Lately I’ve been waking up thinking the morning sky is full of clouds. Then I realize the sun is just taking way longer to rise.

October is here. Changing seasons rule!

I’ve been seemingly flooded with interest in my skills and abilities, with some very flattering proposals sent my way. With the clock ticking to get things settled, I’ve got some interesting choices to make.

And that’s always been my dilemma: so many fanastic choices to make, and I can only make one. I can’t go wrong either way, but I’m the kind of guy who always wonders where the other paths led.

Its a good problem to have. I’m jazzed about my future. Now its time to go out and kick some butt.

Earlier this week, the State Bar gave the prosecutors in the Alan Gell case a slap on the wrist for nearly putting an innocent man to death. Gell served nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He would have been a free man had the prosecution not withheld evidence that proved his innocence. Statements from witnesses proving Gell’s alibi were deliberately withheld, as was a statement from the prosecution’s star witness saying she “made up a story” for the police.

So Gell gets sentenced to death and goes to prison for nine years. His case gets reviewed automatically and then the charade of justice that was his prosecution gets revealed. When Gell easily won his retrial, he didn’t get so much as an apology from Hoke or Graves.

This week, the State Bar held a hearing on Hoke and Graves behavior. They ruled that while Hoke and Graves did withhold evidence, they really didn’t mean to. Hoke called it “an honest mistake.” The State Bar chuckled and agreed, slapping them on the wrist and telling them not to do it again.

What a load of crock! Hoke almost put an innocent man to death and has the nerve to call it an “honest mistake?” And the two of them are still practicing law? What the hell planet do I live on where this passes for justice?

I support law enforcement. I believe in justice, quaint as it may be. When crooked lawyers cavalierly tilt the balance of justice unlawfully in their favor, I believe they deserve a little punishment for their act, too.

It disgusts me that an innocent man nearly lost his life due to dishonesty and the perpertrators – prosecutors working in the name of our state government – will walk.

Shame on Hoke and Graves. Shame on the State Bar. I honestly wonder how any of them can sleep at night.

As I type this, Scaled Composites is heading skyward in its attempt to become the first to claim the X-Prize. The X-Prize is a $10 million award given to the first group to lift three passengers into space twice in a month without government support.

Go, SpaceShip One!

[UPDATE]: Here’s a link to the live WMP streaming media.

Halloween is around the corner!
—

God’s Comic
By Elvis Costello
From the album “Spike”

I wish you’d known me when I was alive, I was a funny feller
The crowd would hoot and holler for more
I wore a drunk’s red nose for applause
Oh yes I was a comical priest
“With a joke for the flock and a hand up your fleece”
Drooling the drink and the lipstick and greasepaint
Down the cardboard front of my dirty dog-collar
Continue reading →

A good follow-up message to the recent air traffic control outage in the LA Center was recently posted to the Interesting People mailing list.

Basically, the system needs to be reset about once a month- or more specifically, once every 30 days or so. I heard a rumor that part of the problem in LA was that they’d done the reset at the beginning of August, but had put it off for September… and were planning to do it at the end of the month.

There’s a RISK right there; “once a month” probably means “once every 30 or so days”, not “once in a calendar month” which could leave an interval as long as nearly 60 days in between resets.

The author is a controller in the Seattle center. For a good view of the politics of FAA technology, read his full post here.

Finally, Wade’s campaign gets serious attention. He was profiled in today’s News and Observer. While any ink is good ink, I thought the article gave too much voice to his opponent, Paul Stam.

Stam says he wants less government, except when it serves his purposes. For instance, he finds government useful for discriminating against homosexuals. Guess that fits his definition of “more freedom.” Judging by Stam’s priorities, such as frivolous constitutional amendments and the like, Wade is the only serious candidate for District 37.

You go, Wade!

Tropical Depression Jeanne is circling Hickory this morning. Large rain bands are overspreading eastern North Carolina and the Piedmont. But not a freakin’ drop has fallen here on my newly-seeded lawn.

Zero. Nada. Zip. It’s dry as a bone.

It was like this for Hurricane Ivan, too. At least up until like five days after it was supposed to begin raining.

I’m back to being a sprinkler slave. Gah.