Return of the Son of Innocent Until Proven Guilty

When you think you have problems, often you hear about someone who has much bigger problems than you. I read an example of this in today's column by Ted Nugent in the Waco Trib entitled "Punks in black robes, courts of corruption." I feel a little ashamed for feeling sorry for myself dealing with my child support problem (See "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" and "Return of 'Guilty Until Proven Innocent'")

Ted tells the story of a man who was forced to pay child support despite the fact that the DNA evidence proved he wasn't the father of the child. Even the child's mother asserted she had never met the man who was paying support for her child. The DA and the judge both admit there were serious holes in their case, but that someone had to pay.

This man's story is amazing. In our country, with all the technological tools available to the police, prosecutors and courts - that someone can be forced to pay support for the child of a person he never even met is absolutely incredible. Instead of spending their time and resources trying to find the real father of this child they waste it putting the screws to an innocent man.

Yesterday, a friend told me of a man in Michigan who was forced to pay child support based not on actual salary, but based on what his salary should be when the average salary for his occupation was factored in. I'm would certainly be glad to hear that judge will force this man's employer to give him a raise. Oh, wait, that would be unfair to the employer. We certainly can't have any unfairness, now can we?

I wrote in an earlier blog I believe real deadbeat parents need to be prosecuted and forced to pay to support the children they helped bring into this world. But - some common sense and real justice needs to prevail as well.

Return of "Guilty Until Proven Innocent"

"Last time on 'Guilty Until Proven Innocent:'"

The State AG Office did a check of my child support payments and did not have a record of over $7000 in payments I made directly to my kids' mom. They immediately got a court order to garnish my wages for $100 per month to make up those payments without any type of communication with me to find out why those payments might be missing. I spoke with someone at the AG office and found out how to show I made the payments. Our story continues ...

I got the form from the AG Office, got the information about the payments I made directly to my kids' mom, and filled the form out. She was nice enough to meet me at the notary's office and we finished up the form.

Here's where the trouble starts over again:

My wife picked me up for our regular Friday lunch date. I planned to drop the form off at the AG's Child Support Office in my town. After we had a nice lunch, we headed towards the office. Right then, my phone started beeping - that's never a good sign. It was beeping to let me know I got some text messages that there was a problem at my office. My wife, being the great sport she is, agreed to drop the form off for me.

Fast-forward to that afternoon after work when I go to pick up my kids. Their mom comes out and tells me that the AG office called to ask whether the form was actually signed by her.

I was incensed at that.

Not only did they now question my integrity, they also questioned the integrity of my wife and the notary who innocently witnessed my kids' mom sign it. Amazing.

Thankfully, my ex-wife was kind enough to go to the AG Office and verify she signed it. The people there told her that those forms are never dropped off by the "current wife" with the ex-wife's permission. If that's the case, perhaps they should include instructions on the form as to how it should be delivered. If a notarized signature isn't good enough to prove the form's validity, the form should be changed.

Still in all, I am amazed at the mess this caused. Hopefully we have it all cleared up and I have been proven innocent.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

I never thought it would happen to me. The feeling it gives you is terrible. The shame is almost overwhelming. The thought of it makes my skin crawl.

What am I referring to? Being behind in child support payments.

Well, I'm not really behind. But, according to the Texas Attorney General Office I am; and I have the garnishment order to prove it.

My former spouse and I agreed on our divorce settlement a few years ago, it was during the last week of February. It was from that day until October before the final divorce decree was done and signed by the judge. Because I didn't have the proper court order, my employer would not take the support payments out of my salary and forward them on to the AG office as specified in the decree. Once I had the final paperwork in hand, I gave a copy to the payroll folks and the payments started coming out of my salary as agreed to.

In the meantime, I paid my support payments to my kids' mom directly. Every payday I wrote a check out and delivered it to her personally. No problem there, everyone was happy.

Fast forward to now. My support payments come up on the every-three-year review. They look in the records and see there is no record of payments made during the 8-month period before the final decree was finished. So they got a court order instructing my employer to take an additional $100 per month out of my salary to start paying back the support they think I didn't pay and they reported this matter to the credit bureaus. Without so much as a letter, a phone call, a "hey we're showing this discrepancy, can you explain it?" Wham! The gavel falls and I'm accused of and found guilty of a crime I did not commit in one fell swoop.

I called the AG Office to find out what the problem was. The garnishment order did not explain anything, it just mentioned the amount I am supposedly behind and ordered the amount to be deducted from my salary. Once the person at the office checked my records, I could immediately see it was a misunderstanding. I can understand where they might get the impression I skipped all those payments; but, given the fact that I have paid on time, every time since then you'd think they'd give me the benefit of a phone call or letter asking what happened to those payments. Nope - guilty!

I can have this backlog erased by merely filling out paperwork outlining the payments I made directly to my former spouse and having her sign it to verify I made the payments. Thankfully, we get along pretty well; I'd hate to think what it would be like if she were inclined to do "stupid ex-spouse" tricks like some I know of.

It's not the money I'm worried about. The worrisome part to me is that someone can be accused and found guilty with no due process, no recourse until after the fact. It's really a shame that our rights, guaranteed by the Constitution, are completely ignored in this type case. That is the real crime.

I believe any man (or woman for that matter) who does not pay their share of support for their children should be considered criminals. Their wages should be garnished and given to the custodial parent to make sure the kids don't go without. However - our Nation is founded on laws and one of the highest of those laws decrees that a person is considered innocent until proven guilty and that everyone is entitled to due process under the law.

If I had been given my due process in this matter, everything could have been settled with far less fanfare without labeling me a "deadbeat dad."

Visiting Detroit

It's always nice to visit mom and hand around the home of my youth. This trip was inspired by my brother's mention he was having all of his kids visiting, two of whom live with their mom in Georgia. I thought it the perfect opportunity to take my boys and see everyone.

The trip up was uneventful - which is the way I prefer it. We drove up to Dallas (that's where William Shatner could get me the best deal); got through the maze of parking, checking baggage and security with no problem. The only bad part was that we were seated in the very last row of a DC-8, which meant no windows and the seats wouldn't recline. Small things, indeed.

The food is always what gets me when I visit. There are some things you can't normally find outside Michigan and my favorites are: Mock Chicken Legs, Fried Bread (the way mom makes it), and Faygo pop (soda for you folks down in Texas). I always eat way too much when I come here, but it's wonderful.

We visited the Henry Ford Museum. There was a special show called "Rock Stars Cars and Guitars." It wasn't a very big display, but it was interesting. There were quite a few special guitars, mostly from the collection of Rick Nielsen (of Cheap Trick fame). There was one of the original Gibson "Flying 'V'" models, guitars played by Nielsen, Ted Nugent, Billy Gibbons, Jimi Hendrix and many more. There were some very nice cars there which I wish I could have driven instead of just looked at. Two cars were featured in Van Halen videos ("Hot for Teacher" was one) and driven by folks from Elvis (a yellow Pantera) to ZZ Top. There was even the "Yellow Submarine" Rolls to pay tribute to the Beatles (though they only had pictures of John Lennon in the room).

I've probably been to The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village at least a dozen times over the years. Every time I go there's the old cars, planes and trains which have always made up the bulk of the collection, but there are always some new surprises. For anyone who is into history at all, I highly recommend a visit to The Henry Ford. It's worth coming to the Detroit area to visit for a day or two on its own.

My mother knows I don't do anything "Christmasy" until after Thanksgiving because of my protest against commercialism of the holiday. Still, she had to tease me a little. One of the local radio stations (WNIC) was having a "Christmas in July" show playing Christmas music. After shouting that the management of the station should be jailed, and hurriedly switched the radio off. Humph - the effrontery of it all. We did all have a good laugh over it, though.

Lastly, speaking of the Gibson "Flying 'V'" - my 13-year-old son wants a guitar for his birthday. Not just any guitar, but a Fender Stratocaster with a light finish. Not a bad choice. While he was telling me his reason for wanting the "Strat" he mentioned that the Flying "V" wasn't popular until Jimi Hendrix played one. I though that model of guitar was only around since the '70s. We googled it and found that the Flying "V" was first made in the late '50s. And, sure enough, at the exhibit at The Henry Ford there was one of the first Flying "V" guitars which was made in 1958. It's sometimes wild what you learn from your kids.

Northwest Airlines Phone System Lunacy

First: let me preface these comments by telling I really like Northwest Airlines. I've flown with them many times in the past and I've always gotten good service at a pretty good price. But - their automated phone system leaves a lot to be desired. Here's my story.

I purchased tickets for me and my three sons to fly to Michigan. I normally like to do my travel deals on line, and this was no exception. I got a great deal on Priceline (I've been saying William Shatner negotiated a great deal for me). This was over a month ago.

The other day, I went to Northwest's web site to confirm my reservations and select seats. All I had to do was enter my confirmation number and my reservation for all four tickets was right there on the screen. When I went to pick my seats, however, I noted they were all taken except for the "premium" seats which cost something like $15 extra.

