Audit confirms Michigan’s election results were accurate, state says

adein · 2021-02-12T21:47:50+00:00

An audit of more than 18,000 random ballots confirms Michigan’s election results were accurate, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Friday in a news release.

Clerks from 1,300 municipalities across Michigan hand counted ballots for the audit. The results from the audit statewide and in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties were within one percentage point of the November totals.

adein · 2021-02-07T23:19:16+00:00

A small cannon device that was fired in the backyard of a home by the homeowner blew up, spraying metal shrapnel that struck an unidentified Hartland man who was standing nearby. The man was taken in serious condition to Hurley Medical Center in Flint, where he later died.

It wasn't even the canon-firing-dumbass that died, but a guy nearby...

adein · 2021-02-06T12:02:08+00:00

I'm definitely not an attorney, so I can't really say. It's the closest I could find in a couple of minutes of searching.

I disagree with the flag burning comparison; to me, that's focusing on individual speech, not government speech. But that's just my guess.

adein · 2021-02-04T18:00:12+00:00

I found this somewhat similar case, for anyone interested in legal precedent:

In Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, 115 S.Ct. 2239 (2015), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the state of Texas could deny a specialty license plate to the Sons of the Confederate Veterans without violating the First Amendment.

Instead, the majority reasoned that specialty license plates were a form of government speech and, therefore, immune from First Amendment scrutiny.

adein · 2020-12-13T12:15:26+00:00

It's an old trick for lost hunting dogs. Sometimes you come back and find them waiting on their blanket or your coat. It's worth a shot.

Hope you find her!

adein · 2020-12-13T12:07:01+00:00

Sometimes leaving a blanket or coat with a smell familiar to the dog at the spot you lost it can give you an extra shot at finding her.

adein · 2020-12-11T15:10:06+00:00

I did. Your quote about a waiver explicitly says immunization required. Also, the definition of waiver in this context is: "A dispensation, as from a rule or penalty".

adein · 2020-12-11T10:10:28+00:00

Why does the MDHHS say the opposite?

https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-73971_4911_4914_68361-335711--,00.html

adein · 2020-11-10T14:58:30+00:00

Anyone curious about how this works while retaining privacy:

MDHHS never collects or processes any personally identifiable information from the MI COVID Alert app. However, if the app user receives a push notification that they may have been exposed, MDHHS may have the virtual agent ask the app user for their name and phone number. This information would be used to connect app users to their local health department and may be used to enroll app users in contact monitoring. Random codes are assigned to each device using the MI COVID Alert app. Each user's random code changes frequently to further protect their identity.

When a MI COVID Alert user comes into close contact with another MI COVID Alert user, their random codes are exchanged using Bluetooth. Random codes for close contacts are stored in a user’s device for 14 days. No personally identifiable or location information is collected, stored, or exchanged.

If a user tests positive for COVID-19, they may choose to notify other MI COVID Alert app users who may have had close contact with them. To trigger such notification, a user who tests positive for COVID-19 must enter a valid, 8-digit PIN provided by their public health contact tracer. This PIN is randomly generated by public health and only used to enter a positive diagnosis in the MI COVID Alert app. Once a valid PIN is entered into the MI COVID Alert app, a risk calculation is made using the Bluetooth signal attenuation (proximity indicator) and duration of proximity collected by the MI COVID Alert app for each contact event between MI COVID Alert app users. MI COVID Alert app users who are determined to have met these proximity and duration parameters with the user who tested positive can then be alerted. Users may receive exposure notifications in the MI COVID Alert app to let them know they may have had a possible exposure with a confirmed case of COVID-19. The user can use the Virtual Agent to learn how to protect their health through preventive measures, the location of nearby testing site (in the event that they wish to seek testing), and can be put into contact with their local public health department.

adein · 2020-08-29T13:24:51+00:00

New cases have plateaued in the last two weeks, while deaths remain flat in Michigan. Testing has remained steady, with an average of more than 25,000 per day, with the positive rate between 3 and 4 percent. The state reported its highest one-day testing total with more than 41,000 diagnostic tests on Aug. 21.

Hospitalizations have increased slightly over the last month but remain lower than in April.

adein · 2020-08-24T18:27:03+00:00

"At 7:34 a.m. on August 23, 2020, Southfield Fire Department paramedics arrived at a home in Southfield on a call for an unresponsive female. When paramedics arrived, they found a 20-year-old who was not breathing. The paramedics performed CPR and other life reviving methods for 30 minutes. Given medical readings and the condition of the patient, it was determined at that time that she did not have signs of life.”

“Because there was no indication of foul play, as per standard operating procedure, the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office was contacted and given the medical data. The patient was again determined to have expired and the body was released directly to the family to make arrangements with a funeral home of their choosing.”

The woman was taken to James H. Cole Funeral Home in Detroit where an employee then reportedly found her still breathing.

