Some Guy's Blog

Eight Steps: “

[Technorati tags: Cartoons, Chickens, Life, Death, How-to, Instructions]”

(Via Savage Chickens.)

Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone: “

This is awesome, only because it’s so rare to see sanity in these matters:

Was I worried? Yes, a tinge. But it didn’t strike me as that daring, either. Isn’t New York as safe now as it was in 1963? It’s not like we’re living in downtown Baghdad.

Anyway, for weeks my boy had been begging for me to please leave him somewhere, anywhere, and let him try to figure out how to get home on his own. So on that sunny Sunday I gave him a subway map, a MetroCard, a $20 bill, and several quarters, just in case he had to make a call.

No, I did not give him a cell phone. Didn’t want to lose it. And no, I didn’t trail him, like a mommy private eye. I trusted him to figure out that he should take the Lexington Avenue subway down, and the 34th Street crosstown bus home. If he couldn’t do that, I trusted him to ask a stranger. And then I even trusted that stranger not to think, ‘Gee, I was about to catch my train home, but now I think I’ll abduct this adorable child instead.’

Long story short: My son got home, ecstatic with independence.

Long story longer, and analyzed, to boot: Half the people I’ve told this episode to now want to turn me in for child abuse. As if keeping kids under lock and key and helmet and cell phone and nanny and surveillance is the right way to rear kids. It’s not. It’s debilitating—for us and for them.

(Via jwz.)

From the “Totally Believable Department”

Iraq war plans are totally useless — otherwise our Determined Enemies might learn something from all the supposedly Top Secret documents just sitting on web servers that anybody can access.

If you want to know when and where the Army Corps of Engineers is building oil-pipeline stuff or security fences around U.S. bases or new torture prisons whatever, it’s all online! You don’t even need a password or anything.

To fuck with the military, Associated Press reporters are constantly downloading this stuff and then telling the Defense Department about the security problems. Then the Army guys scream and yell and demand that the AP reporters delete the secret plans and maps and whatever, but a week later it’s all back on the same computers again, ready for download.

The Pentagon is clearly trying to give this stuff away, but there just aren’t any takers.

Military files left unprotected online [AP/Yahoo]

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Jeremy is winning! Who would have guessed?

Dept. Of National Disgrace: Majority of Americans Now UnAmerican; Nation Renamed UnAmerica: “

A shocking new survey proves that the majority of Americans are now, in fact, anti-American. According to the Pew Research people, only 49% of Americans now completely agree with the statement, ‘I am patriotic.’

The percentage of True Patriots hasn’t been so low since 1999, when the nation was wealthy and at peace.

Who Flies the Flag? Not Always Who You Might Think [Pew Research]

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(Via Wonkette.)

AlterNet brings us the story of a poetry professor in a small college in the Northeast who decides to recycle old manuscripts and becomes an object of suspicion.

Because of my recycling, the bomb squad came, then the state police. Because of my recycling, buildings were evacuated, classes were canceled, the campus was closed. No. Not because of my recycling. Because of my dark body. No. Not even that. Because of his fear. Because of the way he saw me. Because of the culture of fear, mistrust, hatred and suspicion that is carefully cultivated in the media, by the government, by people who claim to want to keep us “safe.”

—Kazim Ali: Culture of Fear

Please read his words. He has useful questions.

Because it’s not like they ever took hostages at an Olympic games.

(Via Schneier on Security.)

Articles by Jonathan Rauch: Ike, a Realist for Our Times

DWIGHT EISENHOWER, for all his rambling amiability, was capable of vehemence. He showed it memorably at a news conference on August 11, 1954. Ray L. Scherer of NBC asked him about “increasing suggestions that we should embark on a preventive war with the Communist world, some of these suggestions by people in high places.” Scherer was talking about Red China, which was rattling its sabers at Taiwan (then called Formosa) and would soon begin shelling Taiwanese forces in what would rapidly become a full-fledged crisis.

