Too Much Excitement in our town

Stopped by a local drug store (which shall remain unnamed) on the way home from work today. Jill ran in to get some missing ingredients for a dinner she had planned, and I (lazily) stayed in the car to wait and play on my Blackberry.

I looked out the window and saw an SUV sitting in a parking space behind us (about 30 feet away) in the parking lot, and then a marked XXXX county police car with lights flashing. The officer got out of the car, gun drawn, and moved swiftly towards the driver's sided door of the SUV. I was a little shocked--and tried to figure out what I was seeing. I noticed an Altima-looking car parked between the police car and the SUV at a strange angle. The officer was yelling--gun still drawn--and someone was trying to get out of the SUV. While this was happening, another Altima-type 4-door vehicle pulled up on the far side of the SUV. (So the layout was squad car, 4-door #1, SUV, 4-door #2.)

Two (?) guys in plain clothes jumped out of the second sedan and I thought to myself, "Great - this guy in the SUV has friends nearby, and they're going to go jump the police officer while he's trying to get the driver out of the SUV." They started moving towards the SUV, and even cautiously opened the SUV's tailgate a crack. I lost sight of the uniformed officer while I was watching these other men converge on the scene - but saw him again walking an individual towards the squad car, while the other men were poking around the SUV.

In the meantime, I headed into the drug store to see where Jill was - making sure she wasn't going to walk out into some gunfight or something. She was almost next in line, we checked out, then I led us back out of the store, looking to see what was happening outside. I explained briefly that something was going down and we should get out of there.

I tried to snap this picture as we quickly walked back to the car, but the other vehicle got in the way:

(click to enlarge)

We got in the car and started driving out the other side of the parking lot. The view on the drive out looked something like this:


It turns out those guys who unloaded from the sedans were plainclothes officers. Jill thought she saw one of the officers flipping through/counting a stack of money that likely was confiscated from the suspect(s).

It must have been a planned sting or something, because the unmarked sedans were right there - and, thinking back, pulled up pretty nicely to block of the chance for the SUV to drive away if it tried to do so after the uniformed officer left his car. I have no idea how they got into the parking lot - I don't remember a siren, so it's probably not likely the SUV was pulled over for a moving violation and pulled into the parking lot (right off a main street).

Anyway - from the little that I caught (and the rest I deduced) - it looked like the bust went pretty smoothly, although test.

Look-a-like?

Got a GChat message from a friend today:

Friend: saw a picture of robert gibbs on politico today
thought it was you

Me: (after visiting Politico's homepage) thx - i know my hairline is receding and i gained a little weight on the campaign , but ....


Him: it was just the glasses and the smirk (then went offline)

Thanks - I guess...

What do you think?

Air Show #2

As promised - some pictures from the Air Show. Enjoy!

We had a blast. The pictures don't do some of the tricks justice (plus, I didn't get pics of the Thunderbirds or the ethanol stunt plane) -- so when we download, edit, and upload the video we recorded at the show, you can check out more of the A.W.E.S.O.M.E.N.E.S.S.

Air Show #1

On Saturday, Jill and I went to the Joint Services Open House (JSOH) hosted on Andrews Air Force Base (AFB) [the home of Air Force One]. There were planes and helicopters out on the base, and lots of fun aerial demonstrations.

We're in the process of getting our pictures and videos loaded, so keep an eye out for more of what we saw.



In the meantime, check out this video [click the image above] of the final air show act we saw - the F-22 Raptor. The linked video is hosted on what appears to be the Raptor's official site: www.f22-rapor.com. We got some video of this while we were waiting for the bus. Although it was a long day, we were glad we got to catch this before we left. The other shows were very cool: the Army Golden Knights parachute team, the Red Bull helicopter that flew upside-down and did a loop-the-loop and the Red Bull MiG, the stunt planes, the F/A-18 Super Hornet, the A-10, and--of course--the Air Force Thunderbirds. But this plane seemed to defy the laws of gravity /physics / aerodynamics. Enjoy the professional video from the first demo at Langley AFB; we'll post our stuff soon!

Quote of the Day for 11 May 2009

Or, the private jet industry's new spokesperson.

"It’s Great to Have a Private Jet." Oprah Winfrey

“It’s great to have a private jet. Anyone that tells you that having your own private jet isn’t great is lying to you.”

Really? Cuz I wouldn't know anything about that. Maybe you have a spare one I could borrow for a while?

And while you're at it, think you can get me a new TV? Muchas gracias!

Word of the Day: Wikidness

Wikidness (noun): the quality or state of being Wikid
Wikid (adjective): mischievous or playfully malicious; knowingly falsifying material added to Wikipedia (or other, similar Wiki sites), typically done out of spite, evil or morally bad intent, or similarly abject desires

See it in context HERE in the CNET article, "Media outlets (and Wikipedia) fooled by Irishman".

Of course, this would all have sounded even better in the native French. But what is truly disheartening is Fitzgerald's explanation for his descent into Wikidness.

Here's some more information on the story:

If any of you have ever studied sociology, you'll know that it largely consists of making stuff up about society and pretending that you've discovered an astonishing truth.

This might be at least the acorn for an oak of explanation as to why an Irish sociology student named Shane Fitzgerald decided to make up a quote and slip it into a Wikipedia entry.

Fitzgerald chose the Wikipedia entry of recently deceased French composer Maurice Jarre, who wrote the music for films such as "Doctor Zhivago," "Dead Poets Society," and "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo."

