The Evil Eyebrow

Category: Opinion

  • Bones: Shark Jumpage

    We’ve been watching Fox’s Bones since the first episode. The first two seasons were good. The third, which ended tonight, was a festering turd that stunk up my living room.

    Unfortunately, we were so invested that we refused to declare it deceased when we should have, about seven episodes ago. We, at one point, did swear a pact that if the next episode weren’t up to par, we’d stop watching. The writers, unfortunately, pulled something less stinky out of their butts and managed to snare us in for another five or six episodes. However, the last two of the season placed us solidly on the “never watch again” pedestal.

    We were astounded with how badly the writers treated the characters this year. It was like the writers had never watched the show and didn’t give a crap about development. They had the characters doing things that they would never have done, or had already progressed through. It was crazy.

    Therefore, no more Bones. It was fun while it lasted. On to something else.

  • Spam Comments

    spamReg

    Spam Comments: Blatant marketing ploy? We see that all the time.

    Anyone who has a blog is occasionally (or not so occasionally) plagued by spam comments. Most are easy to detect and they usually deal with products designed to make certain parts of you bigger, or the whole of you smaller.

    Sometimes things come through that make you wonder if the commenter is just link-mining, or really has no clue.

    For example. I received two comments last week (I alluded to this on twitter) from the same IP and email, but different Author names. The first comment said:

    A fantastic read….very literate and informative. Many thanks….where is your RSS button ?

    That is usually code for “I’m commenting on your blog just so there’s a link with my website’s name on it”. Especially because they’re looking for my RSS button. Ummm…it’s right there, dude.

    But, ten minutes later, another comment came in which made me question the spam rating of the first. Sort of.

    I strongly recommend that you turn the No Follow off in your comment section.

    I’ll watch Google Webmaster Tools, and if the links don’t show up after a couple of weeks — I won’t go back to that blog again.

    Another suggestion: you should have a Top Commentator widget installed.

    Do Follow and Top Commentator will ensure that you have a successful blog with lots of readers!

    The first comment seems like a standard Spam Robo-Comment, but the second seems like someone was alerted that their first robo-comment would be dumping into a blog that uses the “nofollow” on comment links (this is specifically to reduce this sort of search engine spam) and decided to up the pressure and throw a bit of passive-aggressive on top for kicks.

    Of course, the request for me to stop using nofollow is a dead giveaway. The sop to my ego about a successful blog would fit the formula “tell them something good, then bad, then good” except that they started off by threatening to never come back to my blog. To top off the fun part, their comments are on a post from November, 2005 and one from January, 2008. These posts do have Astrophotography in common, but the first comment, the one that said “A fantastic read….very literate and informative.” was on a post that was really just me linking to Badastronomy.

    So, we’ve got a big thumbs down all around. However, I will say that they responded to my email about whether these were Spam comments. They gave me permission (thanks!) to edit the comments in any way I chose. They’ve obviously not read my comments policy.

    I approved their comments this time, just to give me something to talk about, but if they come through again in a similar fashion, I think we’ll be spamming them with prejudice.

  • Storm Sirens

    Rain

    Last night was an interesting storm night around her. For whatever reason, I entirely missed all warnings of severe thunderstorms until I was kicked out of the YMCA pool due to lightning. Then the “tornado” sirens went off. Then all hell broke loose and I was confined to the coffee shop I was in because of the hail.

    Hail

    Later on, after leaving the coffee shop (because they closed) I had the privilege of observing our local emergency services pull a woman out of a car using a backboard. The EMS personnel were working in a pounding rain—slanting in at approximately 60 degrees due to wind—with hail. I was impressed. Couldn’t get any images because all I had with me was the crappy canon kit lens for the Digital Rebel, but I did get a nice shot of the lights.

    Bright Lights

    I stopped to get some gas when the “tornado” sirens went off again! The storm was exhibiting some righteous fury at this point and I ran inside to find out if there was actually a tornado coming. Nobody knew. I hid inside until the majority had passed, then went home.

    Today I learn:

    The county will sound these sirens for three to five minutes when:

    * The National Weather Service issues a severe thunderstorm warning with a tornado watch.
    * The National Weather Service issues a tornado warning.
    * A tornado has been spotted or reported by public safety officials.
    * Additional weather warnings are issued.
    * National Security events.
    * Hazardous material incidents where evacuation or other action may be warranted.

