Disclaimer Stickers for Textbooks

Just to prove that fundamentalist simpletons like me haven't entirely lost our sense of humor, I offer you a link to Textbook disclaimer stickers, designed to accommodate almost any perceived havoc wreaked upon textbooks in your vicinity by your local school board.

I especially like the sticker on the bottom row, far right.

It's hard to tell who's poking fun at whom, but be sure to read the "praises" for the site.

Breaking the PowerPoint Shackles

I volunteered (Note to self: idiot!) to give a presentation on wireless home networks at our next Mac users group meeting in January. Even though the meeting is a couple of months away, I've decided to try a new approach and prepare something in advance, instead of using my normal routine of become increasingly worried about it until a day or two beforehand, then working fiendishly to pull something together. While that system actually seems to have been effective through the years, I'm willing to consider the possibility that there's a better way to complete a presentation than through sheer panic.

Anyway, my usual approach to creating a new presentation is to outline it very roughly in my head, then to create an actual written outline, which I then use to create a <gasp> PowerPoint slideshow. That's right; I've got PowerPoint and I know how to use it. Or do I?

As this post by author Jeffrey Veen points out, most PowerPoint shows are, well, crap. Not only are they often too text-dense, but they are also used by presenters as tools of autocratic power over their audiences. At worst, PowerPoint presentations have served to, as Veen puts it, automate lazy thought.

I think we've all seen presentations where the slide shows were used as crutches by the speakers. Very rarely does one encounter a speaker confident enough to use PowerPoint graphics to simply illustrate or illuminate key points, rather than quote them with complete specificity. I confess to having bullet-pointed audiences into submission, although my motives were benign: I thought it was good for them. And, in no small part, I thought it was what was expected.

As it turns out, perhaps I need to expect more from my audience, just as they need to demand more from me.

Admittedly, the last couple of presentations I've made have been much less dependent on the slides (and it's a good thing, too, considering the mess a minor technical difficulty with a laptop or projector can make of a talk that lives or dies by the slide), and I've been quite generous with my notes in the form of handouts following the talk. And Veen's article has given me some ideas (and courage) to try something even more graphical, using photos of equipment and screenshots of software configurations, rather than a bulleted series of text-based steps to follow.

So, now that I've got this strategy percolating in my mind, I guess I'm safe in letting things slide a bit...four or five weeks, perhaps, but no longer than six. Or seven at the very most.

[Update: One of the comments to Veen's post, left after I completed this entry, refers to Beyond Bullets, which looks like a collection of useful tips for using PowerPoint more effectively.]

No Harsh in this Yellow

I was browsing my wife's new copy of Runner's World magazine and ran across a column entitled "Keeping Up Appearances" (no online version). The author is a young woman who was training for the New York City Marathon (which took place on November 4), and she was describing her training regimen and outlook.

She talked about being a single mom (with three preschoolers) who did much of her training either before the kids were up or after they are delivered to kindergarten. She wrote about her new "post-run ritual: a vanilla latte, a breakfast taco and dips between my cold swimming pool and a warm Jacuzzi." She's also worked in a regular yoga class.

I began wondering about the ability of an unmarried woman with three young children and no apparent job to be able to pull off this lifestyle. Training for a marathon is time-consuming work, if done properly, and she showed all the signs of doing it right.

Then she started talking about a specific celebrity athlete who had announced his intention to run NYC, and how it took her by surprise...some guy she referred to as "the Yellow Man." I glanced at the author's byline and it all made sense: Kristin Armstrong, Lance's ex-wife.

The last part of the column dealt more with him than with the training program. Here's how she referred to him: "the hottie pro athlete"; "a genetic anomaly"; and, most telling, "the man I loved most, who knew me the best."

Kristin still has obvious respect and strong feelings about her former husband, even as she is moving on with her life. She even has a sense of humor about the situation, referring at one point to Lance's ability to "party like a rock star (ahem)" and still qualify for Boston or the Olympics the next morning, a subtle dig at his well-documented relationship with the annoyingly shrill Sheryl Crow.

Lance has written a couple of well-received books about his bout with cancer and his Tour de France experiences. Wouldn't you just love to hear from the other side of the marriage? I won't be surprised if Kristin eventually writes her own book. (Incidentally, while doing a little research for this post -- yes, bloggers do occasionally check sources! -- I discovered the existence of another Kristin Armstrong, who is a pro cyclist for the T-Mobile women's cycling team.)

In case you're wondering, Kristin finished the NYC Marathon in 3:45:35, an 8:36 pace (which is almost exactly the pace MLB ran when she completed Dallas' White Rock Marathon some years ago). Lance, on the other hand, apparently changed his mind and didn't run the race; his name doesn't appear in the official online results.

The Great Tomato Famine of 2004

It made its way into my consciousness innocently enough, with a small hand-written sign posted on the counter of one of our favorite local Tex-Mex joints: "Due to increases in the price of tomatos, we will no longer be serving our world famous salsa." What we were served that night was thinner and less chunky but not bad.

I had suspected that something was afoot, as our local grocery store no longer stocked tomato soup, other than the watery version of Campbell's that we all had to eat during cold weather when we were kids. (The efficacy of that particular preventative application was never evident to me.)

Then, last week, the true seriousness of the situation was revealed, as one of our local TV stations ran the story as one of its top features during the 10:00 p.m. newscast: the Great Tomato Shortage of 2004 is upon us.

It seems that the hurricanes in Florida pretty much devastated a large portion of the nation's tomato supply, and prices have subsequently tripled or quadrupled. Some major fast food chains are starting to omit tomatos from their offerings, while others are reducing the quantity.

The most serious impact appears to be to our local Mexican cuisine, where the same restaurant which initially decided to use inferior salsa has now instituted a "pay-to-dip" policy where the good stuff is no longer free after the first bowl. This is an outrage. If I wanted treatment like that, I'd move to New Mexico, where free chips and salsa -- which are a constitutionally-protected right in the great state of Texas -- are generally placed on the menu under the "Appetizers" section and priced accordingly. I don't care if they do have tri-colored chips; that still doesn't justify having to pay for them.

Fortunately, tomatos are a fairly rapidly maturing crop and the shortage isn't expected to last more than a month or two. Until then, I may have to pack my own jar to satisfy my several-times-a-week Tex-Mex habit.

One Ukrainian election protest - small but bold

As the dispute over the outcome of the recent presidential election in Ukraine continues to occupy center stage, we're beginning to hear stories of individuals who are taking small but bold steps to make their voices heard. Sometimes those voices aren't audible...but they nevertheless speak quite loudly.

Take, for example, Natalia Dmytruk, the sign-language interpreter at Ukraine's state TV channel. Today's Wall Street Journal reports that Ms. Dmytruk, fed up with the broadcaster's slanted view of the election and the resulting protests, took matters into her own hands.

Ms. Dmytruk has kept her job, which is an indication of the extent to which the state TV station has caved to pressure from the masses to offer a more neutral view of current events.

There's a lesson here for all of us. We can influence our broadcast media with simple hand movements. In the Ukraine, it was done with some sign language and a wristband; in our country, a couple of clicks on the remote control will send a similar message, if performed by enough people.

Democracy for Ukraine

Just a quick tip for you bloggers out there...show your support for Ukrainians seeking fair elections with one of the logos shown here.

Tip of the Hat to Discoshaman at Le Sabot Post-Moderne, who, along with his wife, TulipGirl, is keeping the world informed with eyewitness accounts of the post-election action.

