Customer Service = Professional Incompetence

I spent a lifetime working with computers, designing software that ostensibly makes people’s lives easier, which makes the following experience “ironic”. In the beginning – I subscribed to our local newspaper, the Sacramento Bee. This is not about the paper, its content or its editorial position. Rather it is about its Billing Department. More specifically about the incompetence of its Billing Department.

When I first subscribed, I went to the Bee’s website, and signed up for their “Easy Pay” plan. All this means is they bill your subscription directly to your credit card. This was all working fine. That is, it was working fine until there was a problem.

The problem, in this case, was caused by Citicards calling me saying they detected “unusual activity” on my account. Mind you, no one had actually made an illegal charge on my account. Rather, there were several instances of the card being used to verify if it were active and not cancelled. That is usually a precursor to illegal activity occurring. On Citicards advice I cancelled the card and had a new one issued.

Once I had my new card I went to the Bee’s website to update the card information for my “Easy Pay” plan with them. Guess what? You cannot update your card information. So I decided I should call them to have the card on file updated. And that is what I did.

About two weeks or so later I received a bill from the Bee, stating that my card was no longer valid, and could I please pay my bill. I call the Bee’s Subscriber Services line, and explain the problem to them. They said they could fix it, no problem. I gave them my name and new card number and I was assured that the problem was fixed and that they would bill my card. I hung up satisfied that a problem had been resolved by a human.

Another two weeks pass, and guess what? I receive a bill in the mail saying my account was overdue, and can I please send payment in the amount of such-and-such dollars? Once again, I am on the phone with the Bee’s Subscriber Services, asking them why they had told me this issue was fixed when so clearly it wasn’t? I received the obligatory apology and was assured that this time it was positively fixed. I appreciated again the fact I had a human on the phone to resolve a problem, though my confidence in humans has been shaken.

The other morning I go out to retrieve my paper. No paper in the driveway. I figure, OK they are late, but as I look around the other driveways have papers in them. So I call, you guessed it, the Bee’s Subscriber Services, and ask why my paper wasn’t delivered. You get three guesses as to the reason and the first two don’t count. Bingo! My account was flagged for nonpayment!

Prudence suggested I wait a day before calling to “fix” this problem, if only to save the poor clerk from a stream of undeserved verbal abuse. So this morning I call the Bee’s Subscriber Services for two reasons. One – to lodge a detailed complaint outlining the history of incompetence displayed by the staff of said Subscriber Services. Two – to start my subscription on MY terms – which means no credit card payment. The Bee is to bill me at their expense, and I will pay via electronic debit upon receipt of their bill, which saves me the expense of writing a check and paying postage.

Stay tuned to see if I actually receive my paper tomorrow morning…

CCD Imaging - What Was I Thinking? Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of my multipart series on my experiences in learning the fine are of digital astrophotography. If you remember, in Part 1 I discussed all the equipment one would need to undertake this endeavor. As it happens, I already own a modest but rather well made Takahashi FC100 refractor, on an EM-10 equatorial mount. This telescope has a 4-inch objective lens and a focal length of 800mm, making it an f/8 optical system. A tad slower than I would prefer (I would rather have an f/6.3), but one makes do with what one has. The equatorial mount, being of 1980’s vintage, has motors on both axes for fine control, but no computer “GoTo” capabilities. All I needed was a CCD camera.

The camera I did purchase was the Orion Star Shoot™ Deep Space Color Imaging Camera. The small but totally adequate manual that comes with the camera suggests that you familiarize yourself with the camera and the controls in daylight.

This is a Good Idea.

Sadly, not one I heeded.

You see, I felt that my long-ago experience with wet film astrophotography coupled with my 30 years of experience in the computer software industry, I had no reason to spend any time reading the manual.

