Counterintelligence

Higgledy-piggledy
Arthur M. Schlesinger
Asked, "How does Washington
Do without you?"

Answered, "It suffers from
Counterintelligence
High on concensus, but
Low on I.Q."

- E. William Seaman

Best Sakai Conference Ever!

Best Sakai conference so far.

Finally got to the end of my Reader queue

I think I'm trying to stay on top of too many feeds.

Spock?

Played briefly with Spock, but I'd have to admit I just don't get it.

Apple, please get with the Java program ( 13949712720901ForOSX )

So, I'll bite.

13949712720901ForOSX

I'd like to see Apple release a quality Java 6 JDK for OS X. I'd further like to see them admit that they're not going to release these things with any kind of regularity, and so they'd like to instead encourage Sun to do it for them or even better that they'd like to kick what resources they can into doing this work in open source.

Actually, personally, I'd love to see Apple's software empire collapse, hoisted on its own petard.

A model of "please, please, oh vendor, grace us by giving us the obvious thing this platform needs to be a good platform for which to develop stuff" is pretty hopelessly broken. I'm more in favor of a free as in freedom model where everyone is maximally empowered to produce maximally excellent software for the platform. One path to this empowerment is making all the source code free to read, free to use, free to modify, and free to redistribute.

However, I don't have a lot of hope for Apple open-sourcing all their IP in the near term, and that will be just fine. (I get very OS X like experiences on Ubuntu where I'm allowed to see the source code I'm running and even modify and redistribute it, incidentally.)

It would be better for JDK 6 to be unambiguously the go-to modern Java platform, without having to deal with any whining from Mac OS X users that it's hard to get working on that platform, so, Apple, please get with the program.

Ok, thanks, bye.

Riesling

I'm sure the Riesling tasted better for having been consumed in the company of family, but the 2006 Leitz Dragonstone Riesling I tasted this Thanksgiving was very good.

Lindor Truffles

Picked up a birthday present from the apartment package cache today. Lindor Truffles are delicious! So cool.

I'd like to sell a vowel

Finally made my ItsYourTurn.com move. Too late to stay in my Jamble games with dad, unfortunately.

Some Walkable Locations

I live where there are Some Walkable Locations according to WalkScore.come. I'm pretty amazed the score is this high.

Amazon Kindle: Only Good for Kindling

Succinct yet devastating remarks on Amazon's latest Defective By Design offering, Kindle, replete with Digital Restrictions Management technology.

Beat Mystic Inn

I beat the computer game Mystic Inn this evening. It was oddly compelling.

Enough wasting time, though. Chores to do.

uPortal video

Impressive video showcasing uPortal.

Just a Chance that Maybe We'll Find Better Days

On the occasion of a birthday.

And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Cuz I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

And it's someplace simple where we could live
And something only You can give
And that's faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child that saved this world
And there's 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

Better Days
The Goo Goo Dolls

Trains are fun

Took Amtrak from New Haven to New York Penn Station. Then took the Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station to Jamaica Station today. That was pretty fun. I like trains. Then I took the Air Train from Jamaica to JFK. Then I caught a plane back to Phoenix.

Yale Harvard Game

Went to the Yale-Harvard game at the Yale Bowl today.

Dogsitting

Dogsitting Johan and Cubby. (And catsitting Alexis, Reggie, and Shenanigans).

Johan has a slight limp, he hurt his leg somehow. Gimpy dog (yet still distinguished and handsome). So he got a very short walk up the sidewalk and back.

Cubby appears to be well and was jumping around, so he got more than an hour worth of walking, which took some of the starch out of him.

All five animals gathered round when I had a cheeseburger for dinner. Bunch of vultures. I didn't let them have any.

A Webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Science, and Language

This xkcd web comic is here included under a
Creative Commons License.

My Normal Approach is Useless Here

This xkcd web comic is here included under a
Creative Commons License.

First Friday

First Friday art walk in Phoenix.

Also spent some time playing FreeRice.

Handed out candy to trick-or-treaters

Handing out candy to trick-or-treaters was great fun. My costume was to be a bouquet of flowers. Green t-shirt with a few flowers taped on with clear duct tape.

Chili's for lunch and dinner

Went out to lunch at Chili's with the Sales team today. We won favorite overall Halloween decorated cubicle in the Unicon Halloween festivities for Jason Lacy's efforts implementing a Deal or No Deal theme and thereby gained a modest gift certificate to Chili's. It was tasty -- I had the chipotle bleu cheese burger. But I then noticed on the menu both a honey barbecue sirloin and a molten chocolate cake dessert.

I have a weakness for molten chocolate deserts.

So I went back for dinner, on my own, which is slightly less sinful for having used the time to prepare for the Science of Software talk I'm to give in a week (I'm feeling totally unprepared). Honey barb sirloin was delicious. Molten chocolate desert was kind of disappointing. My favorite molten cakes are still those I enjoyed at Oolong's Tea Bar in New Haven, CT -- I'm very disappointed to see the place has closed.

Incidentally, I've decided I have a real problem with the portrayal of gender roles in Deal or No Deal, having perused their website a bit. Never seen the show.

allergies

I'd been feeling pretty miserable for the last week and was convinced I had some kind of horrible infection going on. Nose hurt, sinuses hurt, could have sworn I was feverish, felt miserable. Figured it was amphliblius or something similarly dire.

Saw the doctor today. He tells me it's just allergies. No massive antibiotics for me. Got back on Claritin and using Benadryl for pointed relief at bedtime.

As long as I was at the doctor, got my flu shot for the season, which I particularly justify by the fact that I'll be hanging out with my grandparents at Christmas. But I'm flying around enough these days that it seems quite sensible to take this effort not to contribute to spreading the flu around.

Update from later: anti-allergy meds are working great! I feel human again!

Unicon and uPortal in the news

Pretty cool to see Unicon and uPortal positively featured in a CNNMoney.com news item. Lest anyone wonder whether the free and open source uPortal portal platform can scale: one million users, baby.

Read an article about an Internet Relationship

I found this article pretty disturbing.

It's the sort of thing that reminds that "intentional infliction of emotional distress" isn't always hogwash.

Dear Kohls, your website is unusable

A note I sent today to the kind folks who run kohls.com

Dear Kohls,

I write to express significant displeasure with your website.

I first visited your website in order to register my Kohls credit account in order to pay it online.

