Lack of Transparency rallies locals to drive for public review of Newark, DE power plant and data center

Newsworks has a post on an upcoming public meeting to review plans for a 248 MW natural gas plant.

“Initially we received a lot of pushback from city officials that they were not going to have a public meeting until final plans had been submitted to the city. And clearly, if final plans are submitted where is there opportunity for the public, or neighbors, to have a voice in shaping those plans,” asked Amy Roe, an activist with the Sierra Club here in Delaware.

Roe says it's hard to say if plans for the data center are objectionable because very little information has been made publicly available, but "it’s the power plant that’s causing concern.”

The data center company and local government look like they were trying to sneak something by the public.

Those concerns were magnified, Roe says, by the city's seeming lack of transparency throughout this entire process. 

“I’m worried about the silence from the city on this project," Roe said. “To learn that your town government has been negotiating for a year for this and none of the neighbors know is very worrisome.”

Newark's Community Affairs Officer Dana Johnston says the city has nothing to share since plans have not been officially submitted. Johnston says the city is simply providing publicity and a space for Tuesday's meeting, where TDC will provide more substantive answers.

Emails sent to TDC asking how much the proposed project will cost and when final plans will be submitted have yet to be returned. 

I guess this is a big enough deal because on the web site http://www.cityofnewarkde.us is this notice.

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A film to evaluate your purpose, After The Rain

I found the film After the Rain on Youtube.

The story is about Ronin looking for a new master, a lord to serve.  He has a problem holding a job as he has compassionate for all and will do what is right vs what is tradition.  There are life lessons embedded in the middle and end.  The movie was written by Akira Kurosawa.

After the Rain (雨あがる Ame agaru?) is a 1999 Japanese film. The story is based on the last script written by Akira Kurosawa and is directed by his former assistant director of 28 years, Takashi Koizumi. It was awarded a Japanese Academy Award in 1999. It was chosen as Best Film at the Japan Academy Prizeceremony.[2]

A group of travelers is stranded in a small country inn when the local river floods. As the bad weather continues, tensions rise amongst the travelers trapped at the inn. A traveling ronin (masterless samurai), Ihei Misawa takes it upon himself to cheer everyone up by arranging a splendid feast. Unfortunately he has no money and in order to pay for the feast he visits the local dojos and challenges the masters there for payment, termed in the film as prize fighting. Later, after breaking up a duel between two young retainers of the local clan he receives an offer of employment as a sword master from the local lord, Shigeaki. He has a tense interaction with the lord and his retainers, revealing his prowess at their expense. The film also shows the tender relationship he has with his wife, Tayo, and provides insights into the way of life of a ronin's wife.

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Training Information to be your companion

I have the book Training People for a while.  The book is a humorous view from a dog's perspective of training people to be their companions.

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Training People: How to Bring Out the Best in Your Human Paperback

by Tess of Helena (Author)

For centuries, dogs have known that they, not humans, run the show. But not all dogs know how to get the best from their people. Finally, from the leading expert in the field comes a straightforward, easy-to-use manual that's written for dogs by a dog. This indispensable reference provides foolproof advice on obtaining everything a dog deserves, from the best food and exercise to grooming and chauffeur services. Here are all the tools a dog needs for selecting, training, and living with a well-behaved human.

Some of our good friends are dog people and what I have noticed lately is how they interact and care for their dog has a close relationship to many other things in life.

The funny idea that came to mind that I am going to see if it works is applying the Idea of Training People to reversing the role and having people think about "Training Information." 

I'll keep on playing with this idea of Training Information and see if it goes anywhere.

Part of being older, be more patience with yourself

It is easy to be in a competitive driving mode.  When I was program manager on products, I learned to drive from some of the best.  Keeping dates in your heads easily, action items tracked, when to push harder.  A tip I learned from a friend is when you want to ship really hard products you need to be an "ass" and piss off people.  One manager I had said if she is not getting regular complaints about her team, they aren't pushing hard enough.

I have long past stopped being a program manager.  No really desire to be an "ass" and ship.  Part of the problem being so driven is it easy to think patience is a waste of time.  "I want it now. If it doesn't work go get another one."

Here is an example.  I bought a Wacom Bamboo Stylus for my Galaxy Note 8 to make it easier to take notes than using the built in stylus.

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I bought it from Costco so I knew I could return it if I had issues.  Got it tried on the Note 8. Didn't work.  What could be wrong.  Tried it on my Galaxy Note 1, worked fine.  Went back to Galaxy Note 8, didn't.  Built in stylus works of course.  What is wrong, doesn't make any sense.

Most likely the problem is pilot error, there is a mistake on my part.  What is wrong?  Pick up the stylus a few weeks later, let's try again.  Doesn't work.  Then another week or so later, I am using the Note 8 and see the UI for Battery Saving in S Pen.

  • Battery saving: disables the pen detection feature while the pen is attached to save battery power.

When "Battery Saving" is on, the galaxy note pen feature is turned off.  So, the stylus, any stylus doesn't work unless you remove the pen when you have battery saving on.  Turn "battery saving" off, and the Bamboo Stylus works.

I could have gotten mad, frustrated at the device, returning it to Costco.   I had the data though that the pen worked on one device. It is a simple device. There must be something I don't see.  It is my mistake.

When I was a driven program manager, I would have been mad, "stupid device" doesn't work.  Taking a bit more time, having patience, got the Bamboo Stylus working, I understand Battery Saving feature.

Taking your time, relaxing and having more patience allows you to figure out more things.  On the other hand, it can look like you are not a driven over-achiever. I don't know about you, but I feel more satisfied having patience with myself than being a competitive driven ass. :-)

Finding behavior over time in locations, Bank Thiefs caught with Cell Tower Dumps

Arstechnica has a post that will get you thinking.  How bank thieves were caught with cell tower dumps that provided the list of phones numbers in a location with specific times.

Fishing for phone numbers

To find the High Country Bandits, the FBI asked a federal magistrate judge to approve four of these cell tower dumps. Investigators picked the "four most rural [robbery] locations in order to minimize the amount of extraneous telephone data that would likely be obtained through such a court order," including the bank in Pinetop, said the FBI. The judge approved the request.

Tower dumps aren't like going after targeted cell phone data on a known suspect; they are more like casting a limited dragnet, pulling in the phone numbers and (rough) location of everyone in the vicinity of the event. And tower dumps are usually obtained without a warrant, instead utilizing a "court order" with judicial oversight but a lower burden than "probable cause." This could potentially mean the government getting warrantless location information for hundreds of people who are not being investigated for any crime.

The article goes on to describe the finding of a phone # that was in each location which happens to be at the time when there was a bank robbery.  You get the idea.  With the phone # they traced more, etc, etc.

The FBI then went back to the judge and obtained more particular court orders covering these specific phone numbers. The phone numbers came back with subscriber names attached: Joel Glore and Ronald Capito. And the location data returned showed that these two phones had been present at most of the 16 bank robberies under investigation. Further, the data showed that both phones tended to travel from Show Low, Arizona, to the location of each bank just before each robbery.