Let’s talk about Hala Ayala tonight

Folks, I want to talk to you about my good friend Hala Ayala tonight. I’ve known Hala since my early days lobbying for the ERA. I passed her on Main Street East in Richmond as I was leaving an ERA shindig. I needed to drive all the way back to Herndon in #CO2Fre1 that evening so was leaving early, so all I got to say to her was “hey!”

However, months later I got to talk to Hala at length at an ERA event in Tyson’s Corner and was happy to make her acquaintance. After all, she’s a tireless fighter for for women who knows first hand the struggles many women, including my mom, have to make to make ends meet. She worked in a petrol station, making minimum wage when the unthinkable happened. She’s a survivor. And as a survivor, no other candidate can more personally know the struggles too many women face.

But Hala didn’t just survive, she thrived. She went back to school and became a Cyber Security expect. In the twenty-first century, we need a Lieutenant Governor who knows her way around the Internet, and how to keep us secure. With growing threats to our very democracy coming from overseas, we need someone like Hala, and no other candidate for Governor has this qualification.

Hala is also a great organizational force. As the Deputy Majority Whip, she makes sure the Virginia Speaker of the House of Delegates has the votes she needs to pass the bills she wants. As our Lieutenant Governor, Hala is well suited to keep push the Governors wishes, whoever she or he may be, through the General Assembly.

And that’s just a small taste of what makes this African-American, Latino, Irish, and Lebanese candidate the best candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

Still not convinced? Then join me tonight in 75 minutes as I discuss what makes Hala so great. Simply register here: https://www.mobilize.us/halaforlg/event/380236/

How to tell Hala's Story
How to Tell Hala’s Story

The Hourlings Podcast—Episode 6: Developing Characters

In this episode I mention my stint acting for my friend Shea. She wrote a cute series of situational comedy episodes taking place in a Zoo. My character was a rival animal husbandry expert from the local aquarium, and my character didn’t like the land-loving animal tenders one bit. I don’t know if it will ever be released, but I did get an IMDB credit out of it.

In this episode, I also talk a lot about Project Kronosphere. I recently decided to novelize the series and was excited to talk about the Kronosphere cameo in my story Let’s Kill John A. or John Wilkes Booth Must Die. I’m excited to get this project started and hope to work on an episode over the weekend!

The Hourlings Podcast—Episode 6: Developing Characters: Another Finely Structured Meeting

I really enjoy working on these episodes but I have been concerned with how long they are. This one was 75 minutes and other episodes have been about the same. We therefore agreed to make a change to how we release the episodes. Stay tuned to this page and keep watching Channel 137!

SARS-CoV-2: The Vaccine

I did a science. Back on 11 March, I told you about the virus that now is ubiquitous in our modern consciousness. We had the genome of the Virus sequenced as soon as January and I was already speculating that the vaccine would be faster than any vaccine ever in history because of it.

The interesting thing I didn’t expect is for someone to go from matching a viral protein in the B-cells and T-cells. I never expected we could develop a vaccine that is purely the Messenger RNA (mRNA). Why I’m not clear how you could get such a vaccine into the cellular production machinery, it’s clear if you can, that you can have your own body’s cells produce the protein markers that your immonolocal system can match. Of course, the other potential issue is, if you do have one of your cells producing this viral protein then what’s to stop your immune system from targeting it?

Dr. Joe Hanson explains how one SARS-CoV-2 vaccine was created.

2020 has indeed been quite an unexpected year. When I first created Project Kronosphere, back in 1999, I set it in 2010, which was still a ways off. When we started to approach 2010, I moved it to 2020. Now that it’s 2020, I’m kind of happy I didn’t set it then. There is no way I could have predicted the life-changing events of this year. But, I was able to predict the expedited vaccine development, which makes me quite happy and hopeful. And Project Kronosphere is now set in 2030 and features a 67 year old Professor Rebecca Priestley. And though I have some screenplays in the Project Kronosphere Universe, I am about to start its novelization…

Project Kronosphere was always intended to be an education drama, and like the Professor, I hope you have learned something from this post here. Make good science, my friends!

The Hourlings Podcast—Episode 5: Happy Hour

For fun, we decided to make our fifth episode about chewing the fat and spinning some yarns about what we write and how we get our ideas. Then again, maybe that sounded pretentious. After all, here I am talking about how I love #CO2Fre, my Tesla #P三D. But then, what folks don’t know I spent over a decade writing about electric cars on the Affordable Electric Car NOW site. I struggled and even had to quit my job to afford the car I drive now. It was through a lot of pain and suffering that gave me the chance to drive my dream car—or, more to the point, have my dream car drive me.