Thinking there was a problem and that the flight was horribly overbooked, I used the handy email form and sent a message. According to the web site I was to get an answer within 2 hours because Northwest has live agents on duty 24/7. I thought that was great service.

When I didn't get an answer by the next morning, some 14 hours later, I was slightly concerned. I knew from watching the news Northwest had been experiencing flight delays and cancellations because of a pilot shortage and bad weather. I thought it prudent to call. That's where my frustration started.

I'm used to automated phone systems, but I still don't like them at all. I especially hate the ones which want you to speak your selection. That just really gets me. It's a machine, for cryin' out loud. Some of them will skip you right to a real person if you hit the zero button enough times. Not this one, though.

So I went through the menu from flight information to reservation confirmations. Here's where the real fun started.

I was given a reservation similar to "3LBB9P." Every time I tried to say the letters and numbers, the machine at the other end got it wrong. "Did you say "3LDDB ... 3LPP9B ... 3LBD9Z?" Finally, after 3 or 4 tries the machine tells me it will connect me to a real person. To which, I got another recording telling me about extra-heavy call volume and my call could not be completed. Hang up.

At this point, I'm a little irritated. But, foolish me, I decide to try it again. I go through the whole mess again, even trying to say my reservation code in the international phonetic alphabet, "Three, Lima, Bravo, Bravo, Niner, Papa" to no avail. And again, I got the "extra-heavy call volume" message and the disconnect.

I'm really ticked off by now, but I had enough sense to quit trying for the time being. Thankfully, I got a reply in my email a little bit after the last call which let me know the reason I couldn't choose seats is because I bought them from another vendor and had to wait until check-in to choose seats. That was not a problem to me because I wasn't too concerned so much about picking seats as I was that the flight would be messed up and I might end up wasting my vacation waiting around in airports. In the end, I checked in on line and was able to choose seats.

Northwest IT/Telecom Folks: Either get a different way to enter reservation numbers or change the codes so we don't have to rely on a computer to differentiate between very like-sounding letters. Even live, human people have trouble hearing the difference between "B," "D," or "P" over the phone. I know I'm not the only one to experience this mess, so do something about it.

One thing I could have tried, but didn't, was to say "Agent" over and over. That works for the electric company's phone system. If I have to call Northwest again, I'll try to remember that trick.

History Repeats Itself: Ford to Use Soy Plastic

Ford To Use Soybean-Based Foam In Mustang Seats

Although it may sound like a new idea in this era of searching for alternatives to fossil fuels, Ford actually experimented with soy-based plastics early in its history. Some of the first plastics used in automobiles were made from soybeans, and Ford led the way.

Henry Ford did have his quirks and idiosyncrasies and was downright foolish in his beliefs at times. Say what you will about him, but he and his sons were pioneers in many areas.

I highly recommend "Ford, the Men and the Machine" by Robert Lacey. It is a well-written and well-researched book about the Ford family and the Ford Motor Company from it's beginnings to the modern era (well, at least to the late-80s when the book was published).

Another Microsoft Conundrum Solved

Here's the scenario:

1. Windows MMIII Server running IIS, multi-homed with 2 NICs, some web sites running on IP Addresses on one NIC, others running on IP Addresses on the other. This was originally set up so that password-protected web sites could be authenticated through a WebSense LDAP call. This server hosts our Intranet web sites.

2. No longer using WebSense and the Networking group wants to replace and get rid of old routers and switches.

3. The server will now run all web sites through one NIC.

Here's what I did:

1. Deleted the IP Address of the NIC which was routed through WebSense. After doing that, I deactivated the NIC.

2. Entered the IP Addresses from the now-deactivated NIC onto the other.

3. Changed the subnet mask and the default router on the one working NIC. Turned off Routing and Remote Access because the static routes that service handled were no longer needed.

4. Restarted the Server.

At this point, I expected everything to route where it was supposed to and we could call it a night after 15 minutes work. Ah, but that was not to be. Computers in the same subnet as the server could access the web sites correctly. But, those which were in other subnets (across the router) could not get the web sites.

I went through and double-checked the IP Addresses, subnet mask, and default gateway on the server. All was correct. I also ran route print to make sure there wasn't anything hanging on from the old routing. There wasn't. I also restarted the server numerous times. (Microsoft Troubleshooting Lesson 1: Always reboot first before doing anything else.)

The networking guys checked, rechecked and checked again all the routing info in the routers and switches which the server's traffic would have to cross.

The interesting twist on this, by the way, was that the server's non HTTP traffic going across the router worked just fine. It could get its dynamic content from the 2 database servers which are each in a different subnet, and it could make the AD LDAP calls for authentication.

Total mystery.

We spend the better part of 2 1/2 hours checking, rechecking, adjusting and changing settings trying to get this server to give it's web pages to everyone needing access to them. No luck.

Finally, one of the networking guys, who was very frustrated, suggest we remove all the IP Addresses off the working NIC and reenter them.

I did that and everything started working. I didn't even have to restart the server again.

So, if anyone out there needs to "un-multi-home" a Windows server, don't just enter the old IP Addresses on the other NIC, remove all the IP Addresses and start over.

One more piece of advice: Remember which was the first IP address you entered on the working NIC and don't take that one off. In our scenario, that was the only IP address which seemed able to communicate across routers. There is something about the first NIC and the first IP Address entered on that NIC that's magical. I'm thinking about my other experience with that IP/NIC problem.

Scandal? What Scandal?

I am tired of the endless barrage of criticism and congressional inquiries into the firing of federal prosecutors. It's been months since it happened, and Congress and the media are still wasting time, energy and a lot of hot air over this.

Presidential appointees serve at the behest and pleasure of the president. Those folks were appointed by Bill Clinton when he was president. George Bush is president now and he gets to pick and choose who works for him and who doesn't. It doesn't matter why he fired them, he did. He doesn't have to have a good reason - or any reason. They served at the pleasure of the president and he decided some other folks would work out better.

When Bill Clinton fired federal prosecutors when he was in office, there was no hoopla, no talk of scandal, no congressional inquiries. He fired more people that Bush did and there was hardly a mention of it. Why all the fanfare now?

With all the important things Congress could be working on right now, why are they wasting time on these "small potatoes?" With the real crises our nation faces these days, the firing of a dozen folks hardly rates even a scant mention. They're all smart people and good attorneys. They will land on their feet. The experience they garnered working in their office will help them land some great jobs in the private sector. And, their employment as federal prosecutors was not a contract job. They could be fired at any time, and they knew that going into the job.

Wait a minute, what am I thinking? If the congress is busy making a big fuss over this, maybe they'll be too busy to raise my taxes. Maybe they'll be too busy to pass some stupid law which will end up costing me more of my hard-earned money ...

Hey, what is all this? These people should have never been fired. Congress needs to bear their full attention on this crisis and get Bush! Yeah! I want to see 24/7 congressional inquiries into this matter right now!

Yeah, What He Said - Again

It's funny how things work out sometimes.

Little did I realize while sitting in Detroit's air-conditioned Cobo Arena, my ears assaulted by the screaming feedback and wild guitar playing of the "Motor City Madman" that one day we would live in the same area of Texas and I'd be reading his opinion column in the local paper.

And agreeing with most of what he writes.

His latest column in the Waco Tribune: Terrorists who drink and drive is another example of "Yeah, what he said."

Just over a year ago, some good friends of mine lost a son and grandson because of a drunk driver. This young man was riding in his best friend's Jeep, not wearing a seatbelt. His friend was driving way too fast on a country rode after having a few too many beers. The Jeep went out of control and this young son/grandson/husband/father was ejected from the vehicle and slammed into a tree. He died a few days later because of massive trauma which caused his brain to swell.

Driving while drunk or high on drugs is a leading killer of people in the US. It's not funny and it's not a game. It's a real problem which affects real people in unimaginably horrible ways. Ted describes a great example of a real person whose life was changed in an instant because of someone else's selfishness and stupidity.

"Friends don't let friends drive drunk" should be a way of life, not just a catchy phrase. All the punishment in the world doled out after someone is killed or injured comes too late. Drunk driving needs to be stopped before it happens. Responsible drinking includes someone who doesn't drink who can help those who are drinking by making sensible decisions for them and not letting them get behind the wheel. It's more than just a designated driver, it's a designated thinker

Joining MADD, DADD or SADD is a great idea, but take it a step further and make a promise to yourself that in your circle of friends you will not let them drive while impaired. And let them do the same for you. The rewards are well worth the effort.

Hugo Chavez - Marching to that Totalitarian Beat

Venezuelan Opposition Leader Demands Hugo Chavez Free Jailed Protesters

I just wonder how people can be so fooled. Hugo Chavez is elected to head Venezuela, the parliament gives him dictatorial powers (only for a limited time, though, wink-wink). Now the people are surprised when he puts people who publicly challenge his actions in jail and that he shut down a television station because it aired opinions contrary to what he dictates.

