Contra Costa County's Grand Bluff

About a week ago, I, along with some friends, read a shocking article in the SF Chronicle detailing a plan by the Contra Costa County DA to stop prosecuting misdemeanors and certain drug felonies. To quote the article, "People who are suspected of misdemeanor drug crimes, break minor traffic laws, shoplift, trespass or commit misdemeanor vandalism will also be in the clear," but that "prosecutors will still consider charging suspects with certain misdemeanors, including domestic violence, driving under the influence, firearms offenses, vehicular manslaughter, sex crimes and assault with a deadly weapon." The full article is here.

Hey criminal breathren, want a new hard drive? Go to Contra Costa County's Best Buy and steal one! You won't be prosecuted! Hey rapists, want to grope people? Go to Contra Costa County! If it's not too egregious, no one will prosecute you! Need a place to stay? Just sleep on any private property in Contra Costa County! The police won't prosecute you for trespassing!

You get the idea.

Of course, we were skeptical when we read this. No DA in his/her right mind would do this. Yet, this was an article in the Chronicle. They wouldn't even do this on April Fools Day. I later checked Google News for more news, and found that this was indeed, shockingly, true.

I checked for updates on the situation every few days to see how the major public outcry would affect the DA's decision, and to see if Contra Costa County would spiral down to what may be later referred to euphemistically in the history books as "America's Dystopian Experiment of the Economic Crisis of 2009."

Fortunately, as another Chronicle article (and many other sources) later reported, this was all a huge bluff that DA Robert Kochly engineered to force the Board of Supervisors and the general public to recognize law enforcement's need for a basic level of funding, even during economic downturns.

I do feel sympathetic for Kochly and his strained organization.

The REMIX Culture

This is one of Lawrence Lessig's classic speeches. I'm sure most people who read this already hold the viewpoint that copyright law needs a major overhaul, so this video will just be a friendly and clear reminder of why that is true. For those of you who believe that copyright law needs no change, hopefully this video will explain why so many people believe firmly that the current system is broken.



The highly ironic part of this is that Warner Music has issued a DMCA take-down notice on the presentation.

Really?

Nasal Adventures: A Timeline

Thank you everyone for your help and concern regarding the 5 ER visits the last week or so. I feel like I owe a lot of you in many ways after this is all over, but for now, I think I at least should give you an update on what is going on. Here is the approximate series of events:

Friday, March 27: I started bleeding in my right nostril in the morning while I was cleaning my room and watching the last few episodes of Battlestar Galactica. It stopped about an hour. It then bled several more times that day, and the episode that started at 4:30 or so caused me some concern because it wasn't slowing down. I was supposed to preflight a road trip for the CS106 section leaders at 6PM, but I decided that I probably couldn't go, and went to the ER. With some magic (nasal clamps and cream), the ER stopped the bleeding, and discharged me.

Saturday, March 27: At around 1AM, it started bleeding again. I eventually decided to return to the ER at around 3AM. While waiting in the examining room, I started to feel faint and called out to the attending staff. I then remember feeling warm and bright and paralyzed while several people called out "Mr. Wang, Mr. Wang, are you with us?" before passing out. I woke up on a hospital bed as a nurse was putting in an IV of fluids. There were lots of leads coming from my chest and arms and legs, going to a monitor and an EKG. My blood pressure slowly crept from a low 80-over-40 to a much more normal 100/80. They examined my nose, told me I should just apply Bacitracin to it for the next few days until they make an "urgent" ENT appointment for me, then discharged me at around 7:30AM. Chris got back mid-day Saturday, and was surprised to hear of my ordeal. I started bleeding again at 5 or so, and Chris took me to the ER at around 7. They decided to put a Rhino Rocket up my nose--an extremely unpleasant and painful procedure. The nurse called the Rocket a "nasal tampon"--it essentially is a tube of material that doesn't stick to blood that the doctor can stick into your nose and inflate. Then, when the Rocket gets wet, it expands, applying pressure to bleeding. Just when you think they've stuck the thing as far up as it can go, seemingly brushing against your brain, they push it even further. Then, quite surprisingly, after they put it in, I fainted again. Same routine. I was discharged about two hours later.

