the tindog coffeehouse

My kids love games. One of their favorites is something they simply refer to as the “circle game.”

The circle game is a large, round tin box filled with marbles, chess and checkers pieces, pick-up sticks, dice, and Parcheesi pieces, with boards for each game printed on the inside and outside of the box. I know the girls got it as a gift at some point, but for the life of me, I can’t remember from whom.

Whenever we sit down to play, I usually suggest Chinese checkers, or if it’s just the two of us, regular checkers. But almost always, the “game” ends up being some convoluted make-it-up-as-they-go-along product of the girls’ imaginations. Roll a die and pick up that number of marbles. Once you have so many marbles, you get a green pick-up stick. If you get a yellow pick-up stick, you have to put it back and get a red checker instead. Put all the marbles in one pile and all the checkers in another pile, then dump everything back in the can and stir it up with your stick. (OK, so now we’re making soup?)

I used to groan at the random nonsense of it all, but then I realized that I wasn’t teaching them as much as they were teaching me.

When I look at this box of game pieces, I see Chinese checkers, chess, Parcheesi — specific games with set rules and guidelines. When they look at it, they see a collection of raw ingredients that can be used in an infinite number of ways.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve slowly lost the ability to imagine, to see the various possibilities. I’ve been conditioned to go to work, do my job, pay the bills, check off the to-do list, and never, ever deviate.

Not them. At least not yet.

To Megan, a scrap piece of paper is a canvas on which to create her latest masterpiece. To Erin, a plastic harmonica case is the perfect container for her partially sucked-on peppermint stick. Megan happily sleeps with her baby blanket, even though she outgrew it years ago. And Erin pours out compassion on her dollar-store teddy bear who is abnormally flat.

They each walk to the beat of their own drummer, and in each in their own way. And I hope that never changes.

I guess I need to learn how to stop taking life so seriously, to let go of the things I don’t have any control over and appreciate the things I have. The job, the bills, all the responsibilities that go along with being an adult, those things are still important. But that doesn’t mean I have to stress out over everything either. After all, it’s just a game, right?

Well, it looks like the global squirrel revolution may have hit a snag, albeit only a temporary one. It seems the different factions of the Squirrel Liberation Front are turning on each other in the UK, with the more aggressive black “super squirrels” overtaking their grey counterparts (who themselves are in the process of decimating the reds).

The testosterone-fuelled black squirrels are faster, fitter, fiercely territorial and more aggressive, beating greys to food and mates.

It is a subgroup of the same species of squirrel as greys but in some areas has already become the dominant variety. …

Dr Thomas said the first black squirrel was sighted on the outskirts of Letchworth, Hertfordshire in 1912. The latest estimates show there could be as many as 25,000 black squirrels in the East of England.

This is the biggest change in squirrel demographics since the last indigenous red squirrels almost disappeared 50 years ago as a result of the population explosion of the bigger and more aggressive greys.

With the friendlier varieties quickly becoming obsolete, it’s only a matter of time before the angry nut-hoarding rodents turn their attention back on us. Yes, we should be afraid. Very afraid.

Previously:
Squirrel Uprising 2: The Revenge

After less than 3 days on the job, President Obama has effectively surrendered in the War on Terror.

With the stroke of his pen, he effectively declared an end to the “war on terror,” as President George W. Bush had defined it, signaling to the world that the reach of the U.S. government in battling its enemies will not be limitless. …

Key components of the secret structure developed under Bush are being swept away: The military’s Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, facility, where the rights of habeas corpus and due process had been denied detainees, will close, and the CIA is now prohibited from maintaining its own overseas prisons. And in a broad swipe at the Bush administration’s lawyers, Obama nullified every legal order and opinion on interrogations issued by any lawyer in the executive branch after Sept. 11, 2001.

Marc Thiessen, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, points out:

The CIA program he is effectively shutting down is the reason why America has not been attacked again after 9/11. He has removed the tool that is singularly responsible for stopping al-Qaeda from flying planes into the Library Tower in Los Angeles, Heathrow Airport, and London’s Canary Warf, and blowing up apartment buildings in Chicago, among other plots.

Nice. While we’re busy digging a nice, big hole in the sand to stick our heads back in, Osama bin Laden is laughing his off in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan.

You know, I seem to recall something Obama said in his inauguration speech:

[F]or those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us….

Oops. Guess he was wrong.

Previously:
How history will judge the Iraq War

February 12, 2009, marks Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday. How fitting, then, that the Texas Board of Education is currently meeting to decide how the subject of evolution should be taught in Texas public schools.