The people who disagree with jailing dissidents and shutting down free media demonstrate and many of them are themselves jailed. It should really come as no surprise the Venezuelan Government is making such moves as these. Not fair? We can still protest peaceably and freely in the United States, but the same is not true of Venezuela.

One person who lives in the United States and enjoys the freedoms of speech, press and assembly is the actor Danny Glover. I have watched many movies in which Mr. Glover appeared. I found his acting to be quite good and the movies he worked on very entertaining.

However, I will no longer watch, rent, buy or otherwise participate in anything Mr. Glover has a hand in. Why? Because Mr. Glover is a huge fan of Hugo Chavez, even going to far as to praise him on Chavez' talk show "Hello, President." (See Hugo Chavez to Finance Danny Glover Movies) He is among a group of celebrities who support Chavez and seem to have no problem with the increasingly totalitarian and communistic government headed by their friend.

Mr. Glover basks in the blessings of freedom he gets by living in the United States. He has every right to go to Venezuela, or anywhere else for that matter, and get financing for his projects from whomever he can.

As someone who defended those rights by spending most of my adult life in the military, I will exercise my right to ignore him completely from now on. To paraphrase something Rush Limbaugh once said: "He has the right to say whatever he wants, but he doesn't have the right to be listened to."

Useless Warning Label?

I remember reading once about a web site which displays useless warning labels. I might have found one yesterday while on a business trip to the Gaylord Texan resort in Grapevine, Texas.

In the Gaylord's hotel rooms there is a safe, much like in other hotel rooms. It's not very big, but you can put a notebook computer in it along with other, smaller, items. The nicest feature of this safe is the electrical outlet you can use to charge your computer (or whatever) while it's safely locked up.

While I was packing my stuff to leave, I noticed the warning label on the inside of the safe's door:

It's a little hard to read, but among the other warnings printed on it was, "SUFFOCATION DANGER EXISTS." Here's why I think this might be a useless warning:
You can see from this picture, the safe is not all that big. It's about 24 inches wide by about 6 inches high and about 12 inches deep. There's no way to fit a person in this thing, no matter how small they are.

I suppose, though, there are some folks out there foolish enough to try to stuff a very small cat or a dog in the thing, perhaps allowing the pet to suffocate while their owner was out of the room.

I can imagine a little old lady, sneaking her cat into the hotel in her over sized purse. She is sneaky, alright, but what happens when she has to leave the room for a time? "I can't just put the 'Do Not Disturb' sign up, someone might come in anyway," she thinks to herself. "Aha!" she says to herself, "I'll put Muffy in the safe. That way if someone comes in they won't find her, and the walls are thick enough to muffle any noise she might make. I'll just let her out when I get back."

Tragedy strikes, though, when she returns and finds Muffy dead from lack of oxygen in the safe. Because there was no warning label on the door, the lady sues the hotel and the safe company. Despite the fact she wasn't supposed to have pets in the room and it should be obvious not to put a creature which requires oxygen to stay alive in a box with no air holes, the court awards her $1 million in damages for her pain and suffering.

Maybe it's not such a useless warning after all.

I didn't see a warning, though, to alert the user of an electric shock hazard from the outlet inside the safe. Using the scenario above, instead of suffocating perhaps the poor cat might electrocute itself trying to claw it's way out of the safe. The electrical short could trip the breakers in the hotel and set off alarms all over the place. Then who would get damages: The lady who shouldn't have had her cat in the room in the first place or the Hotel and all the other guests staying there that day?

Sometimes it's just hilarious to see what hoops companies must jump though in order to avoid being successfully sued by people who refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

Modern Day Indulgences

In the 1500s, it was common practice in the Roman Catholic Church to sell indulgences. According to Catholic doctrine, indulgences are those acts performed by a penitent person to remit for any sins he/she committed. In modern times, this is done through the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). In Luther's time, however, indulgences could be bought and sold for cash. In this way, the rich could, supposedly, purchase away their sins through monetary donations to the Church.

This led Martin Luther to write his "95 Theses" protesting the sale of indulgences. Forgiveness of sins was the purview of God alone and not something priests, bishops, nor even the Pope (Leo X at that time) could sell for a price. As Luther saw things, it was the responsibility of the individual to seek Christ and gain salvation by the Grace of God alone, which, as St. Paul wrote, "Is a gift from God so that no man could boast."

Sin Credits

In those days, one could purchase "sin credits" to keep themselves out of Hell or cut their time in Purgatory. Today, we have a similar system - the buying and selling of "Pollution Credits" or "Carbon Credits" or "Carbon Offsets."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_credit

Now, anyone who buys into the notion that global warming is human-caused and mostly the fault of those who live in the United States can buy their guilt away by paying someone else to plant a tree, go solar- or wind-power for electricity, or do some other task which will supposedly offset the amount of carbon dioxide their activities might put into the atmosphere.

Like the indulgences of 500 years ago, purchasing carbon offsets merely gives the illusion that a person is really doing something about how much carbon they might put into the atmosphere. Instead of actually doing something about climate change, they purchase their guilt away and do nothing of real substance. Folks like Al Gore don't have to actually do something about their houses, cars and plane trips. They can point to how much they offset their lifestyle ("sins against the environment) through the purchase of these modern indulgences.

If you believe that global climate change is human-caused then go out and do something real about it. Don't let your opinion be overshadowed by the hypocrisy of driving in limos or large SUVs , taking trips on private jets which put more carbon per passenger into the air than regular passenger jets, or using many times the amount of electricity of the average family in a home where only a few people live. Get a smaller car (or a motorcycle or hybrid car), fly with the scheduled airlines, insulate and modernize your home. Don't just put your money where your mouth is - do something real about it and lead by example.

RFID Security In The News Again

Since I took so much time with my EMT class, I'm just now catching up on some news items I bookmarked during the semester. Here are a couple regarding RFID technology, which I regard as a potential security nightmare if not implemented right.

Larry Seltzer has a very good item which was posted to eWeek.com back in March: Uncle Sam's Got an RFID Jones.

Larry hits some very good points both for and against RFID technology using the new, voluntary test program in Washington State where drivers licenses are offered with RFID technology. In the Washington test, the license's RFID chip would only store a unique code which would be linked to the user's personal information stored in a central database. Although using RFID in this way may be safer for those who use it, it's still not a fool proof way to safeguard a persons information. Better implementation? Yes. Totally secure? No way.

I am a realist about computer security. Any data stored anywhere can be exploited given the proper circumstances. Still, I hold my opinion that RFID opens up a security hole big enough to drive a truck through. I agree with Larry on one point: bar codes on licenses can do pretty much the same things RFID can do. Bar codes are not as convenient, but they are a lot easier to safeguard.

Another item I found, also on eWeek.com, was RFID Feared as Possible Terrorist Target by Lisa Vaas. She brings up information on a study by the British Royal Academy which points out that RFID technology could be used to aid terrorists who want to target a particular person or group. In this scenario, the terrorists would plant a bomb somewhere they knew their target would be, set the RFID reader to react when the targeted person came within range of the reader and set off the bomb. In this instance, even if the person's personal data were stored elsewhere and the RFID tag in his/her identification were only encoded with a unique identifier, that unique identifier could be the thing which would set off the bomb.

For now, I'm going to hang on to my opinion that RFID can be useful, but that incorporating it into a system for identification is not a good use for it.

Your Pants Are Too Small For You!

/* Beginning of rant */

There's the joke stereotype of the plumber, electrician or handyman who goes around wearing pants which are too small for his butt and showing his "butt crack" every time he bends over. I think we need to add teenage and early-20s girls to that stereotype, too.

I know many young ladies want to attract attention to themselves and wear tight, revealing clothes. It's been the trend over the past couple of years to show a bit of belly; and, that trend has been towards more belly and less clothing.

Yesterday, I saw something which really set me off. I parked my car and came around the corner of my townhouse building and saw the teenage next-door neighbor girl sitting on the sprinkler control box outside her front door talking on the phone. The control box is about 4 inches high, and with her back to me, I could see she was sitting on the waist portion of her pants. If she was sitting on the waistband of the pants, then those pants were way too small for her.

My 16-year-old son said to me when we were on an outing not long ago, "Dad, I like looking at girls, but some of them are showing way too much." I take that as an indication the style trend has gone too far.

Parents of young ladies: TAKE YOUR DAUGHTER OUT SHOPPING AND BUY SOME CLOTHES WHICH FIT HER! You are contributing to a bad trend in design if you don't go and get some decent clothes for your kids. And don't give me the "That's all they make" excuse. Somewhere out there are decent-fitting clothes for young ladies. FIND THEM! If the stores you like to shop don't have them, COMPLAIN TO THE MANAGEMENT or SEND AN EMAIL TO THEIR HEAD OFFICE.

Your daughter may complain about having to wear uncool clothes. BE A PARENT AND TEACH HER SOME MODESTY. She isn't going to learn it from the media, their pop star idols, her friends nor anyone else. She has to learn it from you.

/*End of Rant*/

Anyone Remember Sir Graves Ghastly?

