Themes Project

I am not happy with the Blogger "label" feature. I had been hoping that the label feature would build an index for this blog. Instead, it simply feeds a weak search function.

So, I decided to make an external index. The advance of an external index is that I will be able to index more than just this one blog. I could include articles posted on other sites and forums. I will put the themes on the site y-intercept.com (notice the dash).

To make the index a bit more useful to the web surfing public, I split it into several main categories:

• The Abstract Themes section lists abstract philosophical themes like true and paradox.
• The Current Events section indexes articles on current events and politics.
• photo indexes articles that involve taking pictures.
• The local directory includes articles about the Community Color project.

I am building this same index structure into the backend program used by The Roots of Sound Rational Thinking and other research projects.

Riverpark in South Jordan

I finished labeling the pictures I took of the Riverpark area in South Jordan. This is a massive complex with two universities, a variety of class A office space and mix use facilities.

NOTE, I googled Riverpark, but did not find an official web site for the development. If anyone knows of one, please drop a comment.

The Facility is on 10600 South just West of the Jordan River. I doubt it entered the minds of the developers, but the people working in the complex have a nice bike path and walkway near their building. I wonder how many people bike to work ...

As a building buff, I am always happy to see quality new construction. I am especially happy to see mix use facilities. The Riverpark includes a variety of fast food and elegant restaurants. My first reaction was that the development was a bit like the DTC in Denver.

My second reaction was sorrow that this development did not take place in Salt Lake City proper. I feel sad that most of the development is happening in the South Valley. During the DeeDee Corradini and Rocky Anderson dynasties, there was almost no development in Salt Lake. It is true that in the last few years, SLC finally realized that WVC, South Jordan and Saint George were on a path to ecclipse the capital city in economic relevance. So, the city has reluctantly allowed some construction.

I have always rooted for Salt Lake City. Rooting for a loser results in a cynical attitude toward the world.

During my picture taking excursion, I was surprised to find that there was a new University in town called Neumont University. Neumont University's site says that they work directly with businesses partners to provide relevant education. Utah is in desparate need of new private universities if we wish the state to maintain a leading role in business and technology. I hope they do well. There is also a branch of the University of Southern Nevada. Go figure.


I love the mix use concept that is taking into place in developments like the Riverpark. I am sad that the development is not quite as well connected with the valley as I would want. Most people have to drive to go to work, and you really can't see the profile of the big buildings from the freeway, as it is in a gulch.

Deliberative Reform

I should have called the last post "Deliberative Reform."

"Comprehensive Reform" is the process where, every 30 years or so, Congress passes a massive bill that tries to set immigration policy for the next 30 years.

"Deliberative Reform" is the idea that Congress must address a problem each year. Rather than one big bill, Congress would address the immigration problem each year. They would pass separate bills that set the immigration quota, the temporary worker quota and a final bill that addresses humanitarian and law enforcement issues that popped up the previous year.

Going into a multi-year deliberative process would allow us to break the expectation of amnesty while giving us the ability address the immigration mess in a humane manner.

Comprehensive Reform is the Problem

Last year I supported the efforts for "comprehensive immigration reform." I did so because I felt it was necessary to include the sticks in the same bundle as the carrots.

Watching the comprehensive reform bill fail, it struck me that it the comprehensive reform process itself that is the failure. The way Congress goes about bill writing these days is they overload every bill with earmarks and special provisions that they become a convoluted mess that no-one can understand.

The worst part of the comprehensive reform approach is that it puts out nation on a cycle of having to reform the last comprehensive reform every thirty years or so.

The Reagan Amnesty bill was a reform of post war comprehensive packages that favored European immigration.

The problem with the Reagan Amnesty bill was not that it gave amnesty, but that it created an expectation that there would be amnesty with the next comprehensive reform bill. If enough people immigrated without permission, it would be possible to force the US into a new amnesty.

Amnesty in and of itself is not evil. If done correctly, amnesty can restore the rule of law.

The problem with the Reagan Amnesty is that it was made with an expectation that immigration policy would take the form of an amnesty every thirty years or so.

The expectation of future amnesty accelerated the breaking of the law.

With Congress tied in the rut that looks for comprehensive solutions, we've been mired in a rut.

