Link:
https://dannyman.toldme.com/2026/08/20/railbus-and-biopic/
M200
I schlepped the family out to Sunol to ride the Niles Canyon’s M200 railcar. A railcar is a bus on rails instead of asphalt. The M200 was built in 1926, and was one of the early “skunk trains” named for the aromatic fuel it burned in its original gasoline engine, ferrying lumberjacks to their work sites from up in Willits. Later on it served as a school bus. When the Niles Canyon folks got ahold of it, they swapped in a diesel engine. I got to ride up front, next to the box that houses the diesel engine, taking in the heady aroma. I smiled to see that the rear view was a modern aftermarket backup camera system, and the speedometer looked like an old smart phone showing a GPS-derived speed estimate.
A happy coincidence: I wore my Wente t-shirt on the day we rode the M200. Wente Scout Reservation shares the skunk branding with the nearby railroad.
We rode East from Sunol along the original Transcontinental line from Sacramento to San Francisco, which used to run across the Dunbarton Bridge to connect with the now-Caltrain line up to San Francisco. The tracks had been pulled up long ago, but the volunteers have been laying “new” tracks East toward Pleasanton, which is as far as they own the Right-of-Way. The “new” tracks are old tracks that Caltrain replaced as part of the electrification upgrades. They may not be suitable for California’s future bullet train system but they’re plenty handy for a heritage railway running a motorcar at a top speed of 10 mph. The original line went up to 40 mph, explained our host.
Barry Lyndon
Of even more obscure appeal than a hundred year old railcar is a fifty year old Kubrick film. In July I took the Caltrain up to San Francisco and a Muni bus over to The Roxie. I left the family behind because I’m not a sadist. I had a burrito for dinner at Pacho Villa’s and because I’m an old-fashioned cheapskate who eschews online convenience fees, I had to wait in the standby line because it was a “full show.” After the train ride and the burrito, the standby line just added to the sense of adventure: maybe I wouldn’t get in!? The standby line self-selected down to four folks and we all made it in just fine. I sat mid-way near the aisle, behind a large afro that enforced good posture on my part and next to an autistic fellow who managed to unobtrusively stim during the more emotional scenes. I drank two cans of beer from the concession stand.
The movie was magnificent on the big screen. Worth the trek. A prideful young Irishman finds himself living an adventurous life in the 18th century. He learns to be wiley and shrewd and ultimately marries into Class, where that self-centered wily shrewdness renders him an insufferable Jerk. Rise and Fall. A good story with duels. If you like the musical “Hamilton” you might also enjoy the story of Barry Lyndon.
Feedback Welcome
Link:
https://dannyman.toldme.com/2026/08/25/infrastructure-is-so-much-more-than-code/
They say “infrastructure is code” – the DevOps Mantra. I say it myself.
I don’t call myself DevOps. (My employer does and I don’t argue with a paycheck.)
I write code to manage infrastructure. I am a DevOps Practitioner.
But …
I am large.
I contain multitudes.
I call myself a Systems Administrator.
Because, really:
Infrastructure is computers
Computers are largely code
Computers are more than code
There are cables and latches and screwdrivers involved
Infrastructure is also power, network, site planning, service agreements, security standards and processes and audits, recruiting, staff training, on-call schedules and standards, vacations, physical and mental health, procurement, shipping, payments, budgets. Infrastructure is so much more than code.
(On my current team we also advertise: Engineering Support services, Information Technology services, Audio-Visual services, Bicycle Maintenance, and Wildlife Removal. Multitudes!)
Infrastructure is not code; Code is infrastructure
And yeah you need to manage infrastructure resources effectively. Managing the code infrastructure means source control, automated tests, validation, pull requests, managing build/deployment infrastructure, &c.
There are cloud-only DevOps who wash their hands completely of the physical realm. All hardware is just an API. Good for them. They seem to spend a lot of time in meetings.
This is what you might see one day if you are a server who has been having an especially rough time.
For me … I’m a “full stack” engineer. Maybe I’m a full rack engineer. I have, in my career, managed most of the infrastructure components listed above. I’m grateful to work on a growing team that allows me to focus somewhat.
I keep a broad lens.
I enjoy managing infrastructure with code.
That frees up time and attention for the rest of the adventure.
