First on the menu is a recent trip to Ireland. We hiked about 120 miles in west County Kerry and County Clare, braving volcano ash raining down, sore feet, and sheep.

Check it out!

The State Assembly passed Assemblyman Ohrenschall’s AB162 this week. This bill requires insurers to cover early diagnosis treatment for children diagnosed with autism, up to $36,000 per year. The early treatment works wonders to improve the quality of life for children struggling with autism, and this bill promises relief for their families.

“This is a huge victory, not only for families, but for all Nevadans,” Speaker Barbara Buckley announced to reporters.

However, she conveniently failed to mention that “All Nevadans” does not mean…well… “All Nevadans.”

Thanks to amendment 433, the committee, citing concerns over cost, has excluded the children of state employees and medicaid recipients; indeed, these are the very families that need this coverage the most. Medicaid recipients, by the very nature of the Medicaid program, are a hair’s breadth away from economic disaster anyway. A diagnosis of autism in their child can financially wipe them out for the rest of their lives.

Although supporting the concept of the bill, Gardnerville’s Assemblyman James Settelmeyer spoke on the floor decrying the watered-down version which excludes these neediest of families. He pointed out that all families should be covered:  “I felt that the state should not be treating its employees any differently. Their children with autism count, as well.”

I wholeheartedly agree. This is insurance reform that our society desperately needs. The original bill was an astounding bit of progressive legislation in a traditionally non-progressive state, and it treated all autistic children as created equal. This amended bill is sort of like the Titanic: there weren’t enough lifeboats to save everyone, and the wealthy got to use the ones that existed.

A lifetime in the medical field has ingrained in me the core concepts of “Triage.”  In a nutshell, this is a method of sorting patients that enables medical professionals to exclude ethically those too gravely ill or injured so they can direct scarce resources to the remaining patients. Thus, the system utilizes thin resources to maximum benefit.  But, there was a caveat always mentioned in medical training: A medical professional should triage based on a patient’s medical need, not on their bank accounts.  This amended version of AB162 smacks of “financial triage”: a whole group of patients is excluded based solely on cost, in spite of their needs being identical to those lucky enough to be covered.

Nevada has already been treating its state employees as an unworthy underclass of citizen, cutting their pay and benefits and increasing their workloads, and this amended bill is yet another slap in the face to the people that keep the state running in spite of being demeaned and devalued by the very state they serve. In defending the bill as amended, Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie pointed out in session that some is better than none:  “The bill that you have before you today helps more than a few children. It’s the start. We need to cover autism for the state employees’ children, for our residents who are on Medicaid. Every child should have access to this treatment.”

Although I fully understand her point, the problems with this attitude–and indeed her very choice of words–are that a) this creates a subclass of Nevada families whose children are not worthy of concern from the state, and b) I’ll wager that the State Assembly never revisits the issue so the excluded families are covered just like the other families.

Let’s just say that I were to approach this with the same callous disregard as the committee showed for families struggling to support autistic children.  If the state is going to mandate that some families are not covered, why not a maximum income cap as a way to exclude coverage? Financially, that makes more sense to me, although from my more-normal humanitarian viewpoint,  it would still mean that excluded families will face financial troubles, even if they happen to be wealthier than Medicaid participants. Autism is not cheap, and it is truly an equal-0pportunity curse. Michael L. Ganz, MS, PhD, reported in a study that in 2003, a years’ worth of just therapies and behavioral support for autistic children cost $46,316. That doesn’t even include the medications or physicians’ bills or the costs of residential treatment and special tutoring. Dr. Ganz concludes that lifetime per capita incremental societal cost of autism is $3.2 million.

The bill now faces the NV State Senate, where it is expected to pass as amended, complete with built-in discriminations.

