Like Paying Taxes? Then you'll LOVE San Jose CA !

Residents (and guests) of San Jose (Santa Clara County) California pay more in total taxes than almost anywhere else in the entire country.

This is from the combined effect of 9.25% sales tax (combined state + county taxes), income tax, property tax, and a wide range of 'hidden' taxes (explained below; for "guests", there's the sales taxes, special hotel and airport taxes, and other hidden taxes specially designed for business conventions, etc...)

The odd thing is that, year-after-year, San Jose residents (or, at least, the ones who bother to vote) keep voting to increase the taxes they'll have to pay.
And I'll bet you a dollar  (which will cost you  $1.46 after state-and-local-taxes and program fees)  that in the General Election on November 2nd  the increased taxes applied by Santa Clara Measure A and Measure B will be "approved"...

Is it because they don't remember (or don't know) that they already approved a bunch of new taxes over the last 5 or 10  years?    Or is it because that the 'Measures' , when looked at in isolation ,    always seem like a small cost to pay   for   whatever noble cause is the subject that year   ("hospital closing!" Ka Ching!; "children's healthcare!" Ka Ching!; "police and firefighters! public safety!" Ka Ching!; "public transportation improvements that never materialize!" --   Ka Ching! "enviromental protection!" Ka Ching! )?

...

But going back to the hidden taxes I mentioned:

'Hidden taxes' represent a large part of our local-government's "operating budget" (read "salaries"); they consist of the combined effect (cost)  of
a huge number of taxes in the form of  "fees" and other charges (e.g. for "licenses")  applied by the city, county, and state which are deliberately obscurred in a way that makes the total-amount-paid  virtually impossible for the average person (or business) to calculate.

These taxes can also be thought to include  costs where a commodity/good/service is taxed multiple times (as in taxes paid by the manufacturer, then by the distrubutor, then by the business-owner, then by the 'end-consumer'),  
and costs paid to 'regulating' or 'administrating' government-agencies (in addition to the normal taxes which are already supposed to fund those beurocracies) which are associated with governmentally-mandated 'health and safety' (or similar) programs when they are of dubious benefit and/or overly-beurocratic .



 The bulk of what I call 'hidden taxes'  come not only from the more obvious taxes, which are actually listed as "tax" on things like utility bills and "registrations" (cars, pets, et al.), but also innumerable fees which are taxes- prententing-not-to-be taxes (seperate line items on bills, licences, registrations, etc. -- ranging from 'administration fees' to 'late fees' or 'business fees'--, or even in the form of some tickets/citations, when they are excessive or unreasonable  in a way that indicates that they are designed less for 'punitive discouragement' and more for income generation  ...).

 
The hidden taxes also include double- and triple- taxation effects which an average person doesn't realize they are paying; for example, in the increased cost (and corresponding increase in Sales-tax-paid!) of items bought  (like gasoline, or cigarettes) or services paid for (like cable/satellite TV, or internet service, or rentals), 
or the increased cost effect passed-on by business to end-consumers caused by the set of taxes and fees each business has to pay.  

Add to this charges  -- which, as money paid to the government, are actually taxes --   masquerading as Envirnomental (or similar wolf-in-altruistic-clothing programs) service-costs , such as the 'disposal fee' paid when every time you buy a tire ($10) or an LCD monitor/television (~$50),
or the costs of every automobile 'smog check' (one part goes to the garage -which is also receving tax-money, in various forms, as part of the program- the other to the government)... Then's there's the "CRV" (California/Cash Redemption Value) which is a tax you pay on beverages. Supposedly, it was made to encourage recycling, but it was designed for a time before recycling with the trash was widespread, and the system has been made so beurocratic, inconvient, inconsistant, and annoying *^(footnote)   that only a very small percentage of people ever get any of that money returned to them,-- but the government gets their money every single time, _AND_ gets the additional income when sales tax is applied to the CRV on top of the sales tax applied to the cost of the item!


And don't forget the regulation of things like 'insurance requirements' or "mandatory Earthquake retrofitting" (which requirements, incidently, have forced many small-business owners to close over the last couple of years; I've seen two shops myself that were here for over a decade)...