Based on https://sfba.social/@dannyman/117061052052787533
Feedback Welcome
Link:
https://dannyman.toldme.com/2026/08/28/spare-bicycle-scenario/
My bicycle is in the shop. The chain had been skipping and also wrapping around the main cog. For $20 I replaced the chain myself, but the problem persisted. I enlisted the fine minds at the bike shop. The two bigger cogs on the crankshaft are worn out, and given the nature of how it is built, they need to replace the crankshaft. Can I do it myself? Installing the crankshaft is easy, but removing the crankshaft involves a special tool. I’ll leave it to the experts. Officially, it will be done in three weeks. Unofficially, based on prior experience, I wanted to believe three days but not everything I want to believe comes to fruition.
As far as my Garmin Watch is concerned, my exercise is whenever I track a bicycle ride. Since I am not tracking bicycle rides, Garmin has declared me a slothful, indolent creature, detraining at an exercise load of zero. Yeah? Well. I do feel a little crispier than usual about the various frustrations that come along at work!
A thought comes around: purchase a spare bicycle? As a good suburbanite family we own three cars. (The old gas minivan earns its keep a few times a year on behalf of the Scouts.) Two bikes is not so extravagant. But I’d want to kit it out with tough tires and something that can hold a backpack. Out the door for under $1,000? I met up with the Bike People the other night. Everyone has a spare bike, and the warning I anticipated: because you have a spare bike there’s no pressure to get it fixed up until your main bike needs service and now you have two bikes you can’t easily ride! Yeah I kinda figured.
Six years ago: the younger child waits for the daycare commute in his bicycle seat on the Blue Bike I Gave Away to Free Up Garage Space.
And I do have a spare bike: the big red cargo bike. But since I’ve coaxed the youngest into pedaling himself, the big red cargo bike has become a big red shelving unit in the garage that requires some “garage cleaning” to become rideable, and for the effort I get to pedal a truck of a bicycle.
And of course, you gotta check with your spouse. “I thought you already had a spare: that blue one?” “I gave that away to free up space.” So, I guess the spouse had already mentally budgeted a spare bicycle. A new pedal bike would still consume less space and weight than the old RadWagon did.
Really, I gotta find someone who wants an old bucket e-bike.
1 Comment
Link:
https://dannyman.toldme.com/2026/09/27/3-books-1-film/
Recent media consumption …
Wishin’ and Hopin’
Wally Lamb tells a short and rambling tale of a fifth grader coming-of-age in a Catholic school set in the 1960s. A vivid picture of a young guy raised by Italian parents who run a diner down at the bus station. Colorful characters, young and old. I recalled my own time in middle school. Class performances were more of a thing even in the 1980s than they seem to be now. “Lift every voice and sing” needs to be a cultural habit.
“Lady Bird”
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. After streaming it, I borrowed the Blu-Ray from the library for a second viewing. More coming-of-age in a Catholic school in 2002 Sacramento, California. Every character is going through their own struggle. The father losing his tech job in 2002 hit close to home.
“Sacramento is the midwest of California!”
“Of course you love me, but do you like me?”
“Aren’t Love and Attention the same thing?”
“Like ‘Napoleon Dynamite’” is fair: awkward high school students. I thought of “The Big Lebowski” what with a Californian of their Own Name stumbling through life on the eve of (another) war in Iraq. There’s an overall theme of longing for more while realizing that you love what you have.
Where are you from?
Sacramento.
Where?
… San Francisco.
Oh yeah, nice town!
The Pushcart War
Back to the middle school again for me, and back to the 60s in setting, except the 2012 printing of Jean Merrill’s classic sets the tale 14 years in the future of 2026, which is pointlessly jarring, because the novel is clearly set in a New York City with wooden pushcarts and telephone books and taxis. A New York City that has never heard of Internets or Smart Phones or Ubers or e-bikes. A timeless tale of The Little People standing up to The Man. Old timey and sentimental and absurd with a straight face like I was reading a Wes Anderson movie.
I get that the novel was set in the future when it was first published, but by the time I got to read it in the 1980s, I read the book a few times as hopeful historical fiction. So, after I got past the ridiculous date given in the introduction, I dialed the book back to when it really lives and had a great time again. This being the 60s there’s a pleasant “crackpot” florist in jail for terrorism, and a big peace march near the end. True to 2026, the rich and powerful are monsters pushing their master plan to own it all. Until the people at last determine otherwise.
I bought the book for my older son for his birthday, but the books of my youth do not easily appeal to the tastes of today. More prose for Dad. I hope it finds a reader through the Little Free Library. If I get my hands on an older printing I may stash that on my bookshelf.
