Author: Justin

Oregon Primary Election 2008 Guide: Measures

The Oregon Primaries are coming up in a few weeks, and there is actually more to vote on than just Hillary or Barrack.  Following is my take on several of the measures for this election:

Oregon Measure 51: NO

This measure, which amends Section 42 of the Oregon Constitution, is called a “house-keeping measure” since it helps solidify laws that have already been passed, but are they good ones?  Since our legal system is based off the concept “innocent until proven guilty”, isn’t that how it should be? The defendant, until proven or plead guilty, should be treated as innocent, and therefore their rights, and not the victim’s should be more important.  The “victim’s rights” from that section include, among others, the right to refuse being interviewed by the defendant’s lawyer, which could seriously impact the defendant’s case, especially for someone wrongfully accused of a crime.  This measure strengthen laws that should not have been passed in the first place. 

It is also worth noting that the ACLU (www.aclu-or.org) is “neutral” on this measure.

Oregon Measure 52: YES

This measure, which amends Section 43 of the Oregon Constitution, is also a “house-keeping measure”, but unlike section 42, the “victim’s rights” in this section are reasonable; the right to be reasonably protected from the criminal defendant, and the right to have decisions for pretrial and/or bail based on that reasonable protection and likelihood to appear for trial.  Strengthening these rights, which do not infringe on the defendant’s rights, is a good idea.

The ACLU (www.aclu-or.org) is “neutral” on this measure also, but I believe that to be because they lumped the two measures together.

Oregon Measure 53: (tentative) YES

Reading the text of this measure, I am not entirely convinced that the benefits outweigh the risks of abuse, but I try to have faith in humanity.  The sections that concern me are in regards to forfeiture without conviction.  One section allows forfeiture of property for “crimes similar to the crime for which the claimant was convicted.”  If the claimant committed these similar crimes, then why aren’t they being prosecuted for them?  Another allows that “property of a claimant who has not been convicted of a crime may be forfeited in a civil forfeiture proceeding only if the claimant consents to the forfeiture…”  This is where I see a large chance of abuse; if people don’t know that it’s okay to say “No, you can’t take that” to the police (I’m assuming that the police would be the agents of the “forfeiting agency”) and not have criminal repercussions, then there could be a situation of amoral, but not illegal, “forfeitures”.  Again, I say YES to this measure because I have faith that there are more moral officers than there are amoral ones.

7

Low-Score Yahztee

Peggy and I came up with an interesting variation of the Yahtzee card game, try to get the lowest score. In order to keep from just burning (taking a 0) every score we made some additional rules:

  1. Unless required to play a hand by following rules, you must use all three rolls.
  2. If a hand meets the minimum requirements for a score in the Lower Section (3 or 4 of-a-kind, or Small Straight) that has not been filled yet, than those dice must be held.
  3. If you roll a Full House, Large Straight, or a Yahtzee, you must place the score accordingly, if you can.
  4. You must place a hand where it gives you the highest score, except for Chance.
  5. If your final roll in a hand cannot be played for any points, then you burn from the top down: Upper section – Aces, Twos, Threes, etc. then Lower Section – 3-of-a-kind, 4-of-a-kind, etc.
  6. Chance is the last hand played.

Give it a go, and let me know if you can think of additional rules. 

 

(This is a re-post from my old blogspot account)

0

The Movie Game

The Movie Game is something that my friends and I play to pass the time, and test our knowledge of movies and actors. It works by making links between actors using movies they were in, as follows:
The first player states two actors and the movie they were in together, “Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford in ‘Star Wars: A New Hope'”.
The next player states the second actor, names a new actor and the movie they were in together, “Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman in ‘Air Force One'”.
Repeat without reusing actors or movies.
PASSING: If a player can’t make a link, (s)he passes (and drinks if you’re playing it as a drinking game).
WINNING: If every other player passes and the stating player can make a link, the game is over and (s)he wins.
DEAD-END: If that player also cannot make a link, then (s)he must make a different link from the original actor given to them (and drink), “Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones in ‘The Fugitive'”.

Variations:
ELIMINATION: Instead of passing, if a player (named C) cannot make a link, (s)he can issue a “Challenge” to the previous player (B) to prove that player B can make a link. If (s)he proves it, then player C is eliminated and the actor from the challenge link goes to the next player. If player B cannot prove it, the (s)he is eliminated and the actor given to her/him from the previous player (A) goes to the next player (C).
KEVIN BACON: In homage to the basis for the game (The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon) you cannot pass or challenge if you are given Kevin Bacon as your actor.
POLITE START: In the first time around, a player can force the previous player to give them a different actor to link off of instead of passing/challenging.

