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Mr. Wronhg

The other night I was digesting bits of TV news when I came across an interview with Pastor Wright of Obama fame. I carefully listened to what he had to say. The mild mannered grandfatherly man with a twinkle in his eye explained that the media was out to get him and that he was taken out of context and misinterpreted.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will state for the record that I am not an Obama "backer". I have not joined the adoring throngs who squirm with Beatles like hysteria at every pronouncement he makes. I did think him an interesting candidate early on until I heard him attempt to take on some issues. Then it became clear: Great speaker, obvious dilettante. Now, it can be fairly argued that the current occupant of the White House is no great thinker either. But then at least he lacks the persuasion and seduction skills to convince the nation to follow him blindly. I am not so sure about this gentleman, and so I fear of what he may "accomplish".

However, this is not about Mr. Obama. This is about Mr Wright (or as I would prefer to call him Mr Wronhg). For he represents the most pernicious sort of a demagogue: A pseudo intellectual one. Worse yet, he does it under the cloak of religion.

So Mr. Wronhg asked us not to listen to text taken out of context. He laughed off the snippets published by the media and demanded that we examine what he said within full context of his sermons. I did as he asked. I went to Youtube and watched the entire sermons that were published. What it made clear to me that finally the chicks ARE coming home to roost. These chickens are products of decades of failed public education, dilapidated cultural structures of modern family life, and outdated religious dogma. A potent mix. If even a minority of his listeners were sufficiently educated (or even simply curious enough) to challenge his "facts" he would be ignored as any illiterate hack or laughed off the podium. Yet not only is he worshiped by his clueless followers, he now gets a national podium from which he can preach.

So when he speaks of a white man oppressing and terrorizing the native Americans, he ignores the savage laws of warfare and slavery by which these primitive people lived prior to white man's arrival. They killed each other as part of the normal daily tribal struggle among them. It doesn't justify what the white man did to them, but it does put it into perspective. The main bulk of white man's killing was done inadvertently, by new diseases. Not via scalp removal as was custom among these gentle, loving, folks. Mr. Wright ignores the entire history of human kind which over and over "oppressed" the native people by new, better equipped arrivals. What the white man did in America was not any worse (and in many ways was a lot better) than was perpetrated by "oppressors" of the past. Even a cursory reading of the history would make that clear.

But he really gets it wrong when it comes to slavery. if you were to listen to Mr Wronhg, you would think that the white man invented slavery and then rounded up free blacks from Africa and brought them to America. Here again, the facts point the other way. Slavery was rampant in Africa well before the arrival of the white man. In fact, it continues today under its various guises. No serious scholar disputes the fact that majority of slaves brought to America were captured and enslaved by other tribes in Africa. They were then sold to slave trading companies for shipping overseas. Prior to the existence of this ugly trade, the slaves were kept by the winning tribe or simply killed. Which fate was worse? I am not sure. But to heap the entire scorn of slavery onto a white man is a disgusting, racist lie.

And so it goes, HIV as white man's tool of oppression, 9/11 as reasonable payback,etc. etc. etc. Racist, unfounded lies fed to the audience too ignorant to know any better and not curious enough to ask any questions. What I don't understand is this: Where are the scholars, the people who know better? Is the fact that this man is black and that political correctness is the rule of the land has completely silenced any opposition?

Mr. Wronhg is right in one thing. The "outrage" generated by his pronouncements was misplaced. They were taken out of context. So the quality of that outrage was not any better then the quality of his pronouncements. In fact, cloaked into intellectually sounding sermons, his ignorance was hidden and the opposition's (which was based on snippets out of context) ignorance was on display. But why no erudite, educated people too on the FULL context, the "facts"? Is it possible that even in the era of Internet and instant access to facts, such bigot would be allowed to perpetrate his lies without challenge? Once again, the king has no clothes. 