James
Another middle-school flashback, ostensibly. Headed down the river with Huckleberry Finn, but with the adventure told from Jim’s point of view. The story and the back story reveal themselves in layers, and grow increasingly implausible and entertaining. Huck is a nice kid but here it is Jim coming of age, a grown man, who has emancipated himself, out of necessity, and now he has to figure out who he really is and how far he’s willing to go to get what he wants. The last part of the book reads like a movie and I am pleased to hear that is in the works.
I picked the book up on a Saturday and was finished the next day. I’m not a fast reader but James was engagingly urgent and I had to keep going. I’ve got it next to the bed, and I may re-read it before deciding where it should go next.
Feedback Welcome
Link:
https://dannyman.toldme.com/2026/10/27/ballot-2026-sunnyvale-california/
I am reasonably well informed but I’m not a political junky. My intention is to share the fruits of my own research for anyone who may find it helpful. Everything here is in the order on which it is printed on my ballot.
My primary resource is the Voter Information Guides, supplemented by AI-assisted web research.
Governor
Neither candidate has a statement in the voter guide, which is pretty normal for “Big Ticket” elections.
I don’t swoon for Becerra. He feels like a dull establishment candidate. California’s version of Joe Biden, but way younger. Those folks tend to do a fine job and these days we have had our share of strutting peacocks. I would take Becerra over Newsom in a heartbeat. Steve Hilton promises what: cut all the taxes and all the government services and round up the immigrants who don’t have fancy accents? Hard pass.
I dream of a California Governor who finishes the bullet train. Keep dreaming, Danny!
Lieutenant Governor
Democrat Fiona Ma
Secretary of State
Shirley Weber isn’t whining about making people show IDs to vote like the Republican candidate.
Controller
Malia Cohen sounds like she has been doing a fine job.
Treasurer
I could go for “country club Republican” like Jennifer Hawks to serve as a balance on the checks written by a Democratic state. Unfortunately, I clicked on her web site and it started playing music. That makes Democrat Eleni Kounaliakis a sane choice.
Attorney General
Michael Gates is the only candidate to submit a statement to the voter information guide. Too bad he’s MAGA. No Vote.
Insurance Commissioner
Two Democrats make this a real choice. Kim wants more aggressive reform: a government-run non-profit insurance system, while Allen wants to improve the existing system. Bernie Sanders endorses Kim while Big Money opposes her. Insurance is broken and it is only going to get worse with climate change, so I’m willing to bet on Kim’s bolder strokes.
Member, State Board of Equalization District 2
Two Democrats. John Pimentel is endorsed by the Howard Jarvis people, the trolls who brought us Prop 13. That makes Sally Lieber the sane choice.
United State Representative District 17
Ro Khanna could not be bothered to submit a candidate statement. So … Ritesh Tandon is a Republican who might even be an okay choice in any year but 2026. However, the only issue at stake right now is Donald Trump and the only safe option for now is Ro Khanna.
State Senator District 10
Scott Sakakihara has the only candidate statement. Harvard Law School, Navy Veteran, and grandparents who were interned during World War II. Scott Sakakihara is the obvious choice.
Member of the State Assembly District 26
Patrick Ahrens grew up in our district and he knows what it is to struggle financially. Endorsed by YIMBY Action for supporting housing. I am glad to vote for Patrick Ahrens.
Retention Elections
These are effectively “recall elections” that are held regularly to remove judges who have lost public trust. Judges are usually retained. A “yes” vote retains the judge. It is hard to find much information here, and where there’s a lack of smoke I see no need to fire.
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court: JOSHUA GROBAN
Yes
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court: KELLI EVANS
Yes
Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth District: CHARLES WILSON II
Yes
Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth District: FREDERICK CHUNG
Yes
Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth District: CHARLES ADAMS
Yes
Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth District: ALLISON MARSTON DANNER
Yes
Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth District: DANIEL BROMBERG
Yes
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Reading the candidate guide, I liked Shaw’s focus on core academics. A little more research found that she’s been busy trying to ban transgender students from athletics. She has drawn the endorsement of the California Republican Party. When it comes to transgender athletes, I think the question of what is fair ought to be worked out by the folks who run sports programs. Politicians who want to ban transgender people from participating in public restrooms or sports are working to re-kindle and channel the fires of homophobia, which have, blessedly, been waning in past decades. Richard Barrera is the safe, sane choice.
