NFL protests

Not that anybody cares, but I'm feeling like writing about the news and politics today, so here is a brain dump about my feelings surrounding the whole NFL protesting fiasco:

I am a liberal, so it may surprise some that I'm not for the set of protests that many NFL and other sports figures are doing during the national anthems.

Have I turned Republican? Hardly.

I'm against them for three main reasons:

1) The protests are ineffective for the purpose that is intended
The purpose of any peaceful protest should be to bring light to an issue that may have otherwise been ignored, with a specific goal of getting something accomplished.

The narrative though has been that athletes have been 'protesting the national anthem', 'kneeling during the national anthem', or at best 'protesting social injustice'.

The fundamental problem is that the overall message is being co-opted by a different question: Is it right or wrong to 'protest' during the national anthem? This is what everybody is talking about. They are not talking about your cause, they are talking about your methodology. If your intended goal is to bring conversation and solutions to the issue of social justice and racism in America, the protests are not accomplishing the intended goal. Speaking of...

2) The protests do not have a clearly defined goal. 
Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, kicking off a chain of events that led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a nonviolent protest of the bus segregation laws. When that law was ruled unconstitutional, the boycott ended. The protest had a clear goal and purpose.

Ghandi undertook many hunger strikes throughout his life as a form of nonviolent protest. In probably his most effective and famous fast in 1932, he protested the British Government's support of an Indian constitution that would seperate the electorate by castes. When the British Government withdrew their support, his fast ended. The protest had a clear goal and purpose.

Martin Luther King Jr. was among the many organizers of the Selma to Montgomery marches which served to shed light on the poll taxes, literacy tests, and other measures used primarily to disenfranchise the African American population in the South. On March 15, 1965, President Johnson presented a bill to a joint session of Congress. The bill was passed that summer and signed by Johnson as the Voting Rights Act. The protest had a clear goal and purpose, ultimately fulfilled by the passage of that legislation.

Now let's contrast those successful campaigns with the current effort: As far as I can tell, the protests are to 'come out against Social Injustice'. For the record, I'm not arguing that social injustice exists. It most certainly does, and also for the record: I'm against it.

But I'm also a realist. I can't imagine a world where nobody is unfairly targeted solely due to the color of their skin. I can't imagine a world where corruption doesn't exist. I can't imagine a world where injustice doesn't occur. I can't imagine a world where good cops can't make terrible mistakes nor one where bad cops don't exist. I'd love to see the piece of legislation that is put out that 'solves' this problem.

If there is something to be done: what is it? What specifically can we do to move the ball forward?

Perhaps there is some legislation that can contribute toward the advance of social justice, and if so, then it deserves a platform; but there are none that I know of that will end 'social injustice' for all, nor are there specific proposals being put forth (that I'm aware of) to even advance the cause. So then, is this a protest in perpetuity? The battle is unwinnable when your victory conditions are undefined.

3) They are ultimately disrespectful
I know, this one is the one that will get me in the most trouble with my liberal friends, and so be it. Once upon a time, I had enough nationalistic pride that I joined the Army to go play with guns and get some money for my education. I came away from that experience with a great deal of respect for the institutions and sacrifices that the flag, the national anthem, and other such symbols represent.

I'm  not saying that those that are doing these things do not have every right to do whatever they want  during the national anthem (so long as they are not harming anyone else). They shouldn't be 'fired' unless their actions are detrimental to the team or the business behind it (if the fans all tune out, which is their right, then I guess the owners would really have no choice but to take action if they still want to gain those awesome TV viewership dollars)

Anyway -- I have the same feeling towards those individuals that would burn the American flag.

You have every right to do so: but your cause is never going to be advanced with me (personally) with that action, regardless of how much I agree or disagree with your message. For me, the methodology matters. These protest methods are disrespectful to those things that the flag and anthem represent. And those things are important to me.

Anyway, that's how I feel about it. I'm still watching football on Sunday. I still have the slimmest of hope that the Niners will turn things around and salvage the season. Hope springs eternal!

Politics and stuff

I haven't been on the blog for a couple years, but I've just recently I decided to pick it back up again. 

I've still been writing. A lot. I've been trying to finish a novel for a few years now, and while I love parts of it dearly, it's still pretty broken. Maybe unfixably so. I dunno, I've been thinking for a while now that I should just drop it and start a new one, but there are things I just can't let go.

I don't really game as much anymore. Or when I do, it's in single-player, which isn't really that interesting to me to write about.

I've honestly just stopped sharing on the interwebz because it turns out I have a lot of family and friends with whom I don't really share the same opinions on various subjects, and it's in those subjects that I've been interested in writing about. As a result, I've been writing on the blog less and on notepads more.