And this is only a partial list of the "hidden taxes", which are mainly there not to improve the lives of San Jose citizens, but are there to insure the continuing paychecks of innumerable local government employees and contractors.

--footnote--
* Every notice how every other state that has a cash-deposit on cans and bottles actually lists an amount? And I've lived in other states where being able to return the can or bottle to the place you purchased it for credit -- which is a much more convenient way of running the program, which actually means more items will get recycled -- was required as part of the program. Good luck trying to get your 10-cents back at a grocery in San Jose...

detectable ozone?

Most people can detect about 0.01 ppm (parts per million; "0.01ppm" = 1 part per 100 million) of ozone in the air;
detectable ozone typically has an odor reminiscent to chlorine bleach.
Exposure of 0.10 to 1.00 ppm produces headaches, burning eyes, and irritation to the respiratory passages.
Even low concentrations of ozone in air are very destructive to organic materials such as latex, plastics, and animal (including human) lung tissue.

 [--per: the source that is not to be trusted without corroborating verification]

...
"NOx" is meant to indicate 'oxides of nitrogen', which essentially is just  NITRIC OXIDE [NO] and  NITROGEN DIOXIDE [NO2].

When NO_x and  VOCs* react in the presence of sunlight, they form photochemical smog, a significant form of air pollution, especially in the summer.

* (volatile organic compounds;  see , for example, the "% VOC" listed on the side of a paint can.... Plastics, in particular, release "VOCs"...)

"Smog" does varying amounts of damage to lung tissue and reduction in lung function....

OXIDES OF NITROGEN (aka "Mono-nitrogen oxides")   form 'nitric acid' in the air....

....

"N95 rating" --- "N95" is a government efficiency rating that means the mask blocks about 95 percent of particles that are 0.3 microns in size or larger.

...
" How Gas Masks Work " | http://science.howstuffworks.com/gas-mask.htm
...
Bureaucratic gobbildly-gook  : http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/pgintrod.html#mustread

SeaMonkey (Netscape) Browser Notes

{{ file under: notes , tech , web-browsers }}
-------------------------------------------------------

Open [link] in New Window= [Ctrl]+click ('left-click)

'about:config' > " .bidi" : "bidi" is short for "bi-directional";
(usage example: "bidi interface");
>> This refers to using languages that have text that goes from Right-To-Left, instead of (as English does) Left-to-Right.

For a list of 'about:config' settings, see
[http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_:_FAQs_:_About:config_Entries] &/or
[http://kb.mozillazine.org/Category:Preferences].

---
Useful link (since the geniuses now have the
https://addons.mozilla.org/ URL automatically redirect to 'AddOns for
Firefox'...):

<a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/seamonkey/"
title="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/seamonkey/">Add-ons for
SeaMonkey</a>
---

<draft1: August 2010>

Air Quality Alerts, Smog Levels : do you know where to find AQ Info?

THE ODD APPEARANCE OF THE QUALITY OF LIGHT TODAY
(IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY VISIBLE SMOG LAYER OR HAZE)
PROMPTED ME TO TRY TO FIND INFO ABOUT
CURRENT AIR QUALITY MEASUREMENTS...

Here are my notes:

1. San Francisco Bay Area > Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) >
Data Display (current readings/ hourly readings) |>>
http://gate1.baaqmd.gov/aqmet/aq.aspx

~ shows OZONE readings, in parts-per-billion.

(= http://gate1.baaqmd.gov/aqmet/AQ.aspx ; "AQ" = 'Air Quality')

~ Example:
___ 'San Jose Central' :>>
http://gate1.baaqmd.gov/aqmet/AQSiteView.aspx?SID=7032

~ Negatives: >> doesn't specify details like at what level readings
are taken (ground-level/ atmosphere / top of buildings / ?),
>> DOESN'T DEFINE TERMS (e.g. do _you_ know what an Aetholometer is ? [*see footnote]
-----------------------------

<h2>
2. AIR NOW nationwide reports (recommended*)
</h2>

~ Example: Current Air Quality Index for SF Bay Area / San Jose:
http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.local_city&cityid=318

* (!) _ The AIRNOW website showed the 'level 2' conditions/advisory
(AQI # 61 for 'Particles/ Particulate matter' ) today when the
" San Francisco Bay Area (BAAQMD) Air Monitoring Network:"
did not. (because BAAQMD only shows ozone measurements)