Thursday, April 2: I followed up with the ENT and got the Rhino Rocket out. They then put a tiny camera in my nose, and game me these sweet goggles so that I could follow along what was inside my nose while the doctor examined. My left nostril was like the Amazon river basin, but surprisingly, was not bleeding. The right nostril had a pretty big vein protruding, which the doctor cauterized, then sent me on my way with lots of instructions. I thought I was all done.

Saturday, April 4: I had some very minor bleeding on Thursday and Friday, but the ENT doc told me that was to be expected. However, there was another episode of unstoppable bleeding on Saturday starting at around 5PM in which I was continuously swallowing blood. Jessica took me to the ER at around 7, and I was discharged at around 10PM after they put another Rhino Rocket in my nose. Back to another uncomfortable few days.

I went to bed almost immediately. At 3AM, I woke up to go to the bathroom, and suddenly felt dizzy and faint after urinating. Andrew Rominger walked in just as I was leaning down to try to get more circulation into my head. I don't quite remember what happened after that, but I felt all my muscles weakening, and when I came to, I was sitting on the toilet, and Andrew had called 911. My feces were on the ground, but they were mostly just the blood I had swallowed. I could barely lift my head or speak, so I told him to get Jessica from my room who could explain things to the paramedics when they came. I spent the entire ambulance ride with a blood pressure hovering around 65/40. At the ER, they put in two IVs to give me about 4 liters of fluid and some drugs to counter the waves of nausea I was experiencing. After a blood test, they found that I had lost about 50% of my blood the past week putting me well within the range of anemia, which clearly explains my fainting and frequent feeling of cold. Hence, I spent until 11:30AM or so being monitored and receiving two units of blood transfusions. Jessica stayed with me the entire night. Most of that time was spent talking semi-lucidly to Jessica, or sleeping. I was discharged at around 1:30, and Micki drove us home. My parents flew in at around 6:30PM, and are helping me with life in general.

I'm scheduled to see the ENT again on Wednesday. Until then, there's nothing to do but continue to ride the painful rhino rocket and sleep 14 hours a day. Thanks everyone who have helped in this ordeal so far, especially Jessica, Chris, Andrew, and my parents.

Petaminx Puzzle for Sale

Now this looks amazing.



It's for sale. Anyone have a few thou lying about and want to help me out?

Wolfram Sets the Timer, Will Blow Away Factual Search in May

Go take a look at Wolfram Alpha.



It's a "computational knowledge engine." Sounds impressive, doesn't it? It definitely has the potential to completely blow away any factual search engine that has come previously, of which the most prominent example may be Powerset.

The brains behind this, Stephen Wolfram, is an acclaimed computer scientist that has had many incredible creations already, including the heavily used software package Mathematica, which adds jaw-dropping features in every release, and the stunning if controversial book A New Kind of Science, so he definitely has the background and the resources to create a good factual search engine. In fact, Wolfram has frequently posited, both in A New Kind of Science, and other sources, that he believes computation can be a valid representation of knowledge and science. Hence, Wolfram Alpha is based on what VentureBeat describes well as "terabytes of curated data and millions of lines of algorithms" to create a representation of computable human knowledge.

While I can't say anything to the efficacy of this--it may blow all of us away come May, or it could be the next Cuil--it will definitely be a step forward in the problem of factual search. With Wolfram's entire focus behind this project, and with the concession that this is still a work in progress, I do hope that this will actually work much better than Powerset (which is not to say anything bad about Powerset--they were a little underwhelming, but technically, I can see the incredible technology and useful research that went into building it).

If anyone can get me early access to Wolfram Alpha, I would owe you a big one.

Slums

This online exhibit on slums in the world is a masterfully executed piece of art.

http://www.theplaceswelive.com/

"Stay In School" featuring EPACS

Ashley Baker, who I know from tutoring at East Palo Alto Charter School (EPACS), and who now teaches there as a humanities teacher, referred me to this video:



Absolutely amazing.

I think I even recognize some of those kids, not to mention E-40, Keak da Sneak, and some other big names in Bay Area rap.

This whole thing was put together by Kontac, that rapper wearing yellow stripes near the kids and the turntable near the end. He's a bay area rapper, and also an incredibly dedicated physical education teacher at EPACS.