I prefer (on the internet) to focus on those things we have in common and avoid arguing about the things that set us apart. I have no wish to get into an argument. So when I've been writing opinionated nonsense, I've been doing it for myself. I broke that trend the other day when I posted about feminism, and I may break it again from time to time.

That said, I'd really prefer not to argue about politics or social issues, so lets not devolve into that. I have a very specific reason not to go there, but it's (typically) long winded, so bear with me.

I think it is fair to say that my current stance on most political/social subjects is very liberal.

Don't believe me? Some examples:

- I believe in socialized medicine and that quality health care should be a basic human right.
- I believe in smart government regulations to keep corporations in check.
- I believe in campaign finance reform that include hard cuts to the knees of special interest groups.
- I believe in immigration policies that can include some forms of amnesty.
- I believe in an end to the unsuccessful war on drugs and in devoting our resources toward treatment and prevention.
- I believe that working for peace is the greatest expression of support for our troops.
- I believe in science and trust it to explain the universe to me.
- I believe in the conclusions that have been reached using the scientific method
- I believe in further investment in science to achieve answers to the questions that we still have.
- Most importantly, I'm a sincere believer in equality for all, no matter your race, gender, sexuality, religious beliefs or ethnicity.

Anyway. I guess you can say I'm a crazy liberal. I didn't list these things to try to sway you or start an argument. I'm just trying to illustrate the point that on the political spectrum, I generally lean pretty left.

But... I wasn't always this way. Once upon a time, I was very conservative. I truly and sincerely believed the universe was created in 7 days. I thought evolution was simply postulated by atheists (who were anti-god) to explain away the 'obvious'. I once marched in a pro-life rally (to be fair...there was this girl there I really had the hots for...but that's a whole other story). I believed in trickle down economics. I've never really had hate/intolerance be a part of my life (at least not active hate/intolerance), but there was a time where I was fairly homophobic.

Over time and a lot of years, various things would come along and challenge my viewpoints on these issues.

Some viewpoint shifts happened very quickly, like when I found out a very good friend of mine in the Army was gay. Suddenly I knew someone. I could relate to the things he was going through. I couldn't hold the opinions I had once held and still be his friend. I chose my friend over my naive viewpoint. It was actually a pretty easy choice. It's amazing what empathy and understanding can do to combat intolerance.

Other viewpoints underwent a longer, more gradual evolution. My understanding of science deepened to challenge my belief of a 7 day creation and cement my viewpoint on evolution and my understanding in the origins of life on earth. This was not a point of view I gave up quickly. This took many, many, many years.

My point? Many of my core viewpoints that I held while growing up have since changed and evolved. And as a result, I don't tend to cling so tightly to such things any more. I try not to argue with people to try to sway them over to my point of view because my point of view is something changing and evolving...all the time.

So, please: if you disagree with me (and I'm sure a lot of people will), feel free to express yourself. But I probably won't engage lest I risk devolving into an internet argument. If you want to argue, meet me over coffee and we can have a grand ole time debating the fine details and we both might even learn something in the process. But lets do it in person, and not in this crazy medium. 

I am a feminist

I have recently been following the 'He for She' campaign, and it's inspired me to write about it, which is something I stopped doing on the internet a while ago.

If you haven't been following it, Hermione (aka Emma Watson...or whatever she is calling herself now that she isn't holding a magic wand and hanging out with that Potter troublemaker), gave a pretty great speech at the UN that you can watch here if you haven't seen it.

I am a feminist.

Boy it is weird to say that as a dude. 'Feminist' has been a word that is a little bit ugly when used. It conjures up a mental image. You know the one: It's the same one I have in my head right now. It's a girl. Dark hair. Very short dark hair. Probably a faux-hawk. Leather jacket. Boots. Definitely boots. Probably some sort of chain...like a wallet chain maybe? Tattoos. She certainly doesn't like me (because I am a man). Did you get a similar image?

Sadly, I think this type of imagery has become associated with the word, and that's why the phrase is  kind of difficult to say as a man, which is a shame.

Here is what I think a feminist is: A feminist is someone who believes that women should have equal rights and opportunities to that of a man.

Note that I carefully avoid using the phrase "a woman is equal to a man". I actually don't think that is true. Biologically speaking, it's ENTIRELY untrue.  Trust me, I'm a man and I'm well aware of the biological differences and I'm a huge fan of many of those differences. ;-)

It's also not a hatred of men. It's a hatred of environments where women cannot succeed simply on account of their gender. It's a hatred of the idea that a man should make more for doing the same job. It's a challenge to closely held stereotypes of what a woman should do or be.

