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First, go to http://www.state.wa.us/, then click on Locate state laws and rules (RCWs and WACs), then click on Revised Code of Washington by Title, then click on Title 29A - Elections, then click on 29A.64 Recounts.

And there you are.

That is not obvious at all. Most other people in this and previous discussions on the matter who have argued along similar lines have asked why we don't do X *now*, regardless of the law.

Anyway, the recount is considered more accurate because *most* of the difference in a recount is the inclusion of ballots that were not properly counted the first time around. Note that very few counties subtracted votes in the hand recount. It's not merely a matter of making sure you got the count right, it's a matter of correcting mistakes made the first (or second) time around.

I don't necessarily agree with that, but that's the general idea.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/

and you can even get it on mobile devices:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/products/

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/

and you can even get it on mobile devices:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/products/

Well I think PSP is an important public health issue, so here's a current link:
PSP

BTM

• Is customarily and regularly engaged away from his/her employer's place or places of business;
• Is engaged in making sales, obtaining orders or contracts for services or use of facilities or demonstrating products or equipment for sale;
• Is paid a guaranteed salary, commission, or fee payment (or combination);
• Controls his/her total hours worked each week;
• Spends no more than 20 percent of his/her time doing inside office work not related to outside sales.

My agency http://dnr.wa.gov/base/fire.html sends me (and lots of other employees) out to fight wildfires during the season. I'm working as a sysadmin, after having been a firefighter for several seasons. Most people in the fire program have other jobs within the DNR. The best of both jobs eh?

I said hand recount. 0.0015% is a very small difference, well within the margin of error.

Washington State had nine candidates on the ballot. http://vote.wa.gov/general/federal_results.aspx?d= HJLHBFowVTHD2ELRVw8DpQ%3D%3D

I'm a bit unsure of the election laws, but Washington State has three major political parties. Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians. I think to get major political party status, you have to get something like 1-5% in even year general elections or something.

Here are some ideas...

1a. Let each political party organization choose the candidate they want to run for each race. Let their organization do an internal vote. They decide how to vote, whether Condorcet, IRV, plurality, etc. Whichever candidate wins, gets to be put on the general election ballot. Taxpayers wouldn't pay for it.
1b. As to which parties get put onto the general election ballot, perhaps require like 1000 signature petitions.

2. Require 1000 signatures per candidate to be listed on the ballot. List their political party next to their name. Then in each race, do an IRV.

I voted on many proposed laws today in WA. The descriptions are here and the results are here

I voted on many proposed laws today in WA. The descriptions are here and the results are here

5. Make it easier to pull the licenses of incompetent doctors. The medical profession has done a horrible job of policing itself. I'll give a local example. Here in Seattle, a doctor resigned from the staff of Swedish Medical Center when, concerned about his competence, a special committee recommended this his medical privileges be revoked. Later, he was given medical privileges at neighboring Providence, a Catholic hospital. Later still, the two hospitals merged. After consideration at the highest levels (i.e., the General Counsel's office,) the newly merged hospitals let him practice. Later, this jackass botched a delivery, resulting in a dead baby and the hospital forking over $5 million to the baby's parents. This doctor's punishment? I'm not making this up - write a research paper! Of course, what will happen is, his malpractice carrier will drop him like a hot potato and he'll either "go bare" or end up praciticing in one of our many American systems of socialized medicine, all renowned for their level of care. I'm talking, of course, about the VA, the Indian Health systems, the military hospital,s and so on. What needs to happen is for theNational Practitioner Databank to be open to the public.

3. How can I get my birth certificate?

The State Records Center does not have the authority to distribute any agency records to the public. Birth certificates can be obtained through the Department of Health, Center for Health Statistics at (360) 236-4300 or via the internet at www.doh.wa.gov.

There are probably two ways of judging how bad an invasive species is: the negative effects on other "native" species and ecology, and how hard it is to eradicate. As an example lets look at the salt cedar , which is bad on both of these counts.

