Posted on 6 Comments

Think Before You Kill Julian Assange

Many people are in a uproar over the Wikileaks release of 251,287 United States embassy cables "the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain." Reaction has included suggestions of naming Wikileaks as a terrorist organization. Some people have called for the execution of Julian Assange as a traitor. Proceed with caution! I’d like to take a moment to point out that history is repeating itself. Recall the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War. This exact situation was tried in 1971 in New York Times Co. v. United States with the outcome being the release of the documents is protected by the First Amendment.

Though inconvenient for officials, the revelation of information contained in any of the WikiLeaks files, much like the Pentagon Papers amid the Vietnam war, is protected by the First Amendment — a point made by the US Supreme Court in New York Times Co. v. United States in 1971.

[Source, The Raw Story, GOP Rep. asks Clinton to declare WikiLeaks a ‘foreign terrorist organization’]

In all that I have read, and in all the news commentary I have watched on television and online, nothing has been as notable and as important as the next three paragraphs of The Raw Story’s article.

"In seeking injunctions against these newspapers and in its presentation to the Court, the Executive Branch seems to have forgotten the essential purpose and history of the First Amendment," Justices Hugo Black and William Douglas wrote, taking the side of the Times, which had recently published what was then considered the largest cache of secret military information in US history.

[Source, The Raw Story, GOP Rep. asks Clinton to declare WikiLeaks a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ emphasis added]

Read this next paragraph twice. This paragraph notes where main stream media is failing in its job in the name of page views, popularity and ad sales rather than serving the governed. Wikileaks has stepped up to do the job that our press corp has quit.

"In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy," they continued. "The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government."

[Source, The Raw Story, GOP Rep. asks Clinton to declare WikiLeaks a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ emphasis added]

In conclusion, before passing negative judgment against Julian Assange and Wikileaks, read the words of Justices Black and Douglas in regard to the Pentagon Papers.

After the release of the Pentagon Papers, Justices Black and Douglas opined that "newspapers nobly did precisely that which the Founders hoped and trusted they would do."

[Source, The Raw Story, GOP Rep. asks Clinton to declare WikiLeaks a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ emphasis added]

Please go to The Raw Story and read the entire article titled GOP Rep. asks Clinton to declare WikiLeaks a ‘foreign terrorist organization’. Take note that the people wanting to declare Wikileaks a terrorist organization and suppress information keeping you, the citizenry, in the dark are the exact same people embarrassed, or in a position of having their careers ended, by the release of these documents, like Hillary Clinton.

To close, one more quote from The Raw Story. Justice Potter Stewart’s comment.

Justice Potter Stewart added: "In the absence of the governmental checks and balances present in other areas of our national life, the only effective restraint upon executive policy and power in the areas of national defense and international affairs may lie in an enlightened citizenry – in an informed and critical public opinion which alone can here protect the values of democratic government. For this reason, it is perhaps here that a press that is alert, aware, and free most vitally serves the basic purpose of the First Amendment. For without an informed and free press there cannot be an enlightened people."

[Source, The Raw Story, GOP Rep. asks Clinton to declare WikiLeaks a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ emphasis added]

Posted on Leave a comment

E-clutter

Today I have decided to get rid of all printers in the house but one, getting rid of the fax machine, and all currently unused CRTs but one. I thinking about taking that purple iMac to the genius bar and complaining that I cannot get it to work.

Posted on Leave a comment

State of Me – Happy

I was able to budget some time this weekend to work on the club house, hang a television on the wall (a project that was looong overdue), and we dug out the Christmas tree and much of the holiday decorations. I was able to participate in a Thanksgiving Day sweat lodge and came out of it absolutely renewed. And we feasted with family. This weekend has felt much less stressful than Thanksgivings past.

Posted on Leave a comment

Just Breathe

Ever since taking my breathing class at The Glowing Body, I have become acutely aware that much of my day is spent forgetting to breathe. That is, I tend to inhale far more than I exhale so when I finally have to relax and let the air out of my lungs I sound like a balloon with a slow leak. This also causes me to hold a great amount of tension and stress. I need Dory: "Just keep breathing. Just keep breathing."