Don't you see? Comprehensive reform fails because the "comprehensive-reform-mindset" is the problem.

The answer to this current problem might be to do something rather simple: Rather than having a comprehensive bill, Congress should face the immigration mess in small deliberate bites. Rather than passing one bill with an immigration quota, temporary worker quota and law enforcement provisions. Congress should pass each provision separately.

Each year, Congress should produce a bill that sets the immigration quota for the year, a bill that sets the temporary worker quota and a bill that updates the law enforcement efforts.

The problem is not the people who want to immigrate to the United States. The problem is that we have a broken political system;

A disciplined effort that addresses the problem each year with clean, deliberate, earmark free bills would do more to solve the problem than any fence or amnesty.

The goal for 2009 should not be to pass a comprehensive reform, but to start a deliberative multiyear effort.

The Weather Report

Myanmar is one of the most progressive nations on earth. They have progressed to the point where the ruling junta with absolute control over the country. One of the most notable features of a progressive society is that the media is owned by the peoples.

According to First Lady Laura Bush, the state run media failed to tell the people that a cyclone was on the way. The cyclone is reported to have killed some 20,000 people in the impoverished country.

Anyway the failure of the state run media to warn people about a cyclone got me thinking about the nature of the free press. There is a market for quality weather information. The free market does a very good job of delivering that information. An added benefit of this the market for weather information is that the press has developed extremely sophisticated mechanism for collecting, analyzing and predicting weather. The free press led to a system that can provide enough warning of impending natural distaster to reduce casualties.

A state run press, however, answers to the needs of the political ruling class. Its primary concern is in dosing out information such that the junta stays in power.

I wish this was understood, but when people are the market for a service, the service does a better job serving the people.

When the desires of a political class is the primary market, then the people go underserved. In Myanmar, people died because state run media failed to provide the information that a privately owned media would have provided.

UN Green

The United Nation's Building renovation will cost $1.9 billion. The result will be a building that is pretty much the same as the current one. A big reason for the run up in in cost is an effort to make the building green. The renovation will improve the efficiency of the building by 30%.

The article does not say how much energy the building consumes; however, I find it safe to guess that the $1.9 billion dollar renovation effort will consume far more energy than the efficiency gains.

Sadly, I fear that the UN renovation is symbolic of the international left's effort to stop global warming through government funding. Resources consumed by the left's stab at controlling nature is likely to be equal if not greater than the resource savings. The economic costs will dwarf the economic benefits. Finally, the primary beneficiaries of all the hot air blown by the efforts will be the elite core. As with the majority of efforts dreamed up by the left, the elitist will reap the rewards from the effort and the people will languish.

I like the UN. I wish that we had opted for the lower cost effort that would have involved building a new UN building. Moving the Bureaucrats, then renovating the old UN building. The smart path would have given us a second building for the massive investment. The UN may not be popular, but it is worth the effort to keep as much of it in the US as is possible.

Back to alternative energy: It seems to me that Natural Capitalism by the Rocky Mountain Institute is a better approach to the energy problem. Natural Capitalism wishes to make resource consumption a bigger part of the cost equation. With the cost of resources taken into account properly, the market will find ways to adjust to the new equation.

Welcome Geniuses

I wonder if they are just stroking my ego, or if they are simply livid about my use of complex sentence structures. Anyway, the blog readability test tells me that this is a "genius level" blog.

They probably just picked up on the fact that I don't spend enough time editing posts.

The funny thing, though, is that I actually like complex sentences. If I did more editing, it would be to fix mistakes and not to dumb down the writing.

It takes a complex sentence to convey a subtle idea.

One of the reasons that I detest the public schools is that they have been systematically dumbing down both our language and our population. The modern public school has actually convinced millions of people that thinking and writing on a fourth grade level is a good thing.

Schools teach students to sit down with a grammar checker and work until they've pulled all of the beauty from the language. What gives what that?

Reduce Government Consumption of Energy

(The point of this post happens halfway down)

It was fun taking a ride on the FrontRunner.

While riding the train is fun recreation, I can't see how this thing is going to solve the current energy crisis. Back of the envelop calculations tell me that government subsidized transportation will never be the most efficient means of getting around.

