Nah, never too much Dilbert

Of course, the real punchline is the guy who needs training gets promoted to management. Present company excepted of course.

I read too much Dilbert

Community Service Hours

I have a long commute every day. Sometimes I think about crazy stuff, sometimes, less crazy. Here's my most recent self-debate, you can decide for yourself if I'm crazy. My theory is mandatory community service hours may do more harm than good for actually building a service-oriented mindset in youth.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think we desperately need to develop a stronger service orientation in our society. I think there is value in requiring people to serve in either the military (2 years minimum), or the Peace Corp, AmeriCorp, whatevercorp (4 years minimum). Service should start at some point after a person's 18th birthday but before their 25th. But those are adults who one hopes will be able to "get it." I'm not convinced it works with youth.

I work with youth in a couple of different capacities. I'm a confirmation mentor and I'm a scoutmaster. In both capacities the youth I work with are required to perform a certain number of service hours. In scouting the hours are required for advancement, for my confirmand they are required for confirmation, in our school district community service hours are required for graduation. I'm sure kids are bombarded by requirements for service hours from other organizations as well. So Derek you're saying, that's not a bad thing at all, isn't that what you asked for in the last paragraph?

Well, here's the rub, where else do we require community service hours in our society? It's a punishment meted out by the courts to keep people out of jail! Basically if you do something bad, but not so bad as to be put in jail, you get community service. When I was in the Navy, extra duty was sometimes used as punishment for minor infractions. But Derek you're saying, that's completely different.

I think it's not as different as we'd like to think. In the case of punishment we create a checklist mentality inside the criminal's mind. "Only 50 more hours to go and I don't have to go to jail." I wonder if we're not creating the same mindset in our youth. "Only 5 hours of service work left and I'm done for confirmation/advancement/graduation." Or, "I did service hours for X requirement, why can't I count those for Y requirement?" Check, check, check, get this stuff out of my way.

I'm not sure when or if we as a society lost our service orientation but it's sure not what my romantic memories of easier times tell me it was. I think the problem could be that service isn't being modeled in nearly enough places, so forcing hours on youth is not perceived as encouragement but rather punishment. As a result we are potentially creating exactly the opposite mindset as we hoped.

I hope I'm wrong. Maybe I'm just getting my practice in to be an old curmudgeon.

True, true....

Rivals cooperate on touchdown for player with Down syndrome - Kansas City Star

No comment required.
Rivals cooperate on touchdown for player with Down syndrome - Kansas City Star

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Small town mid-west America

Thanks to the Newark Fire Protection District volunteers for remembering. I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't realize the date this morning.

Are good deeds a thing of the past?

At the weekly scout meeting, the scoutmaster notices Jimmy has 2 black eyes and asks him what happened. Jimmy replies, "you know how you are always telling us to do a good dead every day? Well I was in church on Sunday and we all stood up to sing and I noticed a large lady in front of me had her dress stuck up her bottom, so I reached up and pulled out her dress. She turned around and socked me in the right eye." The scout master then asked "Well then how did you get the other black eye?" Jimmy said "when I saw how angry she got I reached up and shoved it back in."

Where would you want your son?

Scouting with me:



or at Blizzcon celebrating World of Warcraft and the like:



The choice is yours! Choose wisely.

stiff, sore, sunburned but worth it

Sunrise over our campground on the Fox River this morning.

Why I got a night-school MBA

Somehow I still manage to be a little person.

What the scouts don't see...

Scoutmaster's on Sunday morning following a weekend camping trip. Except we can't run because our backs are thrown out from sleeping on the ground. :)

Another Summer draws to a close

Well, summer's over, almost. We held our Troop Summer Court of Honor yesterday at a local forest preserve. We had limited attendence but a nice day to be out in the park anyway.

Our last scouting event of the summer is a canoe trip next weekend. I'm looking forward to spending a couple of days on the river, even if it is the mighty dry Fox. If you're inclined to pray, we could use a little rain over the next few days so I don't have to drag my canoe 11 miles down the river.

