05.26.04
Posted in General, Travel at 1:02 pm by Danny Dawson
Last few days:
- Friday - was driven around in LA by Carlos’ brother. Crashed on the couch at 6:30. Woke up at 4am next day.
- Saturday - Walked around the neighborhood at sunrise. Took a long walk later around the city looking for wifi access. Outside the Flynt Publications building found four advertised networks. All used protection. Carlos came down from the Bay Area and we went out on Sunset Blvd with Melissa and her brother. Also went to “Barney’s Beanery - the sloppy joe house slash nightlife with an incredibly attractive waitstaff.”
- Sunday - Jared’s wedding. Drove up to the BA with C-los and Yuwynn.
- Monday - Triumphant return to Berkeley with tail between legs. Breakfast at Venus. Helped Alissa move out of Theta. Watched the Cal Math graduation. Had a pint for my homies at Thalassa. Walked by Jupiter. Had pizza and coke for lunch. Joined Kristen, Michele, and Kim at the Castro apartment. Had pizza and Prosecco for dinner. Took BART back to MacArthur. Decided to walk back to C-los’ apartment. Had no idea where to go. Visited the Oakland Army Reserve Base. Visited the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Not open for tours at 1am. Found my way back to the apartment after only having walked 5.6 miles (3.5 unnecessary) out of my way through some of the shadiest parts of West Oakland carrying at least $1500 worth of electronics. Found myself locked out. Knocked on a few windows. Made it inside and passed out.
- Tuesday - Spent the largest part of the day relaxing in the apartment. Had Spinach and Dal curry for lunch. Went with C-los, Christina, Lauren, and Jen to Thalassa. Ran into Ellen, Todd, and Skye. Received two marriage proposals. One subsequently retracted. Considering having a first wife.
- Wednesday - Sitting in Berkeley Espresso. Soy Chai and Bagel with Lox for breakfast. Free wireless internet. Found someone’s Day Planner with a SWA trip itinerary inside. E-mailed her and got a response. Here she is. Just gave it back to her. Turns out she was in front of me in line. Have a nice time in Portland, Oregon on June 12, Mrs. Carol Sparks of CDHS.
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06.06.04
Posted in Travel, SocialIssues at 1:23 am by Danny Dawson
From an email I wrote tonight to Kim:
$14 on a Friday night is ridiculous. So’s $20 on a Saturday night. I’m coming home.
Those numbers refer to tips only. Florida has no minimum wage, so we follow the federal law here. My employer is required to provide me with $2.13 an hour as a “base pay” rate, and if my weekly average pay (including tips) drops below $5.15 an hour (the federal minimum wage, compared with $6.75 in California), my employer must make up the difference. So I should see a small pay check for this week (most of it is taxed — tip jobs [waiter, bartender, etc.] tend to have slightly high rates of taxation). Oh, wait, no, I take that back. Tonight I made a total of $29.585 when you include my hourly wage, and last night I made $23.585. My employer is only required to provide me with extra cash if my total for each of those nights had dipped below $23.175. You gotta love the federal minimum wage Florida.
Were you aware that the federal minimum wage hasn’t been raised in about 7 years? It was set to $5.15 on September 1, 1997. Assuming a 40-hour work week and 50 work weeks a year, that amounts to a yearly wage of $10,300. In the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area in 2004, $10,300 has the same buying power that $8,886.27 did in 1997 when the minimum wage was set, which seems to mean that workers making the federal minimum wage nowadays can afford about 86.3% of what they could back in 1997. In San Francisco, where the minimum wage was raised to $8.50 an hour this year, workers working the same amount make $17,000 a year, which is equivalent to about $13,764.77 in 1997 dollars. In SF in 1997, minimum wage workers made $10,300 a year (same as in Florida), which shows a quality of living increase for minimum wage workers in SF of 33.6% between 1997 and 2004, compared to the 13.7% decrease of QOL for minimum wage workers in the FLL/MIA area. Note that through all this, the federal Health and Human Services poverty guidelines have been raised 18.0% over that same time period. Sounds like Mi Ami has been fucked and forgotten. Which is one of the reasons I’m moving to California.
Keep in mind that I know nothing of economics. The subject has always mystified me.
Maintaining the same QOL in Emeryville, CA that I do here in Hallandale, FL requires about a 38.6% increase in my income. By my most conservative guesstimates, I made at least 50% more working at Venus in Berkeley (a short bus ride from Emeryville) than I currently do at Tuna’s in North Miami Beach (a bitch of a bus ride from my house in Hallandale, or more often, an inconvenient hitch with one of my coworkers). I say at least, because I’m comparing a very low guesstimate of my average income at Venus with a high guesstimate of my average income at Tuna’s. More likely, I made about 80-100% more, which is what I’d need to maintain the same QOL in the City of SF. However, if I choose to live in SF, I will surely shop around for the nicest cheap apartment I can find and I’ll get some job in the city, where the minimum wage is 25.9% higher than it is in Berkeley.
