Links for October 2022
By Robert Ellison.
SFGATE: Skyscraper with floating cube might come to San Francisco
This is an incredibly bad idea for a city with a record for skyscrapers that don't stand up straight...
Fortune Cookies for Android 1.30
By Robert Ellison.
I've just released Fortune Cookies for Android 1.30. The last update was in... 2013... it turns out the Android ecosystem has moved on a bit since then and it wasn't even in the Play Store any more as a result. This update has a nice modern theme but is otherwise just an Android version of the classic UNIX fortune command. The database of fortunes is ancient and just running this might get you canceled / fired / etc so use with due caution. If you have this installed it will update as soon as the release is approved.
Related Posts
- Fortune Cookies for Android
- Fortune Cookies for Android 1.50
- Catfood Earth
- I can finish a web page in Android 15!
- Catfood Weather 2.30
(Published to the Fediverse as: Fortune Cookies for Android 1.30 #code #fortune #software UNIX style fortune cookies on Android (updated for Android 12) )
Space Journey
By Robert Ellison.
Animation of a trip through a random collection of stars with a bit of a hyperspace effect in the middle. I didn't mean to write this code but it's what ended up happening anyway. It would make a good mid-90s screensaver. I'll post what I was actually trying to do next.
Related Posts
- Star Trails
- Mandelbrot Spin Zoom
- Starlink Train
- Animation of a year of Global Cloud Cover
- ASCII Sunset
(Published to the Fediverse as: Space Journey #etc #video #space #stars #animation 4k animation of a journey through a random collection of stars including some hyperspace effects and music. )
California November 2022 Propositions
By Robert Ellison.
- PROP 1: CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM. LEGISLATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
- PROP 26: ALLOWS IN-PERSON ROULETTE, DICE GAMES, SPORTS WAGERING ON TRIBAL LANDS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND STATUTE.
- PROP 27: ALLOWS ONLINE AND MOBILE SPORTS WAGERING OUTSIDE TRIBAL LANDS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND STATUTE.
- PROP 28: PROVIDES ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR ARTS AND MUSIC EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
- PROP 29: REQUIRES ON-SITE LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL AT KIDNEY DIALYSIS CLINICS AND ESTABLISHES OTHER STATE REQUIREMENTS. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
- PROP 30: PROVIDES FUNDING FOR PROGRAMS TO REDUCE AIR POLLUTION AND PREVENT WILDFIRES BY INCREASING TAX ON PERSONAL INCOME OVER $2 MILLION. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
- PROP 31: REFERENDUM ON 2020 LAW THAT WOULD PROHIBIT THE RETAIL SALE OF CERTAIN FLAVORED TOBACCO PRODUCTS.
Only 7 statewide propositions this year! And most of them are easy. I feel like the teacher forgot to assign homework. I still need to fill out the ballot though so here is my traditional voter guide:
PROP 1: CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM. LEGISLATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
Yes. This only really makes a statement, but it's worth making given the fundamental corruption of a Supreme Court which is now just an emblem of the failure of the American political system to represent the people who live here.
PROP 26: ALLOWS IN-PERSON ROULETTE, DICE GAMES, SPORTS WAGERING ON TRIBAL LANDS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND STATUTE.
No. I think Californians should be allowed to gamble more freely. I'd love to see something from the legislature though, not from gaming tribes or companies. I don't understand why we use sin based indulgences to fund tribes. Gambling should be legal across the board (which I'd favor) or not at all. So getting deeper into this immoral deal is a non starter for me.
PROP 27: ALLOWS ONLINE AND MOBILE SPORTS WAGERING OUTSIDE TRIBAL LANDS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND STATUTE.
No. I'd be more inclined to back 27, but it makes the process of qualifying so expensive and complex that only existing giant companies would benefit. So it stinks of regulatory capture. Also, positioning this as a mechanism to solve homelessness is repulsive. Homelessness is a problem that we need to make more progress on. It probably makes sense to allow more gambling in the state. But that gambling is probably going to lead to more homelessness and the funds that might be provided to address it are a small drop in a very large bucket.
PROP 28: PROVIDES ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR ARTS AND MUSIC EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
No. We don't need more voter mandated spending levels that constrain our ability to manage the budget in the future.