An Apology to Senator Clinton

In a post a couple of days ago, I reprinted a quote attributed to Hillary Rodham Clinton by the Texas Insider. I used that quote as a jumping off point for a mini-rant about politicians (and Ms. Clinton specifically) attempting to jump on the "evangelical bandwagon" as an apparent matter of political expediency rather than genuine spirituality.

I'm embarrassed to find that this quote was actually concocted by someone else and "jokingly" attributed to Senator Clinton. Here's the full text of the retraction from the editor/publisher of the Texas Insider:

I, too, extend my apologies to both Ms. Clinton and the readers of the Gazette. I have deleted the offending post (one of the good things about blogging...you really can undo the most obvious parts of the past...although that pesky Google cache sometimes mucks up the works) and reworded a subsequent post that referred to the fallacious quote.

I'm not a journalist (in the professional/occupational sense of the word), nevertheless, I should know better than to run with a quote like that without independently verifying it. Needless to say, it will be a while before the Texas Insider has my complete trust, and I recognize that the same skepticism will apply to your perception of the Gazette.

I'm pretty much out of feet to shoot. I think I'll just concentrate on turkey and football.

Who Do You Thank?

Thankfulness is (or should be) a universal characteristic, but Thanksgiving as an event is uniquely American and explicitly religious, despite the efforts of the ACLUsians to convince us otherwise. After all, what's the point of giving thanks, unless you give it to Someone?

I suppose you could thank a nebulous imaginary concoction like "Mother Nature" for the blessings of life, but frankly, Mother Nature doesn't care about you. Or, you could thank family members or friends or even The Government for special things in your life; that's laudable and we shouldn't forget to do that, but their ability to continue to give you what you need whenever you need it is ultimately limited, not only by their resources, but also by their motivation and their ability to love you without fail.

No, only God is worthy of our thanks, in the things that have true significance. With that in mind, I hope you and your family have a joyful time together and that you are able to slow things down a bit to offer special thanks to the Giver of all good and perfect gifts. And as we ponder the blessings of life, may we be empowered to share them with others, in an attitude of humility and grace.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Expanding Politicians' Evangelical Vocabulary

If certain politicians insist on recasting themselves as "evangelical Christians" (two terms which, to my thinking, should be redundant), then they need to add a few words to their vocabularies, namely:

• Sin - anything that is contrary to the law or will of God. See also, "moral absolutes"


• Holiness - the concept of people or objects set apart for God's purposes. See also, "God's nature" and "God's requirements"


• Bible - The acquired name for God's holy written word of truth. See also, "Ultimate authority" and "Inerrant revelation"


• Jesus Christ - the Way, the Truth and the Life. See also, "God Incarnate" and "Sole source of salvation"

Of course, a complete Christian vocabulary is worthless unless the concepts described by it are actually applied in real life situations. In other words, one's actions are the true test of one's mastery of the vocabulary. Candidates and would-be candidates underestimate the astuteness of voters in this regard at their own peril.

Incredible Questions

MLB and I saw The Incredibles today and, frankly, some things didn't make a lot of sense to me. [Caution: Potential spoilers ahead]

• Of all the people in the world who might have some self-image issues, wouldn't you think that Elastigirl would be the best-equipped to deal with them? So why was she so obsessed with the size of her superhero-suited rearend?


• Should Baby Jack Jack's ability to do a credible imitation of Rosemary's Baby be considered a legitimate superpower? Or is he really the yang to Frozone's yin?


• That lame cartoon that preceded the movie...what was that all about? What an embarrassment (I noticed the credits gave thanks to Steve Jobs; they should have given him an apology).


• Did anyone else feel like they were sometimes watching a remake of the X-Men movies, which were themselves remakes of comics? There must be a cosmic truth being played out here, but darned if I know what it is.


• Can somebody please explain to me what a hottie like Bomb Voyage saw in that loser Syndrome? I know it wasn't his 'do.

Overall, we enjoyed "The Incredibles," but didn't find it laugh-out-loud good like, say, "Shrek II." It also seemed a bit slow in places, particularly in the beginning, and I wonder how well it keeps the attention of younger viewers.

This is a test.

I've never used the excerpt feature of MT so I'm testing it with this post. I want to see if the excerpt shows up in the RSS feed, and if so, how it looks. So feel free to ignore this post with the same enthusiasm that you do all the others.

Update: OK, that's cool. The excerpt does indeed appear in the feed, instead of the first however many words I specified in the MT preferences. Now, the real question is this: do I have the discipline to provide a meaningful excerpt for RSS purposes, after having poured my sweat and tears into the crafting of the incomparable prose that falls gently upon your screen like soft dew from the dawning of a glorious spring day? Meh. I doubt it.

Messin' with the Sidebar

If you've noticed the changes in the right column of this blog, then I feel very, very sorry for you, as you obviously have no life.

But unless I have an OCD detective named Monk as a regular reader, I don't expect that anyone has noticed that I've reduced the number of blogrolls to three. I've eliminated The Office and The Serendipitous Finds.

I booted the former -- which were all tech- and design-related blogs and blog-like creatures -- because I've moved all of those links to my RSS news aggregator. None of them were linking to the Gazette so I didn't feel bad about dropping them from a blog etiquette perspective.

The latter category was a crutch for new blogs that I was too lazy to categorize. I deleted a couple of links that were in this category, but most of them were simply moved into one of the three remaining groups.

I've also decided that my archive category entitled "Tech" is too broad, so I'm going to create a new one called "Design" and pull out those posts which deal primarily with website and graphic design and other UX-related topics. I'm not going to commit to when I'll actually get this done, but the longest journey begins with an overreaching and unreasonable goal.

Note: If you enjoyed this post, then you'll love what I've got coming down the pike, an investigative series entitled "Sheetrock Anchors: Friend or Foe?"

The FedEx Logo

Logo designers are the drummers of the graphic design world. Their work is foundational to the act (the product), but only very rarely is it allowed to call attention to itself. An unskilled one confuses and alienates the audience while the best bring to the stage an unmistakable but almost undefinable sense of rightness.

Whew. Have I sufficiently bashed that metaphor like a Zildjian crash?

What I really mean to say is that I have great respect for those who dedicate their lives to finding meaning in simplicity, which is at the heart of all good logo design. I just ran across an example of that in this post about the FedEx logo and the subliminal figure that I had never before noticed. Were you aware of it?

And here's an interesting follow-up interview with the logo's creator, Lindon Leader.

I'm with the original poster in that I shall never again look at this logo in the same way.

Tip o'the HighHat to Simon Willison and his Blogmarks.

Hmm...I wonder what he really meant by that?

One of our local pre-dinner time news broadcasts features a short syndicated segment with advice from Dr. Phil, and while I don't usually pay any attention to him, this cut through my usual mental fog and lodged firmly in the part of my brain that goes "whut?!"

Direct quote:

Anybody know of a good remedial grammar class that takes TV shrinks?

Don't throw me in that briarpatch!

Shrode over at The Thinklings has a good post entitled "You Don't Really Want to Win the Lottery." It's a recap of the financial and legal woes suffered by those folks who had the luck to win but not the common sense, skill or discipline to deal with winning.

I've seen this same scenario played out over the years even in amounts much less signficant than a multi-million dollar lottery payout. I've seen people squander tax refunds, insurance adjustments and 401K payouts. Sometimes it seems that we're just not wired to handle prosperity (or the illusion of it...perhaps that's where the real problem rests).

Anyway, it's ironic that I was daydreaming just last week about what I'd do if I ever found myself in the possession of, say, $20 million. It's not likely to happen, considering that I've never purchased a lottery ticket. But when the client based has dried up (as it has, indeed), one's thoughts naturally turn in that direction.

