Karma

You remember last week when I was talking about the private business that is providing speed enforcement services for the state. You know, the one that parks vans at the side of road. These vans are loaded with laser guns and video equipment to allegedly capture a picture of your car and the speed it is traveling at the time.

Before I get the point of this item, a few relevant facts. First is that the state decided that there would be no "grace" allowance. That is, even if you were over the limit by only one mile per hour, you would still get a ticket.

Secondly, the state decided that even police and other emergency vehicles would be ticketed unless they had their lights and sirens on at the time.

Well, there have been reports on the radio that these vans, when on the way to their location, have been, now wait for this, speeding. It seems where ever they were going to, they were always observed by the public as speeding.

You smart people out there should know by now where this going. That's right, one of those speeding vans was pulled over by a police officer and was given a ticket for speeding. The kicker is that the driver of the van is crying about how unfair it is for him to be "picked on" and how he will go to court to contest the ticket.

All I can say is what goes around comes around.

Justice Served

US District Judge J. Frederick Motz disapproved, on Friday, the proposed Microsoft settlement (see his 36K PDF opinion here). At this point, I don't know if MS will go back to square one or try to salvage the proposed settlement by amending it to address the judges concerns but it is good to see that at least one judge has a clue when it comes to technology.

Now It Can Be Told

Google recently added a service (see it here) that allows you to comb through millions of Usenet posts going back to 1981. Now, the rest of the story. Salon has an article (see it here) that tells how Google tracked down copies of the first "Make Money Fast!!!!" posts.

EnronGate

You saw it here first. Or not. What did the president know, and when did he know it? Was/is there a coordinated attempt to obstruct justice? And who is DeepThroat(tm)? Stay tuned as this story spreads and envelopes an ever widening circle of characters.

Class starts up tonight and the legislature opens on Wednesday so things may get even leaner around here than they have been lately.

Aloha!

Justice in the Balance

Today is D-Day for Mr. Dominik. By the time this is published he may know, one way or the other, whether he is employed at his present site or if he begins again the search for other employment. I'm sure he would appreciate any Good Thoughts(tm) or prayers you may send his way.

His situations brings back some not so pleasant memories about my first, and so far only, time I was fired/released/separated/down-sized/right-sized/re-engineered/streamlined out of a job. I guess I was in my late 20s or early thirties at the time. I'd been working for a printing company that my aunt and uncle owned since I was 10 or so (when not in school). My mom and brother also worked there so you could accurately say it was a family business.

The company was going through a tough period about then but my firing came out of the blue, as far as I was concerned. In retrospect, there were clear signs that things weren't going well. Like having our health coverage terminated, without anyone telling us. In fact, the way I found out it was terminated was when I went to the doctor and the nurse said the policy was no longer in effect.

Or when the paper company said they would no longer extend credit to ours so all transactions would have to be on a cash basis. So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Nonetheless, I was. Very surprised. And hurt. And yes, angry. We tend, or at least I do, to find our self-worth in the type of job we do. So almost by definition, no job, no self-worth.

But after the initial shock, I hit the help wanted adds. And was very disappointed. Here I had a college degree and I couldn't find anything. At least not anything that looked interesting. But I swallowed my pride and interviewed for a job as a temporary clerk with a large, for Hawai'i, local retail clothing store call Liberty House (since recently bought out by Macy's).

The job was in the buyer's department, which as some of you know is where the people who decide what merchandise will be in the store three-to-six months from now. I was there about four or five months and was able to gain some interesting insights in to how a retail operation works (which I may share some day). It was an exciting time, especially during the major sales when the store would be humming with activity.

Just as that temporary job ended, I got word that a position I had applied for with the state was being offered to me. Now, there is a story about this and if you will bear with me, I'm going to tell it now.

It seems the position I had applied to was offered to someone else first (I didn't know any of this story until years after it happened). This someone else was very politically connected but that's not the story (although it's probably why she got the job). She took the job and was working there for several months.

But it also seems she was having marital problems with her husband. In fact, eventually she killed him, with a hammer, while he slept. Afterwards, while being questioned at the police station, she excused herself to go to the restroom. Once there, she pulled a handgun out of her purse, put it to her head, and pulled the trigger.

Sometimes, the path we take is winding and difficult to see. And in this case, full of tragedy. But out of this tragedy, a door opened for me. I went through that door and haven't looked back.

In the end, my being fired turned out the be the best thing that could have happened to me. From that firing, I eventually started working in state government, which in turn led me to meet the woman that would become my wife, and eventually brought me to work with some of the most interesting, intelligent people anywhere.

I don't know what the future may bring my way. Maybe things will be easy, maybe they won't. But I believe the hand of God can be seen in how things have worked out and am thankful for His guidance.

Thought for the Day

When one door closes, another opens: but we often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. - Alexander Graham Bell

Aloha!

Extra! Extra!

John Dominik announced at 12:45pm his time that he was spared the cut and his job is safe.

Sun Day Off

Well, if people can have Snow Days in which they take the day off due to snow I figured I could take a Sun Day off due to excessively good weather. That is not to say I don't have anything to say this bright morning [heaven forbid - ed.]

Good Luck

When I went to class Monday night I found that someone I had known when I was working in the Department of Budget and Finance was also in the class. It was so good to see her after all these years. Unfortunately, after working in state government longer than I have, she was recently notified she will be terminated at the end of the month. Talk about bitter sweet times.

Doc Jim

I note that the Good Doctor's Journal (see it here) is going on temporary hiatus. I don't know what is going on with the Doc Jim but I don't think it would hurt to send a few spare good thoughts or prayers his way.

Praise the Lord

Thanks be to God from whom all blessings flow. Fellow Daynoter John Dominik still has a job. May the economy get better soon so that all who want to work, can.

EnronGate

Seen on the net, the latest excuse kids are giving for not having their homework: "My dad's Arthur Anderson accountant shredded my homework." Hehehe.

Hunterisms

"Watching the Baltimore Ravens play football is like...being stuck for six hours in an elevator with Dick Cheney on speed. - Hunter S. Thompson

What, Me Worry?

The Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch site displays a list of actual warning labels for various products (see the list here). A couple of the better ones are: A label on a toilet? Recycled flush water unsafe for drinking. And "Warning: Riders of personal watercraft may suffer injury due to forceful injection of water into body cavities either by falling into the water or while mounting the craft."

Metal Mania

ABC News reports (see it here) a Brisbane, Australia company called Metal Storm (see their site here) has designed (but perhaps not actually built) weapons, using their multiple projectiles per barrel technology, that could fire millions of rounds per minute.

They do this by pre-loading barrels with multiple rounds, each one in the front of the other. All rounds are electronically fired. Thus, other than the bullet itself, there are no moving parts.

Aloha!

It's Friday!

The Need for Speed

3.6GHz. Is that fast enough for you? The over clockers are at it again. By using liquid nitrogen to cool an Intel 2GHz CPU, the gang was able to push it to about 3.6GHz (see it here). Scroll down to the bottom of the screen at their site for the English summary.

Lord of the Legos

Okay, so this is a bit of a stretch, but for those one of you (you know who you are) who love LOTR and Legos comes the Legos version of the movie. See the little plastic Frodos here.

By the by, what do you call a webring of LOTR fans? A Tolkien Ring, of course (hey, don't blame me, it wasn't my idea).

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha! Or as Brian would say: