Tedger.com

Today some very sad news was handed down by the Obama Administration. Both the Constellation program and the Ares rocket series are on very thin ice and likely gone. Constellation is the program proposed to both replace the Shuttle and the Ares rockets are the rockets being designed to do it and send us to the Moon and beyond. Although I take issue with the characterizations that this is the fault of the Obama White House, that isn’t what this blog post is about. Seeing those programs in peril I grow deeply concerned for the future of space travel and I think the politics and policy behind the decision speek even grimmer truths about America’s place on the world stage. Earlier I posted on Twitter,

The liberal brought up on Asimov and Roddenberry in me is quite saddened and conflicted today.

These two men, as corny as it is, very much shaped my view of humanity and what we are posible. This extends to my world view to my politics. Something lost to many is that many Trekkies, Trekkers if you prefer, don’t just love Star Trek as a show, we love it for the message it sends about who we are and what we can achieve. Gene Roddenberry didn’t just fill the bridge with minorities because he felt like it, he had to fight for it. There is a reason great figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. saw value in the show. A constant message is that we can achieve more, that we can push ourselves further.

The Apollo Program and the programs before it embodied this idea into American life and into public policy, and seeing Apollo’s heir lost to the realities of the 21st Century scares, and saddens me. The 21st Century was “the future” not that long ago, and yet now that we’re here, that “future” seems so far away. Last night at a bar, a man I didn’t know genuinely asked me if I believed we still lived in a democracy. Despite the election of the first black President, Barak Obama on the mantra “Yes We Can,” the greater signs of the crushing realities of the 21st Century, I think, makes it a very grim time to be a progressive. Roddenberry, and Asimov wrote and produced works describing global progress, human progress, and although this news is central to the United States, when the beacon of implemented progressive thought for the last two centuries is so dim, it’s hard to think that things aren’t bleak.

What does all of this have to do with the title? First a segway. Earlier I posted a link to an article on my tumble blog. You should read it, it’s important and I believe it says significant things about how we, as humanity, move forward.

Are you back? Good. I not only feel the author is right I have my own anecdote to share.

Not so recently I was having Thanksgiving dinner with a group of friends. One had a small child, Greta. Greta occasionally gets to play with her Dad’s iPhone. She asked one of the other guests if she could see her phone, yet was a little confused, and I think disappointed when touching the screen did nothing. Children everywhere are growing up in a world of touch screens, cell phones and the internet and are frustrated when they can’t interact with these things. This “cognitive surplus” isn’t just being used for Wikipedia either it’s being used constantly, frequently to make our lives better, and when I say “our” I truly mean everyone’s. As the barriers to access to the internet are slowly stripped away all over the world, most of them economic, more and more people will grow up in a world no longer in the collective television bender we’ve found ourselves in.

I think Roddenberry and Asimov would be pleased. We may not know it but we are striving and succeeding in the process of making ourself better. Many of these projects in social media are free to use once you have access and that can only make me think of this:

The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of Humanity. –Star Trek: First Contact

This last week has seen the debate on health care reform turn a little bit ugly. There is an unsubstantiated rumor propagated by the far right that a provision in the House’s version of the health care reform legislation that would, according to those spreading the rumor, have committees deciding when older citizens should die. This “Death Panel” rumor comes out of a provision in legislation being considered in the House that would allow Medicare to cover end of life counseling. This counseling is to aid an individual in making informed decisions about how they wish to live their final days. The counseling is absolutely not about having people receive counseling on assisted suicide, or what Sarah Palin seems to suggest it is, committee ordained murder. However the point of this argumenation isn’t to debate fact, it’s to confuse people into opposing the legislation for fictional reasons.

In a healthy democracy, which sadly I’d say we have one on the mend but not healthy, this kind of argumentation would be swept away by legislators and government officials of every political persuasion because confusion and lies don’t aid us as a nation and shouldn’t guide our decision making. Our decision making should be a collaborative process that involves everyone. As much as I disagree with Iowa’s Republican Senator Chuck Grassley I’ve been impressed by his willingness to stay involved in the process of health care reform legislation in the Senate. As such, I believed that Senator Grassley would be just the kind of legislator to have no tolerance for this kind of tactic.

I unfortunately was wrong. See video below.