I navigated to http://www.kohls.com

And at the upper right there's a My Kohls Charge link with this URL: "javascript:launchCorporate('http://credit.kohls.com')"

When I click it, I am directed to "https://credit.kohls.com/psp/zcprod02/?cmd=login&errorCode=105&languageCd=ENG"

Which is an error message, quoted here:

[



My Kohl's Charge





We have recently improved our site and have a new address.

Please click here to go to Kohls.com, select the My Kohl's Charge option at
the top of the page, and update your Favorites link to My Kohl's Charge
with the new address.

If you continue to have difficulties, please contact us at 1-800-470-0554.

Please note that payments can be made in ANY store at ANY register, over
the phone by check, or the payment can be mailed to our payment center at:

Kohl's Payment Center
P.O. Box 2983
Milwaukee, WI 53201-2983

]

The "Please click here" hyperlink takes me to "http://www.kohls.com/", and when I use the link to My Kohl's Charge at the top of the screen as directed, I again visit this error message: infinite loop.

So then I go to the Customer Service portion of your website in order to contact you. Rather than clearly articulating an email address at which you may be reached, there's some kind of web form for entering my first and last name and email address, and then selecting a topic from a pull down, and clicking "Go". That doesn't work either: when I do that, it clears the filled out form fields but doesn't give me an opportunity to compose a message.

Overall, I'd say you haven't "recently improved your site" enough. Please correct these significant usability problems with your web presence. A website that doesn't work frustrates customers, erodes consumer confidence, and erodes the association of the Kohl's brand with quality.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Petro

Jane Austen Book Club

I saw Jane Austen Book Club today in Gilbert.

PodCampAZ volunteer coordination meeting

Went to the PodCamp AZ volunteer coordination meeting today. In retrospect I should have brought a laptop. This would require owning a laptop with usable wireless access, which isn't quite presently the case, but I have high hopes for the newly-Unicon-issued work laptop.

I'm helping with set-up crew on Saturday, as well as manning the registration desk in between the sessions in which I have interest. Must remember to bring lunch. It will be fun to be unskilled labor for a day.

Why do I keep doing this to myself?

That really hurt.

Blood type A Positive

Received in mail my United Blood Services donor card today. Apparently I am blood type A Positive. Neat.

2 miles

Ran 2 miles with Doug after work.

Phone call

A phone call from a friend just made my day.

Honesty

Honesty and Honest Tea with a local friend. Stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut and coupon clipping fun to go with.

Jersey Boys

I saw Jersey Boys this evening at ASU Gammage. It was ok.

On Apologizing without really meaning it

Southwest Airlines' repeated harassment of its passengers about clothing that is not in fact lewd, obscene, or patently offensive suggests that their apologies to the harassed customers may not in fact be sincere. If one apologizes and means it, one does not turn around and commit the same offense immediately.

Southwest can make light of it, but it's not really funny. I wish they would focus on things that matter, like not running airliners off the runway and into motor vehicle traffic so that they crush little boys, and less on things that don't matter, like stupid t-shirts.

A Southwest Boeing 737 landed on a snowy Dec. 8 and rolled off the end of a slippery runway, crashing through two fences and striking vehicles outside the airport on Central Avenue at 55th Street.

Joshua Woods, 6, of Leroy, Ind., a passenger in one of the vehicles, was crushed to death.

(As reported in the Chicago Tribune).

Justice is not achieved through trickery

I am gravely disappointed that Senator Craig has been unsuccessful in having his guilty plea withdrawn and receiving a fair and speedy trial before a jury of his peers.

Yes, Senator Craig, stupidly, pled guilty. A guilty plea signifies an admission of culpability, an agreement of the accused and the prosecutor and the court that a guilty verdict is appropriate.

It is clear that Senator Craig no longer agrees. It is also if not clear at least apparently strongly possible that he entered that guilty plea on the basis of assurances a police officer had no cause to be making, assurances made in bad faith. Senator Craig was misled. Shame on him for being a person in such a position of power and yet so naive as to believe a police officer. Shame on the system for misleading him.

Confidence in the criminal justice system in part stems from belief that those convicted of a crime are guilty of that crime. We achieve that confidence through an expensive and rigorous criminal justice process involving a trial before a jury of the accused's peers wherein the Government proves that the accused committed the crime. We forgo this expense when the accused agrees to guilt, often in exchange for lesser consequences. That coercion is extremely philosophically and practically problematic, but the coercion of the plea bargaining system is not the topic of this post.

In this case there is some doubt about what really happened with Senator Craig, about whether there has been some misunderstanding. Failure to overturn the guilty plea and require a trial avoids an opportunity that it be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury of citizens that a crime was committed here. That standard is appropriate an necessary in a situation where a vote in the most powerful lawmaking body in the world is on the line.

Trickery and something short of the full judicial process swings a senator from power and influence to criminality. We the people ought to be uncomfortable with that. I believe Senator Craig is owed a trial here, but even short of that, I believe the people, you and I, are owed that trial. Here is a situation where a guilty plea ought not to have been accepted in the first place.

"Mr. Craig, the court apologizes, but it finds that it is contrary to the interests of justice to accept your plea. The people are owed proof beyond a reasonable doubt where a senator is effectively removed from office. The court regrets any embarrassment a trial may cause you, but recognizes that really, you're going to face embarrassment and ridicule regardless, so that may at least be purposeful in giving the public assurance that justice is indeed being served. Your guilty plea cannot be accepted. Please enter a plea of not guilty."

Simple Personal File Backup

I've been trying out Mozy for file backup on my personal computer. So far I've been very impressed. I wish they had an Ubuntu client, in addition to the Mac OS X and Windows support.

Beware of swimming in nature

PHOENIX --
It sounds like science fiction but it's true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.

Omanhene

I've been eating a square of Omanhene Dark Milk Chocolate for Baking each day for a while now, more for nostalgic reasons than for the health benefits of flavonids. That and it's tasty.

Phone Call

A phone call from an old friend today made my week.

Edgefest 2007

I went to Edgefest 2007 today with Dan.

Good times.

I went to see the Plain White T's, who dutifully played Hey There Delilah, which was okay but not quite as awesome as I had unrealistically expected.

Dan wanted to see Mute Math but with the parking and traffic we weren't quite in time to hear them.

However, we were in time to catch the second half of the Eisley act, which was awesome.

