Our Brain Needs a Hard Reboot

My wife has been working with large databases and has to compact and repair to clean it up regularly.

In the current New York Times magazine there was an article called "A Brief Vacation From Myself". What becomes of a man when his slate is wiped temporarily clean?

The writer explains that he lost four hours of his mind. His wife called their doctor and was told to take him to the ER right away. He seemed to have lost his short term memory.

He passes all test and the doctor's give him their results.

"It's benign, and it will happen only once in your life."

It is called "Transient Global Amnesia". It is a short term memory loss. For four hours the brain replayed the same two-minute loop, recording nothing and missing large chunks of the recent past. You forget and ask the same questions over and over again.

The author says "Your accumulated memories make you who you are. How terrifying it is that they can simple vanish."

So once in your life, our brains need their version of compact, repair, and reboot.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Peace Corps JumpStart for Costa Rica

JumpStart Costa Rica is a program implemented in collaboration between Peace Corps Costa Rica TEFL Volunteers and the Costa Rica Multilingüe Foundation (CRML) to ensure that students from schools without English teachers, which account for nearly 25% of schools in Costa Rica, do not continue on to high school without having received instruction in the language.

Over the course of four weeks, this particular JumpStart camp will provide twenty rising high schoolers from Costa Rica's indigenous Talamanca region with intensive instruction in English as well as lessons for developing confidence, high school preparedness, and life skills.

My very good friend, Estelí Pacio, is the Peace Corps Coordinator for this project.

School is hard for everyone, and much harder for kids who go to High School with no previous English experience.

6 of the 20 students will walk an hour and a half each way to High School next year, but statistically only one will make it to their senior year.

Giving them the confidence to stay and enjoy. English can change that.

CLICK HERE for more information and to donate.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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We Found the Martians, It's Us

Geo-chemist Professor Steven Benner, from The Westheimer Institute for Science and Technology in the US, said: "The evidence seems to be building that we are actually all Martians; that life started on Mars and came to Earth on a rock."

An element believed to be crucial to the origin of life would only have been available on the surface of the Red Planet. These "seeds" of life probably arrived on Earth in meteorites blasted off Mars by impacts or volcanic eruptions.

Speaking at the Goldschmidt 2013 Conference in Florence, Italy, he said: "It's lucky that we ended up here nevertheless, as certainly Earth has been the better of the two planets for sustaining life.

Prof Benner said the element molybdenum was thought to be a catalyst that helped organic molecules develop into the first living things. This form of molybdenum couldn't have been available on Earth at the time life first began, because three billion years ago the surface of the Earth had very little oxygen, but Mars did.

Analysis of a Martian meteorite recently showed that there was boron on Mars and that the oxidised form of molybdenum was there too.

Another reason why life would have struggled to start on early Earth was that it was likely to have been covered by water.

So did these rocks land in our oceans and started Darwin's pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection?










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NY K-14 thru P-TECH

Early College High School Program, known as P-TECH, extends schooling for students through grade 14, with graduates receiving a high-school diploma, a two-year college degree and a promise of being “first in line” for a job with a partnering private company.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office announced Wednesday that sixteen schools across the state will be part of a partnership between colleges and private businesses that will give students an opportunity to obtain an associate’s degree at no cost.

About $4 million was included in the state budget earlier this year to expand the program, which started in Brooklyn in 2011, as a partnership between computer giant IBM, New York City public schools, and the City University of New York system.

The schools will be open to about 6,000 students and will be located throughout the state, while each individual program will come up with an enrollment procedure for students, according to Cuomo's office.

“This groundbreaking program will give students across the state the opportunity to earn a college degree without taking on significant debt from student loans while also starting on a pathway to a good-paying job when they graduate," Cuomo said.

All parties involved plan to spend the next year creating a program geared toward new ways for teaching math, science and technology to students who might otherwise not succeed in these areas.

Among the new P-TECH partnerships are:

Finger Lakes
Businesses - Genesee County Economic Development Center
Higher Education - Genesee Community College
K-12 - Regional consortium led by Genesee Valley Educational Partnership with fiscal lead Byron-Bergen Central School District

Businesses: Regional consortium led by Wegmans Food Markets
Higher Education - Monroe Community College
K-12 - Rochester City School District

Hudson Valley
Businesses - Avon, Fairway Testing, All Bright Electric, Hightech Security
Services and Wick Arborists
Higher Education - Rockland Community College, Westchester Community College and SUNY IT
K-12 - Regional consortium led by Rockland BOCES with fiscal lead North Rockland Central School District