And here is a pretty powerful interview with Kontac. You HAVE to watch this:


If you stop by EPACS any time, just look to the playground, and you'll probably see him teaching physical education and the importance of exercise and team work and instilling good community values.


And finally, here's a making of video:

We Are All Going to Explode

Do a Google search for "Yellowstone." The first result is is the National Park Service's official Yellowstone National Park web site, as expected. The second site is yellowstone.net, which promises to help you "plan your yellowstone vacation." Still as expected. But the third is for the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. Wait, what? Isn't Yellowstone a volcanically inactive geothermal cluster? Why can't we see black lava flows like on Kilauea or even St. Helens?

The answer is complicated, but in a sentence, Yellowstone sits on top of a volcanic hot spot that enjoys blowing up in a "supereruption" every few hundreds of thousands of years, but in the meantime, keeps itself fit by spewing geysers, unleashing thousands of earthquakes, and triggering hydrothermal explosions.

Those supereruptions occurred 2.1 million, 1.3 million, and 640,000 years ago. Do some simple math, and you realize that we are approaching time for another one of these eruptions if the pattern of previous eruptions holds. So let's look at three things: (1) What warning systems do we have? (2) How likely is it that Yellowstone will explode, and will the warning systems catch it? and (3) What will happen if it does?

So. Warning Systems. In this respect, Yellowstone has the best in the world. It is classified by the US Geologic Survey (USGS) as a high-risk area, and is being studied by numerous universities and research organizations. It is watched by thousands of seismometers, sensor arrays, GPS devices, and satellites for any slight change.  If you are the paranoid type, just go to any of dozens of Yellowstone monitoring sites, and you will get your fill of self-perpetuated fear.

Second. Likeliness. Looking at earthquake activities, Yellowstone hasn't changed much in recorded history. Every so often, there is an "earthquake swarm," in which hundreds of small earthquakes happen in a matter of days or weeks. This happens every dozen or two years, but the one in late 2008 caught national attention, as it was one of the most powerful swarms ever recorded. This swarm was also combined with a relatively meteoric rise of the Yellowstone Caldera over the past three years--three inches per year, more than three times the maximally recorded rate of growth since measurements began in the 20s.  However, all these events are normal, and can be explained away by any of a number of reasons--hydrothermal pressure from underground lakes affected by earthquakes, geothermal effects, etc. 

So what if it explodes. Well, we are all doomed. The last eruption covered most of North America in up to a foot of ash, and dramatically changed global temperatures. There were mass local continental extinctions, and the direct effects of the explosion leveled most of what today is Wyoming, Montana, and Utah. Earthquakes of extreme magnitudes would be felt all across the world, and would destroy most buildings in North America. It's not likely that such a quake will strike, but if it does, let's just say we're in a great place to help rebuild the community afterwards.

Finally, rather than worry about the Yellowstone Caldera, perhaps a greater threat is the Long Valley Caldera, right here in California. In its last eruption, it spewed 600 cubic kilometers of rubble across the US, and very recently, there were some 6+ magnitude earthquakes coming from around there. Mounts St. Helens, Rainier, Hood, and Shasta are all close to home, and they happen to be 2, 3, 4, and 5 on the USGS's list of the most dangerous volcanic centers in the United States. Yellowstone, on the other hand, is number 21. 

Maybe I should think twice now before scaling Rainer or Shasta, and tempt fate in Yellowstone instead.

Boring Book Covers

This is an amazingly addictive video. It just shows one plain book cover after another, to a semi-computerized voice reading each title, and some semi-spooky music. It's amazing! 

If you can't see the embedded video, the link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgjlJ5hEbw

The books "Bayesian Approach to Image Interpretation," "Finite Commutative Rings and Their Applications," and "Music Cognition" actually looks rather fascinating.

WikiLeaks Reveals Major UN Snafus

A new WikiLeaks leak reveals "over 600 United Nations investigative reports, over 70 of which are classified 'Strictly Confidential.'" These include anything from weapons trafficking, to rape of refugees by UN peacekeepers, to fraud, to corruption. See here.

If you have not heard of WikiLeaks, it is a site dedicated to open information and anonymous whistleblowing. Hence, it serves as a safe place for individuals to share sensitive information with little fear of retaliation. It is censored in many countries, and has received numerous lawsuits in many countries, and was even shut down for a short time in the United States.