Critical Thinking Skills

MS NBC is reporting that Officials: 'Meth Candy' Targets Young Users

I read through the whole article and realized something was missing, there is no evidence that young people are being targeted at all. They don't mention finding it on young people or in schools all they go on is that it is candy, so it must be for kids.
Additionally I can't imagine a drug dealer would really want to deal with kids, because an eight year old just simply doesn't have the means to support a meth habit.
Is meth a horrible drug? Yes.
Should people be aware that is now being pushed in a candy form? Yes.
Is there any evidence mentioned that this is a conspiracy to target kids? No.

Fear

When I first discovered the joy of owning your own domains I bought several, most notably daddysnothome.com and spankyourface.com for the longest time daddysnothome and spankyourface were always a running joke with my friends and I, and it was just that, a joke, I also registered, at the same time, a domain based on my legal name and though they were all hosted on a server in my old house, I tried to take steps to make sure that is wasn't easy to figure out that the owner of one domain wasn't the other of the other, and this wasn't as easy as you'd think. Anyway I interviewed for a job where one of the interview questions involved my hate for The Cheesecake Factory, which would have only been apparent if you connected my "real name" blog with my dc dan blog, which all was possible with 2 clicks and google.com.*

At first I was disappointed that I hadn't been able to keep the separation (I saw this as technical failure more than anything) but it made me realize what
Losing sight of what "owning your words" means.

As such I'm letting the whole web know the following, I own the words on this site and I'm proud of them, there is nothing I'd post here or anywhere for that matter that I wouldn't say to someone's face in person. If any company wouldn't hire me because of what I say here, fuck them ,I wouldn't want to work there anyway. I'd also like to note that I keep home at home and work at work, I don't bring either to either place and even though I've worked with people I've disagreed with (if not down right hated) it never effected my work or my dedication to my job (If I'm morally opposed to a goal of a company I won't work there in the first place)I Own These Words and I'm proud of them and if you challenge them I'll defend them or admit my wrongs


*In fact they told me this and it probably only helped me in getting the job.

When it Rains, it Snows

Tony Snow's cancer returns and as much as I despise the guy, I don't wish things like this upon people, but it makes me wonder.

Is this the Addict's Administration's response to the sad news shared by Elizabeth Edwards?
And if he decides to keep his job will be ostracized for it like the Edwards have?

Go Badgers

University of Wisconsin decides not to pass along RIAA settlement letters

"As a result of the University of Wisconsin's stance, the RIAA will not be able to perform its customary end-run around the legal system, forcing it to follow the same rules its targets have to play by."

Street Closures

Doing my part for the community I found about the street closures for the people running in the road event this weekend, here is a map of where it will be a pain in the ass to get around in DC this weekend.

Monitor Liqudation

New Setup
Originally uploaded by dcdan.

I've got a Sony Multiscan 20se that I'd like to get rid off. Anyone who wants it let me know. Bonus points if you can pick it up. Shoot an email to me

Don't Ask Don't Care

It will be the official stance of DCDan.com* that when it comes to employee sexuality, the policy will be "Don't ask, don't care" meaning, DCDan.com doesn't care if you like chicks, dicks or chicks with dicks.

We will, however draw the line at anything involving children or animals, as this is not consensual.

I'm not afraid to go on record and say any sexual performed by one or more consenting adults is considered a-okay by DCDan.com and it's management to be within moral boundries, because we don't care how you get off as long as it doesn't effect your work.

This is in response to some our elected leaders ability to say so.

To quote The Onion's classic line "Let the fucking begin"

Also just saw this Hillary Clinton Tries To Woo Voters By Rescinding Candidacy

*This will also be the policy of every company in the Daddy's Not Home Empire

Office Pranks

I've been going through the American version of the show The Office and I've been impressed with Jim's pranks. I want to play too but I mostly work from home, so I need pranks I can play over IM, the phone and email.

Any suggestions?

iTV, Steve Jobs and DRM

There was a big to do over Steve Jobs denouncing DRM despite the fact that iTunes content has a DRM layer. I think though that his denouncement had more to this.
Apple is releasing Apple TV soon and clearly wants to take it the same path as they did with the iPod and iTunes, but the key part to the iPod's success was "Rip Mix Burn" The ripping part being the most important. The ability to rip your current content meant you didn't need to buy your music again from the iTunes Music Store and that getting your music there was made dead simple put a CD and click a button. Apple TV will have an issue with this because of DRM. Ripping a DVD falls into a gray area and as such is not likely to be a feature of iTunes anytime soon, but if getting your current DVD collection into iTunes was as simple a ripping a CD, Apple knows this thing would be the killer device. And I think this was the point Jobs was trying to make about DRM.

HBH-DS970 Review

HBH-DS970
Originally uploaded by dcdan.

I have the Sony Ericsson k790i which I used to test the HBH-DS790. And here is my one minute review.

The sound quality is great and it works well with the phone for both music and phone calls. It pairs with my MacBook Pro, but it doesn't seem to work beyond that, so I can't use it with my Mac. I've also found that when in "multipoint" mode it would often have hiccups in the music that make it very difficult to listen to. The controls are nice and easy to use. The battery life could be a little better so expect to charge it every other day if not more, but it can use the same charger as the k series phones so you should be okay, if you like to travel lightly
I'll give it 7 of 10 *s


Buy One Here

Lie to Your Kids

A post on Snopes expands on the virtue of lying to your kids. Personally I find the whole thing a bit creepy. A stranger opened your mail address to essentially nowhere, knows you have a child and that your child is grieving over a lost pet and knows where you live.
Doesn't that border on scary to those with children?

