I’ve been active on Facebook for quite a while now and used one of the apps this morning to generate a tag cloud of my status updates. Seeing the forest I realize how mundane much of what I have to say truly is.
…and my use of Twitter tags.
Recent days have been a torrent of emotion and forced reflection. We loose sight in this nation of how precious life is. We are profoundly blessed to have fellow Americans willing to stand up and place life and limb on the table for liberty. Watching the highlights of the Ft. Hood Memorial one profound passage of General Casey’s remarks moved me:
It’s a tradition in our special operations unit to go to the Book of Isaiah when eulogizing fallen comrades. At the funeral, they read, ‘Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking ‘whom shall I send and who will go for us?’ Then I said ‘Here I am. Send me.’
We forget, far too freely, the impact of this simple sacrifice our countrymen make, every day, of every year for our Republic.
On a day when we honor our veterans and remember those who have fallen in defense of the freedoms we all share there are no better words than those offered by an American President 146 years ago:
That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Jason Calacanis, prominent web entrepreneur, lays out an interesting theory concerning Rupert Murdoch’s plan for a new paid-content model with his newspaper properties.
At it’s core it involves modifying site meta properties and instructing Google’s automated crawlers to skip over the WSJ, Fox News, etc. I don’t fully agree with Jason’s analysis. By blocking robots and Google search access to your content you shed massive amounts of pageviews. What you gain in subscription revenue will be massively outweighed by a loss in mind share. Out of sight, out of mind for the droves who currently visit the WSJ and other outlets, largely driven there by standard search.
I’m a political nerd and junkie and sat down to tally my votes in contested elections, party affiliation and the win-loss record. Votes in uncontested races or votes for down-ticket state-wide candidates were not counted, too difficult to do so. In total I have cast votes for 10 Democrats, 4 Republicans and 1 Independent (write-in) in contested races and have endorsed ten winners and five losers.
I’ve been watching RealClearPolitics very closely for new polling data in recent weeks. Â Made up my mind several weeks back for my choice on the top of the ballot. Deed’s momentum evaporated, and probably turned the opposite direction. Â I do wonder if the race with tighten any as we get closer to election day on the 3rd. Â Pollster.com‘s trend lines indicate some contraction, but looking like a strong margin come Election Day.
Recent weeks have seen our family logging some travel miles…
New York City:
State Fair of Virginia:
They get points for creativity and originality with this spam phishing scam. A plot worthy of Three Kings and Kelly’s Heroes:
Dear Friend,
j.bradford@live.com
I hope this e-mail message meet you well? I am in need of your assistance. My name is Lt. Col. Jim Bradford, commander of the 1st Battalion 63rd Armor Regiment here in Ba’qubah in Iraq.
We have about USD$20 Million (Twenty Million United State Dollars) that we want to move out of this country (Iraq). My partners and I need a good partner out there, someone we can trust to receive these funds on our behalf. It is oil money and legal, there is no room for fear. Please do not disclose this deal to anybody as to protect my duty with the US army; we must keep a low profile at all times. More details regarding this deal will be made available to you as soon as your interest is shown.
I need your urgent response if you are interested in assisting us to receive the fund because we will be ending our mission in Iraq soon (going back home) because we have already been pulled out of some major cities but now in our Military base or Camp.
We have made arrangement with a Diplomatic Courier Service that will move the funds out of Iraq as Family Treasures to where you want it and we can as well use the Bank to Bank transfer method. It all depends on the option you think is safe for both of us. The most important thing is; “CAN I TRUST YOU”? Once the funds gets to you.
As soon as the fund gets to you, simply take out 20% as your share and keep the remaining 80% for investment on our behalf. Your own part of these deals is to find a place where the funds can be sent to. If you are interested, I will furnish you with more details upon receipt of your response. But I can assure you the whole process is simply and we need to keep this deal as a confidential matter. I do not need lousy or noisy person please. Website:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm
I look forward to your reply and co-operation.
Regards,
Lt. Col. Jim Bradford
j.bradford@live.com
I won’t begin referencing Staind lyrics, but it has been too long between updates.
Life has been a duality largely for the past few months. Work having been hectic, even traumatic at times, while home life proceeding largely uneventfully and with a status-quo rhythm.
We have settled into our new campus in Williamsburg, which required herculean efforts of blood and tears to get it ready for students in time. Imagine a 120,000 square foot facility, three floors, 600 computers, hundreds of phones, dozens of flat panel LCD data displays, an entire server room packed with dozens of systems, all to be wired, installed, configured, burned in and tested in under two months. Rough edges exist but we have, by and large, shaken out the bugs and gremlins. New office is slick, quiet and clean, which is a welcome change from the drab, 1960′s cinderblock room I had held for several years.
David Matthew started 3rd grade today, smoothly and rode the school bus for the first time. Cliché I know, but children do grow up far too quickly. With every passing day I do see more of myself in his personality, demeanor, interests and passions.
Trips to New York (end of the month getaway with Rhonda) and the holidays lay right around the corner so expect more updates as time permits.
Until then, back to work…