I almost went to this very town hall meeting but didn’t because I realized the crowds would be huge. (Adel’s, captured in part here, was moved outside because the library couldn’t accommodate the 500+ people that attended.) As you can see Senator Grassley is either misinformed himself or has decided to propagate this rumor, either of which I’m greatly upset by. The Senator was reportedly challenged later on the matter by an individual wishing for him to admit that there is no such provision in the house bill and he dodged the question. All of this culminated in me deciding that I needed to write a letter to the Senator which you can find below.

Senator Grassley,

I’m writing to you today absolutely appalled at your behavior at your recent town hall meetings. I’m a progressive democrat but have always felt that you, along with Senator Harkin, do a good job representing all of Iowa. I think Iowa would be poorly represented by two Democrats, or two Republicans, and I, like most Iowans I believe, feel that one Democrat and one Republican is a good balance for our Senate delegation. As such I’ve never voted against you, that however I believe is likely to change.

Sir, I’m absolutely appalled at your, and other members of the Republican Party’s behavior on this mater of “death committees.” You know better than most Iowans about legislation, this and the law that may come out of it, and know very well that the measure in the House’s bill has nothing to do with counseling people to suicide, it’s about counseling them on death and the end of their lives.

With all due respect sir, do you have plans set up for the unfortunate time that you pass away? If you don’t have plans, and didn’t know how to set them up wouldn’t you like your health coverage aid you in paying for this crucial advice? I think every Iowan deserves to live, and die, with dignity and in a manner they see fit and accordance with our laws. If an Iowan doesn’t understand the services that hospice provides, or doesn’t realize that there is a life changing medial breakthrough on the horizon I would hope they could get the advice they need on the matter. I would hope that you, as our Senator, would support our ability to receive this advice and counseling on this very important matter.

Showing complete disregard for these needs of your constituents isn’t what appalls me most however Senator. What makes me absolutely furious about your actions is that you propagate this lie. Sir, your position in our republic is to represent us in Washington and to inform us on those proceedings so we can be more capable and better informed citizens. If our elected officials are incapable of informing us factually of what is happening in Washington then they are incapable of serving their post.

Senator, I was once honored to be able to say that you and Senator Harkin are both my representatives in the Senate. I hope the day returns that I am able to say that again.

A concerned citizen, upset constituent, and appalled voter,

Trevin Ward

If anyone else wishes to contact Senator Grassley, or any other Congressman, on the matter you are welcome to use ann and all of my letter.

So I’ve had several people ask me about battery charging in laptops recenetly and rather than respond to another individually I decided that I’d respond to this one via a blog post. This will get the question answered and it’ll result in a new blog post on a blog that hasn’t been updated in…. a long time.

The complete set of questions which cover most people’s quandaries on the topic follow:

[I]f the battery only has a limited number of charges, it is best to let it run down completely every time you unplug it at all, even if you’re only driving home from work and the computer is sleeping, or even if you just move the laptop from one outlet to another across the room? Also, since it’s best to unplug phones as soon as they are done charging, is it also best to do that with laptops? Does the laptop run off battery or wall power when it’s plugged in?

So the first question here is effectively should you always complete discharge your battery before charging it up again. The answer is pretty much a no. Modern Lithium Ion batteries (which nearly all portable electronics with built in rechargeables use) are far more effective than older battery types. This is especially true for laptop batteries. Laptop batteries include hardware inside the battery pack to monitor current capacity and store various statistics so the computer can use the battery more effectively. Every once and a while it doesn’t hurt to let the battery completely discharge and recharge as this will give that circuitry a full charge cycle to judge the battery’s effectiveness off of, otherwise it’s not a necessity.

A number of people have heard that fully discharging and recharging batteries can extend their lifetime. This isn’t the case with lithium ion batteries in laptops. Lithium ion batteries’ lifetime are measured in charge cycles. A charge cycle is a complete discharge worth of use and a complete charge worth of charging. That can mean a charge cycle is a full discharge and charge or it could mean four quarter discharges and charges, or two half discharges and charges or any combination you can think of. Fully discharging your battery just because you happen to drive home with it asleep in the car is going to result in unnecessary charge cycles and thus a shorter battery lifetime. Most recent (although not the very most recent) Apple laptops are rated for 300 charge cycles. 300 charge cycles may not be a lot but for a frame of reference I use my laptop relatively heavily and my year and a half old battery only has 95 charge cycles on it. If you have an Apple you can find out for yourself by opening System Profiler and going to the Power section.