On this note, it is interesting that the UTA used the publicity blitz surrounding the grand opening of the FrontRunner to demand a rate hike. The press release notes that UTA will consume 6.1 million gallons of deisel a year. The amount of fuel consumed by UTA is increasing dramatically with each year. The article doesn't mention the amount of electricity, natural gas and gasoline they consume.

We don't solve the energy crisis simply by switching the mode of energy consumption from a private to public entity. Organizing one's life to use public transit does not necessarily reduce one's carbon footprint.

Organizing one's life to get the maximum return from the resources invested does. Biking and walking does the trick.

As for UTA. The UTA tells us we have an either or choice. Either they raise prices or cut service. Rising prices pushes mass transit out of the reach of many people in the valley. So, the either or thinking really doesn't hack it.

We need to have our eyes on the total consumption of fuel. As such, the UTA should be cutting inefficient routes regardless of what they do with the pricing.

Now to the Point

As mentioned earlier, McCain's tax vacation does not address the cause of our current energy crisis.

If our government wished to take a positive step to addressing the current energy crisis, what it should undertake a major effort to decrease the government's consumption of energy.

If the government wanted to make a positive impact on the economy, they should look at government consumption of energy. Imagine an emergency program where the US government program sought an immediate reduction of 5% of its consumption of fuel. If our governments were to cut their consumption of energy, it would reduce the deficit and ease pressures on prices. Its impact would be substantially greater than a gas tax holiday.

Unfortunately, what we seem to be doing is leaning more heavily on public consumption of energy as people try to find ways to curb private consumption of energy.

FrontRunning to Ogden

I appreciate free; So, yesterday -- April 30th, 2008, I jumped aboard the new FrontRunner Commuter Rail that runs between Salt Lake and Ogden. The new route opened on April 26th. UTA offered free rides from April 26th to April 30.

(I was planning on going to the opening ceremonies on April 26th, but went to a Rock Garden Show instead.

My orginal plan was to get off on every stop and take pictures of the environs. Unfortunately, as the train was standing room only, I decided to beeline it to Ogden and back.

In Ogden I took a walk up historic 25th, then down Washington Boulevard to the new Solomon recreation center. I then zig zagged my way back to the train.

Sadly, it takes longer to label pictures than it does to take pictures.

On the train, I engaged in several conversations about how things like architecture and our overall well being has improved in the last 8 years, followed by other conversations about how everybody hates George Bush and yearn for some indescribable change.

It is really amazing how the media has been able to convince so many sheep in America that the continued boom America has experienced since the Reagan revolution is a depression.

The way I see it ... life is not about how much we love or hate the glorious leader in a distant city. It is about the quality of life in our communities. During the Great Society of LBJ through Jimmy Carter, people turned toward Washington for answers. The local communities got worse. The trains disappeared during this era.

During the era from Reagan to Bush, people realized that Washington was not the answer and local communities started getting better. Like most of the stuff in our lives, the train has nothing to do with the President. It is odd, but Republican hostility toward mass transit helped improve it.

Paul Reverette

I was listening to Paul Reverette, aka Hillary Clinton, in one of her shrill calls for recession.

The funny thing is that the US economy was in a more precarious situation at the end of the dot com bust that occurred during the Clinton dynasty.

In the 2000 campaign, there was a great fear that the Republicans would start screaming recession, AS CLINTON AND BARACK ARE DOING AT THE MOMENT, and that Republicans screaming for recession AS CLINTON AND BARACK ARE DOING would actually lead to recession.

The Republicans could have gained political advantage in 2000 if they screamed recession.

Other than a few Conservative drones like Glen Beck, the Republicans did not scream recession in 2000, and there was not a major domestic and international effort to short American companies and our currency.

Anyway, my stomache is turning because Clinton is using the divisive techniques that her administration claimed to be unfair in Al Gore's presidential bid.

BTW, what is super surprising is that our economy is still doing well despite all of the shorting and top of the lung screaming of the word "Recession" done by Barack and Clinton and the legions of sheep that scream in unison with their master.

PS, A few posts ago, I criticized McCain's tax vacation as a bad idea. Clinton jumped on that band wagon. Obama did not. Barack seems a little bit more skilled at sniffing out bad ideas than the other presidential candidates.

I am not quite sure if he would be adept at coming up with good ideas though.