So, I’m in a bit of an ethical quandary here. Is it better to save a few and relegate the rest to financial extinction, or should we save none so that we don’t create a caste of uninsured untouchables? Perhaps our representatives at the State should have shown some backbone and covered everyone with this bill? If an umbrella is too small to cover everyone in a downpour, should we fold it up so that everyone gets soaked equally? Somehow, that doesn’t seem right. Or, when it starts to rain do we say, “You’re my grandmother, you’re getting over a bout of pneumonia, and you’re wearing a suede jacket, but I’m wearing Carhartts, a hat, and work boots. Therefore you should get the umbrella as you need the protection more than I.”  That’s only fair. Well, here’s an idea: how about we simply use an umbrella big enough for both of us?  Too bad, because the State Assembly has now handed us a small umbrella. Excluding poorly-paid state employees and Medicaid recipients from autistic coverage is the equivalent of keeping the little umbrella for myself and making my grandmother shuffle home in the rain.

I believe our representatives should be representing everybody, including their own state employees and the families dependent on Medicaid. Unfortunately, Nevada government keeps reminding me of that old, snarky statement on an employment evaluation:  “Keeps setting low standards and failing to meet them.”

And an administrative note to all the session regulars: The anemic economy has forced our local pub hosts to put us on grog rations. When you figure that a pitcher of Guinness costs $24, a rowdy session with free drinks can get pretty expensive for the bar, especially on an otherwise slow night. The plan now is to buy your own food, plus you’ll get a free pint or two of the more-sensible stuff, but after that, you buy your own drinks. It’s only fair.

This winter, I had to rig up a thermostatically-controlled heater to keep the worms happy. Although the good folks at Worm Wigwam sent along another compost heater after the bear destroyed the original one, the replacement heater just got too hot, driving the worms out of the bin. The heater is simple enough: it’s a coil of heater wire with a basic fixed-setting thermostat attached in-line, which is stapled to a sheet of plywood with a mylar reflector.

To overcome the overheating problem, I purchased a Dwyer TS-13010 industrial temperature control (AKA, a thermostat) for about $55.00 and wired a standard, grounded edison socket to it. The included probe got placed under the heater, beneath the first inch of kitchen scraps, and the heater was plugged into the thermostat assembly. I set the thermostat to 64 degrees, and the worms were happy all winter long. They quickly devoured anything that was under the heater, but I frequently had to shovel the refrigerated waste that was at the edges so that it would be under the heater.

It’s also time to clean the WormCam camera, shake the spiders out of the ethernet port, and update the firmware. Hopefully, this will increase the WormCam uptime.

Walley's Timeshare Condos. More to come--featuring "The Taxpayer's Tunnel"

I remember a few decades ago when Walley’s was a laid-back little spot by the side of the road where the locals could bask in the hot springs for a couple of bucks. Not any more. You know you’ve become a big business when the local media and the county refers to you as a “developer.”  I suppose that the construction of multiple condo units that have nothing to do with the hot springs also qualifies Walley’s to be called a developer.

On April 2nd, the Douglas County commission voted unanimously to allow David Walley’s Hot Springs and Resort to build another 190 time share units south of Genoa. The resort has plans for twelve more units on the east side of Foothill Road and two hundred and sixteen new units on the west side.

Foothill Road has a 55 mph speed limit, and a blind curve right where Walley’s Hot Springs is located. The Town of Genoa initially objected to the construction on both sides of the highway, because any pedestrian trying to cross the road would face a significant risk of getting hit. To circumvent the objection, Douglas County Commissioners suggested to the developer that they construct a pedestrian tunnel under the highway. The developers jumped on the idea, and they have proposed a tunnel “wide enough for golf carts.”

The developers have also demanded that the county pay $150,000 for their private, $300,000 tunnel. The county commissioners expressed eagerness to throw money at the developers, but county attorneys had to remind the commissioners that “prevailing wage” laws would apply, since the cost would have been over $100,000. In a double-barreled flip-off to the county taxpayers and to the workers who will be building this tunnel, the commissioners settled on shoveling “only” $90,000 into the developer’s trough, guaranteeing that the laborers will be payed less than they deserve and that the developers will get free money at the taxpayers’ expense.