I'm really "digging" up some stuff up from my childhood in the Detroit area.

A few days ago I was thinking about a Saturday afternoon show where a "vampire" host named Sir Graves Ghastly would show old '50s and '60s horror movies. I remember spending many a cold winter Saturday afternoon watching Sir Graves and his cast of characters (all played by Lawson Deming). I think I saw the original "The Mummy" at least a dozen times in those years. I also remember thinking Boris Carloff was in every horror movie ever made.

The man who played Sir Graves, Lawson Deming, passed away just last month. Other than Bozo or Oopsy the Clown, I don't think there is another celebrity who was more popular amongst kids who grew up in the Detroit area in the '70s.

http://www.sirgravesghastly.com

Random Thoughts For Early April

My EMT class continues to keep me very busy. I'm doing quite well in the academic portion of the class, but I do need some work on patient assessments in the skills area. I did 4 shifts at our local hospital's Emergency Department. Let me tell you, there is a heck of a lot to learn on the "other side of the waiting room." I can understand why it takes so long to be seen and sometimes treated. They really do go on a "sickest goes first" system. I have a new appreciation for the staff working emergency medicine.

I have done 1 out of the 4 shifts with an EMS service, which is also required for my class. In a 14 hour shift, we only went on 3 calls. That's pretty slow for them as I understand it. The ride-along was also very, very interesting.

I found an old friend I knew in the Army whom I last communicated with over 20 years ago. It was great to catch up and see what he's been up to. This is one of those guys I knew who "fell off the face of the Earth" never to be heard from again. Google is a great tool for finding people.

I got a few new CDs in the past couple of weeks. My wife got me the latest (and potentially last) release from Bob Seger. There are some good tunes on it, though they are not what I would call "typical Seger." I also got "Anthology" by The J. Geils Band. They did a great job grouping tunes together so the first CD is all studio stuff and the second CD is mostly live. The J. Geils Band is one of those who did their best stuff live, though they did a lot of great studio work as well.

There are some classic rock acts which sound better live, some which sound better in the studio and some which have great work in both realms. Here is a list of my opinions, you can take them or leave them:

• Ted Nugent: Definitely better live. I might be a bit biased since I saw him live 4 times when I was younger. He is a great entertainer and I think "Double Live Gonzo" is some of his best work - even if he didn't record "Motor City Madhouse" in Detroit.
• Rush: These guys did some fantastic tunes; "The Spirit of Radio," "Free Will," "Tom Sawyer," "Time Stands Still" are among my favorite songs of all time. However, I cannot stand their live stuff. I know a lot of people will disagree with my opinion here (my wife certainly does) but I prefer Rush in the studio rather than live.
• Bob Seger: Here's one who stands equally well both live and in the studio. "Live Bullet" has some of his best work, but there are a few "clinkers" on there too. There are some timeless Seger tunes which were done in the studio.
• The J. Geils Band: They have 3 songs which I think are some of the best live recordings of all time: "First I Look At The Purse," "Whammer Jammer/Hard Drivin' Man" and "Land of 1000 Dances." If you've never heard J. Geils' cover of "Land of 1000 Dances" you've never heard "Land of 1000 Dances." They also did some great studio stuff, though some of the "Disco"-sounding tunes I can take or leave.
• Journey: Definitely better in the studio.
• REO Speedwagon: Great in the studio. However, the studio version of "Riding the Storm Out" isn't even the same song as the live version. I would hate that song if it weren't for the live version.
• Lynyrd Skynyrd: Great in the studio, but their live version of "Free Bird" is my favorite of their work.
• The Who: I think better in the studio than live. Their live version of "Summertime Blues" is a classic in my opinion.
• Led Zeppelin: I don't like the live stuff I've heard from them. Definitely better in the studio. I will throw out there, though, Heart's live cover of "Rock and Roll" is excellent.

Enough of that for now. I need to study for a test I have tomorrow.

Detroit - Rock City

I love it here in Texas, but sometimes I get a little homesick for all the favorites I had as a kid. Anyone out there who grew up in the Detroit Area in the late '70s and '80s remember:

• "WRIF, The home of rock and roll, BABY!"
• The "Live at Hart Plaza" local music concert series
• JJ and the Morning Crew
• "It's me, Arthur P" Penhollow "The Grand Poobah of Rock and Roll"
• The Dick the Bruiser Band
• D.R.E.A.D - Detroit Rockers Engaged in the Abolition of Disco
• WABX and the Steve Dahl show
• WWWW - W4 changing from Album-Oriented Rock to Country and Western with no warning on a Monday morning
• Marshall Crenshaw
• Muggsy
  
• The Romantics before they made it big
• Bob Seger selling out 5 shows at Cobo in one day
• The Numerous Ted Nugent Tours - except the one at the Acoustically Imperfect Pontiac Silverdome where The Cars were the opening band and they both sounded terrible in the nose-bleed seats
• Ted Nugent's campaign to make "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" the Michigan state song? (I still have a letter from Gov. William Milliken's office outline why that would not be an appropriate song)
• I could go on for a while on this list ...
  

My friend Ron, who still lives near where we grew up, sent me a link which caused me to remember those days. Motor City Rock 1980-1990 is a site dedicated to "Preserving Detroit's Local Music Scene." They've done a great job of cataloging information about the bands of the Detroit area of that era with pictures, discographies, club dates and even some MP3s. There are a lot of cities which claim to have the "greatest live music scene" but I doubt any city can compare to Detroit back in those days and this site gives a lot of proof to how vibrant the Detroit music scene was.

It seems to me that every club had live music at least once a week, and there were plenty of concert venues both large and small. The site boasts it has 860 bands cataloged, and I would not doubt that in the least. I am even a former member of a few long-haired rock and roll garage bands - which unfortunately never got past the garage stage of development.

Another site sent to me by an old Army friend who grew up in the Detroit Area is Detroit Memories. This site is a collection of lists of things Detroit from the '50s through the '70s. There is even a link to an on-line store where you can order goodies only available from Detroit (Faygo Rock and Rye, anyone?). I have to admit, I have to have a Vernor's fix everyone once in a while, so I hop down to my local HEB and get a 6-pack from time to time. HEB is the only store I know in Central Texas which sells Vernor's, a long-time Detroit favorite still only available on a limited basis outside Michigan.

More RFID Security News

Nixed: Black Hat talk on RFID access badge risks

ACLU, Outrage Fill in the Silence at Black Hat RFID Session

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has grave concerns about the security of using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology being used as a form of official ID. During a recent conference, IOActive, a small security firm, was to give a talk on the inherent lack of security in an RFID badge system used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). IOActive has its officed in the same building as FEMA and was curious about how good their security using RFID was.

The people at IOActive were quite successful in showing how vulnerable the RFID badges used are. So successful were they, that the company which developed the system used by FEMA, HID Global, threatened legal action against IOActive if they proceeded with their talk under the guise of protecting their intellectual property. IOActive, being a relatively small company which doesn't have access to legions of attorneys, were forced to skip the portion of their talk which directly illustrated the inherent weaknesses in the badge system HID Global markets, and which is used to access the FEMA offices in the building shared with IOActive.

Even the ACLU took note of this incident. They did their own experiments with RFID technology and found that the RFID standards currently planned to fulfill requirements of the Real ID Act are inherently flawed and will cause more problems than it will solve. As I have pointed out before here and here, it would be remarkably easy for someone to build an RFID reader, walk through a crowd of people carrying RFID enabled devices and gather a large amount of personal information which has the potential of enabling the "bad guys" to steal the identities of the people in that crowd.

I highly encourage everyone to educate themselves on RFID; how it works, how it's used now and how it might be mandated for use later. I believe everyone can understand enough about how it works to be as concerned as I am that it is not a good idea to use a means of personal identification.

Going Back To School

For some time, now, I've wanted to go to school to earn certification as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). There are a number of reasons why I want to do this, chief among them is my membership in my "real" employer's Emergency Response Team. (Yes, I have a day job - sitting around and "opinionating" about stuff only pays off for the lucky few).

I haven't been to a real college-level class for quite some time. My computer geek duties send me to technical classes, seminars and conferences a few times a year, but those are normally only a week long and there are no exams. This class runs twice a week for 4 hours and 8 hours on the semiweekly Saturday. There are real tests to study for and homework! This is the real deal, let me tell you.

Most of the members of the class are much younger than I. Many of them are either working towards being a paramedic or firefighter and a few who are looking to hire on with an EMS service to help pay their way through nursing school. That makes for interesting discussions coming from many different points of view.

This class is really keeping me busy, too. There is a lot to learn, as I expected there would be. But I was unprepared for the sheer volume of information. I knew a little about medical stuff and first aid from my time in the Army, but this class goes way beyond anything I learned in the past.

I welcome the challenge, though. I passed the first exam with an 89 and I look to pass the next exam as well. Homework and study!

I'll update later.

