Traitors all. Long live the traitors.
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Category: Life
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Small Cities
The Atlantic, Cities: “People would live in small city clusters built around a town center replete with stores, offices, schools, public buildings, and parks. Traveling around town, residents would take the “light” road network. They would walk, bike, or drive tiny cars incapable of exceeded 25 mph. There would be no on-street parking at all. The general idea is to promote interaction and accessibility.”
I really love this idea. We live in a neighborhood where our homes are tightly packed, and I like it. From the outside it looks like a really nice apartment complex. We have a two community pools, tennis courts, and a basketball court. After we lived here a couple months I mentioned to Kim how I wish we had a little convenience store in the neighborhood, something simple, just the basics; a meat counter, fruits and veggies, dairy, and some very basic household items. I remember back to my childhood in Lindsay, California. We had a little corner store in our neighborhood, Linwood Market, that was exactly what I described. When we’d play baseball in the street on a hot summer day the group of boys I hung out with would often pool our money, look for bottles to redeem, and head to the market to buy a six pack of root beer or sarsaparilla to quench our thirst. Yes, very reminiscent of The Sandlot.
I think society could use more neighborly neighborhoods. Having a small, self sustaining, community could help, I think. If something like this sprung up in the valley I’d be very interested in checking it out.
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Definition of a WMD
Via Twitter:
https://twitter.com/DCdebbie/status/326412416634220544
I’ve been asking that same question all day.
UPDATE – Ran across this gem on Twitter this morning:
“30,000 Americans die in gun violence every year (compared to the 17 who died last year in terrorist attacks)” http://t.co/39rYsZMpqj
— Phil Hawksworth (@philhawksworth) April 21, 2013
I can’t grasp what makes a bomb a WMD, but a weapon that takes more lives isn’t?
From the article linked in the tweet:
But Londoners, who endured IRA terror for years, might be forgiven for thinking that America over-reacted just a tad to the goings-on in Boston. They’re right – and then some. What we saw was a collective freak-out like few that we’ve seen previously in the United States. It was yet another depressing reminder that more than 11 years after 9/11 Americans still allow themselves to be easily and willingly cowed by the “threat” of terrorism.
That’s something. Basically Americans have been taught to fear.
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Senate Cowards
New York Times: “SENATORS say they fear the N.R.A. and the gun lobby. But I think that fear must be nothing compared to the fear the first graders in Sandy Hook Elementary School felt as their lives ended in a hail of bullets. The fear that those children who survived the massacre must feel every time they remember their teachers stacking them into closets and bathrooms, whispering that they loved them, so that love would be the last thing the students heard if the gunman found them.”
- 9/11 Terrorists Attacks
- Boston Patriots Day Bombing
- The Sandy Hook Elementary Massacre
- U.S. Senate voting down background checks for guns
What do all of these have in common? They’re all acts of cowards.
“Next Saturday night, we’re sending you back to the future!” – Doc Brown, Back to the Future
We may not have traveled in time, but we did move back to the San Joaquin Valley. March 8, 2013 to be exact. (Has it really been a month?)
The last couple years on the Central Coast were really great, but something was missing; family. Family is really important to Kim and I. We have a close family and the two and a half hour drive was enough to keep us from visiting family and family from visiting us.
Before we moved we called Exeter home. This time around we’re trying something different. We’ve settled in Visalia. When we lived in Exeter we spent a fair amount of time in Visalia so we decided it was worth trying.
We will of course visit San Luis Obispo and Avila Beach as often as we can. We love them. But, this is the place we need to be and I’m happy to be back. I’m looking forward to this new chapter in our life. I have no idea where it’ll lead. I guess we’ll find out.
Business Insider: “After spending months frustrated at how empty Yahoo parking lots were, Mayer consulted Yahoo’s VPN logs to see if remote employees were checking in enough.”
I work remotely. I use a VPN connection. I’m not always connected via VPN. I would be screwed as a Yahoo employee.
Having said that I work on desktop software so maintaining a persistent VPN connection doesn’t mean anything to doing my job. I can lose the connection and still build new features and fix bugs. It’s not a big deal. Maybe the folks at Yahoo need a persistent VPN connection to perform their daily tasks and that’s what screwed them?
In the end Ms. Mayer has to do what she believes will turn Yahoo around. At the end of the day her butt will be on the line if they don’t succeed.
There is, of course, another side to this coin. You can find highly motivated, very good, people that can’t live, or don’t want to live, in the Silicon Valley. Not everyone is well suited to be a remote employee. It takes some getting used to and it takes a lot of personal discipline. If you can manage it, it’s a pretty great setup.
Richard Branson on the flipside:
“I have enormous respect for Michael Bloomberg and have rarely disagreed with anything he has done or said. However, on this occasion I disagree completely. Many employees who work from home are extremely diligent, get their job done, and get to spend more time with their families. They waste less time commuting and get a better work/life balance. To force everybody to work in offices is old school thinking.”
The bottom line: It’s up to the company to decide what’s best for the company. If you want to telecommute, look for a job that will allow you to telecommute.
