Tag: ERA

Writers’ Happy Hour

TimeHorse May 14, 2020 No Comments

Today we had our second Writers’ Happy Hour and we had even more folks than last time, if you can believe it. Unfortunately, I had to miss most of it because of my Job Search. Fortunately, my good friend and most excellent author Martin Wilsey stepped up to do introductions and get the conversational ball rolling.

Of course, there wasn’t time for me to get comfortable when the business call was over, as then someone wanted me to get Hulu working on her iPad. It wasn’t until 20:45 that I was finally able to dedicate some time to our exciting and free-form happy hour discussion, missing the first one hundred and five minutes. But for the bits I did attend, I had a lot of fun, and I think everyone else did too.

A couple things though did come up when Marty and I considered the post-mortem discussion. For our second Writers’ Happy Hour we had a few people dominate the conversation while others may have felt left out and thus exited early. Marty and I are thinking of ways to engage the shier folks to get them to feel more comfortable participating in the discussion.

Marty also informed me of the devolution of conversation into technical jargon of a non-writing nature. I missed it but agree that we need to steer conversations clear of such non sequiturs. We welcome all topics of discussion, but we must try to avoid fixating on a topic only a handful of participants understand.

Finally, there is the third rail of politics. Marty and I may be of different political bents but we first and foremost respect each other. Not all writers are progressive or conservative and we need to realize that and not demonize folks of a political leaning different from our own. As someone who writes extensively about the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and the Equal Rights Amendment, I know first-hand how important it is to be non-partisan and respect differing political leanings while sticking to the facts. In future, Marty and I will be mindful of that too.

Overall, though, a great Writers’ Happy Hour with great conversations and delicious beverages. Of course, my beverage of choice is always Hydrogen Hydroxide, and I enjoyed every sip. Thank you for reading, and now back to writing.

11 Years of Electric Cars

TimeHorse February 27, 2020 1 Comment

Did you know that as of today I have officially been writing about electric cars for 11 years. Over a decade of Electric Car knowledge dispensed, that’s three times longer than I’ve advocated for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and four times longer than I’ve been lobbying in Richmond for the Equal Rights Amendment!

I started writing about electric cars with the Affordable Electric Car NOW! page. While I still write to that page from time to time, I find it hard to keep up with all the EV news these days, especially with so much going on (just look at my site header). And of course, #CO2Fre isn’t at all an affordable electric car, it’s a Tesla #P三D and believe me I still owe a lot of money on her! I love her and highly recommend her, but she’s by no means affordable.

11 Years
Taking #CO2Fre in for HW3.0 Upgrade at the Tyson’s Corner Service Center on the anniversary of 11 Years of writing about Electric Cars. © 2020, Jeffrey C. Jacobs

That said, I never stopped advocating for affordable electric cars like the Nissan LEAF or Chevy Bolt and have lobbied for electric car changing access at apartments and condos #RightToCharge (VA SB630) and new and used electric car rebates (VA HB717) many times just this year.

Electric Cars only for the Rich and Famous?

I began my page with that simple question. Truth is, I’m not rich. Eleven years of writing about electric cars has not made me by any means famous. I’m no PlugInSites or Transport Evolved. I doubt many, even electric car folks, know who I am. I am, by any stretch, neither famous nor sought after.

But today, I can safely answer No to that initial question! Not only are there a number of consumer level Electrics, including the many Nissan LEAFs [proper plural] I drove. You can even get a used LEAF for under $10,000, and maybe even under $5,000, if you’re lucky. I’m still waiting for the Electric Car under $1,000, but it will happen…

Hardware 3.0

The other thing that I didn’t get to talk about Yesterday as I was finishing summarizing the events from Tuesday is that I got a call yesterday seeing if I’d like the Tesla Hardware Version 3.0 upgrade.

Yes!

Tesla HW 2.5
This is #CO2Fre’s current configuration. Clearly shown, just before the upgrade, the Computer is using 2.5 (NVIDIA) version of hardware. Over the weekend, #CO2Fre should be upgraded to 3.0 (Tesla). © 2020, Jeffrey C. Jacobs

I currently have the NVIDIA 2.5 hardware chip in my Tesla. That chip is nice, but it currently can’t see traffic cones or stop signs. Tesla’s own HW3 is supposed to add that support.

I dropped #CO2Fre off this morning at the Tesla Service Center, Tyco Rd. and hope to have the new hardware installed when I pick it up in a few days. I do plan to vote this weekend, so I hope it’s back by then. I also hope it will fix the problem I’ve been having recently with autopilot fails in the rain. Oh, the anticipation!

Thanks for reading. Here’s to another 11 years!

House of Representatives passes HJ79

TimeHorse February 13, 2020 1 Comment

Since 2018 I have been advocating for the adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment. Well, that is to say, since 2018 I have been advocating in my adulthood as I was a staunch ERA advocate back in the early 1980s when I was so gutted it didn’t make it. But yes, I have been going down to Richmond since 2018 to get the General Assembly of Virginia to pass the ERA.

ERA Lobbying in 2018
Here I am with my friend Emily Haines to lobby for the ERA in 2018
Photo from Fredericksburg.com

Fast forward to 2020 and the Virginia General Assembly finally ratifies the ERA. I have many photos from that day including one awesome photo with Jennifer Carroll Foy, but I’ll save those for another day. Instead, I want to talk about the passage of HJ79, the House of Representatives bill to remove the ERA deadline. My dear friend, Lisa A. Sales, was able to get gallery tickets for a bunch of us ERA supporters to attend the hearing on the House floor with none other than my friend and Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton presiding. Unfortunately, I have no photos from that as electronics aren’t allowed in the House Gallery, but you can see it on CSPAN.

The vote itself was very harrowing. At first there was a voice vote, but a Republican member of Congress called for a Recorded Vote. The acting Speaker, who had moved on from Wexton, held the vote open past the 15 minute mark to give all but 20 members of Congress time to vote. At first, the yay votes were ahead. But then around the 80 mark, the nay votes overtook the yay votes and we were gutted. But in the end, the final total was 232 (56%) for and 183 (44%) against. At 218 yay, though, we knew we had it. 5 Republicans joined 227 Democrats to pass HJ79 in the House!

However, I was able to catch up with a bunch of my fellow ERA advocates at a special event in the House.

Celebrating ERA Passage with the Deltas
These are some of my ERA friends and allies. The Delta Sigma Theta sorority, Inc has long been an advocate of passage and I was happy to work with them for this passage and be in this photo with them and their fellow allies

We Finally, our supporters in Congress were there to celebrate with us. I was very happy to meet Abigail Spanberger, Carolyn Maloney, and Jackie Speier as well as (not pictured) former Republican Illinois State Representative Steve Andersson, who was instrumental in getting Illinois to be the 37th state.

Spanberger, Maloney, and Speier
Congresswomen Abigail Spanberger, Carolyn Maloney, and Jackie Speier have been longtime advocates for the ERA and are instrumental for getting HJ79 to remove the ERA deadline passed through the House of Representatives

It was great seeing Ellie Smeal and of course my friends on fighting to make Georgia the 39th. But also, it was so wonderful to catch up with my good friend Eileen Davis. Eileen is a longtime advocate of the ERA too and what’s more, she raised a very politically savvy daughter. None other than Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, pictured above. One of my highlights is always to have long chats with Eileen, she’s such a font of knowledge.

When it was time to go, we said our goodbyes. The last person I saw was Lisa. Thank you Lisa, and thank you everyone! You are all wonderful!

Now, on to the Senate…