This plant is a huge success of natural selection. It can survive in all sorts of environments, and scales wonderfully eeking a survival in the middle of the desert as a shrub or thrive in wet forest as a tree, but always leeching every and all the resources available to it. It has an extensive root system which soaks up all the water available, which not only chokes off local trees, but prevents ground water from replenishing streams and aquifers, hurting the ecology of the entire region. It is near worthless as a source of food for animals, unlike the plants which it displaces.

Getting rid of it is not quite as easy as using a chainsaw. As I mentioned, it has an extensive root system which survives and resprouts after the above-ground portion of the plant has been cut down. The salt ceder also salinates the soil, making harder for other plants to regrow if the infestation has been there a long time before removal. Most places resort to pesticide to get rid of it, either by spraying areas that are completely infested, or by poisoning the trunks of individual trees that have been cut down. Also, "just chainsawing it", is not as easy as it sounds. It is an extremely time consuming task. Likewise, pesticides are not something that you want to go overboard with. In general these trees have been spreading over decades and we are just now getting around to dealing with them, so you don't want to just rip out all the salt cedars as fast as possible without a plan for reintroducing native plants.

Here in New Mexico, the salt cedar is concidered to be one of the greatest threats to our water supply, and a great deal of effort is being made to eradicate it, and progress is being made, but it is necisarrily slow.

The system isn't 800TB, but will scale to 800TB, according to this EDS press release. In fact, given that they've spent a mere $2.5M (powerpoint!) there's not a hope in hell that they've got 800TB! The powerpoint says it's a 5TB EMC SAN & an ADIC tape library for backup.

An interesting point is that they're delivering the documents using DjVu by Lizardtech, which is GPLd, and developed by the creators of DjVu in conjuction with LizardTech (after a period of LT not-getting-it). The DjVuLibre home page is here. LizardTech still have the best encoders for the format.

http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/

Just in case someone actually wanted the address for the archives it's http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/

Anyone who lives in the Seattle area and doesn't check the traffic conditions before they hit the freeways is missing out.

It's a nice system, and they're constantly (although slowly) expanding it.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/vancouver/default. aspx?cam=1255

they are back to traffic, but were pointed at the mountain when all others were over loaded.

you mean, unlike people who settle in the lahar pathways of Mt Rainier?

This isn't my web site but I wish it were:
http://www.geosnapper.com/

There exist Japan only (not ever marketed in the US) point and shoot cameras that already record GPS data directly. (Rioch... and some other brand I haven't heard of.)

And of course various Nikon pro models have this capacity, such as that used here:

http://www.californiacoastline.org/

In the same vein, check out:
http://apps.ecy.wa.gov/shorephotos/index.html

I haven't evaluated this: http://www.robogeo.com/home/

But I do own this, and it works well, as advertised to get a GPS read for each time at which you take a picture: http://www.geospatialexperts.com/

At the above location, they happen to sell the Ricoh model that can record GPS out of the box.

Yes, and I am saying it is funny to think that, since I am an official of the Republican party in Washington state, a precinct committee officer.

How about an online service that pulls data from traffic sensors?

The Puget Sound area has great traffic info online through WSDOT.

If you're in the IT dept, you'll probably have to coordinate with other departments, but this is a really useful app.

How about an online service that pulls data from traffic sensors?

The Puget Sound area has great traffic info online through WSDOT.

If you're in the IT dept, you'll probably have to coordinate with other departments, but this is a really useful app.

You could always get a motorcycle, liability only is usually on the order of $100 a year. Be sure to fill out your organ doner card though.

And WTF is the OP supposed to do during a Detroit winter, brainiac?

Organ doner card? That rhymes with boner (grin/duck). Then again, he's a doner if he gets in a wreck with his motorcycle in a Detroit winter.