Then we caught Hot Hot Heat, a band I hadn't previously been familiar with. The Bravery was kind of cool, but Fly Leaf was definitely not my kind of music. Reminded one of the angst of Ruby developers.

The last act we caught was Louis XIV. The mannequin they brought with them onto the stage more or less summed them up. Talented, though.

Corks and Cactus

This evening I went to the Desert Botanical Garden Corks & Cactus wine tasting after work.

I'd never been to a wine tasting before. I learned a bit and it was a good time. Sipping wine amid beautiful plants was pretty cool. Beautiful evening for it, too.

Since I know basically zero about wine, I did the Wine Diva pre-event. It was a "Fabulous Finds for Fifteen" class involving tasting six wines and a whole shtick. The Mionetto Prosecco NV (Italy) (sparkling wine) was very good and as the instructor, Christine Asnbacher, impressed upon her audience, effectively quenched thirst created by spicy food. I don't usually care for spice in my food, but when it's there, I want it quenched, so I could see ordering this again. Second on the slate was Erath Pino Gris (Oregon, 2006). Tasty. Bonny Doon Cigare Volante (California, 2004).

The reds were Marques de Caceres Rioja (Spain, 2003), Nine Stone Shiraz (Australia, 2004), and Septima Malbec (Spain, 2003). They were all enjoyable enough. I'd need several more classes to be able to say anything intelligent about them.

I also got a copy of the instructor's book, Secrets from The Wine Diva, autographed no less, out of the deal. I'm a lot more likely to get into book collecting than wine collecting as a hobby.

After the Wine Diva class came the Corks and Cactus event proper.

I liked the Weibel Brut Sparkling (California) very well, but part of that was running with the "try sparkling wines" cue from the class preceding. The Clos LaChance Violet-Crowned Merlot (California) was good, the Lolonis Lady Bug White (California) less so, but with a cooler name. I did not get to try the Two Hands Brilliant Disguise (Australia), but I was told by people I met at the event who seemed to share my tastes that it's something I should try sometime.

By far the most fantastically excellent wine I tasted this evening was Deco Chocolate Port (Portugal). I thought it was far better than the Desiree Chocolate Desert (California) (and they must have meant "dessert", right?) and I liked its more complicated flavor than that of the Smith Woodhouse Lodge Reserve Port (Portugal).

Dennis Rowland & the Jazz Experience provided neat background entertainment. I'll look to hear them again.

Picasso pottery was on display -- very neat stuff and I hadn't even realized this was visiting Phoenix.

Since I didn't know what to expect, I took a taxi to and from the gardens, so as to not be driving after having tasted the assorted wines. In actuality I think I was entirely sober and driving-able by the time I would have driven home -- there was a good long post-tasting area involving decadent deserts and delicious decaf coffee, and I just didn't take in that much volume of wine at this event -- for me it was all about tasting with a sip or two, though I noticed other participants adopting a more voluminous approach.

Taking the cab turn out to have been a worthwhile investment in discovering effective local small business. I like small personable cab companies, and in Union Cab I think I have found a suitable local one. Came quickly, polite, knew his way around, I got the same driver both directions, dispatcher was intelligible. Met my cab needs; I'd use them again and recommend them to others.

A day off for reflection

I took today off from work to think, and to catch up on local errands not finished during my very enjoyable weekend visiting family in Colorado.

Dinner at Big City Barbecue, suggesting to me that I'm more of a small town barbecue or even a country village barbecue kind of person.

Gave blood

Today I gave blood. Success at this for the first time while in Arizona. I'm feeling it, but I'm not feeling too badly.

Furniture and Oregano's

After work today I helped Drew Wills move in some furniture he'd purchased off of Craig's List. Then we went out to Oregano's for dinner.

Weighing in on K-9 case

On Thursday the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office released an updated report explaining what happened when Sgt. Lovejoy of the Chandler Police Department abandoned the police canine Bandit in a vehicle, discovering the animal dead of heat and dehydration over 12 hours later.

My take: Sgt. Lovejoy through negligence destroyed approximately ten thousand dollars of government property entrusted to his care and caused an animal to suffer and die in so doing. This is rightly a crime of some kind, worthy of an arrest. Lovejoy may have already "suffered enough" from his mistake in handling Bandit, but arrest was never about visiting suffering upon human beings, it is about recognizing, recording, and responding to reality. The reality is, there was consideration, there was duty, there was negligence, and a police canine died because of it. I'm not saying Lovejoy should spend a single day in jail out of all this, but it's reasonable to presume under the circumstances that Sgt. Lovejoy has committed a crime under these facts and an arrest is justified.

However, a *full custody arrest* was neither customary nor appropriate, and is rightly called out as more grandstanding by Sheriff Joe Arpaio. It is increasingly clear that the Sheriff wields power irresponsibly and capriciously. Power corrupts. I see this as more evidence that it is time for Sheriff Joe Arpaio to step down and someone with less existing wear on his soul to step under the sword of Damocles and serve for a time.

Incidentally, there are a number of extenuating circumstances in this case. The sergeant had a number of demands on his attention and was operating on a reduced amount of rest. This doesn't necessarily excuse the incident -- rather it points to to a totality of circumstance that a prosecutor will need to consider in filing charges, offering plea agreements, or dismissing the case entirely.

Larry Craig and excesses of criminalization

Apparently ex-Senator Larry Craig didn't watch much Law and Order. The take-home message of that show, it seems to me, is that you should have a lawyer when being interrogated by the police. (Further, if that lawyer just sits there like a dead insect while Vincent D'Onofrio paces around looking at your crosseyed, get a new layer.)

(Actually, this incident suggests to me that the time has come for another step beyond Miranda and Gideon v. Wainwright. If a United States senator doesn't have it together to insist on his right to counsel while being interrogated by police (and it is clear on reflection that Craig would have benefited by counsel, given his gross misapprehension of the stakes involved and his recent vacillations regarding his confession and plea), then no one can be reasonably expected to effectively invoke and exercise counsel. Being smarter, more legally adept, and with greater presence of mind than a US Senator is too high a standard to expect of the average person. I think the time has come to go beyond affording suspects the right to an attorney if they ask for one and advising them that they may do so. The time has come to require that anyone interrogated by police have a capable attorney present with all reasonable celerity. Confessions not rendered in the presence of and with the assistance of legal counsel should be inadmissible.