Businesses - Hudson Valley Council of Industry
Higher Education - Ulster Community College, Dutchess Community College, Orange Community College, Sullivan Community College and SUNY New Paltz
K-12 - Regional consortium led by Ulster BOCES with fiscal lead Kingston City School District

Businesses - Fuller D’Angelo and Yonkers Workforce Investment Board
Higher Education - Westchester Community College
K-12 - Yonkers Public Schools

Southern Tier
Businesses - Lockheed Martin MS2, Rockwell-Collins, Delta Engineers, Architect & Land Surveyors, P.C., Bothar Construction, Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital, Inc., and United Health Services Hospitals, Inc.
Higher Education - Broome Community College
K-12 - Regional consortium led by Binghamton City School District

Western New York
Business - Catholic Health System
Higher Education - Trocaire College
K-12 - Regional consortium led by Lackawanna City School District










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NYC Eat. Drink. End Hunger

I am constantly look for events promoting the poverty issue.

The Food Network's New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by FOOD & WINE returns October 17 - 20, 2013.

This year’s Festival features approximately 100 events taking place throughout New York City featuring the area’s top chefs and the most decadent offerings from the Southern Wine & Spirits of New York portfolio.

For the sixth consecutive year, 100% of the proceeds benefit the Food Bank for New York City and Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign.

Don’t miss your chance to mingle with New York’s most influential culinary personalities and to support two of the country’s leading anti-hunger organizations.

Tickets are now available online or via telephone at 866.969.2933 (phone sales open Monday - Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST).

CLICK HERE for more information and to purchase tickets.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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TN Green Party Sues to Overturn Photo-ID at Polls Law

On August 26, the Green Party of Tennessee filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District, Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett, against Tennessee’s law that requires voters to show certain kinds of government photo-ID at the polls.

Alan Woodruff, an attorney in Gray, Tennessee, who has represented the Green Party in previous lawsuits, said he filed the complaint Monday morning. It names Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins as defendants.

“There is no justification for having the photo ID requirement, as there is no such thing as voter fraud,” said Woodruff, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress last year as the Democratic nominee in the 1st Congressional District and might run again in 2014. “It’s overly burdensome. It affects minorities and the progressive-leaning voter more than the typical Republican conservative, and it was intended to.”

The General Assembly passed the voter identification law in 2011, requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls. It took effect in January 2012. Republicans say the law discourages voter fraud, which Democrats describe as extremely rare.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld the new requirement in a state lawsuit last fall. It ruled that the state legislature has the right to pass laws that protect "the purity of the ballot box" and that asking for photo ID at the polls does not add a new requirement to voting.

The Green Party of Tennessee and the Constitution Party of Tennessee filed a suit in federal court in 2011 arguing that the state’s election laws present an insurmountable hurdle to third-party candidates who want to see their party affiliation on the ballot.

U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes Jr. granted the plaintiffs summary judgment in June of this year, ruling that state election laws violated not only smaller parties’ First Amendment right “to associate as a political party” but also the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Some of the reasons for the complaint:

1. The purpose of requiring voters to provide photo identification as a condition for in-person voting is to reduce/prevent in-person voter impersonation fraud. The State of Tennessee has no empirical evidence of the existence of in-person voter impersonation in the state. The State of Tennessee has no empirical evidence that the voter photo identification requirements of TCA §2-7-112 will reduce in-person voter impersonation fraud. The State of Tennessee had not, prior to the enactment of the voter photo identification requirements of TCA §2-7-112, had any proven case of voter impersonation fraud. The State of Tennessee cannot establish that the photo identification requirements of TCA §2-7-112 are necessary to achieve any of the objectives and purposes of the statute.

2. Photo identification cards are not required to register to vote. Only an affidavit of identity is required to register to vote. Voter signatures are required for voter registration. Voter signatures are recorded by the State of Tennessee when a voter registers to vote. Photo identification requirements have not been shown to be a more accurate form of verifying a person’s identity than that a person’s signature. The voter photo identification requirements of TCA §2-7-112 only apply to in-person voting. Persons voting by absentee ballot are not required to furnish photographic proof of identity. Absentee voting is a documented source of voter fraud nationally.

3. The forms of photo identification identified in TCA §2-7-112:
- Tennessee driver license
- Valid identification card issued by the state of Tennessee, or the United States where authorized by law to issue personal identification, provided, that such identification card contains a photograph of the voter. The limitations on acceptable forms of voter photo identification established by TCA §2-7-112 are more restrictive than needed to achieve Tennessee’s stated objective in enacting its voter photo identification. The voter photo identification requirements of TCA §2-7-112 burden the voting rights on in excess of 250,000 eligible voters. In excess of 100,000 Tennessee residents have a valid driver’s license that does not contain a photograph.

