Youth is wasted on the young

Downside of being young.

Hummer

Confession: I'd like to try out driving a Hummer sometime.

Why blog?

This essay renewed my desire to blog (and to blog more effectively).

Google Acquires Writely!

Google acquired Writely. Awesome.

Blingo

Maybe you need to be bribed to search the web.

On the meaning of consent

I worry that this jury's decision will send the wrong message.

So let's review: people who are drunk are incapable of giving informed consent. Period.

Also, I really just don't get this jury's decision. Even if the young woman were enthustiastic about the enterprise, it's still child pornography, isn't it?

This jury was just wrong.

In other news, Italy found that women wearing jeans by definition cannot be raped. I worry this will send the wrong message.

So let's review: informed consent is sober, considered, and explicit. It is not implied by protesting too little, fighting back too little, or lacking the forcefulness to repel an instructor in a position of power and responsibility over the person being assaulted.

Italy's supreme court is just wrong.

Which leads to another point: even otherwise informed consent is tainted by a coercive relationship (instructor-student, laywer-client).

So just don't do it.

The Best Indian Food in Southeastern Wisconsin

The best Indian food in southeastern Wisconsin is pretty good. The naan was great, the rice pudding dessert particularly excellent. Chicken tika massala was okay. I didn't care for the non-vegetarian appetizer sampler -- was mostly fish sticks reminiscent of my grade school lunch hours.

India Palace in New Haven remains my favorite Indian restaurant.

Omega Burger

Omega burger for dinner. Snickers sundae dessert was delicious but overkill.

Out of step with ordinary people

What does it mean to be "out of step with ordinary people" and is being in step with ordinary people really something to aspire to? I'd be worried if the best of the universities were in step with ordinary people -- and equally worried if that were their goal. Ordinary and average are way over-rated -- they get a middling 2.5 out of five stars, for instance.

Can UW use its staff better? Of course. Does that mean it's over staffed? Having seen some layoffs and their effects, I'm forming the opinion that merely cutting staff isn't a way to make something more efficient, and that a far better alternative is to invest in improving the staff you've got and using them effectively. Do not be quick to level the charge of "over staffed" at anyone -- investment in staff, in quality people to professionally invest in solving the problems you exist to solve -- is an important investment. How much of the value of your organization is embodied in the staff that make it up?

Microsoft iPod 2006 Professional Edition

A great video showing what iPod packaging would look like if Microsoft sold them.