Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Stuff From Today: Hiccups, Snow, Penguin

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This morning, I had to take Melissa to an art show in Falls Church. It was raining on the drive, but nothing too bad. As I loaded her stuff into the show, I came down with a terrible case of the hiccups. I absolutely hate hiccups and all of the supposed remedies—holding breath, drinking water, etc., etc., etc.—never seem to work.

So I did a Google search from my phone and  the first result was a site claiming it has a 30-second cure for the hiccups. I was completely skeptical but, much to my surprise . . . it worked. It worked instantly and the hiccups were completely gone and have not returned. If you come down with the hiccups, give it a shot and see if it works for you. Your mileage may vary.

On the drive back to the house (around 9:30 a.m.) the rain began turning to sleet, and then quickly to accumulating snow. We got about 2 or 3 inches by the end of the day. I absolutely love snow, so it was a good day for me. It was also my first chance to try out the Subaru in snow, since we haven’t had hardly any winter weather since we got it. I was very satisfied with its performance.

Aside from the two snow pics (1st right when it was starting to accumulate, and 2nd later in the day), I’ve also included a really scary penguin we saw at Target. Enjoy!

Site Host Change

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You may have noticed some downtime last night and early today. Things were briefly wonky while I moved Off on a Tangent‘s (and our other sites’) web hosting to Network Solutions, my employer. As far as I can tell the migration went just fine and everything should be working. If you notice anything not working right, please let me know.

There are a couple other things that will be happening on the site over the next few weeks if/when I have time. There is probably a pretty large WordPress update coming out soon which I intend to apply fairly quick after it becomes available. I’m also planning to do a minor version update pretty soon to refresh the look a bit and improve some of the technical bits. More on those as they come.

Trespassing on Your Own Property

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A man in Minnesota was arrested by police on Wednesday for trespassing . . . on his own property. Welcome to the new America, people, where the rights to ‘life, liberty, and property’ cover none of the above. In this case the problem stems from a dispute over a pipeline easement. Enbridge Energy Partners, owner of the pipeline, wanted to expand its easement. Jeremy Engelking, the property owner, did not want the easement expanded.

It’s a simple dispute, really. Both sides must abide by whatever the terms were of the original easement (from 1949, in this case). If the original terms allowed unilateral expansion of the easement, then Enbridge can expand it without Engelking’s approval. If the original terms did not allow for this, then Enbridge and Engelking must come to some agreement or find a way to work within the original terms..

Either way, however, Engelking committed no apparent crime in being on his own property—and he certainly wasn’t trespassing! Maybe it’s illegal in Minnesota to interfere with a utility company doing work on an easement (regardless of any separate issues relating to that easement), and if so maybe that’s actionable, but what kind of despotic local government would arrest somebody for being on their own land?

Oh, and speaking of property rights, isn’t it nice that we live in a country where unelected, unaccountable homeowners’ associations can tell you how you’re allowed to fly our national symbol of freedom and liberty?

We Can’t Stay Forever

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I supported—and, even in hindsight, continue to support—the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In both cases I believed that we were appropriately justified in military action. Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan were evil, genocidal leaders and removing them from power was a moral, righteous act. The mistakes that were made by President George W. Bush (R) and his administration in the execution of these wars didn’t change these underlying facts.

Near the end of his presidency, Bush started to right some of his strategic errors. The ‘troop surge’ in Iraq, for example, was a resounding success. President Barack Obama (D) has announced a somewhat similar ‘surge’ strategy to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, which has been praised by some conservatives, but at the same time he has been criticized for announcing that we will begin withdrawing troops in 2011.

Critics claim that it is great folly to announce a withdrawal date. I understand this argument and, for a long time, subscribed to it myself. If we say we’re leaving Afghanistan in 2011, then the Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents know exactly how long they need to hold out before they can reassert control of the country. Fair enough. But I no longer subscribe to this argument because I can no longer subscribe to indefinite commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read more . . .

The Madness Continues

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Okay, I’m going to try to ease back into regular posting again now. The madness is still continuing, but it’s lowered from an F5 tornado of insanity to a mere severe thunderstorm of insanity.

First and foremost, we have moved. Everything we own is at the house and the apartment keys have been turned in. We are now, for real, homeowners. For the first time since becoming an adult, I’m not paying rent anymore (although I am paying a mortgage, HOA fee, etc., etc., etc.). I’ve been pretty constantly busy with unpacking, moving, assembling new furniture, and so on all while trying to do my regular stuff too. It’s a lot to juggle, but we’re getting through it. I still need to fill out some more government paperwork to get my voter registration, tax information, and some other stuff updated with the new address, put together two bookshelves, and . . . well, just lots more unpacking.

The essentials, however, are done. We have power, gas, water, Internet, television, and a security system. Our home network is completely up and running (now with breathtaking Verizon FIOS Internet speed). The cats have food, water, and a litter box. All the furniture except the two aforementioned un-assembled bookshelves are in their correct places. It’s mostly just getting through the boxes at this point, and fine-tuning everything else. Many thanks to our family (both sets of parents and siblings) for all their help!

Meanwhile, I’m back at work. The new job is going quite well and I’m starting to get past the ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’ phase. I still have some learning to do, but I’m feeling fairly competent now with my day-to-day work. It’s definitely a change of pace from the government world.

Lastly, I still have a couple of major technical things to get done on the site over the next week or so. I’m tentatively scheduling some down-time for this coming Saturday, but will provide more detail when the time comes.

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Posted in: Life

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.