Flickr Maps

I'm late to the game on this one but Flickr maps is pretty cool
My Map

Link of the Day - Font Master

Pointed out to me by TEAM*Jess
The inventor of the font Gill Sans:
Gill's devout Roman Catholicism did not prevent him sexually abusing his own children, having an incestuous relationship with his sister or performing sexual acts on his dog. His personal diaries describe his sexual activity in great detail.

Eric Gill

Anachronism

Rolodex
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

At the eye doctor today, I saw a rolodex high up on the shelf and thought wow back in the day this was a status symbol. I also saw the great movie Network wherein people didn't have computers on their desks!

Douche Baggery

Forrester to government research plans: You're wasting your money

To anyone who has spent any time in the startup tech market, Forrester is "the shit." A good review from them means that your name will be in the all of the industry rags and the you'll be considered "a real company" something that is very important to fledgling startup when looking for credibility and funding

I have worked with Forrester, Gartner and several other industry analysts and my analysis is that they are all pretty much full of shit. Dealing with them I've dealt with, at best, people with sub-par technical skills who haven't really even been through an in house test product implementation (let alone a real world setup of the products they promote) Secondly it seems that the companies that subscribe to their over priced information and pay them a lot to them get better reviews. Thirdly their "analysis" is usually less informative than typing the product name into the Google search box and hitting the "I'm feeling lucky" button. Fourthly they like to throw in random (and I'm betting [.7 to .8]) that theses stats are made up.
Also I've been on conference calls with their vertical experts for products my clients have been evaluating and the time spent with them would have been more productive reading glossy brochures from the company in question (and I'm sure is pretty much the source for their "informative insights") Lastly they list a bunch of corporations that the governments should run like, I'd be willing to bet that this research was somehow funded by these companies.

Listening to these analysts for useful information, let alone public policy direction, is tantamount to taking financial investment advice from the guy walking out of bankruptcy court or looking to a homeless guy for interior design tips.

Link of the Day

Devotional Candles for the Truly Enlightened

A Wing and Prayer

Pilots for Christ

I became aware of this group via a sticker I saw on a car today while at lunch. So I checked out the site and all I'm saying is Bible believing, Christ loving Christians dismiss evolution and so why couldn't they just as easily dismiss the science of gravity*, and I find that's not acceptable from people flying planes.


Gravity and how the universe actually works goes against the Bible as well if you believe me then you need to read about Galileo
Not that it is a good thing that the space flight is common, because if Galileo hadn't stood up to the Pope and geocetrism prevailed there would be a lot of confused space pilots, when they returned to the "center of the universe" and Earth wasn't there.

While reading about this also note that a lot of it sounds familiar to the arguments of creationists (or "intelligent design" it's all the same) you can mad-lib the following (from the wikipedia)
"Pope Urban VIII personally asked Galileo to give arguments for and against heliocentrism in the book, and to be careful not to advocate heliocentrism."
vs today
"President* Bush personally asked the scientific to give arguments for and against the theory of evolution in the book, and to be careful not to advocate the theory of evolution."

It took a couple hundred years for the Catholic Church to admit their mistake, hopefully this time they can move a bit faster to come inline with reality when it comes to evolution.

REAL ID is Real D-U-M

DHS extends REAL ID deadline to the end of 2009


From DHS Secretary Chertoff:
"What's going to happen at the Department of Motor Vehicles?"

Sense of Accomplishment

I get a strange sense of accomplishment when I finish a bottle of shampoo or a tube of tooth paste.

Link of the Day

Lourdes Holy Water

Really people? If you believe in the miracle of holy water there is a bridge I'd like to sell you.

from the site:
But among the sick that flock here, many come to be immersed in its waters, and some are healed. Since the first healing, of Catherine Latapie, on March 1st, 1858, as many as 2,500 unexplained healings have been recorded. But many feel that the true miracle of Lourdes is, above all, the presence and goodness of God, expressed in this "limited bodily Proof of the unlimited grace offered to all" (R. Laurentin).

Old Glory

Old Glory
Originally uploaded by dcdan.

This is the flag outside of the Russell Senate Office Building.
In this building there are several senators who voted for a constitutional amendment to protect the flag.
Yet the flag outside their office is torn and tattered.
For shame, for shame.

Link of the Day

Paper airplanes
Who doesn't like to build an airplane every now and then?

Racial slur banned in New York WTF? While I understand the connotation of the word and how offensive it is, I also don't see how it is even close to the spirit of First Amendment* Offensive yes, banning a word, no Seems a bit double-plus un-good to me. (see Newspeak)


Also has anyone noticed that the BBC world map has a pseudo swastika over the Middle East?

*"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Link of the Day

Saturn Neptune and the Pseudoscience debate

Crazy comes in all forms astrology knowledge and it musings like "when Saturn in the second phase of Jupiter then Virgos will have good luck" remind me of thing like people who speak Klingon or who know the story lines of the World of Warcraft or how say things, like "you can't give me a hit like that because I'm wearing the cloak of the moon wolf which protects me from mage attacks after moonlight.