[per EPA website]:
Q: " Are Ozone Generators Effective in Controlling Indoor Air Pollution?"
A: "Available scientific evidence shows that at concentrations that do
not exceed public health standards, ozone has little potential to
remove indoor air contaminants [and may be more harmful than helpful]"
>> "Ozone Generators that are Sold as Air Cleaners" |>>
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html ]
(page also includes: ' What is ozone? ' ; ' How is ozone harmful? ' ;
' Is There Such a Thing as "Good Ozone" and "Bad Ozone"? '; etc. / et alia. )
---

*Per [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone]:
"...[ozone generators] produce nitrogen oxides [a.k.a. : 'oxides of
nitrogen'; 'nitric acid' ; (on 'smog tests') 'NO' ] as a by-product.
Use of an air dryer can reduce or eliminate nitric acid formation by
removing water vapor ..."
I.E. OZONE + WATER : generates NO
"... Use of an oxygen concentrator can further increase the ozone
production and further reduce the risk of nitric acid formation by
removing not only the water vapor, but also the bulk of the nitrogen."

<h2> Nitrogen in the Air </h2>

Information about 'NO' / 'NOx' (esp. as it relates to Smog, etc.) [EPA
website] |>>

_" Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is one of a group of highly reactive gasses
known as "oxides of nitrogen," or "nitrogen oxides (NOx)."
Other _nitrogen oxides_ [NOx] include _nitrous acid_ and _nitric acid_. ...
While [the] EPA's 'National Ambient Air Quality Standard' covers this
entire group of NOx,
NO2 [nitrogen di-oxide] is the component of greatest interest, and the
indicator for the larger group of nitrogen oxides.
NO2 forms quickly from emissions from cars... In addition to
contributing to the formation of _ground-level ozone_, and fine
particle pollution, NO2 is linked with a number of adverse effects on
the respiratory system. ..."
[more | http://www.epa.gov/air/nitrogenoxides/ ]

<br>

"Road Surface Purifies Air by Removing Nitrogen Oxides, Researchers in
the Netherlands Find"
Dateline: July 2010
>> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100706082058.htm
" The air‑purifying concrete contains titanium dioxide, a
photocatalytic material that removes the nitrogen oxides from the air
and converts them with the aid of sunlight into harmless nitrate. "

<br>

[http://www.google.com/search?q=titanium+dioxide |>> results from
Google Shopping:
$18 w/ shipping:
http://www.organic-creations.com/servlet/the-936/titanium-dioxide-natural-cosmetic/Detail
; $16 ($16.19 with tax and shipping):
http://www.camdengrey.com/essential-oils/Raw-Materials-Salts-Sugars-Powders/titanium-dioxide.html?attribute=weight&value=1_lb
]

<br>
--- <br>

"Growth and Nitrogen-absorbing Activity of Crotalaria juncea under
Application of Excess Nitrogen." |>>
http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/199918/000019991899A0600204.php

>> >> Tree/plant species detail for Crotalaria juncea (a.k.a. C. Juncea; Crotalaria juncea L.), see :
http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/sea/Products/AFDbases/af/asp/SpeciesInfo.asp?SpID=618

~~~
respiratory: condensed oxygen:

"... the simplest <b> oxygen concentrator </b> is capable of
continuous delivery of oxygen using two cylinders, each filled with a
zeolite material which selectively adsorbs the nitrogen in the air.
..."

[in therapy :] " .. Oxygen has vasoconstrictive effects on the
circulatory system > [which] reduces peripheral circulation ... ...
when additional oxygen is given to a patient, additional oxygen is
dissolved in the blood ('plasma') ... but... dissolved oxygen in
plasma supports oxygen-starved ("embarrassed") neurons... reduces
inflammation and post-stroke cerebral edema ...

