Geezer

There are 380 posts filed in Geezer (this is page 9 of 38).

How I almost invented Wikipedia

Wikipedia Logo

Wikipedia Logo

I sold one of my domain names this month, reliablesources.com. I had that domain longer than I’ve had kids, registering it on 17 January 2000. Two months ago the domain became old enough to drive.

I remember just where I was when I decided to register the domain. I was in my entrepreneurial phase at the time, working with some extremely talented friends at NeTraverse and while I was on a business trip to Austin I dreamed up what I thought would be an innovative website.

I was a regular reader of the Slashdot (which was recently sold) nerd news website back then and was intrigued by its “karma” system of ranking posts. I wanted to apply this karma ranking to the people in the news, giving users the ability to rank what someone in the news says based on that person’s known credibility.

It was inspired by President Bill Clinton’s time in office. The Office of the President carries a lot of built-in credibility, for instance, so right away you’re going to listen to what the President says. But what if the President is caught lying (i.e., “I did not have sexual relations…”)? That should make one skeptical of whatever that President says, knocking down his or her karma score.
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Highlights of 2015: Aunts Linda and Mary

Unfortunately, 2015 had its share of sorrow. In May, my Aunt Linda passed away after a long battle with cancer. I took bereavement leave from my job, hopped the southbound Amtrak, and went to the funeral in Winter Park, Florida. While the occasion could have been better, it was good to pay my respects and nice to see my cousins again. My Aunt Mary was married to my dad’s brother, Donald, and was quite active in her church.

In August, my Aunt Mary also passed away. Aunt Mary was married to my mom’s brother, Bub, and lived in Panama City. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend her funeral.

Both of my aunts were the sweetest women. It’s still hard accepting that they’re gone.

Highlights of 2015: Family time

At Hanging Rock State Park

At Hanging Rock State Park

We had a lot of good family time in 2015. The biggest family time item was our trip to Alaska, which will be discussed in a future blog post. But we also didn’t have to go far to have a fun time together.

Thumbs up for Thunder Road

Thumbs up for Thunder Road

In May, we took a family trip over to Charlotte for a day at Carowinds. Hallie’s friend Suzanna joined us for a day of roller coasters and water flumes. It was fun showing the kids around the park where I once worked, though it’s changing rapidly. Many of the attractions have been removed to make room for others. Also, we discovered after we left that the park’s premier wooden roller coaster, Thunder Road, would be dismantled later that summer. I’m so glad the kids got a chance to ride it while it was still around. For the record, they really enjoyed it, proclaiming it their favorite. The apples don’t fall from the tree, do they? Continue reading →

Highlights of 2015: Health investment

Back to my Highlights of 2015 (it’s March, right?).

I made a lot of investments in my health in 2015. Working on Centennial Campus, I began to take regular walks around campus during lunchtime, often clocking 20 minutes or more of walking that way. When I took my new job in October, my office was within easy walking distance of my home. I began walking to work on a regular basis. Add this to a morning dog walk most weekday mornings and an occasional evening dog walk and I routinely clock over an hour of walking each day.

I also got on board with the Veterans Administration healthcare. This was spurred on by my ususal health issues that I suspect are related to my Gulf War service. As I mentioned recently, the VA has taken pretty good care of me. I am also now in the middle of a drug trial for prednisone for treating Gulf War illness, but that started in February and not 2015!
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Donald Trump Utilizes Racism, but Hillary Clinton Used Similar Tactics Against Obama in 2008

I vividly recall Hillary Clinton’s racist-tinged campaign against Barack Obama in 2008. It disgusted me and put me firmly in Obama’s camp. I hope my African-American friends remember this, too, come election day.

To say Donald Trump is a racist ideologue might be an understatement, given his overtly xenophobic statements about Muslims, as well as his views on undocumented immigrants. He’s insulted everyone from John McCain and Megyn Kelley to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, so it’s obvious that Trump is either delusional, or simply doing everything possible to stay in the limelight. However, it’s important for all Americans, especially Democrats, to look in the mirror.

