Shotspotter, Plainfield: Another Cargo Cult Rears its Ugly Head.

Unless Plainfield has become Afghanistan and you can immediately and indiscriminately launch a retaliatory attack into the location where the shots were fired, Shotspotter will not work. The science is not there. Yes, we should have cameras located in high crime areas and provide access to them in real time for all the police and citizens to view.

I don't know who is pelding this Kool Aide but I spent my entire career in technology and can tell you the devil is in the details, see my Sept.29, 2010, blog post. But then again, my advice is free, so it must not be worth anything. It is always interesting to note that those of us who know technology look at it with a jaundice eye and while those who don’t, like ‘Cargo Cultist,’ rush to embrace it as if it were manna from heaven.

The Council and the Administration would do well to read the article in the August edition of Scientific American, ‘How New York Beat Crime.’

Yeah I know  a $250,000 grant is a lot to let slip by, but  if only Shotspotter qualifies for the grant then you have to ask yourself who is being paid off and maybe for once Plainfield should take the high road and walk? 

Is Facebook the Face of 1984?

Some of us are old enough to remember 1984, a year that I faced with trepidation.  Would I, the nation and the planet get through it or would the Orwellian monsters I had read about, led by Big Brother, seize and bind us to a world of dystopian  totalitarianism where every move, action,  thought and indiscretion was monitored  and controlled by the state? …’Put down on your permanent record’ as they use to say. 1984 came and went, uneventfully. We didn’t jump the shark.  But then around 1992, Tim Berners-Lee set off a chain reaction with the creation the World Wide Web. And, the world did exactly that. It self-assembled  into a web of connections, to the point where anyone with a computer or computer-like device has instant access to the totality of man’s knowledge and where anyone can upload a video, a text, a picture for the world to see. In fact we have the ability to put our entire lives online and that is where the law of unintended consequences starts  to kick in.

When Amazon came on line I thought, how cute, a bunch of lesbians decided to open up an  on-line book store. Then came the search engines: AltaVista, Yahoo, Infoseek, and, the Leviathan, Google. Followed by: MySpace,  YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.  Meanwhile the prices of computers and cell-phones plummeted.  Today only Luddites don’t have cell-phones and/or computers, both able to access the Internet and both with WI-FI. We still don’t have HAL (thank God!), but we do have the 2001 Newsreader; it’s called the iPad and cleverest of all was the insertion of a camera into a cellphone –can you say, Dick Tracy.  Everyone now is a photo-journalist. That drunken teen party you gave while your parents were away, tagged and posted on Facebook.  Oh look, there’s your fraternity hazing online in Hi-Def on Facebook. Is that you standing next to someone smoking weed at party? Hmmm, the Facebook tag's got your name on it? You thought it was fun when you join that right-wing, left-wing, anarchist group in college and posted all your demonstrations  on YouTube and notified your friends on Facebook.  You thought you were smart when you turned on Facebook’s  Personal Locator;  now you’re in divorce court and your wife’s lawyer has got a record of the date, time, location and duration of every massage parlor and hotel you visited while engaging in your infidelities. In fact, if any of your liaisons had their Facebook Locator turned on, they can tie you directly to that person.  Never put anything on the Internet that you don’t want the whole world to see. 

Facebook and all these other Internet enablers have immeasurably improved humanity’s  ability to communicate but they have a dark side. They are like the Terminator: They never forget and they never stop.  Soon we will be able to record and upload every second of our lives.  When you  go for a job interview, a bank  loan,  or apply for an apartment, you, your family and your friends  will be FaceBooked  and Googled and then judged on that information.  The question you have to ask is will their on-line voyeurism diminish their humanity? How will you be weighed in the balance? Will they, 
will we become our own ‘Big Brothers’?

All Hail  Big Brother. He is us!

Judith Beheading Holofernes

Compare and contrast two paintings on the same subject, 'Judith Beheading Holofernes,'  by the great Renaissance artists, Artemisia Gentileschi and Michelangelo Caravaggio. One survived a horrific rape to become a renowned artist; the other was a murderer, brigand, all around bad guy and a renowned artist.
Clicking on there names below will take you to their Bios.