Only one commissioner, Dave Brady, questioned whether the redevelopment agency had the money to throw at this project, but the county manager, T. Michael Brown, bluntly pointed out that the county had the money to donate to the tunnel project. No-one on the commission raised any objections to giving money to the tunnel project based on the fact that it’s a private venture that will only benefit Walley’s Hot Springs. Considering that many of the county commissioners also have strong ties to builders and developers, this is not surprising.

Here’s the Mission Statement from the Douglas County Community Development website:

“To enhance the quality of life for the citizens of Douglas County by providing the highest quality and professional service to the citizens of Douglas County in the areas of Engineering, Planning/Code Enforcement, Building, Water/Sewer Utilities and Roads.”

So, how will this tunnel enhance our quality of life in Douglas County, whose money is being doled out to the developers? How will it benefit the residents of nearby Genoa? Can we park our pickups in Walley’s parking lot and use the tunnel to cross the highway to get to the shooting range just up the road? Considering how exclusive Walley’s has become over the years, I doubt it.

Developers don’t need taxpayer handouts. If they can’t afford a project, then they should either get some bank to give them a loan or just abandon the project. They shouldn’t be groping in the taxpayers’ pockets. County Redevelopment money should go for projects that will actually benefit Douglas County residents instead.

Hey, Douglas County…can I get $40,000 so’s I can build me a circle driveway?  Ummm, sure– it’ll “enhance the quality of life” of Douglas County citizens.

With that in mind, I decided to mount an infrared camera where it had full view of the street, the driveway, and our cars.  However, I didn’t feel like spending grievous amounts of money on a dedicated CCTV security system.

I decided that the system must be built using existing junk in my cabinet if possible. Rummaging around, I found a couple of old Watchport cameras made by the Digi Corp. With great resolution for a camera that size, along with a super-sensitive CCD sensor, I decided to press them into service as infrared cameras. Problem: the Watchport camera does not respond to infrared. Camera manufacturers usually block infrared, since stray IR gunks up the picture quality. They accomplish this most of the time by adding a small filter between the CCD sensor and the lens.

I have two Watchport cameras, one a V and the other one a V2. I used the V model for the pictures below. I modified both the V the V2, and I’m very pleased with the cameras’ infrared performance. So, the instructions also apply to a Watchport V2 model, although it’s a model V in the pictures.

Grabbing my toolbag, I modified the camera step by step:

Before we start, keep in mind that you run the risk of irreparably damaging your web camera, and of course any warranty is instantly voided by doing this hack. You have been warned.

1) You will need: Two torx screwdrivers of proper sizes. Flat head screwdriver. Exposed leader piece of color negative film. Scissors. Needle-nosed pliers (optional)

2) Turn the camera over, and use the flat screwdriver to remove the large screw in the center of the camera mount. Set the mount aside.

3) If there are rubber feet on the bottom of the camera, peel them off, revealing four screws. Unscrew these with the torx screwdriver.

4) After removing the bottom cover, you'll see a circuit board with a protective metal cover. The V2 does not have the protective cover.

5) Remove the protective metal cover, if present. Carefully remove the circuit board assembly. Note the CCD/lens assembly on the left side of the picture.

6) The CCD/lens assembly is only attached to the main circuit board by a pin/socket. Gently pull the CCD/lens assembly directly away from the circuit board, keeping your big meaty fingers away from the components on the board.

7) Looking at the back of the CCD sensor, you'll see two silver torx screws holding the sensor to the lens mount. Note the orientation of the little circuit board to the lens mount, as you will need to replace it in the same orientation when you're finished. Very carefully remove the screws. One slip of the screwdriver here can kill your camera.

8) Carefully set the CCD sensor aside. Looking inside the lens mount, you'll notice a blue filter behind a rubber gasket. Carefully remove the rubber gasket. The filter is held in place only by the rubber gasket. Carefully remove the filter.

9) Unscrew the lens just to keep it from getting mucked up. Here's the entire lens assembly unassembled.