Rocky's news :-)

I was up in the attic and every time someone is up there, my dad gives his line, "Don't step on the pink (insulation) stuff". I was stooped down so my head won't hit a rafter and bang! I hit one of the beams and I literally tumbled backwards. As I laid there, I was puzzled on what just happened. "How could you be standing, when it looks like I was laying down because the insulation was 2 feet below my face. I looked down and I saw that I was standing on the hot water tank in the garage! When I fell back, I stepped on the insulation and went straight through the ceiling. Just imagine a 5 bag of flower ripped open and scattered in a garage, which is what the plaster looked like as it rupture off the drywall. I am lucky that I did not land on my dad's baby - the Corvette, he has waxed that car five times in just this year!  When my dad saw this mess that I made, his eyes bugged out, but he really didn't yell like he would have because family members were  there. My 86 year old uncle, who is sharp as a tack, got a huge laugh out of it. My grandmother said it sounded like a car hit the house, yet no one came outside to see what happened until I walked inside.

I was so stunned, I walked in the house laughing because . . . . . maybe it is because I was lucky to be alive and not hurt that bad.   

I have a Cessna 150.  I got another hanger for it so I have to move it.  It is closer to home and cheaper rent then what I pay now.  I went flying a while back and when I was landing at a small airport, there were three airplanes in the air.  The bad thing about this is that there is no radar coverage, instead it is just see and avoid.  When I was coming in to land, there was another plane that was coming out on the wrong runway and he wasn't even talking on the radio. Not many people could believe this but you could fly anywhere you want in 99% of America without government oversight.  It is still a free country.   

Ethan - To the hackers barricades !!!

I just noticed that over the last few days this site visitor count has doubled. Looking into it in greater detail I realized that I am receiving the overflow of hundreds of visitors to Ethan's blog (see link to the left of this post). Curious as to why all these folks are flocking to his blog, I went over to read his latest posts. Then it became clear. Ethan has taken the hacker's flag to the top of their imagines barricades against the world that doesn't understand or appreciate them. He clearly touched a raw nerve. I read some of the comments to his post and the degree of righteousness and conviction is truly amazing. I had to laugh. Youth. It's so certain and intolerant. But yet out of that religious zeal and rigor come out some real achievements.

Now, let me preface it that I have been on both sides of this fence. In my youth I was a programmer (not a cool terms these days). I experienced the demands and misconceptions of the business types. For the last 20 years, however, I have been the business type. And I must say, it isn't that black and white.

It is a fact, that most of the people who "come up" with "cool" business ideas that need "a little" software development are better off focusing on their day time job. So that bunch should be just ignored. Young programmers (ahem...hackers) should learn early on to run for cover when approached by relatives, friends, and acquaintances about a "cool" idea.

However, there is an isolationist, cult-like culture among programmers. This, pseudo-intellectual, "I can outprogram you", "customers are morons" group-think. They know better then people who pay them. And tend to create wholly unusable, over engineered, monstrosities instead of solutions. Let's face it. Any group of people in excess of 10 will fall into the same statistical fact: 10% genius, 10% morons, 80% in between. That applies to Mensa members and, yes, to programmers (pardon me...hackers).

Given this reality, a valuable programmer is one who applies his skills IN CONCERT with a team of people who help visualize, describe, validate, document, test, and support the resulting work. They are ONLY a part of the mechanism of success. They are not THE sole reason for it. A valuable programmer will seek to understand business drivers behind the decisions and apply the most effective technical solution to address them. It should not be romanticized job of a lone wolf, as hackers see themselves. it is not their purpose to ignore or throw away the information supplied to them and simply do what they feel is correct. They are an INTERPRETER. A highly complex, and creative one, but still ... interpreter.

