Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Schools on a Power Trip

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I don’t really understand why, but public schools in this country often seem to think they have far more power than they rightfully should have. They declare themselves the arbiters of what medications students take, what students write in their newspapers, when students urinate, what students wear, what students put on their private web sites, and more. Meanwhile, most indicators show that our educational system lags compared to those in other countries and, anecdotally, it’s deteriorating year-to-year.

Well, just when you thought the misguided power trip couldn’t get any worse, now we have schools policing the activities of adults at private parties.

Frederick County Public Schools here in Virginia terminated the employment of Brad Young, a beloved softball coach. Young held a private post-season cookout and pool party at his home, which he has done in past years, and invited his softball team and their parents. At least one parent brought some beers, and they were consumed by parents. None of the kids were offered any alcohol and, indeed, Young didn’t consume any either. The school system, however, declared the event to be a school function and declared the presence of alcohol (which, I reiterate, was brought to the party by parents) as being in violation of the system’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy.

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Wells Fargo vs.  . . . Wells Fargo

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Once upon a time, I did my banking with First Union. First Union bought-out a smaller company called Wachovia and, in a curious twist, renamed itself to Wachovia. Then Wachovia went under in the midst of the mortgage implosion, and got bought-out by Wells Fargo. I still have the same checking account I opened with First Union in 2001 or so, which is now technically a Wells Fargo account (even though I still do my banking at Wachovia-branded web sites and branches).

As a Wells Fargo customer, I found it pretty interesting to hear that Wells Fargo has filed court papers in Florida to sue . . . itself. According to Al Lewis writing for Dow Jones Newswires, Wells Fargo Bank NA is suing Wells Fargo Bank NA. The firm has even hired two separate law firms to represent each side of the case.

Apparently Wells Fargo holds the first mortgage on a Florida condo and, as part of the process of foreclosing, they sued all other lien holders with an interest in the property . . . including itself, holder of a second mortgage on the same condo.

Strange times indeed. . . .

Face 2 Face: Elton John & Billy Joel

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bjej-ticketMelissa and I had a great time last night at Elton John and Billy Joel’s ‘Face 2 Face’ concert at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. As you would expect, the two guys put on a great show. I had seen Billy Joel before (twice, in fact), but this was my first time seeing Elton John.

The show starts with the two performing several songs together on facing grand pianos. It was a little bizarre to hear Billy Joel singing a verse of ‘Your Song’ and Elton John singing a verse of ‘Just the Way You Are’, but it works somehow.

On the third or fourth song, Elton John stopped abruptly during the instrumental introduction because his sustain pedal was stuck, making all his notes run together. Some roadies come out and messed with it but couldn’t fix it, then Billy Joel came over and started messing with it too, but also couldn’t fix it. After a few minutes Elton left the stage (looking a bit upset). Billy goofed off for a minute or two playing snippets of random songs, and then after a few minutes launched into his solo set. Elton’s piano dropped back beneath the stage, presumably to be repaired or swapped.

In typical Billy Joel style, he called it a ‘true rock and roll f***-up.’

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Enough Michael Jackson Already

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I know, I know . . . Michael Jackson was an influential, talented man. I get it. He wasn’t exactly my favorite musician, but I liked him enough to have his Greatest Hits album in my collection and to have Billie Jean in my head for a solid week following his death. Despite the fact that his recent albums were mediocre-at-best, and his somewhat bizarre personal life, I was just as saddened by his death as any other rational person.

But the wall-to-wall media coverage, weeping fans, golden caskets, stadium-concert-funerals, and so on are a bit much.

If that wasn’t enough, look at the media grasping at straws today. At the moment, CNN’s web site has stories about whether the Jackson death probe will become a criminal matter, whether Jackson will be buried at Neverland Ranch, a supposed ‘intervention’ staged by the Jackson family years ago, and a doctor who had supposedly tried to fix Jackson’s nose. In addition, a poll inquires about where CNN.com readers think Jackson should be buried. After all, CNN.com readers should make that decision, don’t you think? No need to involve the family; Jackson is apparently CNN property now.

Meanwhile, the bankrupt City of Los Angeles—after spending millions of dollars on the Jackson funeral—has now decided that it shouldn’t have to pay for anything and is trying to recoup the money from Jackson fans and the bankrupt AIG insurance company that put on the show. Memo to Los Angeles: If you don’t want to pay for something, don’t pay for it.

Enough already.

Goodbye, CompuServe

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It was only a couple of months ago that I said a fond farewell to Microsoft Encarta, and today I do the same for CompuServe. After more than thirty years, the CompuServe Information Service (CIS) was shut down by its parent, America OnLine (AOL), on July 1.

My family had CompuServe back in the early 1990s, initially on an MS-DOS machine and later on Windows. It was rudimentary by modern standards, but at the time it was pretty awesome (and it had already been around quite a while before my family joined up). CompuServe generally attracted a more knowledgeable crowd than AOL or Prodigy—it was less flashy, but seemed more powerful and professional than its ad-laden brethren. I remember how cool it was to be able to bring up weather maps on-demand, send emails, etc., even if those things took forever on our super-fast 9600 baud modem, and even if we were charged by the hour for them.

Of course, times changed. By 1996 the Internet was starting to take off, and proprietary networks like CompuServe struggled to stay relevant. Soon, CompuServe, AOL, and Prodigy were all offering access to the Internet in addition to their proprietary networks. Within a few years, techies had switched to cheaper Internet-only plans with services like Earthlink and Mindspring, while non-techies had largely gathered at AOL.

Prodigy shut down its proprietary network and became an Internet-only service in 1999 before being bought-out by SBC, which later became AT&T. CompuServe was bought by WorldCom in 1998, which immediately re-sold its CIS system and customers to younger competitor AOL (while retaining CompuServe’s network services division). Hemorrhaging members, CIS—against all odds—still operated until last week under the AOL umbrella separately of AOL’s own proprietary system.

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.