10) Using the blue filter as a template, cut a square of film. Use color negative film, and use the black leader that got overexposed as the film was loaded into the film camera. This piece of film is a cheap alternative to an infrared-pass filter, and it works surprisingly well.

11) Here is the piece of film inside the lens mount, nestled in the square inset that used to hold the blue filter. Make sure that the film fits exactly in this slot so no stray light leaks around the edge. Now replace the rubber gasket.

12) Reversing the steps above from step 7, reassemble the camera. The fiddly parts are: a) making sure both rows of pins on the main circuit board fit correctly into the CCD/lens socket, and b) getting the capture button to line up with the hole in the cover. The needlenosed pliers can help line up the button with the hole. Once your camera is back in one piece, hook it up and give it a try.

Taking the Watchport/V2 for a spin. The picture is of an infrared remote control that is now very visible to the camera. Success!

Here's a shot from the Watchport/V. The cactus is actually dark green. To test the light sensitivity, I had placed the plant way back under the desk. Not bad at all. Yes, the blue dot on the pot is a dead pixel area. That's why the camera was in the junk closet.

Gibbons to Nevada Legislature: "Here my input, ya suckers."

In a churlish gesture of callous disregard for the state of Nevada’s economy, Governor Gibbons has told the State Legislature’s Ways and Means committee that he’s done with the budget and that the budget now is the sole problem of the lawmakers.  “When the budget was sent over [on] January 15th, it was balanced. [...] It’s the legislature’s budget now.”

Since the tourist business in NV is currently anemic and in constant flux, especially after the holiday season, the Ways and Means Committee had requested input from the Governor on how the executive planned to deal with declining room tax revenue projections. Since tourism and room taxes are a major source of income for our fair state, it would make sense that the lawmakers have the latest, most accurate information upon which to base their decisions.  However, it appears that Gibbons doesn’t want to play. Instead, he’s putting all the state’s eggs into the “Stimulus Money” basket.

Here’s Gibbons’ entire letter to Finance Committee Chairman Morse Arberry:

By letter dated March 2, 2009 you asked the Department of Administration to answer several budget-related questions. I wanted to take the opportunity to personally answer one of tho e questions. The others will be answered by the Department of Administration by way of a separate letter. Specifically, you asked how I plan to address declining forecasts for room tax revenue. The Nevada Constitution requires that I propose a balanced budget to the Legislature before the commencement of the regular session, which I did in January of 2009. Once that budget is proposed, it is up to the Legislature to decide whether to accept or modify that budget. The proposed budget was based on the revenue projections available in January of 2009.

As we both know, revenue projections constantly change as new information becomes available. [well, duh... that's why Chairman Arberry was asking you -- Ed.] The room tax revenue projections referenced in your letter will undoubtedly change several more times as the session proceeds and updated information becomes available. If the Legislature wants to address each and every change in revenue projections then that is certainly the Legislature’s prerogative as the  budget is in the Legislature’s control at this point and the Legislature has its own fiscal staff.

However, I feel that projections should not be addressed piecemeal. Therefore, I will be happy to provide further recommendations either in a budget amendment addressing stimulus dollars or after the Economic Forum next meets and provides legally-binding revenue projections.

In a stunned, two page rebuttal, Chairman Arberry said that he “will be forced for the first time in my 15-year tenure as chairman of the committee, and possibly the first time since Nevada became a state, to make decisions without further input from the Governor.”  He goes on to chastise the governor in an official letter:  (emphasis added)

However, I am truly amazed with your assessment that the Governor’s responsibility ends when the proposed budget is submitted for review by the Legislature. One of the basic understandings of developing any budget is that some of the assumptions that are made will need to be amended due to better information being made available over time or due to changing economic conditions. This fact has been true in the over 20 years that I have been a member or chairman of the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means. Based on this most basic budget premise, as well as past practices of the Chief Executive over the past 30-40 years, and possibly since Nevada became a state, when necessary, Governors have recommended adjustments after the Executive Budget was submitted for legislative review to ensure that estimated revenues and expenditures remain in balance for each fiscal year of the upcoming biennium. However, your letter indicates that the Governor’s responsibility concerning the state’s biennial budget ends when it is submitted for review in advance of the legislative session. I believe you are the only Governor in at least the past 30-40 years that would make such an assertion, and I strongly disagree with your position.