He inserted his poetry into the dead man's mouth, only to see Wikipedia's incisive editors excise it.

He tried again. Within 6 minutes, Wikipedia's editors flicked it off as if it were a defecating fly. However, the third time he tried, [...] the quote stayed up for 25 hours.

This was enough time for the Guardian, the Independent, and many other newspapers and blogs to insert it in their obituaries of Jarre.

You have to love Fitzgerald's explanations (if you can believe the CNET writer).

Anyone else out there either (1) done some Wikid editing, or (2) seen this in action elsewhere?

What do Pirates, Comic Books, and the US Navy have in common?

Ok, so they're graphic novels, not comic books. But, ladies and gentlemen, in a recruiting push, the US Navy has released a graphic novel--in "an ambitious attempt by the school established in 1845 to attract minority students and other applicants"--which features a nighttime encounter at the tomb of John Paul Jones and a run-in with a pirate ship.

Apparently, it's not the first graphic novel the Navy has released. The WTOP.com RSS feed broke the story to me HERE, and if they post it online I'll be sure to come back and add the link.

The virus known as A/H1N1

Or, in the vernacular, "swine flu".

With all the hype and media attention surrounding this illness, I thought I would gather together a few resources and make sure a few facts were established.

You may have heard that the World Health Organization has "upgraded" swine flu to a Level 5 on the Pandemic Scale, "just one step below the highest level".

But what does that mean? Pandemic, oooOOOooo...

A quick Google "define" search [TIP:type define:word in the search box] reports the following as a definition of pandemic:

an epidemic that is geographically widespread

As John McCreary, editor of the nightly executive intelligence recap (NightWatch) provided by AFCEA, points out:

Pandemic is "a term of geography, not severity or lethality!!! Hmmm ... The word sounds so scary." (emphasis added)

Wait? You mean even if WHO says A/H1N1 has now reached Level 6 on the Pandemic Scale, that it doesn't mean it's more lethal? (Because that would be making an unfounded assumption, right?) Rather, it means that the pandemic level has increased - or, if you will, the geographic widespread-edness (yes, I just made that up) has increased.

Congress' personal research arm, the Congressional Research Service, provides "policy and legal analysis to committees and Members of both the House and Senate" and "objective, non-partisan assessments of legislative options for addressing the public policy problems facing the nation". Although the reports aren't "secret" or classified, they are not released to the public (unlike the GAO reports that are released to the public on its website), since "CRS lacks the 'authority to make its products available to anyone other than the Congress of the United States'". Complaining to CRS won't help; but perhaps encouraging your Congressman to make the reports available could help. However, certain services make the documents available.

On 30 April 2009, CRS released a report entitled "The 2009 H1N1 'Swine Flu' Outbreak: An Overview". GalleryWatch has the 15-page PDF available HERE. Below are a few facts I gleaned from the report that I wanted to share with you. I encourage you to read the report: find out what your Congressman (should) know(s), see the details laid out, and be educated the next time swine flu comes up around the water cooler.

• There has been no evidence to date that pigs are involved in the transmission of the virus involved in the current outbreak (but we call it swine flu...go figure)
• The President has asked for $1.5 billion "for swine flu preparedness measures"
• The FDA has approved "emergency use" for certain antivirals, follow the note in the document to see what that means for your and your family
• CDC estimates that seasonal flu (circulates each year in the winter in each hemisphere) averages 36,000 deaths per year.
  
  (the CDC confirmed only 91 cases as of 29 April 2009 in the US, with two confirmed deaths in the US. Mexico has had 29 confirmed deaths. Now, if seasonal flu kills 36,000/year, and we spread it out evenly over the 365 days of the year - that's 98.6/day. Using the 21 April date from the timeline in the CRS report, approximately 1,578 people will have died from seasonal flu in the intervening 16 days. Compared to the 1,893 confirmed cases and 31 deaths, at present, as recorded by the WHO.)
  
• Pandemic flu, because it is a novel strain that emerges and becomes pandemic (ie, geographically widespread), is often more severe than seasonal flu because there is little natural immunity (emphasis added) (So, often, but not always/guaranteed, and little, but not no, immunity.)

So, you have the facts. What do you think about swine flu? Is it getting too much attention? Should we be mindful, but not concerned? Should we all stay home and shut down schools? Should we restrict travel? Is coverage of swine flu an attempt to get our minds off the fact that the current Adminstration is spending our grandchildren into mind-boggling debt?

The comment button is below - talk amongst yourselves.

[UPDATE: CRS releases "Selected Legal Issues" regarding A/H1N1 HERE.]

Self-Discipline

In an article called, The Art of the Self-Imposed Deadline, Steven Demaio gives "Three [plus 1] Ways to Get Through Your To-Do List Faster." Brought to you by Harvard Business Publishing--Management Tip:

1. Get three things done before noon.
2. Sequence for speed.
3. Tackle similar tasks at the same time.

You should go read the article to get the details (and the 4th, bonus tip).

I think "self-imposed" deadlines are like good goals (since good goals should have an end date and outline what you plan on accomplishing by that time). I realize that although I set some goals for this year, I hadn't actually set any timelines/deadlines for any of them...

It's kind of timely that this was the HBS Management Tip of the Day. After some stewing and procrastinating, we've decided that it's time to act. We both recently set some new goals for ourselves and are trying to keep our life moving forward.

Off we go!

Belated - Photos from Walker Visit