Why they keep me out of hospitals

Shades of X-Files!

If it had been the Weekly World News or some similar source, I'd have treated the story like a Bigfoot sighting. But since it's on CNN, I'm willing to give it some credence.

A lot of states -- at the bequest of the federal government -- are doing involuntary DNA testing on newborn babies:

Newborn babies in the United States are routinely screened for a panel of genetic diseases. Since the testing is mandated by the government, it's often done without the parents' consent, according to Brad Therrell, director of the National Newborn Screening & Genetics Resource Center.

Okay, that's bad enough; but to further aggravate the situation, that DNA data (with the names attached) is being kept for extended periods of time and dispensed to third parties:

Genetic testing for newborns started in the 1960s with testing for diseases and conditions that, if undetected, could kill a child or cause severe problems, such as mental retardation. Since then, the screening has helped save countless newborns.

Over the years, many other tests were added to the list. Now, states mandate that newborns be tested for anywhere between 28 and 54 different conditions, and the DNA samples are stored in state labs for anywhere from three months to indefinitely, depending on the state. (To find out how long your baby's DNA is stored, see this state-by-state list).

Now, I'm not one of those folks that think The Gummit is out to get me, or that I have to worry about black helicopters coming for me in the middle of the night. I do, however, have a mistrust of ANY governments ability to restrain itself. I worry that sooner or later, somewhere, somebody is going to say something along the lines of "Well, we've already got ______. Why don't we start doing _______ with it?"

Yes, the good that comes from DNA testing (that it's mandatory concerns me) is significant. But I can easily envision a raft of bad uses that would far, far worse.

Of, By, and For the people - RESOLVED

I got an email from a city official this morning, saying that he wanted to speak with me directly - either in person or by phone.

I called, and was advised that I was welcome to the GIS data, that I could select any or all of the list of GIS layers that I would be emailed, and an apology for the frustrations of the last couple of days.

I politely thanked him, and that was the end of the conversation.

Judging by the level of officialdom that I spoke with, I'm fairly confident that it will happen just that way.

UPDATE Friday, 29 Jan:
Received this email late this afternoon...

Dear Mr. Merriman,

As per your request, I am sending you an Excel spreadsheet that provides you with a list of the GIS related data that we have available. There are several tabs on the spreadsheet with different types of GIS information. Below is an overview of what is in each tab:


1) SDE_Data is the ArcSDE geodatabase (GDB) containing many of our primary base map data layers. This includes data imported from Yellowstone County and the State of Montana.

2) Geodatabases_MDB is a list of personal geodatabases which uses Microsoft Access format. Many of these are working or draft datasets, and may or may not have resulted in the output of a final version, but we keep them for reference.

3) PW_ROWAssets contains Public Works non-utility right-of-way assets such as curbs and gutters, sidewalks, signs, streetlights, traffic signals, storm drains, etc. Storm drains are a work in progress and are not ready for export, except for a high level view. This data has been provided to consultants working with the City.

4) PW_Utilities is the utilities infrastructure. This is a work in progress, though the sanitary sewer data is mostly complete. The water system is nearing completion. In addition to underground pipe are manholes, pumping stations, reservoirs, physical plant sites, intake and discharge points, lift stations, pumps, electrical vaults, transformers, force mains, and a wide variety of other features.

As Assistant City Administrator McCandless explained to you, this is the first large scale request we have had for our GIS data. Please review the list of GIS data on the enclosed spreadsheet and hopefully this will help you to identify the GIS data that you are interested in obtaining from the City of Billings. We look forward to receiving your request and providing you with the information. Having said this, I must tell you that we have not fully reviewed the list to determine if any of the GIS data does NOT qualify as public record due to privacy, security, and public safety issues. We will be doing this review soon. We will be sure to prioritize the review of the data you request so that we can fulfill your request as quickly as we can.

Thank-you for your patience while we work through the process of providing you with the information that you are requesting.

Of, By, and For the people my ass!

Back on December 25th (yes, Christmas; I don't have family to spend holidays with so it's pretty much just another day for me) I fired off an email to the HMFIC of the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) for the city of Billings, inquiring about the availability of GIS data. I've gotten interested in what's possible with GIS, and was hoping to get a set of "real world" data that I could have a look at in different ways.

Well, a month later, I got an initial response back:

David,
I'm sorry for not responding sooner. The City's GIS data is not available for direct download, and at this time we do not have a publicly accessible web mapping service. Yellowstone County provides a public map service that makes available information about property, streets, administrative boundaries, and other layers, as well as imagery, topo maps, etc. The State of Montana also has a public state-wide map service which provides some of the same information as does the Yellowstone County map service. Both sites can be found using Google.

