David Ernst Chats with the World

President Bush is apparently on a speaking tour of the US, and apparently the focus is on this “domestic spying” issue. He’s talking a lot about how important it is that we listen to these people, because they are suspected terrorists, and we need to interfere with the terrorists’ plots. I’m ok with all of that, and I suspect most people are. Everyone knows that the FBI uses wire taps and lots of other things to spy on suspects.

The question is not “why are you listening to these conversations?”

The question *is* “why didn’t you get a warrant?”

Too slow and cumbersome? He’s been doing this for years! He’s re-authorized this repeatedly, several times per year, for years. If he were saying “Yes, right after Sept. 11, we wanted to start this program immediately, so I authorized it before we had the warrant because I felt that our national security was on the line” I don’t think anyone would be bothered. But, come on! If he’s asking us all to believe that it takes years to get an answer from a judge about this, he should come out and say it. But he’s not, he knows it’s not true and we wouldn’t buy it. So, the question remains: “Why didn’t you get a warrant?” Hopefully the Senate will be hammering on *this* question next week.

I do not expect next week’s Senate debate about Samuel Alito’s nomination to the US Supreme Court to be very interesting. Republicans will praise his experience and tout the endorsements from several federal judges (including many who are considered left-of-center) and the American Bar Association. Democrats will criticize him for being conservative, criticize Bush for caving to pressure from the religious right, and note that replacing a relative centrist with someone so far to the right will tip the balance of the court. Republicans will whine that some of them voted for then-nominees Ginsburg and Breyer. Democrats will counter that those nominees were pre-approved by judiciary committee chair Hatch in conversations with Clinton, and Bush certainly didn’t look for a similar level of input from Democrats in the Alito nomination. I doubt any Senators will make this case, but some Republicans somewhere will point out that Bush doesn’t need to seek approval from Democrats, because the Republicans control the Senate.

As far as can see, all of this stuff is simple fact, especially by the standards of public debate. In short: everyone is right about Alito.

Both sides of the abortion debate are right that Roe is much more likely to be overturned under Alito. My personal opinion is that this is not a good thing. That’s one part (only one part) of why I never voted for Bush. The candidates I voted for lost. The Republicans won. Even with the large question marks of the 2000 elections, it’s clear that Republicans held onto control of the Senate in 2002, and even those who question the vote of 2004 have to admit that a majority of voters voted for Bush and the Republicans who won Senate seats. The GOP controls the White House and the Senate. So, why wouldn’t they nominate a conservative?

Somewhere shortly after the 2000 election, Bush stopped calling himself a “uniter, not a divider”. Shortly after the 2004 election, the left stopped joking that Bush was a “uniter” of bring people together against him. The nation is not united, it is divided. In over-simplifed terms, I am on the side of the fence that is not in power right now. But I do not want to be a sore loser. And I hope that Senate Democrats won’t want to be either.

Yes, Senate Dems, make sure that people understand that this is a conservative nominee. Yes, make predictions about how he will vote and describe why you think that it will be bad for our nation. And then, wrap up your presentation, and if you want to, go ahead and vote against him. But don’t act like this is a travesty. This is how the system works. This is democracy in action. We don’t have to like it, and you Senators don’t have to vote for it if you don’t want to. But I don’t see any reason that Alito shouldn’t be confirmed, given his credentials and the support he has in the Senate. And, if he was defeated, the next nominee would be someone similar. If you think this all is against the will of the American people, remind the American people of that next time they are getting ready to visit the polls. And then, maybe, if there’s a Supreme Court vacancy in 2007, Bush will have to get serious input from a Democratic committee chair before he presents a nominee. Or maybe, in 2009, I’ll be referring back to this article when I write about how the Republican minority should limit their complaining about the social liberal nominee before them.
In the mean time, deal.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been given home thermometers with wireless remote sensors for xmas. The reason I keep getting them is that they never seem to work. The indoor one will usually work, but it won’t get a signal from the outdoor one. It won’t even get the signal if they are sitting right next to each other on the same table. I do not know why. I’ve wondered if it’s other wireless stuff (like my WiFi network, or my cordless phone, or what have you), but it doesn’t seem to be. So I don’t know.

Anyway, this year I got two — one from my mom, and one from Kynthia. They both work! That is, they both pick up temperatures from the remote sensors! So that’s good news. Hopefully at least one of them will even continue working.

While I’m pleased to have a working temperature gauges, I also have to pause and chat about the reliability of these things. Typical consumer-grade digital thermometers nowadays give 3-4 significant digits of accuracy… that is, they usually offer tenths of a degree on their display. What’s funny is, the thermometers really aren’t that accurate, as you can easily confirm by putting the display and the remote sensor right next to each other. They almost never show the same temperature, frequently more than a degree off. Since I had been working with both thermometers, I set all four sensors together. Then I even grabbed my kitchen thermometer. Sure enough, the five sensors gave five different temperatures: 63.9 64.6 64.9 65.3 and 65.7 degrees F. Now, the total span here is just under two degrees, so when I am trying to figure out which coat to wear, I don’t think it’ll much matter. However, I do have to wonder: why do they design these things to display accuracy beyond the units’ capabilities? The best I can come up with is that the fractions of a degree matter more in Centigrade mode. I don’t really know, but do remember: if you need to know the temperature to three significant digits, you’ll need a sensor more accurate than these.

Theater Reviews:

Our Town Quick Review: This classic American play would work better as a *Twilight Zone* episode.

