Toastmasters

As most of my friends know, I am a member of Toastmasters International. This organization's purpose is to enable better communication among people including speaking and listening skills. I normally write out most of my speeches, so I thought it would be fun to archive them. I have attached a link to a speech I gave about the assassination of President Lincoln. You can see all my speeches in a page I will add in the future.

Third World Commanders-in-Chief don't count?

The Washington Post has an article about President (and General) Musharraf's refusal to step down as chief of staff of the Pakistani Army. Musharraf had promised a return to a more democratic form of government where he would trade-in his fatigues for constitutional changes required to legitimize his presidency. He has apparently reneged on this promise. Without casting aspersions on his chosen form of leadership, it occurred to me that the US has exactly this form of government. We have a civilian president that is elected (more-or-less) by the electorate, and is the absolute Command-in-Chief of the military structure. As a recent Justice department memo said, the President has absolute authority to wage war (that is their interpretation). What I find fascinating, is that there would be a question about Musharraf being a third-world dictator when he is actually using a play straight from Article 2, Section 2 of the US Constitution. I do realize that the main difference is while Pakistan's leader came to power in a bloodless coup, the US President came to power in a bloodless Supreme court coup (We are still in the first term :) ) -- Let the flames begin!

Life's little uncertainties

I was speaking to an old friend and it got me thinking how interesting life's little curves can be. Sometimes our past is never really in our past and sometimes we don't know what we want until we don't have it anymore. I guess that is a verbose way of saying "We don't know what we have until its gone". But, I am not talking about the reason you all may think. I guess I was thinking that while life can open doors and close doors, the ones we have to be careful of are the doors where we stay neither "in" nor "out". Then again, they say the best place to sit out a hurricane is in the door jamb, so maybe there is some safety there. I was thinking that life is a series of constant re-evaluations of our motives for change. Why did I leave the job that I never realized how much I enjoyed, why did I leave the town I now to which I now long to return; why did I leave the girl I now miss. I know the obvious answer is that grass always looks greener on the other side, and without fail, things are always better than you thought they were. Deep thoughts to ponder during a long, hard winter.

I read yesterday that you should update your blog as often as you eat, so I am endeavoring to update my blog more frequently.

Ciao

Arlington National Cemetery - Field of Heroes

I had to go to a bowling center on Ft. Myer today. The GSA division I work in had a holiday party there this afternoon. I took the Metro to the Arlington Cemetery stop and walked through the cemetery. I asked the guard how to get through to the base and she told me a shortcut up past Arlington House. This was Robert E. Lee's home. If you know the history, you know that the North ceased his estate and started to use it as a cemetery during the Civil War. That is how Arlington came to be. In any even, as I was walking among the markers of brave men and women that have served our country in the military. How petty and small our day to day concerns seem to be in comparison. How late the train was running or how long we had to wait in line for that Christmas gift seems like a small price to pay in the face of individuals that gave the ultimate sacrifice. Without hesitation, nor duty to sense, they gave their lives in service to not only a nation, but to an ideal. And yes, they served to protect my rights and I feel that I honor their memories every time I exercise those rights -- even the unpopular ones. Regardless of the circumstances of their deaths, whether during an unpopular war or in peace time, they still gave their lives. Walking among those honored dead; one cannot help but be reminded that the people that serve our country by wearing a uniform make a choice. They, in many cases, give up a much easier future in other walks of life. While I may disagree with the policies of occasional megalomaniac in the White House, I truly hope that no one ever doubts that I and each and every American not only owe them everything, but we also owe them the duty to exercise the very freedoms they give us. For just as faith without works is dead, so falls citizenship without action.

Put on your dancing shoes!!!

I went Swing Dancing on Saturday night. There is a park not too far from Washington DC that holds dances. I went (with a friend) this weekend. You get there at 8:00 PM and they give lessons for an hour. Once you get "Triple Step, Triple Step, Rock Step" into your head, then the fun starts. We were doing twirls and all kinds of stuff. It is a workout but it is the most fun you can have while working up a sweat -- well, almost ;). Christmas Cards are on the way...

On a personal note...

Hi All...Happy Holidays! Things are going great out here in Washington. On a personal note, I decided to stay on with my current company rather than convert over to be a Unisys employee. The pay was better :) I hope everyone has a great holiday season and if you are in Washington area, do call me 202-359-9766. Stay tuned for my most daring expose yet...the secret lives of the NSA!

West Wing recovered?