~~~
<h3>
Related
</h3>
1. FAQ at AirNow.gov |>>
http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=faqs.index
2. Soil (not Air) Nitrogen (N) and Plants : (Q: "What Does Nitrogen Do
for Plants?") |>>
http://www.ehow.com/about_4608777_what-does-nitrogen-do-plants.html
3. [US EPA:] " Ozone Science: The Facts Behind the Phaseout" |>>
http://www.epa.gov/ozone/science/sc_fact.html

~~
Keywords : nitrogen absorbing ;
Searches : "Ozone breaks down to oxygen quickly in water" ;
"electrostatic precipitators?" ;
(spelling: respratory ; condenced oxigen ; ...)
~~
[*footnote]: 'What is an Aetholometer?'
... Tony Hansen --at Berkley Labs-- ** designed a device called an
aetholometer **
that could, for the first time, make real-time measurements of the
vertical distribution of
***soot particles cast up into the atmosphere by the burning of coal and oil**."
[from the Berkley Labs page @
http://www.lbl.gov/Publications/75th/files/04-lab-history-pt-6.html ]

<end>

California Primary Election June 8 2010 Results

"Measures Submitted to the Voters" (from the "Official Ballot" for June 8, 2010)

... results from http://www.sccgov.org/elections/results/jun082010/ ;
summaries obtained from http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/quick-reference-guide/13/ ;
a much more scannable version of results (see the following snapshot) can be found at
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/props/59.htm
...

"Turnout":
* California population is around THIRTY-FIVE MILLION residents.
Approximate number of votes: about FIVE MILLION.
(Missing: 30 million people.)

* At the sccgov.org website, they don't make it clear that results and numbers (e.g. 329,596 people voted) are for Santa Clara county only.

* Total California precincts: 22,894; S.C. County precincts: 1,177 ...

=State Ballot Measures : selected notes=

Note : 'Measures' also apparently listed as 'Propositions'; e.g. "Proposition 13" = "Measure 13" ... Wonder how 'initiative statute' falls in their taxonomy of terms...

13: Limits on Property Tax Assessment, et cetera
"A YES vote on this measure means: Earthquake safety improvements made to unreinforced masonry (such as brick) buildings would not result in higher property taxes until the building is sold. ..."
Passed ; 87% "yes"

14: Increased Participation Rights for PRIMARY Elections
"Changes the primary election process for congressional, statewide, and legislative races. Allows all voters to choose any candidate regardless of the candidate's or voter's political party preference..."
Passed ; 54 % "yes"

17: [initiative statute] Auto Insurance Pricing based on Driver's History...

Rejected: 52 % "no"

HASHIGO (ladder) Construction Workshop

[bookmark][log][share]:link=

梯子作り選手権＠飛騨古川: ちゅらぼし日記



... see also http://www.j-tokkyo.com/2009/03/03/12195.html


(from google image search: &q=%E3%81%AF%E3%81%97%E3%81%94%E7%AB%B9 (はしご竹) )

Voices of a Distant Star - exploring the kanji of HOSHI NO KOE

 

--- --

-voices of a distant star-

「星　の　声」

「ほしのこえ」

星  hoshi – star

声   koe – voice^[*1]
---

Produced and Developed
by Shinkai, Makoto:
 新海(しんかい)，誠(まこと)
 [



新：しん‐　= NEW;

+　海：うみ [カイ] = SEA / OCEAN; 

first name


誠Makoto : meaning ' Always-Faithful' (sincere); or  'True-Heart'

What are Blog Backlinks?

From http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42533 (paraphrased):

BackLinks enable you to keep track of other pages on the web that link to your posts, and, more importantly, allow a way for discussions (or dialogs) to occur across different websites (/blogs).

For instance, suppose Alice writes a blog entry that Bob finds interesting.
Bob then goes to his own blog, and writes a post of his own about it, linking back to Alice's original post.
Now Alice's post will automatically show that Bob has linked to it, and it will provide a short snippet of his text and a link to his post.
[This is intended to be] a way of expanding the comment feature
so that related discussions on other sites
can be included along with the regular comments on a blog-post.\

[Google Blogger's] default templates are already set up with the necessary code for BackLinks. However, if you have a custom template, you will need to add the code yourself. Instructions for that are [NOT] found here.

But you can actually find backlinks code here ...

Blogger Notification Settings

filed under [bookmarks], [tech support]; (2009-November)

---
The help page for Blogger Notification Settings:
http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=156642

the Joke that is Corporate Web 2.0

I got a new "aren't we hip" corporate spam* email recently from Discover Credit Card.
In a typically overexcited tone, it states "You'll now find new forums to discuss rewards, online features and many other topics, through a number of new blogs and social media networks."