Posted on Leave a comment

Don’t use underscores in css ids

Today’s reminder from your friendly neighborhood codeslinger is "don’t use underscores in css ids!" You know, those lines _ that programmers like to use instead of spaces in variable names (because you can’t really have spaces in a variable name in most languages). This was an illegal character in the original CSS1 and CSS2 specifications (updated in 2001 to be valid) so setting an id to foo_bar (e.g. <div id="foo_bar">) would be translated by the browser as foo\_bar (e.g. <div id="foo\_bar">), well, some browsers, not all browsers because you know browsers are so consistent in their interpretation and implementation of these so called web standards.

The solution? Instead of underscores, opt for dashes (e.g. <div id="foo-bar">) or camel case (e.g. <div id="FooBar">) but remember that id’s and class names are case-sensitive.

See also.

Posted on 2 Comments

The Megabus has Arrived in Knoxville!

We recently took 5 of our 7 member family to Washington DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity. The round trip plan tickets were roughly $250 per person bringing just the airline cost to $1200. Had we brought the two older boys, the cost would have been $1700.

Knoxville now has a new travel service. Megabus! Tickets are on sale now and service starts December 15th. I just ran the cost of a trip identical to our flight to DC and it came to $27 for 7 people. That’s not $27 per person per way. That’s $27 round trip for the entire family! $7 from Knoxville to DC and $20 from DC to Knoxville. That’s a savings of $1670! The trip time doubles from 5 hours to 10 hours each direction but you don’t have to get naked, irradiated or groped to ride the bus. Plus the double-decker bus has free wifi for the entire trip! You could work or play the entire 10 hours.

Megabus.com is the first, low-cost, express bus service to offer city-to-city travel for as low as $1 via the Internet. Since launching in April 2006, megabus.com has served more than 4 million passengers throughout 28 major cities in the Midwest and Northeast.

Our luxury double deckers offer free wi-fi, panoramic windows and a green alternative way to travel. Meticulously maintained with professional drivers at the wheel, when you travel with us, you will be riding in comfort and confidence. We provide low-cost and reliable bus services serving 28 cities from two hubs at New York and Chicago. We offer the highest level of comfort and safety and look forward to serving you!

[Source, megabus.com, About Megabus]

Imagine the possibilities! Date night in DC. Out of town Tweet up in DC (can your virtual friends stand you IRL for 20 hours?). Holiday shopping in New York City (adds 5 hours each way…30 hour round trip). Business meetings on the bus that culminate in a night on the town in DC. Oh, I’m excited!

See more at Knoxnews.com.

UPDATE: Look for more of these services in a town near you. Here’s Chinatown Bus covering the Northeast and New Century Travel which may just be a marketing site or affiliate of Chinatown Bus.

Posted on Leave a comment

DC Universe Merges with Reality

This sounds like the stuff of comic books but it’s real. Designer Bacteria Can Heal Cracks in Concrete Buildings

The genetically modified microbe has been programmed to swim down fine cracks in concrete and once at the bottom it produces a mixture of calcium carbonate and a bacterial glue. This glue combines with the filamentous bacterial cells, ultimately hardening to the same strength as the surrounding concrete and essentially “knitting” the building back together. [Source, LiveScience, Designer Bacteria Can Heal Cracks in Concrete Buildings]

Posted on 4 Comments

Encouraging healthy snacking

This is my latest attempt to encourage the children to snack well. Everyday they arrive home from school, the neighborhood kids come over, and the whole gang immediately starts raiding the pantries and fridge scouring like starving mice for sweets. My hopes are that having this tray readily available on the kitchen table will make nibbling easier and discouraging staring into the cabinets. It has already been met with skepticism.

Encouraging Healthy Snacking

Posted on Leave a comment

Jeep Top- $572, Being Told to Wait Until Summer- Priceless

It’s 38°F/3.3°C right now. Conversion by OnlineConversion.com.

My 1995 Jeep Wrangler, purchased November 1994, has the original spice softtop on it. Well, what remains of that top. Some of it is held together with duct tape. The driver’s side window has the zipper completely ripped out and is held half closed with zip ties. I keep expecting to be driving down the road and have the top just disintegrate around me.

Why haven’t I replaced this horrible top yet? It’s not procrastination. There are some areas of my life that I may appear to be a spendthrift, but there are others that I’m just cheap (usually revolving around myself) and frankly, despite appearances, the 15 year old top still serves its purpose.

Yesterday I gave in and decided to see if I could pay someone to replace the top. He explained the replacement top would be $572 plus $150 labor to install it. The labor will require 2 hours of work by 2 people and an ambient temperature of 72°F/22.2°C. I wonder if a junk yard has a Jeep with a hard top sitting around somewhere…