Up for consideration is whether to remove the requirement of presenting both strengths and weaknesses of evolution in science curricula, and whatever standards the Board agrees upon will be in effect for the next 10 years.

Supporters of evolution, of course, argue that the current requirements open the door to teaching Creationism and amount to “bad science,” while proponents of the requirements say that removing them is tantamount to censorship.

I say, if evolution is, in fact, completely true, then what’s the harm in debating its strengths and weaknesses? The point of school is to educate our children, and a big component of education is teaching critical thinking skills, teaching kids how to research, debate, formulate an argument and then communicate that position. To me, allowing for debate about the topic of evolution in school is a perfect opportunity to teach these skills.

Why, then, are evolution supporters so adamant about not allowing for that debate? It’s because this whole issue isn’t really about science.

The scientific method, as taught to every student, is as follows:

1. Ask a question.
2. Do background research.
3. Form a hypothesis.
4. Test the hypothesis.
5. Draw a conclusion from those tests.
6. Report the results.

If evolutionists were so concerned with teaching proper science to students, then they would allow the students to do their own research, perform their own tests, and come to their own conclusions. But evolutionists don’t want students coming to their own conclusions. They don’t want to debate. They want to forcefully impose their beliefs on everyone else, a desire which stems from their wholesale rejection of the possibility that God could actually exist and the the universe and mankind could actually have been created by Him.

UT Austin professor Dr. Dan Bolnick, a supporter of evolution, stated in his testimony before the Board yesterday that creationists “haven’t earned a seat in the classroom.” (Video below.) He argues that if there is to be debate about evolution allowed in schools, then creationists must first provide scientific evidence of Creation.

He doesn’t get it.

The evidence is all around us. This universe, this solar system, this planet, the plants and animals inhabiting it are far more complex than we will ever truly and completely understand. And we as human beings are unique within the animal kingdom. Homo sapiens is the only species to ever question the origins of its existence, and it has been doing so since its inception.

The latest in evolutionary theory states that life first originated on earth after a unique blend of chemicals and compounds were ignited, probably by lightning, forming amino acids which eventually gave rise to RNA, DNA, and then complete organisms. In my opinion, it takes a far greater faith to accept this hypothesis than it does to believe that an eternal God designed them. But even if the hypothesis is true, that still doesn’t disprove God’s existence or contradict the Bible’s account of Creation; all it does is contradict the idea of creation in six 24-hour days.

As I’ve stated before, I can accept the concept of evolution if you define it as plants and animals adapting to their environment. I can even go so far as to accept that life was created in the way described above. None of that is inconsistent with the idea of God or intelligent design. But as a Christian, I cannot accept the idea that mankind, Homo sapiens, evolved in the same way that other plants and animals may have evolved. I cannot accept that our existence is merely happenstance. I believe that we were uniquely created alongside the animal kingdom and that we were created for a reason.

Francis Chan writes in his book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God:

Have you ever thought about how diverse and creative God is? He didn’t have to make hundreds of different kinds of bananas, but He did. He didn’t have to put 3,000 different species of trees within one square mile in the Amazon jungle, but He did. God didn’t have to create so many types of laughter. Think about the different sounds of your friends’ laughs — wheezes, snorts, silent, loud, obnoxious. …

Whatever God’s reasons for such diversity, creativity, and sophistication in the universe, on earth, and in our own bodies, the point of it all is His glory. God’s art speaks of Himself, reflecting who He is and what He is like. …

That is why we are called to worship Him. His art, His handiwork, and His creation all echo the truth that He is glorious. There is no other like Him. He is the King of Kings, the Beginning and the End, the One who was and is and is to come.

I don’t expect Dr. Bolnick and other supporters of evolution to agree with this assessment, nor do I expect every Texas school teacher to. But to disallow the debate over it does far greater harm to Texas students than the alternative.

It’s a given that when you buy a version of Microsoft Windows, you don’t just get a bare-bones operating system; you get other stuff with it. Is it an app? Is it a feature? Is it an annoying service I can’t seem to get rid of? Yes, yes, and yes.

Last week I ran through a few quick initial impressions I had of Windows 7 Beta 1. This week I’m going to look at a few of the other “enhancements” that come with it.

• Internet Explorer 8 – I won’t say much about it here, mostly because it’s been reviewed pretty extensively elsewhere (see here and here for starters). But the reality is, even with the latest version, IE is a dinosaur. It’s fine for most casual home users, but most techy Windows users have already moved on to Firefox, Chrome, or Opera. It does have a couple of new and notable features, however. InPrivate Browsing (aka “porn mode”) allows for anonymous web surfing. (A similar feature already exists in Chrome and will be included in Firefox 3.1). IE8 also includes a feature called Web Slices, which allows you to subscribe to portions of a web page. (Why anyone would actually use that, I don’t know.)

