Why the internet wins

I have been meaning for a long time to get a new blade assembly for our blender. It's been doing it's job recently by standing majestically on the counter in glossy black, matching the other appliances, But it hasn't actually worked for quite a while because the blade thingy just spins around and around inside and doesn't cut anything.

With the holidays and stuff, I have some time so I thought to buy new blades. Now, I'm an old school guy so I went to the appliance place on Folsom street where I'd had good service some time before and the guy at the counter (Jim) after telling me how Kitchenaid had stopped making these more than 10 years ago and they can't get them and the last time they checked in November there were none and he would check again and maybe I could call back tomorrow. And they were $14.95 in the price book, and he wrote down the part number for me.

So I called back and yes they had checked, well they had sent them an email but they didn't hear back so I suggested that I will call back next week.

Later that day, I cut out early from work, so I was in time to go to my local parts place. Upon asking for a blender part, she got into her files and gave me a mapquest printout of the directions to another local place. Internet scores 1.

At this place, the counter guy started out with attitude when I mentioned that I thought the original part was not very robust.

"You've had this thing for at least 10 years which is when they last made this style so it can't be that bad now can it?"

I didn't mention how it had been hardly used.

He fiddled with his computer for a while and then dashed off into the back. Is there some secret place in all these parts places where the stuff I want is actually stored and not logged in the computer? Seems like. He returned a few minutes later with the part and declared it would be $28.

That was double the price of the Folsom street store but he did actually have it so I pulled out my credit card. "Sorry no credit card for less that $50".

I tried to turn it back on him that since Kitchenaid hadn't made these for ten years and he was unlikely to get another customer who would want them and he would have those blades sitting in the secret place forever and make no money and that he should make an exception and let me use my card for his price that was already twice what the other place had quoted. No deal.

When I got home, I searched the internet for the part using the number the Folsom street guy had given me, found it on Amazon and bought it, all in a couple minutes. (see picture above). Internet 2.

With the shipping, the internet part costs $20. If it is the right part, then I guess it's a win, if not then there will be some return hassle.

I wonder. If I'm at the counter and the guy is using his computer to search for a part, or I'm at home using my computer to search for a part then what's the difference? If the counter guy really knows something about the part and has one in stock then that's good. If he doesn't have it but did get me the part number then am I ripping him off by buying it somewhere else?

So many of the really helpful stores, the ones that have a counter, have already gone out of business that I am tempted to patronize them just to keep them around for that occasion when I really will need help. But if I can buy it online with a small risk of getting the wrong thing and the convenience of home shopping and delivery then I guess I will. Somehow though it makes the world seem a little smaller or colder, or less friendly in some way.

It's in the mail

So let me get this straight. Two UPS packages mailed in Yemen, addressed to synagogues in Chicago were found to contain bombs. I can just see the scene at the UPS counter in Yemen.

"Yes, sure, we've got some good friends in Chicago, and here's a couple treats for them. Hehe"
"They sure love our delicious surprises. Hehe"

And no one thought this was suspicious?

How about this for a plan? No more packages allowed from Yemen to the U.S. Why do we bother trying to be fair to people? Let's keep it simple, your countryman sent us a bomb, so you may not send us anything ever again. And by the way, don't be applying for any visas either. There will be no American visa issued to anyone from Yemen ever again.

I don't think we'll be missing out on much.

Corporate Culture

Been a while but here goes anyway. Sitting in at the IT employee monthly meeting today I heard that no matter who is chosen for the new CEO, they will be committed to preserving the culture.

Is that right? No one ever mentions what the culture actually is, but it's supposed to be something precious. Let me think.

• All white managers, although some women are allowed.
• Black, Filipino, and Gay low paid workers.
• Massive amounts of manual paper pushing.
  

I guess that sums it up. With one addition perhaps, lots of the low paid workers are massively obese. From hours sitting in front of a computer doing what every other industry has long ago automated. BTW, this is a health care company.

I sent a nice email to the HR guy today regarding the 401K plan. I guess we are supposed to praise the master that we have one but it actually sucks. For example, one fund I looked at in our plan had 1.7% annual expenses. A similar plan from Vanguard had 0.17% annual expenses. Let's see how this turns out. I'm afraid that not being the obedient slave might not be a good career move. But who cares? This business (health care) needs a major kick in the butt and if I can give my little bit then good for me.

The Workaday World

I'm still trying to figure out the politics of my new job, and this week got another surprising lesson, at least to me. We have lots of tedious manual processes that I've wondered why people put up with them. Now I know.

Last week, my cohort and I worked through the laborious process of closing the books for the end of the month. We started at about 4pm and finished up at 11:30pm. I was frustrated and exhausted, he was jubilant. From my point of view, the whole thing was a pain in the ass, for him it was 7 1/2 hours of overtime, even more than usual. Probably because my inexperience slowed him down.

The next day he pointed out that he usually does the process from home, where he can do other things during the long periods of computer processing, but he always books 6 or more hours of overtime.

This week, I took one of the most manual parts of the monthly process and wrote some scripts do the work. I had a chance to test them out in our development environment since it needed a month end close for some other things they were doing. I ran my scripts. Less than 10 minutes, they were done, versus a solid hour of typing away for the manual method. Not only that, I had complete logs of the process that showed there were no errors. I was jubilant, some of my colleagues were not.

I am threatening their "rice bowl". My nature is to improve things, these other guys are more into milking things. I wonder how this will play out?

My new Religion

In the news today is a pastor from Florida who has declared "Burn the Koran" day for next Saturday, which is also September 11th. That is supposed to be inflammatory towards Muslims and not in good taste PC wise. I don't think it's such a bad idea and I'll do it one better. I hereby declare "Burn Holy Books" day.

In all religions the original founder/prophet/messenger from God had his ideas taken over and warped and rewritten by the next generation or two of followers. I think they all get it wrong, their motivations have become contaminated by ego, power and wealth. To combat this problem, I think first of all we should demand that only teachings from the original prophet be allowed. And secondly we should keep the entire religious literature to one page.

For the Christians, let's keep it to the 10 commandments. For the Moslems, they have their equivalent. The Buddhists are pretty hard to pin down, let them come up with something. And same for the rest.

I realize this will put out of work thousands of scholars from so many religions but so be it. They would learn and teach a lot more useful information if they had to get a real job. Religion should be a part of life while being a member of society, not an ivory tower to escape into and hurl down pronouncements onto us poor mortals.

So gather up your books and come on down. We'll have a whole lot of fun.

Medical

Now that I've worked in the medical biz for a couple months, I know what's wrong with it and how to fix it. Well, not really but I have observed a few things. I characterized it as a business because that's the end I'm in, I know nothing about treating patients but I am learning about the business end of things.