Assuming a $10 million lump sum payout (after federal income taxes and discounting at unreasonable interest rates), my strategy is based on one simple fundamental tactic: spend or give it all away...immediately. And here's how I'd do it:

• Give $1.7 million to my church...that's 10%, before taxes (I don't really find any Scriptural basis for doing my tithing on an after-tax amount, but that's just me). Balance remaining: $8.3 million


• Give $1 million each to our four parental/sibling family units...no strings attached but also no advice. They pay their own taxes and go from there. Balance remaining: $4.3 million


• Build a new home, complete with a detached office. Set aside enough cash to pay exorbitant Midland county property taxes in perpetuity. I figure the house would take $1 million and the tax account another half mil (yeah, it's really that bad). Balance remaining: $2.8 million


• Buy two new cars to replace our serviceable-but-aging fleet. Nothing fancy, but we're rounding up here, so let's say, $100K. Balance remaining: $2.7 million


• Bank $2 million in short term CDs, thereby allowing MLB to quit working if she so desires. That balance will easily get us to the ages where we can tap into our 401Ks, which are sufficiently funded (at this point, anyway) to provide for our, um, declining years. Balance remaining: $800K


• Disburse the remaining balance equally among a handful of worthy ministries and individuals who will use it wisely for Kingdom work. Balance remaining: $0.

The beauty of this plan is that it allows me to say, immediately and honestly, it's all gone. (Well, the $2mil for folding cash is problematic in this area; maybe it can be structured into an annuity that removes the ability to tap it prematurely.) There's no "get richer quick" implications or schemes, and the plan bestows a pretty significant windfall on those who might be most likely to come winking and nodding in my direction anyway.

Such a plan takes discipline, though. I think I've got it. But if anyone has $20 million laying around and would like to test me on it, have at it!

WordPress vs. Movable Type: One blogger's perspective

Bryan recently completed a move of Arguing With Signposts from MT to WordPress. He continues to be quite happy with the change, and in response to my question as to what advantages WP offers, he provides this summarized comparison.

Some of WP's features are compelling to me, like the PHP infrastructure, the time-shifting and, to a lesser extent, the quicktags that work on a Mac. OTOH, MT has performed well for me thus far and until I'm faced with the choice of paying to upgrade, I'm probably better off sticking with it. But it helps to understand your options.

Buy Apple -- The stock, that is...

I was shocked to see that Apple stock has jumped more than 13% (or more than $7/share) this morning. The jump was sparked by a report from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster who has raised his price target to $100 a share from $52 and reiterated an outperform rating on the shares. The stock is now trading around $62 as I type this.

Piper writes:

Just as with the doomsayers who have predicted Apple's imminent demise any day now for the past 10 years, this prediction should be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. Nevertheless, for us Mac afficionados, it's a breath of fresh air (albeit with a bitter twang, as some of us can remember the recent opportunity to buy the shares at $12 per not all that long ago. But did we? Nooooooo...).

Nevertheless, as the wise and gentle Mr. Rogers might have put it, "can you say 'switch'?"

We're getting really tired of this...

It's raining again this morning. It started in the wee hours; I could hear it tapping against the skylight, a sound which is either soothing or depressing, depending on the hour. If it occurs at, say, 3:00 a.m., then it's a pleasant curtain of white noise which can be drawn to obscure consciousness as your brain dimly assimilates the fact that there's absolutely no need to respond. On the other hand, waking to the sound at 5:00 a.m. means that the agenda calls for tossing and turning and trying to sleep (which, of course, never works) until the alarm frees you from that responsibility 30 minutes later.

Fortunately, the former scenario was in place, and quality sleeping ensued.

Unfortunately, the good timing didn't hold.

You're probably not old enough to remember Joe Btfsplk, the character in Li'l Abner who trudged through life with a thunderstorm over his head, and his head alone. Abbye and I are beginning to empathize with Joe, with this morning's experience being Exhibit #1.

Of course, Abbye heard the same skylight pattering and she knew what it meant. Death from above, blah, blah, blah. But, at 7:40 a.m., there's nothing falling from the sky and she reluctantly consents to being tethered and led (read: dragged) out the front door for a trip to the park, some four blocks away. A drip or two from our oak tree strengthens her suspicion that this will turn out badly, but I press on, dragging her like a pull-toy with a broken axle.

A half-block down the street, I begin to see evidence in puddles of occasional sprinkles, somewhat reminiscent of the water-filled T-Rex tracks in "Jurassic Park" (and an equally sinister omen). A block later, a light drizzle is falling, and Abbye's pace has changed from dragging behind to pulling ahead, as she realizes that her best chance of survival is to Just. Get. It. Over. With. The light drizzle changes to light rain as we enter the park, and then, suddenly, we can hear the rain hit the ground around us, never a good sign.

We make a quick u-turn and head back home, in what is now officially rainfall. We're both soaked by the time we get back, although Abbye is visibly relieved that she once more dodged a bullet and lived to cower another day. She dashes through the open front door and has a running fit through the house, shedding water and eau de wet dog in her wake, little realizing that the worst is yet to come: the appearance of The Big Towel.

Is it embarrassment at being picked up and swaddled, with all her parts getting more personal attention than she normally permits, that makes this such a great trauma? I don't know; all I know is that it reduces her to a whimpering shivering mass, until it's over, at which point she again engages in the running fit, ultimately diving into the security of her crate, once again safe and protected.

Until this afternoon, that is. Walkies never rest.

Oh, and did I mention that the rain has stopped? It ceased approximately 15 minutes after we returned home.

Ubiquitous Computing: User Experience Considerations

And thus the author of this fascinating article gives us a glimpse of the horrors that await us if the future is as poorly designed as the present. You think you have troubles getting your PC to do what you want it to do? Apply that same level of frustration to every mechanical device and appliance, every vehicle and building and room, every media outlet and communications port...and you begin to sense that the world of "ubiquitous computing" (UC) is perhaps not going to be all it's cracked up to be.

The author, Adam Greenfield, makes a convincing case for why UC is inevitable. Already, the groundwork is being put in place, as IPv6 will multiply the potential number of IP addresses by a staggering amount, allowing, as Adam puts it, "...enough for every pen and stamp and book and door in the world to talk to each other."

The primary thrust of this article is to stimulate thought and discussion about guidelines for designers and developers of this "ubicomp" environment to employ to ensure that the systems comprising this environment, put most simply, do no harm.

The fact that this subject is being discussed in such a specific and matter-of-fact manner seems to indicate that many of our most imaginative science fiction writers were not merely novelists, but were, in fact, prophets. If contemplation of this nearer-than-we-might-think future doesn't send a chill down your spine (for whatever reason), then perhaps you're just not paying attention.

An Aggie Abroad

In its August, 2001 story about Fish Camp at Texas A&M, the school newspaper introduced a freshman from Fort Worth named Nicholas Anthis. Nicholas, a biochemistry and genetics major, was getting his first taste of life as an Aggie.

College life at A&M must have agreed with Nicholas as he was named today as one of 32 Rhodes Scholars for 2005. (The linked story was obviously not edited by a Texan, as it seems to place Nicholas as a student at "Fort Worth A&M.")

Nicholas is the only honoree from a Texas school and one of only two from the Big 12 Conference (the other is from the University of Kansas).

As an old Ag, I have just one thing to say to this young Ag: whoop! ;-)

FireFox Keystroke Shortcuts

For those of you who have upgraded (and I mean that in every sense of the word) to FireFox, here's an informative article by Derek Featherstone on some keyboard shortcuts you might find useful.

