Monthly Archives: April 2011

Miami Herald Endorsements in Coral Gables Elections

The Miami Herald editorial board — not the world’s most utterly reliable source, but one worth considering — endorses Tom Korge for Mayor saying his “experience on key city boards coupled with his vision for change offer a winning mix.”  This is slightly surprising since the don’t-rock-the-boat Herald usually has a strong pro-incumbent bias. Bodes well for Korge.

In Group 5 they endorse Kerdyk, no surprise, see above on incumbents.

In Group 4, they say this:

In the packed field to replace 20-year veteran Commissioner Wayne “Chip’’ Withers, three of the seven candidates stand out: insurance salesman Rene Alvarez, lawyer Frank Quesada and clothing businessman Brad Rosenblatt. Each offers energy and imaginative ideas, but Mr. Alvarez is our pick.

I was starting to  thinking I’d end up Quesada, but maybe it’s time to take a more careful look at Alvarez too.  It’s interesting too that they don’t put Sanabria in their front rank.

Posted in Coral Gables | 9 Comments

Drat

One of my favorite scientific anomalies — why spacecraft speed up at the edge of the solar system — may have been explained.

For quite some time, the physics community has been baffled by subtle anomalies in the trajectories of the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft. If no “mundane” effect (e.g. propulsion from a gas leak, or radiation pressure, or collisions with space dust) can be found to explain it, then serious questions would have to be asked about whether our understanding of gravity is incomplete. This paper, however, claims to explain the anomalous acceleration in terms of thermal radiation.

Source: Unqualified Offerings, Mean scientists say no gravitational anomaly in outer solar system, referring to Modelling the reflective thermal contribution to the acceleration of the Pioneer spacecraft.

My only remaining hope that there might actually be a singularity is the date of the paper.

Posted in Science/Medicine | Comments Off on Drat

Question about Michele Bachmann

Is she the Republican George McGovern, or the Tea Party Barry Goldwater?

Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann raised more than $2 million through her campaign fund and political action committee over the first 90 days of 2011

via The Fix.

 

Posted in Politics: Tinfoil | Comments Off on Question about Michele Bachmann

Electioneering Report – April 1, 2011

This morning I got another robocall.  I picked up the phone, said “hello” and there was silence. “Hello? Hello!” As a result of all the helloing, I missed the first few words of the call in which the speaker on the scratchy tape identified himself as Somebody Something former Mayor of Something. But whoever he was, his recorded voice asked me to vote for Sanabria because he understands budgets and good public policy. It closed appropriately, identifying itself as a call paid and approved by the campaign for Gonzalo Sanabria.

[Late evening update: I came home to find a message on the answering machine left around 7:30pm from “Victoria,” a real live human who was calling to encourage me to vote for Sanabria.  I don’t know what it is about his phone lines or his volunteers, but what she was saying was really hard to make out on the tape (sounded cheerful, though).  I’d start to worry it was my phone, or maybe my hearing, except the other messages were fine.]

This afternoon’s mail brought three mailers:
Continue reading

Posted in Coral Gables | 7 Comments

Summer Job Opportunity for U Miami Law Students

I would like to hire one full-time or two part-time summer research assistants for the coming summer. UM 1Ls are as welcome to apply as are UM 2Ls. In either case, if it works out, you could continue on a part-time basis during the school year if you wanted to.

It would be best if you could start very soon after exams finish. If you wanted to, you could take a break at some time in the summer.

About half the job (or the job for one of the part-timers) primarily involves helping me edit and manage Jotwell.com. The other half (or the other job) primarily involves assisting me with legal research relating to papers I am writing on privacy and on Internet regulation. Both jobs may entail a bit of occasional scut work as the law school is making me move all my files to make way for new construction on the third floor.

Both jobs require someone who can write clearly, and is well-organized. If you happen to have some web or programming skills (some or all of WordPress, HTML, MySQL, Perl, Debian), that would be a plus but it is not in any way a requirement.

The pay of $13 / hr is set by the university, and is not as high as you deserve, but the work is sometimes interesting.

If this sounds attractive, please e-mail me the following with the subject line SUMMER RESEARCH ASSISTANT 2011 (in all caps), followed by your name:

  1. A note telling me
    • How many hours you’d ideally like to work per week
    • When you are free to start.
    • Your phone number and email address.
  2. A copy of your resume (c.v.).
  3. A transcript of your grades (need not be an official copy).
  4. If you have one handy, also attach a short NON-legal writing sample. If you have none, I’ll accept a legal writing sample (whatever you do, though, please don’t send your LRW memo).
Posted in U.Miami | 1 Comment