The problem is the doctors. Not exactly just them but them and the culture that's been created around them. Anyone who's spent any time in a hospital can easily recognize the actual doctors amongst the multitudes of other workers. The doctors wear white lab coats and have stethoscopes draped over their shoulders. Why? It's not that there's that much need for a stethoscope at any moment, it's a symbol. The symbol says doctors rule. And they do, the nurses in all their flavors (and colors) right on down to the orderlies and cleaners bow down and do their bidding.

In the hospital setting maybe this makes some sense, but on the business end it's a disaster. Doctors are control freaks who think they can know everything. Hello, they don't know accounting. So the billing and insurance processing is a complete mess. It's slow, error prone, arbitrary and generally dumb. I wonder if this is a result of being created by physicians who operate in an ambiguous environment of percentages and hopes.

At our place the doctors own the processing company. And even in the office you can immediately tell who's a doctor. I swear there's one guy that always has a large envelop like for an xray tucked under his arm in case there was any doubt. Like I didn't notice your ill fitting suit and arrogance that you carry around?

Sorry for us peons but we fall into the culture so easily. Yes, Dr. so and so, and yes sir.

Time to knock the doctors down a notch and get some real management and accounting and computer people in and make it a properly run industry. But the AMA sets the codes and ensures that the docs get their (well deserved, to them) deference and we all suffer to keep this mess going. Search the internet for "medical codes" to get a taste of the problem.

Getting to that point

I've been banging my head against a hard problem at work for a while. Without getting into too much detail, I'm trying (as I often do) to get a program to do what I want, not what the creators designed it for. At least that's how I've been looking at the problem and it's been very frustrating and now I come to find out that I was wrong. Very wrong and very stubborn and maybe the head banging is part of my natural learning process, I've been through similar things before.

We've got a program that is mostly used by people sitting at PCs (or any kind of terminal) and interactively doing the tasks required to get medical bills and prescriptions and office schedules to behave the way we want. The problem is that there are cases where a person sitting at a terminal is just too error prone and slow and overall a silly way to do things. Like processing 986 claims (like we did this morning) to see if they should be paid and then printing a check for each that is valid.

We've been using a couple ways of simulating a person at a keyboard and hooking that up to the application and getting things done faster than a real person. The main technique has been to script a terminal emulator program to send keystrokes in the correct sequence to get a process done. This way the application thinks it's attached to a real terminal and behaves normally. A proper script can automate the process by becoming the perfect user.

Except that the terminal emulator program itself has problems. If the application doesn't send back the expected prompt quick enough, like if the system gets busy, then the emulator stops waiting and starts sending the next keystrokes which the application isn't expecting and the whole process falls apart. Other random failures are occurring, in these cases the perfect synchronization between the emulator sending keystrokes and the application expecting them fails and nothing much gets done.

I have been focusing on sending the keystroke data to the application in different ways without the emulator being involved at all with little success. You know this button across the top of your keyboard? Labeled F1, F2 etc...? They send out special codes that the application needs if it is attached to a terminal and are very difficult to send without a real keyboard or an emulator.

That was the key insight that has broken my logjam. If the application is attached to a terminal... Well, how about if it's not? Like if it's a batch job reading input from a file? Then, it behaves completely differently. The application running in batch happily reads an input file without needing the troublesome function key commands. Almost like someone designed it that way. I think they probably did but nobody bothered to tell me. My predecessors and then myself were focused on one mode that was driving us all crazy, not knowing that there was another mode that did everything we wanted. If we had only known.

Hopefully, with this breakthrough, I can move forward to getting this place out of the stone age. With a reasonable batch control system, scheduling and monitoring batch processes nirvana can be just around the corner. At least that's how I feel now until the next unexpected roadblock. But optimism for now and face that when it comes.

The end of masculinity

I've noticed for a while that the feminine side has been taking over the modern world. Boys are having trouble being boys because they need to jump around and find frogs and all kinds of non PC behaviors. It also means that they need to discover skills that are not in any book. Like finding your way around. I learned it with a bicycle in a small town and the freedom to roam. These days moms don't let boys roam, they take them to school, practice, camp, gym, ballet, errands. Boys just veg in the back seat with an electronic game until they are deposited at their destination. Then they do whatever behavior is expected and wait until getting picked up.

This last bastion of maleness has now been totally destroyed. The male pride of comprehension in navigation has been wiped out. That business about asking for directions was just a small step, now every last prideful thing has been wiped out by GPS navigation particularly in cars.

As a male I take pride in knowing where I am, and knowing how to get somewhere. In fact where I live it's pretty simple, the ocean is on the west (where the sun goes down) and the mountains are on the east (where the sun comes up). To go north, simply keep the ocean on your left, to go south, keep it on your right. The main freeways go north and south in the bay area except when you need to get to the mountains and then you just head off to the east. It's as hard as picking highway 80 or 50 depending on which end of Lake Tahoe you want to get to. 80 for North, 50 for South.

Our new car has a navigation system. Very fancy with lots of buttons and screens and a thick manual. No longer can the wife just say "why don't you ask?". Now it's "why didn't you enter the destination", "are you in the right mode?" "Where's the way point?" "The screen says SR242, are we on that?" "You missed the last turn!". "Why don't you listen?". But this time, it's not why didn't I listen to her, but why didn't I listen to the stupid machine.

I'll tell you why I don't listen, because I know my way around and that stupid machine won't accept my home address as a valid address and I don't want to be bossed around by a computer and I hate it so much but I can't even figure out how to turn it off.

The last straw? It has a female voice.

Your BMI and EHR and meaningful use

As part of the government's recent health care bill, there is $20 billion allocated to get doctors to use electronic health records (EHR). For us Kaiser members this is nothing new, that company spent some billions recently and put all the records on the computer. Long gone are my fond memories of the Doc coming into that little uncomfortable room with a fat paper file that was me since age one month.

In order to get the private doctors into the digital age, the health care bill offers $44,000 to a practice that can demonstrate "meaningful use" of EHR. Two years later the final rules are now in place defining what constitutes "meaningful use". It basically means the practice has to use a certified software package and to also meet the requirements on a checklist of items for things like ordering prescriptions and procedures that can vary based on the doctor's specialty.

My current employer provides computer services for more than 800 physicians in the San Francisco bay area. The numbers are a little vague because it's not really a public company so the annual report is pretty skimpy. More pictures of the good life than financial data. But whatever the actual numbers, $44k times hundreds of practices is a good chunk of change. So the company is scrambling to get these docs to meet the standard and then we all can share a piece of the reward. We're good on the software, what we offer is certified, the challenge is the extra checkoff items. Some doctors don't care and some do, so are guys are out there pumping as fast as they can.

Sounds good right? Simple to take your records to a new doctor and continue with seamless treatment? Well, sort of. The certified systems don't always inter-operate so well. You can be reduced to paying your current doctor to print out some of your records and then carry them to the new place to be entered into the new system. But some data is standardized and portable between certified systems. Like your Body Mass Index (BMI) for example. Is this a good idea? The government is already asking to collect this data for every patient who receives care from a provider that receives any government money. In other words, they can collect the data about everybody! Prepare to be in a new database.