My favorite is Cntl + T which opens a new blank tab and puts the cursor in the address bar. As Derek points out, one press of the tab key and you're in the Google search box, in case you don't know exactly what to do with that open tab. (Am I the only one who thinks there is now one too many references to "tab" in our browser/keyboard lexicon?)

If you want to create your own keystroke shortcuts, you can download and use the Mozilla keyconfig extension. I've not played with it yet, so I have no tips or recommendations.

And, as a bonus, Derek has uncovered a new keystroke shortcut: Cntl + [keypad number] which allows you to jump immediately to the tabbed window corresponding to the number you enter. Thus, if you have 9 tabs open, you can use Cntl + 9 to jump directly to that tab. Very cool. He also provides some instructions for installing a FireFox-specific stylesheet that automatically numbers the tabs so you don't have to do the counting.

Not a "Treasure," but still worthwhile...

MLB and I caught the first matineé showing of "National Treasure", and it's a movie we both heartily recommend.

It's not an "action adventure," per se, ala the "Indiana Jones" films; it's more of a thinking person's adventure, and it helps to have an appreciation for -- if not a deep knowledge of -- American history. Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger and Justin Bartha comprise an excellent good-guys ensemble, and their interplay is one of the movie's strengths. Jon Voigt is unfortunately wasted in his role as the father of Cage's character.

The movie is great fun, despite a couple of momentary lulls in the plot. It's a refreshingly family-friendly PG as well, with just a few scary scenes that keep it from being suitable for the youngest movie-goers.

One of the more interesting parts of our movie-going experience this afternoon was the trailer for Vin Diesel's upcoming movie, "The Pacifier." It was hilarious! I can't remember the last time I heard an audience laugh so loudly at EVERY scene in a trailer...and keep laughing at the end of it so that we missed the opening dialog on the next one. If the trailer is any indication (and we know how those things can lie to us, don't we?) this movie is going to push Diesel's career up another notch as he closes the gap on Arnie. Watch for it in the summer of 2005.

Five little words I love to hear...

"Doesn't work with Internet Explorer"

I'm the best...and so are you!

From Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer...

Source...an otherwise interesting article about the amount of spam that Ballmer and Gates receive each day.

Four million per day is a lot of spam, but if you put it on an email-per-$-of-net-worth basis, I'll bet I get a lot more than Bill.

Tip o'the hat to Gadgetopia.

Read my blog (ignore the man behind the curtain)

Deb Thompson at Write Lightning latches onto a very interesting article from Wired.com about the supposedly growing trend of corporate acquisitions of... are you ready?... blogs.

Yep, it's finally occurred to Big Media that millions of eyeballs each day are landing on the free content of the A List Bloggers, and where there be eyeballs, there be ad revenue. So, the conventional wisdom asserts, watch for more and more of these big name blogs to cash in by selling out.

The catches are many. Deb points out a couple of downsides for both the buyer and seller. I second her concerns, and throw another into the mix: credibility.

Who do you trust more, for example: Glenn Reynolds blogging on behalf of Glenn Reynolds, or Glenn Reynolds blogging on behalf of, say, CBS...his parent company and the one who pays his bandwidth bills? Exactly.

I'm the last person to harp about how corporations are the root of all evil, but I'm also enough of a realist to know that once someone else starts paying the bills, your thoughts and words are no longer yours and yours alone. But even if you're that Lone Exception who is so remarkable in stature and talent as to be able to tell the boss to go away until you summon him...who's gonna believe it?

I've been around plenty of people who built successful privately-owned businesses and then took them public. Other than those who did that simply in order to sell out and start over again with another privately-owned business, I have yet to find someone who is glad they made that move. The lesson isn't completely applicable to the blogosphere, but it should be instructive.

If you sell your soul to the devil, don't complain when you find him shoveling brimstone down your pants.

Sorry about the lack of posts

Due to workload (darn those pesky clients!) I haven't had time or energy to do more than a perfunctory post here and there...as I'm sure you've noticed. I also haven't had a chance to reply to some very worthwhile comments, and I apologize for that, as well.

I hope to do better, um...soon. Yeah...soon!

2nd Case of "Mad Cow Disease" in US?

The US Agriculture Department is reporting the possible discovery of a second case of Mad Cow Disease in this country. Details are sketchy, and the location of the potentially diseased animal was not reported.

Stocks in beef-centric businesses are dropping, with McDonalds, Outback Steakhouse, Wendy's and Tyson Foods all reporting declines of 1-2% immediately following the report.

Stay tuned...this is not good news.

Outrunning Bullets

NASA's successful test yesterday of its scramjet technology fires the imagination. How cool would it be to have a commercial jet capable of flying from NY to LA in 20 minutes? Taxiing to the terminal at LAX would take longer than the flight itself.

Or how about a round-the-planet trip in 2.5 hours? That's within scramjet grasp at its measured Mach 9.6 yesterday.

While it appears that NASA's funding will be diverted to the space program, there's no reason the technology can't and won't be pursued by either private sector interests or other government entities. The military certainly has an interest in developing practical applications for hypersonic flight. The referenced article lays out the objectives of one such program (emphasis added):

So, here's my question: what kind of "submunition" would you need to ensure that you don't run into your own ammo at Mach 10? I'm not a munitions expert, but I'd be surprised if there is much ammo with a muzzle velocity of more than 5,000 feet per second, which generously works out to about Mach 4 (60 miles per minute, 3,600 miles per hour, all rounded up).

Or does the fact that the ammo is already moving at Mach 10 when it's fired mean that it's really attaining Mach 14? I never was any good at physics.

But this would make a heck of a Roadrunner cartoon!

Exciting details of my life

I just returned from donating blood, and man, am I drained. <badda-bing>

Anyway, did anyone remember to nominate the person who invented that stretchy material that they now use in place of tape for a Nobel Peace Prize? As a person with significantly hirsute appendages, ala Esau, the exfoliation that accompanied the post-donation bandage removal was always by far the worst part of the experience. I've always had great respect for swimsuit models (think about it). This new stuff is the bee's knees.

It finally stopped raining. I've emptied about 6" from my backyard gauge since Saturday. I realize that's not exactly tropical storm output, but considering that our average annual rainfall is just under 14" (and lately, it's been more like 10" or less), this is a big deal. In fact, I suspect this year will end up being about the fifth or sixth wettest year in recorded history (which, granted, only goes back 70 years or so...I'm sure things were much wetter back when the Permian Sea was being filled, but work with me here).

Abbye is happy. Now, she was highly skeptical when it came time for her regularly scheduled afternoon walk, as she hadn't been clued in about the end of the precip. I had to drag her out the front door, her little claws leaving grooves in the entryway tile and across the threshhold, until she realized that she wasn't being thrown into a monsoon.

Thanks to numerous recommendations around the blogosphere, I've picked up a copy of "Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport," by Richard J. Mouw (which, amazingly, is ranked 7,602 at Amazon.com, as of 12 seconds ago). I've been studying up on TULIP, trying to figure out if I'm a Five Point Calvinist or not -- I'd never really thought about it before -- and I think I'm closer to it than I suspected. I'm still having a hard time with the concept of limited atonement, though...still have to work through that one. Perhaps this book will shed some practical light on the issue. I'll probably be writing more about this later on.

Our TV is supposed to be repaired tomorrow. So I've got that going for me.

I think that about covers it.

The Secret Life of Icons

Think the Japanese don't miss Godzilla, Mothra and the rest of those lovable brutes? Where do you think this comes from?

Tip o'the flasHat to Gadgetopia

More Bible Haikus

Larry and Rachel are continuing the Bible haiku meme, submitting new verses for inclusion in our growing collection.

