Life

Atlas Shrugged: 50 Years Ahead Of Its Time

Wayne Hartman — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:14:10 GMT

I'm only four chapters into Atlas Shrugged, but the parallels to modern events are startling. The main industry that this book involves (at least so far) is the railroad business:

Then it was said that large, established railroad systems were essential to the public welfare; and that the collapse of one of them would be a national catastrophe; and that if one such system had happened to sustain a crushing loss in a public-spirited attempt to contribute to international good will, it was entitled to public support to help it survive the blow.

Substitute railroad for bank and we have just read the news for the past year or so. Scary isn't it?

Obama To Students: Be Mindless Zombies, Feed On Republican Brains

Wayne Hartman — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:51:40 GMT

First and foremost, I am not an Obama shill, quite far from it. So on that note, why all the controversy of Obama addressing the students of this nation to encourage them to do better? I think Obama understands, as do I, the complete utter lack of accountability that people my age and younger have about their future. We live in an age where our dreams rest upon the fantasies of getting something for nothing. We care not for hard work and determination, where everything in life is granted by handouts and even our failings are assuaged by purple check marks. So it is with a sense of relief that someone in a position of power is standing up to these false hopes and telling it how it is--even if it is Obama.

My favorite part, which appears early in his prepared remarks, is this:

"...at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed."

What's there to argue with that? I've seen rumor-mongering to the effect that Obama is out to brainwash us all into pro-government Democrat robots, to be dispatched to squash any dissent and feed on the brains of those who do. Get real.

Hyperbole aside, if ever there were a time in the history of our country to be awakened to a sense of our own personal responsibility, it is now. We have sown the seeds of our own undoing, the fruit of which we are beginning to reap, because we have surrendered control and responsibility of our destinies to chance and happenstance. We rely on frivolous lawsuits, social programs, and handouts, hoping that someone will come along and solve all our problems for us. And when the Law of the Harvest reaps us all the things we didn't want, we blame it on others or circumstance, looking further for freebies to save us from our woe. Further, I quote, "I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things." Spot on.

I think it's great that Obama has seized this opportunity to speak on this subject and a shame that those of a different political persuasion are letting politics get in the way of our President delivering a message that we all need to hear--regardless if we are in grade school or not. I would hope that school administrators, teachers, and parents who have decided to withhold this opportunity from their students, would use this time to teach those same principles.

Personal responsibility and accountability, indoctrination indeed. But don't take my word for it, read it yourself and draw your own conclusions.

Why Writing (With Pen and Paper) Is Still Important

Wayne Hartman — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:19:48 GMT

Though penmanship has certainly taken a back seat to knowing how to type, I have come to this realization: it is important to be seen writing by your children so that they learn that typing or texting is not the only means of recording or communicating the written word. Even now I am writing this blog post in the sight of my oldest son who is just starting pre-school, who, little by little, will be trained to take that awkward hand and make scratches with a writing implement.

I'm sure at some point he may ask himself why on earth he would care to write with his hand when he can much easily clack a button in rapid succession and record a message. True, some time in the future everything may be in electronic form, but until the written signature or jotted down note or hand written drawing is completely replaced, knowing how to write with your hand is still requisite in society.

I must admit however, that writing this small post has cramped my hand; I do not write enough to keep those muscles accustomed to enduring such an arduous task. I too ask, why write when I can type? Perhaps, then, an appeal can be made to the Luddite in everyone: just because that's how it has always been and it works just fine.

UPDATE 28 AUG 2009: And this story the day after: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/emghandwriting/

A Mis Queridos De Una Vida Pasada

Wayne Hartman — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:30:14 GMT

Unos pensamientos que tuve hoy:

De vez en cuando, uno se le olviden las experiencias que se le han pasado. Estoy culpable de eso hoy, de mis queridos del pais de Guatemala. Es facil estar atropellado por todo que pasa aun durante un solo dia, pero tambien es una lastima que usamos eso como una excusa de no vivir nuestras memorias. Al decir la verdad, me gustaria transportarme por los vortices de tiempo para vivir partes de mi vida una vez mas. Yo no cambiaria ninguna parte de ellas, solo me gustaria vivirlas, mirarlas por los ojos de una persona que ojala sea mas sabia e inteligente.

