first victim of new Dallas City Council policy?

Just thirty days ago, I predicted it wouldn't be long before someone dies as a result of the recent Dallas City Council vote to tow vehicles if they're uninsured. Today, this article landed on the local paper's website:

A woman died this morning after she drove off the road while fleeing during a traffic stop, Dallas police said. Lillian Volk was pulled over around 3 a.m. in the 18100 block of Preston Road and sped away in a 2003 blue Ford pickup before receiving her ticket, according to police.

The officer did not chase her but found her vehicle about 10 blocks away in the 17000 block of Preston Road where she had driven off the road, struck several trees and flipped over, Dallas police Senior Cpl. Kevin Janse. Ms. Volk was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Dallas County medical examiner's office. A cause of death was not immediately available.

Coincidence? It will be interesting to see if Ms. Volk had insurance, or if this was caused by something else (warrants, blood alcohol, drugs, etc.) Sadly, she's dead so she won't be able to provide her side of the story except via autopsy, or a media reporter who's willing to do some digging.

100% green electrons

For the third time in five months, I have a new electricity provider. I switched because my last provider's promotional rate of $138/mwh zoomed to $168 in June -- that's the highest I've ever paid, although still far from being Texas' most expensive ($206).

I now look back to 2005 with fondness, when I was paying $92/mwh!

In Texas, the market's deregulated, which means you're not stuck with the default provider (TXU @ $159). All your choice really means is (a) who you pay and (b) who feeds The Grid on your behalf. None of the infrastructure (cables, meters, repair crew) changes.

My last provider's business model is: "attract new customers with a low initial price, and hope they're too oblivious/lazy to change when we raise the rate after 30 days". It's not like I wasn't warned; the contract terms said:

"The promotional month-to-month electricity rate is for new customers enrolling for the first time beginning May 1, 2008. This rate will transition to a variable rate at the end of the Promo month period. Current variable rates for service are published on our website."

The good news is that their contract was month-to-month so no early termination penalty applied.

Electricity rates in Texas are among the highest in the country - typically 10th. The highest are (in order) Hawaii; New York; Connecticut; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Alaska; New Hampshire; California and Vermont. Is deregulation working here? Since The Texas Republic Party has been in power (and lining their pockets with oil money) for the past 20+ years, it's obviously their fault. But, they are the party of Never EVER Taking Responsibility, so .. the high prices will continue until they're thrown out - probably in 2072 or so, given the stupidity of the electorate.

Given the wild fluctuations in the energy market, I decided to seek a fixed rate for a year. There are 27 providers (!) and 80 different plans (!) available for my ZIP code .. lots of companies want my money, apparently. Of those 80 plans, fifty (50) are fixed rate contracts.

The choices

The cost/megawatt hour ranged from $138 to $220, and I could choose between fixed and variable rates; 0-100% renewable; 1-60 month contracts; and a $0-399 (!) early-cancellation penalty. The ideal contract doesn't exist, of course:

• lowest rate/kwh
• 100% renewable
• 60 month lock-in
• $0 early cancellation penalty

In the past, renewable providers charged significantly more than traditional providers (coal and lignite; natural gas; nuclear) but the fixed rate plan difference is now $146 vs $153, so I'll pay the few extra quid to be 100% Green.

Twelve (12) providers matched my criteria (fixed rate, 100% renewable, 12+ months) with rates ranging from $153 to $206/mwh. So, my new provider is Gexa (JEKS-uh) Energy. The Gexa Green 12 plan is 100% wind energy.

There was a matching company: YEP Energy (same criteria and price) but Gexa will give me AAdvantage Miles (!) so that clinched the deal.


Also, Y.E.P. sounded like a funny name .. which wasn't in my criteria. Their tagline is "The Official Sponsor of Absolutely Nothing" (keep rates low by not sponsoring sports stadiums, etc.)

Now, I've locked in a fixed rate of $153/mwh for a one year term -- with a $150 early-cancellation penalty. My usage troughs in April (<1 mwh) and peaks in September (>3 mwh), so .. keep those wind turbines turning.

there's nothing to see here

It's not often I have trouble with my DirecTV satellite service. The most common problem is when there's Weather in the southern sky, interrupting the signal. That results in temporary pixellation of the image, and when the storm passes everything's back to normal.

With that in mind, I'd never seen this Error Message before today .. as far as I know there wasn't any storm activity when the show was being recorded, and the message doesn't look at all like anything from TiVo*, so ...

*although there was an automatic TiVo software upgrade a few nights ago. I know this because there's a new folder: [Recently Deleted] now lets me recover stuff that I recently watched/deleted. The only documentation on this feature is a screen that says "Here you'll find a list of programs that have been deleted and may be recoverable" .. but that's it.

Naturally, this error ("there is no need to call us") came at The Most Critical Part of the show, and disappeared soon thereafter. Murphy's Law strikes again.

Legislating from the bench

It's no secret that when White Christian Republicans (led by Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and James Dobson) disagree with the ruling of a court - any court - they scoff and pound their fists, saying that the court is "legislating from the bench". This is obvious code for "voted the other way".

That said, I have to wonder how each side feels, given that the Supreme Court [SCOTUS] voted twice (already) today .. one liberal verdict and the other conservative. I'm sure opponents will accuse the other of "legislating from the bench".

The first ruling cut the damages from the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska to 20% of what a jury awarded as punishment. Environmentalists will say that the R-SCOTUS (Republic Party Supreme Court) caved (5-3) to the interests of Exxon Mobil and sent a clear signal that it's okay for other companies to spill oil and pay a fine, then go about their merry way.