City of Sunnyvale, District 5
My yard has one of the handful of lawn signs in town supporting Richard Mehlinger, who is running unopposed. Richard is well-spoken and he shows up at community events. He is a good guy who works hard to represent our community and it is a privilege to vote for him.
Prop 1: Bonds for Housing Affordability Programs
Yes. Bonds to help build more housing for low income, veterans, farmworkers, tribes, and students. “No argument against Prop 1 was submitted.”
Prop 2: Increase State’s Rainy Day Fund
Yes. Because of Prop 13, California’s property tax revenue is forever constrained and the state relies more on income taxes and sales taxes. These tax sources are volatile: especially when you consider the technology sector, which is boom-and-bust. Some years the state is awash in money and Democrats love to spend on new programs, then the bubble pops and all the great promises have to be cut. So, in 2014, they set up a Rainy Day Fund: in good years the state socks away some of the surplus for the years when they need to bridge a massive shortfall.
Right now, tariffs and energy prices are hurting the economy, which continues to “grow” due to the ever ballooning AI bubble. Let’s sock away more surplus while we have it because the next recession is going to suuuuuuuuuuckk!!!!
Prop 3: Fund Schools and Health Care by Extending Tax on High Incomes
Yes. If you’re above $371k filing single or $743k filing jointly, you’ll pay 1% higher taxes, and up to 3% higher taxes above $1.5 million filing jointly. If my family were to one day ascend to such income, it would be a privilege for us to chip in a little bit more for the people of California.
Prop 4: Repeal Prohibition Against Public Funding of Election Campaigns
Yes. We have a prohibition on publicly-funded campaigns? Fuck that!
Prop 5: Change Recall Process for Statewide Officers
Yes. The current process is “do you want to do a recall?” and then “if so, which of these 6,000 names do you want to have as a replacement?” Prop 5 dispenses with the second question: a Governor will be replaced with the Lieutenant Governor and anyone else will be filled by a special election or appointment or whatever is called for.
I remember when we recalled Gray Davis. He was replaced by Schwarzenegger based on name recognition. Luckily, Ah-nold wasn’t half bad but we just skated past a potential disaster there. Prop 5 is a very sober reform to the recall process.
Prop 37: Loan Program for Middle-Income Buyers of New Homes
Yes. The state doesn’t spend any money, just leverage its credit to help loan money to first-time California homebuyers, making less than half the area median income, for homes priced under $1 million to 1.5 million in the wealthier counties. “No argument against Prop 37 was submitted.”
Prop 38: Bonds for Immunology Research
No. I support bonds for housing in Prop 1 because housing affordability is our top crisis as a state. Science funding is important but I think the legislature should work out what our priorities are.
Prop 39: Prohibit Citizens from Voting
No.
Voting is an Act of Faith. I have faith that in every precinct in the United States, a person can walk into their polling place, and state their name and address to the poll worker, who will cross their name off the roll and hand them a ballot. Nowadays the ballots are mailed out and brought back in or deposited in a box, but the idea remains. You and I and every American are as good as our names.
The fetish with “showing a photo ID” is just one more attack by Power to Divide and Conquer and Undermine Trust among Americans. Fuck that. No no no no no no no hell no thank you.
Prop 40: One-Time Tax on Billionaires
YES!
There should be more billionaires like Dolly Parton, who was filthy rich but so generous with her wealth she never became a billionaire. There are a class of people who, like Dolly Parton, are good at business, but they lack the sensibility that money is a means to an end, and not the end in itself.
The hypothetical value of billionaires is that these powerful folks can serve the interests of humanity when government goes astray. This hypothesis was busted last year when billionaire after billionaire, the most powerful people we have, came crawling on their knees to lick the heel of our new Fascist Leader. A lot of them seemed to enjoy it. After all, Fascism is State Capitalism, where the government’s resources are directed to enriching businessmen.
Billionaires are not on the side of Democracy, and many will fall in line behind the next coup d’etat. Prop 40 is a local compromise between applying a one-time “haircut” to wealth instead of labor for a change, and is a far more humane approach to dealing with the obscenely wealthy than the guillotine.
Prop 41: Prohibit New State Taxes (on Billionaires)
No.