PROP 29: REQUIRES ON-SITE LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL AT KIDNEY DIALYSIS CLINICS AND ESTABLISHES OTHER STATE REQUIREMENTS. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
No. Same answer and rationale as 2020. Stop asking.
PROP 30: PROVIDES FUNDING FOR PROGRAMS TO REDUCE AIR POLLUTION AND PREVENT WILDFIRES BY INCREASING TAX ON PERSONAL INCOME OVER $2 MILLION. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
No. This will probably pass, and if so it will be the second time in two years that Lyft has been able to just buy favorable legislation. Last time it was less regulation so that it didn't have to provide benefits to its 'independent contractors' and now somehow it's more regulation so we can lower their costs.
PROP 31: REFERENDUM ON 2020 LAW THAT WOULD PROHIBIT THE RETAIL SALE OF CERTAIN FLAVORED TOBACCO PRODUCTS.
No. You can't vape mango nicotine to give up smoking at the same time as another fun addictive plant is seen as the future? I continue to believe that all drugs should be legal, taxed and regulated.
Related Posts
- California 2012 Propositions
- California November 2020 Propositions
- California November 2016 Propositions
- California November 2024 Propositions
- California 2014 Propositions
(Published to the Fediverse as: California November 2022 Propositions #politics #california #propositions #election Official ITHCWY voter guide to the statewide propositions for California in 2022. )
San Francisco November 2022 Ballot Measures
By Robert Ellison.
- A: Retiree Supplemental Cost of Living Adjustment; Retirement Board Contract with Executive Director
- B: Public Works Department and Commission, Sanitation and Streets Department and Commission
- C: Homelessness Oversight Commission
- D: Affordable Housing – Initiative Petition
- E: Affordable Housing – Board of Supervisors
- F: Library Preservation Fund
- G: Student Success Fund – Grants to the San Francisco Unified School District
- H: City Elections in Even-Numbered Years
- I: Vehicles on JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park and the Great Highway
- J: Recreational Use of JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park
- L: Sales Tax for Transportation Projects
- M: Tax on Keeping Residential Units Vacant
- N: Golden Gate Park Underground Parking Facility; Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority
- O: Additional Parcel Tax for City College
My guide to all fourteen ballot measures for San Francisco in November 2022. Hot on the heels of 8 in June. My overriding principle here is to prevent the need for future ballot measures although I can't help myself from indulging in the occasional good idea.
A: Retiree Supplemental Cost of Living Adjustment; Retirement Board Contract with Executive Director
Yes. This is cheap and makes retirement benefits for city workers more fair and predictable.
B: Public Works Department and Commission, Sanitation and Streets Department and Commission
No. We just voted to create a department of sanitation and streets in 2020.
C: Homelessness Oversight Commission
Yes. More oversight for spending on homeless services.
D: Affordable Housing – Initiative Petition
Yes. Makes it easier to build new housing in San Francisco. Seems to cut a lot of unnecessary red tape to get projects moving faster.
E: Affordable Housing – Board of Supervisors
No. This competes with D to try and avoid losing too much control.
F: Library Preservation Fund
No. I'm not anti-library, but I am opposed to ballot measures that carve out specific funding and then will need another ballot measure if anything needs to change.
G: Student Success Fund – Grants to the San Francisco Unified School District
No. Another set aside that can't be undone without a future ballot measure.
H: City Elections in Even-Numbered Years
Yes. Increased voter turnout should lead to more representative local officials. I thought I voted for this already in 2012? Unfortunately this measure also has an adjustment to keep the number of signatures required for a new ballot measure constant. I'd love to see it get harder.
I: Vehicles on JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park and the Great Highway
No. Let's keep some car free space.
J: Recreational Use of JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park
Yes. As above.
L: Sales Tax for Transportation Projects
Yes. Extends an existing sales tax for transportation.
M: Tax on Keeping Residential Units Vacant
No. Could discourage new housing from being built and as written does not apply equally to all housing.
N: Golden Gate Park Underground Parking Facility; Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority
Yes. I need to make decisions about a single parking garage? This would allow the city more control, and as I want to keep JFK car free it makes sense to optimize this parking resource for people who will have more difficulty getting to the museums as a result.
O: Additional Parcel Tax for City College
Yes. This is an important resource and we need to get it back on track.