The ER docs call them "donorcycles" btw. Maybe that's why, in my jurisdiction, liability insurance is not required (section 3(b)) for M/C.

The people responsible for sacking the people responsible for sending the previous message have been sacked.

(Hit "Submit" instead of "Preview." Mods: Mod first one into oblivion please.)

Quoth the legal illiterate poster:

Some of the main things it does do:

It destroys all existing state and local level anti-spam laws. Some of them were actually becoming effective, so they had to go.

BZZZT!! WRONG! The pre-emption provision you are referring to was mainly aimed at California's law which was very good but, as you put it, had to go. However, laws like Washington's remain untouched. Why? CAN-SPAM does pre-empt state laws that regulate spam, but not "to the extent that any such statute, regulation, or rule prohibits falsity or deception in any portion of a commercial electronic mail message or information attached thereto" as does Washington's and several others.

Agreed, CAN-SPAM is a shitty law. The law ended up this way because the Bushies didn't want to "encourage frivolous lawsuits" against "honest, hard-working businessmen."

VOTE KERRY 2004!

(Hit "Submit" instead of "Preview." Mods: Mod first one into oblivion please.) Quoth the legal illiterate poster: Some of the main things it does do: It destroys all existing state and local level anti-spam laws. Some of them were actually becoming effective, so they had to go. BZZZT!! WRONG! The pre-emption provision you are referring to was mainly aimed at California's law which was very good but, as you put it, had to go. However, laws like Washington's remain untouched. Why? CAN-SPAM does pre-empt state laws that regulate spam, but not "to the extent that any such statute, regulation, or rule prohibits falsity or deception in any portion of a commercial electronic mail message or information attached thereto" as does Washington's and several others. Agreed, CAN-SPAM is a shitty law. The law ended up this way because the Bushies didn't want to "encourage frivolous lawsuits" against "honest, hard-working businessmen." VOTE KERRY 2004!

Quoth the legal illiterate poster:

Some of the main things it does do:

It destroys all existing state and local level anti-spam laws. Some of them were actually becoming effective, so they had to go.
BZZZT!! WRONG! The pre-emption provision you are referring to was mainly aimed at California's law which was very good but, as you put it, had to go. However, laws like Washington's remain untouched.

It removes any legal right of action from 99.99% of the population. The only entities who can bring action under it are ISPs and a few governmental agencies.

The current Salmon run is already well above the ten-year average for the entire year.
the "destroy Eastern Washington's Economy^W^W^W^WSave the Fish" FUD people generally can't be bothered by mere facts.

I realize you're from Oregon, but this is the same sort of nonsense the east side of Washington state has to deal with from the people other side of the Cascades.

Check out this URL regarding releases of gasses from Hanford in the 1945-1972 timeframe. http://www.doh.wa.gov/hanford/publications/history /release.html

But Hanford's largest single release of iodine-131 was the result of a secret military experiment. "Green Run" refers to a secret U.S. Air Force Experiment at Hanford that released somewhere between 7,000 and 12,000 curies of iodine-131 to the air on December 2-3, 1949.

Overview of Handford radioactive pollution issues

Summarizing...

From 1944-1972, Hanford released 740 kcuries of iodine-131, 200 kcuries of tritium, 19 Mcuries of krypton-85, 420 Mcuries of xenon-133, and many other radionuclides into the air, most during non-filtered or periods of early filters from 1944-1950. The biggest health risk is probably the iodine-131, rather than the noble gasses xenon and krypton. The iodine exposure was from contaminated milk, eating contaminated fruits and vegetables, and breathing contaminated air. Iodine is bio-concentrated in the thyroid gland, which can lead to tumors there.

Tritium was released mainly in 1949 through 1954. Also early on, a lot of particles of ruthenium radionuclides and plutonium were released.

Releases from cooling water and flushes of the reactors at Hanford (for creating plutonium for weapons) lead to water-borne exposure from zinc-65, arsenic-76, phosphorus-32, sodium-24 and neptunium-239. Eating fish and shellfish was the main way people were exposed to radiation from Hanford's reactors.