Durante mi mision, yo era diligente de escribir diariamente sobre todos los eventos de mi vida. Yo escribi sobre muchos asuntos, sin embargo, por todo lo que escribi, espero que yo hubiera escrito aun mas. La mente sola tiene una capacidad finita, y por tanto, por todas las cosas que ella recuerda, es requesito que hayan cosas que se le olvidan tambien.

Aun hoy recibi una invitacion de Facebook de un Pablo Antonio Soto Maldonado. Quien es el?, me pregunte, no conozco ningun Pablo. Sin embergo, fui al sitio para verle, y si, yo habia conocido este Elder Soto. Yo deberia haber recordado su nombre, pero no paso asi, sencillamente por las faultas de la memoria. Solo tengo unos veintiocho años, y ya estoy perdiendo la mente como si fuera un viejo!

Al fin, solo quisiera decirles, a mis guatemaltecos queridos, y a tambien a mis compeñeros de la mision, si, les recuerdo, les quiero, y espero que nunca vez se me olviden--aun cuando yo sea un viejito.

Walmart: Service With A Snarl

Wayne Hartman — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:04:44 GMT

Today we decided to do something adventurous, all in the name of having something different to eat. We decided to get a BBQ grill. We found one we liked at a reasonable price at Walmart, except that we didn't see any on the shelves. Two Walmart employees and a little bit of wandering later, it was determined that the only one they had left was the floor model. No problem of course, mentioned the employee, except for the fact that it wouldn't fit assemled together in our car.

Me: Now, can you go get a box and disassemble it so I may take it home?
Employee: Uh...we don't have any boxes. (oh noes! they're trying to steal ze boxes!)
Me: C'mon, this is Walmart, I'm sure you have tons of boxes back there.
Employee: Well, I don't know how to take it apart.
Me: You put it together, didn't you?
Employee: No, we have people that put it together in back.
Me: Well, if they put them together, I'm quite sure that they would know how to take it apart. (Unioned BBQ assembling gnomes no doubt!)
Employee: Ugh, I'll be right back.

Five minutes later, the very same employee comes back with some tools and a pet carrier box and begins taking the grill apart. So much for 'the guys in back' who do all the work. It was quite laughable to see him use any excuse he could to not take it apart. Sigh. To be nice, though, I assisted him in taking it apart since it was a two man job in some places. It was also a good time for me to study how to reassemble it once back home.

I'm happy we were able to fit it in alright for the trip home and now it's ready for tomorrow. I can taste those steaks already!

A Moral Quandary

Wayne Hartman — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:48:58 GMT

Last night after returning home from a Pinewood Derby event, I noticed that my rear driver side door had been dented in. This was no small job and I was quite aggravated to discover this. After wrangling with my wife on the futility of going back to investigate, we returned to the not yet complete event.

Upon closer investigation I ascertained that the damage had not been caused by a vehicle. There would have been paint missing and the impact point would have been lower on the door panel. No, a person or other obtuse object had made this damage. I ran through a catalog of people who might have done this on purpose but could not think of anyone. My next thoughts centered on who likely would have done it on accident. I focused on one particular family who were infamous for being loud, rowdy, and rambunctious and I knew that they had been playing around in the parking lot before we had initially left.

When we arrived, I saw one of the suspect kids and asked her if she knew anything about it. She responded that she did not, and giving her the benefit of the doubt, I walked back into the building.

The activity was not yet over, so I arranged to make a general announcement of my discovery. After asking for information, doubtful that anyone saw anything, I was soon approached by several people. I was told that the father and a son of the suspect family had some sort of kerfuffle outside and a) the father threw his son into my car, or b) the son had kicked in my door in attempt to kick his dad. Either way may suspicions were confirmed, but I was at a loss that even the father was involved. Even more disturbing was the lack of integrity on his part to disclose to me what he had done.