Larry got on a real poetry tear, providing verses for a dozen books ranging from Joel to Revelation, and Rachel has taken care of the book of Daniel.

We're now about 2/3rds of the way to our goal of having at least one verse for each of the 66 books of the Bible (duplicates are welcomed!). We still need haikus for many of the Old Testament prophetic books, and much of the New Testament (including three of the four Gospels) is available for your inspired creative efforts.

A Spammer's Story

This is a fascinating glimpse into the "business" of a spammer, based on details from the trial of Jeremy Jaynes. Jaynes was recently convicted in the nation's first felony trial of internet spammers. He could serve up to nine years in jail; sentencing will take place early next year.

The numbers are staggering. Ten million emails sent each day (by this one guy), with a response rate of only 1 in 30,000. But that tiny percentage resulted in estimated net cash flow of $250,000-$700,000 every month.

And, as the article points out, Mr. Jaynes is far from the biggest or most sophisticated spammer out there.

Riany Days and Mondays

[Yeah, I know the title is misspelled. Google returned 32,500 hits for "Rainy Days and Mondays." I get nervous in crowds of that size.]

It's been raining for three days and I'm coming down with a bad case of SAD, the most appropriately acronymed illness in the book. I may be sporadically posting to a Houston-based blog, but that doesn't mean I want their weather. The weather guys say this stuff is going to hang around for at least two more days.

You don't want to know what Abbye thinks about this weather.

The painter showed up this morning, kicking off what is likely to be a month-long (if we're lucky) project to recoat every surface inside our house, and a bunch of them on the outside. This could turn out to be The Remodeling Project from Heck (I don't think it will get quite bad enough to be classified as hellish, although one can't be positive). Remember Elvin on "The Murphy Brown Show"? He's dead, you know.

Sundays always seem to be slow newsdays around here. I don't know how else to explain why the local newspaper felt a need to make last night's American Music Awards the main front page story in this morning's issue. I didn't even know that the awards were being presented, otherwise I would have missed them with greater enthusiasm.

I just finished formatting an annual report for a client's website. The original was in PDF format. I managed to deal with most of the text without too much problem, but couldn't get the financial data tables converted. I emailed to see if those tables were available in Excel, which I could then import into my page layout program. They didn't have them in Excel, but they were available in Word. Cool; I can work with that. Except when I opened the Word doc, I found that the tables weren't tables at all, but just text and numbers laid out with tabs, spaces, paragraph breaks, etc. <sigh>

I had something important I wanted to write about. As far as I can tell, this wasn't it.

Domain Owners Beware: Lock it or risk losing it

I just caught wind of a new rule that became effective last Friday, November 12, the provisions of which allow a domain name to be transferred from one registrant to another without the permission of the "losing" party. Under this new rule, someone could initiate a transfer of your personal or company domain name away from your control and you might possibly never know it.

This new rule was approved by ICANN, the governing body responsible for promulgating the rules that many domain name registrars seem to routinely flaunt.

If you want to protect your domain name, drop what you're doing (as soon as you finish reading this sentence, that is) and contact your registrar to request that your domain name be "locked." That will prevent its transfer without your explicit permission. Some registrars will let you lock domain names via their websites (my registrar of choice, GoDaddy, provides this capability, for example). Otherwise, you should call your registrar and see what steps to take to protect your domain.

I won't argue that this rule isn't helpful in some cases. I've had problems in the past getting domain names transferred, especially where they were originally registered by an internet service provider, webhost or site designer on behalf of a client, and the client eventually decides that he needs to have control over the name. But the implications for abuse are severe; forewarned is forearmed.

Friday Distraction

This is amazing. Be sure to download and watch the video to get the full effect.

Tip o'the Hat to A Whole Lotta Nothing.

Hiking El Capitan

A year ago, MLB and I hiked to the top of Guadalupe Peak, which at 8,700' and change is the highest point in Texas. We were exceedingly fortunate in that the weather was beautiful -- clear, calm and cool -- something that cannot be counted on in that part of the country during this time of the year.

We decided to return this year and try a different challenge: hiking the 11 mile El Capitan trail. The limestone face of El Capitan provides the trademark image of Guadalupe Mountains National Park; it's recognizable from more than 50 miles away by observant travelers on Interstate 10, and it's flat out imposing up close. El Capitan is not as tall as Guadalupe Peak, giving up about 700' in elevation, but it's more famous.

You can't actually hike to the summit of El Capitan, and as far as I know, climbers are not allowed on the rock face. Given that the hike simply takes one past the base of the mountain, we figured this to be a fairly easy walk in the park...literally. We were, of course, wrong.

We overnighted in our home town of Fort Stockton, leaving Abbye with MLB's dad. We were on the road at 6:00 a.m. the next morning, intending to get a quick breakfast at the McDonald's in Pecos (and also supplementing our Clif bars, homemade trail mix and other assorted munchies with a few extra McMuffins for a post-hike snack before heading back home). Imagine our surprise -- nay, shock! -- to find the McDonald's boarded up. Ditto for the Pecos Dairy Queen. (How do national chain fast food joints located on interstates go out of business?) We ended up having a very good breakfast at the Swiss Clock Inn, but couldn't follow through on our afternoon snack plans.

Despite the minor setback, we were buoyed by the beautiful weather as we drove on through Orla (pop. 5? 10?), where one turns left (west) and approaches the national park. The thermometer in the Durango read 40-42°, but the winds were relatively calm and the sky was crystal clear. We began to re-think our dressing plans, which originally involved several layers of light clothes topped with windbreakers, and accompanied by gloves and earmuffs.

We arrived at the trailhead around 9:00 a.m. and the temperature had risen to the lower 50s (which, by the way, was the forecast high for the day, according to the what-do-they-know-anyway TV meterologists). That was enough to convince me to go with a lightweight long-sleeved Capilene top, a windbreaker stuffed in my CamelBak for insurance, and no gloves or muffs. That proved to be one of the better decisions of the day.

We hit the trail around 9:30, a half-hour ahead of my mentally-computed schedule. I noticed that we were the only hikers who had signed in for El Capitan for the day; most people come here to climb Guadalupe Peak. That was fine with us. A crowded trail takes some of the fun out of the experience.

The El Capitan trail is relatively flat at the beginning, a little downhill even. MLB later admitted thinking to herself, after about 15 minutes on the trail, "well, this certainly isn't very challenging...or fun!" She would later rethink that thought.

This area of the country, like most of west Texas, has received abundant rainfall this year, especially during the late summer and fall months. Every draw we passed from Orla to the Park had water running or standing in it, something I've never seen before. The result of that rainfall could also be seen in the thick and tall prairie vegetation which crowded against the trail and occasionally obscured it. This was a mixed blessing. The scenery was grander than usual, but the plant life was aggressive in attaching itself via various adaptations to one's clothing (and skin).

Word to the wise: don't do this hike in shorts, unless you have the hide of a rhino. Besides the mostly annoying pasture grasses, the trail is crowded with seriously sharp things like cholla, prickly pear, century plants, Spanish daggers, mesquite and yucca. Long pants are recommended and, in fact, the longer the better, to help keep your boots or shoes free of sticking seed heads.

And, as long as we're sharing warnings, here's a couple more. If you are a mad dog or Englishman and feel you must do this hike in the dead of summer, pack more water than you think you'll need, then add some to it. There's almost no shade to be found on much of the trail, and no reliable sources of water. One guidebook referred to a natural spring in one location, but we didn't find it.

I carried a 100 oz. CamelBak backpack and MLB had a smaller one configured as a fannypack. Even in the cool weather, the low humidity, strenuous activity and direct sun had us sweating and guzzling all afternoon. We ended the hike with about a pint of water to spare.

