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I recently got a Garmin vehicle GPS and wanted to add some redlight camera placemarks. Redlight intersections are more dangerous because in most installations they shorten the yellow time to increase revenue. There have been many cases where judges found this to be true and that the yellow time violated sound engineering practices because it was too short. This causes drivers to panic and rush through the intersection causing accidents. Several studies have confirmed that accidents increased after the installation of redlight cameras. For this reason knowing where they are and either avoiding them or being extra vigilant is prudent.

I searched and found people charging for this, being cheap I decided I could do it myself and save the money. Being nice I decided I would make this available to everyone, for free.

I have broken the files into individual states, with California being broken into Northern and Southern somewhere around Bakersfield. My GPS could not handle the larger files and Google Maps appears to stop processing at 1000 records. My database has over 5000 unique entries. (continue reading…)

I have heard a lot of people talk about the immigration law that Arizona recently passed.  Most people seem to want to just have their opinion that it is good or band and divide the country with the argument over it.  To a point I am doing that here, however I am countering the largest argument against it.  Not because I believe in the law, nor am I saying I disbelieve in it.  I am making this argument merely because of how I view the argument itself.

I think that this leaves little room for people to attack the law, which means that it is likely to force the argument to be an attack against individuals (“you’re racist”) and not anything about the subject matter itself.  I consider it a win when someone does that, ad hominem attacks are for idiots and those who cannot otherwise attack the logic of an argument.  I also have not yet heard anyone make this argument in support of the AZ immigration law.

I also think that people who assume that all illegal immigrants are of a particular ethnicity, or do not belong to a particular ethnicity are themselves racist.  This is not about lawful immigration, it is about unlawful – as in illegal – immigration/migration.  Not all people who enter the country illegally are immigrating, some are just here temporarily. (continue reading…)