Atremisia Gentilesch 1593-1652:

Michelangelo Caravaggio 1571-1610:

Not Edison but Nikola Tesla

Contrary to what most people in the United States are taught, it wasn't Edison who made the use of electricity practical. It was Nikola Tesla.

The Name of the True God

From,  A Rood Awakening, Michael Rood:

Misquoting Jesus

'Best-selling author and New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman picks apart the Gospels that made him a disbeliever and discusses problems with "The Da Vinci Code." Ehrman gave the 2006 Luther H. Harshbarger Lecture in Religious Studies at Penn State.'

The Story of Bottled Water

'The Story of Bottled Water, released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day) employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand...'
(http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater)

RSA Animate - Crises of Capitalism

'In this RSA Animate, renowned academic David Harvey asks if it is time to look beyond capitalism towards a new social order that would allow us to live within a system that really could be responsible, just, and humane?'

'This is based on a lecture at the RSA (www.theRSA.org).'

Age of Greed

Jeff Madrick author of Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to Present, discusses the roots of the current crisis

Michael Moore On What Killed the Newspaper Industry

At least 40 Million functional illiterates in America:

Lewis Black - The Old Testament

Lewis Black explains the Old Testament:

Rap,Rape, Listen & Learn, Dummies -Save the Economy: It's All About Spending

Full Employment,  learn how your are economically being raped.  Spend the time to look at all seven videos.

Why Teaching Creationism is a Horrible Idea

This video gets to the heart of the matter:

Should math be Taught in Public Schools?

Miss USA speak (click image):

Mayor Robinson-Briggs 50% Staff Reduction in Action

Recently CNN reported that Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs had to reduce the number of public employees by 50%. Here is the only record I could find of that event (here). 

In memory of Sara Pessa, April 3, 1990 – June 9, 2011

From La Boheme, “Si mi chiamano Mimi”(here): 

Yes, they call me Mimi,
But my name is Lucy
My history is brief
To cloth or to silk
I embroider at home or outside...
I am peaceful and happy
And it is my pastime
To make lilies and roses
I like these things
That have so sweet smell,
That speak of love, of spring,
That speak of dreams and of chimera
These things that have poetic names
Do you understand me?

They call me Mimi,
And why I don't know.
Alone, I make
Lunch for myself the same.
I do not always go to mass,
But I pray a lot to the Lord.
I live alone, alone.
There is a white little room
I look upon the roofs and heaven.
By when the thaw comes
The first sun is mine
The first kiss of April is mine!
Rose buds in a vase
Leaf and leaf I watch it!
That gentle perfume of a flower!
But the flowers that I make
Ah me! they don't have odor!
About me I would not know how to tell
I am your neighbor who come unexpectedly
to bother you.

Councilor Cory Storch's Primary Victory Speech

For those of you who missed it or want to hear it again, here is Councilor Cory Storch's Primary Victory Speech (click here). No better words have ever been said in the English language.

Dr. Evil And Minime (Blog Post)

In case anyone is courious, here are the links, below the picture, to the videos from the blog post I was asked to take down:

 

Just the Two of Us

Hard Knock Life

Can't We All Just Get A Long

In this final day of the Primary Election, from 'Mars Attacks' Can't We All Just Get Along (link)?

Get out and vote, Vote Column C, Vote Column C

I'm Mad as Hell

This scene channels todays situation in  Plainfiekd? From the 1976 movie, 'Network.'
I'm Mad as Hell (click here):

On Tuesday vote,  Vote Column  C, Vote Column C

Post removed at the request of Councilor Storch

St. Sebastian

Rethinking the Urban Environment, Part II: 'St. Peter's Fish'

From: Morningstar Fishermen (link)

'Tilapia go by many names. The moniker "St. Peter's fish" comes from the story in the Christian Bible about the apostle Peter catching a fish that carried a coin in its mouth, though the passage does not name the fish.^[3] While the name also applies to Zeus faber, a marine fish not found in the area, a few tilapia species (Sarotherodon galilaeus galilaeus and others) are found in the Sea of Galilee, where the author of the Gospel of Matthew accounts the event took place. These species have been the target of small-scale artisanal fisheries in the area for thousands of years.^[4][5] In some Asian countries including the Philippines, large tilapia go by pla-pla while the smaller types are just tilapia.^[6]