This would be expensive, but it is in the interests of justice. Law is sufficiently complicated that can be expected to be in no one's interest to interact with it outside the context of active and vigorous legal advocacy.

--

If the ex-Senator Craig really was soliciting sexual activity, then I agree that act was wrong and is scandalous. The man is married and attempting to cheat on his wife is not to be admired.

However. I'm not sure I believe the actions of Mr. Craig should be criminal. There is a difference between what is moral and what is legal, and all things that are immoral should not necessarily also be criminal.

Mr. Craig is accused of and plead to engaging in activities typical of someone soliciting homosexual activity. As far as I can tell from the press around this case, that involves pretending to drop something on the floor, reaching down for the floor, maybe feet wandering across stall barriers. Not all that clear on what's involved here, but it doesn't appear to involve bloodshed, or exposing oneself, or anything, well, criminal.

If someone in a stall next to me were engaging in these behaviors, would I even notice? I rather doubt it. Seems like it could be mistaken for having dropped something and having some rude misapprehensions of appropriate personal space. Rude? Probably. Criminal? I don't buy it.

I object to this being criminal. The August 31 Arizona Republic editorial vilifies Mr. Craig, asserting "It is illegal to troll for sex in public places, making those places repellent to the public."

What I don't notice won't repel me. It's not clear to me that any behavior here is actually repellent, or even noticeable.

Mugging someone should be criminal. Hitting someone should be criminal. An official's mishandling and destroying government property entrusted to him should be criminal. Stealing money by bilking investors should be criminal. Defrauding the taxpayers should be criminal. Lashing out at those exposing that criminal defrauding of taxpayers should also be criminal.

But reaching down while in a men's room stall? Putting your shoe in the wrong position? I don't see a compelling reason for these actions to be criminal. I have rather more faith in consenting adults. Certainly I trust people to more capably navigate the men's room than I trust them to capably navigate the extraordinary experience of being interrogated by an belittling and misleading police officer without legal counsel.

I read the necessary and proper clause differently than has become popular.

--

Mr. Craig was arrested for activity in an airport men's room.

What I want to know is, what wasn't that police officer policing because he was attending to Mr. Craig's foot position? Was there a threat of violence in a school that could have been responded to by the presence of another law enforcement officer? A lead in a kidnapping case that could have been followed up on? Could this officer have been enforcing some crime that causes actual harm? Maybe somewhere someone was littering.

The cost-benefit analysis here doesn't add up.

Here in Chandler there's a serial rapist in the news. He apparently preys on young girls. That's a crime, a terrible, vicious, horrifying crime, deserving of police response. Maybe we could have one more police officer looking for him, instead of attending to perceived signals on the floors of airport bathrooms.

Southwest Airlines and Inappropriate Clothing

Apparently Southwest Airlines felt the need to harass a 23 year old female flier about her clothing, which reasonable people on review did not in fact find "lewd, obscene, or patently offensive", as reported in this column.

This is another example of excessive (and discriminatory) organizational paternalism -- and that's paternalism of the pejorative sense, not in the sense of the wisdom you may have enjoyed from your own parental units.

This relates to the Thumper principle: if you don't have anything kind to say, don't say anything at all. It is not an airline's, or an airline's customer service representative's, place to dispense fashion advice, or to create a problem where none need exist.

You might wonder: what *wasn't* that CSR attending to while he was engaged in harassing this passenger? Not too long ago I was at Phoenix Sky Harbor and had the opportunity to assist someone distressed on the brink of tears because she couldn't *find* the Southwest ticketing area. (As one would expect, it was a Midwest ticket agent who eventually helped her recover her composure and find her way.) Addressing these minor but real issues seems a better use of CSR time.

"We don't feel like our employee was in the wrong," Chris Mainz, a spokesman for Southwest Airlines, told FOXNews.com

Then the error in judgment of a few employees is an error in judgment of an entire organization.

Would you like to fly on an airline that attends to real air travel safety issues, or would you like to fly on an airline that harasses its passengers?

On Respect for Peaceful Protest

Reported in today's Arizona Republic: Mesa police intend to discipline an on-duty uniformed police sergeant who made an obscene gesture at pro-immigrant protesters while driving by in a marked police vehicle.

Police spokeswoman Holly Hosac felt the need to explain that his gestures were "due to general distaste for protesters" and not out of an anti-immigrant viewpoint, and that the sergeant didn't even know what the protest was about.

This gives me a couple of distasteful choices. I can believe that Mesa has a police sergeant driving about with uncontrolled distaste for the peaceful exercise of civil rights generally and who is so unobservant, even while on duty, as to fail to notice the signs carried by protesters he is flipping off or so dim-witted as to be unable to intuit from these signs what the protest is about. Or I can believe that Mesa has a police sergeant driving about with uncontrolled distaste for the peaceful exercise of civil rights specifically around immigration and who further will along with his police spokeswoman then blithely lie about his observations and understanding to the public. (Leading one to ask, because the stakes are oh so high, does this mean this officer will fib about other things he has observed? How about under oath? As a witness to a crime?)


I find in my personal life that telling fibs and lies eventually catches up to me and causes me much more anguish than had I faced reality from the get-go. The same experience applies to government. Please, stop lying to the governed. It is a step down a road that it serves no one to tread.

Drawings of Guns, sense of proportion

I've been disturbed to read in the local papers of students suspended from school for having drawn stick figures with guns, vague drawings that might be interpreted as an impressionists "aura of gun", etc.

Certainly violence in all its forms, physical, psychological, and its conceptual pre-cursors, should be addressed with seriousness and attention. This is one lesson of the Virginia Tech tragedy -- that there may be premonitions of violence peoples' lives -- in their writings, their drawings, their speech -- and that there will be opportunities to intervene to bring people back into balance and coping rather than spiraling out of control with tragic results.

This isn't news. The statistics of the incidence of mental illness are astounding, surprising to many, and ought to lead to a recognition that many troubled people are not evil but rather are ill, that they cannot be treated as rare exceptional outliers but rather need to be considered as part of the mainstream "care for the masses" provided through such institutions as public schools.