*Dinner with Friends* Quick Review: It’s rare that drama succeeds so well at creating deep and realistic characters who are neither heroic nor flawed, neither good nor evil, and neither right nor wrong.

It’s not every week one can see live productions of two Pulitzer Prize winning plays in Bloomington. On Friday the 13th, I saw Thorton Wilder’s 1938 classic *Our Town*, which was the debut production of the new Cardinal Theater Company. Then, on Thursday the 19th, Donald Margulies’s *Dinner with Friends* from around the year 2000, and was produced by some weird collaboration between the Bloomington Playrights Project (BPP), the Bloomington Area Arts Council (BAAC, a.k.a. “the Waldron”) and Miro Productions. The contrast between the shows was striking to me, in many ways:

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I haven’t written much to the blog lately, and I attribute that largely to the holidays. I like the holidays, and they play an important role in my life and the lives of my loved ones. So, I was busy. This is the first weekend I’ve been home in a while.

And, thanks to xmas, I’ve got a bunch of new presents! My family and friends are very generous around xmas. In fact, I am struck by how often when someone asks where I acquired something I own, I say it was a gift. Really, a surprising percentage of the durable goods that I own were gifts. Of course, I try to be generous as well, and so does everyone, so perhaps the same is true of most everyone I’m close to. But I think my aversion to shopping in general probably raises the percentage for me.

Anyway, I think I was particularly easy to shop for this year because of my increasing interest in cycling. So, I had a new:

• handlebar bag;
• frame bag;
• bike gloves;
• long underwear;
• (unbelievably cool) repair tool;
• (and the biggest gift of all) GPS

Well, much to my surprise, the weather was very nice this weekend. Actually, I’ve loved the weather so far this winter… seems like it’s either snowing or clear. Clear, cold, and sunny doesn’t bother me at all, although I admit that cold does not make me excited about long bike rides. But still, what I don’t like (and what we typically get a lot of in the winter) is cold, overcast, and drizzling. Yuck.

Anyway, yesterday was very sunny, and I thought “I could bike in this.” Then, today, it was not only sunny, but even quite warm! It topped 60 this afternoon! Woah!

Well, how could I resist? I installed my new handlebar bag (with my new unbelievably cool repair tool), figured out a way to attach my GPS to it, strapped on the frame bag, donned the gloves and the long underwear, and set off! I rode a variation on one of the easiest routes that I do, one of my “12 mile after work” routes that can be ridden in about an hour. Usually I do these routes for the exercise and the mind-cleanse, so I usually push myself a bit. Today, though, I was telling myself to “play”. Every time I thought of something I might adjust or check with my new gear, I tried to check it. So, definitely a slower ride than usual. And then I went out of my way to go to Staples to buy me a new Flash/USB drive (I should write about that in a different post).

The ride went well, it did feel relaxing. But, part of my excitement to bike was to unveil the new abilities made available to me by the GPS, and some very cool software. So, now, thanks mostly to GPSVisualizer.com here is
a google map version of where I biked today and [an elevation profile](http://www.bloomington.in.us/~drernst/gmaps/20060108-surprise-ride-elevation.png) as well! I found the software and stuff necessary to do this yesterday, and I’ve been very excited about the ability. Very cool.

Furthermore, I’ve been having good luck with finding perl modules and the like to play with the GPS data myself. I was hoping I’d do a total ascent graph to post up here as well. Unfortunately, though, the data is.. not reliable. I have to learn more about some of the stuff that the GPS does with elevation, because it seems to make these corrections, often when I’m standing still. I calculated the total ascent to be about twice what the GPS said it was. I tried to correct for the corrections, but I never got it to within 20% of what the GPS said. And I’m not sure I trust what the GPS said anyway (it said ~1700 feet for this ride, that seems a bit high to me. One of my estimates came back closer to 1400 feet, but I don’t know whether to believe that or not). I wonder if part of the confusion was that it was very windy today, and that maybe the variable pressure confused the GPS’s internal barometer. Weird, I don’t know, I’ll have to research it and/or get used to it.

I could say tons about the bike ride, but I’m trying to get to bed, so I’ll just highlight a couple of things:

* Why did I ever bike up the hill on Old 37 between Dunn and Bethel? I can bike up the same hill on much more pleasant back roads. Doesn’t make the hill any easier to climb, but at least you’re not also worried about cars.
* Both of the climbs I did near Griffy were about 250 ft vertical. So that’s: from the bottom of the dam (~600 ft) to around the corner of Bethel and Hinkle (~840 ft); and from the causeway at Griffy (~650 ft (50 feet higher than the bottom of the dam!)) to the crest of the hill near the corner of Jordan and 17th St. (914 ft! I had no idea there was such a high point over there near the frats!)

Ok, enough geeky reminiscing. I’m going to bed.

I’m one those people who was brought up to respect the value of
things. Put a different way, it’s hard for me to get rid of something
if it still works. I drive my cars until they die. I use my
appliances as long as they still work. Etc.

When I visit friends houses, I am often struck by how new much of
their things seem. Take stoves, for instance. It seems like all the
homeowners I know have stoves that are less than 15 years old, and
they have all these crazy features that mine doesn’t have. Mine must
be 40 years old or so. It’s very simple. It’s a gas range, my
biggest complaint about it is that it’s hard to adjust the flame
without having it go out. But, it works, I cook on it happily, and I
just don’t think that spending $500 on a new stove would bring me $500
of happiness. So, I don’t.

Refrigerator, same thing. I’m sure there are other examples, but
really, that’s not the point here. The point is: why is everyone
using such old toilets?

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