The Clarence E. Lightner Public Safety Center

I’m conflicted about Raleigh’s proposed Clarence E. Lightner Public Safety Center. On one hand, it’s always irked me that Raleigh always seems to settle for mediocre, to go for the practical or least controversial option rather than aim for greatness. Raleigh loves to hedge its bets. Raleigh’s habit is to look only at the short-term. Putting aside the current economy, I like that the Lightner Center has been designed to be the home for our police and fire departments for many decades. I can think of very few things Raleigh has ever discussed that had that long an outlook.

There should be no doubt that our police department desperately needs a new home. The current police headquarters is an embarrassing ratrap that should have been demolished twenty years ago. The current 911 center is also a travesty. On a slow day the basement call center seems cramped and chaotic. I’d hate to see what it looks like during a major event like a hurricane. Pandemonium, probably.
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Tom Fetzer’s not looking healthy

Wow. I just saw Tom Fetzer on TV and boy is he not looking well. I know it’s been a long time since Fetzer wreaked havoc on Raleigh as its mayor but, damn, the years have not been kind to him.

I hope his serving as the state GOP head still lets him get in some tennis because it looks to me like his health may be suffering.

Judging drivers

The recent snow and ice event started up the predictable office debates about “people just not knowing how to drive in this weather.” It didn’t matter that some of these driving “experts” complained of people driving too fast and some complained of people driving too slow: no matter what the other driver clearly was in the wrong.

The late, great comedian George Carlin once observed that anyone driving slower than you is an idiot and anyone driving faster than you is a maniac. It’s true: we’re quick to judge other drivers by our own driving. This leads to all sorts of problems, not only for your judging someone else but for the driver you are judging.

I think some drivers take this criticism to heart when they overhear it and try to adjust their driving to accommodate these views. The result is a driver who drives outside of his or her comfort zone, which is where the real danger begins.

As for me, I don’t care whether you drive too fast for my tastes or too slow for my tastes (though I prefer, uh, slower), just as long as you drive within your comfort zone. If you stick with what you know both of our trips will go more smoothly.

Where I’ve worked: U.S. Navy: Signing up

The Navy: it’s not just a job, it’s an adventure, as the advertising went. In truth it’s a job and so much more. How does one fit the “so much more” into a post about jobs? How does one choose to take on such an adventure?

It was the fall of 1987. I was a recent high school graduate working part-time at the local hardware store. Most of my friends went off to college, beginning adventures of their own. The thought of college didn’t excite me – the thought of becoming a future cube dweller didn’t excite me – and I put zero effort into applying. Still, I knew I was missing out on something and I wondered where I would find my adventure. I felt very alone at that point in my life.

My parents prodded me to enroll at the local community college but I wasn’t thrilled at that prospect, either. They then suggested the military, and without many other adventurous opportunities it began to sound appealing. My brother Allen had joined the Army earlier and seemed to be liking it. Why not look at the Navy?
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The Rain Song

The Rain Song
Led Zeppelin

This is the springtime of my loving
the second season I am to know
You are the sunlight in my growing
so little warmth I’ve felt before.
It isn’t hard to feel me glowing
I watched the fire that grew so low.

It is the summer of my smiles
flee from me Keepers of the Gloom.
Speak to me only with your eyes.
It is to you I give this tune.
Ain’t so hard to recognize
These things are clear to all
from time to time.
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The ghosts of Children’s House

I’ve been checking the webserver logfiles here on MT.Net and note that a number of Google searches have brought people here looking for information on the Children’s House of Raleigh (CHR). Every time I discover someone else searching for that now-defunct school it makes me sad. Among other kids, our daughter got a great education at CHR. I felt a real kinship with the staff and other parents. Then the wheels came off. I’m not really sure what happened, but for whatever reason it just didn’t work out.

It’s tough to see something you poured love and work into come to an inglorious end.

Upping the spambot ante

This morning I was surprised to see that a spammer had apparently breached my WordPress anti-spambot gauntlet. What does this mean in English, you ask? A potential hacker actually succeeded in registering an account on MT.Net, from which he could potentially attack my website.

At first I thought a bot had solved my CAPTCHA challenge, but after looking at the log entries it does not appear that this was an automated attack. Some dumb schmuck actually typed in the code by hand. That’s what most visitors to my website do, but most people don’t do it using email and IP addresses associated with hackers.

I’ve since turned on SABRE’s RBL lookup tests. This will automatically check the incoming IP against a list of suspect addresses. If there’s a match, the rogue visitor get automatically booted before he even begins.

It’s not perfect security, but one part of many defenses needed to protect a website.

The gunslinger test

Gunslinger test

Researchers have shown that people move faster when reacting to something than when they perform “planned actions”. The movements that took place when reacting to something took an average of 21 fewer milliseconds than a planned action.

Inspired by Hollywood westerns, scientists at the University of Birmingham (UK) tested this with a simulated shootout. Participants given buzzers and not given a particular signal as to when to buzz their opponent.

Dr Welchman explained that it took around 200 milliseconds to respond to what an opponent was doing, so, in a gunfight, the 21 millisecond reactionary advantage would be unlikely to save you.

“The person who draws second is going to die. They’ll die happy that they are the faster person to move but it’s not much consolation in this context,” said Dr Welchman.

I think this must have been a fun experiment to conduct. Makes me wonder if there is some mental process that gets overridden or short-circuited when reacting to something. Also makes me wonder if we can train ourselves to override this process at will, i.e. consciously put our minds in “turbo mode” when needed.

Things heating up in Iran again

I was stunned to read the extraordinary words of Iranian opposition figure Mir Hossein Mousavi today, where he essentially called for a new revolution. Mousavi said that tyranny was not rooted out during the 1979 revolution, implying that the current government is corrupt.

“Stifling the media, filling the prisons and brutally killing people who peacefully demand their rights in the streets indicate the roots of tyranny and dictatorship remain from the monarchist era. I don’t believe that the revolution achieved its goals,” Mr Mousavi added.

This guy is begging the authorities to arrest him, or worse. With the anniversary of the Iranian Revolution coming up on February 11th, Iran could be in for another round of civil unrest.

Writing in the background

I spent some time this evening writing some of my next installment of Where I’ve Worked, this one about my choosing to enlist in the Navy. It’s already longer than I anticipated but I want to get it right. That means unlike most of my posts here I’m actually putting these through a couple of drafts before posting them.

It also means I’m beginning to get intimidated by these posts because of the need to get them right. Like the saying goes, the longest journeys begin with the smallest step, and simply putting something down about my Navy days has helped considerably in getting this huge topic organized in my mind.

Enough for tonight, though. I may have something ready to read in the next night or two. Or not.