The second ruling outlawed (5-4) the execution of men convicted of raping a child. This case was set in Louisiana, but Texas and three other states (Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina) allow an execution when the defendant is convicted of raping a child - presumably any such verdicts will be commuted. The majority from the D-SCOTUS [Democratic Party Supreme Court] apparently feel that death is not a proportional punishment for this crime.

Regardless of which side of either issue you're on, odds are you think the SCOTUS overstepped its boundaries and is guilty of legislating from the bench. Welcome to The New World Order.

Voluntary Simplicity

A few weeks ago, I participated in an eight (8) week discussion group: "Voluntary Simplicity". This is the one created by the Northwest Earth Institute. While there was certainly too much information to cover in a single blog entry, suffice it to say that it reinforced many of the things I've taken to heart in the past several years: reduction of clutter; efficient time planning; being green; and the Evils of American Society.

Okay, so I made up that last one .. at least, renamed it. That's because the terms used in the reading material sugar-coated the phenomenon: egregious American consumerism, where we're trained to be lifetime gluttons about most everything. So many people fall into the lifetime trap of buying/buying/buying stuff they don't need to impress people they barely know. And guess what - many of us that are the potential impressees come away with the opposite impression: that you're an IDIOT when you live above your means and buy Stuff just to have More Stuff.

I've seen truly amazing (read: disgusting) examples. One friend-of-a-friend lived in a ~5000 square foot house which was not only packed wall-to-wall with Stuff but also floor-to-ceiling. There were precarious paths leading from room to room, and I felt as if I was in an Antique Mall that was designed to pack items so close together that the patrons couldn't avoid breaking something (ca-ching!).

Some families have 5+ children (gag) and need an SUV to transport them, but many don't .. and have large, wasteful vehicles that are used for everything. Those families each need a Smart car, or a Honda Fit, or something equally gas-friendly for 98% of their trips. I've never bought the argument that Big Vehicles Make You Safe, since my theory is that they make you into a Sloppy driver who takes excessive risks because You're The Big Dog and who cares if I crush The Little Dog?

Noteworthy-but-unrelated: as I've driven around the past few weeks, I notice that few drivers are bothering to slow down to conserve fuel. Many of them are either incapable of changing their leadfoot habits, or have the same moronic attitude I saw with snow/ice drivers here - the idea that if you drive faster, you'll get through the ordeal faster. As a rule, the larger the vehicle, the more likely it is to be going 20+ miles over the limit. Dallas remains The Place To Be if you want to speed anytime and never be pulled over - enforcement here is a joke.

To be sure, even I (gasp!) have room to improve, but I'm trying. Example: my CD rack hasn't been touched in a couple years, ever since I dumped everything to the iPod. My book collection's still massive and I'm coming to grips with the concept of giving away books (to a charity such as a local Veterans Administration hospital) rather than let them languish on the shelf, never to be re-read. I no longer buy trinkets of any sort, since those are destined to be dust collectors. Yes, I take lots of photos, but carefully organize them on my home network -- without taking up more physical space (I almost never get prints - aside from samples I printed years ago so my walls wouldn't be blank).

Via the local Freecycle group, I've given away some specific things but surely need to advertise Stuff I'm no longer using. The alternative is a Garage Sale, but I don't need the hassle involved with that, since my goal is merely to get rid of excess Stuff. You know, to Simplify.

Boycott the AP!

In case you didn't hear, the Associated Press will now charge you a minimum of $12.50 if you use more than four of their words in a blog posting, even if you give them full attribution.

That's easy to address: just use any different source. Henceforce, the AP does not exist (AND I removed all AP articles - I always attributed them - from this blog).

BANNED: The Christian Discount

Despite my NO SOLICITORS sign, somebody left a copy of a telephone directory (you remember, those quaint paper books of a bygone era -- before the Internet). This one - "The Shepherd's Guide" - is a bit different as it proclaims that the bulk (all?) of the advertisers are guaranteed to be Christian. Advertisers must affirm that they are "born again" and clients must be treated with respect and integrity. Translation: hold onto your wallet.

If you go to their website, you'll find the publisher has been at this since 1980, although the Dallas version is only vintage 1992. The local edition has a Roanoke, Texas return address - about 30 miles west of me.

Before I pitched it in the recycle container, I thumbed through it (for amusement sake). On page 11 of the Greater Dallas County edition, there's a full page which warns against asking for The Christian Discount:

The reason that The Shepherd's Guide has worked so well is because it has provided a means for honest and reputable business and professional Christians to advertise their services to other Christians. Please do not expect any of them to provide their service free or at a reduced rate unless they feel led by God to do so, and not because you have pressured them for the discount.

Stop and think about it this way — Would you want to pay a business more because they felt that you, as a Christian customer, should feel compelled to help other Christians by paying them more for their services?

We feel that God wants us to treat each other in love and esteem. The advertiser's purpose in this guide is to do their best at a fair price. They deserve the opportunity to serve you and to be paid for their services.

Metrics:

• 115 pages
• Approximately 6x9 inches
• non-revenue pages: a LOT (including about 30 White pages for churches; ministries; Christian schools)
• most amusing concepts: Christian lawyers; Christian plumbers; Christian pest control

At least it didn't contain any toxic chemicals - my recycler will like that.

Deep thought: I wonder if there are directories for other religions: Jewish; Muslim; Catholic (as John Hagee reminds us: Catholics ain't Christian). Me, I'll probably stick to my favorite secular online directory: superpages.com.