Violence is part of our culture. This isn't a good thing, but it is a fact. Presently my government is engaged in military action in Afgahnistan and Iraq about which there are varying political viewpoints but no one can disagree with this fact: there are a whole 'lotta guns involved. Popular culture is filled with such concepts as MOAB ("Mother of All Bombs", a particularly large yield conventional weapon), occasional consideration of the use of tactical nuclear devices against terrorists holed up in tunnels, Russia resuming strategic flights of nuclear bomb armed long rage bombers. It is a fact that the United States Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms. It is a fact that in the United States, in contrast with other countries, most police officers are armed. It is a fact that the army is paying an unprecendented twenty thousand dollar signing bonus to young people not much older than this eighth grader to do more than draw stick figures of guns -- to be that stick figure, dragging a gun into battle. To fire a gun and potentially kill other human beings or be killed by gunfire.

Do we suppose denying all of this is in the best interest of schoolchildren?

The most recent case leading me to write here is that of an eighth grader who drew a stick figure pointing a gun at another stick figure. Neither of these stick figures was labeled, but a neither pointing nor targeted stick figure was labeled with the name of a school administrator.

Disturbing? Yes, absolutely. Worthy of attention and intervention? Yes. Not my attention or your attention or media attention. Worthy of a guidance counselor's attention. What is leading to these drawings? Are there guns in this child's life being ignored? Is the implicit message that the school administrator would ignore one student visiting violence upon another? Is this child reacting to the violence of Iraq and Afghanistan? To the gun violence here in Phoenix? Did he see a gun and hasn't told anyone because he was afraid of what would happen next with that information?

What is the purpose of school? I see the purpose of school as that of educating, of assisting society's children to grow into thinking, moral, capable, responsible citizens. And so legitimate school activities are the diagnostic, curative, supportive activities that promote learning.

No doubt disciplinary measures must needs be in the array of tools available to schools. Sometimes suspension will be a necessary response to express the seriousness of an offense to the standards of the community, to protect students from credible threat of harm.

But suspension must be reserved for those circumstances that necessitate it. The continuity of presence in school is, unless our schools are totally without value, of importance to the quality of education experienced by a child. We go to ridiculous lengths to encourage "perfect attendance". There is a disconnect, then, to whimsically suspend students.

Reserve suspension for circumstances that actually warrant it, and with the extra school time thereby recovered, refer students needing intervention to capable professionals capable of diagnosing and remediating this sort of acting out.

I am concerned that the generation of students resulting from schools without a sense of proportion, with draconian or capricious discipline, will be at a disadvantage in providing appropriate leadership. The lesson learned here is "the response to drawing stick figures will be disproportionate, because the bullies in charge have no shame." When this or other students are in a position of power over others later in their lives, how will they have learned to behave? Will they apply power consistent with principles of minimal force, of understanding and support, of offering the benefit of the doubt and trust, of sound diagnostic and curative action? Or will they have learned to jerk the reigns of power to force those below them to comply without making an effort to understand the situation or what less severe force may prove helpful?

Cline said that school officials do not thing Joshua meant for any physical harm to come to anyone, but that the school had to discipline him for the safety of the other students and faculty.
- As reported in Aug 31 Arizona Republic

This is the sort of 1984-esque doublespeak that disappointingly too often comes from public officials. Say what? No physical harm was meant. Clearly none was actually imparted. ("Oh no! A stick figure! And you, Brutus?!") Yet school officials needed to discipline him "for the safety of other students".

I object, sir. Nods to Virginia Tech do not excuse disproportionate punition. "Safety" and "Security" have become buzzwords excusing official an institutional cowardice and failure of judgment. Instead of disciplining the student, apply efforts to discovering and addressing the underlying problem. Instead of useless random punishment that doesn't actually improve safety, do things that will improve safety, such as verifying emergency exits will actually work if needed, and getting to the bottom of where these gun images are coming from. If there's actually some guns around, that's an interesting problem worth addressing. Punishing the messenger to discourage future early warning of guns encroaching on schools won't help.

"It is our hope this young man learns from this and comes back to school."

I doubt that's the lesson the student will learn here. The lesson I learned here is to have less confidence in the sound judgment of the officials involved.

Is this dog still under warranty?

Dogsitting. Brady has started a weird behavior where he'll decide he's had enough with walking, pick a spot on the grass wherever he wants, and lay down. Sometimes he rolls around in the grass, but in any case it's very hard to cajole him into finishing the walk.

I'm not sure whether there's something wrong with him (I doubt it -- he happily bounds and otherwise seems to enjoy the walk in between wayward lying down), whether he's confused about when it's appropriate to lie down (we've been working on "lay down" as a follow on to his pretty reliably "sitting" on command), whether this is his idea of a game ("Andrew sure is funny when he's trying to get me to get up, I want to see that look on his face again"), or whether it's a response to being over-walked. I try to walk him twice a day and we go for forty minutes or so each walk, but he's a big fellow and I figure he needs the exercise.

I switched to long walk in the morning and a shorter walk in the evening, but he's still doing the lie down thing. Not sure what my next move is. I don't have him lying down reliably in the house, so it's hard to drill getting up again after having lain down.

A big beautful dog, full of bugs and stuff

Continued dogsitting today. Woke around 6 to take Brady out. We had a good run, made it out to Hanger and back, refilling the canine at the doggie drinking fountain.

Then I went back to sleep and woke noonish. Not feeling so good - I hope it's just odd allergy symptoms from being around the dog and cats. Must get some more Claritin. Though that probably won't help with the drowsiness.

Went to Taqueria Mi Casita last night and had leftovers from there for "breakfast" this "morning". Washed down with some prune flavored Activia.

I've been working through The Amazing Dog Trick Kit with Brady. So far we're still working on mastering sitting on command. I think we're just getting back to the maybe 50% effectiveness of the command we were at before I started in with the kit. The clicker is a lot of fun, though. He's tired out and naps between play sessions, so I must be doing something right.

But, I really liked Hitch

But, but, I really liked Hitch.

Elephant Bar

Lyndon was in town again this evening on his way back from his San Diego vacation. We met up for dinner, first trying to go to Cyclo which it turns out is closed on Sundays and Mondays, and so instead going to Elephant Bar at the Chandler mall. Dining there with Lyndon is an altogether different experience from dining there with Mike Zackrison. Fun in a different way. It was good to see Lyndon looking well and he's convinced me San Diego is a place I'm going to have to visit again sometime.