"It Takes A Thief" and "The Apprentice"

My wife and I have been watching The Discovery Channel's "It Takes A Thief" for a few months now. It's an interesting show where two ex-burglars case out a home, convince the residents to let them rob the place, show them where their security is lax and then outfit them with tools to help them keep their homes safe. It's astounding how many people don't even lock their doors. When I consider that most of the episodes I've seen are done in the New York City area, I am even more astounded. (I'm not knocking New York City - crime tends to be higher in any large, urban center and locking doors should be a given anywhere one might live). What really gets me going, though, is how many people keep large amounts of cash in their homes. I'm talking about amounts above $1000.

I might be naive about such things, but isn't it safer to put money in the bank? Even if a thief took your bank statements or ATM cards, you would still have a chance to stop them by reporting the theft to your bank and having them freeze your account. Once the cash is gone, it's gone. It doesn't make sense to me. I can understand keeping a couple hundred dollars around the house for emergencies, but any more than that I don't understand. I'm not trying to be critical of those who keep such amounts of cash in their homes, I'm trying to understand the purpose behind it. It seems very counter-intuitive to me.

Another show I enjoy is "The Apprentice." "The Donald" is a very interesting character to me. Whatever you might think about him, you have to admit he is successful at what he does. It's fascinating to watch how he selects the people to be fired.

In this season of the show, the team which loses the given task not only has to go to the boardroom where "... somebody will be fired," but they also must live in the back yard of the mansion where the teams are housed. They're provided tents, cots, chairs, showers, grills and other necessities for life.

What amazes me the most is the way some of the the would-be apprentices whine about having to live outside. Here, they are given the opportunity of a lifetime to possibly work for the Trump Organization and instead of concentrating on that, a couple of them just go on and on about having to live in a tent. One person actually quit because she couldn't handle it.

I like living indoors with all the conveniences living in the US offers. But, I have spent a lot of time living in tents, sleeping on cots, dealing with the weather, etc. What was I doing at the time? I was out there training to defend our Nation so we could all enjoy the freedoms we have. There are men and women out there right now doing the same thing (and in addition taking fire, no less) so these folks could have the opportunity they have to better their lives and possibly make a lot of money doing it.

I say: Take advantage of the opportunity you have and don't complain so much about having to live in a tent. Staying inside the mansion is the prize you get for winning. Take responsibility, focus, work harder and win the next task. Then, you can move into the mansion and the other team can sleep under the stars.

Trip To Fredericksburg, Texas

My wife and I completed our Third Annual Honeymoon yesterday, which was a trip to Fredericksburg, Texas. Fredericksburg is a nice, touristy-type town in the Texas Hill Country, a little south-west of Austin and a little north-west of San Antonio.

During our visit we stayed at the Main Street Bed and Breakfast. This was the first B&B experience for both us, and it was quite nice. The rooms for this particular B&B are situated on the second floor of an older building, upstairs from shops and a B&B reservation service. The room was a little on the small side, but very nice and clean. A very nice breakfast was delivered to us every morning between 8:30 and 9:00 am. A lot of attention paid to the decor of the room, with pictures on the walls, antique furniture and a 4-poster bed. My favorite part of the room was a giant spa tub in the bath. It was large enough to fit the two of us quite comfortably and was equipped with lots of jets. Since the water heater was situated in the closet of the bathroom, there was more than enough hot water to fill the thing. Very relaxing - I loved it.

Fredericksburg seems to be known chiefly for 4 things: the German heritage of it's founders and residents, shopping, wine and the National Museum of the Pacific War.

The German theme is noted all along the main street (US Highway 290 and is appropriately named "Hauptstasse"). There are a number of German-style restaurants and many of the shops sell German-themed goods.

We ate at two very good restaurants during our stay. The Brewery combined Tex-Mex, German and American food with a microbrewery making for a great dining experience. The food came in generous portions and the beer was excellent. We waddled out of there more than a little full. The onion rings were particularly tasty. "Der Lindenbaum" is a small restaurant set up very much like an authentic German Gasthaus. Here, the food was excellent and tasted very authentic. I'd rather have had spaetzle with my Jaegerschnitzel instead of mash potatoes, but I think making spaetzle is an art not too common in America. They had the Franziskaner Dunkelweitzen beer on tap - very unusual outside of Germany. That was a great capper to a great meal.

There are a number of very good specialty shops along Main Street. One of the more interesting was Rustin' Bob's Texas Gourmet Foods. This store features a very large variety of Texas-produced goodies, home made fudge, and the largest collection of hot sauces for sale I've ever seen. My wife picked up a jar of jalapeño peanut butter, which she said was quite tasty (I think it's an abomination - but that's a story for another time). We picked up a 1/2 pound of fudge, but I think my wife ate it while I wasn't looking. I did get enough of a taste of the free samples to know that fudge is among the best I've ever had and would run a close race to Mackinac Island Fudge. There was also a unique bath shop which I forgot the name of. They had the funniest rubber duckies, including a Mr. T one. (I've had enough of your jibber-jabber. You stink! Get in the tub, fool!).

There are a number of wine shops in Fredericksburg. We visited two: Texas Vineyards & Beyond and the Fredericksburg Winery. Texas Vineyards & Beyond features wines from all over the world, and especially from Texas. I knew there were some wineries in Texas, but I had no idea there were over 100 as wells as a number of excellent vineyards. The people there were very helpful, and of course, assisted with some samples. The Fredericksburg Winery makes their own wine for sale. Some of it was excellent and bought a couple, three bottles. The owner is also a big supporter of our troops overseas, which is a big plus in my eyes.

I think the highlight of our trip was our visit to The National Museum of the Pacific War (originally called the "Nimitz Museum" because Chester Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg, and the museum was once housed in a hotel owned by his family). The museum holds a vast collection of artifacts, displayed in chronological order from the opening of Japan to the West to the signing of the surrender in Tokyo Bay. It was almost too much to take in. We spent almost 3 hours walking through and reading all the displays. There is even a Japanese mini-sub which was part of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but missed its target and ran aground elsewhere on Hawaii. A few blocks from the main museum is a tour of displays depicting an airfield, a PT Boat base and a typical beach head as it would have been defended by the Japanese in those days. This tour took about an hour and was well worth it.

All in all it was a great trip. I highly recommend a visit to Fredericksburg.

Note: I was not compensated in any way for any of the opinions given here. They are my own and I am not paid to endorse any product or company.

Pizza Patron Pesos Controversy - Why Should You Care?

Texas-Based Pizza Chain Accepts Pesos

In my opinion, you really shouldn't care. This is a tempest in a tea cup if I ever saw one. I completely understand the national debate over illegal immigration. However, I doubt if anyone is going to sneak across the border and go all the way up to Dallas just to get a pie from Pizza Patron. There are doubtless a number of pizza places in border towns up and down the US-Mexico border which take pesos and don't require a 12-hour drive to pick up an order.

Death threats? Get real people. Unless you have a Pizza Patron restaurant nearby and have some pesos sitting around, there really isn't a reason to get mixed up in all this. Besides, there are far better ways to express your displeasure over the practices of a business besides making death threats. Organize a boycott, picket outside the restaurants, email the company, write letters to the editor, etc.

Everyday Heroes

Of all the events in the news this past week, three really got me thinking: 1. The New York Subway Hero, 2. The two guys who caught the baby who fell off a fire escape from the 5th floor of a building, and 3. All the people who stopped to help those caught in the Colorado Avalanche.

These stories really got me thinking: "Why don't we hear about this kind of thing more often?" I could make a "knee-jerk" reaction and blame the media. But, are they totally to blame for the lack of good-news stories or is there just not enough good news going around?

My hope is these stories will galvanize regular folks to take time out of their lives to touch the lives of other people. I know people in the U.S. are the most generous in the world donating money to help those caught in natural disasters and the like. It would take us to the next level when people will start the make the larger step from anonymous donation to stepping in and helping people where they are face to face. I believe this kind of action will take us down a road to a place where we won't need to should shout, "Where is the government with my check" when something happens. People won't need "Big Daddy" government to help them because their neighbors will have already taken care of their needs.

President Ford, Rest In Peace

Gerald Ford was a bit of an enigma. He was elected as neither President nor Vice President, but served in both offices. Some of his policies were not great, but he served with dignity and honor.

He may very well be remembered as the caricature of a klutz as played by Chevy Chase on "Saturday Night Live." He was the president who "always fell down" or "beaned someone on the head with an arrant golf shot." In reality, he was quite the athlete in his day playing center for the University of Michigan which earned 2 National Championships. He was even courted by the Detroit Lions, though he turned down the offer to attend law school.

I believe President Ford will be remembered in history as the man who held the nation together during a time of extreme crisis. His tenure was born of two scandals which rocked the US, stepping in when others were forced to step aside. His mission was healing, and he carried that mission to its completion.

Potential RFID Privacy & Security Problems

A year ago this past May I blogged about some serious security and privacy concerns regarding Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). In the past year-and-a-half, I haven't seen any real public discussion of the concerns I have regarding the use of this technology.