Tilapia go by many names. The moniker "St. Peter's fish" comes from the story in the Christian Bible about the apostle Peter catching a fish that carried a coin in its mouth, though the passage does not name the fish.^[3] While the name also applies to Zeus faber, a marine fish not found in the area, a few tilapia species (Sarotherodon galilaeus galilaeus and others) are found in the Sea of Galilee, where the author of the Gospel of Matthew accounts the event took place. These species have been the target of small-scale artisanal fisheries in the area for thousands of years.^[4][5] In some Asian countries including the Philippines, large tilapia go by pla-pla while the smaller types are just tilapia.^[6]'

From: Blue Ridge Aquaculture (link)

'...MARTINSVILLE, Va. — It doesn’t look like a farm. From the outside it looks like any other manufacturing building in an industrial park. Step inside, however, into the humid office area and it is obvious something different is going on.

Blue Ridge Aquaculture (BRA) in Martinsville, is the world’s largest indoor fisheries. In its 100,000-square-foot facility on less than two and a half acres of land, BRA raises more than 4 million pounds of protein every year in the form of tilapia. In contrast, using the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association statistics, less than 10,000 pounds of beef could be produced on the same acreage and not in an industrial park.

Tilapia is a valuable source of protein, and it is growing in popularity. Demand for the fish quadrupled in the four years leading to 2007 and has continued to grow. The National Marine Fisheries Service ranks tilapia as the fifth most popular seafood in the United States.

BRA uses an indoor recirculating aquaculture system to grow tilapia to 1.5 pounds at harvest, with a stocking density of 1.5 gallons of water per fish. Unlike other large-scale animal production, which may require the prophylactic use of antibiotics and growth hormones to overcome stress caused by high animal densities, the tilapia actually benefit. Being packed together makes the fish less territorial and aggressive and improves health and growth rates.

“The fish grow better that way,” said Jim Franklin III, BRA vice president. “These fish are bred for this facility. We could increase the density. The density of the fish is not an issue; it’s water condition....”

These two organizations say it (there are many more) better than I can. Fish-framing and Indoor Fish-Farming are potentially viable economic activities for urban and rural areas.

For example, this could be done in Plainfield; all that is needed is the will, gumption and ingenuity to put all the pieces together. Plainfield could husband a pilot project run by Union County College in conjunction with Plainfield High School as the beginnings of a new academic program in Aquaculture with funding to come from grants -the hard part.  Doing it this way takes some of the pressure off of having to be profitable right away, gives more time to work the kinks out (and there will be kinks) and develops a local talent pool.

Next more on Aquaculture: 'Skyscrapers in the Mist/Midst'

Tony Rucker, Dwayne Wilkins: For want of a Nail

I happen to be looking at one of the comments in Old Doc’s blog. It was a comment by Dwayne Wilkins, Tony Rucker’s campaign manager (putative?) and it got me thinking.

‘…We spend way too much time fighting over little stuff, when we really need to spend time on the big stuff…’

To my mind it is disingenuous when someone says, .‘We spend way too much time fighting over little stuff, when we really need to spend time on the big stuff…’  Every experienced business person that I know knows, it’s the little stuff that counts, it’s the little stuff that can put you out of business, it’s the little stuff can mean the difference between a profit and loss, it’s the little stuff, a blood clot, that can kill you and it’s the little stuff that can mean the difference between a happy customer and a lawsuit. It's the little stuff that is really hard.

A lot of us are old enough to remember the Challenger disaster.  It happen, as the Physicist Richard Feynman showed, because management ignored the little stuff. So don’t ever say ‘We spend way too much time fighting over little stuff, when we really need to spend time on the big stuff…’ because the little stuff can come back and bite you in the ass. The Devil is in the details.

‘For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.’

Let’s not let this be the fate of Plainfield.

Assemblyman Jerry Green: Out for Campaign Blood?

In a less than tepid defense of his had picked candidate and of his own accomplishments, Assembly Gerald (aka Jerry) Green open the 2011 Primary Season. Here are excerpts from Chairman Green’s blog post of April 12th in quotes with my comments:

‘…so I find it very odd that from the beginning; they have a problem with me supporting Tony Rucker as the candidate for this year’s Primary race…‘

Jerry, So Tony Rucker is your hand-picked candidate?

