Watching an important trial on the Internet

On Monday, trial will begin in federal court in San Francisco in  the lawsuit seeking to overturn California's Prop 8, which outlawed gay marriage. The plaintiffs had asked the court to allow the trial, which will not have a jury, to be televised live.

In an interesting ruling yesterday, the judge hearing the case denied that motion. He did, however, rule that the trial could be videotaped and then uploaded, on a delayed basis, to YouTube.  According to the S.F. Chronicle:

[Judge] Walker said this case seemed ideal for a pilot program, approved last month by the federal appeals court in San Francisco, to allow telecasting of selected nonjury civil trials.

He cited the wide interest in the case and said most of the witnesses would be campaign officials or academic experts accustomed to speaking in public.

"I've always thought that if the public could see how the judicial process works, they would take a somewhat different view of it," the judge said.

A court spokesman said the uploads would happen as quickly as possible, which could be the same day or the next day.

Interesting use of YouTube's capabilities to bring a major event to the public.

The new phone is here

I've been using my new Nexus One for about a month, but couldn't say anything until today.  Now it is released and available on line - www.google.com/phone

It finally made me stop wanting an iPhone.  Really, really nice.

Available now unlocked or with a T-Mobile plan.  But here's an important note:  it is much better financially for you to buy the phone unlocked.  Here's why:

• The $179 subsidized price requires an $80/month plan for two years - total cost:  $1920
• The $529 unsubsidized price - an extra payment of $350 - allows you to get the exact same plan, but without any contract, for $60 a month.  If you kept it for two years, total cost: $1440.  You save $480, which recoups the $350 extra you paid for the phone, and gives you an extra $130.

Simple math.

And if you have Verizon service, it's coming there soon as well.

Update -- here are two good articles:

a well-written, thoughtful story about this new phone and how it compares to the iPhone

a good article explaining why you shouldn't compare the Nexus One to the iPhone

The future of 3D

I went to see Avatar in 3D this weekend, and now I finally understand what is so impressive about this medium.  The movie was so lifelike, and contained such depth, that it seemed like you were really on Pandora.  Kudos to James Cameron, who chose not to throw the 3D in your face.  None of it was gratuitous, and all of it worked.

Here's the trailer, but it doesn't do the 3D version justice:

Highly recommended.

100,000 pounds of fruit

I wrote a while back about the Urban Farmers pilot project in Lafayette.  We are one of the 20 selected families for a pilot farm, and it is underway.  I'll update when it is farther along.

Today, however, we attended a related event - the delivery of hundreds of new fruit trees for our town.  The founders of the Urban Farmers project have separately embarked on a goal to add 1000 new fruit trees throughout local neighborhoods, and today was the first delivery:

The event brought together a cross-section of the community, all committed to helping the environment in their own way.  The delivery today was of 318 trees, all soon to be growing in backyards.  Here is a picture of two of the founders of the Urban Farmers project, Siamack and his son Cameron, demonstrating the proper pruning of a new tree:

We got two trees, a White Germain apple and a Rio Oso Gem peach.  We'll be planting them this week and should have buds later this year.

One statement from today stood out.  The goal, as I noted, is 1000 trees in the next five years (and 318 is a very good start).  Each tree would be expected to produce 100 pounds of fruit over that five years.  Which means that this little project, in one small town, would produce 100,000 pounds of new fruit that otherwise wouldn't exist.  That is pretty impressive.

Homemade butterscotch sauce

Sarah made us homemade butterscotch sauce for the holidays, which we served at our New Year's Eve party and which she delivered to some of our neighbors as holiday presents.  Warmed up over Lunardi's vanilla ice cream, it was to die for.

The recipe is quite simple, with only five ingredients:  brown sugar, butter, heavy cream, vanilla and salt.  (I know, how could it not be good, with those ingredients?)  I love the fact that there are only five items in teh recipe - very pure.  (Compare, for example, the Five line of ice creams from Haagen-Dazs, which also only have five ingredients each, and which are really good.)

Here is a look at me helping to stir the simmering pot:

And the recipe, courtesy of the Smitten Kitchen (an excellent food blog):

Ridiculously Easy Butterscotch Sauce

Yield: About 2/3 to 3/4 cup sauce

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons, 2 ounces or 1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup packed dark or light brown sugar (I used dark)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt (or 1/4 teaspoon regular salt), plus more to taste

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, plus more to taste

Melt butter in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar, cream and salt and whisk until well blended. [A flat whisk works great here.] Bring to a very gentle boil and cook for about five minutes, whisking occasionally.

Remove from heat and add one teaspoon of the vanilla extract, stirring to combine and this is where, despite the simplicity of the recipe, you get to feel all “chef-y”. Dip a spoon in the sauce and carefully taste the sauce (without burning your tongue!) to see if you want to add additional pinches or salt or splashes of vanilla. Tweak it to your taste, whisking well after each addition. I ended up using a full teaspoon of flaky salt and the listed amount of vanilla to get a butterscotch sauce with a very loud, impressive butterscotch flavor but the strength of your vanilla and intensity of your salt may vary.

Serve cold or warm over vanilla ice cream, roasted pears or pound cake. The sauce will thicken as it cools. It can be refrigerated in an airtight container and reheated in a microwave or small saucepan.

To do ahead: This sauce will keep at least two weeks in an airtight container in the fridge.

Definitely worth making for your next party (or your next bowl of ice cream).

Readability

Here is a good tip from David Pogue's year-end column in the New York Times:

READABILITY The single best tech idea of 2009, though, the real life-changer, has got to be Readability. It’s a free button for your Web browser’s toolbar (get it at lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability).

When you click it, Readability eliminates everything from the Web page you’re reading except the text and photos. No ads, blinking, links, banners, promos or anything else. Times Square just goes away.

You wind up with a simple, magazine-like layout, presented in a beautiful font and size (your choice) against a white or off-white background with none of this red-text-against-black business.

You occasionally run into a Web page that Readability doesn’t handle right — no big deal, just refresh the page to see the original. But most of the time, Readability makes the world online a calmer, cleaner, more beautiful place.

Download this and put it into your bookmarks toolbar.  It is a good improvement for reading web pages.

Twenty Ten

Ok, how to pronounce the new year?  Twenty-ten.  Simple.


From the web site that explains it:

Say the year "1810" out loud. Now say the year "1999" out loud. See a pattern? It's been easier, faster, and shorter to say years this way for every decade (except for the one that just ended) instead of saying the number the long way. However, many people are carrying the way they said years from last decade over to this decade as a bad habit. If we don't fix this now, we'll be stuck saying years the long way for the next 99 years. Don't let that happen!