Trump is a reflection of our society, as well as a mirror of what we’re willing to tolerate, especially when “our” side is fighting for political power. The truth is that Hillary Clinton utilized race and Islamophobia against Barack Obama in 2008, even though Democrats aren’t supposed to reach into this well of prejudice and ignorance.

Source: Donald Trump Utilizes Racism, but Hillary Clinton Used Similar Tactics Against Obama in 2008

Half my life in Raleigh

Downtown_Raleigh_at_night_Jan_2012-NCDOT-1800x1072
According to a geeky tool known as www.timeanddate.com, Friday was the date when I officially spent half of my life in Raleigh. I arrived on Sunday, 2 August 1992 to attend N.C. State and somehow never left. Prior to Raleigh, the longest I’d ever lived somewhere was 7 years in Columbia, SC, where I finished elementary school and started middle school.

August 2nd wasn’t my first look at Raleigh that year. I originally drove up from Columbia for the Jimmy Buffett concerts on 12-13 June 1992, staying at the Barton Place condo being rented by my high school buddy, Mike. My very first look at Raleigh was driving up for the State-Carolina game on 17 Oct 1987. I crashed at my friend Chris’s dorm room in Bragaw Hall. He gave me a tour of Raleigh’s then-desolate downtown.

Back then I never thought Raleigh would ever hold my interest. Fortunately, it has grown to suit me. I don’t know if my kids will decide to stay here, though. My daughter seems set on new horizons but one can never say never. For me, though, Raleigh’s been a wonderful place to live, work, and play and it gets a little better every day.

The Bishop’s Boys

The_Bishops_Boys
Just finished the excellent biography by Tom D. Crouch of the Wright Brothers called The Bishop’s Boys. A few things I came away with after reading this book:

  • The Wrights may not have been the first to take to the air, but they were indeed the first to do so in a controlled, purposeful manner. That’s the difference between a glider and an airplane.
  • They stood on the shoulders of giants. The Wrights gathered up all the research they could find on the efforts to build an airplane and added their own to it. Granted it was pretty important stuff, stability and all, but they didn’t start exactly from the ground-up as I always imagined they did.
  • Though they shared many of the same unique qualities that aided their invention, the airplane started as Wilbur’s project and Orville joined in later. Wilbur primarily worked out the engineering problems and Orville’s mechanical skills transformed them into a working machine. They worked jointly on both but these were the strengths of each.
  • The brothers considered themselves to be failures, lacking ambition in life, before they were inspired to build the airplane.
  • Science said an airplane couldn’t be built. Engineering proved it could. According to the book, science couldn’t even explain how an airplane worked until a quarter-century after the first one took to the skies.
  • The Wrights were top-notch engineers. Smart, knowledgeable, intensely curious, and exceedingly careful. They really wanted to know everything that went into making an airplane fly. They didn’t take anyone’s word for anything. This is partially why they succeeded without killing themselves in the process, unlike so many of their contemporaries.
  • Once their airplane flew the Wrights became essentially arms dealers, selling it to the highest bidders among various governments. There isn’t much discussion about the moral repercussions of having their invention become a weapon of war. The Wrights seemed never to have a second thought about this, nor was there any apparent push to have it used primarily for peaceful purposes. The Wrights were too eager to cash in, in my view.
  • Orville Wright nearly died from typhoid fever in 1896, seven years before the first flight.
    • The Wright Brothers take to the air for the first time, Dec 17, 1903.

    The Wright Brothers take to the air for the first time, Dec 17, 1903.

  • Both brothers were high school dropouts.
  • Both were thoroughly unfazed by the rich and powerful. They were called on by kings and presidents and treated them the same as anyone else.
  • The Wrights never would’ve gotten off the ground if it were not for the selfless assistance of their unsung sister, Katherine. I suppose “The Wright Brothers and Sister” didn’t have the same ring to it.
  • For several years after their first flight, the world considered them frauds and liars. It was only several years later that the Wrights’ airplane was publicly demonstrated.

    • As Orville mused later in his life, he and Wilbur might never have created the airplane if so many circumstances hadn’t lined up precisely the way they did. The book is an entertaining account of how fate did line up.