I work in a field where women are largely underrepresented, though I've been fortunate to work with some amazing women throughout my career. These women deserve to be paid appropriately for the work they do. And anyone, male or female, deserves to be afforded the same opportunities to join my field or any other.

There are folks out there that might think this is obvious. That this was a problem in the '50s and '60s, but it "doesn't exist today".

Unfortunately, those that are in power do not release that power so easily. It certainly is not as prevalent as it was in prior eras, but it does exist. For example (in the United States):
- Of the labor force (only counting those actively employed or seeking employment) 99.1% of men are employed versus 94.5% of women. (source)
- In weekly full time earnings, Women earn 82.1% of men in the same job (source)
- Only 43% of legislators and managers in the United States are women. (source)

I have a mother. I have a sister. I have a daughter. I need to live in a world where they are afforded the same rights and opportunities as I am. This blog has very little audience and is mostly self indulgent, but I'm happy to have my little bitty blog join the other voices out there that are trying to change this world for the better.

I'm a feminist.

#HeForShe

Wait...I have a blog?

Today I am in Florida.

Like any epic journey, it began with a quest: "Go forth into the wilds of South Florida and receive unto thee the bountiful knowledge of the SS7 stack from the wise monk who shall pass it down unto thee". This is an EXACT quote. I'm not paraphrasing even a little.

Okay, so I'm completely full of it. But you probably knew that already.

My journey began as most do: I got on an airplane in Seattle (all epic journeys begin on an airplane in Seattle. This is FACT). After eating a bountiful meal at the airport due to the fact that I despise airplane food, I was running a little late and I was the very last person on the plane. Which, you can probably imagine, is better than being the first person on the next plane.

So, I was already counting my lucky stars. Imagine my shock and amazement when I came upon my traditional aisle seat in the back of the plane and found the middle seat next to me to be completely unoccupied.

HUZZAH!

I, as you are probably all aware, am over six feet tall. And I have a few extra inches around my sizable belly that I would prefer was not there. Tall AND wide. The exact opposite of whomever designers had in mind when they designed airplane seating. An empty middle seat when I have the aisle is the closest thing to Shangra La that I will ever find outside of First Class (at least on an airplane).

All was not perfect however as directly behind me (in the last row of seats -- the ones by the bathroom that don't recline) were populated by three extremely large men. ALL THREE SEATS. Squished in there like sardines. I tried to ignore their murderous gaze as I stretched out into the middle seat next to me and leaned my seat ALL THE WAY BACK.

Hey, I didn't book the worst seats on the plane, they did. I had a cross country flight. I'm still 6 inches too tall for the seat. I will not apologize for getting as comfortable as I could.

Of course, I didn't have to giggle incessantly about it. That part was fairly evil of me. ;)

Directly in front of me was a Mom and her two young children. I overheard their conversation and they were flying to Orlando/Disney World (via Charlotte, NC, which was also my connecting stop. Wait...did I really have to explain that I had the same connecting stop as the person ON THE SAME PLANE AS ME? Probably not. Anywho...)

I cringed inside. Not because this young Mother was travelling with two small children on a busy flight ON MOTHERS DAY, which is clearly a VERY stressful situation. I cringed mostly because the two small kids were probably going to annoy me on the flight.

Guys, it turns out I might possibly be a tad bit selfish.

Nah.

Anyway, seated to my right on the opposite side of the aisle was a twenty something women that looked completely normal. She was skinny and short, and so I hated her because she was probably who the designers of the airplane had in mind when they laid the coach class seating out.

The airplane taxis out and takes off. The kids in front of me are completely well behaved. SPOILER ALERT: They continue to be that way for the entire flight. The Mom was prepared with gum, snacks, things for the kids to do. All in all...supermom. I'm impressed. I forgot the children existed, which is as it should be with all humans under the age of 13 18 21 35.

The lady in the seat to my right on the other hand -- Sobbed uncontrollably during takeoff. Not quiet sobs to herself. Hysterical, my baby got run over by a lawn mower and will never walk again, UTTER  DESPAIR.

I thought she had hurt herself or a loved one had died and she just got a text about it directly before turning off her cell phone on as we taxied to the runway. This seems like the only possible explanation for her behavior.  I helpfully turned and stared at her open mouthed amazed that anyone would act this way. And of course I did nothing but laugh at her in my brain. (And possibly out loud disguised as a cough).

She later shrugged to a flight attendant and said 'I hate flying'.

