(pre) posterous

 



March 8, 2010

Bliss to you forever

This afternoon we saw our beloved flat-coat Zoe off to the meadow beyond.  We will see her again at the rainbow bridge. 


Running in meadows! Swimming in lake! Chasing a ball! Tug toys! Squeaky toys! The loving hand!  The scratch behind the ears!  Cool water for thirst!  Kitchens and all their smells!  Visitors come to play!  The human voice and the gentle word!  Ears to hear with! Eyes to see! Tongue to taste! A heart big enough to hold it all - the wonder, the mystery, the beauty!

Oh, the grace.

Bliss To You, Trixie's Guide To a Happy Life
by Trixie Koontz, Dog as told to Dean Koontz

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March 2, 2010

Rob Martino plays the Chapman Stick

I found Rob Martino and instrument by accident a year+ ago.  I really like the full sound that just one man can generate ... and 'cause  Posterous does mp3, you get to hear it too.

Rob has  great collection of music you can stream via browser here.

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March 2, 2010

So let's say that this is true

So let's say that this is true, and we accept on face value that, as reported by CNN here, budget reconciliation has been used 22 times in the past by all administrations since President Carter.

Show me (seriously, show me, because I can't find it) where this budgetary process has been used to push through a uni-partisan measure the has the possibility of deeply impacting roughly 1/6 of the national economy.

The amazing thing about this fiasco is that I and most of my Attila the Hun, heartless bastard, child hating horde-mates agree we need some sort of reform.  As a (former) small business owner who paid 100% of employee/family healthcare premiums, I am acutely aware of year over year increases.  I'm sure there's lots of legalese in the 2500 or so page document that addresses just this issue.  Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't.  I'm kind of ok with that gamble ... sort of ... well, at least I can tolerate it to try something.  There's probably a few other pearls in there that might actually do something, although I wish there were a bit more competition being introduced and some other stuff.

What I'm not ok with is that roughly 80K old folks on the other side of my state get different rules than my parents who live on this side.  I'm not ok with the fact that few hundred thousand more in some mid-western state are getting a different set of rules than me.  I don't think that the population of Louisiana should get some $US 300MM worth of something different than me either. WTF are you people thinking?  That we're sitting here not paying attention or something?  

You're spending my money on issues that have nothing to do with reform.  Please stop.

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March 1, 2010

And now for something completely different

This is just cool.  Want to turn your rec room into a pool?  Just push a button and watch floor disappear to form the bottom of the pool. Starts out slow, but just damn impressive.

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March 1, 2010

The rules haven't changed that much.

Fair warning, this post is of limited interest to most of you.

According to Navy Times, for the 6th time in just this year, a Commanding Officer officer has been relieved of his or her command (link).  Capt. William Reavey Jr., 51, CO of NAS Pensacola (the cradle of Naval Aviation, no less) was relieved Friday for "undisclosed" reasons. An investigation is underway.

For the uninitiated, this is akin to a CEO getting sacked, and looking forward to a promising career flipping burgers.  Show over.  Done.  Pack your trash.  Get. Out.

I'm not really sure what's going on here ... the rules haven't changed that much since I got out many (...ahem...) years ago.  Simple rules of command .. and service in general, I guess.

a) No fishing off the company pier.  Keep them zippers up and buttons buttoned kinda thing.  You want to fool around and be an idiot with civilians? Knock yourself out, all you have to lose is the respect of your command.  Fool around with someone in your command?  Explosively jettison career.  

b) Don't publicly humiliate yourself or reflect poorly on the service or your unit.  Again, pretty easy ... there are acceptable limits of drunken debauchery allowed in different locations and at different times.  On detachment in Roosevelt Roads, PR?  Perfectly acceptable to pour beer over the bar tables for simulated carrier deck landings and to stop ceiling fans with your head.   Back home at a local eatery?  Not so much.

c) Don't drink and drive.  Don't know how it was in the black shoe (surface) Navy, but around the time I was getting my wings, the rules took a dramatic and very public shift.  Drink, drive, get arrested for DUI?  Turn in your wings if you got 'em ... if your a fledgling SNA, you'll never see 'em.

d) Don't be a serious douche (minorly douchey fine, but don't plan on a long and illustrious career).  Hard ass? Fine.  Demanding boss? Fine. Screamer even. Fine; But if you are so inclined you have to spread that rancor around even-handedly.  Single out a subset or minority?  You're gone.

