Ramblings of a Wayward Code Slave

In response to the recent Supreme Court decision that effectively eliminates the sanctity of private land ownership at the whim of local governments, one fellow has come up with an interesting idea to illustrate the error on the part of the Nine in Black.

Fortunately for the rest of us, states may come up with stricter laws that protect landowners from corrupt politicians and greedy businessmen. The irony is that the Supreme Court must believe that corrupt politicians and greedy businessmen are the exception, not the rule. It must be oxygen deprivation from the height of their court that's affecting them. To alleviate that problem, we should install oxygen masks and then introduce them to a technical term for what they just churned out in the name of progress: hogwash.

I forgot about the Geek Code -- it's been years since I've seen that little diversion in a USENET newsgroup somewhere and I just ran across it while reading Wil Wheaton's website. I originally checked it out from a Slashdot link to see if he had an explanation for being so universally reviled at Wesley Crusher on ST:TNG and it turns out he's a lot more normal than I gave him credit for. I guess it was more bad writing on TNG than bad acting on his part. Of course, "normal" is in the eyes of the beholder, and I've beheld quite a lot of abnormalities and aberrations in my 38 years on good old Terra Firma -- a few coming from the mirror (!).

Anyway, for those interested and in the know, here is my geek code:

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GCS d s:+++>+ a C+++(++++) UL+++(++++) P+++ L++++ E--- W++
N+ o+ K- w++++ O-- M V PS+ PE Y++ PGP t++ 5+++ X++ R tv+
b++ DI-- D-- G e++++ h--- r+++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

You can automagically decode it if you don't want to manually look everything up. Just copy the block above and paste it into the topmost text box on that web page. I could hard code a URL for you but I'm just too lazy.

So how can someone with 26 years of education amuse himself so easily with this? First, it's a code and we computer science types just love codes. Second, it tells the world about us and we geeks have this oddball need to explain ourselves even though that just underscores how hopeless we are. And third, it lets other geeks compare themselves to us -- we're a competitive lot.

Anyway, normal is overrated. I knew normal people in high school and most of them never left town and had a kid and a rotten job by the time they were 20. Long live the geeks!

The USA Patriot Act, from the Library of Congress website, is designed "To deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes." I'm as patriotic as the next guy, and I love my country and the way of life I've enjoyed for the past 38 years, but something inside me is compelling me to ask just what is patriotic about the USA Patriot Act.

The swinging pendulum metaphor is one that I always remember when thinking about history and politics. We swung hard to one side when the terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center towers and crashed into the Pentagon, but in the past four years we haven't seen a whole lot of motion going back toward the other side, much less the middle of the road. The USA Patriot Act gives law enforcement a set of investigative powers unprecedented in the history of the United States. A severe reaction to the severity of the event that spawned it, the Act gives too much power to law enforcement and government -- power that they might not want to give up. That's the risk with a democracy or republic -- its downfall usually begins with an extreme event that causes the central governing body to receive powers not usually granted to it. Power corrupts. The intrusiveness of the Act is an affront to the personal liberties that each American enjoys as a citizen. These liberties were compromised (willingly by some, unwillingly by others, yours truly included) in an attempt to stop future terrorist threats. Terrorism, though, has become the buzzword that is used to fast-track things through government that normally would be scrutinized and utterly rejected. Terrorism is a red herring -- it's really a metaphor for expansion of government control over our lives.

If we don't start taking back our personal liberties through pressure on Congress then we might wake up one day to realize that we don't have them any more. This isn't what the Founding Fathers wanted. This isn't what we envisioned when the USA Patriot Act was voted into law. We need to put the brakes on before we lose something precious to all of us.

As a first step, Congress today repealed a section of the Act that "allows federal agents to examine people's book-reading habits at public libraries and bookstores as part of terrorism investigations" as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle. My God, how did we ever approve that in the first place? Under this provision of the Act, federal agents were, at will, able to legally monitor what you checked out from the library and bought at the bookstore and all without a court order. It makes me wonder what else they can still do...

