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| Friday, September 22, 2006 |
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Tax your brain 
| | Relevantly, here's a story on ABC that begins, Bureaucratic red tape is preventing two planes modified for aerial firefighting from combating the wildfires raging today in California. |
| | And, among the comments to the story is this one: |
| | If this is indeed a red tape issue compounded by jurisdictional issues, the logical person to be involved is Rep.Elton Gallegly (US House 24th district)It may be in Rep. Galleglys best interest to start working the phone NOW if he has not already. I am a few miles from the fire and dont see any fixed wing aircraft, although there are close to 2300 firefighters from local state and federal agencies working this fire. The area is extremely remote and some areas have not burned in decades. The fire briefly threatened Fillmore, santa Paula and Ojai but has since moved North due to winds away from the main population centers. The fire is at best 20% contained as of Wed AM. Also this fire started labor day weekend...lots of time to get the folks together and bring together resources. Get on the phone to Gallegly's office. He is up for re-election, but faces no real challenge. This is his last stated term, and says he wont run again. He needs to throw his weight behind this issue if the ABC News Brian Ross story is the real deal. |
| | Soooo... Okay, let's say you want to email Congressman Gallegly. You go to his website; and there you'll find a pile of email instructions that are only a little less compllicated than those for, say, operating a zero-gravity toilet: |
| | 2. When the Write Your Representative page loads, on the right you will notice a drop-down box and two data boxes. The drop-down box is the one that states "State" next to it. With your mouse, click on the arrow to the right of the words "Choose one." A list of states will appear. Using your mouse, click on California. California should now appear alone in the drop-down box. |
| | 3. Below the drop-down box is the word "ZIP." To the right of ZIP is a text box. Using your mouse, click inside the box and then type your 5-digit postal ZIP code using your keyboard. To the right of that are the words "+4 (if required)." Some Congressional Districts cross ZIP codes. If your ZIP code is in two or more Congressional Districts, you will need the extra four ZIP code digits to complete the process. If you do not know whether or not you need the "+4," use your mouse to click on the "Submit" button below the "ZIP" box. If you reach a page that says, inside a blue-bordered box at the top of the page, "You are represented by the Honorable Elton Gallegly," then you don¹t need the "+4" and can skip Step 4 and proceed to Step 5. If you reach a page that states "Finding Your 9-digit Zip Code‹There are multiple Representatives who share your 5-digit ZIP code Š" then go to Step 4. |
| | 4. Using your mouse, click on the blue-highlighted words "ZIP+4 Lookup" in the red-bordered box with the heading "Finding Your 9-digit Zip Code." You will first go to a page that says you are leaving the U.S. House of Representatives and the House is not responsible for anything outside its domain. Wait a moment and the U.S. Postal Service¹s ZIP+4 Code Look-Up page will load. You only need to fill in four boxes. First, using your mouse, click inside the box to the right of the words "Delivery address (required)." Using your keyboard, type in your street address. Using your mouse again, click inside the box below that, to the right of "City*." Using your keyboard, type in your city. Using your mouse again, click inside the box below that, to the right of "State*." Using your keyboard, type in CA. Use your mouse to click in the box below that to the right of "ZIP." Using your keyboard, type in your 5-digit ZIP code. Using your mouse, click on the "Process" button below the "ZIP" box. You will come to a page that states "The standardized address is:" and then list your address with the ZIP+4 Code. Write down your ZIP+4 Code for future reference. At the top of the page, use your mouse to click on the "Back" button. Do it again. And again. One more time and you should be back at the main Write Your Representative page. Your state and ZIP should still be displayed. Using your mouse, click inside the box to the right of "+4 (if required)." Using your keyboard, type in the final four numbers of your ZIP+4 Code. Using your mouse, click on the "Submit" button below the "ZIP" box. |
| | 5. You are now at the page that states inside a blue-bordered box at the top of the page "You are represented by The Honorable Elton Gallegly". Below the blue box and to the right are a series of text boxes with red words to their left, followed by some boxes with black words to their left. You are required to fill in the boxes to the right of the red words. The boxes to the right of the black words are optional, but would be helpful. First, using your mouse, click inside the box to the right of "Name*." Using your keyboard, type in your name. Using your mouse, click inside the box below that, to the right of the word "Address*." Using your keyboard, type in your street address. If your address—not counting your city, state and ZIP—uses more than one line, you can use your mouse to click inside the box below that and, using your keyboard, type in the second line to your address. If your address—not counting your city, state and ZIP—uses more than two lines, you can use your mouse to click inside the box below that and, using your keyboard, type in the third line to your address. Using your mouse, click inside the box to the right of the word "City*." Using your keyboard, type in your city. Your State, ZIP is already displayed. Using your mouse, click inside the box to the right of the words "Phone Number." Using your keyboard, type in your phone number. Using your mouse, click inside the box to the right of the words "E-mail Address." Using your keyboard, type in your e-mail address. Underneath that box is a button that states "Continue." Using your mouse, click on that button. |