So, on a clear and crisp 30 degree evening about 25 miles from home out in the middle of nowhere I dutifully set up my scope, and spent about 45 minutes getting the EM-10 equatorial mount properly polar-aligned. I then proceeded to target the open star cluster M-45 (also known as the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters). I boot up my computer, attach the camera to the telescope, then, and only then, find out that the power cord for the camera does not have a standard DC jack at the end, but rather a “cigarette lighter” jack. The cord is 4 feet long and my truck, with the cigarette lighter, is 20 feet away. In fact, even if my truck were right next to the telescope, the cord would still not stretch. At this point it became clear to me WHY the sales person at Orion wanted me to buy the Dynamo Pro 12v DC Mobile Power Station ($99).

If I had only spent the five or so minutes it would have taken to read the little manual before venturing out I could have saved myself a lot of grief. Another trip to Orion Telescopes, and I am now the proud owner of the Dynamo Pro 17 12v DC Power Station. This baby also has 250 cold cranking amps of power to jumpstart a dead car battery, plus an 800,000 candlepower halogen spotlight (which I am sure my fellow astrophotographers will love).

Shortly after purchasing my Dynamo Pro 17 12v DC Power Station, I found out that Costco sells a unit that is fairly similar for only $49. Costco’s Power Station has 450 cold cranking amps and it has an air compressor for keeping your tires at their proper inflation as well as the ability to jumpstart your dead car battery. But it didn’t have the 800,000 candlepower halogen floodlight (only a 250,000 candlepower “work light”).

Having learned my lesson, I went back to the Orion StarShoot™ Deep Space Imaging Camera manual, and went through the process, step by step, in daylight, to learn the basic mechanics of camera operation. During this process, I learned how to properly focus the camera. Focusing with an eyepiece is simple – you look through the eyepiece and turn the focusing knob until the image is sharp and clear. The camera itself does not have an eyepiece.

Focusing the camera is a tedious process. First you must find an object in the telescope using an eyepiece, then bring it into focus. Next you remove the eyepiece and attach the camera to the telescope. Then you begin to take a series of images using what the manual calls "Focus Mode". In focus mode, the camera takes an image, downloads it to the computer, takes another image, downloads it to the computer, etc. The theory being: if the image is out of focus, you turn the focus knob on the scope a bit, and a successive image will note the change - either better focus or worse. You repeat this process until your image being downloaded is in "focus".

In the daylight you can practice by using the telescope to photograph a distant object. After several dozen iterations of taking an image and adjusting the focus knob, you do get an image that is in decent focus. For my test, I took a picture of a house under construction up on the hill about a half mile away. I also learned the difference between USB 1.0 and USB 2.0. My laptop, as it turns out, is 20th century technology, and only has a USB 1.0 port. It takes several seconds to a minute to download one frame from the camera to the computer. I thought this was Normal. Then I purchased a USB 2.0 PCI card, and wow! It downloads frames now in a split second! (I inserted this little lesson here, though I really didn’t learn it until about the 4th time out in the field… I thought someone might benefit from knowing this now rather than later…)

The next step: photographing an easy target - the Moon! My first opportunity to photograph the Moon is coming up shortly (note these events occurred two years ago; I am only now putting my notes down in narrative form). Wish me good weather! And stay tuned for my experiences with that endeavor! Oh - and for those who think, based on my description so far that polar alignment and focusing are easy, we shall address each of those activities in detail in a future post.

DIBBLE Genealogy - Part 1: Introduction

Preface
Much of the History of the Dibble Family is the work of Van Buren Lamb Jr. of Old Lyme, Connecticut. Mr. Lamb spent decades on this project, compiling a vast library of Dibble research, and publishing his results in “Your Ancestors”, a National Magazine of Genealogy and Family History. Mr. Lamb’s work has become the basis of other Dibbles who have expanded upon his original research, which only goes to about 1950. Mr. Lamb’s research was interrupted by World War II, and unfortunately many of the churches that harbored family records were destroyed. Therefore doing research on old Dibbles has been extremely difficult, if not impossible.

A lot of the earliest work is conjecture – it is like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle when you don’t have all the pieces. Some pieces fit, others don’t. Those that fit have a high degree of probability of being correct. When something doesn’t fit, it is indicated as being a possibility only.