A paper published by the University of Washington Department of Computer Science and Engineering entitled "Devices That Tell On You: The Nike+iPod Sport Kit", outlines a direct example of how an on-the-market RFID technology has the potential to be exploited for bad purposes. The paper is telling in the relatively simple way the RFID technology, used to make a very handy and convenient device, can be used can also be used by the "not so honest" out there with very little technical knowledge. It also demonstrates some possible ways the device could be changed in order to make it far more "privacy friendly."

I highly recommend folks read up on RFID and its potential problems. I hate to call for government action on a problem like this because then it'll just get messed up. I think it's better for everyone to educate themselves so they can make informed decisions about the technology they use, whether purchased or not.

"The Aviator"

Just to show you how far behind I am in today's pop culture, I just saw "The Aviator" for the first time yesterday evening. Among the biographical movies I've seen, this showing of the life of Howard Hughes is pretty good.

There were a few scenes which could have been cut to keep this film under 3 hours. I think, though, despite the length the movie did a fairly good job of capturing Hughes' genius and madness. I recommend this one, if for nothing else, to ponder the workings of a man who suffered greatly from mental illness yet was still able to carry on leading a huge business empire.

The Size of Money

Judge Orders Treasury Department to Make Paper Money Recognizable to Blind People

I can't understand why the US hasn't made this type of change to its currency before now. This makes a lot of sense, not only to the blind people who would benefit tremendously from changing the size of bills, but it would also be a nice convenience for everyone else.

European countries have had different sized paper currency for years, even before the adoption of the Euro. In Germany, for example, not only were the various denominations of currency different sizes, they were also different colors.

The Treasury Department just spent tons of money redesigning US currency. It seems to me that would have been a great time to redo the size, too. I completely disagree that having different sized bills would make it more difficult to prevent counterfeiting; I think it would make it easier to prevent because counterfeiters would have to take into account not only the design, paper, and other security features of the bill but also the exact size.

This kind of change is long overdue. Treasury Department: get with the program and get to work.

Patriot Guard Riders - Taking Care of the Homefront

A while back I posted a piece about riding with the Patriot Guard Riders escorting the funeral procession of a soldier who fell in Iraq. That was a very moving event for me. As a veteran, I feel it's important we welcome home those returning from duty overseas - whether they gave the ultimate sacrifice or not.

One of the PGR's leaders forwarded a video of a TV news item. The item, I believe, captures the spirit of the PGR and those who ride for our military members. The video is from the "Post Cards from Home" segment on an Illinois TV Station.

Watching this reminded me of my own homecoming after Desert Storm.

I had the privilege to serve with a Warrant Officer who served in Vietnam as a young man. On one occasion, while we were sitting around in the middle of Saudi Arabia waiting for the "Storm" part of Desert Storm to kick off, we were discussing the outpouring of generosity and good will from those at home. We got cards, letters and packages from people we hadn't heard from in years as well as those we'd never met. As the discussion carried on, the Chief (as that's what we called senior Warrant Officers) warned us not to count on the public's support and largess to continue once the war kicked off. His fear was that the war could become very unpopular once the real shooting started.

His fear was well-founded according to his experience coming home from Vietnam after one of his tours there. He was a young man who chose the military as his career. Coming home, he proudly wore his uniform as he arrived at Fort Lewis, Washington. Once he got on the ground, he was "strongly advised" to change into civilian attire before leaving the post to get transportation home. He told us of protesters outside the gates of Ft. Lewis throwing stuff at the cars going in and out, carrying signs protesting the war and vilifying the troops. I could see telling us of his experience brought a lot of sadness to him. He wanted us to keep in mind that peoples' opinions change and he wanted us to prepare ourselves in case the same thing happened to us.

We can all remember how quickly everything was over once the "Storm" got underway. Our unit was in and out of Iraq within a few days of the cease-fire being declared and we were on a plane back to the US within a week or so.

We landed at Kennedy Airport in New York to fuel up for our last leg back to Ft. Bliss (which is in El Paso, Texas). There was a buffet line with pizza, coffee, soft drinks, and other goodies waiting for us. There were people behind the barricades holding signs, not of protest, but of support and welcoming. It was quite a treat.

When we finally arrived at Ft. Bliss, we could see a vast crowd waiting to welcome us home through the plane's windows. This was an even larger "welcome home" than what we experienced in New York. I happened to be right in front of the Chief as we started down the stairs off the plane. There was a line of Generals waiting to shake our hands as we disembarked and headed to the building where we were to turn in our weapons. At one point, Chief put his hand on my shoulder. I thought, perhaps he took a misstep and was steadying himself. He was trying to steady himself, but it wasn't from a misstep on the stairs, rather is was because he was overwhelmed with emotion. He looked me in the eye and said, "This makes up for last time. This makes up for last time." I even think I saw a tear in his eye, which was very out of character for him. I was happy he got some closure for his bad experience in the 70s.

I regale this story because I believe the men and women of our Armed Forces deserve the same kind of homecoming. Whether you agree with the war in Iraq or not, the Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, Sailors and Coast Guardsmen are putting it all on the line to help make our lives safer and to continue to enjoy the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution.

I hope you will take some time out of your life this week and do something to support our troops, both overseas and at home. I know the sacrifices of time and effort it takes to be a member of our Armed Forces, and those people deserve respect and support from everyone living under the blanket of freedom they help protect.

Boycott Christmas!

When I was in high school, the morning DJ of the album-oriented rock station (now called "classic rock") was a guy named Steve Dahl. He had a very funny show with his sidekick and straight-man Garry Meier, who was referred to as "a bargain basement version of George Fenneman." Among his other stunts, one which stands out to me is his "Boycott Christmas Until After Thanksgiving" campaign.

Although he most likely meant it as a gag, I really took this to heart. He complained about how stores and malls would start putting out Christmas stuff a week or so before Thanksgiving and encouraged his listeners to not buy Christmas stuff until the holiday season "officially" kicked off.

This really struck a chord with me. I, too, thought that stores started the Christmas buying season too early. To this day, I feel the same way - especially when the Christmas stuff starts coming out a couple weeks before Halloween.

My wife is embarrassed as we go through the local Wal-Mart and I yell out "Boycott Christmas 'til after Thanksgiving" or "Don't fall for the crass commercialism" or "Don't support the commercialists" or "No Christmas, no Christmas, no Christmas until after Thanksgiving." I'm not against Christmas, I'm against the commercialism that comes with it.

With the merchants promoting, the people buying, the ALCU suing, the real meaning of Christmas is getting lost through all the hubbub and activities of the season. Starting it earlier and earlier every year seems to just dilute the season more and more.

To be sure, the Christmas season is the time of year when people seem to be more generous. Charitable giving goes up and people are more sensitive to the plight of those less fortunate. If we could keep that going on longer and longer then the real spirit of Christmas would grow. I find every succeeding year Christmas is more about greed and avarice than it's about caring, sharing and helping.

I hope that you will find it in your heart to remember the greatest gift of all this year: the gift of generosity and giving which is what the first Christmas was really all about. Without that, we might as well call it "Winter Holiday" and be done with it.

Grammer Classes Make a Rebound

Clauses and commas make a comeback
SAT writing section helps return grammar lessons to classrooms

I'm not a perfect grammarian, but I do know grammar is an important communication skill for those who want to get ahead. I am forever grateful to the nuns who taught grammar to me so well, that by the time I went to high school I used a college-level text book in my composition class.

The ability to communicate effectively through writing has diminished quickly over the past 20 years or so. I've seen it amongst those who have worked for me, and I especially see it in the youth of today. My own children are plagued with horrible grammar. When I try to correct them they tell me, "that's not how we learned it in school." Lack of grammar instruction compounded with email and text-messaging shortcuts have left them in the cold. I'm glad to hear grammar is making a comeback.

College instructors will be glad to learn of grammar's comeback as well. I happened to overhear a discussion on high school instruction between some college professors this past summer. To a person, they all lamented how poorly today's youth are instructed in English. One professor served on the college's entrance committee and told me that at least 3/4 of the youth coming into their college require remedial instruction so they can cope with college-level English and math courses. Things have gone a long way downhill since I had a college-level English class as a high school sophomore.

Grammar instruction isn't the only thing lacking in our education system today. The way math and reading are taught should be considered a crime. I try to help my kids with their math homework and I only confuse them more by showing them how to quickly get the right answer rather than the convoluted "hoop-jumping" they're taught at school. My oldest missed out totally on phonics and has problems reading to this day. Thankfully my younger children were sent to a private school which taught phonics even to preschool-aged kids. They read very well and are way ahead of their public school contemporaries. I hope math, reading and spelling instruction will make a comeback like grammar is starting to make.

Another Great Wall of China?

Gorbachev: Border Fence is Like Berlin Wall

OK, if this isn't ridiculous I don't now what is. Comparing the proposed wall (or fence or whatever) along the border with Mexico meant to keep out illegal aliens with the Berlin Wall is totally outlandish, even for Ol' Stainhead.

