Grim News

I wrote this after Thanksgiving in 2007.  With the holidays approaching and the recent birth of my daughter, I felt like putting it out there again. -Grim

Executive Summary: More maudlin shit about the holidays without my dad. I’ll “get over it” when I’m god damned good and ready.

Still with me? That’s nice, but this is for me, if you get something out of it, that’s great too.

So we had Thanksgiving dinner at my stepmother’s house. My step mom, her new significant other, some friends. and of course, my wife.

My stepmother broke out “The Good China”, which as any of you who understand why I capitalized those words knows means “It’s Officially the Holiday Season Now.” It felt like just about every other holiday meal with the obvious exception of the deceased patriarch and obligatory crying and swapping of stories among those who knew him.

The table is the traditional “Table which is way too damn long to fit in a normal sized dining room, but we’ll do it anyway”. Places are set, and after some drinks and socializing, which involved beer and the end of the LSU/Arkansas game, dinner was ready.

As everyone filed into the dining room to begin the hyper-ingestion of tryptophan laden goodness, I went to my usual space near the head of the table and started to sit down. I felt a gentle nudge from my stepmother and she said, very quietly, “Son, you’re at the head of the table now.”

You have no idea how those words can change your whole perspective.

For those of you who may be unacquainted with the niceties of formal dining, let me take a minute to explain.

You’ve surely seen large families eating a holiday meal, and you’ve probably noticed that the father always sits at the end of the table. That’s old-school etiquette/tradition, and it isn’t an accident. The head of the table, socially-speaking, is “master of the feast” and the de-facto host of the dinner. What my stepmother was saying to me was “You are the head of the family now”.

As I said, it was an “instant perspective change”. I was still thinking “But this is Dad’s chair!” when my stepmother asked me to say the blessing. Since I really didn’t feel like adding hypocrisy to my already formidable list of sins, I handle it the proper way and ask my stepmother’s significant other (who is more religiously inclined, and the oldest guest present) to lead us in giving thanks. After a short prayer, I thought to myself “Wow, I handled that pretty well.” and then got right back to “What the hell am I doing in dad’s chair?”

As the dinner conversation started, I felt like all eyes were on me. There is a big difference between looking across the table and seeing one person, and looking across the table and seeing everyone seated in front of you. I had noticed that the conversations, unconsciously I’m sure, always focused on me somehow. Someone would make a point, and look at me and say “Isn’t that right?” or “What do you think?” Each time I heard that, I heard a voice inside my head “This is dad’s chair.”

As the meal progressed, and plates were emptied for the 3rd or 4th time, I slowly started to accept the fact that it was “my chair” now. I did nothing to earn it, nor do I particularly want it, especially not the way I wound up getting it. I just happened to be the person it came to. I further realized that when my wife and I have children of our own, one of them is going to have the same experience I had. They’re going to sit in “my chair” and think to themselves “I shouldn’t be here, this is dad’s chair.” In a way, it’s a kind of royalty. The only reason I am in this chair is because I am the son of the previous occupant. Someday, I will leave this chair to make room for my child, and I might not be there to tell him (or her) that it’s his chair now. They’ll have to figure it out on their own and do the best they can to be the kind of parent they want to be. Just as I will.

Happy Holidays…

-Grim

Shared by Data Vortex

Most people shouldn’t be allowed to vote.

…than an 5th Grader elected official?

US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).

Take the test.

(Photo credits to Rick Green at the Hartford Courant).

After 4 years and 2 months, Julie Amero is now free.

You’ll recall that Julie Amero was convicted of 4 felony counts, each count carrying a maximum of 10 years, for exposing school children to pornography.

The reality is that Julie, a 40–year old, pregnant substitute teacher, found herself in a storm of popups and didn’t have any idea as to what was going on, or how to fix the situation.

Julie leaving the courthouse last June with her husband after the original conviction was overturned.

There were numerous technical errors made during the trial, and I led a team of forensic investigators into analyzing a copy of the hard drive. We ultimately published a report which was used in Julie’s original conviction being overturned, for a new trial last June (I am seeing if I can get the report published).

This afternoon, at an empty Norwich Superior Court, Julie pled to the misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, in a deal negotiated by her pro-bono attorney, William Dow.

Her fine was a $100 charge, and her Connecticut teaching credentials are revoked (Julie told me she really doesn’t care, that she has no plans ever to teach in that state again).

I wish the whole thing had been dropped by the prosecution. But that was just not something they were willing to do. And Julie needed her life back.

According to Julie, the courtroom was empty. It was just Julie; her husband, Wes; her attorney, Dow; the prosecutor, David Smith; and the judge, a Judge Young.

Smith continued to say that the State felt that they had enough of a case, but that due to Julie’s declining health, that he and William Dow had agreed to a lesser charge.

Dow told Smith that he’s more than willing to try the case, if the State is still willing.

Smith went on to describe all the terrible things that he believed Julie did. The judge interrupted him, telling him that he was only opening a wound, picking at a scab.

Now that it’s over, I hope this story gets told. Broadly. We can’t have another Julie.