A Saturday Well Spent

Today I had a brie and turkey sandwich lunch at the Desert Botanical Gardens and again took some time to walk through the Childhood Dreams sculptures, explored the Hall of Flame fire museum, called relatives, bought too many books at Changing Hands, visited my favorite canine Brady and took him for a long run, borrowed a friend's cable television to catch the end of a Psych episode and all of a Burn Notice, and met up with friends to see Stardust.

A truly excellent day.

However, no day is perfect. Today I confirmed that grabbing onto a cactus, while the natural and reflexive thing to do, is not a good way to break one's fall. (No, this didn't happen at the DBG, so you need send no garden police after me.)

Hall of Flame reminded me of home, it having so many Wisconsin artifacts and roots.



Stardust Trailer

Only you can prevent Developer Abuse

On Being Agile

With videos like this, how could you not like agile development?

Buffalo Wild Wings with Lyndon

Lyndon hosted an after-work gathering at Buffalo Wild Wings featuring a parade of ex-Uniconers. It was a good time and it was good to hear everyone's doing well.

Salubrious Canine

Katie was generous enough to let me borrow Brady this evening for a run. We had a good time. Brady's a pretty good listener.

On ability to admit having erred

Inability to admit error is a disturbing trait in public officials.

Mehrens said Judge Edward Burke dismissed [charges of theft and mishandling of public money] because the Maricopa County Sherrif's Office failed to disclose key pieces of information regarding the investigation.

Yet Sherrif Joe Arpaio said "We didn't botch anything."

(Both as quoted in today's East Valley Tribune.)

Something's wrong with this picture. Failing to disclose information such that a judge feels the need to throw out charges, that doesn't count as botching?

Steaks R Us for lunch

Steaks R Us for lunch today with Dan. Tasty.

Day one of the resident technical wizard being on vacation at work. I'm surviving.

Chase's Diner

Treated myself to breakfast at Chase's Diner this morning. French toast, bacon, and orange juice. It was okay.

Bourne Ultimatum

I saw Bourne Ultimatum today. It was a guilty pleasure, given its excesses of violence.

I'm a popcorn addict.

Informed Consent and Boar Tusks

An oral surgeon who temporarily implanted fake boar tusks in his
assistant's mouth as a practical joke while she was under general
anesthesia and got sued for it was awarded $750K profit beyond his out
of court settlement with this assistant, in a Washington state supreme
court decision against his insurance company.

(Summarized and paraphrased from an MSNBC story). There's an underlying Associated Press snippet all the newspapers seemed to have, since this showed up in my own Arizona Republic and the Houston Chronicle.

???

Why isn't installing extraneous hardware into a patient and taking
embarrassing photos while she's under anesthesia a gross violation of
medical ethics? What legitimate diagnostic, curative, or palliative
purpose did that element of the procedure have? If none, then it introduced unnecessary distraction, risk, and time under
anesthesia, yes?

Why isn't this dentist having his license revoked by a medical ethics
board? Why isn't he facing criminal assault charges?

And why does it make any sense for everyone else's insurance premiums
to be higher so that society can reward this misbehavior?

It seems like this court is ignoring years of relatively hard-earned
progress in legal understanding of patients' rights, of professional
ethics, and of the limitations and context of consent, to return to an
old-boys-club chauvinistic ha ha harassment is just a big joke approach.

Seems to me insurance ought to cover honest mistakes, not deliberate
misbehavior. Premiums would be lower if it didn't cover this
nonsense.

Apparently a healthy majority of respondents to this unscientific, informal poll would agree.


PS: A law-school-educated friend of mine points out that the Associated Press article may not have fully reflected the nuances of the underlying holding, which apparently was more about duty to defend than actual liability to insure against the damages, and hinged on whether it is conceivable that the matter under dispute fell under the scope of the insurance.

I still think this is ridiculous, just in a more nuanced way.

Flew back to MKE today

Flew back to Milwaukee today with my parents on Midwest. Nice to be able to fly with them, simplified the logistics a bit. Also, I like flying through Milwaukee and the Midwest airline cookies.

Beautiful day. The gardens at home are beautiful and my Vince Lombardi 5K spruce is looking healthy and has grown taller than me. I am glad I visited my hometown.

Went to the Verizon store to get a new cell phone for my dad. His new LG 8300 seems to work much better than the old phone. Was a rough patch there where Sunrocket bought the farm and neither of my parents' mobile phones were working all that well, leaving them largely phoneless.

Sister's Wedding

Attended sister's wedding today in Baltimore at the Rusty Scupper. She seems happy. Flowers were beautiful, lovely cake as well. Unlimited coca-cola was a treat, since largely I forgo soda these days. Very glad to to meet up with family, especially so soon after my week in northern Michigan.

National Aquarium Museum

Visited the National Aquarium Museum in Baltimore today. It was tremendous fun and my grandfather even joined in for a bit. Reminded me of visiting the aquarium in Boston.

American Visionary Art Museum

I visited the American Visionary Art Museum today in Baltimore. Some of it didn't seem to me to be art, but much of it did. I especially enjoyed the "Trojan Hippo" piece.

I was supposed to go to Camden Yards to see the Orioles-Red Socks game this evening, but I was exhausted and slept instead while the crowd went to the game.

Michael during layover

My college friend Michael had a longish layover this evening at PHX, so I picked him up at the airport and we went to dinner and hung out on the ASU Tempe Mill Ave scene before I deposited him back just-in-time to the airport. Made me feel old -- I don't quite pass for college age kid anymore, though neglecting to have my ID on me still kept me out of the Big Bang piano bar.

Maybe it's just me, but maybe the signage around getting to the airport could be improved a whole lot.

Insomnia

Somehow, I couldn't sleep a wink last night. Made for a relatively miserable traditional-hours work day. I managed to sleep 6pm to midnight or so, though, which felt great, and after working a couple hours, plan to get another nap in before facing tomorrow, and ideally feeling much more human.

Chompies for brunch

I had the strawberry stuffed French toast today at Chompie's. It was pretty tasty, but I think next time I'll seek to eat something more nutritive. Taking a bag of day-old bagels to work tomorrow.

Went to Costco to buy water and stamps.

This evening I got to visit the St. Bernard and borrow him for a run in the park. We had a blast.

Flash game

A friend sent me a link to this Flash game in which I'm able to get a high score of 6.

Phone with an old friend

Spent quite a while on the phone with an old friend this evening. It was fun to catch up.

Airport

This morning I got to deliver a friend to the airport in the wee early hours of the morning, which was a lot more fun than it might sound.