Of course, that’s all non-fiction, and these days I prefer to write fiction. Indeed, I’ve been writing published fiction since 2013, and I have so much more left to write.

Another Finely Structured meeting, if I do say so myself.

Anyway, have a drink with us, be it beer, whine, spirits, tea, or just plain Hydrogen Hydroxide, also known as water. Stay thirsty my friends and see you next week.

Allow Me to Choose Your Districts

In 2021, the United States performs its decennial process of drawing legislative districts. I, for one, have been very concerned about how this process will go and rather than sit by and let it happen, I want to be involved. This is why I am applying to the Virginia Redistricting Commission.

To that effect, here is my statement:

I feel that I would be an instrumental member of Virginia’s 2021 Redistricting Commission. I am a Progressive with a Conservative relations including members of my very close family. I also have a number of conservative friends. I feel being able to talk to the other party is key to choosing fair districts. I believe in ending Gerrymandering and stopping the practice of Packing and Cracking. I also am an ardent supporter of the Voting Rights Act and want to make sure our General Assembly and Congressional Delegation reflect the basic makeup of the citizenry of Virginia.

This can be accomplished by making sure some districts are biased toward those protected groups while avoiding packing too many and diluting voting power overall. I am a firm believer in the compactness and political efficiency of legislative districts. Compactness is just the perimeter divided by 4π times the area of a district with the fraction being the compactness measure, and 1.00 (100%) is perfectly compact. I also want to use political efficiency to choose our districts. Efficient districts are competitive districts. And the safer a seat, the more wasted votes on that seat. Any vote beyond the minimum needed to win is a wasted vote and I want all our districts to be as politically efficient as possible and waste as few votes as possible.

I am a software engineer and I know that with these 3 scoring algorithms weighted VRA above Efficiency above Compactness, and trying to get the best score overall, that a program can generate perfect, fair, and equal districts using machine learning and game theory. I also want to follow the 12-year rule to bias the result. If we look at the last 16 state-wide elections over the 12-year period from 2009–2020, we expect our House of Delegates to be 51 Democrats, 48 Republicans, and 1 Independent (perhaps Libertarian). Though districts of pure third party would be difficult, a split of about 51/48 ±1 seat does align well with the will of the Virginia people and should be an idea we espouse as a board. I’m here to make sure our board follows these ideals and I know I will be a very valuable member of the committee. I look forward to joining the team.

Application for Service on the Virginia Redistricting Commission, Jeffrey C. Jacobs

Please note, that I have redacted the list of conservative family members I have. I do list them in the application but wish to maintain their privacy as Trump voters.

EDIT 2020-12-05: I spoke to some of my family and we agreed that by changing the text to what’s above I could share with you the full text from my application. That said, there is something I am still considering adding of a personal nature.

In any case, I don’t know when I would have time to write such a program, but I know how I would do it and I would love the opportunity to try!

The Hourlings Podcast—Episode 4: Marketing Madness

I was pretty excited about this episode as many of my writing friends are great marketers. Of course our host, Martin Wilsey is, my good friend Emma G. Rose is, my wonderful friend Stephanie Mirro is, and of course my dear friend C. J. Ellisson is. I was all ready to sit this one out for all these great authors to talk about their marketing prowess, but alas, C. J. couldn’t make it so I was happy to step in and fill her lovely shoes. In the end, this TimeHorse thinks it turned out rather nicely!

Another Finely Structured meeting, if I do say so myself.

Now, go out there and buy more of my books! You’ve been marketed to; see you next week!

The Twelve Doctors and the TimeHorse

Doctor Who: 57 Years Young

The Twelve Doctors and the TimeHorse
A version of the 50th Anniversary background with the TimeHorse Logo. Hence, some currently beloved Doctors are missing.

Today is Doctor Who Day, the anniversary of the first ever episode of Doctor Who. And seeing as it’s also the day that my Reston Writers’ Review meets, I decided I should try my hand a fan fiction once again.