Now I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I wonder when I'll get a letter from Uncle Sam reminding me to eat more vegetables. Or do they already know from the traffic cameras?

Mansfield Park

Did you ever put a book down and lose your place? And then try to figure out where you were when you lost track? My little brother used to do that to me on purpose when I had left a book near my bedside, but this current situation is on a whole 'nother level. Back then, I could look at the side of the book and guess the place based on the wrinkles in the pages and then search back a forth a couple times until I was back on track. (or I could spent eight bucks for a gizmo like this)

This time, the cleaners knocked my book off the side table and then replaced it with no bookmark at all. I found the marker on the floor. But I have not been able to locate where I was reading. Why? It's all the same! The book is Mansfield Park by the much beloved Jane Austen, published in 1814. I admit I was having trouble figuring out what was going on, it took until about half way through (and a peek at the introduction) to realize that Fanny, the poor relative staying amongst the richer sisters was the main subject. Now when I pick a page to try to find my original place, it reads just the same as any other page I pick. It's completely confusing. It doesn't really matter that I had mostly figured things out, it's all gibberish now.

What's the lure of Sotherton? Why did Sir what's his name go to the West Indies? And why did he return at such an inopportune time and marry off that daughter so suddenly? And who the heck is Mr. Rushworth? Is that another name for Edmund? Why did Mr. Yates come and go so suddenly? And why did the author insist on using first names sometimes and surnames on other occasions? Was that to ensure I couldn't get things straight?

I am reassured by the fact that even the Austen fans don't all like this book. I think more experienced writers can get the idea that making sense is not that important and that's what this seems like to me. Even Ms. Austen's mother criticized the characters. Check out Austen.com to see what the Derbyshire Writers Guild thinks, it's a real hoot. Since Austen died a couple years after the publication, maybe she just didn't have it together anymore. Makes sense to me.

Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert

In this mixed up world of ours the contradictions of culture can be absolutely mind boggling. I was reading about the recent decision of the court in Botswana that the native Bushmen could not reopen a water well on land that was taken from them in the 1980's when diamonds were discovered. Seeking more information on the story I did that thing we do, googled it.

Look at the first hit I got! Kalahari Resorts. An authentic African themed resort, in Ohio. Featuring the world's largest indoor water park and an even bigger outdoor one. I guess we can forgive the little slip up on the location, the Kalahari is really located off the bottom of the map. I wonder what a bushman would think about all that water? I bet he would enjoy the "incredible" salad bar and a hut room that includes a 32" flat screen TV. Maybe he would be able to catch a National Geographic special about himself and the famous lions after lounging in the plunge pool.

What a world!

I want to be somewhere else

Like Capri for example, I mean the real one, the island off the coast of Italy. Shear limestone cliffs, narrow winding paths between neat whitewashed houses. Glimpses of perfectly tended gardens and the blue Mediterranean sea beyond.

Boy, do I sound like a travel agent. I looked around for some pictures to post here, none of them do the place justice. So use your imagination. Feel the breeze on your face. Feel your legs tremble at the impossibly steep switchbacks leading down to a blue grotto. Try to get a waiters attention, but who's in a hurry anyway?

Sneak out at midnight for a walk and try not to get lost, the place is a maze. The local polizia can maybe help, they patrol on skinny electric carts that can fit on the paths.

I'd like to be there now. Gelato!

Money Ill

OK, so I'm just taking off from the title of the book "Money Ball" which I just took off the shelf for my BART reading. But on the news tonight, there was footage of a worldwide AIDS conference in Vienna. A room with thousands of delegates was shown applauding a new breakthrough. Well, maybe, these things need years of testing before they are proven to work and then be administered to the afflicted people.

Does this conference do anything for the sufferers or more for the attendees? Attendees get a goody bag and lots of eating and drinking and carrying on like all conferences. Plush hotel rooms, lovely bathrobes and all the rest.

The fact is that AIDS is now a major industry, the big Pharmas and the little startups are competing to find the magic bullet and rack in the megabucks. I find it sickening.

People in many countries around the world are wasting away and dying, leaving their families behind to fend for themselves. There are so many little things that can be done to stop the spread of AIDS, like giving away condoms and educating people in their use. But where's the money in that? And the several major religions won't allow it anyway.

As I said, it's just so wrong. Several thousand well fed and housed delegates jumping to their feet and applauding a "breakthrough" that was created and publicized and will be continued based on good old greed makes me sick. Tell them all to go back home and do something actually useful rather than grubbing for cash. Please, someone, please, make these disease celebrities just go away.

The non profit world

Tomorrow morning I'm starting a real job. After being off work for more than two years it's certainly a bit intimidating. I didn't get laid off, I had quit my previous job, at a well known internet company because I just couldn't stand it. But that's not why I writing this.

In those two years, one thing I did was to sign up with a non profit organization that provides technical professionals, like myself, to other non profits that need help. I learned a few things about that world in my time with them.

First of all, just because it's a non profit doesn't mean there's no money. Staffers have jobs that they want to keep, directors are rewarded in ways including prestige and social status, and there's a whole ecosystem of consultants and advisers looking to make a buck.

One of my tasks was to evaluate and recommend a new software system for an agency that had come into enough money that they needed help keeping track of it. I dove into the "donor management" software market and found a bunch of companies looking to sell their products. I could accept that, after all these companies need to make enough money to stay alive. What I didn't expect, that happened right off the bat, was the offers for me to make money by recommending a certain product. I was told, via email, by two different companies that if I could get the agency to pick their product there was an immediate %15 in it for me and future arrangements where I would the the preferred support provider.

That sounds like a kickback to me, and not only is it unethical, it's illegal. I had no idea this was out there and I had no intention of participating. That was one troubling problem but it was easy to avoid. I just refused to recommend those products and slept soundly.

The bigger problem was what these systems do. Simply put they help you collect cash for your organization. People donate because it makes them feel good so these systems help find ways to make potential donors to feel good. One way they do that is to collect as much personal information about you as they can to create linkages. Did you go to they same school as another donor? Play at the same golf club? Kids go to the same school? Vacation at the same resort? What's your dog's name?

These linkages allow the fund raisers to apply subtle pressures like, "your friend Bob gave us a generous gift", or "your old school is a big supporter" etc. Never said out loud like that but applied with code expressions like: "Oh, we know a lot of people over there" or "he's my uncle's wife's best friend".

Pardon me, but I don't want anyone collecting this type information about me and I think it's wrong to do it for people that have donated some money to an organization. Once you donate you become like a quartz vein in the gold mine that can be followed to great reward. I find the whole idea really creepy and I guess that's why I don't what to participate further. The profit world is a lot more straightforward and in the end honest. Wish me luck in my new job.