Make sure your footwear is top-notch, and by that I mean that it offers good ankle support and has better-than-average protection for the bottoms of your feet. The trail is exceedingly rocky and in places the footing is quite iffy due to the shale that shifts and slides under your feet. We both have quality hiking boots (hers by Tecnica and mine from Salomon, both being highly-regarded makers of ski boots), but by the end of the day our feet were aching miserably due to the rough terrain. I'm not sure what would improve the situation if we do the hike again...perhaps some thicker gel insoles?

The route itself is complicated, winding around, up and down hills, through and across arroyos, circling back on itself several times. Interestingly, you're hardly ever out of sight of US Highway 62 that runs west all the way to El Paso. There's no danger of getting lost, even if you somehow manage to lose the trail. But it's almost impossible to anticipate where the trail goes next. At one point, atop one of the taller hills on the route, I looked down and saw what looked like a tangle of trails and thought, "man, you've got a lot of choices for hiking around here." I later realized that we would be walking every inch of every one of them, "them" being one snaky trail...the one we were on.

We didn't see a lot of wildlife, as least not the sensational kind. We did meet the guy (gal?) shown at right, clambering up one section of the trail as we clambered down it. Apart from a portly rock squirrel (looked more like a marmot, really), there were no other mammals to be seen, although there were plenty of droppings along the trail to indicate that the countryside wasn't as deserted as it looked.

The scenery was grand enough to distract us from the narrowness of the trail (hardly ever wide enough to walk two abreast) and the unsteady footing. The panoramas in this part of the world are awe-inspiring, with a desolate beauty that I don't have words to describe (and my camera doesn't have pixels to capture). This landscape isn't for everyone; you either acquire the taste for it or your brain fires in a peculiar fashion to allow you to process the beauty. But if you fall into either of those categories, this is a place you need to go and be in for a few hours.

Just don't count on any Egg McMuffins at the end of the day.

To those who served and serve: Thank You

Once a year isn't enough, but I wan't to express my gratitude to the men and women who have served and are continuing to serve in our armed forces. In particular, I want to single out:

• My dad, a WWII vet and recipient of two Purple Hearts, who carries fragments from a German sniper's bullet in his arm. Only in the past few years has he begun to speak of what he experienced.


• My father-in-law, who told us last night that all he wanted for breakfast this morning was a helping of powdered eggs and some spam. He's the only guy I know who served both on horseback as part of the mounted cavalry and in the air as a navigator aboard a B-17 bomber.


• My cousin, who was drafted and fought in Viet Nam. He returned a changed man, in ways both mysterious and a bit troubling, further proof that those of us who never served in this way can't really understand the sacrifices made on our behalf.

May God bless each one, and may He continue to bless America.

New Blogging Gig

I've started a new adventure as a contributer at the Lone Star Times, self-described as "a multi-topic group blog that is independent of but kinda-sorta affiliated with a major-market talk-radio station," said radio station being Houston's KSEV-AM (website currently under reconstruction).

Despite some Groucho Marx-derived misgivings about participating in any blog that would have me as a participant, I'm excited about the prospect of writing alongside some folks who really know what they're doing. I want to thank Bill Roberts of Thinklings fame for opening this particular door. Bill is currently doing most of the heavy lifting in the Faith category of the blog and I'll try to provide some backup in that area, while having the freedom to post about anything else that catches my fancy.

Anyway, one of my concerns about joining the LST team was how that might affect The Gazette, but I've been assured that as long as I'm prompt, accurate, prolific, insightful, engaging and exhibit stellar personal hygiene my family will eventually be returned safely to me. Just kidding; Houston's a killer market, but it's not that bad! Seriously, I don't expect the LST workload to be really time-consuming and The Gazette will continue as my primary blogging outlet. The LST gig is just to pay the bills...or, at least, it would be if it paid anything.

Which it doesn't. Nevertheless, it's the least I can do in the way of atonement for once quoting someone who said that living in Houston is like living in the mouth of a dog. I understand now that the person who said that was clinically insane and I hope someday to join all my friends and former co-workers who are now living in that great city. ;-)

Bruce Schneier on Electronic Voting Machine Security

Bruce Schneier is a (the?) leading authority on security and security technology. His blog is fairly new, highly technical, but always thought-provoking (even if my most common thought is, "What the heck did he just say?"). Today he has a moderately lengthy post about voting machine security that provides some good background to the issues and a couple of suggested steps that he feels would signficantly address concerns over the use of these machines:

Mr. Schneier's article is very interesting and readable. I recommend reading the whole thing.

Babs Makes [Fashion] Statement

Jefferson would be so proud. Or not.

Don Evans and John Ashcroft Resign

These resignations just came across the wire(less). I'm not surprised by Ashcroft's departure, but I didn't see the announcement about Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans coming.

That's one less Midland connection in the White House environs, although I'm not sure that connection did anything locally except fatten the Chamber of Commerce's brochures. I'd love to know the story behind his leaving; I trust that we'll hear it soon enough.

alt.country Primer from The Fat Guy?

Update: Well, we now know what Scott was doing while he wasn't watching the CMA broadcast tonight. He was busy creating one of the most amazing posts about country music I've ever laid eyes on. Read it if you like country music; read it even if you don't. In either case, it won't be wasted time.

He's more than met my challenge, laid out below; the rest is up to me, I guess. Maybe I should add a PayPal button to help me pay for what I've gotten myself into...

Scott has a burr under his saddle about tonight's Country Music Awards, apparently believing that the genre took a wrong turn somewhere around 1954 and has been wandering through an MTV-like wasteland ever since.

Well, that's not an entirely fair characterization, as I'm not sure exactly where Scott thinks mainstream country music went bad, and I'm certainly not qualified to hold an opinion on the matter anyway. I haven't bought a country CD in about 10 years (although I did just download "I Like My Women A Little On The Trashy Side" from the iTunes Music store).

That being the case, I'd like to pitch a challenge to Scott (and to anyone else caring to help educate the unwashed masses of which I'm a part): what are the twenty "essential alt country" albums that any self-respecting afficionado should have in his or her collection, in order to not be embarassed when showing up at the next fiesta musica at Buck's?

I'm serious as a snake in a sleeping bag; I'd really like some guidance in this matter. And I think it would be good for Scott; after all, recent events have shown us that just being against something isn't really sufficient anymore. We need to know what you're for.

More Bible Book Haiku: Habakkuk

Larry Stephey ("Mr. Bible Haiku") has offered up another verse for our growing collection, this one for the "minor prophet" of Habakkuk:

Larry also offers up a mini-devotional to go along with the verse, which I think is worth considering, especially if you've not spent much time with Habakkuk:

I like the book of Habakkuk because of the clear give-and-take between the prophet and the Lord. Twice Habakkuk expresses complaints, and twice God gives him a direct response. Imagine how you might feel had you prayed for justice regarding a specific situation and God gave you this answer:

Our complete haiku collection to-date can be found here, along with some background on the project and a link to instructions for participating. Anyone is welcome to submit a verse for the Bible book of his or her choice.

MSM Influence Fading...or Backfiring?

Texas Insider has an interesting editorial about the apparent irrelevancy of print media endorsements in the presidential election.

I don't believe that I've ever been influenced one way or another by a newspaper's endorsement of a candidate or voting issue, but if I have, it's been in the opposite direction of the endorsement. For example, if the New York Times endorses a candidate, I've learned that that's probably all I need to know to support his or her opponent. I suspect I'm not the only person for whom the MSM's influence has been reduced to a caricature.

Remember when needles and tracks referred to music?