Opponents of Prop 40 claim that billionaire wealth is wrapped up in non-liquid assets which make it difficult for them to pay taxes on that wealth. And yet … the billionaires have found a lot of money to advertise against Prop 40 and to bankroll Prop 41 and 42 to function as Poison Pills to invalidate Prop 40 and screw up California’s ability to manage our budget.
Prop 42: Prohibit new Personal Property Taxes (on Billionaires) and Certain Retroactive State Taxes (on Billionaires)
No.
Opponents of Prop 40 claim that billionaire wealth is wrapped up in non-liquid assets which make it difficult for them to pay taxes on that wealth. And yet …
Prop 43: Limit Voters’ Ability to Raise Taxes
No. So, there’s a 2/3 majority required for a government to raise taxes via a ballot proposition, but a simple majority vote for a proposition brought by citizens via signature collection. What really irritates me is that, like Prop 13, a majority vote can require a supermajority vote to override a majority vote. Let’s not surrender our power as voters.
Prop 44: Require Community Health Clinics to Spend 90% of Revenue on Program Services
No. This sounds reasonable on its face, but a lot of clinics run on narrow margins and there there is uncertainty over how “program costs” would be tallied. For example: is transporting low-income patients to a rural clinic a “program cost” or is it some sort of non-program “outreach service?” TBD! This creates added anxiety for clinic managers and could well threaten patient services that aren’t designated as “program costs.”
This sounds like another area for the legislature to take responsibility for effective regulation.
Prop 45: Modify Environmental Review for Certain Projects
No.
This one is interesting. The Yes side is mainly big businesses and “greedy developers” out to make money by building stuff. The No side is environmentalists and labor unions. The labor unions are interesting: wouldn’t you want more construction jobs? But I recall when I served on the Planning Commission that brothers and sisters in the trade unions would oppose local projects that hadn’t agreed to union labor by claiming that construction involves formaldehyde; CEQA action can be used to coerce developers to meet union demands.
I want to support Prop 45 to streamline housing, green energy, and transit projects. YIMBY and transit advocates don’t endorse Prop 45 because while they support cutting red tape, there is concern that Prop 45 would promote sprawl. Sprawl has obvious negative environmental impacts that Prop 45 would facilitate.
I think there is virtue in streamlining CEQA, but Prop 45 is not the right solution.
Regional Ballot Measure RTM
Yes.
I hate regressive sales taxes. Even more, I hate car dependency and sitting in traffic.
The Pandemic shook things up for our regional transit agencies. Emergency funding allowed improved service at the same time that agencies lost a lot of commuters to Work-From-Home. The end result was better service for the community at all hours. Caltrain especially, since the long-awaited electrification project, is posting record numbers outside of commute hours, even if the commute trains aren’t as full (of revenue) as they once were. I think we need to push this transition further along by keeping the transit agencies funded to serve the needs of the public.
Paring back services now would deny opportunities for folks who rely on public transportation, and it would force expense and lost time on those who can transition to driving. We need a better mechanism for funding public transportation, but we need to fund public transportation.
City of Sunnyvale Measure G
Yes.
Measure G allows Sunnyvale to use alternative processes to commission public works, which could streamline certain projects. Rather than having separate bid phases for design and construction, the city could solicit “design and build” bids — the design and construction are bundled. The concern is that while joining phases may streamline the bidding process and make it more efficient, going from “lowest cost” to more subjective criteria allows more room for corrupt sweetheart deals. I would rather our government have the flexibility to operate more efficiently for the price of public diligence.
City of Sunnyvale Measure H
Yes.
Straightforward: the City Manager has authority to settle legal claims up to a limit specified in the city charter in 1989. This limit doesn’t account for inflation. Measure H amends the city charter to let the City Council set the limit. In computer programming terms: we replace a constant with a variable.
City of Sunnyvale Measure I
Yes.
The terminology around Measure I gets confusing but my gist is that right now, a City Council vacancy requires an election to be held at the next (March) election and then the regular election for the council seat gets held again in November, so you get a candidate having to run in two elections eight months apart. Measure I says that if the six remaining council members can agree on an appointment to fill the vacancy, the appointee can serve until the next general election.
I can see both sides to this: my concern is that the March election is low turnout, and I would just as soon have the appointee focus on serving the city rather than standing in two elections in the same year.
El Camino Healthcare District Measure S
Yes.
We would move from no term limits for the El Camino Medical Board of Directors to four four-year term limits. Enough time for Directors to gain plenty of experience in the position.
Feedback Welcome
