Watching my congressman.

Recently I have made some posts about govtrack.us. A site used to track what is going on inside the Congress of the United States of America. Other than a few bills I am monitoring, I am alsow monitoring my elected officials to they congress. I found something today that was both annoying and somewhat amusing. ...

One of the bills I had been following was House Resolution 2237, a bill "To provide for the redeployment of United States Armed Forces and defense contractors from Iraq". Since I am not a fan of war, and especially this war, I actually called and left a message for my Representative in the house, Representative Mike McIntyre, to vote in favor of this bill. Unfortunately, he was one of the 24% of Democrats who were against the bill.

After I saw that, I started to look at what else he had done lately. Well, on March 26th he had sponsored House Simple Resolution 268. A resolution, "Supporting responsible fatherhood, promoting marriage, and encouraging greater involvement of fathers in the lives of their children, especially on Father's Day." Being a father I was intrigued. One quote from the resolution I found somewhat amusing given his May 10th vote was:

Whereas children with fathers at home tend to do better in school, to be less prone to emotional and behavioral problems, and to have more successful relationships;

Whereas boys and girls alike demonstrate greater self-control and ability to take initiative when fathers are actively involved in their upbringing;

And yet he votes to keep thousands of fathers ( and mothers ) away from home for an increasingly extended period of time.

I took a look at the text of the bill and maybe it was too simple for him. Perhaps he needs a complex answer to this problem. Perhaps, due to the number of military bases that his constituents support he likes the idea of prolonged military engagements that have already achieved their initial objectives. Or, on the other hand, he sees the mess we've made over there and he is holding on to the hope that we can still clean it up.

Return of the Rednecks

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwlklVQwYs0]
A couple of the guys I work with worked on this Star Wars spoof. It's 10 minutes long and pretty humorous, especially for a star wars fan. Enjoy. ...

Governor Bill Richardson

I don't watch it often, but tonight I watched The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. I missed the beginning of his interview but I caught the last part of Governor Bill Richardson. If I were to say he was a breath of fresh air, the very fact that that statement is cliche would reduce the sense of what I felt. It felt good to listen to him speak. ...

He spoke quite eloquently, without speaking over anyones head. He spoke with passion without losing his temper. He spoke about change and it seemed like he held himself responsible for it. I only saw him interview for less than 5 minutes.

He got me curious with his statements regarding our dependence on foreign oil. Though he did mention reducing our dependence on foreign oil, he also talked about America being a little more green. In a politically risky move, he said we might have to change our ways in order to reduce our dependence. He didn't say it like I do, when he said it I felt like it wouldn't be that bad. If felt very peaceful about the types of changes he was discussing. That's powerful communication.

So, being curious, I checked out his website - richardsonforpresident.com. The first thing that caught my eye was his new "Job Interview" advertisements. These ads doing a good job of showing off his qualifications without the usual feel of a political commercial.

His website is well layed out so that you can easily look a little bit deeper than a commercial. Make sure to check out his views on some of the major issues we are dealing with as a country. Much like what I saw while he spoke on The Tonight Show. His words were realistic and yet seemed achievable. Even in his disagreements with current policy, his words showed great tact. A true diplomat.

I don't know many of the candidates yet. I've only just begun to look. From what I see, Governor Bill Richardson looks like somebody who deserves a lot of our attention. He looks like someone who will get a lot done. He looks like he will bring the country back together. He looks like he could raise the respect that the international community has for the USA. Finally, he has been nominated for the nobel peace prize 4 times - that speaks volumes right there.

Searching and Digging

I've been doing a little digging through the new legislation on govtrack.us and I thought I would point to a couple of bills that might be of interest to my blog readers. They might be of interest because they both deal with issues I have discussed on this blog. I have actually found, and am monitoring, many bills as well as the actions of my legislators. ...

The first bill is House Resolution 2111. Sponsored by representative Rush Holt, who is a Democrat from New Jersey, this bill is titled the 'Foreign Language Education Partnership Program Act'. The purpose is to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish a partnership program in foreign languages. One part of the bill I particularly like is:

From the amounts made available to carry out this section, the Secretary may make incentive payments for a fiscal year to eligible partnerships to develop and maintain, or to improve and expand, model programs that support articulated foreign language learning in kindergarten through grade 12.