If Mr. Gorbachev will remember his history, the Berlin Wall was built to keep freedom-loving people IN East Germany and out of West Berlin. It was not built to keep the West Germans or Americans out. In the days of the Cold War, people from behind the Iron Curtain had to literally escape to get out. Perhaps we should recall the hundreds of people who were shot trying to over, under or through the Berlin Wall by East German border guards.

People from Mexico are more than welcome to emigrate to the United States. It just that the United States regulates how many people can come in at a time. There's nothing unusual about this practice, almost every country has limits on who and how many people can come in to their countries. In other countries illegal immigrants are deported to where they came from and this is considered quite normal. So why isn't it normal for the US to do it?

I agree with one statement Mr. Gorbachev said: we do need ideas on how to better control the flow of people through and from Mexico. A wall or fence is not going to solve the problem. What will solve the problem is better economic conditions in Mexico and points south so people will be better able to take care of themselves and their families and not feel that they must emigrate to get better opportunities than they could get at home.

Amish Community Extends Forgiveness

Wife of School Gunman Thanks Amish for Forgiveness

It would be tough to find another, better, public example of true Christian forgiveness than this. As I understand, the Roberts family were friends with some of the families Charles Roberts forever changed during his shooting spree. I read and saw news reports where the affected family members came to Marie Roberts and her children to bring consolation and forgiveness. They set up a fund to benefits the Roberts children and one family even invited Marie to the funeral for their daughter.

The effects of such a senseless and horrible act can last the rest of one's life. Nothing will bring the girls back to their families, nor bring Charles Roberts back and in his right mind. Maintaining a grudge just prolongs the suffering of the family members left behind. The example of this Amish community is a template to all of us how to graciously and positively make the best out of an unimagineable circumstance.

The world would be a much better place if everyone would learn to forgive like these people.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Check out the listing in IMDb

This is a really bad movie. I'm glad I got to watch it for free on the Encore channel. I expected a bit more out of a case which in included Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. Perhaps it was supposed to be a bit "artsy-fartsy" with sophisticated humor, but I found it to be dull, drawn out, and just plain awful.

Ma Bell Is Back

FCC puts off AT and T-BellSouth merger vote

I don't get it. Some years ago, the US Government forced AT and T to break up into some half-dozen or so smaller companies because it was a monopoly. Over the past couple of years, most of the telecommunication providers which resulted from the split have merged to become what is now, ironically enough, the new AT and T. With the purchase of BellSouth, AT&T will be almost as large as it was when it was forced to split up. If AT and T controlled too much of the telecommunications industry back then, isn't it perhaps going to be too big now?

I am very leery of all the merging, or "consolidating" as it is termed. Instead of being good for consumers, when companies merge together to control large blocks of a particular industry, competition goes away and prices go up.

To be sure, there are many reasons gas prices have skyrocketed in the past year or so, but is it just a coincidence that the oil companies have merged themselves into an oligarchy just before this happened? What about the cable TV industry? Has your cable bill gone down because of consolidation in that arena? Mine sure hasn't. I'd like to see an example where consolidation actually led to lower prices for consumers. (Don't show me a bunch of examples where a large company was created from mergers or acquisitions and moved all its manufacturing overseas - those don't count.)

I am normally against government intervention in business. However, one of the federal government's constitutional duties is to regulate interstate commerce. Perhaps this might be one of those areas where a little regulation is in order.

PS - the ampersand ("and" symbol) is not allowed in Blogger - for reasons I completely understand. Thus my spelling "AT and T" in this posting.

My Theory About the Detroit Lions

Marinelli: Lack of Discipline to Blame for Lions 0-5 Record

I have had a theory about the Lions for years, and I tell it to a few people here and there. Now is the time to go public: The Lions are perennially mediocre at best because the Ford family uses them as a tax deduction. They play just good enough to give the fans some hope, but bad enough that they don't pull in too much money so the operation comes in at a loss every year.

Think about it: since the '50s, have the Lions ever made it past the first round of the playoffs? How many times have they even made the playoffs? Do they ever have more than one big-name key player on the team at a time?

I know Detroit sports fans are fiercely loyal - I used to be one, so I know. But come on people, The Red Wings, Pistons and Tigers have won the top prize in their sports, why not the Lions? I think it's time to vote with your feet and your wallets and show you want to watch a winner.

Infor's SXAPI Problem and Solution

For those of you who are not technically inclined computer-geek types, you might want to pass this post up. However, if you happened to stumble upon it while looking for a solution to a similar problem with Infor's SXAPI, please read on and I hope it helps.

The company I work for has a dozen or so regional offices. As a service to our customers, we have a secure proxy to our Regional Sales System so they can check stock at their convenience without having to call and wait for a sales rep to get to them. It's a good system for our customers and for us.

We are in the process of changing to Infor's system for our regional offices. We, of course, want to offer the same stock-checking service to our customers via our Business-to-Business (B2B) web site. Infor has an API to facilitate writing ASP.NET web applications which will allow us to do just that. They call it SXAPI.

In our development environment, the SXAPI worked like a charm. We could hook into the sales system and query stock levels to our hearts' content. We were really jazzed about being able to give our customers an easy to use and powerful system to help them do business with us better and easier.

That was, until we tried to set the SXAPI on our production server for testing. We have our B2B in a DMZ between firewalls going out to the WWW and in to our network. I arranged with our network admin to make the proper adjustments to the firewall and I thought we were all set. Boy was I wrong.

When it came time to install the SXAPI it took forever. First off, in order for it to install itself there must be a web site in IIS called "Default Web Site." If there is no such web site, the install will bomb. Of course, on a public-facing web site, we don't keep anything "default." It took the tech support guy at Infor a little while to figure this out.

Once we got the SXAPI installed and configured I ran their "Canary Test" program to check the connection to our back end Infor server. The Canary Test is a cute little app with a picture of a canary on a perch. When you do the test, if it succeeds the canary stays on its perch and you get the "success" message. If the connection doesn't succeed, the canary "dies" and the picture changes to a canary on its side with an "x" over its eyes. Unfortunately, the canary kept "dying."

For two weeks I went back and forth with my Infor tech support contact. He had no ideas why it wouldn't work. I sent him error messages, reports from the Infor server confirming I was trying to connect to the correct IP Addresses and ports, and other information. In between emails and phone calls I worked with two of our network admins checking for messages in the firewall logs and running sniffer traces to see if we could diagnose the problem. I even went and gave my Infor tech contact all the details of our network configuration so he could replicate it and try to diagnose the problem.

The production B2B server has 2 NICs; one goes out to the WWW and the other only connects to a SQL Server we run for dynamic content - both are on different IP subnets. Even though we have static routes in the B2B server to send the traffic in the right direction, for some reason the packets the SXAPI generated were trying to go through the NIC for the SQL server, which is in a non-routable address segment. No matter how we tweaked the static routes or messed around with the settings on the server, we couldn't get the traffic to go out the correct NIC to our Infor server. Our tech contact at Infor didn't seem to understand the problem, and finally told us he was punting to a developer to see if any light could be shed on the problem. He even told us at one point that the canary test probably wouldn't work through a firewall since it did more than just test for a good connection.

In the meantime, I've got a lot of people who want to have this API working (most of all me, 'cause I've got a lot of other things to do) so our customers can take advantage of the ASP.NET inventory query app we wrote. Nothing seemed to work at all. There was no documentation on this kind of issue, no solution coming from Infor tech support, no Usenet or other tech groups, nothing. It was very frustrating.

While I was talking out the problem with one of the network admins, he suggested I disable the NIC the SXAPI was sending its traffic through to see if it would be "smart" enough to route the traffic through the other NIC. I was ready to try this, but thought there might be another solution.

This morning while I was getting ready for work, mulling over this issue, something hit me. When putting IP Addresses in a Windows server, when you route traffic out and don't specify which IP Address it should go through, Windows defaults to the first IP Address you entered. I started to think, what if the SXAPI was looking at the registry and routing its traffic through the first NIC installed instead of the one the Windows routing table was telling it to go through. Instead of letting Windows handle the network and routing, I wondered if it was handling the routing itself. I happened to remember the NIC handling the SQL Server traffic was built in and the one handling the WWW traffic was a PCI card I installed. The NIC with the SQL was installed first.

To that end, I swapped IP Addresses in the 2 NICs installed on the server and swapped the cables so they'd go through the correct routers - and behold - the canary didn't die when I did the test.

So, if you happen to stumble on this looking for answers to routing issues with Infor's SXAPI and you have 2 NICs, take a look at the order the NICs were installed.

Lancaster County, PA

Words cannot express how painful that event was to the people of Lancaster County. Our prayers go with you for comfort and healing after such a horrific event.

Elvis-A-Rama Museum, Las Vegas

During our recent trip to Las Vegas, my wife and I found ourselves making a "pilgrimage" to the Elvis-A-Rama museum. Located on Industrial a few blocks off the strip behind the Fashion Mall, this museum holds (as the Travel Channel described) the largest private collection of Elvis memorabilia outside Graceland. It was certainly and interesting and enlightening visit. Our visit was also rather timely since the museum is scheduled to close permanently on October 1st, 2006.

