Rants

Constitution Day

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we_the_people_american_constitutionToday is Constitution Day!  The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 by thirty-nine brave men.  Constitution Day is not something you hear about too much, but if you’re interested, there is information here and here. 

Did you hear anything about it today?  I guess it’s not too surprising that Constitution Day is not something celebrated.  The Constitution seems to be largely ignored lately, most obviously by representatives of the three branches of the Federal Government.  It’s not an overly large document.  It’s about 19 pages long in this PDF here.  Take a moment to read it.  It’s really quite elegant.  What do you think?  Should we all mail a copy to those representing us in the government?  If they took the time to read it, they might be shocked at the limits of their power.

Daylight Savings Time

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alarmclHave you noticed all the cranky people out and around today?  I’m not ashamed to say that I’m one of them.   It will take me a week or so to get over the transitional trauma.  I am NOT a morning person!!!  I would say that I woke up cursing our governor, Mitch Daniels, for pushing through the time change in Indiana, but it wouldn’t be true.  I wasn’t awake enough for that…

Doing away with Daylight Savings Time (DST) was one of the more progressive things Indiana had done in the past.  There’s no daylight being “saved”.  It’s not like it’s something we can harvest and sell to northern Alaska to get them through the 30 Days of Night.  I’m not saying that it’s the cause of our droughts like Mr. Hill here, but I’m not sure what good has come of it.  Everyone is not a farmer these days.  Whether I have the lights on in the morning or at night is irrelevant.  I’m still not getting enough sleep…

But now we have it back…  Governor Mitch was so adament that we needed to be in lockstep with the rest of the country that he lost control of the House in the following election over this issue.  Nothing like having the Time Change right before the election to remind everyone and put them in the voting mood.  And then what happens?  The Feds decide that we need to change DST and extend it, without consulting with the rest of the world.  So now, Indiana may be in step with the rest of the United States, but the United States is out of step with the rest of the World for about a month each year.  Brilliant!

The Persitence of Memory by Salvador Dali
The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

As the day goes by, the drag will get worse.  I wonder if Salvador Dali was suffering from the effects of Daylight Savings Time when he painted The Persistence of Memory?  It seems appropriate to me as it shows the melting of clocks on the landscape…  That will be me, dragging more and more as the day goes by.  But hey!  Give me a couple of weeks and I’ll be back to my normal hatred of mornings without the DST enhancements…

Culver’s Wolf’s Dilemma

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Can Culver survive Wolf’s Dilemma?  For those of you that don’t know, there are various versions of Wolf’s Dilemma, but basically it goes as follows:

This is the Dilemma.  A random sample of people are chosen to “play”.

  • You are each placed in a separate booth and cannot communicate with each other at all.
  • In each booth is a button and nothing else.
  • You are required to stay in the booth for 5 minutes during which time you can either press the button or not press it.
  • You do not find out if anyone else pressed the button until the 5 minutes are over.

The Payoff

  • If nobody presses the button during those 5 minutes, then each person gets $100,000.
  • If anyone at all presses the button, then:
    • Each person who pressed the button gets $20,000.
    • Each person who did not press the button gets nothing at all.

Except this is Culver.  Everyone knows everyone else.  Does that make it better or worse?

There seems to be a constant battle between the various factions in Culver.  The Mary Means Study that was completed several years ago referred to these groups as tribes and labeled the main tribes as the Academies, Town, Lake and Ag.  Unfortunately the chiefs and their allegances seem to change depending on what the issue is.  Pardon me for not printing my list here, but I think we can all name an issue or squabble.  If I name even one here I’ll be on one side or another of a group or individual with which I have to work!  At times this goes all the way down to issues between individual board or committee members that are unable to work together.

My point is that we all should quit pushing the button! If we work together for the common good, we would all be better off.  Occasionally we do come together for the common good.  The original formation of the Second Century Committee is an example of this for civic groups.  The Culver Union Township Public Library as well as the EMS and Fire that are under a Town and Township partnership are good examples in the public sector.  We should do it more often.

SPAM in Moderation…

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I didn’t have much experience with blogs when I started this.  I tried to read up on some of the basics before starting and WordPress recommended that I use moderated comments.  Wow!  I have been amazed at how quickly this blog was found and assaulted by Spammers.  This blog is hosted on our ECC website, so it’s not like we’re out in some public arena.  Still, I get spam comments nearly every day.  Occasionally one is creative or at least makes a minimal effort to look like a real comment – Something like, “I like your site.  –  Eric” before adding a link to something inane.  Others are nothing more than a jumble of words or letters followed by multiple links to porn sites, cheap drug sites, hair growth sites, hot stocks and wild claims on how to increase your proportions, whether your male or female…  In 2004, the Federal Goverment tried to curb spam with the CAN-SPAM law.  (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing)  While I’m impressed with the catchy acronym, I can’t see that the $11k fine and other requirements of the law have had any effect on my inbox.  If you’re interested in more on this law try here:  http://www.ftc.gov/spam/

An article I read recently cited a study by an internet security company that claimed that their research showed that Indiana was ranked #7 in unsolicited email with a whopping 88% of email messages being unsolicited junk.  Our neighbors in Illinois must be even more gullible as they were ranked #1.  A rather dubious honor…

The original SPAM created by Jay Hormel came to being in 1937.  According to their website, “After more than seven decades in the marketplace, the SPAM® family of products is still the tasty, high-quality kitchen staple made of 100 percent pure pork and ham that the world has come to know and love.After more than seven decades in the marketplace, the SPAM® family of products is still the tasty, high-quality kitchen staple made of 100 percent pure pork and ham that the world has come to know and love.”  Mmmmmm… Mmmmmmm…!!!  Anybody familiar with email (and apparently blogging) hears “spam” and thinks first of the annoying avalanche of unsolicited junk that clogs our email inboxesevery time we open them.  I’ve been using the spam-blocking options available from my email provider as well as after market add-ons as a secondary defense, but still end up with a phenominal amount of trash.

Internet Spam may have gotten it’s name from the Monty Python Troupe and their skit about a couple trying to order breakfast, but finding that everything offered on the menu has spam in it.  The wife loudly proclaims, “I don’t like Spam!” while a chorus of vikings drown out all conversation with their chanting song, “spam, spam, spam, spam…”  Still a hilarious bit thirty years later!  And wholly appropriate!  Unfortunately I don’t know how to embed the video here, but you can find it on You Tube by searching “Monty Python Spam” and for a while anyway, you can link to it here:  Monty Python Spam Skit

If you find a miraculous way of dealing with spam, let me know.  Until then, I hope you’re not offended that comments will be moderated and I will continue to have to deal with SPAM in moderation…  <pun intended>

Kevin

UPDATE:  I’ve added a plugin from Askimet that has made a world of difference in the amount of spam I’m having to handle.  I only installed it this week, 1/5/09, but I’m impressed so far!  It’s a free program and the installation into my WordPress blog program was painless.