Lee.org

This image has gone around Facebook:

So I wondered, “Do American’s worry about different things depending on who is in the White House?”

I found the Gallup poll mentioned in the Facebook post. It’s pretty interesting. Every few years they asked this question:

In your opinion, which of the following will be the biggest threat to the country in the future — big business, big labor, or big government?

The images were broken on gallup.com so I took the data in the full report  and made my own chart. Take a look:

This chart says a lot!

For instance, big labor? Look at that long slow slide. Nobody worries about  big labor any more.

“No Opinion”? No way! Everyone has an opinion now, which wasn’t the case 50 years ago! Maybe this is due to the increased connectivity of our country now (CNN, internet, etc…)

Look at the long slow trend of worry about big government. Is this trend based on the political affiliation of the president? Not really. Is it based on individual president’s actions? Sometimes, yes. For instance, people got more concerned about big government with Johnson’s big-government programs. And look at how Bush temporarily shifted worries toward big business. But there is an overarching trend of worry about big government over the past 50 years that supersedes any president.

Now to the question at hand, “is the federal government too powerful?” This chart can’t answer that question directly but it can say that for the last 50 years people have very consistently been almost exactly twice as worried about big government as they have about big business.

Compared over each president’s full term:
Johnson shifted the worries a little toward government and then it recovered after his term.
Carter, Reagan, and Clinton kept relative worries about even.
It looks like Obama is shifting worries a little toward government.

My initial take away is: Obama isn’t making people much more worried than they might otherwise be about big government.

Discuss!

After 13 years of having the same pair of eyeglasses (wow), I got a new pair this past week.

I think they look pretty rad. What do you think?

Thanks mom!

And now the weird part. A few minutes ago  I tried on my old glasses to compare them to the new ones and….. and they broke!  After 13 years they broke just a few days after getting my new pair!!! No… better yet… I’ve only worn them a total of maybe 2 MINUTES after getting my new pair! Yes, after 13 years, my old glasses broke 2 minutes after getting my new pair!

Deets on the new glasses: made by Silhouette. They’re the TNG shape 5227, 40, Color 6059 19, 145. Got them at  Meredith W. Morgan University Eye Center  AKA Cal Eye on University of California at Berkeley Campus.

Deets on the old glasses: Sferoflex darksteel, 160mm temple, cable temples  (which are awesome), 50, 19. I think I got them at Lenscrafters in Medford, MA in 2000.

You probably like to keep your Facebooking moderately private. Here’s a tip:

As you go about your day, you sometimes allow Apps on Facebook access to your information. Some Apps get access to your posts or your list of friends. I would suggest that every now and then you remove any unused Apps because… well, there is no need for miscellaneous website operators to keep looking over your shoulder, unless you like that sort of thing!

Removing unused Apps is easy. Go here:
https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=applications

You will see a list of “Apps you use”. Just click on the little “x” to remove any Apps you don’t use any more. This will break the link between Facebook and the other website.

Last weekend was Maker Faire. I’m pretty stoked that I got to work at the Official Arduino Booth with Massimo Banzi, one of the main driving forces behind Arduino! :-)

Check out these offerings from Stanford University.
These classes are free and taught by experts in the field

http://online.stanford.edu/courses

Here’s a snippet of some of the course catalog

NOW IN PROGRESS

Wherein Brian Brushwood relays how he became a successful magician. It’s excellent advice for whatever career or avocation you are planning on!

This is a bit nitpicky, but hey… I sent this to BART today.

This note concerns the timing of when conductors issue the “Please stand clear of the doors. The doors are closing.” message on BART trains.

That message often occurs at inappropriate times, like when a large number of people are in the middle of boarding a train. Please ask your conductors to only give that message when the doors really are about to close.

It is unnerving to hear that message while a crowd is in the middle of boarding at a normal pace. I become somewhat worried that the conductor doesn’t see the boarding passengers and will close the door on us. Of course, that doesn’t happen but the purpose of the message isn’t being fulfilled.

Thank you for your consideration,
Lee Sonko

I mentioned this to some friends. Just wanted to show it was true. This is a snapshot of the Service Hours Timesheet from the AGS Honor Society here at CCSF.

Even for an honor society, you’ve got to admit that is a lot of honor.

Hey, there will be a Fireside Lounge at The Crucible in Oakland on May 10. Free for members, $10 for the public. It should be a fun evening.

I’ll be there with some flame effects.

There will be a discussion panel with some cool artists. The subject, “Creation”

And there’s always some fun, unexpected stuff going on. At memorable one, an artist friend smashed a beautiful piece of his own art on stage. It was sublime. See a photo about that one here. It’s the third photo down .

Panel Discussion participants
Continue reading ‘Fireside Lounge at The Crucible May 10 7pm’ »

I was assigned to write about this website in my Sociology class this week. You can click on the health data charts and see that although Americans spend twice as much per capita on health care than almost every country in the world, we have higher infant mortality and lower lifespan than a long list of countries. Frankly, it’s embarrassing that countries like Chile, Costa Rica, Israel, and Cuba are kicking our asses. I’m ready for a shake up of the US medical system.