I quickly located the perpetrator and approached him, stating that I understood that he and his son had had a 'run in with my car'. His whole demeanor seemed to change. He was quite upset, not at me, but rather his son, for it seemed that the full weight fo the implications of their altercation came to bear.

He seemed quite insistent that he would pay for it because It became apparent to him that his insurance would not cover the outcome of a domestic dispute, yet we both knew that he would not have the cash to cover the damage. He remarked that he would have to take out a pay day advance, for he expected to have to pay at least over a grand in repairs.

Now enter the moral quandary. Justice demands that he pay restitution for the damage to my car. Mercy would say that I should forgive him his debt and foot the bill myself. But even though I have comprehensive insurance that would likely repair such a thing, I do not wish to file a claim, however, because I do not want my premium to go up. I also don't want him to take out a payday advance loan, simply because I find such institutions to be morally reprehensible and the equivalent of economic slavery.

Now, I do think there is some moral middle ground to be had here. I think he should still pay for it. It is only just that he pay for the damage done; I am an innocent party in his domestic issues with his son. I would, however, be willing to front the cost and have him pay me back on some predetermined terms that would be substantially less economically impacting than a loan shark. I would not charge interest, I would be satisfied with a simple return of principle.

Are my thoughts on the matter too much to ask?

Ethics In Ad Consumption

Wayne Hartman — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:52:59 GMT

One of the age old business models of print media has been the idea of not just selling subscriptions, but also mingling content with advertisements. It's funny to pick up a magazine at a store and flip through the pages and you end up seeing more advertisements than actual article content. It comes as no surprise then, to discover that digital media plays the same game, the twist being that a lot of online content is 'given away' and exclusively dependent on ad revenue to support publication.

First generation advertising came in the form of static banners and later popups, but as those forms of communication steadily increased in both quantity and subversive tactics to demand your attention, so too did technology's response to suppress them. Flash mini-games became another distraction, but the arms race seemed to be taken to a whole new level with the Firefox browser. With its modular platform, developing extensions to the browser opened a whole new avenue for dealing with the deluge of advertising that saturates content. The biggest players in this arena? AdBlock and NoScript. Both extensions take similar routes in stemming the tide of advertisement. AdBlock blocks the browser from loading content from known ad content sites, while NoScript takes a much heavier handed approach by stopping the programming language employed to load such advertisements: JavaScript. These tools are very effective in what they do, but they raise an interesting question: is it ethical to block the advertisements?

After all, we the consumer are partaking of something we view as 'free', but the provider bears an awful amount of cost in not only creating the content, but also making it available. One can't help but ponder, then, if we are in fact stealing.

Personally, I think not, but because of some very specific reasons. To explain this, we have to look at some fundamentals of marketing theory. Generally speaking, there are two strategies of Marketing, 'push' and 'pull'.

The pull strategy puts the power in the hands of the seller, because the consumer is approaching the seller with a known need. The consumer typically has the requirements for the product, but has to research the best fit for it. This would be an example of a person shopping for a vehicle: the consumer has a general idea of what he needs, but needs to figure out which (of the many) products will best address it.

Push marketing however has a severe disadvantage to the seller. The seller has a product for which there is no current demand, so he must resort to means to generate demand from consumers. Such marketing campaigns take 'shotgun' approach by using media such as TV commercials, magazine advertisements, and yes, spam. The whole approach of push is to make as many people aware of the product, knowing full well that only a fraction of consumers will actually respond. One of the bigger reasons that this occurs is that it can be difficult to target specific individuals because of varying demographics within the scope of a given distribution channel.

So, going back to why I don't think it is unethical to block such advertisements, we have to look at our own consumptive habits. I don't respond very well to push strategies because I don't respond very well to artificially created demand of products that don't appeal to me. I have a fairly good idea of what my 'needs' (or better stated, desires) are, so it's difficult to fool me into thinking I need something I really don't. The second problem is that push ads are not tailored to my specific needs. When you take a 'shotgun' approach to advertising, relevance can decrease dramatically. It gets to the point where advertisements aren't helping me discover new products, but adding to the noise of trying to consume content.

