The-Asterisk

This post is prompted by the current incendiary story of the killing of a seventeen year old black male, Trayvon Martin, by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida. This weekend, the New Black Panthers have offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of Mr. Zimmerman dead or alive . I guess vigilantism is OK if a minority group wants the head of someone that is not a member of their minority. I do not want to write about the specifics of this tragedy, since the facts, such as they are, are either unknown or are being kept from the public by the authorities. Everything that we 'know' so far is hearsay, conjecture, veiled facts released by the local government or truth as stated by those who want to stir things up in America. In other words, no one truly knows what happened, except Mr. Zimmerman. What I would like to write about is how I think we, as a nation, got to this point. Sunday morning I watched a segment of Meet The Press on NBC. On the pane...

"One man's guerrilla warfare is another man's fair fight" -- The-Asterisk Lately I have been observing the unfolding political dress rehearsals leading up to the big show in November. I hear the screeching class on the left talk about how the Tea Party (aka Tea Baggers) is holding up all of the good that the President and Congress have wanted to accomplish since 2010. I watched this new video by Davis Guggenheim and narrated by Tom Hanks. It is a true work of art and a bit of fiction. If you haven't watched it, you must. Those that do not know what is going on, then watch this video may be swayed. Notice Obama's constant pensiveness as he thinks about how he can help the American people. Such sacrifice. There are quite a few truth benders in this piece. Disingenuous? Yes. Beyond the pale for a political campaign? No, but I would have expected to see something like this in August at the Democrat National Convention, not this early in March. Apparently if ...

I posted the following to Susan Bradley's blog as a reply to her poignant insight into how to best position the Microsoft brand. Susan, you hit this one out of the park (metaphorically speaking, of course...) I loaded the CP version onto a Dell Latitude ST tablet (no kbd or mouse) supposedly with multitouch and so far, IT SUCKS. Sorry. This Dell is a real tablet, not a convertable. In fact, the tablet looks a lot like an iPad with a aftermarket LineX wrap-around. So, I figured that an O/S that was destined, nee, built for tablet use would feel like a comfortable old running shoe, but it actually felt like a one-size-too-small combat boot (again, metaphorically speaking.)  The screen lurches, nothing is intuitive, I don't know how to swipe or gesture and I couldn't easily find a User's Guide (do they still make those things?) on the Internet to get me started.  Like hearing Creed and immediately comparing the band to Pearl Jam, I couldn't help but remember how nat...

"You've really changed... It's as if we don't even know each other anymore." Those words can put a dagger into the heart of just about any relationship. It could happen to teens after a summertime separation. It could happen to high school sweethearts after a year away at college, but it could also happen to a couple that has been married and living together for 30 or 40 years. Whatever the reason, people change and they can grow distant. Whose fault is it? Who changed? Was it random change, or was it growth? What if one person in a relationship finds religion where the couple had previously shared a no-holds-barred, hedonistic lifestyle? Would that relationship last? If they break up, do you blame the now pious one, or do you blame the one that has not changed? Does anyone need to be blamed? If there are children involved and the two decide to stay together "for the sake of the kids" but they constantly bicker, fight, and start hurting each other...