Saturday

Today I bought a plane ticket to my sister's wedding, filed the associated PTO request, paid bills, visited a friend and her dog (and enjoyed excellent fresh Snickerdoodle cookies!), watched a Poirot episode, and ate take-out General Tso chicken for dinner. The latter wasn't all that good and just as soon as I find them on Yelp I'll probably feel the need to ding them.

I turn in with especial resolve to hit the day early to make it to at least one church service.

Rockfish Seafod Grill

Went to Rockfish Seafood Grill for dinner since I had a coupon for a free appetizer and I'm a sucker for a coupon. It was okay but not great. Coconut shrimp appetizer. Pecan-encrusted trout entree. Icewater to drink.

The regular-sized Sonic cookie-dough blast I picked up on the way home was by far the highlight of the experience.

Independence Day

A friend's generously included me in her family's Independence Day gathering. Several lovable canines, oodles of delicious food, interesting people to meet and a particular grandmother's stories to hear. It was a good time. Awesome swimming pool, too.

Breakfast and a Dog

Breakfast at Arizona Bread Company with a friend, and I get to dog-sit her St. Bernard for a few days, and borrow the use of her washer and dryer whilst my washer is still on the fritz. Shaping up to be a good day already.

Tudor Tailor

I head the Tudor Tailor team speak this evening at the Phoenix Art Museum. More demonstrate than merely speak. Deliciously academic tidbits about reading wills to gain insight into what clothing was like in Tudor times.

University In Film .com

A friend of mine has set up a wiki for documenting sightings of universities in television and film. Neat. Especially neat is that it's using what may be my new favorite documentation license, though that bit about invariant parts doesn't often apply to documentation I write, so I'm coming around to the idea that Creative Commons ShareAlike is good enough.

Creative Commons Attribution is not good enough, so it's one of those low-grade constant background annoyances in my life that projects like Sakai and Fluid use it and JA-SIG will likely adopt it.

Question: How do you get a pearl?
Answer: Through continual irritation.

Visual DNA?

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

kittens

Today's Tribune front page includes:

Swamped with hundreds of kittens that need new homes, the Arizona Humane Society is facing a feline overload and worries some may have to be euthanized.

Tempting. Having a cat would be kind of fun, and there's a tiny bit of pleasure in doing my little part to care for all these needy kitties. But I'm not sure I care to be responsible enough to care for a cat, and I'd have to litter box train it, and I'm miserably allergic to them, as are some relatives that I like having visit once in a while...

Would be fun in a nerdy kind of way to toilet-train one.

Pita Jungle for dinner

Treated myself to dinner at Pita Jungle this evening while reading Bitten.

Making favorite cake recipe using Splenda

I got up early this morning to make my favorite cake recipe, substituting two cups Splenda plus one cup nonfat dry milk plus 2 teaspoons baking soda for the intended two cups sugar. Have to see how it turns out.

Dogsitting concludes

Rightful owner returns, dogsitting concludes.

It was fun. My apartment situation isn't amenable to pets, and I don't want to afford the commitment into my life at this point, but renting a couple dogs and a couple cats for a long weekend was a good time.

In some ways it was pretending to be someone else for a few days. With the pets came a house, a neighborhood, a quickly adopted routine involving the oh-so-cool Fry's around the corner, waving hi to the neighbors during the canine-accompanied peregrinations.

Fast forward fifteen years, and I could envision having a life something like all this.

But now I pop the stack and return to my regular life.

turkey soft tacos for dinner

I perhaps overstayed my welcome a bit in taking the person whose dogs I was caring for up on her offer to "make yourself at home" and cooked myself dinner this evening. Rachael Ray's pork soft tacos, except I used turkey. I was hungry for a real home-cooked not-eaten-out meal.

Strawberry, AZ waffles

After walking the St. Bernard this morning, I went to Arizona Bread Company and had the Strawberry, AZ waffles. Tasty.

Beef: it's what's for dinner...

... and breakfast, and lunch.

I picked up steak from Steaks-R-Us last night. Coupon was buy one get one free, so I just had to get two. Yummy.

Dogsitting

Dogsitting for a friend of mine. She thinks I'm doing her a favor, looking after the beasts while she's away. What I'm not sure she fully appreciates is that she's doing me a favor -- it's a blast getting to walk and run with these guys, and Brady (the St. Bernard) doesn't seem to get bored no matter how much I hug him. He's much more huggable post-washing.

Free Airborne Seasonal

I ordered me some free Airborne Seasonal at my mother's prompting this evening. Airborne actually seems to work pretty well -- usually take it before flying and it at least makes me *feel* like I don't get sick as often.

On Consultants

You are a ninja, a samurai, a lone traveler on the road to nowhere. It's a very opulent nowhere if you're good at it.



Not so sure about that opulent bit, but it's not half bad. I sometimes think it would be fun to travel more for work. Glamorous, even. And I'm good at sleeping on planes...

Who Killed the Electric Car?

I watched Who killed the electric car? this evening from Netflix.

You should see it too. And then you should decide what you're going to do about it.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day, it went something like "if you're not appalled, you haven't been paying attention". This film reminded me of that.

I drive a Dodge Caliber. This film made me want to buy a Prius and suddenly more appreciative of people I know who drive a Prius.

A friend of mine drives a RAV4, which is just about the cutest vehicle I've ever met. It's always fun to ride in it. Did you know that there were real, working, used-by-consumers fully electric RAV4s? Not hybrids. Look-ma-no-gasoline electric cars. Electric cars are not a dream, they were a reality.

Baltimore Public Works Museum

Breakfast at Whole Foods. Those berries are delicious.

The Baltimore Museum of Public Works lived up to its billing as "surprisingly interesting".

Ice cream at The Olde Malt Shop on the way to Fort McHenry.




Dinner at Blue Agave. The service left a whole lot to be desired, but the company (dad, sister, and sister's fiance) did not.

Amiccis

Dined at Amiccis this evening with my dad, sister, her fiance, and his parents. Tasty. Good to meet people.




Earlier today Dad and I toured the Torsk and touristed around the city with Elizabeth, with Morgan joining for part of it. Good times.

It was Privateer Day in the Fells Point neighborhood, with associated costumes and partying. I got a somewhat satisfying pirate bender to play with, reminiscent of the farmer and chicken benders I had when I was working at Technology & Planning. Office toys.