Making things a little more difficult is the fact that there is no consistent spelling of the surname. In researching old records one comes across Dibble, Deeble, Deble, Dible, Debel, Deyble, Dibell, Debbell, Dobell, Dable, and Dyble. There are no doubt other permutations.

Spelling was pretty arbitrary probably because most folks were either illiterate or just didn’t care. Records are sparse as well, because unless you were a person of note, you really didn’t leave much behind save a birth, death, or baptismal record in the local church. Given that plague, disease, war ravaged the land on a regular basis, church records would have notable gaps in them adding to the difficulty in doing research of this period.


Origins
“Dibble” is an English surname, originating in the southern counties of England. The following map shows a distribution of the Dibble surname in England (1998):



The name Dibble comes from a planting tool used to put holes in the ground. This is consistent with English origins – the practice of naming people after their occupations or tools used – such as Baker, Farmer, Smith, etc.
























Here is a partial list of Dibbles found by Mr. Lamb during his research (no relationships have been absolutely established)
DIBBLE in America
Mr. Lamb has found that the first member of the family in the New World is a Robert Deeble. Exactly where Robert is from is in question. One source has him from Somersetshire, England. Another indicates he is from St. Germain. Proof of this seems lacking. The reality is that the southern counties of Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset were, and still are, heavily populated by Dibbles with almost as many variations of spelling. Hundreds of Dibble Wills were preserved in the Bishop of Exeter's files which sadly were all destroyed during the Blitz of World War II.

Robert lived in Glastonbury, Somerset, at least between 1605 and February 1610, when his son John (1605), and daughters Joanna (April 1609) and Frances (February 1610) were baptized at the church of St. John Baptist. Where he lived prior to this is unknown. Given he was married and having children in 1605 one can surmise he was born sometime around 1585. It is likely that he moved shortly after the last event because there is no record of his son Thomas’ baptism anywhere, and Thomas (calculating from his age at emigration) must have been born in 1612 or 1613. We assume that we have the right family because Frances’ age at emigration tallies with her baptismal date. The probability is that Thomas was baptized elsewhere after the family moved, but there are no records to prove that.

Robert and his wife were early settlers of Dorchester, MA. It is recorded that he was made a freeman on the 6th of May 1635. Robert and his wife (known as "Goody Deeble") evidently became members of the Dorchester Congregation which was formed in 1629 at the New Hospital in Plymouth, England, under the leadership of the Rev. John Warham of Exeter. Some members of this congregation sailed from Plymouth and others from Weymouth, to America.

The ship in which Robert and his wife sailed on is not known, but they possibly arrived the 24th of June 1633 with 78 others of their congregation. The names of the passengers were not recorded. Son Thomas and daughter Frances sailed from Weymouth on the 20th of March 1635. Other Dibble surnames appear around the same time: Robert Dabyn (his son Robert?) aged 28 listed as a servant to Joseph Hall (Hull?); Abraham Dibol of Haddam and Simsbury, CT; John Deble and family of Springfield, MA, who appears in close association with Thomas Deble.

Robert and Goody Deeble may have returned to England, leaving some of their sons and daughter(s) behind, as there is no further record of them in New England (the only mention of Robert Deeble in New England is in the records of Roxbury, MA, 1635-1642). There was apparently some dissatisfaction in the congregation, and several members moved to Windsor, CT. Others returned to England. The last mention of their being in Dorchester, MA, was in 1642, when he was bailiff, or tax collector. It is supposed that he returned to England, and he may be the same Robert Deeble whose will was probated in Exeter, Devonshire, in 1666.

DIBBLE In England
I have also been working on another Dibble line – Henry Dibble (1622) of Somerset. This branch of the family still exists in Somerset and surrounding counties today. I have Robert Dibble of Australia and his grandfather Wilfred Dibble of Somerset to thank for supplying me much of the work on this family line. This line is still in skeletal form. I have produced a partial map of historical towns where Dibbles have lived, and are still living. It is a work in process:


Mr. Lamb has since passed on, but all his original work has been scanned and compiled onto a dual-layer DVD by George Dibble, III of Sacramento, California. Mr. Dibble makes these DVDs available to anyone who wants one, for the cost of postage and DVD blank only. A copy can be requested by emailing Mr. Dibble at gadibbleiii@gmail.com.