I like it because it talks about foreign language learning starting from kindergarten. Bravo.

The second bill is something that, I've read, comes up every year. It is http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-1335. Sponsored by Senator James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, this bill is entered with the intention of Declaring English as the official language of the United States of America. The full text wasn't available as of my post but it will probably be available in a couple of days. If English is declared the official language of the US, I could see some issues. Most of it has to do with respecting the diversity of our nation, especially the areas that are mostly native and those dialects are strong. Depending on the wording of the bill, people who don't speak English well may have their civil liberties threatened in cases where they would currently be provided an interpreter.

I know many people feel different from me, so whether you feel the same or different please comment. I highly recommend looking at the bills at least a bit for yourselves, but I'll leave that decision to you.

Watch the drama unfold

Many people around my age probably remember the Schoolhouse Rocks song entitled "I'm just a bill". I not only remember it but I have the DVD and my 3 year old loves it. That song makes the journey of a bill on its way to, hopefully, becoming a law interesting. Once we get older, many of us have quickly lost that interest. However, I have found something today that might rekindle that interest for some of you. ...

I was reading an article on slashdot that discussed the Terrorist Hoax Improvements Act of 2007 ( S. 735 ) and how it relates to the Mooninite Scare in Boston earlier this year. I wanted to see what the bill, well amendment, actually said. My googling lead me to GovTrack.us. The first sentence on their about page says it all:

Transparency in government is key for a healthy representative democracy.

Feel Free to read more of the about page.

While checking out the site I came across a very interesting find. The have a ton of feeds for watching bills make their way through congress. They have feeds for new bills, new laws and each bill has a feed to watch that specific bills progress through congress. As I stated before you can read the text of the bills. You can also see who sponsored and co-sponsored the bills and as they are voted on you can see who voted for and against these bills. While this information is all available online in other forms, they have created a nice system for more easily tracking bills.

I suggest checking out the new bills and keeping an eye on a few that interest you. If they were just introduced, the full text might not be available yet but it should be soon.

Centering On Markers with Yahoo Maps

At my work, Flash is one of our core competencies. As a format, its ubiquity is probably its most powerful asset. For us, it is the best format to display some of our other core competencies such as video, 3D and rich internet applications. One thing we we're very happy to see was when Yahoo made a Flash Component and API for their mapping tool. We are still waiting for Google to do the same.

When I first dove into the component I unzipped the SWC and just messed with the innards trying to figure out what I could do with it that was not officially documented. While I did figure out some interesting things about driving directions, changing the logo, changing the copyright info as well as a few other things, we never had a client want to do more with it than show a map, at a certain zoom level and add some markers. Recently we had a client who wanted a map with dynamic markers. When they selected a certain group of points of interest it would only show that group. Easy enough. My boss added a little fun into the mix by saying he wanted the map to adjust its zoom and center itself on the displayed markers. Below I describe the thought process of doing something I hadn't done before. ...

So the question was, how do I center on the current markers. There was no zoomAndCenterToMarkers() function so I had to look deeper. It was there that I found the setBounds() function which, "Sets the map to the center of a rectangle specified by a LatLonRect object." That sounds like just the right function for my problem but there is a hitch. How do I get the latitude and longitude of my markers so that I can create the LatLonRect object?