    Fearing the radio

    Console radio

    Console radio

    News and Observer reporter John Murawski wrote today of a group of electricity customers who fear that the smart meter Duke Energy uses is poisoning them with radio-frequency (RF) radiation.

    Andrew McAfee of Raleigh submitted a 45-page filing, noting prominently: “Sent from a cabled computer with the WiFi turned off.”

    “Your body basically becomes an antenna,” he said from his landline phone last week. “I immediately feel a tingling, burning sensation on my scalp.”

    “These meters are designed to burst a radiation signal out a couple of miles,” McAfee said of smart meters. “Imagine every house in your neighborhood blipping out these things all day.”

    Apparently, people don’t understand that radiation of the RF variety is not the same as radiation of the nuclear variety. One is a known carcinogen. The other brings you Fox News (whether Fox News is a carcinogen is post for another day).

    Blaming RF (which I’ll call by their better-known name, radio) for something is akin to blaming sound: it all depends on what the sound or radio is. Listening to music with your ear placed on the grill of a 1000 watt audio amplifier will likely cause you injury, whereas the same music at a reasonable volume on your stereo at home can be safe and enjoyable.
    Continue reading →

    The millennial work ethic – Baltimore Sun

    Some of my older friend scoffed at this column, but any mocking comes at one’s own peril, because this is how it will soon be.

    The bar has been raised. If you as an employer want to attract the best and the brightest of the millennial generation, you will have to treat your employees a bit better than you once did.

    Once upon a time, employment was for life. Joining a company meant you were looked after until retirement and even beyond. Then companies found that having massive layoffs and gutting these generous employee benefits appealed to Wall Street. Generations of workers became expendable to employers and learned wisely. The game had changed and job security was redefined as “how quickly one can get another job.”

    Now the pendulum swings in favor of the worker, particularly the knowledege workers building our digital economy. This generation is building our new economy and the opportunities ahead of them and the awe-inspiring imagination they bring are like no other. This generation is responsible for the dizzying, accelerating pace of change in our world. They will hold you to your promises. They won’t play by the old rules. They demand a better way and they have the hustle and moxie to get it.

    Laugh now if you choose, but soon you’ll be living in their world. Employers who understand this will help build this world.

    Dear Previous Employer,

    You may think that you have gotten the best of me, but you have not. I am a millennial. You may think that you have put me in a bad spot, but you have not. I am a millennial. You may think that you can threaten me, but I am not afraid. I am a millennial.

    I didn’t write this letter on a program that I installed with a disc on my computer, I wrote it on the cloud. I didn’t grow up hungry during the Great Depression, I grew up safe and comfortable. I didn’t walk to school uphill both ways, I took a bus.

    Source: The millennial work ethic – Baltimore Sun

    Principal Asks Parents To ‘Take The Time To Get Dressed’ For Drop Off – Scary Mommy

    This blog post generated some lively discussion on a friend’s Facebook page, both pro and con. There were lots of defenders of the UK principal’s position but I’m not one of them.

    School starts way too early in the United States. Ungodly early. I don’t think it’s fair to expect anyone to put two thoughts together before the sun even comes up, much less to be looking their best.

    If you’re dropping kids off at school and never leave your vehicle, no one should care what you look like. I agree with the author here: the principal needs to relax.

    A UK principal wrote a note to parents to ask them to please “take the time to get dressed” in the morning and stop doing drop off in their pajamas. She insists the letter has been well received. Mkay. I’m an adult and I do what I want. And that includes wearing whatever the hell I can get on my body before I get the kids packed up for school.

    Kate Chisholm, headteacher at Skerne Park Academy, Darlington, wrote to all parents imploring them to “dress appropriately” in day wear. “I have noticed there has been an increasing tendency for parents to escort children to and from school while still wearing their pajamas and, on occasion, even slippers,” reads the note The Telegraph managed to get a copy of. “Could I please ask that when you are escorting your children, you take the time to dress appropriately in day wear that is suitable for the weather conditions?”

    No. No you cannot.

    Source: Principal Asks Parents To ‘Take The Time To Get Dressed’ For Drop Off Scary Mommy