As I “flesh out” different branches of the family I shall post the updates to this blog. Stay tuned...

CCD Imaging - What Was I Thinking? Part 1

This is part 1 of a multipart series on my experiences in learning the fine art of digital astrophotography, also called “astro-imaging”. And what would be my purpose in doing so? Ostensibly to (1) deter others from this folly or (2) provide a less painful path to follow by avoiding my mistakes. I shall note my progress through regular additions to my blog. (Also note: this took place in 2007 - I outlined my experiences then with the hope of actually writing about them at some future date. That future date has arrived). This article deals exclusively with the equipment one will need to pursue this “hobby”.

If you are an experienced astrophotographer (one who takes pictures of objects in the sky with a telescope and camera), you may wish to chuckle and move on, as you have no doubt experienced all this pain and humiliation and probably have no desire to relive a moment of it.

On the other hand, if you are contemplating becoming an astrophotographer, or more appropriately an astro-imager, this article is for you. First, take a ball peen hammer and start banging it on your forehead, if anything to give you a sense of the kind of pain you are about to experience. This will also prepare you mentally for what you are about to undertake.

I should mention I am not a total neophyte when it comes to astrophotography. Back in the 70’s and early 80’s, I had a darkroom and processed my own astrophotos (Ektachrome slides and Tri-X pan film), with modest degrees of success. However, as I soon learned, wet film processing in the dark, with chemicals, lights and paper, is light years away from today’s digital technology. Back then I would take a bulk roll of Tri-X film, load individual canisters with about 2 feet of film (enough for 5 or 6 exposures), soak the film in nitrogen gas to reduce the film’s inherent reciprocity failure, load the canister into my Olympus OM-1 camera body, focus on a target object, acquire a guide star, then sit at the eyepiece, manually guiding the scope for upwards of 30 minutes, hoping that no one in the immediate area turned so much as a small flashlight on.

Today’s digital technology has eliminated a lot of the pain, mess, and hassle of old-style wet film photography. The centerpiece technology is a device called a CCD camera, and something you will need should you choose to continue.

What is a CCD camera? CCD stands for charge coupled device, and it is essentially the chip inside a digital camera that collects and processes the light. These chips generate heat when they are used, which is not a problem in regular digital cameras as the exposure times are fractions of a second. Heat doesn’t have a chance to build up and cause problems with such short exposures.

Astro-images, on the other hand, require exposures of minutes, not fractions of a second, in order to collect the faint light emitted from distant objects. The heat generated by the CCD chip over several minutes will destroy the image being collected. Therefore, CCD cameras contain a cooling device to eliminate the heat, thus allowing one to take exposures of many minutes in duration.

CCD cameras, much like their DSLR (digital single lens reflex) counterparts, come in a variety of models. The model I started with is the Orion StarShoot™ Deep Space Color Imaging Camera. It is the Kodak Instamatic of CCD cameras, meaning it is relatively cheap ($399, but they don’t make them anymore) and doesn’t take very good images. But, it is a great camera for learning the basics. (I have one for sale!).

Let’s talk about the rest of the equipment one will need to continue this folly. Since it is important to have the proper equipment, one should make a list to be sure one has everything one needs. Making this list is usually enough to discourage most people from proceeding. We already have “CCD Camera” on the list.

The next piece of equipment, if not the most obvious, is a telescope. Normally the unsuspecting future astro-imager undertaking this exercise already has a telescope and a subscription to Sky & Telescope magazine - where they saw gorgeous professional-quality pictures taken by skilled astro-imagers, which gave them the initial idea that they too may be able to do this and got the ball rolling, so to speak.