60 million gallons of highly radioactive waste from the chemical separations plants are stored in 177 underground tanks at Hanford. The tanks contain about 200 million curies of radioactivity. Over the years, more than 1 million gallons, containing over 100 kcuries of radioactivity, have leaked into the soil. At present, it is uncertain whether any of this waste has reached the groundwater.

Tritium is the most commonly found radionuclide in the groundwater at Hanford. Ruthenium-106, technetium-99 and iodine-129 are three of the other radioactive materials commonly found in Hanford's groundwater.

The separations plants required large amounts of water to process plutonium and this water became contaminated inside the plants. Hanford has estimated that over 440 billion gallons of these radioactive wastes were dumped into the ground.

Hanford also buried solid wastes in the soil. This waste contains nearly 5 million curies of radioactivity.

There are many programs under ITS, one of which, the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative includes research efforts at hands-off driving,. Hands-off driving was first tested on an Interstate Highay in 1997,

On an 11 kilometer stretch of Interstate 15's isolated High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, the National Automated Highway System Consortium (nahsc.volpe.dot.gov) embedded magnets in the surface of the road. Along the shoulder, radio beacons were installed. Test vehicles were outfitted with optical sensors, radio communication equipment and computers. On August 8, 1997, these vehicles were driven by an experimental automated highway system along the test track. Human "drivers" sat behind the wheel, but it was the computer that dodged obstacles, merged vehicles and braked to stop.

The cars moved in two basic formations. As "free agents," each vehicle traveled independent of the others. As a "platoon," several cars followed each other within a few meters, forming an "auto train" that could grow or shrink as vehicles left and joined the platoon.

(Disclaimer- I have worked on more than a few ITS projects :)

cheers- raga

It only applies if a large portion of the potential traffic was aware of the prediction

Not necessarily. Depending on the situation, the threshold number of people whose behavior can change the situation will vary; could be large or small.

Where I live (Seattle) the state DOT puts up a GREAT online traffic map, which I check religiously before hitting the road. I hope it someday incorporates technology like this.

Washington state has a very cool Address Confidentiality Program that is designed to protect domestic violence/rape victims from people who have access to gov't DB's.

It's kinda like a lightweight Witness Protection Program.

To further confuse people there are actually two conversion factors for standard to metric length.

one is for u.s. geodetic surveys and the other is an international standard.

mind you the difference is small but it shows up when you start talking about things like space flight.

the two standards are:
1 foot = 0.304 800 609 6012 meter(geodetic) and
1 foot = 0.304 8(anything else)

for reference here is where I got the information: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Metrics/ftmtr2.htm -Brent

It might be too late...

The government already gives you a license plate and you have to display it clearly and unaltered.

I'll use Washinton state as an example. The relevant sections of Washington state law are:

• 46.16.010 (Licenses and plates required)
• 46.16.240 (Attachment of plates to vehicles -- Violations enumerated.)

The adulteration of orange juice: In 1990 an employee of Sun Up Foods, an orange juice processor, told the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that the company had set up secret rooms in its facilities to hold tanks of liquid beet sugar, a common adulterant of orange juice.

Why would anyone use rabbit shit in coffee? Chicory is the standard item used to dilute or adulterate coffee.

We can contemplate the Ford Pinto without much further comment.

How about a little Alfatoxin in your peanut butter!

Need a chest X-Ray or a really fast sun tan?

Or maybe you want to take a trip in Sir Geoffrey de Havilland's Comet?

And if you still think that you can consume or use products or services without paying close attention, I have a bridge to sell you.

A few responses to the comments so far:

"What are bicycles and public transportation, Alex?"
As I stated in the submission, bicycles aren't really an option. Not only the distance, but I live in the Seattle area, so there are a number of rather daunting hills along my 18 mile commute. As far as public transportation goes, I have looked into that, but commuting from Kenmore to Monroe by bus would take over an hour, and require three bus changes. There just aren't any routes that run directly between the two.