So first the Green Party says that voter-id at the polling place would not stop voter fraud as the fraud usually happens with absentee ballots. Then they argue the Republican House, Senate, and Governor passed a too restrictive voter-id law.

CLICK HERE to read the complaint.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NYC Candidate Stickball Challenge

When: August 27, 2013 @ 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Where: Borough Hall, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Cost: FREE

Light refreshments will be provided.

Contact: Andrew Holt 212-894-5422 Email: aholt@cityandstateny.com


The rules for the candidates’ stickball competition!

Mayoral Candidates Confirmed: Joe Lhota, John Catsimatidis, George McDonald, Erick Salgado, Sal Albanese, John Liu, Bill Thompson (Pending), Jack Hidary, Adolfo Carrion Jr.

Public Advocate Candidates Confirmed: Cathy Guerriero, Letitia James

Comptroller Candidates Confirmed: John Burnett

Borough President Candidates Confirmed: James Oddo (Pending), Tony Arcabascio, Peter Vallone, Jr., Melinda Katz

This event is hosted by:

Curtis Sliwa, Radio Host & Founder of the Guardian Angels

Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President












NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NYC BOE Still Counting Ballots from 2012 Election

During the Sandy storm of 2012, Governor Cuomo allowed any voter in the affected areas to vote in any poll using provisional and affidavit ballots for the federal elections.

So today, the Board of Elections swears that it is finally on the verge of a full and accurate count of the votes cast in the presidential election nine months ago.

The panel on Monday will open and tally 58 paper ballots that had gone unopened and untallied since the Nov. 6 contest between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. On Tuesday, the board will meet to officially recertify the vote count.

Just like the board did last Dec. 18, and again with new totals on Dec. 28, and again with new totals on Jan. 15, and again with totals in March and again with new totals in July, and now, again, for the sixth time.

The staff just keeps finding stacks of unopened envelopes filled with unread paper ballots. In March they stumbled across 426 of them and in July, 1,579. Now this latest batch has surfaced.

Fifty eight citizens cast the latest find as affidavit ballots after showing up at the polls and discovering that their names did not appear in registry books. The polling places were in 31 Manhattan election districts, with a heavy concentration on the upper East Side.

What happened to the ballots after they were cast? Who the heck knows? How were they discovered? Ditto. The board says only that the ballot envelopes were “stored in double-locked secure areas” in the Manhattan office.

The City Department of Investigation has a new, dedicated unit assigned to specifically to uncover waste, fraud, abuse and incompetence at the board. In this instance, the lost-and-found votes will not change the outcome of the election. But missing ballots could distort the result in a much closer contest.

DOI should pay a visit to the Manhattan office to solve the mystery of how the board, whose primary job is to safeguard and count votes, is so prone to losing them.

I received my new polling place for 2013. Two years ago I voted 3 blocks from my residence. Last year, 1 block away, waiting 4 hours to vote. This year 9 blocks away with 27 Election Districts in one school building, with two entrances and two gymnasiums. Found out this was an ADA court case that forced the city counties to use stricter federal requirements for polling places. Many schools failed the stricter test.

In 2013, New York City will use the old lever machines for the primary and any run-offs. ADA groups forced the board to allow disabled voters to use direct marking devices to vote on paper ballots and the Governor allowed three weeks between the primary and the run-off.

Do you see another counting disaster coming?










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Hawaii Democratic Party Wants to Close their Primary

Today, Hawaii is an Open Primary state. Hawaii voter registration forms do not ask the applicant to choose a party, and on primary day, any voter is free to vote in any party’s primary.

"When voting in the primary, you must select only one party in the Select a Party section of the ballot card, then vote for candidates of the party you selected. If you do not select a party and/or you vote in more than one party ballot, your vote will not be counted."

On August 22, 2013, the Hawaii Democratic Party submitted an affidavit to a U.S. District Court that is hearing the party’s lawsuit against the open primary.

The state party chairman submitted information about the party’s current policy of inviting Hawaii registered voters to join the party. The affidavit says the party has approximately 65,000 members. One joins the party by going to the party’s web page and filling out an application. Members sign that they generally agree with the party’s goals. The party asks for a contribution of $25, but it is voluntary.

CLICK HERE to view their website and view the form.

Next, the state will need to submit its brief in defense of the current election law, which requires all qualified parties to nominate by primary.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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