It is back! It is back! I was pleasently surprised Wednesday night to see the West Wing very close to its old form. The story by Lawrence O'Donnell actually had me wishing the show wouldn't end. No high profile car chases, or silly ER-related stunts (Here that Mr. Wells?). The story was character-driven and provided the right balance of plot and view of how the Chief of Staff's office works. It was once said that the West Wing was a weekly civics lesson. We who watch the show like that aspect. I hope this continues...

We, the disorganized, minority party

Will Rogers is credited with saying, “I belong to no organized political party. I'm a Democrat." Obviously with the recent election, those are words to consider carefully while performing the inevitable post-mortem on the results. What strikes me however is that I actually said that line just a week before the election. The Kerry-Edwards made quite a lot of noise about its Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign. This included the use of volunteers staffing call centers to call other volunteers. The interesting thing is that when I went to the Kerry-Edwards call center in Washington DC, most of the people we were calling to volunteer fell into one of three categories:
• already volunteering as a result of a prior phone call
• had been called 12 times before
• could not help
The former two items were very disconcerting. The system worked as follows: the local call center was sent a script with a list of names and numbers to call. We were supposed to write the status of the call on the sheet and this was supposedly recycled back to the National Party. Presumably, the people that were already volunteering would be entered into a database so their names would not show up on the next call list. The most egregious example was the person that said “We needed to get our act together — I have been called 12 times”. While obviously enthusiastic about making calls, there is clearly a demoralizing factor to facing our own incompetence as a party squarely in the face. How are we supposed to run the country when we cannot be relied upon to update a basic database?

Campaigns of today are clearly about information. Managing that information is an important role and to a large part, the party that manages its demographics, will win. This holds particularly true with an essentially evenly-split electorate. So, the best way to help is to get involved. I will certainly contact whomever I need to in the party and see what I can do to make the next election better.

Speech Contest

Under the Toastmasters heading, I went to a district 27 convention this past weekend. There was a speaker there named Craig Valentine. Craig won the 1999 Toastmaster's World Championship of Public Speaking. Craig had a great style and an upbeat message. One thing I took away was his task: describe your perfect day. How many of us go through life without knowing why we are doing it. What is your perfect day? For me, I am still working on it, but I am sure it has to do with having a son I love and that loves me, and a law degree somewhere on the wall. I am also sure it does not involve the New Jersey Turnpike!

Et tu, West Wing?

They killed it! They killed it! Middle East peace in an hour! Argh!

I have always loved the West Wing, but I am afraid its time has finally come. The dorsal fin is circling and the water skis are ready (Click the link for the explanation of that if you are not familiar with Jump the Shark). This show used to rely on characters and exceptional writing from Aaron Sorkin. Now, regretfully, its time has come. Don't get me wrong. I will still watch it, but it has progressed a slow, downward path towards simple formulaic television. Not surprisingly, it is just like when ER decided they needed to start showing car crashes for ratings. It had to create drama that people without little tolerance for the nuance of politics and intrigue could understand. I think longingly back to a time when a meeting between its characters discussing the fundamentals of some arcane fact of Presidential history was great TV. John Wells (the common link between ER and West Wing) has really screwed this show up. He seems to have a modus operandi of being a part of a show with great writers and turning it into a vehicle for all that is bad about television. I just wish they would get Aaron Sorkin to write a couple of episodes so we can remember how it used to be. Until then, we will either suffer through this dribble, or simply watch the reruns my trusty steed, Tivo has recorded for me.

West Wing

Google's GMail - The Killer Internet App at last?

I found a story on Slashdot today discussing Google's new GMail service. Well, it has actually been out awhile but just not released to the general public yet. The only way to get into the system is to be invited to it. I have 4 more invites left so email me if you want one. I have used free web-based email systems like Hotmail and Yahoo before, but they always left me wanting more. With GMail, I continually find myself wondering how they do the things they do. The aforementioned article talks about this. On its most basic level. GMail handles SPAM very well. Most of the things in the SPAM folder are really spam. Most of the things in my inbox are valid. Additionally, you do not have to ever delete anything if you do not want to delete it. You can archive all your mail then search against the archive to find it. You get 1GB of storage to save mail. So, if you have a Hotmail account and find you have to constantly delete it because it gets full, then this is for you. TTFN. - Tom

The Magic of RFID

Slashdot had a reference to this primer on RFID. For those that do not know, RFID is a method to place a tag on something and have an external scanner read it. The most interesting thing about the technology is how the device itself does not have a battery. it absorbs radio frequency (RF) energy and that powers its internal transmitter to allow it to send back its IDentification. Get it? This is the basic concept behind things like EZ Pass, and my license plate system idea (See earlier entry). How long before we plant one of these in every driver's license. Long live the Fourth Amendment!!!