Michele of A Small Victory fame has fired up a new site: I Have That On Vinyl (IHTOV). I predict a groovy future for this project.

Tip o'the hat to Charles over at dustbury.com...

An Apology

I am periodically reminded of my shortcomings as a communicator, and one of those wake-up calls came yesterday as I inadvertently offended a reader with my characteristically lame attempt at tackling a combination of religious and political issues. I have no toes left to shoot off; I'm now up to knee level, and the pain is a reminder that thinking before writing is a discipline that I need to focus on.

I've apologized to her privately and she has been gracious in her acceptance, but I feel the need to restate it publicly. The details aren't important now, but the lesson is: as Americans, regardless of our political or religious persuasions, we still have much in common and we're all better off when we seek to enhance our relationships through that commonality, rather than finding reasons to separate ourselves.

I wish I could promise (and stick to it) that I'll never again write something that personally offends one of my valued readers, but I know my shortcomings far too well to do that. What I count on is the openness and honesty of those readers to keep me accountable for my words, and for God's grace to help me get a little better each day in that regard.

May the pants be with you...

From Give, Get, Take and Have...the top 21 lines from the Star Wars Trilogy that can be improved by substituting key words with the word "pants."

My favorite:

4. Han Solo: "Don’t worry. Chewie and I have gotten into a lot of pants more heavily guarded than this."

And to think that some people still don't think blogs can displace the MSM.

[Tip o'the hat to white pebble]

Weed Dispatch

[Note: I started this report a week ago, but never finished it, thanks to a server glitch (the equivalent to a dog eating your homework). Sorry for the delay.]

When my wife told her boss that she was going to Weed, New Mexico for the weekend, he asked "is that a verb or a noun?" [Think about it.]

The RavenWind Bed & Breakfast, located a few miles down the road from the Weed proper, is a hidden gem of a getaway. If you're seeking solitude without sacrificing any creature comforts, this is a place you should consider. It's almost perfect.

The B&B was constructed in 2000 and it still looks and feels new. It has two bedrooms, each with its own private bathroom and a large common area and kitchenette (see photo below) on the lower level. The owners live on the top level, which is where breakfast is served.

There's also a detached guest house located a couple hundred feet from the main house, and it has two bedrooms, two baths and a large living room/kitchen.

This is the most spacious B&B we've ever encountered, with walk-in closets, large bed- and bathrooms and a living area bigger than we have in our own home. Each room has large windows, giving great views of the surrounding ranch and forest. That's also one of the quirks about the place: no window coverings. Anywhere. Even in one of the guest bathrooms that looks out onto the grounds. Takes a bit of getting used to.

The house sits on about 70 acres of cleared ranch land, with a half dozen horses and 30 or 40 head of cattle roaming the property. The elevation is around 7,000' and the Lincoln National Forest is accessible across the road for hikers. Note that this is not a "touristy" part of the National Forest, so there aren't any marked trails or facilities, and some skill with a GPS is recommended if you intend to get too far away from the trappings of civilization.

Above: View of the national forest from the "front yard" of the B&B
Below: View of the B&B from midway up the mountain across the road

You can bring your horse to RavenWind; they'll provide the stable and feed. But, you can't bring your dog, because they have two big ones that have the run of the place. Otis is the older, and suffers from a bit of arthritis. Junior is, well, his junior by several years and acts like a puppy. A 100 pound puppy, but a puppy nonetheless.

Otis is on the left in both of these photos

The village of Weed is tiny (the sign at the turnoff proudly proclaims that the population is 20...not the vastly inflated 30 that other less-informed websites still throw around); the main attraction is the Weed Café (which co-occupies the building that houses the post office). The Weed Café serves a passable chicken fried steak and a great cheeseburger, with real [not frozen] fries. I had the privilege of devouring the last piece of homemade rhubarb pie (not just the last piece of the day...the last piece of the season. And it was delicious.) We were the only patrons in the restaurant on both Friday and Saturday nights.

Of course, one of the key aspects of a B&B is the breakfast part of the equation, and RavenWind more than meets expectations in this area. This was the first B&B we've encountered to provide a menu; we got to select from three choices (eggs any style/bacon or sausage/home fries; blueberry pancakes/bacon or sausage; homemade yogurt and granola) each morning and we tried everything but the yogurt (what can I say; we're Texans!) and were quite impressed.

If you're seeking a combination of solitude and luxury, don't obsess over wilderness peeping toms and can justify a driving trip to southcentral New Mexico, RavenWind is a great destination.

'Tis the season...

...for blog redesigns. Bryan over at Arguing With Signposts is still working out the kinks on his new WordPress joint, and Julie's got a new layout over at Lone Prairie Art Works that sports that ultra-mod teensy type that all the cool chicks are using nowadays.

Spammer unclear on marketing concept

I just received an internet pharmacy spam message with the subject line, "Bush is re-elected..pro-zac [sic] anyone?"

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm not a salesman and sometimes these advanced marketing techniques escape me, but isn't is generally considered a good idea to avoid alienating over 50% of your potential customers right off the bat? Don't these folks look at election maps?

[OK, it did occur to me that this might be a worldwide spam message, and thus the alienation factor could be less than 50%. It also occurred to me that perhaps the message could also be spun in a positive fashion for Bush supporters, as in "having trouble coming down from your delirious post-election high?" However, neither of those possibilities lends itself to a decently humorous post. Not that my original premise was much better. All right; I'm quitting now, before the hole gets much deeper...]

A beautiful day in the neighborhood...

The weather is supposed to turn nasty by the weekend, but for now, it's just about perfect. So perfect, in fact, that I moved the AirPort Express into the front bedroom, grabbed my PowerBook, cell and cordless phones and a Diet Vanilla Coke and shifted my homebase to the bench under the live oak trees in our front yard. Abbye is laying beside me on the bench, keeping an eye peeled for "kitties" (which category includes any living moving thing other than people) and, of course, falling acorns.

I gotta tell you, one of the overlooked pleasures of life is being able to pause typing and reach over to scratch the ear of a soft dog. I hope your day is equally tranquil.

Find Another Insult, Amigo (Part Dos)

I've seen this image all over the interweb so I'm not sure to whom the original credit goes, but Rob Stewart's Snippets gets the link. I've left comments on a couple of posts, but decided to put up a brief post of my own, because...hey, that's what I do!

This image originally appeared, as I understand it, in an expression of disgust and disdain by a disgruntled dem, and was intended to be an insult to the apparent neanderthalic voting tendencies of, well, most of America. But, as I pointed out last year, one man's insult is another man's kudo.

The only problem I have with the image as shown is that the borders of "Jesusland" don't extend far enough. I eagerly await the day when they run all the way to the uttermost part of the earth!

The Terrible Twos

The Fireant Gazette turns two today, proving once again that truth is stranger than fiction, and while cream may indeed rise to the top, the sludge at the bottom is much harder to get rid of.

To everyone comprising my nano-audience, I commit to making every effort to maintain the same quality of blather that you've grown accustomed to in however long you've been able to endure. I know that none of you have been here for the full two years, because I managed to keep the whole thing a big secret for a few months until that darned Google started poking around.

The blogosphere is a bizarre place indeed, and if I having anything to say about it, it will stay that way, at least in this little pixelated corner.

Onward and upward!

Whatever happened to the "3 Rs"?

One of the big news items around here is the decision by the Texas State Board of Education to withhold approval of some textbooks for middle and high school health classes unless the publishers of those books explicitly define marriage as being between a man and a woman. The previous phrasing was along the lines of "individuals who marry" instead of "husbands and wives."