Anyway, I just thought it interesting ... so you have to read about it.

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February 28, 2010

No, thank you, Jim and Holly

A few days ago I posted a moving picture of Major Deborah "Lucy" Lehker taken by the very talented Michael Yon.  Today we get a bit more of the story.

Dear Michael Yon,

Today we were sent your story of February 14, 2010. The “unknown” Canadian is our son Danny.  He is a 23-year-old soldier from Vancouver, Canada.

Your photographs were extraordinary and have impacted so many people here in Canada. There has been an outpouring of affection for the Americans who helped Danny in his moment of need.  For that, we thank you for recording these acts of kindness into history.

Danny's injuries were the result of an explosion on February 12, 2010. Four Canadian soldiers were injured and tragically one Canadian soldier was killed.  Within 20 minutes of the explosion, Danny was airlifted by helicopter to Kandahar.  Upon arrival he received emergency surgery that saved his life and prepared him for the flight to Bagram that you were on.

After landing in Bagram, Danny was again airlifted by a US transport aircraft to the US Army run Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.  There he underwent additional surgery that closed up his wounds.  Once stabilized, the Canadian government dispatched a Challenger jet to bring him home. This afternoon in Vancouver, the shrapnel that did all the damage to him was finally removed.  Danny is now recovering in hospital.

This was Danny's second tour of duty in Afghanistan and his platoon on this tour has had heavy causalities and injuries.  Physically, Danny will overcome his injuries. He also has the support of his family, his friends and his community to deal with the emotional side of this war.  Our hearts go out to those families who have had the loss of a soldier or who have had to deal with greater injuries.

Danny and his whole family are very grateful, and are actually overwhelmed, by the support he received while in US care. The Canadian military have also been wonderful.  It is our intention to personally thank everyone who worked so hard to save Danny's life. We have already made contact with Major Deborah "Lucy" Lehker to thank her.

Sincerely,

Jim & Holly

To which I say only ... 

No, thank you, Jim and Holly.

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February 28, 2010

How to move Mt. Fuji

Answer: I don't care ... can you write code?


I occasionally read Jeff Attwood over at Coding Horror for the same reasons I sometimes watch a few minutes of NASCAR while channel surfing  ... you know why, I don't need to tell you.  Ok, you caught me, I watched Danica's inaugural NASCAR race, but that's a different conversation.

But even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes, and in Monday's post there was a kernel of wisdom, albeit re-printed from a Mike Lin email, that I think I'm going to adopt ...

I started doing code interviews over the phone, using web meetings. My interview times were down to about 15 minutes each to identify people who just can't code ... 

I think that is a very clever idea.  I mentioned earlier that we give a coding test or more correctly exam, during in-office interviews, and at  least once I've suspected that the candidate didn't really know what they were doing, despite muddling into a pseudo-working solution. Maybe this technique will help screen those folk whose resumes are decent, but whose skills are not.  Might also be interesting to see if the reverse is true ... do we reject candidates that can code based on resume?  We never get to see them because they never get to the office.  Hmmmm..... gears turning.

BTW, I have no idea what "acceptable" answer is to "How to Move Mt. Fuji" .. .my answer is "one shovel full at a time."

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February 26, 2010

Lost, like tears in rain

Freddie Mac lost almost $26 billion last year, ominous news for taxpayers who are footing the bill to rescue the mortgage finance company and its sibling Fannie Mae.
...
This is a major problem for the federal government, which seized control of Freddie and Fannie in September 2008. The two companies have already siphoned $111 billion from the government to stay afloat. That number is expected to hit $188 billion by fall 2011.

I mean really, forget about the politics one way or another.  Doesn't all this spending just scare you sensless?  This is your money that's flowing like water .... To turn a phrase, all this money will be lost, like tears in rain.

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February 26, 2010

6 minutes, 11 seconds

Congressman Paul Ryan, R-WI.

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February 23, 2010

Welcome to Sorrowland

It's kind of long, but worth the read.

http://www.slate.com/id/2245328/pagenum/all/

Change. Now.  Not politically self serving feel good change, but hard core somebody's gettin' screwed change.

update: For those that don't know (and I didn't) Charlie Munger is Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation, the diversified investment corporation chaired by investor Warren Buffett.

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