Number one son goes back to school on Tuesday. Junior High School. Doesn't seem feasible but there it is.

Our fall scouting and school activities schedule kick into full gear right after Labor Day (only 3 weeks away FWIW). Standby for popcorn! I think I hear Christmas Carols already.

Derek takes Shari Geocaching

Amazing picture from NASA

check it out full size, it gets cropped on this page.

Happy SysAdmin Day...

No really, you can send cash or money orders at any time!

NetworkWorld Article

And the official site of SysAdmin Day! (insert wild cheering and fanatical footstomping here)

I particularly enjoyed this page!

More chronicles of my life in IT

Now, don't take offense...

The third wave of feminism - The Chicago Maroon

An interesting take on feminism from an unlikely source.

The third wave of feminism - The Chicago Maroon

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This might explain a lot...

One year ago today...

I am probably not the first nor will I be the last to blog somewhere about the one-year anniversary of the tornado at the Little Sioux Scout Camp (June 11, 2008).

It's probably hyperbole to compare the emotions I felt that day to the emotion I felt on 9/11. However, the fact that the tragedy left an emotional mark is true non-the-less. Last year, as this year, my troop is about 10 days away from leaving for summer camp. I wondered then, as I do now, how I'd have reacted, what I'd have done, would I have been prepared? I guess you can't know until you've been there but I think so.

I understand that the camp has been largely rebuilt and they held a grand reopening last month. There's more information at the tribute site.

Anyway, I wish us all good luck and fair weather as we head out for the summer camping season. And, when you say your prayers tonight, include the scouts and scouters from the Mid-America Council and Little Sioux.

This'll break your heart...

Lee Iacocca is losing his pension and company car in the Chrysler bankruptcy proceedings according to this article from Yahoo!. Nothing is said in the article about all the blue-collar folks in the plants, dealerships, and suppliers who are losing their entire livelihood, but, hey, let's focus on what is important.

'nuf said

An article on an admittedly conservative site, and I have a bias for Boy Scouts, but, the discussion about the war on men is intersting.

The hope of geeks everywhere... (me included)

No detente in space

This article regarding the sharing of food, toilets and gym equipment on the ISS will make you wonder if it's 1979 again!

Why men don't do housework...

I guess I've been in a cartoon strip mood lately!

Pinewood Derby Psychology

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The picture says it all (from yahoo!)

Uh, Sun Microsystems, what's this all about?

I received the annoying system tray icon telling me I had update number 18923785473893289073478934 for Sun's Java software on my desktop. For giggles, I decided to actually read the licenses terms where I found this little nugget:

"You acknowledge that Licensed Software is not designed or intended for use in the design, construction, operation or maintenance of any nuclear facility."

Now, not that I'm involved in the "operation or maintenance" of nuclear facilities any longer but why the heck is that in the license terms?

Am I a curmudgeon?

Check out this video from youtube.

Yes, yes I am, thank you very much.

what passes for information

Don't tweet me if you don't think it's funny!

Payback coming our way

Letter from Mike Rowe

The following is purportedly a letter from Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs fame) written to a young scout about the challenges of making Eagle. It's worth a read.

“Kelby, your dad asked me to drop you a line and say something inspirational that might persuade you to dig down deep and find the determination to make the rank of Eagle Scout. It's a reasonable request, from a father who obviously wants to see his son succeed. But here's the thing: The Eagle rank isn’t really meant for people who need to be dragged across the finish line. It's meant for a select few, and I have no idea if you have the guts to see it through.

“Statistically, I suspect you don’t. Only one out of a hundred Scouts make Eagle, so if you fail, there’ll be lots of other people with whom you can share excuses. Quitting now might disappoint your dad, but I doubt that he or anyone else will be overly surprised. Anytime 99 out of 100 people do the same thing, it's not exactly a shock.

