5 Thoughts for December 8, 2015

1. Cardboard Camera: Google has a new (for now, only an) Android app, called Cardboard Camera, that allows you to take panoramic images that is converted into Google Cardboard 3D images. I've tried it, and it is absolutely incredible. I'm almost certain that these photos can be shared, in a roundabout way with others using the camera app, to view panoramas in 3D; the sample images in the app are located in the download folder of my phone and the photos I've taken are in the DCIM/CardboardCamera folder, and they all have a "filename.vr.jpg" naming system. This seems to imply that you merely need to send these files to a phone and place them in the correct folder, to open them up for viewing in the Cardboard Camera app. Exciting!
2. Accessory Dwelling Units: Portland's already got freer zoning rules covering ADUs than other jurisdictions, particularly Beaverton / Washington County, where you need to build an off-street parking area for any ADU -- I consider this a really dumb requirement. Now, Portland's city council has passed amendments that make it even easier to build ADUs, and within the traditional 5' buffer zone in the side / rear yards. Furthermore, you're allowed to build an ADU in R2.5, (2,500 sf lots) which should mean that you can build a detached office / in the rear yard of your townhouse. The problem is, the Oregon Tax Court needs to explicitly rule that Multnomah County has misapplied the tax laws to revalue entire properties where ADUs have been built, rather than just the additional value added by the ADU; not many people will find the doubling of their property taxes worth the cost, especially if you're building an ADU for a non-renter (granny, kids, etc.).
3. SlingTV: After a few weeks now, I have to say that the promise far exceeds what they actually deliver. The only good experience I've had, has been streaming to mobile devices. Attempting to use Chromecast has been a very rough experience. While streaming to my TV, for some unknown reason the stream will stop and buffer endlessly. I can still watch videos on my devices and my Chromecast easily streams from other means, but the SlingTV app just completely fails to stream. In fact, there are many problems with the app's operation, and updates are rare.
4. ACA / Obamacare: At the time that the ACA was ramping up, I used to rag on Forbes contributor Avik Roy with his shamelessly terrible logic and fact-challenged statements. Well, it looks like he's back at it again. Now, while I could write a 1000 word post, breaking down his false assertions, I'm just going to tackle the laughable and quite common error in the media: Roy conflates percentage point change with percent change, insisting that, "Obamacare has reduced the uninsured rate by only 2.7%". Well, no. The ACA has reduced the uninsured by 19.5% between 2008 and 2014, and is quite clear in the study's chart that he's referencing. Percentage point change is useful when comparing it to total market share, so for instance, it's a great way to track changes in market share of smart phone operating systems (e.g. iOS is up 1pp while Windows OS is down 1pp shows where the direction of the market is going.) So, Roy doesn't know what he's looking at, nor does he know what he's doing. You know what, I'm going to tackle another of Roy's false assertion, that the ACA hasn't slowed down spending. The study he's using, is exceedingly clear in its title, what's driving healthcare spending increases: "Faster Growth Driven By Coverage Expansion". It stands to reason that if you reduce the number of uninsured, those people will be spending money for insurance and thus, total healthcare spending will increase; it does not mean that this is driving up premiums faster than historical average, however, but this was his implication. Again, Roy is not very bright. BTW, he's advising the Rubio campaign.
5. El Nino: Apparently there are many localized floods as a result of the heavy rains, which in turn were probably caused by El Nino. A clue to El Nino: It was 58°F / 14.4°C at midnight. Second clue: The vapor imagery highlights the atmospheric river of the pineapple express, although the clouds don't actually extend all the way down to Hawaii. Being the contrarian, I enjoy a good soaking.