The Magic of RFID

Yet another trip to New Jersey

Well, I took off again to New Jersey this weekend to see my son, David. We went to a rather odd attraction called Northlandz. This place is a giant model train museum. It is hard to describe and the scale is very large. Well, the scale of the exhibits, not the trains :)

David and I also took a ride down the Jersey shore to Sandy Hook. It is a beach area not too far from NYC. Unfortunately, I think its proximity to NYC gives the waves that special brown hue only found near large population areas. I actually made the drive in 3.5 hours each way. All made possible my the wonder that is EZ-Pass. More on that later.

I also made it to NYC. It is actually lots of fun to take the train into the city, leave Penn Station (33rd Street and 8 Avenue) and look up to see the Empire State Building. David and I were trying to find museums to see. I tell you one of the nicest things about Washington DC is the museums and attractions are generally free. In NYC, everything costs money!

A First

Hi All! This is something I have always wanted to do. A place where I can rant and rave to no end. I don't even have to buy ink! Seriously, I have some thoughts about many things and I would like to share them. This way, when I decide to try and be admitted to the NY Bar sometime in my life, someone will produce a blog entry claiming I support sedition. See, you can already tell what kind of blog this is going to be :)

I would like to say I will keep this on a certain topic, but it may wander. My interests (as far as writing) lie in social computing, systems engineering, position acquisition (RFID and/or AVL/APRS). I also have interests in politics, law, science, art, music, and many others. I hope to make this fun and only sporadically boring.

Thanks again for stopping by and I hope to be changing the world through blogs soon.

The Electoral College (Kegger at Alex and George's place -- Mason that is).

During a Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.org) meeting I visited last night, one of the questions was on the Electoral college. The Colorado issue came up as they are thinking of changing to not be "winner take all". One concern is that the value of the state will be diminshed if the votes are cast according to the popular vote. I am still forming an opinion on this. You still have the issues associated with faithless electors as a safeguard. Having lived in a smaller state like Utah (electorally-speaking), I can understand how Utah would not want to be marginalized out of the process. Although since it is not a battleground state, I think we have exactly the situation the Founders wanted to avoid -- notably where a few states are deciding the election. I do know that change happens in excruitingly slow intervals - especially here in Washington :)

MSNBC - Doing the math: How Kerry or Bush could win

Tracking people and things - The perils of RFID

I suspect most people do not realize what the impact of RFID will be. The technologist side of me is fascinated by it. The civil libertarian is scared senseless by it. Sadly, my own interest in it contributes ideas that I think ethically questionable. What I mean is an idea I had to embed RFID tags into license plates. Yes - your car! All cars!

The idea is that the vehicle identification number (VIN) is in the tag. That itself is nothing new. England (where they are more than happy to sacrifice liberty for perceived security), has actively been looking at this for the London tax.

My slant on it is that we have scanners in police cars. The police car sends the VINs of the cars in its proximity to its central server and continually checks the plates of all the cars near it. Rather than the officer needing to constantly check tags on his Mobile Data Terminal (MDT), the system does it for him. When it finds something like an expired tag or something more serious, it informs the officer with the specific information ("ALERT - BLUE Ford Truck Expired Tag"). Then, the officer just has to find the blue Ford truck around him and make the traffic stop. My friend, Eric Soderborg thinks I am absolutely nuts for thinking of this. Honestly, I think it would be a great system and make me millions of dollars, but at what price?


Wired News: American Passports to Get Chipped

The Official Kerry-Edwards Blog

Well, we might as well get the politics up front. I am a Democrat. However, I am a democrat that believes in personal responsibility. I think Big Government can be a great thing but also a terrible thing. I am a semi-strict Constitutionalist and believe admendments should only be made after thinking about it for 20 years - wouldn't that be good; a cooling off period for constitutional admendments. So, with that being said, I am supporting the Kerry-Edwards ticket this year. Although, I have said if President Bush got rid of his axis of evil -- that would be Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Ashcroft -- I would seriously consider voting for him!

I called the DCCallCenter for the Kerry campaign yesterday. I am going to go down and work and phone banks tonight. It should be an experience :)

The Official Kerry-Edwards Blog