In those days, Communist China was the closest thing to today’s Iran: a rising regional power, radical, ideological, antagonistic, and increasingly bold. Ike’s secretary of State called the Chinese “an acute and imminent threat,” and compared their “aggressive fanaticism” to Hitler’s. Hawks clamored for action, saying that if the U.S. failed to defend Formosa, it would have to defend San Francisco later.

That was the climate in which Ike said:

All of us have heard this term “preventive war” since the earliest days of Hitler. I recall that is about the first time I heard it…. I would say a preventive war, if words mean anything, is to wage some sort of quick police action in order that you might avoid a terrific cataclysm of destruction later. A preventive war, to my mind, is an impossibility today…. I don’t believe there is such a thing, and, frankly, I wouldn’t even listen to anyone seriously that came in and talked about such a thing.

Eisenhower’s attitude put him at odds with the hawks of both his time and ours; anyone speaking as categorically against preventive war today as he did in 1954 would be derided by mainstream Republicans as a “defeatocrat,” waiting for America’s enemies to gather strength and strike first. But the victor of World War II was assuredly no dove. He made clear his theoretical willingness to use nuclear weapons, he sent U.S. marines to Lebanon, and he said, “We do not escape war by surrendering on the installment plan.” The best way to see Eisenhower is as neither hawk nor dove but, so to speak, as a reptile: a cold-blooded realist.

...

In today’s America, hawks think that peace comes from American strength, deployed vigorously to deter adversaries and pre-empt threats. Doves think that peace comes from international cooperation, in which the United States must play a leading role. Reptiles are all for strength and diplomacy, but they believe that peace ultimately comes from something else: equilibrium.

If you find that intriguing, read the rest of this very good article.

There is nothing in the Constitution requiring candidates to be listed on the ballot with their party affiliations, and, if you think about it, the custom of doing so is vaguely undemocratic. It makes elections a monopoly of the major parties, by giving their candidates an enormous advantage?the advantage of an endorsement right there on the ballot?over everyone else who runs.

—Louis Menand, New York Times

Forty-nine per cent [of voters surveyed in election years between 1952 and 2000] believe that the President has the power to suspend the Constitution.

—ibid.

Unaware of basic governmental structure, or powerfully politically prescient? You be the judge.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. ?Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

—Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, emphasis mine.

I don’t know how much closer to despotism you can get. This fact alone should lead anyone who has ever believed that American is fundamentally about responsible self-governance to the booth.

Never mind that this hypocritical, cynical, irresponsible, pandering, pointlessly deceitful, painfully ignorant, out of touch stooge will perhaps have full support from a man with this record as your representative in the Senate if you do nothing to act.

Did I mention Bush was out-of-touch?

One of Megan’s students asked her a question for her government survey: “Do you feel safer now than you did before 9/11?”

I have the hardest time even beginning to answer that question. Is this supposed to be a referendum on Bush’s performance? A meditation on security? An invitation to layman speculation about the potential of a terrorist attack on Richmond, Virginia and/or Houston, Texas?

Feel free to add your own impressions.

Unfortunately for all of us Virginia residents, our Department of Motor Vehicles is bereft of love.

The Setup

Today’s goal was to transfer the title of the car I’ve been driving for many years into my name. My parents were the previous owners, and they own the car outright.

They signed the title over to me quite some time ago. The task of transferring the title, getting new tags, and getting new insurance fell to me.

Upon my visit today, I was told that I needed to add the number of miles on the odometer to the title before the transfer. I went out to the car and did that, but wrote down the number incorrectly. Thinking that an accurate number was most important, I changed the “2” to a “1”.

I was then denyed the ability to transfer the title based on this act. Even though the owners of the car had expressed their intent to sell the car to me, and I had indicated my intention to buy the car, the state would not allow the transaction to take place.

