SD Votes, again.

District 8 doesn’t have great choices. The campaigns have been short on facts, and heavy on mud-slinging. Both candidates have plenty of mud to sling at each other. VoteNoneOfTheAbove.info is starting to look like a good idea.

Update: Ben Hueso wins by a landslide – I hope Ben does a good job. It is good to know that there isn’t someone in the office that will blindly follow the mayor, but we also need someone willing to make tough cuts in this crisis. Ben only has until June to prove he is the man for the job.

Photography rights

Ever wonder if you are allowed to take photos of something? Wonder no more. Andrew Kantor has a guide up on his website, and a new article at USAToday. Good info, I recommend everyone take a look.

Let’s get the easy stuff out of the way. Aside from sensitive government buildings (e.g., military bases), if you’re on public property you can photograph anything you like, including private property. There are some limits � using a zoom lens to shoot someone who has a reasonable expectation of privacy isn’t covered � but no one can come charging out of a business and tell you not to take photos of the building, period… Further, they cannot demand your camera or your digital media or film. Well, they can demand it, but you are under no obligation to give it to them. In fact, only an officer of the law or court can take it from you, and then only with a court order. And if they try or threaten you? They can be charged with theft or coercion, and you may even have civil recourse. Cool.

See also: The Photographer’s Right by Bert Krages (AAL)

Via Digg.

Update: You can always take the sneaky route as well

If someone asks you to delete a photo from your camera, and you really want to keep it, don’t sweat it. Show them as you delete the photo, then take out the memory card and swap it for another. When you get home, use http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html to un-delete the photo. They’re happy because they think you deleted the photo, and you’re happy because you didn’t. Hooray! Via Eaglefire

I’m a leftist puritan grinch or, buy your way to a merry Christmas

Tom is on a roll; another interesting These Days on KPBS. The topic for this segment is consumerism and the holidays. His guests were Kalle Lasn of Adbusters, the always entertaining Rev Billy Talen of the Church of Stop Shopping, and Philip Gay, professor and chairman of the sociology department at San Diego State University.

It is an interesting topic to me, as I have been trying to reduce my consumption over the past few years. It went as expected, with Rev Billy giving his always entertaining sermon, and Tom not knowing what the hell to do with him. The good Rev rambles a bit (mostly anti-chain), but always makes me laugh.

Kalle talked a bit about the start of Adbusters, then focused on manufactured culture and the over-consumption that it promotes. Philip Gay seemed to be there mostly as an apologist for consumer culture – insisting buying crap in stores was a perfectly legitimate and even spiritual response to the holiday. A plastic whatever from China has the same value as spending time with family or a handmade gift. Everyone go back to the mall and buy, Buy, BUY! I found this statement from him at the end of the program particularity depressing:

“Most people get through the holidays because they will be doing it next year. The same thing, buying the same kind of presents for the same people and shopping at the same malls. And they are doing it because they like to do it. Because they get some satisfaction and fulfillment out of doing it or they wouldn’t continuously do it. Plus, Christmas is the season that you buy gifts and consume… And sorry, but its not all spiritual. This is the time you save money and buy gifts for people.”

Uh, I’m going to guess he is in the “Receiving Gifts” Love Languages camp. I kid. Sort of. The statement above seems particularly naive coming from a sociology professor. He seems to be saying enjoyment or pleasure are the only reasons that people do things? I guess things like implied obligation, family tradition, marketing, and (manufactured) culture don’t affect people at all. I know a few people who would rather not do the gift part of the holiday, guess they are freaks.

The panel was asked about how to navigate a commercial Christmas. Other guests had called in previously to talk about mall-gift alternatives – pooling money for a vacation from one caller, and homemade gifts from another. Kalle seemed quite realistic about it, guessing that it would take five years or so before you change a family’s culture towards a new outlook. Philip on the other hand said don’t bother trying to change. Dual incomes means no time, just shop your way to happiness.

When it comes to gifts, I am typically on the “I don’t need anything” end of the spectrum. One of the best gifts I’ve received in the last few years was a jar of home-made highbush cranberry jam, from my sister. Anna swings towards the other end, and is one of those people that loves to buy gifts for people. For our wedding, however, neither of us saw the need for gifts, so our invites initially said just that. That didn’t go over well. People were almost insulted at the request, and it seemed as if we were going to get gifts anyway. So we broke down and put up a wish list. But, we also included links to a number of different charities. Many people donated, but more chose to give something physical. The safe bet I guess.

This Christmas I told people that they could always donate rather than send a gift. It will be interesting to see how many people take me up on it. I’m tempted to have an all donations Christmas next year, but it might be tough to pull off. Christmas seems a little less pliable to others than to me for some reason. I suspect my experience of growing up during a some lean Christmas’ gave me a different perspective on the season. Or, I could just be a leftist puritan grinch. Careful, I might steal your tree.

Big surf

Anna and I drove from La Jolla to Mission Beach yesterday to run some errands. A lot of people, but the sights were pretty impressive. The waves were breaking far off the coast, and were huge. Even though they broke, they still had enough energy to maintain a lot of power, all the way to the beach. There were a few surfers trying to get out, but most couldn’t make it past the soup. It was a lot of work. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera on me, but I managed to take a few photos with my grubby cell phone.

Calgary sprawl

(This is an older post that I never got around to publishing)

I certainly can’t fault Jim Kunstler’s view of recent development in Calgary – “..archetypal city of immense glass boxes in a sterilized center surrounded by an asteroid belt of beige residential subdivisions.”

It is sadly, very true. The last 15 years of Calgary growth have been all sprawl and generic suburbs. I moved to Calgary in 1996. Our house (once rented, now Colan owns) was not far from downtown, only about a 10 minute drive, or 20 minute bus & train ride. To the east and north of our house there were several farmer’s fields. Full of hay, horses, and gophers. Only the gophers are left. Ten years later, the house is surrounded by big box suburban malls and business parks. Chili’s, BestBuy, and every other store you find in every other suburb in North America.

The growth further away was even more dramatic. Hour long commutes from the south or north ends of Calgary are no longer uncommon. We used to joke that the new McMansions looked like a landfill – the same 3 house colors, and no trees. Turns out they still look like crap, but now traffic is worse.