What kind of telescope does one need? As it turns out, most any kind will do so long has it has a focal ratio at least as fast as, say, f/8. If you have to ask “What is a focal ratio?” you might want to rethink the pursuit of this endeavor. (Briefly, focal ratio is the relationship between the diameter of the objective (lens or mirror) and its focal length. A lens with a diameter of 100mm and a focal length of 800mm has a focal ratio of f/8 – 800mm divided by 100mm. A smaller f-ratio indicates a “faster” system – the ability to collect and image an object more quickly as it is concentrating the light into a smaller area, thus building up an image more quickly).

What is important however is the kind of telescope mount you have. In order to take images that might be 5 to 10 minutes in duration, your mount needs the ability to (1) hold the telescope rock-steady and (2) track the object being imaged as it slowly moves across the sky. There are really only two kinds of telescope mounts: alt-azimuth and equatorial. An example of an alt-azimuth mount is a camera tripod. It has the ability to move up and down (altitude) and back and forth (azimuth). They are, unfortunately, not suited for tracking celestial objects. Why? Because rather than follow an object as it arcs across the sky, it must make a series of vertical and lateral steps to track a star, much one would do in climbing a staircase. While some of today’s more sophisticated alt-azimuth-mounted telescopes are computer controlled and can track objects reasonably well, they suffer from an effect called “field rotation” which is neither intuitive nor easy to explain.

This leaves us with the equatorial mount. An equatorial mount consists of two axes that are perpendicular to each other: the polar axis and the declination axis. The polar axis is fixed – one aligns it to the north celestial pole. The polar axis also rotates from east to west, counteracting the rotation of the earth (which allows the telescope to accurately track an object in its arc across the heavens). The declination axis moves “up and down” in declination, which is latitude when projected on the sky. You locate your object in the telescope, lock the declination axis, and let a motor drive the polar axis, tracking your object with ease. Our list now contains two items (or three if you count the telescope as separate from the mount): The CCD Camera and the Telescope (tube assembly plus mount).

Last but not least, one needs a computer (laptop) to operate the camera. Unlike a DSLR, a CCD camera has no manual shutter or any other external control. It is hooked up to a computer via a USB 2.0 port, and the camera controls are operated through a special software interface. The Orion StarShoot™ Deep Space Color Imaging Camera comes with a “lite” version of Maxim DL software for camera control and image processing. All camera operations (focus, exposure, etc) are done from the computer.

Finally, you will want to make sure you have electric power (usually supplied by a battery pack) for your telescope mount, CCD camera, and laptop computer, and that you have all the cables of a proper length. Summarizing, you will need:

Telescope with an appropriate focal ratio
Solid equatorial mount with drive motor
CCD Camera
Computer
Battery Power
Appropriate cables and such
Small table to hold the laptop

I have not yet addressed the cost of all this equipment. Orion Telescopes sells some low-end but decent telescope/mount systems starting in the neighborhood of $1,500. The original StarShoot™ Deep Space Color Imaging Camera is no longer available, but its replacement is available for around $600. A top-of-the-line laptop is not required; Best Buy sells several in the $500 range that will work just fine. Costco sells battery packs for $89 (they can also be used to jump a dead battery or inflate a tire as well). Figure a minimum of $2,700 just to get started.

Once you have acquired the necessary equipment, you are ready to begin the next phase, where we move from the emotional pain of being separated from your money to the physical and emotional pain of getting everything to work. That will be covered in the next installment…

Food Review: Asia Fats in Folsom

First, I am not a professional restaurant reviewer/food critic. All I can tell you is my own experience – your experience (and palate) may differ from mine. That being said, let me share with you my dining experience at Asia Fats in Folsom.

I love Asian cuisine, especially the spicier dishes, so I ordered some that were flagged as spicy on the menu: Mongolian beef and Sesame chicken. Additionally I ordered the Chinese chicken salad, vegetable fried rice, and asparagus with mushrooms in oyster sauce. Let me start with the chicken salad: I was disappointed. The lettuce looked old and wilted, and it lacked the traditional ginger with tinge of horseradish flavors I have come to expect with a good Chinese chicken salad. Additionally, the sugary peanut sauce was replaced with what I think was soy sauce.

