more than a piece of paper

The Constitution is more than a piece of paper.

Get over reporting the Bush administration as though it were a credible source.

things like this happen

Maybe there's something deeply wrong when the response to an eight year old bringing a gun to his daycare and that gun shooting a seven year old is "things like this happen".

Things like this do happen, and I mean no criticism of a mother who, rightly, is looking for a way to recover from and move on from this incident. Clearly best for the children involved to find a way to continue to feel safe. But what do we do to make things like this stop happening?

A new blog on electronic security

Sorry, yet another blog, this time on electronic security.

I proliferate blogs in an effort to provide subject-specific forums. A place for everything, and everything in its place.

Michael Swaine is my hero

I'd love to write like Michael Swaine.

The network is the computer

Writely, a free online word processor and Word-like document host, with collaboration and permissions. Wiki-like, but more document-centric.

And yet another service-on-the-web model.

My dad now has a blog

I just helped my dad set up a blog .

Unicon is hiring

Unicon , for whom I work part time, is hiring .

Using del.icio.us to track reading

I'm trying to figure out what del.icio.us is likely to be good for. I like very much the idea of these generic mostly free-form tools that can be put to adhoc uses. In general in IT this is a way we succeed: delivering general, flexible services (email, web hosting, a portal) that the end users can figure out how to get value out of. (Contrast the approach of building very specific tools for particular purposes, highly instructionally-related technolgy applications, etc.).One thing it might be good for is quickly tracking what it is that I'm currently reading and what I've read .

Now I just need a portal to bridge all these tools.

del.icio.us/microcline/reading

I'm trying to figure out what del.icio.us is likely to be good for. I like very much the idea of these generic mostly free-form tools that can be put to adhoc uses. In general in IT this is a way we succeed: delivering general, flexible services (email, web hosting, a portal) that the end users can figure out how to get value out of. (Contrast the approach of building very specific tools for particular purposes, highly instructionally-related technolgy applications, etc.).One thing it might be good for is quickly tracking what it is that I'm currently reading and what I've read .

Now I just need a portal to bridge all these tools.

del.icio.us/microcline

I discovered de.icio.us today. I'm not sure if this will be useful. Another random place to stick links?

Restaurant Empire

I wasted a large chunk of my weekend playing Restaurant Empire , which was oddly addicting and a little fun. Mostly just numbing.

Snowmen with issues

This vintage snow sculpture on Yale's campus takes Seasonal Affective Disorder to a new level.

Wit's End rematch

Played a rematch of Wit's End this evening with my sister and father. Elizabeth won. Questions that tripped me up included identifying Emile Zola (influential French writer), Borris Karloff (legendy actor) and Baby Love (a hit by The Supremes). I also didn't know that Moscow is closer to Los Angeles than is Hong Kong than is Sydney, and I didn't know that My Fair Lady was released in 1964. I could probably live without knowing these things. Still, good to pick up some tidbits.

Apple to Apples

Played Apples to Apples this evening for the first time, with my sister and parents. Tremendous fun! Would be even more fun with more people. It's a very simple game, but the social interaction and the "what would [particular family member] think here" elements give it depth.

Bean Mush

Delicious bean mush for dinner today. A favorite. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

• half pound bacon, diced


• one pound hamburger (or more)


• 1 T prepared mustard


• 1 t salt


• half cup chopped onion


• half cup brown sugar


• half cup ketchup


• 2 T vinegar


• 2 pounds lima beans


• 15 oz kidney beans


• 32 oz pork & beans


• 15 oz butter beans

Directions:
Brown bacon; drain on paper towels. Brown hamburger and onion; drain fat. Mix bacon and rest, except beans, with buger. Drain lima, kidney, and butter beans; rinse. Add all beans and pork & beans with juice to burger. Bake uncovered at 300 degrees for 90 minutes. Serves many.

But not really simple

The December-January issue of Real Simple magazine weighs in at 387 pages. Simple?

All things in time

Received today:

Dear Mr. Andrew Petro,

Our records show that you haven't yet registered for the benefits of AARP membership, even though you are fully eligible.

...

As a member, you'll have the resources and information you need to get the most out of life over 50.

Getting the most out of life over 50 is a challenge I hope to eventually have, but in the meantime I'm going to try to focus on getting the most out of life under 25.

Crashing with Minh

My friend Minh has generously taken me in this evening. Workout, shopping, groceries, a delicious dinner of roast beef sandwiches, asparagus, and chips with queso. Early meeting and long day tomorrow with the flight back to Wisconsin.

Egregiously Interesting

An "egregiously interesting" adventure.

A Fabulous New Year's Resolution

One of my New Year's resolutions is to stop saying the word "fabulous" so much.

On the nature of Stupidity

On what it is to be stupid. Characterization of stupidity purely in terms of harm.

I don't agree with this article's outlook on life. People are imperfect and make mistakes, to be sure. But I don't know that many people make so many mistakes, perform so poorly, as to warrant being called stupid. Are the stakes often high enough for that?

Usinger bratwurst, hotdog buns, apples, and brie

Visiting New Haven. Anthony has generously taken me in for a few days. This evening we enjoyed a dinner of Usinger bratwurst on hotdog buns accompanied by apples and brie.

For some reason the heat in the frat house isn't keeping up, so we're relying upon a really quite powerful space heater. I don't think the pipes are actually in any danger of freezing -- it's still warmer here than in my "55 degrees like President Carter told us" parents' house.

Breakfast was the oddly satisfying fried egg on a hard roll from Educated Burgher. This was a frequent meal the summer after my junior year when I lived here on Lynwood place and worked at YSOC.

Lunch was a turkey sandwich from Koffee. The bacon helped. Really very good, thanks for introducing me to this, Fran.

Lots of good food, but the highlights of the day were QAing Drew's new GuestReg (very cool, Spring WebMVC is a beautiful thing), working on the course reserve channel (JUnit is a beautiful thing), and discovering Spring's BeanUtils and their usefulness in the context of copy constructors.