The biggest problem with commuter electric vehicles is that most of them consume more energy per mile than an economy car with one occupant. ... depending on how your electricity is generated.
As stated above, I live in Seattle, so the majority of our electricity comes from the dams. Almost certainly cleaner than burning a gallon of gas every 30 miles.

You can buy an older, used car for $3,000-5,000. If you learn to work on them yourself, you can save money on repairs and maintainence.
I already have an older used car, that I only paid $2000 for six years ago. And, I already do work on it myself. The point isn't just the cost, but the waste of space and fuel. Even though I get 30mpg, it still feels like a waste.

suck it up and get a motorcycle. ... Stop whining because it's not everything a car is and do something to make things better.
First, who's whining? Second, I'm not prepared to take the risks associated with a motorcycle. Too many drivers are blind to them, and here in Seattle, the weather is not very friendly to motorcycles for much of the year. Believe me, there are tempting aspects of motorcycles, but they don't hold enough advantages over my cheap clunker car to woo me to them.

Then why, do you have as the #1 thing on your 'wish list' on your website, a Chrysler PT Cruiser?
See above. Good point, and I have changed it. (^_^)

Yes, rideshare. Carpool, vanpool, bus, train, SOMETHING where there is another driver.
I'm actually working on that. Working way out in sticks, most people at my small company (less than 2 dozen employees) come from different directions than me, or work different hours than me. One person comes from my direction, and we're working out a plan to carpool at least a few days a week, even though we usually work different hours than each other.

Basically I'm saying.. move to a better place, heck you might even make some money in real estate in the process :)
Hmm, not likely, considering two factors: 1) I don't own a house. 2) I'm only paying $250 a month for the two-bedroom I'm at now. Again, given that I'm living in the greater Seattle area, moving would be an incredibly foolish financial decision.

This isn't true in every state I've lived in, but it's half true in Washington. The RCW says that it has to be a very slow vehicle. If someone is going 5 under, you can not exceed the speedlimit just to pass.

"Federal agencies were required by this legislation, with certain exceptions, to use the metric system in their procurement, grants and other business-related activities by the end of 1992. "

Salaries vary very regionally, and also by industry sector. I can't comment on other sectors/regions, but the State government in Washington state pays entry-level programmers with bachelor degrees $2645 per month ($31,740 annually or $15.20 per hour) to start. That's for what is called ITAS 1 ("Information Technology Applications Specialist 1"). Here's the link to the page describing the position/job and salary information: http://hr.dop.wa.gov/statejobs/bulletins/CURRENT/3 8109rp.htm. Most state programming jobs in Washington are in the Olympia area, which is a pretty nice part of the state (IMHO). Don't know what current openings there are at the moment, however.

I truly don't know what waiters make (including tips), but I doubt that the pay goes up to $70K+ after several years of experience, like it can in programming. In Washington state employment, the top programming job classification is ITAS 6, which is paid $5813 per month, or $69,756 per year.

If you get into more specialized areas, such as a programmer working with things like PeopleSoft and SAP, the pay gets quite extravagant, I'm told.

Factoring in the trend in offshoring, however, and the picture may become bleaker for programming in general, although the government sector may be somewhat immune to that. At least I hope so. :-)

Salaries vary very regionally, and also by industry sector. I can't comment on other sectors/regions, but the State government in Washington state pays entry-level programmers with bachelor degrees $2645 per month ($31,740 annually or $15.20 per hour) to start. That's for what is called ITAS 1 ("Information Technology Applications Specialist 1"). Here's the link to the page describing the position/job and salary information: http://hr.dop.wa.gov/statejobs/bulletins/CURRENT/3 8109rp.htm. Most state programming jobs in Washington are in the Olympia area, which is a pretty nice part of the state (IMHO). Don't know what current openings there are at the moment, however.