After pointing out that his insistence upon a correct number would only carry what one might call societal weight based on the purchaser’s (read: my) right to a fair bill of goods, and that I would be happy to waive that right and stipulate that the higher mileage figure was accurate. I was told the central office in the city of Richmond audits the odometer section for cross-outs, erasures, etc. and in case of an error of this nature is processed, the particular branch where I was making the request is penalized.

After pointing out that the number is not in error, and that my “service” representative could verify the mileage on the car easily right now, he said that fact was immaterial, as the car will not be available when the audit is being performed.

As a result, I will be unable to transfer the title until I send the title back to my parents for reverification. The title will have to go through the mail twice, and I will have to wait at the DMV again.

I am already one week past my registration deadline, although that, of course, is no fault of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles but rather, tragically, my own ignorance.

The Sting

As this post’s namesake indicates, a story without love is not worth telling. So even though the aggravation is not yet over, you will see that there is reason and benevolence yet still.

I was stopped by a policeman while driving to work after this DMV debacle because my registration and plates had expired. Obviously, my next step was to give him a very abbreviated version of the story I have just shared with you here.

He gave me a warning for everything I still needed to do with the car. If I am stopped again, I will receive those tickets, which come to about $1,000 if I were to actually end up paying them. By listening to reason and giving me a chance, he ensured that the State of Virginia will get taxes on at least one additional week’s rental of an automobile.

• I’ve had to start tagging random horribleness on the net from the RIAA in addition to George Bush. AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

• The Jerk/Genius ratio for the Van Fleet family is astronomical, at just under 13 (11,400 to about 900). The ratio for myself personally is closer to 3 (23/7), but none of them are referring to anyone named Jim Van Fleet actually being a jerk.

• God, I am getting so sad that I read this post and think, “He’s absolutely right.”

I think it is very important for you to do two things: act on your temporary conviction as if it was a real conviction; and when you realize that you are wrong, correct course very quickly. And try not to get too depressed in the part of the journey, because there’s a professional responsibility. If you are depressed, you can’t motivate your staff to extraordinary measures. So you have to keep your own spirits up even though you well understand that you don’t know what you’re doing.

from Andy Grove via Guy Kawasaki and Bob Sutton

I’m in a position at work where it’s time to grab my hardhat and get to the work of managing. The complication is that the people I’m working with both, technically, outrank me. I’m building a hedge fund at work, which is a project which plays directly to my strengths and education.

We’ve faced some recent difficulty, however, and I’ve seen enough to believe that the best solution is for me to make sure that my beliefs get out there. I think my concerns are the most useful match with the external shareholders, and fortunately I think that a little more rigor is what the project needs. So it’s time to step up. This is playing directly to my weakness. I like my hubris well-contained normally.

The above quote really resonated with me, and I hope it’s right, because that’s exactly what I’m trying to do.

James and Oprah

When I read an account like this one about James Frey and Oprah I wonder what people expect from this guy. I’m as concerned about truth as the next person, but I think we’re looking for it in all the wrong places now. This man was so messed up that he was one of the hardest cases in rehab. Is it so important that he recount his background perfectly, or what happened after? The entire situation was a horrible mess. I think this book would have done just as well in the Fiction category. Can imagine what it would be like to have a studio audience sitting there in judgement of you based on your retelling of how an ex-girlfriend killed herself? I can’t.

Why I Read Blogs

Art DeVany is an economist blogger, but that’s not why I’m writing about him today. Not often, but every once in awhile, in the span of a few days, you feel like you can learn everything you need to know about a person.

His span of posts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) about the the final arc of his wife of 50 years and the death of his mother is devastating to read, but it is easy to sense his attitude is already appropriate. There is nothing that can ease the pain of grief, but there are elements in ourselves that can make the problem an intractable one. I know this won’t be the problem here.

Google, You Aren’t Half Smart

Censorship of the Internet is doomed to failure. Don’t get so worked up, guys.

As long as it’s part of the military-industrial complex, you’ll probably be fine.