My markers are all created by address. In the future they may be changed by the client so I wasn't assured a stable set of latitude and longitude data. Once again I checked into the API. Unfortunately, I didn't see any documented or undocumented way to just geocode the address. One of the great things of the yahoo maps API, auto-geocoding, was making this more difficult than I thought it should be. Either that or I was making it more difficult than it should be :) Once I thought about it I realized that geocoding is an expensive process. It takes a server call that takes an unknown amount of time, there must be an event that gets called when this occurs. Low and behold, there was my answer. The EVENT_MARKER_GEOCODE_SUCCESS event broadcast from the map. So the next step was to add this:

yMap.addEventListener( com.yahoo.maps.api.flash.YahooMap.EVENT_MARKER_GEOCODE_SUCCESS, Delegate.create( this, this.onGeoCode ) );

The event object that gets passed into my onGeoCode function has a latlon property so I can start to build the data I need.

private function onGeoCode( event:Object ):Void{
  var newCoordinates:LatLon = LatLon( event.latlon );
  this.markerCoordinates.push( newCoordinates );
  this.showAllMarkers();
}

I add the LatLon object to an array of latitude and longitude data with the idea to call a show all markers function that looks like this:

private function showAllMarkers(  ):Void
{
  var coordRect:LatLonRect = new LatLonRect();
  for( var index:String in this.markerCoordinates )
  {
    var coordinates:LatLon = LatLon( this.markerCoordinates[index] );
    if( coordRect.minLat == null || coordinates.lat < coordRect.minLat )
    {
      coordRect.minLat = coordinates.lat;
    }
    if( coordRect.minLon == null || coordinates.lon < coordRect.minLon )
    {
      coordRect.minLon = coordinates.lon;
    }
    if( coordRect.maxLat == null || coordRect.maxLat < coordinates.lat )
    {
      coordRect.maxLat = coordinates.lat;
    }
    if( coordRect.maxLon == null || coordRect.maxLon < coordinates.lon )
    {
      coordRect.maxLon = coordinates.lon;
    }
  }
  this.yMap.setBounds( coordRect );		
}

Simply put, it runs through the array of LatLon objects and creates the LatLonRect object from that data. This example is rather simplistic and doesn't take into account moving between hemispheres because I can be reasonably assured that this project will be limited to a very small area of the planet. Calling showAllMarkers() every time I get new geocode data is expensive and will probably break the application. The solution I came up with was to only call showAllMarkers() once all the markers for a given POI category are geocoded. So in my code I set a variable called markersDisplayedCount that equals the number of markers that are going to be displayed. I then changed my onGeoCode function to look like this:

private function onGeoCode( event:Object ):Void
{
  var newCoordinates:LatLon = LatLon( event.latlon );
  this.markerCoordinates.push( newCoordinates );
  var someMarkersVisible:Boolean = this.markersDisplayedCount > 0;
  var allMarkersGeoCoded:Boolean = this.markerCoordinates.length == this.markersDisplayedCount;
  if( someMarkersVisible && allMarkersGeoCoded )
  {
    this.showAllMarkers();
  }
}

As you can see, I test to see if all the displayed markers have been geoCoded and that some markers are visible before I call the showAllMarkers() function. The reason I add the someMarkersVisible test was to lessen the risk of a fast moving user from breaking the application. It's not an infallible system but it does the job within the confines of the requirements.

A couple final points from all of this. If instead of zooming to and centering on the markers you just want to ensure they are all within the current display, you can replace this:

var coordRect:LatLonRect = new LatLonRect();

from the showAllMarkers() function with this:

var coordRect:LatLonRect = this.yMap.getBounds();

In this case yMap is my YahooMap object and the getBounds() function gets the current LatLonRect of the map. By making this minor change your map will only change, by zooming or recentering, if the markers are outside of its current bounds. The last point I want to make is that if you are dealing with a mapping application that may deal with crossing over hemisphere boundaries, your showAllMarkers() function will have to take this into account. I believe this will involve ranges from -90 degrees to 90 degrees for latitude and -180 degrees to 180 degrees for longitude.

----
Daryl "Deacon" Ducharme is currently "Code Czar" for the Interactive Agency Provis Media Group, LLC which helps organizations enhance identity, connect with customers and increase productivity.

The Official Language of the United States

Back in February I made a blog post called, "The Power of Language." The post talked about how, instead of being a one language nation we should become multilingual. The instigator of this has been people's recent issue of the pledge of allegiance being translated into spanish. Why is that an issue? Because in this country we speak English.