Other than the response you provided to me yesterday, I have yet to receive the information I requested from the Director of the Department of Administration, which was requested to be received no later than March 16. 1 sent this request on March 2 and provided two weeks to allow sufficient time to develop the required information. As you know, the Legislature has only 120 days to complete its work. Providing the Budget Division two weeks to develop this information is as much time as can be allocated; yet as of today, I still do not have a response to the majority of the information I requested. I also have no idea when the requested information may be received. I find this most disturbing and unprecedented in my 15-year tenure as chairman of the AssemblyCommittee on Ways and Means.

“Disturbing” indeed. What we have here is a governor who is either so incompetent that he can’t perform the duties expected of the executive office, or he is so indifferent to the state that he’s refusing to work with the legislature to ensure that Nevada has the best possible budget during this economic crisis.  My read on this is that it’s the latter. I betcha that you’ll see the legislature do its best to hammer out a workable budget, only to have Gibbons try to force some last-minute amendments so that they escape in-depth review. Then when the budget fails, he can sanctimoniously blame the legislature while reaping the benefits for himself and his cronies from his last-minute changes. Either way, his behavior is childish and ill-befitting a chief executive whose responsibility is to the citizens of the state.

I wish I could say I’m making all this up. But here’s the letters in question:

Scan of Gibbons’ letter Scan of Arberry’s rebuttal

My advice to Chairman Arberry: You can do a better job than this loser of a governor. You don’t need his mealy-mouthed input anyway.

In December, Miley pleaded guilty to neglect of duty by self-medicating her diabetes without a doctor’s supervision, which is a felony. She had been driving with altered mentation secondary to “low blood sugar.” In her defense, Miley stated that she was not under a doctor’s care and could not afford health insurance, and that she had just had an argument before she drove off. She had been driving south on Highway 395 at a reckless speed, streaking past cars on the two-lane road. Ten miles south of Gardnerville, just south of Leviathan Mine Road, she struck the Calevros family, killing all of them.

On Monday, March 9th, Judge Michael Gibbons sentenced Miley to probation, 500 hours of community service, and he ordered her to pay $11,044 restitution to the victims’ survivors for funeral expenses. No jail time.

Court documents show that Miley had caused a three-car collision in 2002 in California injuring herself and six other people.

Here’s what Judge Gibbons said at the sentencing:

“You appear to be as remorseful as anyone I’ve ever seen. You have no criminal record. You had no health insurance at the time, and were not under the direct care of a doctor[...]Unfortunately, no one is here to speak for the victims, [as] they were all killed.”

Although Miley has a record of previously causing a significant accident, the judge apparently didn’t acknowledge this.

I am stunned that the sentence was as inconsequential as probation. Dawn Miley killed four people. She “self-medicates” herself. She had just had an argument and had traveled ten miles at high speed, driving recklessly, which sounds a whole lot like road rage, even if it did end up with low blood sugar.

Yes, Dawn Miley was diabetic. However, she made the conscious decision to medicate herself instead of seeing a doctor. I have a real problem with this. The court reports that Miley’s blood sugar was low. What was her blood sugar level at the scene? It’s never mentioned. What prescription drug was she using to irresponsibly self-medicate herself? If she is not under a physician’s care, how is she obtaining this medication?

The judge uses self-medication, secondary to lack of insurance, as a mitigating circumstance. However, many patients with psychiatric disorders self-medicate with alcohol and nicotine, because those substances help to stabilize them. Yet, if they were to get into a similar auto accident, they would be excoriated and sent to the big house for years. You might say, “Ah, but that’s different–that’s alcohol, and that impairs your thinking, and they chose to drink.”  Well, improperly medicating one’s self and ignoring the fact of a preceding stressor which can precipitate a low blood sugar episode is also a choice.  I see no difference here between the two situations.