• Windows Media Player 12 – The Windows 7 version is pretty similar to WMP11 but with more emphasis on media libraries. Also, the Now Playing component is a whole separate window instead of a different tab. Honestly, I haven’t bothered to test this version out, so I can’t really comment too much about it, but I don’t have very high expectations. As with most other built-in apps, there are much better 3rd-party alternatives such as Media Monkey or VLC. Ars Technica has a more detailed review of WMP12 here if you’re interested, though. (Click image to enlarge.)

• Media Center – Another feature I haven’t really tested. But Gizmodo has the details on it here.
• Desktop Gadgets – Microsoft first introduced desktop gadgets in Windows Vista. The difference here is that there is no official sidebar that goes along with them. Also, to activate them, you simply right-click on the Desktop and click on “Gadgets.”
• WordPad and Paint – Microsoft’s quintessential apps WordPad and Paint get a slight makeover with the inclusion of the ribbon UI first introduced in Office 2007. Not sure why you’d care, but there you go.
• Calculator – The built-in calculator also gets an upgrade with modes for unit conversion, date calculation, gas mileage, lease estimation, and mortgage estimation. Hmm. I don’t know that I would trust it to calculate my mortgage, but whatever.
• Snipping Tool – This app is actually pretty useful. Instead of taking a full screen snapshot when you hit the Printscreen button, you can use the snipping tool to outline just the part you want to capture. Not as full-featured as my personal favorite, FastStone Capture, but it’s still handy. As a network admin, this is one feature I can really appreciate.

• Services Tab in Task Manager – This is another feature us computer geeks really get excited about. By including a Services tab in the Task Manager, it allows the user to start and stop various services much easier than going into the Computer Management MMC.
• Sticky Notes – Pretty much what it sounds like. You add a virtual Post-It note to your Desktop, enter your text, and you’re done. I don’t particularly like the fact you can’t change the font, but it’s probably not a big deal. I know people who would put a million of these all over their Desktop. Of course, they’re the same people who already have a million real Post-It notes stuck to their monitors and random piles of paper stacked everywhere. Yay for more clutter!
• Backup and Restore – In Vista the Windows Backup and Restore utility was an all-or-nothing proposition. You could backup your entire computer or certain default selections, but you couldn’t just backup specific files and folders. Thankfully, Windows 7 corrects that mistake.
• AutoPlay and Notification Area options in the Control Panel – Windows 7 makes it easier to tweak your AutoPlay options and select which system icons show up in the notification area of the taskbar. Nice. (Click image to enlarge.)

• Shuffle Desktop Backgrounds – If you like to change your Desktop wallpaper often, you can have Windows automatically change it for you every so many minutes. A nifty feature for all the ADD users out there.

• Mail and Contacts – If you’re looking for these in Windows 7, they’re not there. I’m sure that probably disappoints the 3 users who actually used them.

I know there’s a lot more I’m leaving out, but you get the idea. It’s Windows. The built-in apps are nice to have, but you’re probably not going to use all of them.

I will say this: As a network admin, I’ve deployed a lot of Windows machines over the years, and Windows 7 so far has seemed to be the simplest to start using right away. In XP and Vista, there’s a lot of the default junk that has to be turned off, turned on, or adjusted before you can really use the system; in Windows 7, there’s very little. That might change by RTM, but at least with Beta 1, I’m pretty impressed.

Previously:
Windows 7 Beta 1: Initial thoughts
How to recreate the Quick Launch toolbar in Windows 7

William McGurn writes in the Wall Street Journal that George W. Bush’s greatest failure was his victory in Iraq:

Mr. Bush’s disfavor in Washington owes more to his greatest success. Simply put, there are those who will never forgive Mr. Bush for not losing a war they had all declared unwinnable.

In other words, many people expected Iraq to be a complete and total failure, yet President Bush stubbornly proved them wrong, much to their dismay.

The article goes on to explain how this expectation of defeat is clearly rooted in “Vietnam thinking,” which begs the question: When everything is said and done, how will history ultimately judge the Iraq War?

Will we look back on it 30 years from now as another Vietnam, a long and drawn-out military campaign with no clear metrics for victory and one which ended only because our collective will finally gave out? Or will we see it as a turning point, not only in the war on Islamic terrorism and not only for the people of Iraq, but for America as a whole, a sound rebuttal to our past inadequacies?