After we paid the admission, we were escorted into a dark room with black lights and fluorescent names of Elvis in different languages and waited while we were given a hyped pep talk about what we were going to see. I thought this rather cheesy, but it was the only part of the displays which could be considered that way.

The museum is arranged generally in chronological order, following the King's career from its root until his untimely death. There were fascinating bits of minutia, such as deposit slips, royalty checks, letters back and forth between fans and friends and much more. There were 3 cars which were once owned by Elvis as well as a variety of costumes and other personal belongings.

One of the more interesting items (to me) was a guitar which was passed around and played when the members of the Beatles met with Elvis in his Memphis home. Along with the guitar was a narrative of the visit (written by John Lennon, I think). It was fascinating to read the account of the meeting of two music powerhouses under one roof.

There is, of course, a gift shop where one can purchase anything from sunglasses to copies of Elvis' divorce decree.

We were told by one of the staff the reason for the museum's closing was that it had been bought by Graceland. According to rumour, another Vegas museum run by Graceland was in the works, but no details were known. The collection in the Elvis-O-Rama was to remain with the private owner, who described himself as a close friend of Elvis from his youth.

It's a shame that such a Vegas landmark will pass. Of course, that's the way it is there - the city constantly imploding or plowing over the old to make way for the new. It'll be interesting to see what happens with any new Elvis museum.

South Coast Hotel Casino

South Coast Hotel Casino

During my recent trip in Vegas, my wife and I stayed at the South Coast. Although located well off the beaten path, it was a very nice place and we enjoyed it very much.

The room was excellent. Our room had a large tinted window overlooking Las Vegas Blvd. and if you stood at the right side of the window and looked left you could get a view of the Strip (or at least the taller buildings on the strip). There was a large flat-screen TV (though we didn't use it much), data ports for high-speed internet access (for a $10+ per day fee), and a very comfortable bed. The bathroom was quite large and was equipped with a very wide counter with a tub/shower and toilet in a smaller ante room. The shower was one of those "rain" type ones - I prefer more pressure coming out but it wasn't too bad. The toiletries were very nice, though I didn't find the shampoo to be "invigorating" as the label indicated. There was a small coffee maker in the bathroom which brewed one cup at a time - more than enough to get me going to the buffet or restaurant for more.

There were a number of restaurants on site including the buffet, the cafe, a Mexican place, an Italian place and an oyster bar along with a Seattle's Best Coffee and an ice cream parlour. The buffet was very good, though not "spectacular." The food and selection were more than I expected or could even fully enjoy, and a great value for the money in my opinion.

The hotel offered a free shuttle to the Barbary Coast on the strip. This is an excellent jumping off point for those who wish to visit the strip and see the sights there. The drop off point is right across the street from Ballys and Caesar's Palace. We were able to cover the area to the north (up to TI) on one day and to the south (To New York, New York) the next.

As were were leaving, we noted there were painters working on the front doors changing the name to the "South Point." I later read that this casino was sold by Boyd Gaming to another company. Hopefully the new ownership won't change much more than the name, keeping this hotel as a great Vegas vacation value.

In Vegas Steht Ein Hofbrauhaus ...

Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas

I first read there was a replica of the famous Munich Beer Hall, Hofbrauhaus, in Las Vegas sometime in 2005. Ever since then I've wanted to check it out, since it's a lot closer than the original and I can't get to Europe right now. When I lived in Germany I spent many an evening in the Munich HB. I finally found myself in Vegas and decided to give the HB a visit.

The HB in Vegas is a smaller, but an otherwise very close representation of the HB in Munich. The front entrance area is the bar and gift shop instead of a foyer, the main hall is smaller, but
has the same type of long tables as the original. The ceiling is painted much like the original, too. Being in Vegas, the Biergarten was indoors in the back of the building. The 00 (rest room) didn't have the Putzfrau cleaning while you were using the "wall" either. Even the outside of the building looked like the original; though since it's on an American-style street corner it's not hard to miss, unlike the original.

Everyone in the group agreed the food was very good. I had the Schwienebraten with potato dumpling and it was very good and tasted much like I remembered it from Bavaria. My wife had the Saurbraten and said it was good, though I had to take her word for it since I'm not too fond of Saurbraten. The Oktoberfest beer was very good, as well. I'm guessing the Weitzen and other beers were good, too, since copious amounts were downed. I'm not in my 20s any more so I limited my consumption to only 1/2 litre.

The service was excellent, probably enhanced since the place was rather empty (I'm told that Thursday is the slowest day of the week). Our server, Victor, took very good care of us.

I highly recommend if you find yourself in Vegas and want to experience some good Bavarian hospitality, check out the HB. It's across from the Hard Rock on Harmon Avenue.

Texas Roadhouse? Not Any More

A Texas Roadhouse manager requested compensation for business lost due to the fatal shooting of two police officers. How horribly insensitive and ridiculous.

In 1998 or 1999 A Texas Roadhouse restaurant opened near where I lived at the time. Being the first new restaurant opened in the area in a number of years, it was quite popular. My wife and I went there a few times. I have to admit, eating peanuts and throwing the shells on the floor appeals to me in a very primal way; and this was one of the features of the restaurant which appealed to me along with good food and good service.

On one visit, the server accidently spilled an entire glass of very cold cola in my lap. To make things worse, I was wearing some very light-colored beige pants. Needless to say, my pants and my mood were ruined. Instead of apologizing and trying to placate my dissatisfaction, the server laughed at me and tried to make some kind of joke out of it. I asked to speak to the manager, who also made light of the situation and didn't even say "sorry about that, accidents happen" or anything along those lines. I expected at least an apology or an offer of a free dessert or something, but there was no such offer. Because of this, Texas Roadhouse became "Restauranta Non Grata" to me. (OK, the Latin may not be exactly correct, but you get the idea.)

Another Texas Roadhouse opened near my new home last year. My wife and I started eating there. The service was great and the food is very good. However, after reading this piece on Snopes.com, in future I think I will avoid Texas Roadhouse anyway. I can forget the manager in Virginia being a cad and give my local manager the benefit of the doubt that (s)he is a great person and supports our local police and other public servants. However, the response from the corporate office leaves a lot to be desired as well. Take my experience with the first Texas Roadhouse and put it with the terrible response of the corporate office in this police case and I have to think that such insensitivity is part of the corporate DNA and thus a reason to spend my money elsewhere.

There's a Logan's Roadhouse not too far away. They have the great "make a mess with peanut shells" experience going. I think I'll eat there instead.

Madonna Into Space?

Lawmaker proposes shooting Madonna into space

A member of the Russian Duma proposed legislation to let Madonna be a "space tourist."

Any chance she can be launched into space and left there?

I realize I critisized "celebrity-centered" headlines on CNN recently. However, although this story is about a celebrity, it actually is news-worthy because it's not just about something Madonna did or didn't do, but also about the Russian Space Program and their attempts to earn money launching people to the International Space Station for cash.

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Jiffy Lube Scam

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Jiffy Lube Scam

A wise man told me his father gave this advice when he was young:
"As you get older, you need to have 4 things: a good wife, a good mechanic, a good doctor and a good preacher."

Auto mechanics, are unfortunately, very much maligned along with lawyers, politicians and used car salesmen because of incidents such as this. (guilt by association) It's quite sad that greedy people feel no remorse when ripping off their customers - at least until their caught. This kind of things has, no doubt, been going on since cars were first introduced. As a kid I remember adults referring to this type of activity as a "wall job" where the cars were parked against a wall and nothing was done to them but they were still charged for the work.

I'm very fortunate to have found 3 honest, reputable shops in my area. Between the 3 of them I have my vehicles covered as far as repairs and maintenance go. This is good because I tend to be totally inept with tools and mechanical things.

I did have a very pleasant experience with a mechanic shop in Effingham, Illinois: I was driving to Michgan one spring to attend my sister's graduation party. In the middle of Illinois we stopped for gas and I noticed the serpentine belt in my van was starting to fray rather badly. This was a bit of a surprise as I checked the belts, hoses, and had the oil changed right before we left and everything looked OK. I found a service station open in Effingham at 10pm. I expected, at the very least, to be charged quite a bit for the convenience of getting the belt changed that late in the evening - or to be just outright ripped off. I was very pleasantly surprised when the shopkeep charged me just under $60, which is about what I would expect to pay to my local, honest mechanic. The man kept apologizing that he took too long (about 1/2 an hour) and had to charge me extra because he had to make some adjustments to make the belt tight enough. I wasn't complaining at all. He had hot coffee, Cartoon Network running to entertain my kids while we waited, and it cost me what I considered normal for that kind of work. It's been 10 years so I don't remember the name of the shop nor what brand of gas they sold - all I remember it was on the eastbound side of I-70/I-57 in Effingham. Hats off to you, sir.