The Mongolian beef was also a disappointment. In addition to being light on spice (there were some thinly sliced green chilis instead of the fiery-hot blackened peppers) it was also light on beef – the dish was mostly sautéed onions. The beef, what there was of it, had a nice flavor, but was not spicy in the least.

The Sesame chicken likewise was not spicy as advertised. The chicken itself was good – real meat as opposed to chunks of chicken parts, and the breading had a good flavor, but overall was very bland.

The vegetable fried rice was pretty good. Lots of vegetables and rice – a large portion and good value.

The best entrée was the asparagus with mushrooms and oyster sauce. The asparagus was crisp and had good flavor, the mushrooms were sautéed to perfection, and the oyster sauce tied it all together. This dish I would recommend.

Asia Fats has a nice ambience – the staff is very friendly and attentive, and I liked the layout and décor. Would I go back? Probably not. The offerings for me were too bland – I prefer more heat and spice in dishes that are advertised as spicy. On the other hand, if you enjoy your Chinese cuisine on the non-spicy side, you might consider the sesame chicken and the asparagus. But stay away from the Chinese chicken salad!

Cosmic Therapy - Part 1

The other night I was hosting a program at the community Observatory where I spend much of my time as a volunteer docent. The group, as it turns out, consisted of home-schooled students and their moms. The head mom proceeded to inform me that they were Christians, and that they did not believe that the Earth was more than 6,000 years old, so that she would appreciate it if I didn’t mention anything that would contradict their belief. As one who believes in religious tolerance, I said “Why certainly – I had no desire to counter their belief system or make them feel uncomfortable”.

But it did have the effect of cutting the program I had prepared from 60 minutes down to about 10 or 12 minutes. I essentially had to delete all the information we as a species had gleaned from the past 400 years of study and observation – information that had been gained at the expense of lives and reputation, information gained through the sacrifice of great minds to the religious intolerance and bigotry of long past centuries, and of bodies burned at the stake by the Inquisition, all in the name of Scripture. But hey, as I said, I am tolerant.

So I spent a few minutes showing them pretty views of the Moon, the rings of Saturn, and the orange sands of Mars. I showed them the Orion Nebula as well, as that is only 1,350 light years distant, so doesn’t conflict with their view of the age of things. Sadly, there were some gorgeous galaxies in the constellation Ursa Major that I would have loved to show them, but since they were 12 million and 37 million light years away respectively, it would have put them in conflict with their beliefs, so I did not. Their visit to the Observatory, therefore, was simply an exercise in seeing a couple of pretty pictures, with no room or motive for thinking about the wonder that is the Universe.

I didn’t think much more about it until this morning, on my almost-daily hike through the local foothills. Hiking through nature gives me time to myself and an opportunity to think Great Thoughts and solve World Problems. Except today I chose to think about God, and the other night’s experience at the Observatory. In fact, today I thought “I should have a conversation with God. And maybe talk to God about last night!” But before I had this conversation, I had to get my mind around exactly what or who it was I would be talking to. After all, if God is as they say the Supreme Being, then addressing God as Sir, Him, Madam, or whatever would not make a whole lot of sense, since a Supreme Being would not have a gender. Not only that, I had a sense that God would not matter what God was called, if all you were doing was talking to God.

One more thing – God, being Supreme and all, would not need me to actually say out loud my questions in my conversation, since a lot of my more religious associates tell me that God knows in your heart what you are saying, etc. I figured that was probably a wise avenue for me to take, as on occasion I do pass other people on the hiking trails, and it would be awfully awkward for them to hear only one half of the conversation, especially since I don’t have one of those obnoxious “blue-tooth” cell phone receivers stuck in my ear a-la-Spock from Star Trek. Wouldn’t do to be found talking to one’s self out in the woods all alone now.

Anyway, “here goes”, I thought, and I began.

Me: Hello, God? (inside my head of course)
God: No answer.
Me: Hmmm.
Me (again): Um, hello, God?
God: Still no answer.