| | 6. You are now at the page where you can write your e-mail message and send it. At the top is a personalized message from Congressman Gallegly. Scroll down the page until you come to a text box below the words "To the Honorable Elton Gallegly." Using your mouse, click inside that box. Using your keyboard, write your e-mail message. Once you have finished composing your message, you will notice a button below the text box that states "Send your message." Using your mouse, click on that button. |
| | 7. You should now be looking at a page that states: "Your message has been sent to your Representative. Thank you for writing." That completes the process. |
| | Gotta love that boldface. Listen closely. I'm only gonna say this once. By the way, that's how it looks after I cleaned up the curly quotes, the weird em dashes and other Web 0.2 inanities. |
Fly the funny skies
| | It is any wonder that Southwest has the best word-of-blog among airlines? (Or ones not named JetBlue?) |
The greater unknown
| | I find it hard to believe that a government which can't pay its bandwidth bill is systematically monitoring the internet communications of half a million people. But threatening to monitor those communications creates a panopticon effect - by telling people they¹re under observation, many (most?) will behave as if the government¹s watching. And in a country where transgression can mean indefinite detention and abuse while in custody, it's hard to blame people for wanting to remain firmly on the right side of authority. |
| | I learned a little about why people who have the option to leave continue to live in Zimbabwe: it¹s one of the most beautiful countries I¹ve ever been to, and the Zimbabwean people I interacted with are some of the smartest, bravest and friendliest folks I¹ve ever met. |
| | Which doesn¹t mean that I¹ll be hurrying back. The ways in which Zimbabwe is broken are deep, profound and would be intolerable to most people around the world. The fact that Zimbabwe continues to exist - that people go to work, to the market, to the bars and cafes - is a tribute to the resilience and flexibility of the Zimbabwean people. |
| | ...the major innovation in the recently issued bills is the removal of three zeros. This means that the currency is trading at roughly 500:1 to the dollar, rather than 500000:1, which can get a little awkward. Reserve Bank chief Gideon Gono claims that the change was made because the size of the sums involved was beginning to break Zimbabwean banking softwareŠ but many speculate that the change was designed to distract people from the relentless pace of inflation. |
| | My activist friends in Zimbabwe are unanimous in their diagnosis of the media situation: Zimbabwe needs an independent daily newspaper and a radio station so that the general populus can get information critical of the government. They¹re experimenting with alternatives - community newsletters printed on A4 paper, distributed in "high density suburbs" (townships) from person to person; news programs and activist songs distributed on CD and cassette. |
| | But if they were suddenly given a license to broadcast or publish a paper, there would still be obstacles. The Zimbabwean economy is so fragile that there¹s very little advertising support for papers. The history of harrassment, imprisonment and torture of journalists makes many writers fearful to report certain stories. Criminal libel law means that libel can carry jail time as well as fines, which helps prevent attacks on public figures. And the fact that journalists must be licensed and must renew their accreditation every two years helps keep pens down as well. |
| | What¹s really going on in Zimbabwe? I don¹t know. Neither do you. And neither do most Zimbabweans, whether they live at home or abroad. Reading the BBC or CNN won¹t help - they¹re not on the ground here either. And like every other situation in Zimbabwe, it¹s both better and worse than you¹ve heard. |
The Web in the life of a Day
| | Today is OneWebDay — Susan Crawford,'s great idea to create, maintain, advance, and promote a global day to celebrate online life. |
| | Meanwhile, I've decided to celebrate my own Web Wide World by sharing sets of photos I've put up at Flickr and Tabblo (disclosure). If I've done my HTML right, each of the below should link to the "tabblo" of the photoset in full size. |
| | My thanks to Stuart and Caterina at Flickr, Antonio at Tabblo, plus every photographer and every company supporting digital photography on the Web — for making a big world-wide open photo marketplace where we're all producers and no longer just consumers. And for proving that markets are ecosystems and not just arenas where companies go to fight and kill each other. A happy OneWebDay to the all of you. |
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