Related Posts
- San Francisco November 2020 Ballot Measures
- San Francisco November 2016 Propositions
- San Francisco 2014 Ballot Measures
- San Francisco and California March 2024 Ballot Measures
- San Francisco November 2024 Ballot Measures
(Published to the Fediverse as: San Francisco November 2022 Ballot Measures #politics #sanfrancisco #propositions #election The official ITHCWY voter guide to San Francisco's 2022 ballot measures. )
Catfood Earth 4.30
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Sunday, October 23, 2022.
Catfood Earth 4.30 is available to download.
This update fixes a couple of problems with the screensaver. It now has improved support for multiple monitors (the image will repeat rather than stretch). There was a problem with the screensaver not starting in some cases. This should now be fixed. After upgrading to 4.30 please find and run the 'Catfood Earth Screensaver Settings' shortcut to configure the screensaver.
4.30 also includes version 2022d of the time zone database.
Related Posts
Autumnal Equinox 2022
By Robert Ellison.
Autumn (or Fall) starts now (23 September 2022, 01:04 UTC) in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring if you happen to be south of the Equator. Rendered in Catfood Earth.
Related Posts
Stable Diffusion Watches a Security Camera - a short horror movie
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Friday, September 16, 2022.
A horror movie made by forcing img2img to watch a Japanese security camera over 24 hours.
The office was empty, so the main influences are sunrise and sunset and then just subtle shifts in lighting. In terms of settings, strength was 0.75 with scale of 6.6 so the animation doesn't look anything like the actual office in question. The prompt was "photo of something unspeakable lurks in the shadows of the office, high quality, cinematic lighting, subtle horror, horrifying, japanese, found footage, sharp focus, 8k, no text". I upscaled with Gigapixel AI and then added some music.
Related Posts
- A black lab chases a Roomba and then things start to get weird...
- Stable Diffusion Animation of Scale Parameter
- Diary of a Living Room
- Style Transfer for Time Lapse Photography
- Coastal
(Published to the Fediverse as: Stable Diffusion Watches a Security Camera - a short horror movie #etc #video #stablediffusion #ml #4k #animation A horror movie created by forcing Stable Diffusion to watch a random Japanese security camera for 24 hours. )
Better Rotating Outages
By Robert Ellison.
I have an idea for PG&E. We're facing the possibility of rotating power cuts this evening in California due to record heat. The California ISO has a thing called a flex alert where they ask you nicely to reduce power consumption, and I got a text and email earlier today. If the ISO calls for outages PG&E starts flipping off the switch for some blocks, and you can even look up your address to see if you're at risk.
This could be so much better.
Just keep tabs on average power consumption for each block during hot weather. And then instead of a flex alert we need a leaderboard - the blocks which save the most power are safe, and the blocks that do the worst are the first to get shut off.
Related Posts
- Pandemic Gas Mystery
- California Climate Credit
- Which PG&E rate plan works best for EV charging?
- Bringing Sanity to Window Replacement in San Francisco
- California, I can save you billions with a small and reasonably priced computer program...
(Published to the Fediverse as: Better Rotating Outages #etc #pge #power Make a leaderboard game out of flex alerts and punish blocks that do the worst instead of random power cuts. )
A black lab chases a Roomba and then things start to get weird...
By Robert Ellison.
Another experiment with Stable Diffusion (see my San Francisco skyline video from earlier today). This one uses img2img instead of txt2img. I started with a video of my dog following the Roomba around the house. I dumped all the frames out and then used Stable Diffusion with the strength parameter ramping up from 0.0 (source image preserved) to 1.0 (source image ignored) and a scale of 11.5. The prompt was "illustration of a black labrador being chased by a giant scary roomba trending on deviant art". The frame at the top maybe best captures this concept. I used Gigapixel AI to scale the output back up to 4K resolution and then added the original soundtrack.
Related Posts
- Stable Diffusion Animation of Scale Parameter
- Stable Diffusion Watches a Security Camera - a short horror movie
- Style Transfer for Time Lapse Photography
- Mandelbrot Spin Zoom
- Space Journey
(Published to the Fediverse as: A black lab chases a Roomba and then things start to get weird... #etc #video #animation #stablediffusion #4k #ml Stable Diffusion img2img generated from a video of a dog chasing a Roomba. )