I truly don't know what waiters make (including tips), but I doubt that the pay goes up to $70K+ after several years of experience, like it can in programming. In Washington state employment, the top programming job classification is ITAS 6, which is paid $5813 per month, or $69,756 per year.

If you get into more specialized areas, such as a programmer working with things like PeopleSoft and SAP, the pay gets quite extravagant, I'm told.

Factoring in the trend in offshoring, however, and the picture may become bleaker for programming in general, although the government sector may be somewhat immune to that. At least I hope so. :-)

You can fill out a PDF form here that will calculate how much you owe. Now that you know, you can join the rest of Washington residents that ignore this.

Another guy who can't use google. Here is your site. Sales tax is also at the point of sale. It is use tax that is collected afterwards. The idea being that the sale was in another state but you USE it in your state.

From http://www.secstate.wa.gov/office/office.aspx :
The Secretary of State is the state's chief elections officer, chief corporations officer, and supervisor of the State Archives. The duties of the office are specified in Article III, Section 17 of the Washington State Constitution and Chapter 43.07 RCW. The annual salary is $78,177.

It goes on to explain that Washington State's Secretary of State is elected every 4 years and goes into more details about the position. Portions of the site include info on Maintaining the Integrity of Washington Elections (PDF) and Examining Internet Voting in Washington (PDF). I imagine there is variation from state to state, but a quick google of "secretary of state" seemed to pull up all sites for all of them.

Those of you with opinions might consider writing to your elected official.

From http://www.secstate.wa.gov/office/office.aspx :
The Secretary of State is the state's chief elections officer, chief corporations officer, and supervisor of the State Archives. The duties of the office are specified in Article III, Section 17 of the Washington State Constitution and Chapter 43.07 RCW. The annual salary is $78,177.

It goes on to explain that Washington State's Secretary of State is elected every 4 years and goes into more details about the position. Portions of the site include info on Maintaining the Integrity of Washington Elections (PDF) and Examining Internet Voting in Washington (PDF). I imagine there is variation from state to state, but a quick google of "secretary of state" seemed to pull up all sites for all of them.

Those of you with opinions might consider writing to your elected official.

These devices/apps are just what you want.

This was also talked about previously.

Listen, when a company is put on trial for abuse of a monopoly, the lawyers spend their time reading things like the Sherman Antitrust Act, and case law surrounding the AT&T breakup. I can't imagine a competent lawyer coming in and trying to get an antitrust suit throw out on the grounds of, "Your Honor, Websters dictionary defines a monopoly as exclusive control over... nah, I'm just messing with you." See, even hypothetical lawyer-boy over there can't bring himself to do it.

Here. Educate yourself. Also check out the section on "tying," which is relevant to the media player debate, just as it was relevant to the browser wars.

Depending on how you define "ready," Linux is ready for the desktop. But even if a company like Dell had the political will to pull off an end-user transition to Linux, and had a superior distro (perfect hardware detection, a friendly interface for most consumer-level tasks, and transparent security updates) it would still get eaten alive as its marketshare dwindled.

People demand Windows. It's what they're used to; it's what runs their games, applications, and consumer devices; they don't want to bother learning something new. None of these things have anything to do with the inherent superiority of one OS over another, but they all present a huge advantage for Microsoft and a barrier to competitors.

Stop bitching about how Microsoft should be allowed to do whatever they want, and the market should be the final judge. We have a good hundred fifty years of evidence that monopolies are both self-perpetuating and bad for the consumer.

Half of the year I am a firefighter for "the DNR" Then in the winter I work in their IT section. Keeps me from getting burned out...

Wedon't even get to vote, our blanket primary was made unconstitutional, tossed out by the state supreme court. Our november ticket is going to be PACKED.

This is good though, I can vote for anyone in any party. Its going to be an interesting presidential race in our state.