Side rant: I dislike Lima Beans. You might go so far as to say I hate them. But...I cannot imagine hating lima beans -- or anything -- MORE than this lady hated flying. Her saying 'I hate flying' is similar to the Pope saying, "I like tall hats", while wearing said hat. 'No shit' has never been a more appropriate turn of phrase.

Anyway, the flight attendant gave her some water and she seemed to calm down. Right up until we hit any kind of bump whatsoever. When that happened she would start crying again and look around in terror, seemingly sizing up who she would have to take down in order to make for the nearest exit. (Note: I'm sure she would go around me. I definitely gave off my "Bitch, you are way too damned skinny to be bowling ME over" vibe.)

When we landed she actually screeched in terror as the wheels hit the ground. I was only partially successful in stifling my laugh. Truth be told, I might have been giggling uncontrollably all the way taxing up to the terminal.

When we got off I saw her hugging what I can only assume was her Mom.

Somebody is DRIVING to Charlotte next year me thinks.

The cloud!

My brother posed an intriguing question on the evil Facebook today that peaked my interest.

He asked the simple question: "More Bandwidth, or More Storage"? (I'm paraphrasing)

The context surrounding the question is that the tech-savvy consumer crowd are starting to see cloud storage sources popping up, and are starting to ask the same questions that the enterprise crowd have been asking for ages. That is, "should I put my stuff in the cloud?"

I've argued against it in every company I've ever worked for. I do not like cloud storage in the enterprise for the same reason I don't like outsourcing IT support to India or China: I like to control my own destiny.

I >know< there is a backup plan. Because I wrote it and am implementing it.

I >know< there is 24/7 monitoring on everything deemed critical. Because I implemented it.

I >know< the redundancy features in the system because I built AND tested them.

I >know< every design flaw in the system. Because I designed it. (one might argue that was flaw #1 :P)

My viewpoint, one might argue, was validated earlier this year when Amazon's cloud services took a long and unexpected downtime, leaving many of their customers down for long periods of time.

This is not to say that it could not ever happen to a locally serviced infrastructure…it can and has. But if you design and build it properly, you can control exactly how likely an outage is. And, when you get that 3am phone call where everything is down, you have intimate knowledge of the system and how to put it all back together…specific to YOUR business' needs. Your cloud service provider (CSP, if you will) is only focused on getting it's system back and in service.

You are focused on the business-critical items you need to be functioning now, and you can table the things that can wait. You can prioritize.

All that said…while I think the solution isn't optimal for MOST things in the enterprise, for the consumer the cloud is a god-send.

Fact of life #1: Most users don't back up their data. Heck, I don't even back up ALL my data, and I've been doing IT crap for years.

Fact of life #2: All hard drives will fail. Every single one.

Combine facts #1 & #2, and you can have a recipe for a really bad day. Multiply that by the millions of data consumers out there and you have a LOT of really bad days.

But, cloud storage is now getting so cheap that you can get tons of free/low cost places to put your data. And why shouldn't you? Bandwidth is cheap, and for the most part (loads of caveats), unlimited. Also, your data is reachable from any device you own now! Even if you forgot to sync!

If do decide to go with a cloud strategy for your data, here are some tips from a seasoned nerd:

1) Stick with the big names. Apple, Microsoft, Google, or Amazon. Why? They have the most to lose from the bad publicity that would result if they mishandled your data. That isn't to say that any one of them WON'T mishandle your data. But for the big guys, it means millions and millions of dollars lost.

For www.freeharddrivebackups.com (I just made that up), mishandling your data means their little small business idea failed, and they have to spend 15 bucks to register a new domain name. Always follow the money…stay with the big guys, they have more to lose.

2) Make sure any data you care about exists in THREE places. Always, always, ALWAYS three: a primary you use all the time, a backup location in case something happens and a third copy in case the backup fails.

You aren't going to be testing the backup all the time. You just aren't. The only time you will test the backup is if the primary dies. And by then, it is too late. You will thank me for copy #3 one day. Trust me.

Annoying my wife is fun.

Shana: Holy crap. I'm watching the SNL sketch with Anne Hathaway spoofing Katie Holmes.

Paul: pretty crazy eh?

Paul: She did a great impression I thought

Shana: You can tell the audience was kinda taken aback by her impression

Shana: Haha! I love the Royal Family sketch

Paul: that was pretty good

Shana: As soon as "William" leaves, they start talking like Jason Statham

Paul: I thought her Dorothy impression was spot on.

