Author: Doug McCaughan

Father of 5. Juggler. Ticked off at blogger.com.
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The Presidency, Representing the People

I came into this world shortly after Richard Nixon took office. I can’t say much on his presidency but he proved to be a fantastic politican in his post-presidency.

Of Gerald Ford, what can I say other than Chevy Chase. Of his presidency, I knew only that one day I could grow up to be president, and that meant something.

I understand the distaste some people have for Jimmy Carter. I’ve read the information that relates today’s Iranian issues to his presidency while others say he laid ground work to avoid today’s problems; let’s not forget the 1953 CIA-engineered coup to oust Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. We have fiddled with Iran for a long time but the U.S. betrayal of the shah in 1978 was bad. I liked Carter as a president. I think his post-presidency has been amongst the best with his involvement in human rights and Habitat for Humanity.

Personally, Ronald Reagan has been a favorite of mine. I don’t understand why some people still talk down of his 8 years but that could simply be my ignorance of politics. And, if anything, we got the pleasure of Land of Confusion from his presidency!

George Bush, Sr. I liked, had respect for, and trusted as a president.

Bill Clinton comes in second as my favorite president during my lifetime (pre-me I like the Roosevelts quite a bit). Clinton made a huge mistake with the sex scandal. We as a society made a larger mistake by making an issue of the sex scandal instead of letting it quietly go away. Politically, he did great things!

George W Bush, Jr remains the only president I cannot respect. I feel he represents his own interests and not those of the people. I feel he has worked to damage democracy and has laid the groundwork to see the United States as a facist government. Although I support my president, despite these views, I cannot wait to see him leave office.

The following video is an artistic and well edited depiction of George W Bush, Jr that captures his attitudes and pompousness that so rubs me wrong. Nice work D. Ledonne! Warning! The video contains imagery that some may find upsetting or disturbing. Also, the word "nigga" is repeated frequently.

Music video of DJ RX’s “Who’s the Nigga” from his album ‘The Party Party.’ President George W. Bush shares his grand vision for the future for the USA–creating a united America with justice and democratic representation for all.

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Backwards punishment

Honestly, instead of punishing him shouldn’t we give him a certificate for creativity and punish the girls for stupidity?!

MIAMI (Reuters) – A 76-year-old man claiming to be a doctor went door-to-door in a Florida neighborhood offering free breast exams, and was charged with sexually assaulting two women who accepted the offer…
One woman became suspicious after the man asked her to remove all her clothes and began conducting a purported genital exam without donning rubber gloves…
At least two women, both in their 30s, let him into their homes and he fondled…

Read that closely. She let a strange man into her house, allowed him to fondle her breasts, then stripped naked for him and only after she allowed him to touch her genitals did she realize he wasn’t wearing gloves and only then did she become suspicious. [Source]

Since we are pointing out victomizations in the news, the woman found alive in a landfill should not go without notice.

A landfill employee … saw Huston’s feet sticking out from a garbage pile…
…she was driving to work Thursday morning when a man wearing a ski mask and carrying a gun climbed into her car, demanding that she drive south. The next four nights… they drove through Washington, Oregon and California. They stopped occasionally at rest stops and service stations. …
here was no indication she had been assaulted.

I understand fear does strange things to a person. I understand kidnap victoms take to their captors. I don’t understand how in 4 days during which the car jacker had to sleep, and past numerous state troopers that they must have driven by, that she couldn’t draw attention to her situation. Flip the bird at a cop. Tap out SOS with the brake lights. Do something!

I tried hard, without success, to get my daughter to take a self-defense class and all I got was "I know all that stuff." I would like to hope that I am not enabling her to be a victomvictim. [Source]

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Time to close a window – Calendar Apps

This window has 21 tabs open. I pretty much am disenchanted with most of the CRM software out there like Act! and Goldmine and equally as disappointed in most calendar software including Yahoo Groups‘ calendars. Lately, I have been trying Hipcal out but have not been knocked off my feet yet. Everyone probably has heard by now that Google has released its much anticipated Web 2.0 Google Calendar. I’ve had this tab open since the day it came out so I could review it and give feedback. I have neither a review and the only feedback is that it looks like all the rest with perhaps the exception of better calendar sharing opportunities (and spam opportunities).

Btw, for those wondering, "what is web 2.0?" It is just a buzz word for webpages/sites that refresh or load information behind the scenes so you don’t have to watch the page reload.

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Time to close a window – Advertising Revenue Research


I’m about to put up a forum/discussion group on one of my domains. As much as I hate obnoxious advertising, monetizing a website really does help the publisher cover hosting costs et al. Google’s Adsense won’t work in the forum environment I am considering as per their TOS since I am thinking about having only registered users in the forums. I have reviewed Vibrant Media’s IntelliTXT and am rather impressed with it’s subtleness, distinction from hyperlinks yet acting like hyperlinks, and ability to aptly match an advertisement with the user’s entry.

The Firefox extension Adblock does stop both Adsense and Vibrant Media but I still think it is worth trying. In the least, this window with one tab has been open for weeks and needs to close.

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Time to close a window – Parent Resources


This window has 3 tabs. One is for another post and two are parenting related.

Blogtopsites presents the top parenting blogs.

The Exploratorium brings us an invaluable list of hands-on activities! These include:

Continue reading Time to close a window – Parent Resources

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From the mouths of babes

Dad: "How were your TCAPs?"
Sarah: "Boring!"
Dad: "I know they were boring. How did you do?"
Sarah: "I don’t know. They don’t tell us."
Dad: "How do you feel like you did? Good. Bad. Questions were hard. Made you think."
Sarah: "I don’t know"
Dad: WWASD

Mom: "Noah, can Granny and Granddaddy come to your graduation?"
Noah, confused: "Did they come to graduation?"
Mom: "Can they come to graduation?"
Noah, still confused: "We haven’t had graduation yet."
Mom: "CAN!"
Noah: *blink* *blink*
Dad: "Noah. _Can_ Granny and Granddaddy come to graduation?"
Noah: "I don’t know if they can."
Dad, shouting: "Do you want them to come?!"
Dad, regrouping: WWASD WWASD…

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Too many windows open


As I go about my daily tasks, I come across cool articles, websites, etc and open them in a new Firefox tab or a new Firefox window with intent to blog about them later. I currently have 17 windows open with an average of 5 tabs each. This Firefox window has 21 tabs open. I think it is high time to do some blogging BUT today is Wednesday! And we all know that Wednesdays are a Lost cause.

It’s seems rather appropriate that the first tab I choose to post then close would be from the Student Academic Services Study Skills Library on Procrastination.

Procrastination is a complex psychological behavior that affects everyone to some degree or another. With some it can be a minor problem; with others it is a source of considerable stress and anxiety. Procrastination is only remotely related to time management, (procrastinators often know exactly what they should be doing, even if they cannot do it), which is why very detailed schedules usually are no help.

Other characteristics:

  • Low Self-Confidence
  • I’m Too Busy
  • Stubbornness
  • Manipulation
  • Coping with Pressures
  • A Frustrated Victim

Four complex reasons for procrastination:

  1. Perfectionism
  2. Anger/Hostility
  3. Low Frustration Tolerance
  4. Self-Downing

Read more at the site and with this downloadable document.

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Traffic lights unnecessary.

A while back I wrote about a civil engineer/architect that showed removing traffic signals and signs actually reduced traffic accidents. Now I can’t find the article which means it very well could have been in my drafts lost in Blogger’s callous deletion of my account.

Notice that there are no red light cameras in this video. For that matter, there are no traffic lights, stop signs or person directing traffic. There are also no accidents.

Here in America, we have traffic lights.