Yahoo clearly isn’t the place for telecommuters.
Tim Tebow is one of those guys, you either love him, or hate him. At one point I couldn’t stand the guy, but that was mainly because I can’t stand the Florida Gators. I now like him. By all accounts he’s a great young man, but I digress.
Let’s talk about Tim Tebow the football player. Not Tim Tebow the quarterback, Tim Tebow the football player.
It’s no secret the New York Jets made a mistake acquiring him in the off season. It seems the decision was made in the corporate office and Rex Ryan was told “Make a spot for this kid.” Obviously Rex didn’t have a place for Tim Tebow.
This morning ESPN’s Adam Schefter shared a quote from an unnamed NFL General Manager:
“I think his career is over without playing another position.”
That’s a very bold statement, but probably has some validity.
Trading Places
Do you remember Pat White? If I’m not mistaken, and I could be, Pat White was encouraged to change positions once he reached the NFL if he wanted to have a career. He decided not to take that advice and insisted on remaining a quarterback. He lasted one season as a backup with the Miami Dolphins and was cut the following season. He hasn’t played in the NFL since.
How about Michael Robinson? Do you know who he is? He’s the fullback for the Seattle Seahawks, and a darned good athlete. Here’s the deal. He was a quarterback out of college and was encouraged to change positions. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in 2006, he listened to his coaches, became a running back, worked hard, and the rest is history. He’s still playing in the NFL.
Here’s another great example and a name you probably won’t recognize. Jim Jensen. Jim Jensen earned a roster spot on a Miami Dolphin’s team each year he played by being a football player. He was a quarterback by trade, but how can you play that position when you’re on a team with Dan Marino? You can’t. You have to play other positions. Over his career Jim Jensen was known as a great special teams player but played quarterback, wide receiver, and running back. The man kept two pair of shoulder pads on the sidelines in case he was needed at quarterback. He wasn’t a star, he was a player. He is a guy that wanted to play the game so badly he’d do anything. That man is the definition of football player.
Be A Player
Yeah, yeah, I’m an armchair analyst. What NFL loving person isn’t? I think Tim Tebow should think about becoming a fullback or possibly a tight end. He’s a big kid: 6’3″ tall and 236lbs. There is no doubt he’s a winner and he works very hard. I find it curious General Managers are writing him off after seeing what he did in Denver. Really? How can you not believe he’s a football player? That’s right, a football player, not a quarterback, just a player.
We’ll see if he lands with a team in 2013. As a fan I certainly hope he does.
Pssst, can you imagine what Bill Belichick could do with him? That’s a scary thought.
My brother, Jay, or rather Jerry as you know him, usually has a piece on his weblog called “Saturday Morning Coffee.” It’s something I look forward to reading. There’s always something I find interesting. It looks like we’re not going to get a post today, so I thought I’d run one.
Let’s get started. Here’s how Jay starts his post:
“So much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….”
Oh, he also includes a picture of the coffee mug he’s using. Here’s mine. Unlike Jay I only have one I use regularly. Not that we’re lacking in the coffee mug department, we have quite a few, but this one is mine. It’s a hand crafted masterpiece I purchased at our local Farmers Market.
Super Bowl
Unless you’re one of those folks that don’t like football you know tomorrow is Super Bowl XLVII, in beautiful New Orleans, LA. The Baltimore Ravens will face the San Francisco 49ers. I’m pulling for the Ravens. I’ve had a hate-hate relationship with the Niners since “The Catch.” I was a Cowboys fan at the time and even though I’ve moved on to the Bears the hate for the Niners remains. Let’s hope Baltimore can pull a rabbit out of the hat.
Speaking of Baltimore. It looks like Ray Lewis has caused a bit of a crap storm over his quick recovery from a torn triceps early in the season. PEDs, or performance enhancing drugs, are not new to pro sports. This is just another in a long line of pro athletes being called out. I’d wager to bet he did use something to help him recover, so did Lance Armstrong, and Barry Bonds. Hey, it’s a part of pro sports. I’m probably in the minority here but I say let them use PEDs under the care of a licensed physician as long as they’re aware of the problems associated with them. They’re adults, let them make the decision.
Hey, how about this for goofy move. CBS has banned SodaStream’s Super Bowl commercial. Really weird. From a Forbes report:
“CBS banned SodaStream’s Super Bowl spot because, apparently, it was too much of a direct hit to two of its biggest sponsors, Coke and Pepsi.
Please pause and read that sentence again.”
That says a lot about how fragile Coke and Pepsi have become as a business. It looks like it’s time for those companies to rethink what they do if they’re scared of SodaStream. Things change. Roll with the punches guys. Good luck SodaStream.
Don’t call me RIM
It looks like BlackBerry is not the official name of the company formerly known as RIM. Does anyone else remember the “RIM Jobs” website. Good one. Anyway, BlackBerry announced the new BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 phones this week. The Z10 is a touch based device while the Q10 holds true to a traditional BlackBerry device and has a physical QWERTY keyboard. At first glance I thought the Z10 looked a lot like an iPhone 4, and tweeted as much, but later I realized it’s not as similar as I thought. At first glance the back of the device looked like the all glass iPhone 4 back, it’s not.