Internet Business

When you search for something in Google there is a list of results presented. Did you ever wonder how that list is ordered? Google uses a semi-secret algorithm to decide which site should show up on the top of the list and which second and down the line. Gaming that algorithm is big business and it can mean the difference between success and failure for an internet business. If a person searches for say "basketball shoes" they are much more likely to go to a site and buy a pair of shoes if it appears high up on the results list. In fact being on the first page of the list makes all the difference since people will rarely go to the second page and beyond unless they are looking for something very specific.

I'll let you research how the list ordering is determined, the internet is full of information on that. And there are lots of search engine optimization (SEO) companies that will gladly sell you expensive services to improve your sites listing. Be aware that a lot of the information out there is not very useful. The game is always changing since as SEO companies learn to beat Google, Google in return will adjust their algorithm to result in what they think is a list that accurately represents how the search results should be displayed.

Consider how a small company with good SEO can carve out a profitable niche for itself. For example: airport-data..com. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) publishes on an hourly basis the current weather conditions at airports throughout the country. They are nice enough to present the data in a standard format that is very convenient for others to pick up. That's what airport-data.com does, it's computers grab the data from NOAA's sites and publishes it on airport-data's site. Doesn't sound like much of a business but in fact it's brilliant. The other thing that's on airport-data's web site is advertising. Companies have paid to have airport-data's site littered with ads that they think people looking at airport information will be interested in. Airport-data.com has also been set up to show up high on the Google search results. For example if someone, like me, searches for "weather ccr" like I do for a local weather report, airport-data shows up first on the list, I click on it and get my information and airport-data makes a few pennies from the ads. It's a beautiful little money spinner, the data is free, setting up and maintaining airport-data.com doesn't cost much and the money rolls in.

As you're clicking around the net thinking everything's free and wonderful, take a moment to consider who's making money and the ways you are actually paying. You pay in ads cluttering up your screen and you pay in sluggish response while all this ad stuff happens behind the scenes.

Notes: ccr is the Concord airport near my house.
this article is an interesting overview of web advertising.

Short attention span

It was just a few years back when the oil industry was worried about a lack of trained engineers. Schools were facing declining enrollment in petroleum engineering, geology and related subjects. Some programs even shutdown all together.

I guess we shouldn't have worried. The gulf oil spill has brought out engineering talent that we never knew existed. Everyone from Rush Limbaugh, Kevin Costner, James Carville, Colin Powell, and well, just about everyone is on TV explaining what went wrong and why it's still going wrong and how it should be fixed. And why hasn't Obama done anything? And what happened to "drill baby drill" baby Sarah Palin? Maybe she has some ideas, she's usually got plenty.

The internet has risen to the occasion too. This clown offers iPhone apps and other important ways the you can help. That "clown" has a pretty big ax to grind in this situation, he is trying to launch a "cap and trade" greenhouse gas market and is using the publicity for all it's worth.

Our old friends from CrisisCommons (CC) are also trying to get in on the action. Remember them? Can you remember all the way back to January? After the Haiti earthquake the CC geeks swarmed into action, reveling in coding camps to create applications for things like hospital scheduling and infrastructure repair coordination. It's an amazing disconnect between the reality on the ground and the "reality" in the heads of these folks. Check out the "Oil Reporter" app as advertised on CC's front page. It will allow for "virtual volunteers to adopt a span of beach" and do, uh something. Well, not anything physical, like actually clean it up.

It's like watching a school of fish, each with a 5 second attention span. Like the goldfish. "Nice rock, nice castle, nice bubbles, nice rock, nice castle..."

Christianity

Traveling to Italy started me thinking about the fall of the Roman Empire. A multitude of reasons have been put forth as factors in causing this calamity. It's always seemed to me that people pick their favorite reason based on how well it fits as an allegory for modern times. Lead pipes is a favorite with environmentalists, unrestrained immigration fits well for white supremacists, decline in military capability suits hawks, too much reliance on slave labor warms the heart of a trade unionist, moral decay is a perfect fit for evangelical Christians, falling behind in technology is a favorite for engineers, even high taxation has been posited as a reason for the decline which I'm sure is a favorite for Reaganites.

The Roman ruins are impressive when you consider that you are viewing only the leftovers of the imperial capital. One thing really struck me though, there are churches everywhere. Some were built right amongst the earlier ruins, others are scattered throughout the city. There are supposedly 900 churches in the city of Rome having been built from the earliest Christian times right up through modern times.

Here's a brief timeline of the rise and fall of the Roman empire. Things got under way under the rule of Julius Caesar, he was assassinated in 44BC. The empire reached it's peak under Trajan who died in 117AD. At that time Roman rule stretched from England to Iran. The emperor Constantine ruled until 337AD. He had established an eastern capital at Constantinople (Istanbul) and the empire was split in 364AD. Roman was sacked by the Visigoths in 410AD.

So what happened? How did it get so bad so fast and for so long? After all the fall of Rome ushered in the Dark Ages that lasted until the Renaissance got going in the 14th century. Almost a thousand years lost. There was a very significant event that happened just in the middle of the Roman might. His name was Jesus. He taught the worth of the individual. A person has intrinsic value, can have a personal relationship with God and most importantly should follow a moral code of living as handed down from that God.

This guide for living really wasn't going to work very well in an empire. Empires need masses of obedient soldiers, workers, farmers, slaves, and entertainers. The inevitable clash is well documented. I had wondered while looking at miles of paintings and sculpture just where all those martyrs came from? It was so easy, just say the wrong thing, something a missionary had taught you and bang you're another martyr. They turned them out by the hundreds.

In 312AD Constantine converted to Christianity and a year later made it legal throughout the empire. It was a recognition of the inevitability of the appeal of the new religion. And the death sentence for the empire.

Looking at the art from this period the change is striking. At the height of the empire the images are of heroic glory, natural beauty, and architectural wonders, displaying an ambitious optimistic view of the world. What images did Christianity bring? Martyrdom, crucifixion, angels, and tortures of hell. The stolid barrel vaulted Basilica replaced the sophisticated Roman forms.

The organizations that the Christians created were definitely not suitable for an Empire. St. Benedict laid down the rules for a christian monastery in around 500AD. It dictated an aesthetic life with few belongings and fewer pleasures, the focus of all activity was to be achieving an inner purity of soul. Others at around that time were promoting other forms of living totally dedicated to God. Life turned inward. Roman (and Greek) achievements were fossilized and at best kept as unquestionable truths or more often discarded as heretic and forgotten. Any new thoughts were simply ignored or quashed as offering no progress towards the goal of salvation.

There was no room for an empire in this environment. It simply evaporated because no one cared anymore. There were lots of martyrs, no fun, no science, but plenty of death and war. The new religion had destroyed the empire. A thousand years later some light peeked in and maybe by that time the Christians were tired out so the light got a foothold and then bloomed into the Renaissance. After a last burst of artistic agony mankind was released to try to build a new world.

Venice

OK, I admit, I really didn't enjoy my visit to Venice. It was too hurried, too expensive and I think Disney could do it better. Today I was talking to my daughter in Las Vegas, and since she missed out on our Italy trip I suggested she go over to the Venetian hotel and ride a gondola.