From the outset, I disagreed with President Bush’s decision to go into Iraq, yet once there, it became crystal clear we had to finish what we had started. Leaving prematurely because we weren’t winning fast enough simply wasn’t an option. To his credit, Mr. Bush understood that, even when his critics did not. And now because of his steadfast commitment, we have a real opportunity to walk out of Iraq with our heads held high.

Michael Goldfarb points out in the Weekly Standard blog, “The result is that Obama has inherited victory in Iraq.” And there’s the answer to the question.

If we ultimately win in Iraq, President Obama will most certainly get the credit; if we lose, President Bush will most certainly get the blame.

History, as they say, is written by the victors.

Previously:
President Bush: the exit interview

According to Maria Sophia Aguirre, an economics professor at Washington DC’s Catholic University of America, families with married parents are not only more beneficial to the overall health and development of the children, they are necessary for good economic development.

Aguirre noted, “the breakdown of the family is a symptom of a sick and weak society.”

Problems of all sorts increase in irregular families: Women are more likely to be abused, kids are more likely to use drugs, and women and children of broken families have a higher probability of living in poverty. …

Giving a review of nations ranging from Canada to Chile, the economist concluded that families are simply better for the economy.

“The breakdown of the family damages the economy and society since human, moral and social capital is reduced and social costs increase,” she explained.

Divorce is unfortunately a painful reality, and in many cases it can’t be avoided. But at the same time, we’re living in a culture that places less and less value on marriage.

• The divorce rate in the United States is somewhere between 40 and 50%, one of the highest percentages in the world.
• The U.S. has the highest percentage of single-parent families among all developed nations (34% as of 1998).
• 41% of unmarried partner households in the U.S. have children under 18 living in them, and 33% of all births are to unmarried women.

But as Aguirre points out, simply having dinner together as a family has significant benefits, even for single-parent households:

Academic performance went up 38%. Kids were 142% less likely to smoke, 93% less likely to drink, 191% less likely to use marijuana and 169% less likely to have more than half of their friends be drug users.

I can personally attest to this. Like many kids, I grew up in a single-parent household and spent a lot of my childhood alone. While I never smoked or used drugs, I can say for sure that I struggled academically and socially a lot more than I would’ve with both parents around.

The bottom line should be pretty clear: A nation has its best chance for survival and prosperity when its children grow up to be responsible and capable adults, and children have their best chance at becoming responsible and capable adults when they grow up with loving parents who invest their time in them.

Previously:
Single parents cost taxpayers $112 billion

After a lot of lobbying from President-elect Obama, the Senate has voted to release the second half of the $700,000,000,000 bailout rescue money to banks, while a House vote is scheduled for next week.

Now, I’m pretty sure no one on Capitol Hill is reading this, but can I offer a quick suggestion anyway? How about requiring some, I don’t know, oversight on how that money is to be used before you release it? I’m not saying you should necessarily delay authorizing the funds, just require the banks to use them as they’re intended.

Is that so hard?

Obama’s economic advisor stated that the administration “has no intention of using any funds to implement an industrial policy.” Well, that’s nice. Glad to hear they have good intentions. But with $350,000,000,000 on the line, Congress shouldn’t just rely on other people’s intentions. Put it in writing.

Just a suggestion.

Previously:
‘Dude, where’s my $700 billion?’
$700 Billion bailout ‘letting’ the banks win?

Soon-to-be-former-President George W. Bush has signed a 10-year lease on an 8,000 square foot office in North Dallas not far from his new home in the Preston Hollow neighborhood.

Wouldn’t it be weird to see him in the elevator in the morning? Or would he and his Secret Service agents get their own elevator? Yeah, I can see it now. You’re running late for work, trying to catch the elevator doors before they close, and just as you get close, two Secret Service agents pull their guns on you as the 43rd President of the United States waves goodbye. Awkward.

But here’s my complaint. Dubya’s office is about three miles from his home. Three miles! What kind of commute is that?! I don’t think you’re even legally allowed to live in the Metroplex if you don’t sit through at least two traffic jams a day!

One of the few significant changes to the user interface in Windows 7 is the introduction of a new taskbar. Instead of using a Quick Launch toolbar to place shortcuts to frequently-used programs, users can now pin the programs to the taskbar itself, much the way you can pin them to the Start menu.

Some people may like that option. Microsoft certainly does, so much so that they’ve made it mandatory.

I, on the other hand, am not crazy about it. I use the Quick Launch bar constantly, and if upgrading means losing it, then I probably won’t be upgrading any time soon. Fortunately, there’s a very easy way to get it back.

First, go into Computer (or Windows Explorer — same thing) and create a new folder somewhere that’s convenient to you. I’ve chosen to create a folder called “QuickLaunch” on the root of C:, but you can put it anywhere and name it whatever you want. Then open the folder and create shortcuts to whatever programs you want to appear in the toolbar.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Next, right-click on your taskbar and go to Toolbars and then click on “New Toolbar.”