Having said that, I know of too many business that treat programming like a commodity. It is laughably naive and highly expensive and risky. A client of mine one time looked me in the eye and said: "your people are SO expensive, i can hire twice as many for the same price". Of course she could. But they would produce a small portion of what "my" people would. She is learning this lesson now the hard way. The truth is that programming remains a creative process. No matter how many people have tried to structure it, make it predictable, and make the people interchangeable, they have invariably failed. I have seen them all. The latest re-incarnations are "extreme" development, "rapid" development, etc. etc. etc. Sorry. In the end it's down to people and motivation. You get smart, creative, motivated people with experience in the field you are developing, you get results. You get an anonymous group outsources in India, you may be able to develop something specific..a widget, a driver. But a complex business solution for YOUR needs? Good luck. This is why, with all the latest and greatest development technology out there, the unspoken and uncomfortable truth is that most of the applications developed on the mainframes in the 70's and 80's are still not replaced today. Sure, we have put pretty web front ends on them, but the core business logic, the heart of the application. That's tough stuff. And not many hackers today actually know "tough stuff".

So, hackers on the barricades, here is my advice: get off the barricades and high horses (which ever is applicable to you), start listening and delivering real value for the business that pays your salary (or which depends on your work for success as may be with startups). Yes, a lot of "business types" don't get it. Take the time, explain, "sell", participate. That's what delivers the results in the end.

Rocky on GPS Navigation:

I did not work of Friday, instead my parents and I left at 5:00 am to go to Greensboro, NC. My dad has a GPS unit and he used it to drive the entire way to my sister's new in-laws house. My sister is getting married in September and both parents have not met each other. He calls his GPS Jill because of the female voice. The entire way, I was looking at a map and I said, "Go Left and get on the interstate." But he wouldn't do it because the GPS said to stay on this two lane back road. It took us 7 hours to get here and it could have taken us 5 hours. I later figured out that the GPS was programmed to take the shortest route in distance and not time.

My dad got tired and then drove the last hour. We were within 2 blocks of my sister's new in-laws house, on the correct street and the GPS told us, to turn onto Madison street. I said, "That is stupid, I am on the right road." My dad made me stop, back up and turn on to Madison street, which i new was incorrect, just because the GPS said so. As soon as I got on Madison street, Jill said, "Do a U Turn", then it put us back on the street that I knew was correct. GPS is good tool, but it just can't replace a road map.

Cultural Mash

http://www.tothepointnews.com/content/view/3114/85/

 

Continuation on prior post

In the interest of objectivity and fairness, here is the conclusion to the post below. AT 6:10 am, an hour after dialing I was finally connected with an agent who quickly identified my record and told me I was re-accomodated on the 12:30 flight. When I asked her sarcastically if anyone could have notified me of that, my second line started ringing. I switched over and it was the automated AA voice response unit that informed me that my flight was cancelled (this is 10 minutes before I was scheduled to fly) and that I was re-accomodated on the 12:30 flight. The conclusion shows that they have the tools to do what needs to be done and they appear to be TRYING. But with a little more thought and consideration they could have turned a PR nightmare for thousands of people into an opportunity to show their customers how they strive to take care of them.

The flight itself was ok too. The flight attendandents WERE under 70 and DID serve me drinks before take off. They DIDn't congrate in the galley to discuss their retirement and contract negotiations status.

The CEO column in the AA magazine featured the poor sod who has to fix all this. He talked about Barcelona and its virtues (AA starts a new flight from NYC to Barcelona). HE still doesn't get it. Barcelona will be there with all of its virtues if AA flies there or not. What he should have been talking about is differentiation that AA provides, when compared to other carriers,  for the flyer who is going to Barcelona. Alas, there is nothing to talk about. He is selling a commodity product together with sub-par customer service. "American Airlines girl, you're a great way to fly" ? I don't think so. So what can he say? I guess he has to talk about virtues of Barcelona.

St. Louis airport upon ladning looked like a ghost town. 3 or 4 gates had 757s parked in them the rest were empty. Inside the terminal it was a zoo. People on top of people. The mess continues, but not for me. I am home.