The Act has nothing to do with patriotism, just control. I'd rather have the risk of terrorism than wonder if the government is monitoring my usage of water, electricity, and what cable channels I watch. Anyway, we can't keep terrorists out of the country unless we want to establish the Iron Curtain that Russia tore down in the '90s and I think that none of us want that to happen. So let's realize our mistake in giving our government a long leash and start reeling it back in. Let's get the government's nose out of our checking accounts, credit card bills, and cell phones and get it back where it belongs -- working for us, not squishing us under its thumb.

Well, the trial is finally over and Jackson's a free man, woman, or whatever he is these days. Despite the post-trial news flashes that at least three jurors believe that he had sexual contact with underage boys, Jackson is now at his Neverland ranch to be tried on those charges Nevermore. Of course, a civil suit might be pending, but thanks to that kid's mother they've lost the moral high ground and it would just appear to be a moneygrab stunt. Which it might be. I'm certain that it's coming, though, and no doubt we won't be spared an instant of The Trial, Part II.

I also just love how the media covered the progression of Jackson's entourage from ranch to courthouse. Akin to the anticipation of waiting for an empty Heinz ketchup bottle to flow, the foot-by-foot media coverage was enough to give me a double-dose Tagamet indigestion attack. The coverage on the return trip was even worse, reminding me of the O. J. pursuit but without anything interesting happenning at the end. At least Jackson could have danced on a car rooftop again, or feigned another weak spell or back injury. Hey, he was walking on the sidewalk -- shinsplints! Even a grab at a lame ankle would have been something...

Getting back to the media for a moment, I'm amazed at all of the inconsistencies and red herrings I've noticed in the coverage on Jackson. Geraldo Rivera was a staunch supporter of Jackson but admitted on the air that he'd never let his kids within a country mile of Neverland. Ditto for the defense attorney. Sean Hannity was convinced that Jackson was going to burn in Hell for all eternity, but five minutes after the verdict was read he was totally off-course, going into a huge monologue of how the jury's findings prove that white people aren't racist and how reverse discrimination needs to be brought under control. Nothing like changing the topic to something volatile to take the crow he was about to eat over the verdict and sweep it under the rug. And, of course, all of the news channels had commentary and offered video playback of the dramatic car rides all night long.

So, who are the final losers in this trial? Well, the city lost money on the prosecution, the prosecution itself just flat-out lost, and a lot of people across America and the rest of the world lost a lot of time. And for me, I lost patience. Seeing Jackson dressed up like a clown each day and hearing of his malady du jour just gave me a pain that wouldn't go away. If all goes well, however, perhaps Jackson will go away. His song Beat It has had its recent share of parodies, but it can now take on one more meaning. Goodbye, Mikey. Please don't write. And you can take Elizabeth Taylor and the bones of the Elephant Man with you. We don't need or want either one.

I'm now back in Lafayette again, working as a software engineer in industry. The more things change the more they stay the same. Before becoming a professor I was a software engineer in Lafayette and here I am again. Except now I have 8 years of experience as a teacher under my belt. The last 8 years seem so surreal now -- I was passing Louisiana Tech yesterday afternoon while riding around town with Julie and it didn't even seem like I was there. We saw students unpacking their cars for the inevitable start of the summer quarter and the sense of not belonging that I felt was overwhelming.

I have incredibly mixed feelings about my time at Tech. Some of the best memories I have are of certain classes over the years and certain students as well. Of course, some of the worst memories I have are of the same thing, like the PL class from the Spring quarter. At one time, teaching was all I wanted out of life and I had complete job satisfaction from it. So how do I integrate my love of teaching with the realization that I'm no longer an educator? Furthermore, how do I integrate my recent disillusionment with education into that?

I'm sure that one day I'll decide to teach again, perhaps at night for a college or university so I can keep my day job. I wonder, though, whether my disillusionment is temporary or whether it's indicative of something more. Is the teacher's apple truly a forbidden fruit, and did I take a bite of it or not? Although Tech is far from Eden, the fact that I'm no longer there could be considered telling in this regard, although my mind is not yet made up about it. Time will tell...