Shana: Yeah

Paul: She did a good job, its just too bad the most of the episode was still pretty unfunny

Paul: the weekend update stuff was dumb

Shana: I'm not there yet. Enjoying the hell out of the music act

Paul: I didn't watch it

Shana: You missed out. She is going on the iTunes wish list

Paul: what kind of music?

Shana: Hard to describe...but the singer's voice is amazing

Shana: And the song is catchy

Paul: come on…similar band?

Paul: nothing you can tell me that would make me understand what kind of music it is?

Shana: Nope...

Shana: The band name is Florence and The Machine

Shana: Go listen

Paul: so this band invented a brand new music genre

Paul: thats amazing

Paul: few people can say that

Shana: I'm gonna stop talking to you...

Paul: maybe Elvis?

Paul: the Beatles?

Paul: and now Florence and The Machine

Paul: amazing

Shana: ...

Paul: I mean, music that you can't even describe? That's an impressive feat.

Shana: I hate you.

Paul: no, no, you have made me a believer. Now I want to hear this band

Paul: that is quite a risk, trailblazing into a new frontier

Paul: opening up a brand new genre of indescribable music

Paul: They should call the style "InDes" for short.

Shana: Shut it!!!

Paul: I wonder how many bands will follow the indes movement. We could be seeing a whole new generation unfold right before our eyes. Like watching the beatles on Ed Sullivan. I can't believe I skipped it.

Shana: .........

Paul: One day I'll tell my grandchildren how I skipped past them on my dvr.

Paul: And they will be like "Grandpa, I can't believe how naive you were!"

Paul: And I'll be like "Well Grandchildren, I just didn't know that I was seeing a band that would change the world."

Paul: "But your Grandma knew. She couldn't even describe them to me. She had no words"

Shana: Quit bugging me!!! I'm trying to play Rock Band!!

Paul: I wonder if they have any DLC from the new Indes movement.

Shana: AHHHHH!!!

Shana: Leave me alone!!

Starcraft 2

I don't like to lose.

It's kind of a thing for me in video games. If I do lose in a video game I will either:

a) Quit playing said video game.

b) Play said video game every spare moment of my day until I win.

Whether I choose to go with option A or option B really depends on the quality of the game. Do I want to commit that much spare time to defeating the obstacle that the game presents? Or would I rather just skip it and devote the time to some other game?

Every game presents a challenge, large or small. Some aren't very challenging at all. Bejeweled for example. Sure, there is SOME skill involved, but mostly how far you get tends to be more a function of the Random Number Generator (RNG).

At the other end of the spectrum... games like Starcraft 2 and World of Warcraft, RNG is still (sometimes) a factor, but by and large, skill determines your success or failure.

Starcraft and WoW are fairly simple to pick up, but there are challenges in it that you are not going to easily achieve.

In WoW, you will have bosses / PVP challenges that you are not going to be able to overcome until you work through it and get better.

With Starcraft, and specifically in the multiplayer ladder matches, you are not going to achieve a good ladder ranking until you master the game. And…as I mentioned:

I don't like to lose.

It is the quality of the Starcraft gameplay that makes me continue and put in the time to avoid losing. Thus, I've been in training. Multiplayer training. (Queue 'Rocky' theme. Incoming training montage.)

I've done a lot of 'easy' mode 1v1 matches with the computer, working on various build orders. I think I've settled on two that I really like.

I've done a few 'hard' mode 1v1's versus Terran (computer) working on various counters. I'm getting pretty good at it and I win 90% of the matches there.

I've done a few of the 'challenges' to work on various skills that I'm going to need in the coming fights.

Over the next week, I plan on doing many more 1v1 'hard' mode battles versus randoms to work on my anti-protoss/anti-zerg counters.

Depending on the outcome of those hard mode adventures, I plan to start my multiplayer 'placement' matches sometime next week. My initial goal is to stay out of the 'bronze' ladder. My ultimate goal of course is to rank up to platinum/diamond, but it will be a while on that.

But enough about that…I was going to review Starcraft 2. Lets just say this: If you like RTS games, you will like SC2. Buy it. You will not be sorry.

If you don't like RTS games: You might not like SC2…but then again….you might. It is probably the best RTS game of all time, so I don't think you'd go wrong checking it out. If ANY game in this genre has a chance of pulling someone in who doesn't like the genre, it is SC2.

But I have heard a lot of people say 'I don't like RTS games, and I don't like SC2.', so it certainly isn't going to be universally praised by folks outside of it's niche. I can see where they are coming from.

As for me, you will find me knee deep in zerg for the next few months until something else comes along that grabs my attention away. Until then, I will be honing my skills until I win every game. Because…

I don't like to lose.