Tag Archives: Washington State

Consider The Lottery

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So I had this thought this morning about the lottery and taxes. Both are systems governments use to raise money from the people to pay for things that benefit the people.

One system — a tax — is mandatory.

The other — a lottery — is not.

Anti-tax sentiment is all the rage these days, a symptom, in my opinion, that the concept of collective civic responsibility has eroded to a shameful degree in this country. The GOP and so-called moderate Democrats oppose meaningful tax reform that would make our tax system fairer and more sustainable, choosing instead to protect the rich as if trickle down economics hadn’t proved itself a failure by now. Additionally, people making anti-tax arguments typically ignore the inconvenient fact that they, themselves, benefit from vital tax-funded programs such as public schools, police departments, fire departments, departments of transportation, etc.

So, taxes are mandatory and the lottery is not, and you’d think that, given this erosion in civic responsibility, Americans would choose not to buy lottery tickets, knowing the money goes to the government in order to fund government programs.

Let’s check this hypothesis by looking at some numbers, using my home state of Washington as a sample:

2010 Washington State Tax and Lottery Revenues

Tax $15,122,921 $15,122,921,000 (embarrassing. see below*)
Lottery $491,000,000

So much for that idea.

Now, the knee-jerk response to this data is that the obvious difference between the two systems is that people who pay taxes, by doing so, don’t have a chance to win multi-million dollar prizes.

But that reasoning brings us right back to the whole civic responsibility thing. Sure, “there’s something in it for me” when it comes to the lottery, but really it’s “there might be something in it for me”, whereas “there’s always something in it for me” where taxes are concerned…

…just not things like a new house, new car, new home theater system, world travel, etc.

* Update: Ok, so, eating crow is never a pleasant thing, and I’m currently choking on an embarrassingly large portion. I kinda thought that the $15+ million figure was ridiculously low, and I even went looking on the interwebs for corroborating information, but I couldn’t find anything.

Since I use a pseudonym here, a Facebook friend was kind enough to point out my mistake by posting the comment “he left out the last three zeros”, as if “he” wasn’t me. It was a sweet, thoughtful gesture that I appreciate very much, and yet it should be clear that I was sloppy, which is inexcusable. I can’t stand it when others play free and loose with the facts, either out of ignorance or maliciousness, and so I have to hold myself to the same standard.

The Continuing Adventures…

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…Of A 12-year Old (almost 13!) Rock Climber

There’s my boy again!

I’ve written numerous times about Julian’s passion for rock climbing and his membership on the YMCA Youth Climbing Team, and here he is competing this past Saturday at the Vertical World gym in Tacoma.

Julian had a great day with a spectacular finish. His growing edge as a competitive climber is to not give up on problems he doesn’t solve the first time on a route, and he really pushed through in this area Saturday.

He couldn’t make one move, a sizable dyno, on one of the earliest routes he tried, and so he moved on to other routes so that he wouldn’t expend all his energy too early. And yet, a few hours later, when it looked like he only had time for one more route, he returned to the one with the big dyno.

Once again, he attempted the leap up to a hold that didn’t appear to have much to hold on to and he slipped off. However, uncharacteristically, even though he appeared to be spent and done for the day, he immediately returned to the starting hold and began the route again.

This time he nailed it!

It was a thing of beauty, his hanging there by one hand, making a slight, jerky adjustment to make sure that he had a firm enough grip before establishing another handhold and a foothold. I could see the strength in his forearm, the product of hours and hours of training over the last two years on the team, and though I didn’t think he had any fuel left in the tank he was able to proceed with the 3-4 remaining moves in the route, finishing stronger than I’ve ever seen him, pausing at the last hold to take in his accomplishment before jumping down to the matt.

Fatherly pride is a powerful, powerful thing.

Now THAT’S a road trip!

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What’s better than a road trip from the Washington State-Canada border to the California-Mexico border?

How about making the same trip using only 12.4 gallons of diesel fuel, just one tankful, at 119.1 miles per gallon, setting a new world record?

What’s better than that?

That the journey started just 20 miles north of Bellingham, as you can see in the photo above, the car has Washington State plates, the man who built the vehicle, Craig Henderson, lives and works right here in Bellingham, and he’s a Western Washington University Vehicle Research Institute graduate.

My Bellingham pride is overflowing.

Olympic Park Institute

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When I wrote last week that I was heading off for three days in Olympic National Park, I grabbed the photo you see here from Google Images, because it captured what I remembered from my last visit to the park, which was sadly way too long ago.

Well, as it turns out, it’s exactly as I remembered it, and the photo here could have been taken at any number of moments during the trip, except for the obviously lack of 10-12 year old kids, chaperones, and Olympic Park Institute (OPI) “Educators.” The OPI campus is on the west shore of Lake Crescent, a gorgeous glacial lake surrounded by foothills of the Olympic Mountains, and the “Educators” are the staff who facilitate activities all day long. The activities are designed so that the kids learn about the ecology of the national park in a fun, interactive way, and there wasn’t one of the 21 in the class who wasn’t touched in some way by the program.