While I happen to support the change, the more relevant issue is the one raised by my wife as we walked the dogs yesterday afternoon. "Why in the world," she asked, "are we depending on the public schools to teach kids about marriage to begin with? I don't remember ever having anything like that in a class when I was that age."

Nor do I, and I don't know the answer, except that perhaps our society has degenerated to the point where many kids no longer ever see even a single example of a real-life healthy marriage. It's a sad state of affairs when valuable classroom time is spent on things like this. It's even sadder to think that there might actually be a need for it.

Checking in...

Just dropped in to leave a quick update. We had a good (read: no one died) hike yesterday, 11.8 miles -- as the GPS wanders -- through some rough and ruggedly beautiful terrain in Guadalupe National Park. For the second consecutive year, the weather was uncharacteristically mild and calm; I'm afraid we're getting spoiled. We saw just one other person during almost 6 hours on the trail.

I hope to have a better report later, with some photos. In the meantime, here's a teaser. This is a view of the face of El Capitan and, yes, that's the moon peeking over the crest, at around 11:00 a.m.

Heading West...

Light-to-no blogging starting now, as we're heading for Guadalupe National Park to hike up El Capitan.

I realize I owe you a report from last weekend's trip to Weed, NM, and I will make good on that. Actually, I got 90% finished with it, then the server burped, I lost most of it and I haven't found the motivation to re-create it. But I will.

In the meantime, if you want to see some unedited photos from the Weed trip, you can view a Photoshop-generated web album here.

Have a great weekend, amigos. It's gonna be a beautiful day in the 'hood!

Sad news for the Edwards family

I don't know anything at all about Elizabeth Edwards, although she's received some cheap shots about her physical appearance. But my prayers go out to her and her family over the announcement of her breast cancer, which was apparently diagnosed just yesterday.

The world just got a lot smaller for the Edwards...but their family just got a lot larger. Cancer is one enemy we can all agree is worth fighting together.

More Birthday Greetings!

Dan Morris over at Behind the Wall of Sleep hits the Big 4-Oh! today.

Dan is one of the clear thinking good guys of the blogosphere, and the irony is that he pulls it off despite his self-professed "brain damage" from a bout with the West Nile virus. It's humbling to me as I, of presumably healthy mind and body, generally write as though I am, in fact, synaptically challenged.

Live well and prosper, amigo!

Crap: Code Word for "Edgy, Creative"

Gotta love this blurb from today's Wall Street Journal "The Morning Brief":

Am I the only one who thinks that this is a total copout on the part of the advertising industry? My gosh, just look at the success of family-friendly or mainstream commercial campaigns like the MasterCard "Badger" series (lost dog finds way home)...my hit count goes up 50 per day everytime I simply mention that commerical on this here little blog. Or, how about the AFLAC duck? Small children nowadays think the duckie on the Barnyard Animal game says "aflac" instead of "quack." On the flipside, look at the total mess A&F made of things with its kiddie pørn clothing campaign.

If the only way an ad agency can figure out how to be "creative and edgy" is by offending the sensibilities of its clients' clients, then it's time for that agency to look for a new line of work. They shouldn't need a presidential election to clue them into that bit of reality.

Lizard Brains

Much to chew on in this short essay by Greg Knauss. His premise is that the "political divide" we continue to face is caused not by conclusions reached after rational consideration, but rather from emotional "sub-rational" responses emanating from our "lizard brains."

I don't disagree that emotionalism is part of the problem, but to chalk it all up to sub-rational reaction is to reduce human mental processing to a mere caricature of what is actually an incredibly nuanced and complex phenomenon. A call for dispassion and reason in political discourse is admirable -- who could argue against it? -- but it's a bit condescending to suggest that those traits are currently totally absent on either side of the debate.

In reality, there's no real rational/emotional dichotomy in the way we process information and reach conclusions. Instead, there's a spectrum...a gradient...and both characteristics come into play simultaneously or in parallel or in opposition or in reinforcement. The point is that's it's not a binary switch, on or off.

But the real problem is the presupposition that all ideas should be given equal consideration, and that the we reject those bad ideas because we're feeling, not thinking. The fact is that some ideas just don't work on any level -- rational, emotional or anywhere in-between.

Greg points directly to the internet in general, and to blogs specifically as a prime culprit in empowering this shift to lizard brain processing. Blaming the medium for the message is easy to do, but it doesn't really help in understanding and solving the underlying problem (and it certainly lets the MSM off the hook).

In the end, while the goal of a rational and civil political dialog is admirable, the suggestion that we can achieve it by eliminating emotion and feeling is naive and unrealistic. The best we can hope for is a little more balance.

[Link tip to A Whole Lotta Nothing.]

Red Counties vs Blue

Someone just sent me the map shown below via email, so I don't know its original source or its accuracy, but it presents an interesting picture...one that gets a bit distorted by the coloring of states.

Granted, since we're a republic of states, those state lines really are meaningful; I'm not trying to minimize that fact or argue otherwise. This is just a different perspective than what we usually see.

I am curious about that one blue county in central Texas, though. Sorta looks like Travis County, doesn't it? Figures.

Update: Wallace over at Streams has a region-by-region analysis of why specific areas are colored like they are. And Dan at Behind the Wall of Sleep uses the map as a jumping off point to explain to a certain bombastic pundit why these results are, indeed, a mandate.

Hello? Is thing on...? Test..1..2..3..

Looks like we may be back in business, and I'm sure you're all breathing a sigh of relief at that news.

First, I want to wish Deb Thompson at Write Lightning an ever-so-slightly belated happy birthday. She spent her birthday as an election volunteer and has some great observations about the challenge and the privilege.

Second, I have no pithy insights about the election results. What I do have is an immense feeling of relief. I don't believe that I actually realized how this was all weighing on me, mentally and spiritually. Today's weather mirrors my mood... clear and bright. I could once again watch The Today Show for the product reviews and concerts and light banter (at which Katie, Matt, et al do excel) without feeling nauseous over their thinly veiled politics. I probably won't, but I could.

I feel badly for most of those who have just the opposite reaction to the outcome, and I realize that there are tens of millions of them who are sincere in their love for their country and their disagreement over how it's being governed. (There are a few, however, for whom my reaction is rather more pointed: don't let the screen door hit you on your way out to Canada. You know who you are.) I think it's a shame that we let the political system convince us that we really are a nation divided. I don't know what the answer is to building unity, and I'm not looking to start a chorus of Kum-Bah-Ya, but I tend to think that the answer starts at the bottom and works its way up, not vice versa.

4 More Years and All I Get is an Internal Server Error

It figures. The gates are now wide open for wise and insightful Monday-morning election quarterbacking, and my server is running like a 'Vette on diesel. It will take approximately 20 reloads to get this post up, and it's been that way for the past 24 hours. Don't look for much from here until my webhost can get its act together.

Comments may also be hosed, by the way.

Kerry Concedes

CBS Marketwatch is reporting that Kerry has called President Bush to concede the election.

If this is true, my hat's off to the Senator for sparing the country a painful replay of 2000.

Media-Free Day (Except for blogs, of course)

I'm going to do my dead level best to avoid consuming any broadcast media today, in silent protest of the ridiculous spectacle I'm seeing on every channel. I'm referring, of course, to the practice of continuing to quote the myriad opinion polls purporting to predict the outcome of the presidential election...even as people are now casting votes.

I realize that the networks have to broadcast something on election day, but, Lord willing, the speculation ends tonight, so why not just shut up about these non-scientific polls and let the actual numbers do the talking.

Tonight would be an excellent time to go out for dinner and a movie, hit the sack early and wake up in the morning to read election results. Anybody got the discipline to do that?