Your Flight: Cancelled

So it's 5 am. I was to be on the plane this morning at 6:20 am. But thanks to some improperly done wiring inspections for MD 80 planes FAA has been forcing American Airlines to ground and recheck the entire fleet. They cancelled 550 flights Tuesday and it appears this will be repeated today. The AA web site claims that this is all to ensure my personal safety. The vacuous nature of this statement is self evident. Either they have been flying me in unsafe planes for years or this is mostly a administrative snafu. In either case my personal safety has nothing to do with it. And most certainly grounding all planes with lack of evidence of actual problems has the smell of politics and bureacrats then any sound thinking. This reminds me of the so called TSA whose job it is to block and tackle us with people who have been left behind by public education as we struggle to make our way to the planes. Do they really make us safer? Nah.

Lastly, I have flown almost 2 million miles with AA. I am one of the diminishing geese in their stable who lays golden eggs for them every year. I use their web site to book all my travel. My reservations cost them the least in middle men margins and cost of processing. Do you think I received a call, an SMS, an email about this screw up? Last night? This morning? The answer is no, nada, zip, niente. Now some tech specialist may tell me that on page 63 of their web site I could have signed up for this. He would only further underline the reason why the airlines are in such trouble: they think their primary job is to fly planes, when actually it is to serve their customer. A 2nd rate book web site does a better job of serving their customer.

So how should it have gone this morning?

9 pm last night - warning SMS of possible problems

4 am this morning - SMS telling me that my flight has been cancelled and that a new proposed itinerary has been sent via email

4:30 am I get up . Get my email and approve the change. I go back to bed and sleep till 8.

12:00 pm I head for the airport, auto check in, walk through fast pass security lane where I don't have to stand pitifully with a platic zip bag with toilerities and be called "bro" by 12 year old TSA employee in oversized pants.

At 1:00 the flight has been boarded. Upgrades and stanbys have been sorted in advance by a computer and not hoarded like cattle to be told 5 min before departure that plane has checked in full.

While taxiing for take off I'll be handed some water and maybe a blanket. I won't be shown how to buckle my seatbelt and be told that flight attendants are here primarily for my safety.

My flight will have flight attendants whose average age will be below 70. They will serve drinks and snacks. They will hand out pillows and blankets. They will ask me regularly if I would like anything else and generally perform duties that have nothing to do with my safety (save an occasional aspirin). And they won't congregate at the galleys discussing the state of their pension fund and their contract negotiations.

When we land, I'll get my bag and be on my way. Now is that so hard? First airline to do this wins by default.

As is, here it is 6am and I am on hold waiting to change my reservation.

At WTC 6.5 years later

This week, by the random selection of Priceline, I ended up staying at the "Millenium Hilton" Dwontown NYC. When the confirmation came through, the name seemed vaguely familiar. When the taxi brought me to the hotel late Thursday, I knew why: It is directly across the street from the gaping wound that used to be Twin Towers and now is a site of major contstuction effort to raise the "Freedom Tower". To me it still looks like a wound. Gaping, oozing emotions, reminding us of the barbaric world we live in.

It so happened that I was in NYC in early October 2001 and stayed not far in TriBecca Grand. There, every night I would bump into tired workers covered by (what we now now to be) biohazardous dirt coming in to sleep after 18 hour shift. At that time I couldn't bring myself to come see the site. Couple of years later I did a "drive by" in a taxi. This time, the desk clerk asked if I "minded" high floors. I thopught the question odd and told her I did not. When i got to my room on teh 41st floor, the entire scene of the WTC lay in front of me. I understood why she asked. I "minded". But I did not change the rooms and stayed here for 3 nights. I got to see the site in the dark, in the rain, and in the sunshine of a brilliant spring day (see my "where am I" photo blog link on the left.

Walking over to Les Halles french bistro get brunch staurday I passed several  street vendos selling "hallah" (kosher for muslims) food. I thought it strange and insulting. Can't explain why. I just did.

I think in the end it will boil down to the barbarians vs us. And unless we are prepared to be harsh and unyielding we will keep taking these blows. From 1920 to 1990 Russians also faced such crazies. However, by the time Stalin got through with them by late 1920's they never again raised their heads until Soviet Uniton fell apart.  A hsitory lesson for us.

David Miretsky

See one of my favorite artists:

http://www.degraaffineart.com/artist-miretsky.html