OK, I began to have second thoughts on this whole process. What was I doing wrong? Am I not thinking “loudly” enough? Can’t be – a Supreme Being would have supreme perception – thinking it “little” would be more than sufficient. Then I remembered something that I heard somewhere – that God Listens. God might not speak, but God always Listens. Now that makes sense, and does take a little of the pressure off. Because the more I thought about this proposed conversation, the more I was convinced that I didn’t really want to hear voices in my head.

Me: Hi God, it’s me again. Testing. 1-2-3.
God:
Me: OK, I think I understand this now…
God:
Me: God – here’s the thing… I had some visitors to the Observatory last night, and they believe, based on how they interpret scripture, that the Earth, etc. is only 6,000 years old. Is that true?
God:
Me: This is going to be a little bit harder than I thought…
God:
Me: Perhaps it would be more productive, God, if I thought about this some more on my own. Oh, and thank you for listening…
God:

So I finished my hike, with my thoughts more or less to myself (unless God was eavesdropping). I was in a bit of a quandary though – if we are God’s creation, God obviously gave us the brain we have as well as the body. And giving us this brain with its capacity for thought and investigation, would God not want us to use it to its full potential? Why would God dictate to us to not use it and instead believe something that is so clearly not true? Or is God intentionally trying to “trick” us? No, wait – that is what Rene Descartes reasoned 300 years ago – the infamous “cogito ergo sum” – I think therefore I am. So God is not trying to trick us. Does God, then, really care? Perhaps God wants us to use the brain God gave us because, essentially, we are on our own and we better figure things out right!

Well, that part makes sense. And, God didn’t pipe up and disagree, which is a Good Thing, because if God did then I would be facing that quandary of hearing voices in my head. Which, at this stage of my life, I am not quite ready for, it turns out.

By now I had reached the end of my walk. I figured I had better write this all down so I would remember it, and perhaps continue the conversation on my next walk. And more importantly, it would serve as a clue should I be inadvertently struck by a bolt of lightning or other some such natural phenomena for no reason. I think that is called “covering one’s bases”.

Boycott Indian Casinos

OK. First off, I would never go to any casino to gamble - that is just throwing your money away with no one to blame but yourself. I rather put it in the market where I can at least display indignant outrage and blame people like Bernie Madoff when my money disappears.

But to the point... in my role as a volunteer educator I sometimes approach local businesses to support teacher education. Teachers, as you may or may not know, must take continuing education courses to stay subject-matter current and to maintain their certification status. Teachers must pay for this, and given that teachers don't get multi-million dollar bonuses it poses a significant hit to their family budgets.

I recently implemented a program called "Sponsor A Teacher" for this summer. Sponsoring a teacher "costs" $250, and will send a teacher to a continuing education class, covering their tuition and unit of credit expenses. One of the businesses I approached was the local casino, Red Hawk Casino, here in Shingle Springs (off US 50 on the way to Tahoe).

Red Hawk Casino sent me a rather terse letter back, stating that this "falls outside the scope of sponsorship". Their code of commitment does not allow them to advertise or sponsor "team sports, individual, youth, political or religious programs." I can understand not donating or sponsoring a political party or a sports team, but not supporting education??? It makes one wonder what do they support?

I think what makes it even more insulting is the fact I received a form letter. It wasn't even addressed to me! It was the generic "rejection letter" so ubiquitous in my former working career days.

Anyway, I am now sitting atop my high horse and am calling for a boycott of not only Red Hawk Casino, but all Indian Casinos. If you have the desire to gamble, patronize our traditional dens of sin and inequity: Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe!

Virgin No More

This is my first blog. I am 62, retired, and recently got on Twitter. I figured twittering, or tweeting I guess its called, didn't waste enough of my time, so I thought I would set up a blog. I am sure that as time goes by I will post something witty, pithy, or pissy - who knows?

I think I lost the email that has the web address of this blog - now THAT would funny! I created a blog and posted to it, and I'll never see it again!

OK, I am off to see what other massive time wasters exist out here in the internet...