Should Miley be punished because she is a diabetic? No, absolutely not. She should be punished because she exhibited a dazzling lack of responsibility or judgment which cost a family their lives.

Diabetes is an insidious, terrible disease, and it can evolve over time. Careful medical supervision is the only way to ensure the proper medication at the proper dosage. Over my many years as a paramedic, I’ve probably met over a thousand diabetics. The vast majority of them closely monitored their disease and were careful to administer the correct medications to manage it. Most of them drove, and yet, most of them were never in accidents due to low blood sugar.  Why? Because they were responsible members of society who understood their disease and knew when it was safe for them to drive and when they needed to stay put. These diabetics took every reasonable and proper step to ensure that they were safe and that they didn’t endanger other people.  That is a mitigating situation. Someone who takes all precautions, carefully manages themselves under the ongoing care of a physician, yet has a traffic collision–that’s an accident.  Someone who doesn’t medicate correctly, self-medicates outside of a doctor’s control, and storms off after an argument–that’s not an accident, that’s an innocent family suffering from the consequences of irresponsible behavior.

An entire family was killed. Thousands of years of ancestry and bloodlines was snuffed out in a tragic blink. This is a family who’s entire existence has vanished, whose voices will never again be heard. My thoughts are with their surviving relatives, and I hope they eventually find peace and that the Calevros family gets justice.

There is a pet project here in Carson City called the “V & T Railroad.”  The train route, a whopping seventeen miles long, is a recreation of an 1870′s narrow-gauge line from Carson City to Gold Hill. However, the closest the track gets to Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Mound House (apropos name, no?) is 0.65 miles, and the terminal is 2.5 miles away. I know, because I measured it myself. The V & T project has absolutely nothing to do with Disneyland; it has been a local topic for fightin’ and tax squabbles ’round these parts long before the economy deflated; and, frankly, I think a V & T whistle stop at the Bunny Ranch would be a good tourist draw. Whooo-whooooo! Well howdee-do, Miss Kitty!

So…an express rail from Alice and the Queen of Hearts to Alice–the Queen of Tarts, or how about From “It’s a Small World” to “Round the World”?  Or, in terms the Republicans will understand, “Eight Billion, same as in town.”

This bizarre line of attack from the Republicans and their mouthpieces all makes twisted sense when you look at the following study in New Scientist: “Porn in the USA: Conservatives are biggest consumers.” I suppose it’s just wishful thinking: Take the kids to Anaheim for a ride in the teacups,  then just hop the high-speed rail to Mound House for a ride on the D-cups.

I’ve watched this clip several times, and I have to giggle every time. Megyn Kelly’s salacious breathlessness and off-camera stifled snickering just make the clip for me. Well, when Rupert Murdoch fires her, I’m sure Dennis Hof can work something out for her future employment.

There is a provision in AB234 stating that anyone found innocent of the felony for which they were arrested shall have their DNA sample destroyed. However, this doesn’t ameliorate the fact that the state could now force innocent people to have their DNA taken against their will, and there is no provision for ensuring that the police have indeed destroyed the sample. Once law enforcement has the sample, they’re not going to be willing to destroy it, regardless if the person was innocent or guilty.

In 1894, the United States Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s finding of guilt, stating “The law presumes that persons charged with crime are innocent until they are proven by competent evidence to be guilty.”  This was based on centuries of English jurisprudence, and is so ingrained into the system that it has been enshrined into Common Law.   AB234 is Republican Gansert’s attempt to do an end-run around centuries of judicial wisdom crafted by generations of people who seem a lot more in-tune than she is when it comes to freedom and rights.

AB234 flies directly into the face of the 4th Amendment of the Constitution protecting citizens from “unreasonable search and seizure” and requiring warrants to collect evidence. But Assemblywoman Gansert and the other Republicans that support this bill sure don’t seem to care about the Constitution, in spite of endless GOP trumpeting about the sanctity of the document.  I expect Ben Franklin is choking on his angel food cake about now.