We took a break from the piracy at Cafe Latte'da enjoying tea and mexican hot chocolate. Cafe Latte'da is enough to make me wish I were in the neighborhood more often.

insomnia and its dulliing effects

Haven't been able to sleep, but I desperately need it. Too late to take something tonight.

I think sometimes I don't sleep because not sleeping much dulls the world enough that I don't have to deal with the hard questions. Like why am I here and what am I supposed to be doing, anyway?

Fazoli's for lunch

Had Fazoli's for lunch today with Dan.

Country Thunder

After church this morning, I went to the Country Thunder event in Florence. I never knew country music could be so much fun.

Wildlife World Zoo

Today I went to the World Wildlife Zoo and enjoyed, among other things, the no-glass-between-you-and-the-real-live-huge boa constrictor exhibit.

Boston Market

Boston Market for dinner this evening. Been a long week, but a good one.

2 Mile Run After Work

Doug and I ran two miles after work today. Then I had my hair cut (though the barber didn't take to my idea to cut only the grey hairs) and watched a Poirot episode from Netflix while eating corn dogs. It's a life, I guess.

Easter Sunday

Dad and I went to Easter Sunday services this morning at with a co-worker of mine who had generously invited me to join in his Easter plans.

The sermon was about secrets and shame, the damage they cause, and overcoming them.

After church Dad and I went to Taqueria Mi Casita for lunch, then tied up loose ends here at home before Dad had to fly home.

Pinnacle Peak and DBG

Today dad and I started our day with designer oatmeal from a resort in Scottsdale, and then applied those calories to hiking the Pinnacle Peak trail and exploring the spring bloom at the Desert Botanical Garden.

Cauliflower never tasted so good

Dad and I made Rachael Ray's pork with fig sauce and cauliflower puree this evening. It was delicious. We finished off the Poirot disc, a couple episodes of Have Gun Will Travel (season two), and an episode of Hustle (season 2). It's a television binge but I got home too late this evening to head over to the Desert Botanical Gardens, which dad visited today and he says plants are in bloom and beautiful. I hope to make it over there soon to check it out.

Guedo's

I left work a little early today to tidy up and then picked up my dad at the airport. We went to Guedo's for a fish taco dinner and then made Rachael Ray's mustard crusted salmon without the mustard, which was very good, as an after dinner snack and leftovers lunch to take to work tomorrow. For once it was really a thirty minute meal. We watched a couple episodes of Poirot (from NetFlix) before dad fell asleep on the couch; figures with the time differential.

Paid SRP bill online today

I paid my SRP (electric) bill online today for the first time. I've been a bit of a luddite with the whole mailing hard copy around kind of approach to life. This is kind of neat.

Apparently I am not priceless

Mary Coyle Ice Cream

Today I went to Mary Coyle Ice Cream and had a brownie sundae which was delicious.

Chicken-Peanut Soup

Today I made Rachael Ray's Chicken-Peanut Soup, minus the chili pepper. It was really pretty good, in that recipe-to-make-once-every-couple-of-years kind of way. Plenty of leftovers.

Barnes and Noble Cafe

Today I went to the Chandler Fashion Mall's Barnes and Noble cafe after work, had what may be the best Reuben sandwich of my life, and wrote performance review input. It's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it, I guess.

I bought a pineapple and intend to try to lightly grill it for an effect similar to that enjoyed at Fogo the other day, but I don't have high hopes for hitting the mark. Someone else should come visit me here in Chandler so I have an excuse to go back.

Cowboy Pasta

I made Rachael Ray's 30-minute meal "Cowboy Pasta" today. It included bacon, which helped offset the entire onion. I liked it pretty well but it was odd enough that I think I'll let it go a while before I make it again. I bought actual bamboo skewers, so I need to make those satays again.

Wasson Peak Hike and Post-Peak Refueling

Today I hiked Wasson Peak in Tucson with a visiting ex-Unicon-er and others in the Arizona Trailblazers hiking group. Good time.



After cleaning up post-hike, I met a couple of the hikers at Fogo E Brasa, an all-you-care-to-eat Brazillian steakhouse. That was one excellent meal, the fresh sliced lightly toasted pineapple especially.

justin.tv

Some friends of mine have started a new live video feed of their lives. I don't get it.

Hot Cross Buns

Hot Cross Buns, in moderation, may be my favorite food. A highlight of the season.

Yavapai Lodge

Yavapai Lodge at Grand Canyon with my parents and sister. Good times.

Guy Food

I made the first recipe in Rachael Ray Top 30 30-Minute Meals: Guy Food today: outside-in bacon cheeseburgers with green onion mayo and beefsteak tomato & vidalia onion salad with steak sauce dressing. Tasty and plenty of leftovers to take in my lunch this week.

Wolfgang Puck's Curried Chicken Satay

I made Wolfgang Puck's curried chicken satay this evening, as instructed in the February issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray. I'm unclear how many servings it was supposed to make, since I ate them all myself while watching Jarhead from Netflix with no trouble.

Jarhead was disturbing but worth watching. Affords some perspective.

Flew to Detroit

Today I flew to Detroit in order to celebrate my grandfather's birthday.

Signed up for Sunrocket

Tired of misplacing or failing to charge my cell phone, I ordered Sunrocket service this evening and look forward to having a fallback phone.

On Friends

A good friend of mine is visiting this weekend.

What would life be without friends? They make all the difference in the world.

iPhone Shuffle

The new iPhone is neat, but I'm going to hold out for the smaller iPhone Shuffle, which presumably will have no display but will allow me to dial a random contact.

Phoenix Art Museum

I spent the afternoon at the Phoenix Art Museum, adding to my arty weekend.

IT does matter

IT does matter. Software quality matters. Good practices and reasonable care and just doing a good job matter.

No, I don't catch criminals for a living, or heal the sick, or minister to the doubting, or litigate for the oppressed. I work in a cube and write code and troubleshoot web software that often seems more luxury than necessity.

But getting IT right can be the difference between helping someone cope and making someone miserable.

IT does matter.

On Democrats and the Golden Rule

"What we really expect out of the Democrats is for them to treat us as they would like to have been treated." - Senate Minority Leader Boehner

As they would like to have been treated, but not was they were treated, sir. Perhaps this sums it up: what one really expects of Democrats is that they will treat others as they wish to be treated, whereas, one doesn't really expect that of other parties.