Over at washingtonpost.com there is an article about a mother who found out the school was translating the pledge of allegiance into spanish and went into action. Yes, it is an old article but it has a great quote that I'd like to share:

"This is a SACRED oath," Tepper wrote. "It is written in English. Our language is English. I am offended to hear it any other way. I am angry that my child is having to hear this in another language."

There you have it. Our language is English. Except that it isn't. Let me take you on my journey to finding out what the official language really is. ...

I find the US Constitution fascinating. So many of the ideas within the constitution have stood the test of time. After reading the translated version of George Washington's Farewell Address letter to the United States I went looking for something similar for the US Constitution. Then I came across the US Constitution online. It isn't translated, but for many of the parts of the Constitution it has notes you can read that explain it in modern english. It was there that I came across this note about the official language of the United States of America. One of the first paragraphs on the page says:

Many people are surprised to learn that the United States has no official language. As one of the major centers of commerce and trade, and a major English-speaking country, many assume that English is the country's official language. But despite efforts over the years, the United States has no official language.

There you have it. We don't have an official language. We have just naturally settled on English. However, it now seems that we are naturally choosing to add Spanish to our vocabulary. Childrens' programming like Dora the Explorer or Plaza Sesamo and many others show that many people see the future of the United States as a multi lingual one. In fact, I'm sure a generation or two from now, the translation of the pledge of allegiance will only bother a very small percentage of the population.

Sarkozy wins French Presidential Election

As a French-American, I am always pulled towards France. Whether it be the country, the french language or french food. So I found it interesting that when I turned on my TV today and did a little channel surfing I came to C-Span. What caught my eye was the headline posted on the screen which was the same as the title of this blog post. I didn't really follow the election closely, and I don't know much about the two finalists ( Royal and Sarkozy ), but I did follow this election more than any other non US election. The following is just some brief points I wanted to point out about this election or about what I saw today. ...

First off, France uses a 2 round runoff election system for their presidential elections, as well as their national assembly, which is a system I really admire. If you decide not to follow the wikipedia link the basic idea is this, their are 2 elections, the first to get it down to the final 2 candidates and then the final election. They also seem to have more than 2 parties running their country. This system is designed more with multiple parties in mind, though I will admit it would not change a 2 party system into a multi party system ( at least not in one election ).

I also found Sarkozy's post victory speech interesting as well. France being a part of Europe may have played a large part, but I liked how he talked about many different places in the world than I ever hear about in the US. France most likely has more interest in these places than the US but there were quite a few of them. I also like how he said that he make sure France is a friend of the US but that he would make it clear that friendship between France and the US does not mean they will be a lapdog to the US ( my terrible memory translated ).

All in all, I will find it interesting to see how France changes under Sarkozy. Will the US and France, once again, have a stellar relationship? Will the upcoming French National Assembly elections strengthen or weaken Sarkozy's power.

Basically, it was fun to watch another countries presidential election unfold. As time goes by I plan on paying attention to more politics around the world as well as at home. This is my world, I'm paying attention to it a little more each day.

Joost Review

For the past couple weeks I have been beta testing Joost. For those that don't know, Joost is a new web venture that puts on demand video on the web. The service is free, and paid for by advertising that is interspersed within the shows you watch. The grand plan for Joost seems very cool. On Demand television without paying the cable company. Let's see how well that plan is doing in my short review. ...

Joost is currently in an invitation only beta, though as of this week all users now have unlimited invitations, so take everything I say with the knowledge that things may change.

Joost is pretty nice system. It opens up in full screen mode when you first start it up. It seems more like a media center than a program running on your computer right away. The first thing that loaded up for me was a "Channel" of Joost recommendations so that I could get started. I had read on the Joost website that the "Fight Network" channel had Ring of Honor wrestling so I went to check that out first. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have any ROH material up so that was disappointing. Someone had told me about the show "Stella" on Comedy Central so I went to check that out. This was available and I got a chance to watch a whole show.

When I first started watching shows the commercials would jump in at random points, sometimes in the middle of a sentence. Since the latest upgrade it seems that has changed, the commercials now seem to come in at natural points in the shows.