‘…Now that I am using the same process, in every comment in which she (Council Woman Williams) references the City Committee, she wants to make me sound like a dictator. I guess in her mind, the rules change when they are convenient to her…’

Then you don’t mind the public seeing the video of your behavior at the meeting before last?

‘…So I feel that it is very unfair to be critical of Tony Rucker, because I feel he is the best candidate for the second ward….’

Critical judgment is crucial in deciding if Tony Rucker is qualified to serve as a council person or should we take your word for it?

‘…He made it very clear to me that he will not be a rubber stamper, and that he is running to make life better for ALL of the residents of Plainfield, including the second ward. He made no promises to me, and I made no promises to him…’

So did the 3 council members you claim to have in your pocket.

‘…I knew I was making the right decision by supporting a new face, a person with new ideas, and a person who wants the best for the City of Plainfield….’ 

What ideas?

‘…Already, some of the negative comments that have been said lead me into the next issue in which I would like to bring clarification. Number one, when I mention the Prosecutor, I have taken to him numerous letters and blog comments that I felt had crossed the line, and some have been investigated, but none of them crossed the line…’

What about your ad hominen attacks on citizens of Plainfield?

‘…Already, I see council members spending more time talking about investigation. Whether it is the $20,000 the Mayor spent, or other issues I feel are minor when compared to this year’s budget…’

You do agree that Plainfield has a right to know if someone broke the law?

‘So I would like the City of Plainfield to wake up today and hold their elected officials accountable to the millions of dollars the City will lose in this year’s budget. ‘

Does that include Jerry Green who bills himself as the 3^rd most powerful man in Trenton?

‘Just recently, we lost millions of dollars in education funding, and are on the brink of losing millions in transportation funding…’

Dude, my man, you Jerry Green cast the deciding vote to end Abbot funding and assured the people of Plainfield that it would have no impact. Aren’t you being just a little hypocritical?

Chairman Green the people of Plainfield are not stupid. Times have changed when will you?

Rethinking the Urban Environment, Part I: 'Sleeping with the Fishes'

Lack of imagination is the major impediment to the revitalization of the Urban Environment. Politicians continue to ply the same old industrial 20th Century Solutions to 21st Century Problems. Need urban development? Slap up some Condos, build some roads and run some job training programs are typical solutions that go nowhere. It seems that most communities and most people never bother to challenge themselves to come up with a holistic solution capable of creating an affordable, sustainable community which benefits everyone in the community.  Which leads me to the first part of this series? 

'Sleeping with the Fishes': 

New Jersey use to be a truck farming center supplying local produce to the major urban centers in the area, Newark, New York and Philadelphia. All that changed, with the advent of the interstate highway system and cheap oil leading, to urban sprawl replacing the farms. We now get not only our exotic food but our regular every day food from all over the country and all over the world from California, Chile, China, etc. This works well so long as food is cheap and plentiful and there is the rub. As the rest of the world rapidly industrializes and we subsidize the production of biofuels, the era of 'Cheap and Plentiful' food for Americans is coming to an end. The rest of the world wants what we got and are willing to bid the price up to get it. Fresh water is becoming a scarce resource and the oceans are quickly becoming depleted of edible fish stock. This crisis won't be going away any time soon but its solution can benefit our community. How? 

Indoor urban fish farming -OK, you can stop laughing. It turns out that if you are going to rethink the urban environment this a good place to start as a proof of concept.  'For example, using a RAS (RECIRCULATING AQUACULTURE SYSTEMS, click for details) it is 

possible to product over 100,000 pounds of fish in a 5,000 square-foot building, whereas 

20 acres of outdoor ponds would be necessary to produce an equal amount of fish with 

Traditional open pond culture...'  Ask yourself, how many 5000 square-foot buildings that are empty or underutilized do we have along the Raritan Valley RR corridor in Plainfield?