What happens when the battery hits 300 charge cycles? It’s just not as effective anymore. Again using Apples as an example after 300 charge cycles all but the newest Macbooks and Macbook Pros’ batteries should still be able to provide 80% capacity after 300 charge cycles. Unessesaraly discharing and recharging a laptop’s battery is simply going to result in the computer needing a new battery sooner.

The second question (Should laptops be unplugged after charging like cell phones?) is partially answered by the above answer but not quite. First off, cell phone batteries are typically designed to last far longer and can because cell phones need much less power than a laptop. The reason it’s recommended to unplug your phone after charging isn’t because it harms the phone (or the charger) it’s simply because it draws more power than is needed. Some (and many non-smart phones) cell phones and other smaller portable devices are actually designed in such a way that the battery is continuously used and the charger is simply recharging the battery even while you’re using it plugged into the wall.

This isn’t the case with laptops. Laptops will run off of the power adapter (third question handled!) while plugged into the wall and charge the battery if needed at the same time. Once the battery is charged the adapter simply powers the computer and the battery is left to be ready when you need to move away from the wall.

Questions ANSWERED!

¹ Today the Iowa Supreme Court struck down the Iowa Defense of Marriage Act recognizing an Equal Protection claim of the plaintiffs. Not only did the Court strike down the law but it did so unanimously, not a single justice wished to decent on the ruling opinion.

The next step however is likely to be the inevitable attempt to amend the Iowa Constitution. In Iowa this is an incredibly difficult task. To amend the Constitution the measure must pass in both houses of the State Legislature in two consecutive legislatures (there has to be an election in between). Even then this only puts it on a ballot measure. The process at it’s fastest will take years, and that’s if the legislature is cooperative. The Speaker of the Iowa House and the Majority Leader have both spoken strongly in favor of the ruling today, it’s unlikely that the legislature will move quickly, if at all.

I really don’t have much more to say. I’m proud of my state for so strongly upholding civil liberties. The opinion is incredibly easy to read and explains the legal principles very well. If you’re interested in reading it you can find it here.

Tedger.com is four years old! It was born on a friend’s blanket outside of Lyon Harwood on a wonderful March 29th in 2005.

Interestingly, last year, and every year I’ve noted the creation of Tedger.com….. I got the date wrong. I just did a whois lookup on Tedger.com and found out that even though I thought it was the 31st, it’s actually the 29th. It’s like a pet that I never knew the actual birthdate of except it’s on the internet so I can look it up and look silly.

Happy 4th birthday Tedger.com!

See the below video to see who “he” is and what he “accepts”.

Brothersward.tedger.com will soon be live and will automatically import all YouTube videos from the account “brothersward” on YouTube. I’ll have a link in the header sometime soon.

Brendan’s video response follows:

I propose a video blog project to my brother. We’ll see if he takes me up on it. The first episodes of Brotherhood 2.0 that I refer to are here.

Not only a third post but a second video! I’m having fun with these. Need to work on lighting. No joke, I cut about twelve minutes of BSG stuff.

Battlestar Galactica’s final episode was tonight. It was superb. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I feel it is one of the finest pieces of work I’ve had the pleasure to enjoy. I really mean that. I feel that television series can be just as profound as a piece of literature, a painting, a song. It’s all art and we take what we do from it; I took a great deal away from Galactica. Television series often fail to fulfill their potential because the network cancels the show, or it’s extended past what it was capable to maintain. Galactica struck a balance that few television series are able to attain.

On my walk home from my brother’s I was thinking about how many themes the series covered throughout it’s length. It did it masterfully and concurrently, not addressing an issue and moving on, Galactica dealt with them all at once. Having come to the end I can say that I found this more fulfilling than it could have been with episodic storytelling, like you might find in a show like most Star Trek series.

I’ve decided to share my thoughts on the themes found in Galactica. This wont contain many spoilers but if you haven’t seen the finale I suggest you do so before you continue reading.

Birth, death, and rebirth

The theme of birth, death, and rebirth is one of the more overt themes of the series. Throughout the length of the show one of the most frequently uttered phrases is “All of this has happened before, all of this will happen again.” The theme extends to the cycle of civilizations characterized in the show but also to the characters themselves.