Her response, "It's just a boat ride through a shopping mall".

Well, I bet the water's cleaner, but other than that she nailed it, the real Venice is a shopping mall and many of the stores and brands you will recognize from your favorite local mall, wherever you live. Coach, Guess, Bvulgari, Camper, Annie, David Tate, Kate Spade, Tommy Hilfiger, Gucci and on and on. Both real and fakes are available. All these names might mean something to someone but to me they just mean standing around killing time. By the way, there are fines for possessing fake merchandise so keep that $50 Gucci bag in the shopping bag until later.

Besides fashion, there is pottery for sale, not just in Venice but all throughout Italy. The amazing thing is that it's made locally, wherever you are, and it all looks pretty much the same. Let me pass along a tip, next time you are in Santa Barbara stop in at the Pottery outlet. Wide selection, good prices and no worries about shipping or carrying it in your suitcase.

Then there's glass. In the lagoon there's the island of Murano. Touts and flyers are everywhere in Venice inviting you to a free boat ride to see the glass factorys. Also the shops that sell glass will gladly arrange for a boat to their factory. Once at the factory expect to be subjected to sales tactics that would make a used car dealer cringe. You're kind of stuck since only their boat goes to their dock so you'll just have to deal with it. Prices are astronomical and bargaining can be very rewarding. I suppose the good news is if you buy it there you know it's not fake and they are efficient and safe shippers. Or go to the glass museum next time you're in Tacoma and get every bit as good quality glassware.

And yes, there is a Disney store in Venice too, right near the Rialto bridge. Sigh.

Wayne's not dead

My neighbor Wayne is a quiet sort, I occasionally hear the bandsaw from his shop or see him over the fence. But I hadn't seen him for a while and then the last few days there has been a lot of activity over there. Cars coming and going, cars that I didn't recognize. Unfamiliar people and conversations in the driveway that I couldn't hear. Gates left open that never were before.

I began to think that Wayne was dead. Maybe these were his relatives, children coming around to close up the house, distribute his things. This was my speculations, like the dog who howls when new people come into house and his master is not to be seen.

It's been quiet on our side of the fence too. After months of rumors and weeks of evaluation, the company announced the layoffs. 620 from the local office, more in other locations. Some of them are people we've known for years and some are strangers. Still, the strain of wondering and then knowing and not telling has been hard on my wife. She's one of those making the decisions and it's made her withdrawn and moody.

But Wayne is alive! I just saw him over the fence puttering around as usual. I daren't tell him what I was thinking, I hope a "how you doing?" will suffice to express my relief.

Venezia

After tagging along after my shopping spouse the next morning we were off to Venice. Thankfully the car was just where we left it, it was supposed to be a safe place but who could know? Back on the A1 to Bologna then eastward to Venezia. For the last few hundred years Venice has had no reason to exist except as a tourist trap. First problem, where to park the car? No problem, they built an island for that, Tronchetto, complete with multi-level garage. From there the Vaporetto runs frequently into town. We bought our tickets and then the lady in the booth closed up and left. A nice gentleman commuting home from the mainland made sure we got on the right boat.

At the boat stop at St. Marks, this is what we saw. The Doge's palace had been completely wrapped in a Bulgari advertisement. Not too classy to my way of thinking but I suppose they have to pay the bills somehow.

Since we had gotten there so late we didn't have a lot of choice on restaurants and we didn't make a very good one, but the hotel seemed nice enough although another 4th floor room with no lift. The next morning we went to check out the Doge's palace. What's there now was built after a disastrous fire in 1574, I wish those old guys had kept their buildings more carefully. Amongst all the gilded ceilings and massive paintings I was pleased to see one of my favorites by Hieronymus Bosch, his vision of life is so true even to this day. We sat in St. Mark's for a drink and then off to the main event, shopping.

I am not a great shopper so I just tagged along. It seemed to me that the center of Venice was just like any modern mall, the same chain stores, just in older buildings. Before I knew it I was on the island of Murano looking at glass. We already have a Murano chandelier and a mirror so I didn't really see the point but there you are. Spouse bought another mirror with a fancy glass frame around it, to be shipped, and before I knew it we were back at the car.

On the Autostrada

At the train station in Rome, we picked up our Punto. Well, not exactly at the station, a couple blocks down in the garage where the rental companies keep their cars. We had a map with instructions on getting out of Rome, marked by the agent and a bigger map of the country that we had bought at the bookstore in the station.

The car was not impressive. It certainly didn't look like much. I turned the key and it didn't start. My wife exclaimed "See the thing won't even start!". Patience dear, it's a diesel and takes a bit longer. Then it did start, we threw the suitcases in the trunk and back seat and headed out. Seemed simple enough, turn right, and right and right and straight and right. Time, about 10:00 am. Enough time to be on the Grande Raccordo Anulare (GRA) and out of town in good time.

Missed the last right and made a questionable U-turn and then got to it. Next stop Firenze (Florence) and then Venezia (Venice). Despite what you may have seen in the movies, driving was pretty easy. The autostradas were mostly two lanes, sometimes three. On the two lane sections you should only be in the left lane if you are passing and I don't mean just cruising along. If you dawdle in the left lane for sure an Alfa will be on your tail in seconds with lights flashing. So stay on the right and when you need to pass just do it and get back to the right. Stay alert and it all works pretty well.

The A1 (Firenze) was the sign we were looking out for and we kept watching for it. Some of these turns don't have any warning so it's good to keep track of your progress on the map. Coming up to Florence I suppose we could have followed the guide books directions and gone immediately to the most convenient parking, but what's the fun of that? We had to make our own way and ended up in the same place maybe an hour later. The place is Piazzale Michelangelo where free parking is readily available. It's across the river on a hill looking down at the town with an excellent view.

Taking just our day packs we headed for town. A bus came but the driver said he didn't have any tickets so we took a taxi. We were booked into the Hotel La Gioconda and found it a pleasant enough place to stay. Just outside the center of town and and with the usual lack of elevator we enjoyed our room on the fourth floor. (which to us would be the fifth floor, another good reason to leave the big bags in the car).

What about Florence? It's all about Michelangelo, after all his David stood outside in the main square for 300 years before being moved into the Accademia. There's still a copy outside but you must go into the Accademia, book a reservation online and it's quite convenient, we actually bought a reserved ticket from an American couple who had just had enough for one day. BTW, when queuing up in these crowded tourist locations, don't be afraid to use Italian rules. Act like you are going up to the front to just ask a question and then go right in. No one will say anything and if you are a bit confident it can save hours of waiting. Especially good is to cut in front of a tourist group that is milling around waiting for some direction, they won't even notice as you go past.

The other necessity in Florence is the Uffizi. Amazing and long and row after row of marbles gets kind of old but the paintings are the real treat. And some rooms have benches so you can rest your feet and contemplate the art.

