’t really have any time for this temper tantrum.

I truly feel sorry for the parents of Chicago Public Schools kids who don’t know from day to day if their kids have school.

In the bigger picture, I feel sorry for those parents if they don’t have any choice but to send their kids to the Chicago Public Schools. But that is certainly grist for another post.