Oh boy! Web 2.0! Twitter! Blogs! I LOVE engaging in simulated social-networking where the company gets to control the conversation!

Of course, if you actually waste your time checking these out, you'll quickly discover that they
- only publish positive submissions (or they delete negative comments if any get though)
- all submissions become the property of the company
- there's no real 'member-to-member' (customer to customer) communication
(et cetera)

Q: What do you call a pseudo-conversation where a company publishes only positive reviews?
A: ADVERTISING


*"corporate spam" is a term I created for all of the emails from companies I have to use. These
emails take over your inbox, but you are hesitant to try to stop each company from sending you emails because you are worried you might
miss the REAL communications you actually want (e.g. changes to account details, alerts, etc.)

In the 'good old days' I used to just get corporate junk mail in my (physical) mailbox (i.e. mail from a company you use that
looks like it's actually regarding your account, but isn't) -- now I get junk _email_ from them too!

Feuding Firefox Extensions: Adblock Plus and NoScript Resolve Differences?

[note: the following was copied from [http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2009/05/feuding-firefox-extensions-adblock-plus.html]; if you like lots of page crap and advertisements, you can read it there instead.]

Post Title: "

Feuding Firefox Extensions: Adblock Plus and NoScript Resolve Differences (?)

"
Post Date: 2009, May 5th
Claimed Author: "Technology Expert"

----

I've written about the Firefox extensions Adblock Plus and NoScript before, in positive ways, and I've also indicated that the extension system on Firefox is one reason I'm not looking to change to Chrome; I have too many extensions to do so. But one problem is that there's no current way, except for ads or donations, for developers to monetize their creations. And here we are.

Adblock Plus does just what it sounds like it does: blocks ads. NoScript relies is designed to block browser scripting and plugins, adding security to the browser, and relies on ads and donations.

You can probably see where this is going.

In a (prior to this) unprecedented move, after some back-and-forth where the NoScript dev, Giorgio Maone, kept changing the structure of his site to work around Adblock Plus, he finally decided to modify NoScript so that it disabled Adblock Plus when it installed.

This caused what should be expected: a huge uproar.

It also grabbed the attention of the Mozilla Foundation, which I'm sure didn't really want to be mediating between two of its highest profile extensions. Their response: a proposal for a new extensions policy that would require the following:

Changes to default home page and search preferences, as well as settings of other installed add-ons, must be related to the core functionality of the add-on. If this relation can be established, you must adhere to the following requirements when making changes to these settings:

• The add-on description must clearly state what changes the add-on makes.
• All changes must be 'opt-in', meaning the user must take non-default action to enact the change.
• Uninstalling the add-on restores the user's original settings if they were changed.

These are minimum requirements and not a guarantee that your add-on will be approved.

It seemed that people came to their (common) senses after that. Maone basically apologized to the Mozilla community, removed the changes that blocked Adblock Plus, and said:

So I had this crazy idea of retaliating against EasyList "from the inside", and in my blindness I did not grasp that I was really retaliating against my own users and the Mozilla community at large. Even worse, my hacker attitude led me to dig directly in the low level Adblock Plus internals where filters are enforced.

Let's be honest, all was "well" until for whatever reason Adblock Plus started to make changes to its filters that "fixed" the hole that NoScript was using to get around Adblock Plus, which started the back-and-forth that eventually led to Adblock Plus changes its filters to the point that users couldn't even download NoScript or FlashGot (another Maone extension). Of course, that in and of itself was already egregious.

But this last step eventually led to a final round of p****-waving, and here we are. It seems that if Mozilla implements its new policy, we'll be safe from such feuding again, but who knows?


Categories: [mailed-to-blog; tech]

First hand, second hand, third hand

First-hand versus second-hand vs. third-hand ; experience as a gauge for Truth.

• first-hand knowledge/information = information you have from directly experiencing the subject; knowledge from personal _experience_.
  
  
• second-hand knowledge/information = information from someone with first-hand experience; knowledge learnt from someone who _experienced_ the subject. For example, having an event related to you by someone who experienced it. Or, being taught a skill by someone with experience*.
  