Yellowstone County: http://www.co.yellowstone.mt.gov/mapping/webgis.asp
State of Montana: http://gis.mt.gov/

I will be glad to answer any questions.

[name, rank, and serial number removed to protect the guilty]

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Merriman [mailto:dkmerriman@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, December 25, 2009 2:31 PM
To: XXXXX
Subject: City GIS data

Is the GIS data for the city available for download or otherwise available to the public? If so, how might I get a copy?

David Merriman

To that, I responded with

You said that it is not available for direct download; if I were to
provide the media (cds/dvds), would it be possible to get a copy that
way?

DM

Either I'm on somebody's Watch List, the dingleberry doesn't want to be bothered, or he's so low on the food chain that he doesn't have the horsepower to make a decision. The following is his reply to my second email request, and MY response:

> David,
> Per your request for the City's GIS data: in that the City's GIS data
> are considered public records, in order for us to fulfill your
> request a Request For Public Records must first be filled out,
> specifying what data is being requested.

I must confess that I find this requirement to be somewhat at odds with
the policies in place for the State and Yellowstone county; both readily
offer GIS data for download (links to follow).

> The GIS data in its
> entirety could fill dozens of DVDs, and may be better copied to an
> external hard drive, to be provided by the requestor. In addition,
> the City will charge for whatever time is required to fulfill the
> request. The City of Billings GIS data is stored in multiple
> databases, and in literally hundreds or thousands of individual
> files. A request such as this could take many hours or days to
> fulfill, unless a more specific set of data is requested.

This seems rather farfetched, to me. The basic Yellowstone County
datasets offered by the county and state would each fit comfortably onto a single 700MB CD (see http://www.co.yellowstone.mt.gov/mapping/webgis.asp
and http://nris.mt.gov/gis/gisdatalib/gisDataList.aspx). Still, if the
City GIS Coordinator isn't sure of how much GIS data the City has
actually accumulated, an external drive could be provided.

I do have a problem with your statement that fulfilling a request such as
mine could take "many hours or days"; even the free GIS software for my
Linux system will cheerfully export GIS data and maps _in toto_. Surely,
the City finds it worthwhile to regularly review the GIS maps that are
available - why would it take "hours" to simply copy a map layer to an
external hard drive? As regards the "multiple databases" and "hundreds
or thousands of files", isn't that the whole POINT of having GIS
software, so that all those files can be accessed quickly and easily?

>
> Furthermore, certain data may be considered a matter of public safety
> under Montana Code Annotated, and pending an analysis by City staff
> may not be available to the general public.

I would certainly expect public safety data to be excluded from my
request. Still, absent any information from the City regarding what data
is available, I would have to phrase any request for GIS data as
broadly as possible. Even so, I would hope that the various datasets
(water supplies, sewage, storm drainage, etc) would be on individual GIS
map layers so as to allow City employees (or other users) to view only
those areas of interest.

>
> The Request For Public Records can be found on the City's website
> under the Clerk and Recorders page:
> http://ci.billings.mt.us/index.aspx?nid=104.

As an FYI, the Request form is now located at the URL:

http://ci.billings.mt.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=962

While the City may not explicitly make the GIS data available via a web
site (or even page), I find it troubling that there doesn't seem to have
been any thought given to the idea that a mere citizen might want access
to the data that has already been paid for.

I would have HOPED that my initial request about the GIS data would have drawn a response along the lines of "Sure, we've got Water, Sewage,
Electric Distribution, Storm Drainage, Rights of Way, Property
Ownership, Physical Addresses, [further list of subjects]. We can't
release ______ and _____ for public safety reasons, but you're welcome to any of the others. Each dataset takes up ABOUT ________ bytes, and you'll have to bring your own storage medium for us to copy it to. Make an appointment, and we can copy it over for you in about _____ minutes, tops. This isn't any big deal, since we keep a copy of the files handy, so there won't be any charge."

Instead, what I got was an initial attempt to shuttle me off to something
completely different from what I inquired about. A followup got me the
message that I've responded to in this email.

Taking this (your second) response at face value, I am left with the
distinct impression that either you don't want to be bothered by an
actual Billings resident and threw out a bunch of word salad to try
and discourage me; or you actually don't have any idea of how much GIS
data the City has or what that data consists of.

Mr. XXXXX, I made an honest and polite request for assistance and
information. I would think that an open and honest governmental body -
one with an interest in actually serving the public - would have
responded much differently than you have. If you plan to continue with
the attitude that you have demonstrated to me thus far, I would suggest
that you get your job title changed from "GIS Coordinator" to "GIS
Obfuscator".