Be sure to ditch the crowds and enter the Doumo museum, right across from the back of the church. Modern, well lit, uncrowded, with good bathrooms, it's a real pleasure. The statue of John the Baptist in the ground floor courtyard is probably the best thing I saw in Italy. His fear yet acceptance of the sword is revealed in magnificent emotion. Michelangelo's last Pieta is here too. Unfinished and dissatisfied he supposedly took a hammer to it before being stopped.

Eat gelato, watch the hordes of tourists and shop if you must. I think Florence would be fun on a bicycle, it's flat and the drivers are amazingly polite with regard to cyclists. I even saw taxis yielding to bikes. The biggest hazard looked to be lines of tourists snaking across the square. Something for next time maybe.

The Vatican

We arranged for a Vatican tour the following day. They supposedly have like 9 miles of art galleries or is it 90 different galleries or some absurd amount? Perhaps an intervention is in order? Our tour was to be the basics, take the bus over to Vatican City, get the orientation, see the Sistine Chapel and other heavy duty art.

Since the tour was in the afternoon we were able to walk around the local neighborhood. This included the Pantheon and environs. Highly recommended, the Pantheon is totally impressive and it's free. Guides will tell you that the hole in the roof doesn't allow any rain to come in due to mysterious and scientific reasons. I was amused to see the obvious drainage system in the floor but that might be just for non believers. Note the handy directional sign above provided by McDonalds. Like many things in Rome the Pantheon was built for Roman gods and later repurposed to Christianity. This saved the expense of a whole new building as well as made a definite statement about who's in charge now.

We took the hop-on bus from there to the train station to check out rental cars. Since the tour company office is right near we decided to go over there to catch the bus rather than going back to our hotel. After some amusing English/Italian misunderstandings this was all worked out. We had lunch and then got onto the tour bus. Vatican City was just a quick trip across the river and we off boarded at the museum entrance. Inside we were issued radios with earbuds so we could listen to the guide. I must admit I didn't listen much, so much guide speak just sounds the same. Also the guide was giving descriptions in English and French, so why is French 10 times as long to describe the same thing? It was like: "Here we enter the Vatican Museum" and then in French: "Ici on entreviez the gloriosez and magnificat muse de la grand pres important religion du monde. Attende le..." you get the idea.

The Sistine chapel is probably magnificent but suffers from presentation problems. First of all the art is on the ceiling, so far away you can't really see it. And the crowd filling the floor mostly consists of tourists who have lost their groups or others who are trying to sneak a photo or others who can't figure out where the exit is. The echo factor is tremendous so when someone steps on a kid's toe, the howl reverberates for minutes.

Not to worry about the problems with seeing the art, the exit, when you find it, takes you right into a gift shop with plenty of expensive coffee table books that you can study when you return home. In fact this is only one of the six total gift shops we passed through on our basic museum tour. By my estimations the Vatican as a whole must have approximately 54 (or 540?) gift shops in total. These days everyone needs to earn a buck but this seemed pretty tacky. Maybe the Vatican can sell some art back to the original owners if they need some money.

After the tour we were invited to visit an "approved" gift shop. I declined although my wife was intrigued by the statues and jewelry, all blessed by the pope. Well, not the actual pope but someone he assigned to the job so that's almost as good, isn't it? I have been told by a friend that on Sunday when the pope blesses the crowd in St. Peters square, enterprising vendors have piled up boxes full of trinkets so they can receive the real thing direct.

Since Vatican City is a company town, it's interesting to see the various uniforms worn by the employees. A handy pocket guide would be fun to be able to look up the outfits to see what they mean. It could be sort of like bird watching, with rewards for quantity and rarity of spottings. There would be no prize for noticing the silliest of them all, the Swiss Guards. I am assured they really are Swiss and I believe they can only serve in Rome for a limited period due to the stress of the ridiculous outfits. Supposedly designed by Michelangelo this proves again his perverse sense of humor as described by our guide while I wasn't listening.

Enough of that. We lined up a Fiat Punto for tomorrow, the agent assures me it's "a fine car, a Fiat". I don't really believe that "fine car" and "Fiat" belong in the same sentence but that might just be my prejudice, we shall find out tomorrow.

The eternal city

Arriving in Rome is pretty simple, the baggage claim is slow and the air conditioning wasn't working but otherwise a normal airport. I had to wait a few hours for my wife and I was disappointed by the lack of a place to sit and eat or drink to wait. There was a "bar" which I learned more about as the days went by. A bar means a coffee place with few seats, if any, and a counter to lean up against to drink whatever coffee concoction your prefer. So I had a cappuccino and found another place to sit.

Wife arrived and we went to town. For E60 we took a taxi to the wrong hotel and then after a short hike to a nearby taxi stand and another ride we arrived at the correct hotel, Hotel 939. It's not named that anymore, which was part of our original problem, but it still does feature the narrow hallways and cramped rooms as seen on their website. The site was right on on some things however, the location is excellent, right in the heart of Rome and those "charmingly cobbled streets" did feature a late night yelling match in the charming alley outside our window.

The next morning we were ready to see the sights. We had purchased a ticket for one of the many "hop on - hop off" buses that circle the city so we just had to find the nearby stop. Our first bit of luck was noticing the bar just kitty corner from the hotel. With a small table to spread out our map and a couple coffees and pastries we were armed for the day. It was great fun to watch the locals come in to be greeted with a hearty "Bon Journo" from the espresso puller and take a couple minutes for their morning drink and a bit of local news. When we realized we'd been there longer than anyone else we took off toward the bus stop.

After a brief ride we arrived at the Colosseum. It is impressive and all but the statistics on the shear number of humans and animals that were killed here made it not very appealing, at least to me. Of more interest is the nearby Palatine hill where the emperors palaces were. Although now stripped of their fine marble and other art the area reeks of the power and glory that was Rome. From the hilltop one can go down to stroll through the Forum which was the center of the ancient city. Monuments have been built on monuments over the centuries so it's hard to get a feel for how it originally looked but it is the place where everything happened.

We walked over those three attractions in one day, I suggest you don't. The footing is rough from the rubble and cobblestones and there are plenty of steps to go up and down. Do half of it one day and the other the next. I think there is a two day pass that allows for this.

To top it off, we climbed up the Victor Emmanuel Monument and enjoyed the view back towards the Colosseum and the Forum. Quite possibly the most out of scale monument commemorating a pretty ordinary event, the unification of Italy, it does have a pretty nice cafe where you can sit and look down at the ancient city. It's also the seat of the city government but maybe you don't need to go poking around in the Mayor's offices like my spouse did. Pay more euros and take the elevator to the very top, we didn't. I was exhausted and my feet hurt. FWIW my few pictures can be found on my Italy picasa album.

Italy 2010

I went to Italy. I actually got back two weeks ago but haven't written anything about my trip so now I'll try after Sarah gave me a prod over the weekend. The problem with Italy is that I don't know enough about it. Sure there were Romans and all that but who, why and when did they do what is not clear to me. Actually since I've been back I've researched some things so now I understand better the things we saw.