“I'm not trying to be cute with a bunch of reverse psychology. When I was 15, there was nothing that anyone could have said to me that would have inspired me to do something I didn't want to do, especially some stranger with a TV show. So I'm not going to assume you're any different, or pretend that I have some influence or insight that you haven't already heard from a dozen other people who actually know and care about you. I'll just tell you straight up, that doing something extraordinary can be very lonely, and most people simply aren't cut out for it. Being an Eagle Scout requires you to be different from most everyone around you, and being different is really, really hard. That's why Eagle is called "an accomplishment."

“Personally, and for whatever it's worth, the best decisions I've made in my own life, are those decisions that put me on the outside of being cool. Singing in the opera, working in home shopping, starring in the school play when the entire football team laughed at me, and especially earning my Eagle, were all choices that required sacrifice, hard work, and delayed gratification. I have no idea if you possess those qualities, or even envy them. But I can tell you for certain, that not getting your Eagle, will be one of the easiest things you've ever done.

“I have no idea if you’d prefer an easy life of predictability and mediocrity, or if have the passion to follow the road less traveled. Only you get to decide that. Good Luck, Mike”

Only for the true geek

Check out this countup clock, counting up to the 1234567890th second since Jan. 1, 1970. If I have to explain why Jan. 1, 1970 is important as the start date then you aren't a big enough geek to appreciate it.

Well, at least one Senator gets it

Thank you Ms. McCaskill for at least being angry.

Bad Bank, BAAAAAAAAAAD Bank

Finally, somebody suggesting something that makes sense! Why should the Govt. buy all the "bad" assets the banks foisted on themselves. Maybe the Govt. should set up a good bank, cherrypick the pieces of BoA and Citi that are worth having and let the rotten crooks running those places fall with the rest of their shady stuff.

Yep, that about sums it, and me, up

THE RULES OF RURAL ILLINOS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Listen up City Slickers !

1. Pull your droopy pants up. You look like an idiot.
   
2. Turn your cap right, your head isn't crooked.
   
3. Let's get this straight; it's called a 'dirt road.' I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.
   
4. They are cattle. They're live steaks. That's why they smell funny to you. But they smell like money to us. Get over it.
   
5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $250,000 combines that are driven only 3 weeks a year.
   
6. Every person in rural Illinois waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.
   
7. If that cell phone rings while an 8-point buck and 3 does are coming in, we WILL shoot it out of your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.
   
8. Yeah, we eat taters & gravy, beans & cornbread. You really want sushi & caviar? It's available at Jim's bait shop.
   
9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November.
   
10. We open doors for women. That is applied to all women, regardless of age.
    
11. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu. Order steak. Or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.
    
12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup. Oh, yeah .... We don't care what you folks in Cincinnati call that stuff you eat ... IT AIN'T REAL CHILI!!
    
13. You bring 'coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice.
    
14. You bring ' Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.
    
15. College and high school football are as important here as the Bears and the Rams, and more fun to watch.
    
16. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards -- it spooks the fish.
    
17. Colleges? We have them all over. We have State Universities, Community Colleges, and Vo-techs. They come outta there with an education plus a love for God and country, and they still wave at everybody when they come for the holidays.
    
18. We have a whole ton of folks in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. So don't mess with us. If you do, you will get whipped by the best.
    
19. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump crap ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore than we want to see your boxers. Refer back to #1.
    
20. Four inches of snow isn't a blizzard - it's a flurry. Drive in it like you got some sense, and DON'T take all our bread, milk, and bleach from the grocery stores. This ain't Alaska . Worst case you may have to live a whole day without croissants. The pickups with snowplows will have you out the next day.
    
21. By the way .... if you want to talk to God in ILLINOS , it's a local call.
    

Maybe B-P had it right!

An interesting article from boston.com about how the city adversely affects ones brain function. Here's a related article from the University of Michigan about how even short experiences in nature can approve ones brain function.