Reality Me

Blog

  • Say NO to speed cameras

    I was against red light cameras (and still am! $2 million TN dollars went to TX because of Redflex!) and I sure am against speed cameras. Speed trapping makes roads dangerous! Roads should be predictable. We don’t need people slamming on their brakes for police cars and cameras. Sometimes to avoid a problem it is safer to speed up then slow down even if that means hopping above the speed limit. An officer can see, "that truck was about to sideswipe him and he avoided it by speeding up." A camera cannot make that judgment.

    I often drive fast on the Interstate. It is safe because the relative speed of traffic is the same and visibility can be several miles. I don’t drive recklessly. There is a huge difference between driving fast and driving recklessly. A slow driver can drive recklessly. In town, I tend to drive the speed limit. I recognize the lights have been timed such that you will make little gain by speeding in town. The few seconds you shorten your trip by speeding is not worth the danger you place pedestrians and other drivers in within the unpredictable confines of busy roads.

    Speed cameras and red light cameras are profit tools for public, tax funded law enforcement. We don’t need them! We fix traffic problems through better civil engineering (narrow roads, curves in roads, reduction of traffic signs, removal of speed limits, etc.) and through education. Could you imagine the impact it would have if a police officer pulled you over for speeding and instead of giving you a ticket brought a video player to your car and forced everyone in the car to watch a 15 minute educational video on how speeding wastes fuel, puts unnecessary wear and tear on the vehicle, places people at unnecessary risk, and reduces travel time by less than a few minutes than staying under the speed limit? The 15 minute delay per incident may be reason enough to slow down. But even if the message did not reach the driver, perhaps it would get through to some of the passengers and then you’ve made a difference. Will a bill in the mail have that same impact?

    UPDATE: Michael Silence has put up a poll to see if Knoxville wants speed cameras. When I took it, 86% said no.

    Update: UT to probe ethics of using traffic cameras. Think about the other cameras we can have in our future "beeeep Our facial recognition software has identified you as Jane Doe. You have been standing in the same spot for 5 minutes and one second which constitutes loitering under ordinance w37704. A fine of $45 has automatically been assessed to your cell phone bill."

    Related: Google is mapping Knoxville. How will you be immortalized for the world to view? Do speed cameras change driving habits? See Driving Patterns – Let the Ass Merge.

    Update: More details including Chattanooga’s numbers.

  • Calling Marriot Housekeeping

    On Saturday the 13th of October, Sarah settled into bed midnightish at a Marriot Hotel near Atlanta. She was traveling with the high school band to perform flags. On Sunday the 14th she awoke unable to find her phone that she had left on top of her luggage so she assumed it was in her luggage (that’s her official story..personally, I think she woke late and groggily shoved everything in her bag and rushed out to see her friends without giving the phone a thought). Sunday at 9pm as she came off the bus I asked, "where’s your phone?" She replied, "In my luggage." On Tuesday, she finally confided that her Motorola RAZR v3xx was lost or stolen.

    I scoured her phone and text messaging records. The last number called was to Phoenix, Arizona so there was hope that we had a way to contact the person with the phone. After a few calls and several text messages we figured out that Sarah had actually placed those calls on behalf of a friend. Hope was lost. I contacted the housekeeping manager at the hotel and he confirmed no phone had been turned it. I deactivated the phone. A week later I called again and still no phone. LissaKay comes to the rescue (aided by Twitter) with a replacement phone for Sarah and Sarah flips with excitement spending the next 6 hours customizing the phone.

    Yesterday I get a phone call from someone explaining they found the phone! Yea! Housekeeping came through. No, wait, this is guest! The phone, lost on October 13th, was found under the bed by an honest person staying in room 517 on October 29th. It still had power because Sarah had turned it off so the honest person was able to lookup "Dad" and found me. This means that room 517 hasn’t had a thorough cleaning in at least half a month and that for at least 15 guests, assuming the room is occupied every day, don’t check the room very well. Ewww.

    Now, who gets the phone? Sarah or Tommy.

  • Reading for Halloween

    As a reminder, Google has Ebooks for Halloween. (direct link to Halloween ebooks) Read a spooky story!

  • One of those days

    You know it is going to be an interesting day when you start off by putting your hot chocolate in your bowl and your oatmeal in your mug.

  • My wife makes good Twitters

    Now my wife knows how to Twitter! Thanks my love!

  • Heroes text message

    Micah found more important info from Linderman’s files. I think the mystery man is on our side. See 4 urself

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    This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T

  • Rules that make my life work

    I have a few rules that must be followed. A perfect example is "no computing while cooking!" I always burn the food otherwise.

    I have a new rule. "No computing while inflating the van’s tire with very low even if it is going to take 15 minutes." At least I didn’t do this.

  • A bad day is all relative

    My son could be this guy in the near future!

  • Oh Deer!

    Cathy and I don’t get much adult social time. Between work and the children, we live fairly sequestered. Last night we took a break to have a social gathering with our friends that helped School Matters come be. The home of our host was not too far from our own and was lovely! Unlike the modern bulldoze and prefab on a flat property, this house was built with the contours of the land. Aside from visiting and conversing with adults, the best part was as we unloaded Amy and Evan from the van, two doe passed not 20 meters away from us!