Sources: The sources used for links can be a contentious subject. How do you define a “movie”? Does it have to have been a nation-wide release? Do TV-movies count? What about mini-series and TV shows? We play that if you can rent it at the video store (or Netflix), it’s fair game. You could also use IMDB (maybe we should call this “The Actor Game” since the term “movie” is being used so loosely).

Additional suggestions welcome.

 

(This is a re-post from my old blogspot account)

0

Recent By Author

This WordPress plugin is an amalgam of two other plugins, WP-Authors and Recent Posts.  It shows a list of authors with options to show their total number of posts, and their most recent posts.

Installation is pretty straight forward:  Make sure your theme is widget-ready, upload “recent-by-author.php” to the “/wp-content/plugins/” directory, activate in Plugins menu, and the add it to your sidebar in Design>Widgets menu 

Here is the admin box:

Title: – Like most widgets, there is an option for a custom title.

Show post counts – Shows the total post count next to the authors name.

Number of recent posts to show: – When greater than 0, a sublist is displayed under an author’s name with up to the set number of posts.

Show full names – Displays the authors first and last name instead of their chosen public name.

Hide empty authors – If an author has no posts, then they are not shown in the sidebar.

Exclude admin – Hides the admin from being shown in the sidebar.

Plugin’s WordPress Page | Download plugin

8

Powder Tower (Prasna Brana)

 Big Black Tower…

Built in the 1400’s, the Powder Tower stored gun powder in 1575 during one of the many wars. We walked up to the top, which is no small feat (but would have been easier if you had small feet..). It starts our with a tiny door up a tight stone spiral staircase, going up for about 70-100’, with a rope to hold onto. Then you reach the main floor which was where King Wenceslas kept court.

From there you get a little mobile audio guide, look at things on walls, and then walkup one more spiral staircase (30-50 feet higher). Only one person can fit through at a time, so every so often you have to huddle in little alcoves, where I saw some graffiti from the 1800’s… damn 19th century touristy hooligans!

Once on the second level you can continue up more stairs, about 50’ higher until you get to a wooden platform. From this platform you can look down onto the top of the ceiling you were just under. It’s creepy and not over yet.

You then go up some 2×4 wooden stairs up to the upper attic level, onto a wooden floor that you can See Thru Between The Cracks!! Eek! I’m not afraid of heights, but I am afraid of crashing through very old wood and being impaled on old stone buildings.

On this level some old stone statues are stored. My nerves are fluttery and I looked up and could see into the spires, probably another 100’ up, filled with shadows, cobwebs, and wooden rafters. This is where the Hunchback of Notre Dame would hang out.

I think “This can’t get any cooler, yet freakier.” This is when Justin says “Want to continue?”

“What? Where? “ I ask. He grins really big and says “Outside”

My mouth dropped open and I said something like “You’ve got to be (expletive deleted) kidding!!” He wasn’t. Safety Wires? Bars? Hand Rails? No! But the wall was over waist height, so that helped. Still- it was pretty cool.

And of course, it’s been standing for over 500 years, through storms and wars, so I think this huge stone structure can hold a few more tourists.

Excellent View.
Continue reading “Powder Tower (Prasna Brana)” →

0

Churches & Gargoyles


 more gothic than I could ever dream of

Various churches and gargoyles.
Walking into an old church there are signs with pictures symbolizing no eating/drinking and no cameras. We walk in and everyone seems to be taking pictures. Stupid Tourists. Of course, being there to sightsee, I too am a tourist, but I am a *smart* tourist. I learned back at Belvoir (Beaver) Castle in England that pictures are fine, but it’s the flash that hurts the fresco’s, old paintings, and wood. Too much light.
So I felt almost guilt free taking non-flash pictures. I say ‘almost’ because I very quickly stashed my camera when an old deacon came out in his black robes and long silver roped outfit and stood by the door, watching everyone.
Silver mining was huge back in the day, so there are a lot of Miner statues, and figures of Santa Barbara, patron saint of miners.
Continue reading “Churches & Gargoyles” →

0

Olsany Cemetery


 All the lonely (or dead) people, where do they all come from?

We went to the largest graveyard I could imagine, and apparently we only saw 1/4 of the 116 acres after we had walked at a good pace for an hour and a half.
85,000+ graves and many graves are family plots with up to 6 people per grave. Imagine Central Park in New York but all graves.
We did see some unexpected life in the graveyard: Hedgehog! It didn’t want to play or be social, but it let us take its picture. So cute… I pet it with my gloved finger, cuz they’re prickly.
By the time we got back to the hotel we estimated that we had walked at least 10 miles.
Continue reading “Olsany Cemetery” →

0

Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.

Up ↑