Again a disclaimer: this is probably all based on some seriously fuzzy math.
Resources:
Minimum Wage Laws by State
Cost-of-Living Calculator over time by Metropolitan Area
Relative Salaries City to City (in current dollars)
History of CA Minimum Wage
HHS Poverty Guidelines over time
Further Reading:
Hope for Florida?
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06.10.04
Posted in Health, Philosophy at 5:17 pm by Danny Dawson
I tried to get into position to do a fingertip push-up today, and met with little success. I can get into the upright position, but as soon as I begin to lower my body, my wrist collapses and I fall on my face. When this happened the first time, I just laid there and savored the moment.
I’m convinced that Jesus Christ was a waiter sometime between the ages of 13 and 30. That’s why such a large portion of his life went undocumented. Maybe it was a carpentry-themed restaurant. Latkes were “potato drywall.” It wasn’t a very successful restaurant, mind you.
I, personally, would like to read a chronology of Jesus’ missing years, written as a joke. “Oh, Christ! You’re short-pouring the Manischewitz again!”
Other things I have lined up in my reading queue:
Ashes to Ashes : America’s Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris
The Writings of Carlos Castaneda
I found out recently that my old webserver is indeed dead and gone. Its remains were witnessed by a friend of mine, which means those 3 years of my life are gone, not including the little you can find through the Wayback Machine. Ah, well. Many of my physical posessions have also been lost to the world, including my high school diploma, my baby book, and many pictures of people I don’t keep in touch with. Just another reason I’d love to live in the mountains of a foreign country. Also another reason Memento scares the platelets out of me — my memories are very valuable right now. They’re the only thing that can’t be taken from me prove I existed.
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06.11.04
Posted in Philosophy, Travel at 3:51 pm by Danny Dawson
For better or worse, I made a change today. My prior plans included me waiting until the 21st of this month to fly out to California, find myself a job, and then fly back home, collect my things, return to CA and start my life there, couch-hopping with friends until I can find and afford a place of my own. This morning, I got tired of the waiting and anticipation, and I quit. I quit my job. I quit waiting. I quit living each day waiting for another day to come.
Now, I pack. This weekend I go with my mother to my cousin’s wedding in Daytona (congrats Nikki and Ray), and when I return from that excursion there will be a final packing of my bags and boxes. Then, California. I’ll leave most of my stuff with my mom in easy-to-ship boxes ready to meet me at whatever beautiful new apartment or hole-in-the-wall warehouse studio I find.
Am I excited? Yes. Am I nervous? Yes. Am I a fool? Yes.
The sky is bright and blue and I am free to go.
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06.22.04
Posted in Web at 11:43 pm by Danny Dawson
Google’s Gmail has been discussed everywhere, and like any other tech geek, I was very curious to check out the service, but I refrained from discussing it here because I had nothing original to say. Now I feel that I do.
One week ago a generous Metafilter user offered me an invitation to join Gmail. Actually, several Metafilter users were all willing to do the same.
I’ve had the chance now to fool around with Gmail a bit, and I can say that the service deserves the hype it’s been getting, but not for the reason it’s been getting it. The aspect of Gmail which makes it so desirable, at least to me, is not the 1 gigabyte of storage space, but the way it handles email organization. Without getting too incredibly into the details, I’ll try to explain.
I keep all my email. I always have. Were it not for harddrive failures and pyromaniac fraternity brothers, my archives would contain about 20,000 emails, sorted into dozens of folders, dating back at least four years. Searching those archives for a specific keyword in any email client I’ve ever used would take a long time. A very long time. Searching in Gmail takes a split second.
Sure, Mozilla Thunderbird has a simple search bar which works quickly and efficiently. All I have to do is type in a word and it’ll show me all emails in that folder which contain the search word in the Subject or Sender fields of the message. Doing a search for that same keyword in the message bodies of all folders takes several minutes. With Gmail, again, a split second.
One of the ways that Google achieves such search speed (besides massive amounts of available computing power) is by eliminating the concept of folders. Instead, users are given the ability to create unlimited labels for messages, and assign to each message as many labels as are applicable. Thus, using the labels as a metaphor for message folders, I can put the same message into as many folders as I want without actually duplicating the message.
I’ll admit that what I really want is an email client for my laptop which has the power and abilities of Gmail, but it seems that one hasn’t been written yet, and even if one had been written, my laptop wouldn’t be able to duplicate the sheer speed of Gmail’s searches. So I’ve found an alternative, and it might even be better than what I think I really want.
Matt Mullenweg pointed out a way to import all my messages into Gmail from Thunderbird. This way I can use the advanced search capabilities of Gmail on my archive.
Then there’s the problem of new messages: New messages sent to my email address (Just because I’m using the Gmail service doesn’t mean I want to ditch my @quasistoic.org email address) won’t show up in Gmail. Easily solved: forward all the mail I get to my public email address to the gmail account.