Browse to the location of your new folder (C:\QuickLaunch) and click on “Select Folder.” You’ll now see the “QuickLaunch” toolbar appear at the far-right of the taskbar.

Next, we want to move it somewhere that’s a little more convenient. Right-click on the taskbar and uncheck “Lock the taskbar.” Then drag your new QuickLaunch toolbar to wherever you want it.

To remove the text, right-click on the toolbar and uncheck “Show Text” and “Show Title.”

When you have the toolbars where you want them, right-click on the taskbar again and re-check “Lock the taskbar.”

Presto!

You can also drag the icons around to rearrange them, and you can drag other programs here to quickly add new shortcuts.

Previously:
Windows 7 Beta 1: Initial thoughts

Over the weekend I downloaded the Beta 1 of Windows 7 and finally got around to installing it on a spare laptop yesterday. I’m not going to go into an in-depth review of it here, partly because I don’t have time but also because there are plenty of other tech blogs out there which already have. (Lifehacker is a great place to start.) But I did want to share a few thoughts about it. (More later.)

First, let me get my two biggest gripes out of the way. I don’t like the new taskbar. Period.

The Quick Launch bar, which I use constantly, is gone. Instead, programs can be pinned to the taskbar like they’re pinned to the Start menu. It’s just awkward. Fortunately, while Microsoft doesn’t give you the option to turn it back on, there is a very easy way to get it back, which I’ll cover in a separate blog post.

Second, I don’t like the revamped Windows Explorer. When you open Explorer, you’ll now see a Favorites section (introduced in Vista), Libraries, Homegroups, and then the Computer section. (Click image to enlarge.)

While some of the settings in Explorer can be tweaked, some of them can’t, and that bothers me. One of the biggest strengths of Windows is the ability to tweak the settings to the user’s preference. At least in this build, Microsoft seems to be limiting that. Just give the users more an ability to change things around, that’s all I’m saying.

A couple of other really quick thoughts:

• Installation – I did a full install, and it was very quick and very simple. Probably the quickest clean install of Windows I’ve done in a while.
• User Access Control (UAC) – One of the most hated features of Vista. It can be completely turned off in Vista, but in 7 you can also easily adjust the settings in the Control Panel making it more or less active. However, in all the testing I’ve done so far, I’ve yet to get any UAC prompts, so I haven’t had to change the settings. That’s a good thing.

• Action Center – Here, you can adjust which kind of notifications you get in your taskbar. This is a handy and long-overdue feature.

• Windows Peek – The little area to the right of the clock is the Show Desktop button. Hover over it, and all the windows become transparent so you can see the Desktop. I just can’t see how this would be terribly useful. Seems like one of those “gee-whiz” features like Flip 3D that adds no real value.
• Window Transparency – In Vista, when you maximize a window, the translucent window title bar and taskbar become opaque. In 7, they remain translucent. I don’t really care for that, but obviously the transparency settings can be adjusted or turned off completely.
• Libraries – Windows 7 has a new feature called Libraries, which are basically shortcuts to your documents, music, pictures, etc. I wasn’t really thrilled about them initially, but you can easily add, remove, or change them. I can see how this would be useful on a home computer where you have a bunch of different media files. While you can’t turn them off in Explorer, you can at least customize them, so that helps.
• Homegroups – Basically a way to share media among computers and networked devices in a workgroup-type format but password-protected. I doubt I would ever use it, and I’m not sure how much non-techy home users would either.

Coming soon: I have a couple of other follow-up posts planned, one concerning the new taskbar, and another which takes a look at some of the other features and changes in Windows 7. In the meantime, if you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.

Previously:
Vista: The good, the bad, and the meh

When a commercial featuring the obnoxiously loud Billy Mays or just plain obnoxious Anthony Sullivan comes on, I instinctively pounce on the remote control, desperate to hit the Mute button before my eardrums rupture. Chances are, so do you. So why in the world would the Discovery Channel assume people would actually watch an entire hour-long show featuring the dueling TV pitchmen?

The cable channel — personally adored for its Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters, and Dirty Jobs shows — has ordered 13 episodes of But Wait… There’s More, a documentary series following Mays and Sullivan as they “check out quirky new products and craft pitches and take to the airwaves to sell their wares.”

Say what?

My guess is, Discovery execs were won over by Mays’ offer of a free tub of Oxi-Clean if they picked up the series now.

(OK, full confession: I’ll probably watch the show. Darn you, Billy Mays!)