Yes, I did say once again. In fact, my first ever written work was from when I was 14 or so years old, and a huge fan of the program. Colin Baker was the Doctor back then and his companion was Perpugilliam ‘Peri’ Brown. I wrote it to take place during the mysterious disappearance of the Roanoke Colony in Virginia (Modern North Carolina) and involved the Terrible Zodin, a character never appearing on camera, created by Terrance Dicks. Indeed, the character is only mentioned in two off-handed comments in The Five Doctors and Attack of the Cybermen.

For 2020, I wanted to use the Sixth Doctor again only this time with his second companion, Melanie ‘Mel’ Bush, a software engineer—and in my story, a cyber-security expert. I teamed her up with Yasmin ‘Yaz’ Khan and the Thirteenth Doctor. And for fun, I had them fight Missy, with cameos from all the other Masters. Of course, I did need one final cameo to make the multi-Doctor story complete. I added the Doctor’s Granddaughter, Susan Campbell and her husband David as well.

But, let me be honest. The story was total rubbish. I rushed to write the whole thing on my phone on Sunday night just to get it uploaded in time, and like my feeble attempt at a Halloween story with only 101 words, it sunk like a lead balloon. I guess I’m just not on my writing A-game these days. I just need to find the time… does anyone have a TARDIS!

EDIT 2020-12-10: Forgot to post this on Doctor Who day. It was originally scheduled for posting on Monday, 23 November, 2020. Sorry for the delay.

The Hourlings Podcast—Episode 3: Finding the Time

For this episode, I’m back, but our intrepid host Martin Wilsey was unable to attend so the Toastmaster extraordinaire David Keener to host us as we talk about how to find time between work, and home, and all the other things you have to do with life. Believe me, I barely even find the time to update this site, never mind write.

Another Finely Structured meeting, if I do say so myself.

I hope you find the time to watch it and keep writing. I hope to see you next week!

36 Hours…

I bought my current iPhone on 30 September 2013—over 7 years ago. My iPhone 5S has served me well throughout the years but for the last fourteen months or so, I have been chafing over the inability to upgrade my phone to the latest Operating System. I knew then that, despite preferring the finger login, it was time for an upgrade or the massive, up-front cost.

However, I wasn’t ready just yet. Then SARS-CoV-2 happened, I had to quit my job for more money. Then COVIDWISE was released, and yet totally incompatible with my phone! This wan’t even the first app I was unable to download requiring Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology. I was becoming more and more distressed over my inability to install the apps I so desperately wanted—even more so having forgotten some of them with no way to bookmark or remember. And, as an App Developer, I really should have the latest gear to test out the latest technologies.

iPhone 12 Pro Max ½TB, Blue
iPhone 12 Pro Max ½TB, Blue

On 10 July, with my final vacation payout, I decided it was time to upgrade. I knew a new Phone was coming soon—and hoped it would add 5G support. I waited. The September Apple event came with no update. The October Apple event came with an announcement but you still couldn’t buy the iPhone 12 Pro. The date on the order page said I had to wait until 23 October for that. So I waited so more. I got up early on that Friday and, yes, the iPhone 12 Pro was available, but not the 12 Pro Max! I had to wait until 6 November for that!

And I did.

The phone is on its way. 36 hours and counting…

iPhone 12 Pro Max in Transit
iPhone 12 Pro Max in Transit

Keep coding my friends and write great software. I hope you will be as gainfully employed as me, soon!

The Hourlings Podcast, Episode 2: World Building

This episode of the Hourlings Podcast was one I could only contribute to in indirectly. We have a new YouTube channel, Channel 137—which I hope you will follow—and you may be wondering where the 137 comes from.

As an author, as well as a Physicist and Scientist, I have an affinity for the wonders of the physical world—and so does host Martin Wilsey. The number 137, or more specifically it’s approximate reciprocal, 0.007 297 352 569 3(11), which is about , is important to Physicists. It represents the Fine Structure Constant, ⍺, a ratio between the square of the Fundamental Charge and Planck’s Constant, the Speed of Light, and the Permittivity of Free Space:

The derivation of Alpha
This is the most common formula for calculating Alpha.

Originally, it was a was of defining the distance between spectral lines but has been found in many other physical properties. It’s quite a number!

Which is why we will be ending each meeting with a note about how it was so finely structured!

Another Finely Structured meeting, if I do say so myself.

Hope you enjoy the episode despite my lack of tales of intelligent octopuses and planetary colonists suffering technological attrition. Oh, well.

I’ll be back next week though so keep writing and hope to see you there!