Padilla Indicted

Terror suspect Jose Padilla has been indicted on terrorism charges and I couldn’t be happier. Padilla is a so-called “enemy combatant” in the eyes of the Bush administration, which has led to his incarceration for three years in a military prison without being charged with any crime.

“The issue before the Supreme Court is still alive and active — that the president signed an order to hold an American citizen for three years without criminal charges,” said Andy Patel, Padilla’s attorney. “The fact that they now decided to charge Mr. Padilla with a criminal offense doesn’t mean they couldn’t do this again to another person in the future.

It only took three years of Padilla’s life to bring charges against him. He’ll finally have his day in court. Padilla is a known gang member. He may be a terrorist. He may even be the John Doe 2 from the Oklahoma City Bombing. Regardless of all this, he is due his day in court. Now’ll he get it.

Let’s see if these charges stand.

More Google RTP

I found another reference to the rumor of Google coming to RTP. Note that its all rumors. Nothing has been announced. No concrete evidence exists.

Andy Beal, a local marketing expert, guesses that ChannelAdvisor may be the company to be assimilated. Andy points out how Scot Wingo, founder of ChannelAdvisor, has been blogging about Google Base. Andy also points out that Jason Caplain, in addition to ChannelAdvisor, is also invested in Motricity, the Durham mobile phone software company, and wonders if Motricity could be in Google’s sights.

The blogosphere has been called a giant echo chamber. I’m not helping that reputation by repeating unsubstantiated rumors. I’ll let this story rest for now until some solid evidence comes my way.

Google RTP?

A local venture capitalist, Jason Caplain, is reporting of a rumor that Google may be opening shop here in the Triangle. No sources are quoted, and no further information is given. I don’t know where they get their information, but VCs are generally known to be tuned in to the emerging business scene.

Caplian speculates that Google would get here through an acquisition, rather than build fresh. That makes me wonder if Google had anything to do with local hosting provider Hosted Solutions mysteriously calling off their seemed-like-a-done-deal recent merger plans. Since Google would be more interested in people, not datacenters, Hosted Solutions probably isn’t a target.

Trilug has had its last two sysadmins hired away to Google and shipped off to California. Now I’m in that role. What would I do if the phone rings, especially now that moving’s not a requirement?

[Update: 5 Jan 2007] Google has purchased a start-up in Chapel Hill called Skia.

The Christmas Truce

One of the songs in my Christmas music colection is The Royal Guardsmen’s Christmas Bells. This song about Snoopy and The Red Baron toasting each other on Christmas made me think of the real-life Christmas Truce of World War I. For a few days in December 1914, thousands of soldiers on either side put down their weapons, shook hands, sang songs, and shared cigarettes and brandy.

The last known survivor of the 1914 Christmas Truce has passed away. Alfred Anderson died in his sleep this morning. He was 109.

Frank H. Smith: Living Right

Nursing homes around the country are filled with people in their eighties who can no longer take care of themselves. Their minds have gone, or they’ve lost their mobility, or just need a hand. In general, we aren’t surprised because society associates old age with frailty.

Cary’s Frank H. Smith, on the other hand, is not a man who acts his age. The eighty-seven year retired engineer cheated death Saturday when he made an emergency landing on Highway 1 in his plane. A plane that he built himself, no less.

In a situation where a lot of pilots would’ve soiled themselves, Smith was downright nonchalant. “When the engine blows, you’ve got to put it down someplace,” he said. “Highway 1 was the best I could do. I lucked out.”

At an age when others are pushing walkers, Smith was pushing his plane onto a trailer. Yes, pushing the plane! It looked like he was putting some muscle into it, too.

If you want to know what it means to live right, talk to Frank Smith!

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Zoo!

We had the great confluence of a few tickets to the North Carolina Zoo and a wonderful sunny Saturday with nothing planned, so we loaded up the Oddity and headed to Asheboro for the day.

The zoo is best when it’s not crowded. By that measure, our timing was perfect. We hit all the highlights and had a blast. I especially enjoyed the new Australia Walkabout exhibit as I’ve never seen kangaroos or wallabies before. My only visit to Australia was spent looking for the next bar, but I digress!

Travis did almost the whole zoo trip without a nap. He enjoyed seeing everything but went especially nuts when we got to the elephants and rhinos. I’d say he enjoyed his first zoo visit.

Hallie is an old pro at the zoo. She enjoyed the sea lions the most. We also had fun reminiscing about her first zoo visit when she was only nine months old. What a long way she’s come!

I only wish the zoo was closer as those two hours each way in the car can take a toll. For an occasional fun trip, though, its worth it.

The Intel Dump Weblog

A few weeks back, I stumbled on the Intel Dump weblog. Intel Dump is frequented by military vets who provide insightful discussion on current events. One poster posted about the recent allegations that the U.S. military used white phosphorous rounds as a weapon. His point was that the BBS article was slanted.

While everyone and their brother is commenting on the military these days, I find Intel Dump valuable because its content and comments are surprisingly balanced, provided by those who seem very knowledgable. It is not filled with fanatical chickenhawks, but with men and women who have been there and done that. It doesn’t veer too far in one direction or another, yet differing opinions are heard and welcomed. Above all, contributors there are not afraid to call a spade a spade, or to call out the government for boneheaded decisions when such calling out is necessary.

If you want to sort out the real issues facing our military, add Intel Dump to your bookmarks.

The Importance Of Getting Your Bearings

Airports provide a wonderful place to people-watch and I took full advantage during my recent trip. One can learn important lessons when “alone in a crowd.”

As I waited to board my flight, I watched a line of passengers walk out of the jetway and into the terminal. Due to the setup of the waiting area, it was not entirely clear what to do once you entered the terminal – do you go left or right? As long as there was someone ahead choosing a direction, those behind would follow – often without even looking up. As soon as that stream of people was interrupted, however, the disembarking travelers were on their own, figuring out for themselves which way to go.

As I watched, my immediate thought was that the people following without looking were doing things right. After all, they weren’t wasting time, right? As I considered it, though, I realized that the people looking up were the real winners.

What I was seeing was a snapshot of society. How many people shuffle through their lives without ever looking up, just following in the footsteps of those before them? Those people may never know what other paths are available to them. Those not blindly following could explore which path they chose to take, their possiblities far exceeding those of the others. Looking up now and then seems like a wise move.

So, put me in the “explorer” camp. I may not be the first to the finish, but who cares? Life isn’t a destination.

I want to make sure I don’t miss anything.