Just a few of the things I learned:

  • There are 40 varieties of fern in the national park
  • There are 700 varieties of moss in the park (seriously!)
  • Old growth forests are identified by the existence of: 1. old trees (at least 250 years or older); 2. woody debris (fallen trees in various stages of decay); 3. layers (ground cover, understory, canopy, etc.); 4. snags (dead trees still standing).
  • Lichen is made up of two symbiotic organisms, algae on the top and fungus on the bottom.
  • I feel REALLY, REALLY good in an old growth Pacific Northwest forest

The highlight of the trip, which included a wonderful drive down half the length of Whidbey Island, over the awesome Deception Pass Bridge, and a ferry across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Townsend, was sharing it all with my son, who is graduating this week from 6th grade. To see him participate with enthusiasm in everything we did, to see him frolicking amongst the towering trees, to see him paddling a canoe, to see him toast a marshmallow, to see him sleeping in his upper bunk…

…well, it just doesn’t get any better than that.


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Saving my Brain: Tech Detox

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So, the New York Times is trying to tell me that computers and other technologies are bad for my brain, and the irony that I started reading this article on my iPod Touch, finished reading it on my desktop computer at work, and am now blogging about it on my netbook, doesn’t escape me for a minute.

As much as I worry about the effect of modern technology on human brains — after all, I have a 12-year old son! — I have to say that I found the Times piece to be fairly dubious.

The premise:

Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information.

These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate opportunities and threats. The stimulation provokes excitement — a dopamine squirt — that researchers say can be addictive. In its absence, people feel bored.

And yet, the article quotes a variety of scientists who are fairly split on the subject; some make gloom and doom statements, others say technology can be good for the brain, and others point out that the science is inconclusive. (Personally, I’m of the belief that addictions in general are not caused by the substance (alcohol, drugs, coffee) or activity (shopping, gambling, sex). Rather, I feel strongly that they are caused by emotional problems the addict had before they started abusing the substance or activity.)

In some ways, however, it’s not hard to understand how the Times reporter decided to ignore the fact that there was no scientific consensus, and instead manufactures just such a conclusion by giving the article the title:

Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price

The bulk of the article focuses on the absolute worst-case scenario anyone could ever imagine; the story of a family so off-the-charts out of control when it comes to technology that it makes for terrific melodrama and condescending ridicule. There is just no way that this family is representative of anything close to the norm or average.

I suppose it shouldn’t be a shock that the family agreed to be featured in the article, given that we live in a world where a mother and father, hooked on being on reality TV shows, in order to gain more media notoriety perpetrated a hoax that their 6-year old son was accidentally stuck floating 7,000 feet above the ground in a helium balloon shaped like a flying saucer.

But still! You gotta read the Times piece.

Anyway, as much as I discount the conclusions of the article, I can say without a doubt that I feel terrible when I go through periods where I’m spending too much time on a computer. I feel a kind of mental exhaustion that scares me a little, and I experience a feeling of distance from other people, my friends and family, a distance with the whole natural world, really. I don’t like that at all.

And so, the timing of this article is incredibly interesting to me. On Wednesday, I’m due to serve as a chaperone for a trip my son’s school is taking to the Olympic Park Institute, a science and environmental education camp in the Olympic National Park. For three days I will be disconnected, not from my family, but from technology. For three days I will be immersed not in the New York Times or Engadget or Pitchfork, but in Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar and ferns and moss.

Of course it’a all about moderation and balance, but we humans seem to prefer giving our power away and blaming some substance or activity. I should know, I’ve done it myself. (Damn you, coffee for being so yummy and addictive! It’s all your fault!)

For now, I’m off with my son to one of the most beautiful places on earth, to celebrate the grandeur of nature and Julian’s completion of 6th grade.

Om mani padme hum…


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Salon feels threatened by Fish & Bicycles

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Last week I wrote two whole posts (1, 2) about how, starting June 1st, Washington State will start taxing candy purchases…but not just any candy purchases.

I was rather proud of how I covered the topic, with penetrating research and analysis served up with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

Now Salon, obviously threatened by Fish & Bicycles, has published their own exposé on the subject, an obnoxious display of one-upmanship.

Their piece begins:

Is candy really a food?

Last week, Washington state joined more than a dozen state governments that have passed or proposed a tax on sweets: Starting on June 1, the state will begin adding sales tax to the price of candy. The hard part, it turns out, is figuring out exactly what “candy” is. Does a chocolate-covered pretzel qualify? What about a yogurt-covered raisin? Where does “candy” end and “food” begin?

Yeah, that’s SO original and timely. Yawn.

Neener, neener, neener, I beat you to it!

But then, Salon got nasty (my emphasis in bold):

Clearly, the flour rule is not an effective way to distinguish what is and isn’t candy, but is there a better way? To find out, Salon spoke with Samira Kawash, also known as the “Candy Professor,” a professor emerita at Rutgers University who is writing a book about the cultural history of candy in America.

Oh, sure, flaunt your superior budget and name recognition by interviewing a candy expert…

…from Rutgers…

…my alma mater!

Of course, for all her supposed expertise, Professor Kawash didn’t even take the time to unearth the real origin of the ‘candy with flour in it isn’t candy’ designation — the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board — as I did in my second post.

So, who’s the expert now? Huh?!

Listen Salon, if you happen to read this, from here on out you better watch your ass.


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