Currently the Joost system is pretty basic. It allows you to watch shows from channels you select and it pretty decent quality as well. They also have a "My Joost" section that has some widgets for you to have up while you watch your shows. The selection of widgets is small right now but I have heard that they will be increasing the number of widgets and allowing others to make widgets. However, when I watch a show I don't need to be doing much else, especially with video on demand.

Once in a while I would run into a glitch or two. Sometimes I would just get disconnected from the network or the show would stop and go to the next in the list. However, these are minor inconveniences as you can easily get right back to what you were watching. The biggest problem I saw with Joost is the current availability of programs. What they have is pretty limited, but this is just beta. They have made deals with CBS and recently on their blog I read that they made a deal with Turner Broadcasting Systems. Content is on their way but will it be any good?

In conclusion I think the system is pretty sound for a beta product and will only get better as they increase the numbers of users. The only downfall for this system might be lack of quality content. At home, I only have very limited cable so that the network stations come in clearly. I don't really need cable because their really isn't that much to watch. That is why a system like Joost could be very good with the right content. I would love to be able to watch wrestling, the only thing I really miss from cable, and would love to be able to watch it on my schedule rather than it's broadcast schedule without having to pay for extra stuff.

By the way, if you'd like an invite just let me know. I am more than happy to let my friends and relations check out this new system.

Ok smartypants, what's your answer?!

Last week I wrote a blog article about snopes.com. The idea for the posting came from an e-mail I received regarding another gas-out. As stated in my post, I replied to the e-mail explaining the misconceptions of this e-mail. The person who sent it to me was my wife and she didn't quite appreciate the know it all attitude I probably took in my response. This morning on the way to work the topic came up again and I tried to make my point again. Basically the conversation came down to her asking me, "Well, then you come up with an idea that will lower the price of gasoline". Well, I guess I asked for it but here is my online rebuttal. ...

If you checked out the articles about the gas out at snopes.com, you might have come to the realization that this idea does not affect the oil supply chain as mentioned in the e-mails. If you read the articles and allowed oil consumers, and thus yourself, to be fallible, you realized a gas out doesn't work because you aren't willing to take on a hardship to show how much it means to you. In order to make a difference that the oil companies would notice, you have to reduce your own consumption of gasoline and assist others in doing the same. Many of these ideas are already out there so I don't need to come up with them myself.

• Ride a bike to work( or walk/jog ) - In this way you limit the influence the gas companies have on your daily mode of transportation. How much do you spend each week in gasoline? How much does a bike and all the accompanying paraphenalia cost? How long would it take to pay off if you aren't buying as much gas? Don't forget, you'll be keeping yourself in better shape as well.
• Car Pool - This takes a certain amount of organization, but it can help. If you work in a company that has a lot of people, or even in an area where a lot of people work this may already be set up. This might not only help you save money in gasoline but also help make new friends and acquaintances.
• Ride the Bus - Or some other method of mass transportation. Bigger cities usually have better mass transit options, the more of us that take advantage of them can only have them improve though. Some mass transit options don't even use gasoline for energy! Get involved and we can have better options in mass transportation.
• Use a car with good gas mileage - Don't fool yourself on what good gas mileage is either. Less than 30 miles per gallon might be good for a 6 or 8 cylinder but nobody said get good gas mileage for a sports car. If you must buy a vanity car, there are options in electric cars out there, but they are still pricey at this point.

There are definately other ideas as well but the main point is use less gas. When it comes to a true boycott, you end up taking on a hardship to make your point. During the civil rights movement bus boycotts and sit ins weren't convenient to the people participating in them, they were hardships they took on. By taking on these hardships people finally started to take notice, usually because it hit them in the pocketbook. If you want to make the oil companies realize you don't like their pricing strategies, take on the hardship of not buying, or in reality buying less of, their products. While your at it, assist others in doing the same. That will lower gas company profits which will make them change their ways. Of course, if you change yours, you might never go back :)

Since there are other ideas out there. Please share your ideas in the comments. Anonymous posts are accepted, but please respect the other readers.