  
• third-hand information = "story" ; information from people who did not experience the subject and who may not have learned that information from people with second-hand experience.
  

  Further degrees of separation can be classified (as "4th-hand", "5th-hand", etc.; see below), but generally "third-hand" is meant to encompass any knowledge/information that is not "first-hand" or "second-hand".
Because any number of intermediate steps (degrees of separation from first-hand experience) can exist in "third-hand information," such information should be assumed to be unreliable; even when presented as 'fact,' or with an 'air of authority', this type of indirect knowledge can be based on rumour or hearsay. Even with a source of information assumed to be reliable (e.g. a book), the information is often not even second-hand (from neither direct or indirect personal experience) and, furthermore, is modified (intentionally or unintentionally; by theory, opinion, rhetoric, similar experiences, et al.) by the third-hand source (e.g. the author).

= Why are these distinctions important? =

Thinking about how far away from direct experience (which could be called "knowledge") any information may be is supposed to be a way to remind yourself that what-you-think-you-know
may not be "truth," or may not be as reliable as it first seems.

One interesting and relevant example is Television News (broadcast journalism, as opposed to print journalism).

On news-shows, you will often see a "reporter" who has been sent to the location where an event took place. This is designed to give you the _impression_ that you are getting *first-hand* information about an event. But, in fact, you may not even be getting second-hand information, let alone first-hand.
The reporter almost always has arrived at the scene after the event has taken place. Furthermore, they usually don't have the time to find and talk to multiple people with first-hand experience. And do you actually know if information they are relating to you is from a first-hand source?

This is how the distinction of 'what degree of separation from experience?' can be a useful tool: you can better gauge what level of confidence you have about a "story" if you ask yourself if what you are hearing is first-hand, second-hand, or third-hand. For example, when the reporter says "We spoke to so-and-so at the scene, and he told us..." you could ask yourself "Does so-and-so have first-hand information?"
Or is 'so-and-so' someone like a Captain, or someone who's job it is to speak to the press?
If so, do you know if they experienced the event?
Do you know if the person questioned by the reporter received information from one, many, or no people with first-hand experience yet?
Because it could be the case that the person quoted is, in fact, another person without first-hand experience (direct knowledge) of what happened.

And thinking about whether the information is connected to direct experience, you may then realize that, even though it seems like you are getting reliable information--because the reporter is where the event occurred, or the person interviewed could be assumed to have gotten multiple first-hand reports--you don't actually know if you are getting second-hand or third-hand information. This can help you to realize you may not know the whole story, or may not know the true story.

= Further degrees of separation from experience (4th-hand, 5th-hand,...) ==

Theoretical examples of further "handedness": degrees of separation from first-hand experience/knowledge:

fourth-hand information : Learning from books (for subjects other than skills).

fifth-hand information : Information from someone who learned from books (including skills, unless that person also has first-hand experience [practice*]).

sixth-hand information : Information from sources like Wikipedia (where the authors do not have 1st- or 2nd-hand information, and have not even obtained 4th- or 5th- hand information; i.e. cases where neither the author nor the author's source have any connection to "experience").

= Footnotes =

* For skills/disciplines/studies of a subject, a good guideline for what constitutes "experience" is 'more than 300 hours of (first-hand) practice and/or study'.

** It used to be that "a reporter at the scene" meant you could assume that the reporter experienced, or was experiencing, the events he/she was reporting on. Or, at the least, that the reporter had spent some amount of time speaking to as many people as possible to try to get multiple first-hand reports. Now, however, you can see that having "a reporter at the scene" is often merely an attempt to exploit this pre-established viewer assumption: multiple news vans arrive; if they can't be filmed at the scene they try to stand close to the scene; and the "reporters" just read "copy" that was written for them back at the studio. Or you see something like reporters sent to Iraq, where they are limited in who they can speak to; it makes for good television, because of scenes from the location, but does not necessarily mean you are getting a more reliable "story", because they are still separated from people with important first-hand experience...

= About (Meta) =

I wrote this blog article in reaction to hearing Tom Cruise say "There's first-hand data, second-hand data, and third-hand data.... and third-hand data is way out there." Maybe it can , in some small way, help prevent such an unclear statement on the subject from ever being spoken again ;-)