Google Ad Words tries to take a contextual approach to advertising, where, if I am on a site that talks about mortgages, I must be looking for a lender and display appropriate ads. This is a step in the right direction, but still falls short of really targeted advertising.

So, if a site is not displaying relevant ads, am I justified in turning them off? Maybe. One other facet of advertising deals with not trying to sell you something, but also creating brand awareness. Many times a firm isn't necessarily interested in selling you a specific product, but just wants to let you know that they exist. These motivations in advertising seem rather benign, but I think the arguments for or against online advertising coalesce around how it's done.

If there is more advertising than content, you're sunk. Foxnews.com used to be one of the higher profile offenders in this arena where the front page often had more advertising than headlines, which made it unbearable to look at it. Flash animations are also horrible. The intention is that animated objects stand out over static content, attracting your attention to the ad. Then, the pet peeve of them all, scantily clad women. Some sites fail to realize that people can get fired from work for viewing such content, even though it doesn't bare (pun intended) any context to what the user is actually consuming. In a family friendly environment, such ads are inappropriate as well.

In all, less is more. Less intrusion in the online experience would translate into more contact, because the arms race can stop. So, I propose a truce. I would gladly drop ad counter-measures if content providers would use static content, drop the Flash animations, and increase the content-to-advertisement ratio on their sites. If your ads would be more targeted, I'd even consider clicking on them. Until then, however, I feel perfectly justified in blocking them all together. Your intrusion into my browser has exceeded a painful threshold. You are a guest inside my browser. And when you wear that visit out, I’ll just sweep the parts of you out that are offending.

Inauguration

Wayne Hartman — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:56:08 GMT

Watching the inauguration was an interesting experience. It was quite awe inspiring to see the vast ocean of people that had converged on the Capitol to witness the affair. The event itself was not very long and the majority of those who came to witness it ended up watching it on jumbotron screens anyway.

Nothing wholly remarkable happened except Obama's flubbing of the Oath of Office. It seemed that Justice Roberts was giving him a bit more than a mouthful to say, but it seems to me that for such an occasion, you'd have the oath memorized anyway.

It will be very interesting to see what Obama does during the honeymoon. Rumors have been swirling for some time that he'll be closing the prisoner camp at Guantanamo Bay within a short period of time of taking the reigns as Commander in Chief, but we'll see. Some of the things that I'd really like to see revisited are the doctrines of domestic wiretapping and surveillance. I think there needs to be stronger controls in place and more oversight into how that program functions and carries out intelligence findings. Americans deserve a bit more transparency in this regard, and it seems to be contrary to the laws of the land in how they have been previously executed.

That's not to say that Bush didn't do what he thought was right. We live in troubling times, and in the wake of 9/11, it seemed like a good idea. But with changing of the guard, this moment best presents itself to take a step back and ask if these policies are effective and can we exercise them in a way that both safeguards America's sovereignty and respects Americans' rights to privacy.

Then, there's the economy. One of the tenants of economic theory is the idea of the 'self-fulfilling prophecy'. The idea is that if the market predicts bad things will happen, then they invariably do--not because of any substantive force outside the market, but because the market dithers in its own self-doubt. The thin line to skate though, is that if respected sources of strength try to quell the self-doubt and pessimism with over-optimism and the economy does not improve, then the market loses further confidence, the champion loses credibility, and the market spirals anyway. Obama will have a very difficult time pulling the nation out of this slump and I am sure that the outcome of this will define his first term either for good, or ill.

The Republican Party has a bit of time to pull itself together. After a bitter defeat, any self-respecting Republican ought to hope that Sarah Palin never shows her face again. I'm not sure that my laughing gut can take another round of Saturday Night Live parody, with here ill thought out responses to interview questions. Browsing through the list of potential candidates, I'm not really sure there are any rock star caliber contenders (at least not of Obama quality), but as the next four years roll by, who knows what they may come up with next.