Advantages of an Indoor System

• The fish stock is protected from predators, weather changes and natural calamities
• With high control over temperature, water quality and feeding, it is possible to produce fish faster and at any time during the year
• Closed, indoor aquaculture systems are often considered as more friendly to the environment because they require less water and result to less waste. As an alternative to marine aquaculture, it doesn’t result to the pollution of coastal waters with drugs, chemicals and antibiotics
• It avoids the usual danger of fish escapes associated with traditional open net pens and cages system of fish farming in coastal waters
• It allows higher stocking densities, requiring smaller spaces and lesser management needs. As such, it can save a farm owner labor and time to manage a farm
• It allows production facilities to be near the market, saving transportation costs'

So in the future could Plainfield be 'Sleeping with the Fishes?'

To be continued…

Deconstructing: Rucker Supporter Anonymous Comment

This comment was made in response to my blog post of 4/8/11: ‘Tony Rucker Anointed by His Holiness, Assemblyman Green, to run in Primary.’

‘Nat, you're implying assumptions that have no basis. Yes, let's stick to the issues, so we can do something about them, instead of just talking about them. It's not just the Sharon & Jerry show that must close down, but the Jerry-New Dem Show too. We're choking on the reruns and it's rude of you force us to keep watching. Turn the channel.

April 9, 2011 3:58 PM’

Deconstructing it:

‘Nat, you're implying assumptions…’

What assumptions?  He genuflected? He kissed the Pope’s Ring?  These are all metaphors; you know, poetic license.

‘…that have no basis…’

Don’t you mean: that have no basis in fact…?

Fact: Jerry announced that Tony Rucker was his candidate.  Jerry allowed no nominees from the floor, no discussion and no vote by the City Committee. Tony Rucker by his acceptance of Jerry’s nomination implicitly agrees with the totally undemocratic process of his selection. If he does not he should say so.

‘Yes, let's stick to the issues, so we can do something about them, instead of just talking about them.’

Jerry Green is issue number 1. What planet are you on, Mars?  He has presided over the dissolution of Muhlenberg Hospital, provided the key vote that ended Abbot District funding and gave Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, whose biggest accomplishment was to fire a pregnant woman, effective Christmas day, do to give birth on January 2nd.  This from the 3^rd most powerful man in the state!

Did you read all of my post? It has a list of other issues that I asked for a response. So far all I’ve heard is silence. I assume that when Tony Rucker gets the time he will respond, clearly stating the issues and how to solve them.

'It's not just the Sharon & Jerry show that must close down, but the Jerry-New Dem Show too.'

Tony Rucker is Sharon and Jerry’s candidate. He is a player in their show; a potential ‘fourth’ vote in Jerry’s pocket. If not, if he is so independent, why didn’t he run on a separate Independent line. He can’t have it both ways.

‘…but the Jerry-New Dem Show too.’

Politics is theater; it is an exercise in free speech. You know, the 1^st Amendment to the Constitution? You want to shut it down?

So far the only Tony Rucker I’ve seen, is one who is Fact-Free and Solution-Free and comes from the ‘Why can’t we all just get along’ school of politics.

'We're choking on the reruns and it's rude of you force us to keep watching. Turn the channel.'

Nobody is forcing you to watch anything. You have hands; a remote control. Turn it off, yourself.

What’s next, you want me to wi…-no I’m not going to say it.

Tony Rucker Anointed by His Holiness, Assemblyman Green, to run in Dem Primary

Last night Tony Rucker genuflected, kissed the Pope’s ring and was installed as Assemblyman’s Gerald (aka Jerry) Green’s candidate to run for council against Cory Storch, in the Democratic primary –click on the picture to the right to see scenes from the ceremonies.  And while Tony has never been to Manchuria, to my knowledge, he must have fit the bill of a candidate pliable enough that if he were to win, he would be the fourth one in the Assemblyman’s pocket (Green’s words not mine.)

Tony before I go any further, when you’re around Jerry, stay away from buses. The town is full of people he has thrown under and if he offers you Kool-Aid, never no not ever drink it, especially if it is grape.

My advice, focus on the issues and provide real solutions. Let me say that again: focus on the issues and provide real solutions.  As a start, please let us know the things you think the current administration has done right, wrong and where they can improve; what would you do about the PMUA, fiscal responsibility, the Mayor’s revolving employment practices, Muhlenberg, gang violence, economic development  and improving the number of youths served, 600 by their own admission, by the Division of Recreation?

Finally, I can’t stress it enough, stay focused.