I think the Z10 looks pretty nice and the Q10 is a great choice for the keyboard loving BlackBerry loyalists. Will they succeed? Only time will tell.
Twitter Hacked
It looks like hackers were able to gain access to 250,000 user accounts. Whoops. I find the choice of headlines in the weblog post announcing the hack disingenuous. The headline read “Keeping our users secure” then goes on to explain:
“This week, we detected unusual access patterns that led to us identifying unauthorized access attempts to Twitter user data. We discovered one live attack and were able to shut it down in process moments later. However, our investigation has thus far indicated that the attackers may have had access to limited user information – usernames, email addresses, session tokens and encrypted/salted versions of passwords – for approximately 250,000 users.”
Come on guys. Quit spinning bad news like it’s a good thing. You should’ve said something like “We’ve been hacked. We’re sorry.”
Weekend Box Office
It looks like Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is number one at the box office. We haven’t seen a movie since The Hobit and have missed a bunch of great films that have released since the fall. I think my wife and I need to get out a bit more often. Maybe we can catch Hansel and Gretel soon.
The Twilight Zone, A.K.A. The Stock Market
As Jay pointed out last weekend, Apple took a hit on the stock market. They reported record revenue. The largest revenue of any corporation, ever. From an Extreme Tech article:
“Yet again, Apple has broken its own record and posted revenues of $54.5 billion — the greatest quarter of any company ever — driven entirely by sales of the iPhone and iPad.”
Of course the stock tanked.
On the flip side we have Amazon. A great company? Absolutely. They did however report a $39 loss million for the year. Their quarterly report wasn’t great either:
“Net income fell 45% to $97 million, or 21 cents a share, down from $177 million, or 38 cents a share, a year ago. Street consensus was for EPS of 27 cents. Sales were up 22% to $21.27 billion, from $17.43 billion a year ago. That, too, missed Street views of $22.26 billion.”
The stock was up, of course.
The market is a fickle thing.
The End
Have a great weekend and make sure to visit Jerry’s site next weekend for the real deal, not this wannabe version of Saturday Morning Coffee.
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Congress is Lazy
New Yorker: Hundreds of congressmen complained of headaches, dizzy spells, and extreme fatigue after putting in what sources called “a six, maybe seven-hour day.â€
I know I’m blessed to have a job where I sit on my butt most of the day. I’m not out in the heat picking cotton or stacking boxes of fruit in a packing house, but I do work. It’s no wonder America is broken. Our leadership has such a crappy work ethic.
Maybe this report is sarcastic and I’ve been duped into believing it, wouldn’t be the first time, I certainly hope so.
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The Second Amendment
Here it is, in all its glory.
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Is this left open to broad interpretation? I suppose it is. What I read is “If you’re part of an organized Militia, you have the right to keep a weapon.”
It doesn’t say you don’t have to register it. It doesn’t say you don’t have to get a background check. It doesn’t say you have to be given the weapon right away. It doesn’t say you can have it without formal training. It was written at a time when people fired muskets. Single shot weapons that took time to reload. If a musket had been used at any of these mass killings over the years we wouldn’t be talking about this because the knuckleheads perpetrating the crimes probably wouldn’t have gotten very far. I think it’s been proven time and again guns don’t make us safer. This latest jerk killed his mom, who owned guns. It certainly didn’t help her, she’s dead.
My brother wrote a good piece on guns yesterday. I see his viewpoint. At one point in my life I was a hunter. I hunted dove for a few seasons and, yes, we ate what we killed. I had to go to training to learn how to treat a weapon. They’re deadly, ALWAYS. Even if you don’t want them to be. We had 22’s, shotguns, pellet guns, BB guns, and my grandfather and father had high powered hunting rifles, .30-06’s I believe. We had a healthy respect for guns, trust me. We didn’t handle them lightly and were always supervised. I never believed them to be for home defense, although my dad and grandfather did.
I’d like to see assault weapons banned. They’re only good for one thing, killing people. You can’t use them for hunting. Ok, I suppose you could, but they’re not good for shooting bird and they’re not terribly accurate at a great distance. They were built for war. Cops and the military are great places for them. That is one small step, but there is a much bigger problem. The elephant in the room so to speak.
America has a history of violence. Our neighbor’s to the north, Canada, don’t have this problem and they have more guns than we do. Why? It’s probably more than one thing, but having universal healthcare is probably a big contributor. Yes, you read that right. All the people committing mass murder have psychological issues. Most of the time we find out someone tried to get them help but they didn’t have insurance or the insurance company denied their claims. The United States is broken in many ways.
I don’t need a gun to protect my family. I’m not afraid of bogeymen in the dark. If you face me with a weapon in hand, whose the coward? I’ll give you a hint, not me.
Oh, arming people at schools is about the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard. The NRA has lost it’s collective brain if they think that’s a good idea.
Mr. LaPierra, you’re not crazy, looney is probably a more apt description. Seek psychological help. You’re part of the problem.