The last problem was one I was greatly concerned about until I realized there was an easy solution sitting right in front of me. One of the reasons I use pop3 email is so that I can have my email archive accessible on my laptop at all times, including times when I’m not connected to the internet. This is important to me for all of the phone numbers and addresses I regularly harvest from it. The solution: set up my domain mail to keep a copy on the pop3 server, downloadable for laptop archive, and forward a copy to my gmail account for general use.
I’ve also set my reply-to address in Gmail to the domain address that everyone’s familiar with, and I use Gmail as my mail client. Every once in a while, I open up Thunderbird to download any messages that have accumulated on the pop3 server, so that they’re accessible offline.
Want a Gmail account of your own?
Take <–suhren got one
any <–marinova got one
one <–jklemens got one
of <–xfilem got one
these <–bastek got one
six. <–eeslade got one
Just say thank you, and make sure to pay it forward yourself.
More invitations inside
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06.23.04
Posted in Web, Technology at 5:46 pm by Danny Dawson
A Columbia University social experiment
In this project, we intend to perform the first large scale, global verification of the small world hypothesis, using the modern Email equivalent of Milgram’s passport innovation. We hope to test not only average properties of lengths of acquaintance chains, but also the distribution of lengths, along with the effect of race, class, nationality, occupation, and education. We intend to
quantify the impact of additional target information upon search success and chain length, and
also to investigate the importance of “centers” individuals who are thought to exist who are disproportionately responsible for directing messages to the targets.
1. How does this experiment work?
Your task is to move a message closer to a target person somewhere in the world. You can be involved in several ways. You may have received a message from a contact of yours asking you to participate by moving forward an already existing message chain. You may also start your own message chains trying to reach a range of targets. You must send all messages using our website. Collectively, participants link together to form chains, reaching from inital senders to our chosen target individuals.
If you received an email from a friend or acquaintance with a link then you need to follow that link. Otherwise, you can just sign up and start your own chains. We first ask for your consent to participate in the experiment, and then ask for some basic information about you to help us better understand how messages move through social networks. You will then see your target’s photo and a short bio, and we will ask you which friend or acquaintance you wish to choose as the next person in the chain. Finally, we will send your contact a message from you, asking them to participate in the same way. This process continues until, hopefully, a chain reaches the target person.
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Posted in Technology, Employment at 6:00 pm by Danny Dawson
I saw one of these pass by me on Shellmound Street in Emeryville and decided to look it up — shame I didn’t run after it for a free t-shirt. So what do you think: should I try to get paid for something I already do?
“We’ll save your a_ _ and protect you from the evil forces of inefficient networks, crashing hard drives and corrupt files.”
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06.29.04
Posted in Health, Employment at 3:00 am by Danny Dawson
Where’s the nearest street corner I can stand on to become a day laborer?
It’s official. I am flat broke. Tomorrow I’ll walk around Emeryville until someone hires me on the spot, even if it means I have to quit in a week or so when I get a real job. I’ll wash dishes for a meal right now. I’ll shine your shoes, sure. Just give me a little rice or that lettuce that’s past its prime, and I’ll gladly do your math homework for you. Need your computer fixed or your house cleaned? No problem. Want a fence painted? A dimmer switch installed? A doghouse built? If you’ll provide a meal, you’ve got yourself a deal.
I’ve applied to about 30 or so jobs via craigslist, but I haven’t the BART money to apply in person. My one shift at Venus isn’t forthcoming yet (this past Saturday was my “retraining,” as if I’ve forgotten how to make a lattç, and I don’t get the meager training paycheck until next week sometime), and any job I do get, even in the next few days, isn’t likely to pay me for another week, at the very least. Still, I maintain that coming out here was a good idea, no matter how broke I am, and things will work out. I’ll have proper employment very soon, and a place of my own within a few weeks of that, considering that Carlos’ generosity means that I have no expenses other than food, transportation, and laundry until I find a place of my own.
In the meantime, I’ll only wear my more presentable clothing when I’m looking for work, and I’ll sell toenail clippings on ebay or something for food. I’m glad I still have multivitamins and strongly caffeinated tea.
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Posted in Dreams, Web, Technology at 3:58 pm by Danny Dawson
Matt Mullenweg, the WordPress guru, is in the process of answering my prayers. I don’t know if he read my previous post on the subject, but his timing is impeccable.
He’s in the process of developing what seems to be Open Source GMail. Based on Procmail, Spam Assassin, PHP, and MySQL…hell, just read his words:
Imagine instant Gmail-type searching using FULLTEXT or LIKE. Imagine instant email backup using MySQL replication. Think email RSS feeds, keyed on searches or senders or anything. Don’t forget the interesting metrics that can be extracted from this as well.
And to top it all off, he’s entertaining suggestions.
I hope he comes up with a catchy name. I’m not worried about the product itself. He’s already proven himself to me.
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09.05.04
Posted in Movies, SocialIssues at 1:28 am by Danny Dawson
You want to understand the president? Just eject the tape before the final statements. “We will flow a river forth unto thee.” Watch The Boondock Saints: when Irish Catholics go too far.
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