My wife was going on a business trip and had to return through Europe so she suggested we meet in Rome. Well, Rome sounds like a place to meet so off I went. SFO to YYZ, that's San Francisco to Toronto, I see TOR was already taken by an airport in Wyoming so maybe all that was left was YYZ. Air Canada flight, nothing special except maybe the Molson on board.

I must say I wasn't too happy with the Toronto airport, the immigration guy told me that since my layover was more that 6 hours (by 10 minutes) that I would have to do the full entry to the country thing. It wasn't a real issue, after all Canada and the U.S. haven't fought any wars lately, but the problem was that it meant walking from the arrival gate the length of the terminal to the front curb and then all the way back to my departure gate. When I was waiting there I realized I had ended up just one gate away from where I arrived after a mile walk. Maybe the 6 hours is enough to qualify for citizenship? I should have had some health care while I was there.

In the airport I sure knew I was in Canada. The newspapers were full of hockey news and the TV monitors were all showing hockey news. Eh? Another thing about Canada is that everything is written in English and French. That includes all the signs and package labels and everything. It must be expensive to do all that, but I guess they have to to keep everybody happy. So I was off on AC 890 on a Boeing 767 just like the picture above. Next stop Leonardo daVinci airport Rome (FCO). Except as we found out nobody uses that name, it's know as Fiumicino after the small town that's nearby.

Things I don't necessarily get

Maybe it's just me, but there are some things that I just don't get. Here they are:

• Why is South Airport Blvd north of the airport? This one has bothered me for years and I noticed it again last Sunday. On 101 south from San Francisco to SFO the sign says "So Airport Blvd" like about 2 miles north of the airport.
  
• Speaking of airplanes, often when coming into a airport the pilot will announce the temperature, wind and visibility. Like "visibility 12 miles". Dude, that's your problem, if it's enough to land the plane then it's enough for me. I would only care if there is so much fog that I couldn't see the road thank you very much.
• Another favorite of mine that's maybe not to most people is the sign on I880 that announces "A Street Downtown". I'm really glad there's a street downtown, after all every downtown needs a street. I hope all of you driving past Hayward will get bugged too after reading this.
• Behind me on the tube the Stanford women are up 12 to 5 in the NCAA finals and good for them. Flipped over and Houston and S.F. are tied in the second game of the season. Nothing says spring more than the rhythm of a baseball game. Yesterday at the first game the original President Bush was seated behind the plate and stayed for the whole game. Today he's back in the same seat and good for him too, nothing to do with politics but a guy who loves baseball and stays to the last pitch is something in my book.
• So who's the genius that put the NCAA logo on the top of the backboard so that when the camera is shooting down for a free throw we get reminded what mega corporation in putting on the show. Oh, sorry, it's scholar athletes right?
  

I could go on about why the best places to turn left have "no left turn" signs or such similar nonsense. It's obvious to me that UConn is losing to Stanford because they have a man for a coach. How can he snap towels on the players after practice? Isn't that the essence of coaching?

Maybe I can think of more annoyances in the future but this will do for now. Hard to be grouchy with two good games on the tube.

Sports Betting

Watching the Manchester United v. Chelsea match this morning, I was noticing the ads being shown on the electronic side boards. Besides the usual airlines and Budweiser, BetFair was featured. And there were odds being displayed to. Odds for Chelsea winning the league and later the odds for ManU winning. That's convenient for the punters (as the British call them) and maybe they will rush to the phone or downtown to the local betting parlor to get in on the action. When the score got to 2-1 for Chelsea I noticed the odds had changed. Odds of Chelsea winning the league had gone from 2.1 to 1.75. How's that for real time on the pitch action?

The American sports leagues have a very delicate relationship with betting. In most of the states betting is illegal, but everyone knows that if it were not for the office pools on the NCAA basketball tournament there would be a lot less interest and TV audience. Illegal (and legal) betting on American football is well known as a major contributor to ratings as well. Right now I am watching the San Francisco Giants opening day game coming in from Houston. Guess what the first ad was? A local casino.

I prefer the British plan, make betting legal and available and it's no big deal. As you can see from some of those links in the previous paragraph betting in the U.S. is alive and well. By the way it's not true that most of the English Premier League (EPL) teams are sponsored by betting establishments. As of today (it changes regularly) only three out of the 20 EPL teams are; Sunderland, Tottenham and, West Ham. Unless you consider AIG a casino who had sponsored Manchester United but have now canceled that deal.

BTW, Chelsea defeated ManU 2-1 to go the to head of the table. My hero Didier Drogba had a goal after being brought in on a substitution. Despite a red card in a previous Chelsea UEFA cup game he will be ready to play for Cote d'Ivoire in the upcoming World Cup. Talk about betting, I wonder how many billions of how many currencies will be riding on those games?

He lives in a pineapple under the sea

Took the grand kid to the airport this morning for his flight back to St. Louis, home. Four weeks or a little less that the five year old has been staying here. Sponge Bob Square Pants will be in my mind for weeks. Maddox, aka Maddy, Madoo, Madman, Mahouligan, babe.

Master Maddox is on a year around school plan so he doesn't get one long summer vacation, just four quarterly short breaks. I actually turned the channel to Sponge Bob just now to see what's up since the regular fair is so bad. Squidward was making a bet with Sponge Bob that he couldn't go a whole day without crying. And the Wii has gone back too, we had made it up to the first level of the V session in the D.R.I.V.E. lessons. Yes, that's a Sponge Bob product too. The infectious little tune will be rolling around my brain for weeks as well.

We built a sailboat (and sailed it), climbed a hill, swung the swing, watched a train, explored a sunken boat, sat in the hot tub, rode bikes, got the mail, looked at a frog, cleaned the pool filter, ate breakfast, and sometimes did absolutely nothing at all. In the words of Madoo, "Grandpa Jim and I are really good at doing nothing".

Want to keep lively? Give a 5 year old a hose with a sprayer. See you in June.

The most dangerous man in America

Saw this movie last night. For those that don't know, it's a documentary about Daniel Ellseberg and the events surrounding what were known as the Pentagon Papers. These were top secret documents released by Ellsberg in 1971 as part of his opposition to the Vietnam War. I must say that my memories of this period lean more towards being away from home for the first time, college freshman, and my only thought about the war was related to making sure I wouldn't be participating.

The Pentagon Papers were a secret study commissioned by the government that detailed the deliberate increase in military commitment to Vietnam at a time when the government was saying that the plan was to reduce the U.S. presence. Today the fact that the government was lying doesn't sound like big news but I guess those were gentler times. I, like a lot of people today, immediately assume our government is lying or at least covering up the truth on a regular basis.

It's an interesting and at times entertaining movie. I suppose Ellsberg should be proud to be on the list of people that irritated President Nixon enough to be termed an S.O.B on tape. There does seem to be some revisionist history going on though. The film makes it seem like Ellsberg was pretty much responsible for bringing down Nixon. Watergate gets only a brief mention and that only because the "plumbers" were also responsible for breaking into Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office and stealing his files. I think a more balanced view would be to give Ellsberg credit for great courage in exposing the government's duplicity and credit him with being a major force in Nixon's downfall but he was definitely not the whole show.