Since you have seen fit to CC your email to the City Attorney, Assistant
City Manager and City Manager (but, curiously, not the Director or
Assistant Directors of Public Works), I have taken the liberty of CCing
my response to my City Council members.

David Merriman

Yes, the shithead actually CCed his email to me to the individuals mentioned, and yes, I actually included my City Council reps in MY reply, which I sent after business hours.

We'll see what kind of response(s) I get tomorrow...

Stupid is as Stupid does

For those inDUHviduals that don't seem to have enough functioning brain cells to figure this out on their own, here is a Free Clue:

You should turn your lights on when the weather is bad (rain, fog, snow).

Sure, maybe you can see "okay", but turning your lights on -- all the way, not just your parking lights -- means that it's easier for other people to SEE YOU. Now, here's the tricky part so you need to pay attention: if other people can SEE YOU, then they're a lot less likely to do something nonsensical like pull out in front of you. This means that you're a lot less likely to get into an accident. To make it even easier for you, try to remember that LIGHTS ON = ACCIDENTS OFF.

'kay?

A point: he makes one

There has been a certain amount of turmoil about how quickly help has arrived for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. In the local newspaper (the Billings Gazette) this morning, there was an article that I thought was a damn fine explanation of the disparity between people's wants/expectations, and reality:

In the space of a single generation, ours has become a world of live video chats, one-click online ordering, overnight delivery, on-demand movies and instantaneous electronic fund transfers _ including sending aid to Haiti via your cell phone. It becomes only natural, in such a society, to bristle at any delays.

Trouble is, the physical world can't move as fast as the virtual one and, barring the invention of a "Star Trek"-style transporter, probably never will. Unlike medicine and food and water, information no longer has to travel via plane and boat and road and foot. News can arrive immediately. But doing something about it? That's another thing entirely.

Even pizza places want a half-hour to make a delivery, people. How long you think it's going to take to move thousands of tons of relief supplies? You think the Navy's hospital ship USNS Comfort moves at warp speed? Get real.

Maybe best not to f*ck with me...

What military aircraft are you? EA-6B Prowler You are an EA-6B. You are sinister, preferring not to get into confrontations, but extract revenge through mind games and technological interference. You also love to make noise and couldn't care less about pollution.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

via the Presurfer

I kill you!

If you haven't seen this before, you should watch it now -- it's freakin' hilarious: Achmed, the dead terrorist.

My cat wears cement overshoes

Almost since the day I got here, Radar (my Emergency Backup Cat) had provided oversight while I take my shower in the morning -- every single time I get out, she's sitting there on the bathmat, waiting for me. After I step out and begin to dry off, she jumps into the tub to lick up some of the water. Satisfied that I'm still as sweet as I was, she jumps back out a couple of minutes later.

The past few days, her exit from the tub has included a detour: walking with her wet feet through the litterbox full of clumping cat litter. Of course, the litter sticks to the wet fur, and it doesn't take long for it to dry and harden into little clumps of what amounts to cement.

*sigh*

Pushing too hard

Once again, the Chinese (People's Republic of China, the commies) have pushed things too hard.

It seems that they've been caught hacking into Google (which helpfully blocks search results the little commie bastards don't want their citizens to see). In response, Google has finally announced to World + Dog what the PRC has been up to -- and then gone so far as to say that they're damn well ready to pull out of China completely because they're tired of all the crap.

If you're interested in some reading material, you might be interested in this report on Chinese "infowar" strategies, policies, and events (PDF download). It isn't too long, and makes for some interesting reading. When you're done, though, you might find yourself asking "Now, just exactly why do I need to buy my crap from this country?"...

UPDATE
I was aware that the PRC was engaged in a lot of attempts to gain unauthorized access to various computer systems, but not really aware of how broad and deep that activity extended. One report I've found indicates that nearly TWO HUNDRED computers were infected to become part of a single information-gathering operation against Tibet activists and the Dalai Lama; Computer Week reports that Googles revelation is, basically, just the tip of a much bigger iceberg.

People, how much longer are we going to keep buying their crappy products so they can use our money to turn around and try to treat the rest of the world the same way they treat their own people? Does "Tiananmen Square" ring a bell for anyone? How about that airplane of ours that they screwed up, forcing it to land in China, where they held the crew hostage for a week (and kept the airplane)? Poisioned toothpaste and dog food? Date-rape drugs in the toys they sell us? Highly toxic cadmium and other heavy metals in the playthings for our kids? HELLO?

Boycott Wal*Mart, because the shift from American manufacturing to China can be laid directly at their doorstep.