The Green Bay Packers Are Good For America

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There’s a viral email going around (at least around Wisconsin) with the same title as this post. It says that the Packers are great because they beat the Bears, so now President Obama won’t be going to the Super Bowl to root for the Bears, thereby saving taxpayers millions of dollars in presidential travel expenses, yadda yadda yadda.

Why is it that, when the president is a Democrat, it’s a big deal whenever he decides to go (or not to go) someplace?

Funny thing, when Bush was emperor, we didn’t see any viral emails rejoicing that the Cowboys weren’t in the Super Bowl (though many of us WOULD find that to be something worthy of rejoicing), and how we’d save millions of dollars by not bringing Bush and his entourage to the Big Game.

That said, here’s the REAL reason the Green Bay Packers Are Good For America:

NO CORPORATE OWNERSHIP

They are owned by the community as a non-profit. Any money they make goes back to building the team, NOT to stockholders nor to a greedy billionaire owner. They are the only major sports franchise in the country that’s like that.

Now, send THIS to everybody in your address book. 🙂

One Geek’s Dream Library

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I’ve had a lot of exposure to different computer programming books, and I’ve learned to really like those published by O’Reilly Books. Their information is clear and concise without being loaded down with the useless fluff found in other publishers’ products. A majority of what I know about programming languages came from O’Reilly books.

As a matter of disclosure, I must admit that this glowing endorsement is not entirely unsolicited. O’Reilly just started a new “Win your wish list” promotion, where they ask book-starved geeks like me how we would spend $500 on their site. The rule is that to qualify, I have to post my wish list for the world to see.

So this post is my entry into the vast pool of geeks who’d each like $500 worth of computer books. I know that I become part of a viral promotion that will only cost them a few bucks, but I wouldn’t put out this effort if I didn’t genuinely feel their books are worthwhile.

My “wish list” is after the jump. In the likely event that my entry doesn’t get picked in the random drawing: If you have any of these books and you don’t need it any more, I’ll be glad to take it off your hands. 🙂 Read on →

Crazy People with Guns

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The United States has no shortage of crazy people. It also has a lot of people fanatically obsessed with firearms. The part of the Venn diagram where “gun nuts” overlaps with “crazy people” is a very scary place, as recent events in Arizona have demonstrated.

When these things happen, we always try to make sense of the senseless. Read on →

Why Are Dead Birds Falling Like Rain?

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There has been a disturbing wave of mass killings of birds lately. First in Arkansas, then in Louisiana, and again in Sweden. Every time reporters consult scientists or local authorities, the pundits write it off to birds “getting stressed” (i.e. freaking out) during the New Year’s fireworks, and either running into things or each other… or dropping dead from exhaustion.

Frankly, I don’t buy it. If thousands of birds (oh, and don’t forget the fish) died from fireworks on New Years Eve, why is this the first time it happened? After all, this isn’t the first time there were fireworks on New Years Eve. If the birds died from fireworks this year, why didn’t they die from fireworks last year? Or any of the previous… oh, maybe fifty years?

Something Else is going on. Most of us can do little more than speculate on what it is. But something new and very unusual happened to these birds that didn’t happen before. Fireworks – however bad for the birds they might be – are not new or unusual

The Dog Days of Winter

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The video that follows is NOT one of ours, but it’s one that we deemed worthy of putting in one of our youtube playlists.

After the snowstorm we had last week, this is kind of what getting around felt like…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sUL0KCIc48

… except that our snow was much more dense than that. When sidewalks become canyons, that’s a lot of snow.

The Shoddy Stadium Rant

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For the second time in its brief history, the roof of the Metrodome collapsed last weekend. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

When designing an indoor football stadium for Minneapolis, one would think the roof should be designed to withstand the weight of a whole bunch of snow. After all, this part of the world is no stranger to big snowstorms, so it’s not hard to anticipate a really huge snowstorm sometime during the life of such an expensive building.

Yes, 16-20 inches (40-50 cm) is a lot of snow, but this is Minneapolis for crying out loud. Whose the engineer that thought it was OK to build a roof in Minneapolis that can’t handle 20 inches of snow? Did they really think it would never happen in the next 50 years? In MINNEAPOLIS?

That’s like assuming it’ll never get to 120 degrees in Phoenix, or that there’ll never be a big hurricane in Miami, or that there’ll never be a tornado in Topeka, or that you can skip the earthquake-proofing in San Francisco. Somebody wasn’t thinking ahead. Or somebody wasn’t thinking, period.

I heard somebody on the radio today call the stadium “old.” I’m sorry, Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are “old”. A stadium that was built 30 years ago is relatively new. There’s something wrong with having kids grow up watching games in a new stadium and not be able to bring their kids to watch games in the same stadium. There is no history or heritage in a crappy stadium built to last only 30 years.

If there is a God, I think It’s telling the Minnesota Vikings that they should play their games outside… y’know, like Real Men. In Wisconsin, we play football outdoors in January, and there’s not a single empty seat at Lambeau Field even though it might be cold enough to freeze hard liquor. Are Minnesota people really a bunch of softies that can’t watch a football game outside if it gets a little cold?

A couple of years ago, we were hanging out with some friends in Minneapolis, having drinks at a bar looking out at the Metrodome. I asked them if  Viking fans hold the same kind of reverence for the Metrodome that we Packer fans hold for Lambeau Field. The emphatic “no” came with no hesitation whatsoever.