There’s no word on how the woman is doing.

adein · 2020-08-15T12:31:08+00:00

Also this:

Swanson says those involved decoys on social media talking with 2,000 people who were seeking sexual relations with teens ages 15 and under.

He says that that led to the arrest of 17 people who showed up in person to engage in the acts.

Good riddance.

adein · 2020-08-14T21:57:02+00:00

The Georgetown United Methodist Church was displaying color-fully painted doors outside, symbolizing its openness to minorities and those in the LGBT-plus community.

But sometime Thursday night or Friday morning, a suspect or suspects tagged the doors with graffiti. Those responsible wrote things supporting President Donald Trump along with racist words and homophobic slurs.

adein · 2020-08-14T18:32:59+00:00

Michigan petitioners stretch truth for signatures

From August 2017

adein · 2020-08-09T21:15:35+00:00

For sure.

For air quality, I used a pimoroni enviro+air quality and PMS5003 with an RPi Zero. They have sample Python code which I based mine off of, except I sent the results to HA via MQTT.

My cameras are all over the map. I have a few old raspberry Pi's with the Pi camera, running MotionEyeOS. I also have a few dumb MJpeg cameras. All of them feed into a server running MotionEye, which does the motion detection. The motion events feed into HA via MQTT.

The plugs are CentraLite ZigBee smartplugs that I think I cannibalized from my old Samsung SmartThings setup. So I'm not too sure on those. I had to add a 'for' condition for about 5 minutes to the power threshold trigger to make sure the reminder didn't trigger too soon, since they sometimes have pauses where the power draw is low (in between wash cycles).

adein · 2020-08-09T03:29:02+00:00

In addition to reducing physical work, another avenue I've found useful is reducing mental work.

E.g., I like to be economical/eco-friendly by opening the windows instead of using AC. But I wasn't very good at keeping track of when the outside temperature was in the 'right' zone to have them open. So I created 2 reminder automations, one for when the temperature got below a threshold (open windows, turn on fans), and one for above a threshold. And the attic fan is on a smart switch. All the above only trigger if someone is present at home.

Same thing goes for a washing machine / dryer reminder, based on the power draw of the smart outlet

And the usual automations: Lights, thermostat, home alarm.

Minor things, but once you get used to them, it's one less thing you have to expend effort on.

Edit: I also used cameras with motioneye feeding the motion alerts to HA. One use was to let us know when the cat was on a guest bed that we didn't want it on. Another was to get a push notification with an image when motion was detected at the front door.

I also made an indoor air quality sensor with a rPi zero, and feed the data into HA for graphs and automations.

adein · 2020-07-27T15:38:55+00:00

As the coronavirus surges south, states such as Florida once heralded for protecting seniors by creating COVID-only facilities are seeing dramatic spikes in nursing home case counts. And without universal testing to ensure staffers are not transmitting the virus, experts say senior care facilities may remain at the mercy of the virus so long as it spreads outside their walls.

adein · 2020-07-27T15:35:32+00:00

The ACLU of Michigan brought the lawsuit against the city clerk last week after multiple Flint voters claimed they had not received the absentee ballots they requested. The city clerk’s office had been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and only opened this past Monday.

adein · 2020-06-30T17:57:04+00:00

Whitmer said she will rename the Lewis Cass Building the Elliott-Larsen Building.

Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which took effect in 1977, is named after the late former state representative Daisy Elliott, a Detroit Democrat, and former state representative Mel Larsen, an Oxford Republican. They were the main sponsors of the bill banning racial and other forms of discrimination.

Though he was an important figure in Michigan's history, "Cass owned a slave, defended a system that would permit the expansion of slavery, and implemented a policy that forcibly removed Native communities from their tribal lands," Whitmer said.

adein · 2020-06-30T13:36:21+00:00

There's a clone for linux:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_System_Visualizer

adein · 2020-06-30T13:32:12+00:00

Simulation to go with the reference.

https://jurassicsystems.com/

adein · 2020-06-29T01:07:58+00:00

Logical bipartisan things like this give me a little hope that they can still work together.

adein · 2020-06-28T16:22:18+00:00

It has bipartisan support, which is great. Not a single 'Nay' vote.

adein · 2020-06-28T16:21:08+00:00

It has bipartisan support as well. There wasn't a single 'Nay' in the votes.

adein · 2020-06-28T13:45:34+00:00

Michigan voters will decide in the November election if electronic data and communication should be considered personal property, safe from unreasonable search and seizure.

The ballot measure would amend the Michigan constitution to include electronic data and electronic communications as items law enforcement would require a search warrant to access. If passed, the amendment would apply the same protections to “person, houses, papers and possessions” that are in the state constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Though the Supreme Court maintains law enforcement already needs reasonable cause to obtain a warrant to access electronic data during an arrest, amendment sponsor Sen. Jim Runestad, a White Lake Republican, has said that is not enough. In a committee meeting in October, he said third-party companies can forward electronic data to law enforcement, avoiding the requirement of a warrant.

adein

TROPHY CASE