  • Heroes text message

    Finally finding concrete answrs. We hav a grt lead today. Micahs been doin a lot of digging. Follow my lea

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    This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T

  • How do I help him?

    His TCAPS (standardized testing) scores are through the roof. He doesn’t lack for intelligence. His eyes are fine. But my 11 year old son can stare at something and not see it! No it is better than that. He can kick something and still not find it. This morning he is looking for his tent and he goes in the garage where the tents are stacked. He says, "I found Sarah’s dome tent but I can’t find mine." I look into the garage and from 16 feet away I can see that his tent is directly under Sarah’s tent. I ask him to look again. He kicks his tent as he uses his foot to move Sarah’s. Then he stares down at his tent for a few seconds. Then he looks up at me and declares, "I just don’t know where it is."

    This is where television dads have the benefit of a writing staff that has prepared their response. Your first drafts flash through your head almost as quickly as your response comes out of your mouth. Most of the drafts involve words you really don’t want your son to hear. Some are funny but still unspeakable. You try hard to remember the 7 Habits of Highly Successful Dads and resolve yourself to be moderately successful. I chose to tell him "you just kicked your tent" but I couldn’t help but inquire "how did you not see it?" He gave me clue, "I thought it was over there." I think he is predetermining an outcome and convincing himself that is the only possible outcome. As a father I want to steer him on a good path; as a philosopher I have to remember he has to walk his own path; as a stunned bystander, I have to pray that this is just a pre-teen, hormonal phase.

    Of course, it prompts my daily reminder to Noah: "You should never do drugs!"

  • Retraining the sleep pattern

    Last night I began an experiment to change my sleep cycle. Most recently I have trained my body to go to sleep at 10:30pm and wake as early as 2am but more often between 4am and 6am.

    My new sleep pattern will be to be at 8:30pm and wake at 12:30am, 1:30am or 2:30am. Last night was hard. I think I need coffee to make this work. Once it is stabilized and regular, I will have 4-8 hours of disturbance free productivity everyday!

  • The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Fathers

    The ririanproject brings us today’s words of wisdom. Go read the the details!

    A great father makes all the difference in a kid’s life…

    1. Keeping stress to yourself.
    2. Leading by example.
    3. Being consistent.
    4. Staying involved.
    5. Scheduling family recreation.
    6. Teaching.
    7. Creating family rituals.

    [Source, ririanproject]

  • Put @RedCross in your Twitter

    What is Twitter? I feel that Twitter is still defining itself. Essentially, Twitter is an ongoing chat designed to be easily accessible from your cell phone via SMS which is why messages have a 140 character limit. The limit also forces you to be concise in your thought. Twitter puts us closer to people of importance or influence in our lives. (That’s not a Joe Biden endorsement..just showing that you can get a message to Joe Biden via Twitter easier than a phone call) Several other presidential candidates are using Twitter. The shakers and movers in the tech industry are using Twitter and I have been able to interact with a couple of people that otherwise would have remained "that famous person on the stage at the tradeshow." Today I even cracked a joke at Wil Wheaton in response to his tweet although I doubt he saw it. There is still some debate about whether or not a person receives your @ message if they are not following you. I say yes as long as the @ is the first character. You cannot direct message someone unless they are following you.

    So why add RedCross? Because it is another way to make sure emergency information is getting into people’s hands as rapidly as possible. They are even using Twitter to add people to a searchable database showing you are safe and well!

    Send ‘D safeandwell FIRSTNAME LASTNAME #### STREET CITY STATE ZIP CELLPHONE’ and a brief note about how you are. We’ll enter you in.

    about 12 hours ago from web

    Check out Safe&Well: https://disastersafe.redcro… – and *make sure* all your friends and family include it in their disaster plans. about 12 hours ago from web

    I think Twitterers will fall into one or more of three types:

    1. Exhibitionists, Voyeurs, Gossips – These are the folks that will send/read a stream of messages about the minutia of daily life
    2. News feeds – These are the folks alerting the world about their experiences with the California fires, or the next big event. These are the newspapers getting the headlines out. These are people like myself alerting others that the Interstate is at a stand still.
    3. Topic Specific – These would be people sharing information about a particular subject. Unlike news feeds these will often include back and forth discussions about the topic.
      I originally had this one listed as "Techies" because that is what I do: Techies – These are the people sharing links to events in the technical world. Unlike a news feed, these will often include back and forth discussions on the ins and outs of technical issues.
    4. [added November 10, 2008] Spammers – People taking advantage of the tendency to follow those who follow you simply to draw attention to a product or website. The Twitter staff and others are trying to minimize the ability for people to spam through Twitter.
    5. [added November 10, 2008] Utility – such as how The RedCross has used Twitter to make accessing the Safe and Well database easier.

    I suppose I should include a 4th classification "self-promoters/spammers" which would be people that use Twitter exclusively for trying to drive traffic to their sites. Twitter can drive traffic!

  • How green are you? Open your windows!

    In case you haven’t noticed, the weather has turned. Fall is here! And right now, at least in Knoxville, the temperature couldn’t be more perfect. Several days ago I turned off our air conditioner and opened the windows. Not only am I enjoying the outdoor sounds, such as rain and birds, I can expect a lower electrical bill. Imagine if an entire city turned off their air conditioners and opened the windows!