Ironically, it’s now called “Mall of America” stadium. It’s named after the monstrosity that now stands on the site of the stadium this one replaced. The “old” stadium, built in the late 50’s.

Am I the only one who thinks it’s insane to build a new stadium every thirty years?

Judge Nix and the SpokesnFolks Parade

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We got word today that we lost an old friend.

Judge Nix addresses the crowd at the 1998 SpokesnFolks Parade and Festival.

We knew Edmund Nix as a municipal judge, a lawyer, and the father of one of our good friends. Before we knew him, he was a federal prosecutor and a Democratic congressional candidate, among other things.

RoZ and I first met Judge Nix in the courtroom, on separate occasions shortly after we moved into the area. Even though he found both of us guilty, that didn’t stop us from becoming friends.

We won’t talk about my case, but RoZ’s has a fun backstory.

Once upon a time, RoZ was part of a motley band of local activists that took a “Critical Mass” bike ride during rush hour on a Friday afternoon. The constabulary followed in their cars for most of the ride – some could say the riders were “escorted” – and at the end of the ride ten riders were detained and issued tickets for “obstructing traffic.”

The “La Crosse Ten” contested their citations in Judge Nix’s courtroom. After all the evidence and arguments were presented, he handed down his verdict. “You did obstruct traffic, so I have to find you guilty.” Then it got interesting. “Sometimes, I have to be innovative in sentencing, so what I want you to do… I want you all to do something legal and creative to promote your cause. Write letters to the editor, call in to radio talk shows, have parades and demonstrations – LEGAL demonstrations – and report back to me in 60 days on what you did, and I will likely waive any fine.”

As the accused and their comrades in the gallery approached to greet each other, one activist exclaimed in his flamboyant voice, “I don’t believe it! He sentenced you to be ACTIVISTS!” We heard the word “parade” in the judge’s list of suggestions and latched onto it. So on a rainy Saturday in September, 150 people marched in the first SpokesnFolks Parade (which always included a festival in the park afterwards), and Judge Nix declared satisfaction that the sentence he’d handed down was served.

It wasn’t long after that that Ed Nix retired as a judge, which made him available to join in on the fun. The SpokesnFolks Parade used prizes to motivate floats and colorful costumes, and we needed a judge to fairly determine whose efforts deserved those prizes. Judge Nix was more than happy to put his black robe back on and be a part of our parade/festival. One year, when it came time to hand out awards, he opened his remarks with, “Never have I been treated so well by people I found guilty.”

Obbie and Judge Nix confer on rewarding prizes at the 1998 SpokesnFolks Parade and Festival.

He totally enjoyed standing on the curb in his black robe, watching the parade pass before him. I’d stand by with a clipboard while he’d point people out. “I want to give that person a prize… and that one over there…”

Over the years we got to visit with the judge quite a few times. He knew that he could call me if he ever needed to talk to a computer guy, and we knew that we could call him if one of us ever needed to talk to a lawyer. Fortunately, we stayed out of trouble so he probably got the better deal out of that arrangement, though he did help us with some routine personal legal paperwork.

As a person and as a judge, Ed Nix was everything you could ask for. He was fair, reasonable, thoughtful, rational, and (most importantly) innovative. The SpokesnFolks Parade and Festival was an annual event for about five years, but it might have never happened at all without Judge Nix’s “innovative sentencing.”

We miss him.

Mayor Medinger, Santa Clause (Earl Grunke), Judge Nix, and Obbie Z at the press conference announcing plans for the 1999 SpokesnFolks Parade and Festival.

Update 12/2 5:30pm: Just found this interesting little tidbit here:

In 1961 [mobster Carl] Caputo was indicted for income tax evasion. He had reported income totaling $721.56 and had actually earned $31,000. This garnered him a 30-day jail sentence and two years of probation. U.S. attorney Edmund Nix had prosecuted Caputo. Ironically, Nix had once worked in a tavern owned by Caputo and was paying his way through Wisconsin-Madison Law School as a bartender.

Snowboarding on Ice Shavings

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The weather prophets told us that today was going to be the warmest day we’ll see for a while, so we took a walk to check out a new bike/ped bridge in our neighborhood.

Crossing a new bridge for the first time is an odd sensation. It’s like going through a wormhole to a place that previously was very far away.

It also reveals parts of our world that have always been there hidden from view, such as this Mississippi River backwater…

This treehouse was hidden from the street, but it’s now a prominent landmark from the bridge…

At the base of the bridge, we saw pink paint on the pavement with arrows pointing the way to the “rec trail.” We could see a line of pink flags marking the future bike trail, which will go around the back of a local ice arena to connect to an existing trail on the other side.

As we followed the trail, we noticed a snow bank behind the ice arena. It was left there by the zamboni, and it consisted of the ice shavings removed during the latest smoothing of the ice. A couple of resourceful kids from the neighborhood decided to make use of this very early “snow” to build a very short run for their snowboards.

It’s good to see people that age finding creative ways to have fun.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcT9u9HW9IQ&start=10

Sunset in Berlin

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Nine years ago tonight, after a long day of traveling, we arrived to our room in the Sunflower Hostel in Berlin. We were greeted by an unusual pattern of clouds radiating from the setting sun. We clamped the camcorder into the window and started rolling.

Ther resulting video was accelerated 15-1 (IF I remember correctly), and the audio is a montage of clips from the original recording. The trains you hear are a mix of S-bahn, U-bahn, commuter and intercity trains.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4_ViRMAXS4