Many thanks to many people for all of their help. There are so many — literally, in the thousands. Walter Hooper, who worked tirelessly with me when this whole thing first broke. Herb Horner, the original defense witness who became Julie’s strongest voice. The pro-bono forensic investigators – Glenn Dardick, Ph.D., Joel A. Folkerts, Alex Shipp, Eric Sites, Joe Stewart and Robin Stuart. Ari Schwartz at the CDT, who helped us immensely getting legal help. The pro-bono attorneys, William Dow, Clint Roberts and… some others that have chosen to remain behind-the-scenes. The many champions, including Rick Green, Randy Abrams, Steve Bass, Ryan Russell, Roger Thompson, Robin and Paul Laudanski, Ray Burns, Phil Malone, Chris Boyd, Eric Howes, Nancy Willard, Merja Lehtinen, Lindsay Beyerstein, Karoli Kuns, Joe Scalia, Frank Krasicki, Charles Neville, Brian Krebs, Bob Johnston, Ben Edelman, AJ Fontaine and so, so many others. I’m blogging fast, so if I missed you — forgive me. It’s not intentional. Just send me a note.

While I wish Julie would have been fully exonerated, this at least brings the subject to a close. The reality is, her health has been in a precipitous decline. I really don’t think she was prepared mentally and physically for the pain of another trial.

She acquiesced to the lesser misdemeanor charge, and while it may have been a bitter pill to swallow, she can at least can move on now without this sick cloud hanging over her head. It was less than two years ago that Julie was facing felony charges with a maximum of 40 years in prison.

Hopefully, we can help other “Julies” who may find themselves in a similar terrible situation.

(The ever-awesome Rick Green is following this closely, subscribe to his blog for the latest news. And my history of posts on the subject can be found here. )

Alex Eckelberry

Shared by Jen

Written by Mitt Romney.

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit, the son of an auto chief executive. In 1954, my dad, George Romney, was tapped to run American Motors when its president suddenly died. The company itself was on life support — banks were threatening to deal it a death blow. The stock collapsed. I watched Dad work to turn the company around — and years later at business school, they were still talking about it. From the lessons of that turnaround, and from my own experiences, I have several prescriptions for Detroit’s automakers.

First, their huge disadvantage in costs relative to foreign brands must be eliminated. That means new labor agreements to align pay and benefits to match those of workers at competitors like BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Furthermore, retiree benefits must be reduced so that the total burden per auto for domestic makers is not higher than that of foreign producers.

That extra burden is estimated to be more than $2,000 per car. Think what that means: Ford, for example, needs to cut $2,000 worth of features and quality out of its Taurus to compete with Toyota’s Avalon. Of course the Avalon feels like a better product — it has $2,000 more put into it. Considering this disadvantage, Detroit has done a remarkable job of designing and engineering its cars. But if this cost penalty persists, any bailout will only delay the inevitable.

Second, management as is must go. New faces should be recruited from unrelated industries — from companies widely respected for excellence in marketing, innovation, creativity and labor relations.

The new management must work with labor leaders to see that the enmity between labor and management comes to an end. This division is a holdover from the early years of the last century, when unions brought workers job security and better wages and benefits. But as Walter Reuther, the former head of the United Automobile Workers, said to my father, “Getting more and more pay for less and less work is a dead-end street.”

You don’t have to look far for industries with unions that went down that road. Companies in the 21st century cannot perpetuate the destructive labor relations of the 20th. This will mean a new direction for the U.A.W., profit sharing or stock grants to all employees and a change in Big Three management culture.

The need for collaboration will mean accepting sanity in salaries and perks. At American Motors, my dad cut his pay and that of his executive team, he bought stock in the company, and he went out to factories to talk to workers directly. Get rid of the planes, the executive dining rooms — all the symbols that breed resentment among the hundreds of thousands who will also be sacrificing to keep the companies afloat.

Investments must be made for the future. No more focus on quarterly earnings or the kind of short-term stock appreciation that means quick riches for executives with options. Manage with an eye on cash flow, balance sheets and long-term appreciation. Invest in truly competitive products and innovative technologies — especially fuel-saving designs — that may not arrive for years. Starving research and development is like eating the seed corn.

Just as important to the future of American carmakers is the sales force. When sales are down, you don’t want to lose the only people who can get them to grow. So don’t fire the best dealers, and don’t crush them with new financial or performance demands they can’t meet.

It is not wrong to ask for government help, but the automakers should come up with a win-win proposition. I believe the federal government should invest substantially more in basic research — on new energy sources, fuel-economy technology, materials science and the like — that will ultimately benefit the automotive industry, along with many others. I believe Washington should raise energy research spending to $20 billion a year, from the $4 billion that is spent today. The research could be done at universities, at research labs and even through public-private collaboration. The federal government should also rectify the imbedded tax penalties that favor foreign carmakers.

But don’t ask Washington to give shareholders and bondholders a free pass — they bet on management and they lost.

The American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing. A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.

In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check.

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, Events, real-world, Guilds, MMO industry, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds

Among the people President-elect Barack Obama has appointed to his FCC agency review transition team are Net Neutrality advocates Kevin Werbach, assistant professor of legal studies and business ethics at Wharton, and Susan Crawford from the University of Michigan, who teaches communications and internet law. Werbach, as it turns out, is a World of Warcraft player, according to Wagner James Au at GigaOM.Werbach has written about MMOs on his blog (back in 2006), that games “provide an incentive for people to develop new software and ideas for collaborative production. Many of those ideas will…

Obama’s FCC transition team includes MMO gamer, virtual world resident originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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