The venue for the film was the Marines Memorial Club in the City. Ellsberg and former Representative Pete McCloskey were present and there was a brief discussion after the movie moderated by Robert Rosenthal. McCloskey was notable at the time for his opposition to the war and he was one of several congress members that Ellsberg had tried to give the papers to before going to the New York Times. The Times started publishing but was stopped by government injunction. The Washington Post then took up the publication until they were stopped. In all, it took 14 newspapers to get the complete 7,000 pages published as each one was shutdown by the government. The venue played an interesting role, Ellsberg and McCloskey had been Marines before their later careers. The M.C., a retired Marine general, recognizing the military sponsorship, cast the discussion in terms of their military experience. Ellsberg mentioned the inherent conflict between his Marine training of following orders and his sworn oath to protect the constitution. I was surprised to hear how well accepted was doing the right thing despite the fact that it was against the current government policy. Maybe Marines can be people too.

I wonder if we could have an Ellsberg today or do we even need one? We are lacking any strong newspapers (or media of any type) that would be willing to stand up against the government to protect the truth. The internet media that has replaced the traditional system is only interested in the sensationalism that generates click through revenue. Our world today is full of leaks engineered for political gain and no one really pays that much attention. And we are all so used to government lying that there would be no great reaction if more is revealed. That's the thing about the Pentagon Papers, although most didn't read them or even know the details, it was a major shock to the society that our government carried on a purposeful deception over the course of four presidents. We carry that legacy forward today in our distrust of all politicians and government pronouncements. At least I do.

Walnut Creek Budget

My home town, like many communities around the country is having budget problems. Walnut Creek, California is a generally an affluent community but the reduction in property tax revenue due to lower house prices has had an impact. Property and sales taxes together make up more than half of the city income. Of the sales taxes a majority comes from vehicle sales that are also down this year.

So the city has been crying poor and talking about layoffs and reduced services and higher fees. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your views, the city has also committed to building a $35 million library which isn't helping. So I've been looking through the budget proposed and adopted for the next two years. And I've looked at some other local city's budgets too. Concentrating on my town, since they are nice enough to put the whole thing on their web site, I am struck by one thing. Why is it that the police personnel budget went up $5 million when the number of officers has remained the same? That's about a 15% increase.

Check out the details. Looking at the police department table A we see that the "personnel services" went from $33.175M in 2006-2008 to $38.975M for 2008-2010. Scroll down to the next chart and you see the staffing level has remained the same at 119 FTE.

That $5M would certainly come in handy in some other departments. The posted budget documents do not break out this increase. But one may suppose it's salary and benefits. These days police salaries and benefits are all set by collective bargaining agreements. I would say these unions are doing well for their members. And these unions have made police compensation off limits to budget cutting efforts. A concerted public relations campaign emphasizing the dangers of police work and other scare tactics keep city officials at bay. A steady diet of lawsuits keeps the unions on top.

Valuable as the police may be, I think it's time they became part of the real world. I haven't gotten any 15% raises in a long while and I don't see why they should either. Sorry guys, but the party has got to be over.

Grass Bombs

Here in northern California we are just about to reach the peak of the season. I mean the season for the local Grass Bomb. It takes our clay soil most of the winter for the water to soak into the root zone. The grass seeds that have waited all fall and winter are bursting out. The roots need to grow out enough to be able to grab a great ball of wet clay. The warming weather drives the grass to grow tall and strong. It's time.

Go up on a local hill, if the path is too wet and slippery, then go around the south side or higher up. Take a big handful of grass and pull. If it pulls out with no dirt attached, then you are in a too dry area, look around for more moisture. If it pulls out a big clump of dirt with your perfect grass handle, you've got it, the grass bomb. Throw it at somebody.

That's how I grew up. In fact one of your scout leaders took us out on the perfect day and we had a glorious fight. Usually we just did it amongst our kid crowd. If you are uphill from your opponents it's easy to sling massive bombs down onto their heads. From the downhill side, grab a bomb and run up as fast as you can and smack it down on that guy's head.

Better do it this weekend, things dry out really fast. Then the grass starts to brown and the stickers start to stick and well, it's summer before you even know it.

My Favorite Animal

Last year while on safari, we had my 5 year old grandson along. For some reason everyone we me asked him two questions: how old are you, and what's your favorite animal? The first question was easily answered since kids are asked that constantly from a very early age. He had trouble with the second, I think he never understood why there should be a favorite animal, aren't they all pretty neat?

I have a favorite animal and it's pictured here. The buffalo, or cape buffalo to westerners. They are well know as extremely dangerous to the hunter, and I respect that. An animal should be dangerous to anything that is trying to kill it.

In the herd these guys are mostly docile. On one occasion our guide drove us right into the middle of a large herd of buffalo that were grazing along the river. It was quite a treat to be surrounded by these huge things all of which were tearing off huge mouthfuls of grass. The sound alone was impressive. The guide told us we were safe because in the herd the buffalo feels secure.

Another day we came across two large males off by themselves in the bush. The guide stopped our jeep a long way off so we could observe. They weren't doing much but the guide let use know this was a potentially dangerous situation and he wasn't getting any closer. The older males like this can get kicked out of the herd at some point and become loners or as in this case pair up with another.

Buffalo in this situation are anything but secure. Without the herd to protect them they are vulnerable to attack from lions or even an ambitious leopard. This puts them in a bad mood and they can charge at most anything with the slightest provocation. These big ones with their magnificent horns are the ones most targeted by hunters. A wounded buffalo will typically run away and then hide waiting for a chance to ambush the hunters. I applaud the buffalo for this, we've got plenty of hunters and maybe less game all the time.

For only $12,500 you too can kill one of these beasts. But I suggest you don't, let them live to impress us with their strength and cunning.

She's off

About now my daughter is sleeping over in Joburg on her way to Madagascar. Took her to the airport Saturday morning for the first flight to Washington DC. United, easy checkin and into the security line almost before I had a goodbye hug. She was tearing up and so was I. What was I going to do now? Last one out of the nest and so far away. Thankfully her bag got ripped en route so my wife could do one last mommy thing and arrange for a cousin to meet her and buy a new bag. Did you know that Walmart can be open until midnight even on Sunday? I got to help over the phone to buy a new recharger for the camera battery that had been misplaced.

On the way home from SFO the clouds were breaking up and our bay was bathed in brilliant sunlight. An Evergreen lines container ship was under the bridge heading out for points east. On Angel island a couple white buildings were peaking out between the trees, bright bright bright. Alcatraz even looked like brand new.

I drove home in a daze. Sure the world can be a glorious place but what was I to do in it? Mulling all this over in my mind as I navigated on auto pilot. Drove right past our exit.