Good luck, Obama, you're going to need it--more than we all probably know.

My 2009-2012 Tech Wish List

Wayne Hartman — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:07:06 GMT

Christmas is almost here, but with last nights election I have a nice little technology wish list for the next administration.

Net Neutrality

The concept of Net neutrality spans the idea that Internet service providers (ISPs) should give traffic neutral passage regardless of protocol and source/destination. What this means is that people shouldn’t have to pay more to get the same speeds from (or even access to) Disney.com and say, Joe’s Gadget Shack. It also means that whether I’m surfing the ‘Net, checking my email, uploading photos to Flickr, or playing a video game with some friends, that data should not be filtered or slowed based upon what I am doing at the time.

I’m looking for Obama to quash the hopes of ISPs to create a tiered Internet where one may have to pay more to reach ‘premium sites’ or content. This is a bad idea for everyone because the mainstays of the Internet are based upon a platform with a level playing field where you have just as much a right to get to ESPN.com as you do to read this post on my site.

Copyright

For the past ten years, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has been the lawyers delight in beating people over the head for ‘copyright infringement’. From DVDs to music, the DMCA has provisions in there that explicitly prohibit the circumvention of anti-copy protection schemes in an effort to criminalize piracy of digital content. Where the law goes too far is that there isn’t any provision in there that allows for duplication for legitimate archival purposes.

DVDs don’t lend themselves to withstanding much abuse, and a five to twenty dollar price tag per disc makes the media pricey if you have kids putting their peanut butter covered hands all over them. The reality of the situation is that many people do this (software to do this has been around for quite a long time) but any commercial venture to attempt to capitalize on it has found itself vaporized by DMCA wielding lawyers. Let’s get over the fact that people aren’t inherently criminal and are only trying to protect their media investment.

Universal Broadband

To be clear, Internet access is a privilege and an opportunity, not a right, but the U.S. severely lacks a clear broadband strategy for not just getting access to all those who desire it, but increasing bandwidth to existing users as well. Billions have been poured into the usual telcos and ISPs as a stimulus to innovate and expand offerings, but it seems the service has not scaled to the amount of funding provided.

I’m not calling for a government sponsored ISP, but a certain degree of regulation to promote alternatives and ‘openness’ in our digital destiny. This has some tenuous ties to net neutrality, mentioned above, but this has more to do with legislation to provide an even playing field that doesn’t favor existing broadband networks. The recent C Block spectrum auction earlier this year is evidence that rules and legislation can have a positive influence on how our digital assets are used amongst the masses, but more need be done to encourage things such as municipal networks to compete with the ‘good ol’ boys’ of traditional network service.

So for the next four years, this is what I (and I think a lot of Americans) would like to see on the forefront of the next administration’s tech policy. We’ll see how it goes.

President Obama

Wayne Hartman — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:23:45 GMT

Whether you voted for the guy or not, one cannot deny the magnitude of Barack Obama's clinching of the U.S. Presidency. Numbers are still yet to come in, but this election has seen a level of participation from a large cross-section of our nation, showing America's concern for it's future, both home and abroad. While the tea leaves aren't revealing much about what the future holds, one can see that we have chosen to go down a different path than we have been going for the past eight years. Early results are also showing that the Democratic party has accrued a substantial amount of seats in the Senate, though it is still in doubt whether they will gather the sixty total seats necessary to have a super-majority in that house of the Congress.

It will be interesting in Obama's freshman year to see the challenges that confront him, how he'll deal with them, and how the public will react. We have a unique moment in history in which we will be asked what it was like when the first African American president was elected, to which we'll reply that it was exciting and uncertain. Exciting because it seems that we have grown from our bigoted and biased past, but uncertain, not because he's black, but because of the economic and foreign calamities and troubles that have been layed before us.

Obama, I'm looking to you to guide us through these disturbing times.