A Bit of This and That Blog

I have heard of software that certain social networking sites are built upon, one of them being Ruby on Rails.

So far, two social networking sites, twitter.com and tribe.com have Ruby on Rails as their platform - and both sites continually crash, are down for “maintenance” or simply do not work, or are very slow.

Needless to say I am not at all impressed with this programming software. It doesn’t seem to be very robust, nor does it hold up to large scale usage. MySpace crashes too, but nearly as often.

So what is the solution? Tribe.net has the nerve to offer a monthly charge to gain a few measly extra features as opposed to their free service which has most of the services. Yet, why would I pay to be on something that continually crashes or is down for “maintenance”?

Anyone a programmer out there? Can you shed some light on this?

Image Courtesy of USA Today
Apparantly, Rachel Ray, the well-known TV chef, was recently seen in a Dunkin’ Donuts ad for their iced coffee. She was wearing, of all things (gasp) a scarf!

To some apparent morons, this scarf appears to them to be a Muslim only garment - like no one else wears scarfs, hmm? Here is a definition of a kaffiyeh as it is:

From http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kaffiyeh

Etymology:
Arabic kūfīya, kaffīya, from al-Kufa Al-Kufa, town in Iraq
Date:
circa 1817
: an Arab headdress consisting of a square of cloth folded to form a triangle and held on by a cord

Come on, folks, people wear various types of ethnic garments and accessories all over the world, especially here in America where wearing clothes that are made or known to be staples in other countries is our favorite past time! So, just because she is wearing this scarf, all of a sudden she is promoting terrorism? It’s not even clear that it is exactly a kaffiyeh! So much for wearing scarves that look anything like them. Read this excerpt from USA Today: Continue Reading »

It used to be that one could work as long as they wanted to, and as long as they were a good employee. In modern times this is no longer true - especially in California, the state of “at will” employment. In other words, they can let you go for any reason, and don’t have to tell you what that reason is!

With the advent of technology and all the resources and new areas of work, you’d think we would be more secure in our liveliehood. Not so. Most recently at my work there have been many changes, and not for the better. Two emplyees have quit and one was let go. Now I am worried about receiving a shiny pink slip of my own - regardless of my job and the aspects that I alone do for the company. Continue Reading »

Well after a long unintended absence, I am back to write in my blog once more.   Whew!

So how has everyone been doing? Things have been plugging along, here, still workin’, but at least now I have been doing some fun new things at work. I went to the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas and learned a lot and met some great new people!

I presented my pitch regarding the neccessity in this day and age for videos and am now doing videos for my company as well as building a social networking community to increase exposure and interest. Very cool!

So stay tunes, and many thanks to those who have come to read my blog even though it hasn’t been update for many moons!

I know it’s been forever and a day since I have written anything, but since I have been out of work for a couple of days, and the county of San Diego California is burning down around us, I guess I have a bit more time on my hands!

There are many fires burning in San Diego. It all started with those *#&%^ lovely Santa Ana winds that kick up every frelling year! Last Sunday, at about 1pm changed our week for the worse. A fire started in Witch Creek which is Eastern San Diego, Northern most in the county. Thanks to the high winds (some up to 80mph) it spread rapidly and engulfed Ramona and other surrounding cities.

So for the past three days, we have been holed up in the house, waiting for our turn to be evacuated. Within the past 24 hours, two new fires sprang up not too far from where we live. Basically, San Diego has come to a standstill. Businesses are closed, people are staying in motels, RV’s, Qualcomm stadium, and schools. Even though many homes will be spared, for the moment, nearly a thousand people are homeless.

Now, finally, after hundreds of thousands of acres burned throughout Southern California (fires in Orange County, and Los Angeles too), hundreds of homes and businesses destroyed, some people are finally being allowed back to their homes - if there is one.

Disaster recovery has been immense, but run like clockwork. Of course, there are always issues that come with disasters - nothing is perfect, but the overall organization and safety of residents has resulted in very few injuries, and only one death. I’d say San Diego has learned quite a bit from its experience 4 years ago.

So we are still waiting, ’cause it’s not over yet. Some of the fires North of us are still raging and nothing is contained there. Now that the winds have died (I hate Santa Ana winds anyway!), the fires are not spreading as quickly. My girlfriend’s family had to evacuate early Monday and they still don’t know if they have a house to come home to. Her sisters are in the middle of some of the fires, no clue as to what will happen there. Not knowing is the worst.

I have never been in the middle of a fire of this magnitude. We count ourselves damn lucky that we have survived the worst of it this long. But, they estimate these fires will not be contained for another several days or more. Scary shit.

It used to be that when we were children, you played games, got into fights, wrestled (or wrastled, depending on where you lived), fell down, got banged up, or just plain screaming and yelling and having fun playing games.

Now, all that is ending. Certain members of society are slowly banning normal childhood activities, removing fun and games, simply because little Johnny or Sarah isn’t always happy. Take this for example:

“It causes a lot of conflict on the playground,” said Cindy Fesgen, assistant principal of the Discovery Canyon Campus school. An elementary school in Colorado Springs has banned tag on its playground after some children complained they were harassed or chased against their will.

Banned tag? You MUST be kidding? An age old game that millions of children have played is now taboo?

Here’s another story for ya…

About three years ago, my niece was at her grade school (grade 6) and she was playing on the school grounds with her friends. Her friends were acting out a scene and pretending a tree was her boyfriend in order to complete the scene. My niece walked over to the tree, slapped it and said “How dare you cheat on me!”

A school supervisor saw this, called her into the office where she was suspended for sexually harrassing a tree. How’s that for rational thought?
When a kid cannot be a kid, we open their world up to a whole set of problems that effect them for the rest of their lives. WIth all these new rules to prevent poor little junior from being upset by the simplest things, does this really prevent any future problems? Do we see our kids being better than before? Or are they acting out more problems because we are making them weaker by preventing them from experiencing a real childhood?