Cylon Resurrection

We learn early in the series that the Cylons have the ability to resurrect themselves after death. Death is painful, but is not absolute, it “becomes a learning experience.” The Cylons did not always have this technology and when they lose it they seek out the ability to rebuild it at all costs. The Cylons are no better because of their capability to learn from mistakes that kill them, and in some cases they are worse off. It’s only when the Cylon’s, and most specifically Cavil’s, ability to resurrect is forever lost that the cycle of destruction is broken. It’s was a cycle, birth is part of it, but so is death; Cavil represented the destructive death part of it.

Kara Thrace

The resurrection of Kara gives us another example of resurrection. In her first life Kara was a self proclaimed screw up. She never knew what she wanted for herself and it wasn’t till the very end that she finally learned what her place was in the world. We learn near the very end of the series that Kara’s greatest fear wasn’t death, but to be forgotten. Kara sought glory in the Ancient Greek sense but at the loss of personal fulfillment. Kara’s resurrection gave us the flip side to Cylon resurrection, someone able to achieve fulfillment in their goals after being given a second chance.

Laura Roslin

I firmly believe that the initial cure to Roslin’s cancer was resurrection in disguise. Like Kara, Roslin was able to fulfill her personal destiny when given a second chance.

Technology vs. Humanity

This one is a slight twist on the classic technology vs. nature. This theme is inherent in the setting of the show. Humanity was nearly destroyed by technology once and they were once again pushed to the brink. The Cylons are self-aware but they are human creations. Galactica isn’t like Frankenstein though. Humanity is able to use technology to save themselves, in the personified technology if the Cylons, make peace.

The Divine

There is a constant undercurrent of the divine in Galactica ranging from the Greek inspired gods of the Twelve Colonies to the monotheistic god of the Cylons. In the very end it’s suggested that god is a force of nature. Galatica doesn’t attempt to define the divine, we’re never told if the Cylons or the Humans had it right, it just is. Never the less the divine exists in the world of Galatica, but it’s undefinable.

Angels/Demons

Gauis describes them as angles, until he does most people simply referred to them as the Six in his head, or the Gauis in Caprica’s. They aren’t all good though, Head Six certainly does things that are bad. I think they’re both angels and demons. I think they were meant as allegory but I think the show allows you to assume they are as allegorical or literal as you would like them to be. Like the rest of the divine this is left purposely unresolved. I don’t think however that the rebirth of Kara is an angel, even if it’s tied into this idea of the divine.

Ideals and the Practical

This plays itself out a number of ways. Most prominently in the debate of security vs ideals. Constantly the democracy of the Fleet is placed at odds with the security of it. The democracy and the ideals never give way though. I almost called this paragraph “Ideals vs. the Practical” but in the end that isn’t genuine either. Much like most things I think Galatica suggests that there is a balance to be struck and to suggest that one can only exist with the exclusion of the other in a zero sum game is flawed.

Love

The theme of love is one of the more subtle in Galactica in that many may pass it over as a plot point. It isn’t, and the final episode convinced me of this. The Cylons believe that the thing they were lacking to reproduce was love but the theme extends beyond that. There is forgiveness in love and if the leadership of the Battlestar Galatica and the Fleet is anything, it’s forgiving. Adama repeatedly forgives the mistakes of others, he knows they can’t go on without each other and that forgiveness.

Adama and Roslin

The most profound exploration of love, and really any of these themes for me, is the love story of William Adama and Laura Roslin. In many ways William Adama is a character I can see a little bit of myself in, or at least my ideal self. Along those lines the relationship of Adama and Roslin is something I’ve really connected with in the show. I know, I’m a total sap, but I think, and clearly the shows writers think, that love is important.

The series is finally over. I’m not sad to see it go though. Right now I feel the same way I do when I finish a good book or reach the end of a good movie. I feel that I’m a better person than I was at the beginning of the show, that I’ve learned a little bit, explored a little bit. Fiction gives us the ability to explore things that aren’t. Science fiction pushes that a little further, but in the end, good science fiction is not unlike any other fiction.

There are likely themes I missed because I didn’t think of them while writing them but I thought I’d share what I could remember to commit to written words.

This may have been a bad idea….

I recommend hitting the “HQ” for slightly higher quality video. I’ve already learned a few things if I ever decide to do this again.

Additionally, the whole sidebar thing is a YouTube convention. Given that I’m embedding this in my blog it doens’t make as much sense. If you’re curious these are the guys I’m referring to.