    Ignoring the last two bullet points, I will apparently hear the sirens whenever a severe weather warning is in effect. I’m not sure I approve. A severe thunderstorm is dangerous, yes, but you’d be relatively safe just sitting in your car listening to the radio for while. A tornado is deadly, and requires shelter. Last night’s sirens taught me that I don’t necessarily need to set up the Emergency Cat Transfer Device™ if I hear the sirens; I may just be listening for our brand new roof to be stripped off and pounded by hail. The one requires us to go to the basement, the other just requires us to fill out insurance forms.

  • Professional Ethics Statements

    Cross-posted from Talking Traffic. Please leave comments over there.

    Stack of Documents
    Image by unk’s dump truck on flickr

    Ethics Statements
    There was a question posted on one of the Traffic Engineering listservs I’m a part of that sent me out to read (again) the various Canons of Ethics in the professional societies I’m associated with.

    I have two opinions about these various statements of professional ethics: One, they’re absolutely necessary to maintain our profession as a profession and two, they’re amazingly over detailed.

    There is a lot of good stuff in those documents1,2,3,4, but it brings to mind a saying which, paraphrased, says “If you have to write down your ethical standards, you’re already lost.”

    For the record, I don’t agree with that statement. At least, not for broad overarching ethics guidelines. For example, all the engineering ethics statements that I’m associated with begin with:

    Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public in the performance of their professional duties

    That is an excellent statement that sums up the entire raison d’etre of the Professional Engineer. Every young engineer, whether they intend to become a Professional Engineer or not should know and be able to quote that statement.

    Other Canons, as they’re generally called, which are consistent between the various documents are briefly summarized as:

    • Act in a faithful manner to your clients
    • Act in a professional manner to your competitors
    • Don’t break laws
    • Be a good engineer5

    Getting back to my earlier statement about how I think the various documents were too detailed, it depends on your perspective. There are two basic times in an engineer’s life when these docs should be reviewed and the ethical standards serve different purposes depending on which phase you’re in:

    Just starting out
    You, as a beginning engineer, might not realize that certain activities are considered unethical by your professional community. The one I always bring up as an example is moonlighting6. It is unethical to practice moonlighting because the engineer in question is able to underbid a non-moonlighting engineer, thereby depriving him or her of work. This falls under “Engineers shall build their professional reputation on the merit of their services and shall not compete unfairly with others.” 2

    Another basic example of unethical practice which may not be obvious to the beginning engineer is allowing “authority” to dictate your professional judgment. “Engineers shall advise their employers or clients when, as a result of their studies, they believe a project will not be successful.”1 Seems obvious, right? However it’s easy for a person to be persuaded to shade their conclusions or recommendations because that’s what the client wants.

    The difficulties of beginning engineers is broadened the cut back of ethics classes in colleges nationwide. Ethics is most often an elective class, not a requirement. This leads to engineers being required to learn their professional responsibilities on the job, which might dump them into court. This is why professional societies need detailed ethics statements.

    Experienced Engineer
    The experienced engineer does not need specific examples of unethical behavior. She will have already gone through the learning process mentioned above and will need only refreshers of what needs to be watched for. To that end, I heartily congratulate the State of Texas’ Board of Professional Engineers for requiring that 1 hour of the required yearly continuing education be in ethics7. Knowing the broader aspects of what is a required activity or what she is required to avoid is paramount to every engineer, but the experienced engineer does not want to spend time reading a document that appears to have been drafted by lawyers.1 That is why professional societies need a short ethics statements. Preferably with bullet points. Everybody likes bullet points.

    A Better Document
    You’ll notice that I have now called for both a brief and detailed ethics statement. Which brings me to the call to arms for committees who are slated to update their various ethics documents: Leverage the two-tier approach and use the web. I think that of the documents listed in footnotes 1 through 4, ASCE gets it best by listing their seven canons right up at the top of the document, then following up with “Guidelines to Practice Under the Fundamental Canons of Ethics”2.

    Future ethics documents should be web-based, with internal links (perhaps even wikis). Five to 10 bold statements, starting with the most important one concerning public welfare, and then deeper discussion behind the links of what is an acceptable/unacceptable action under particular scenarios. I’ll draw a parallel to the United States Golf Association which lists their Rules of Golf, plus has a separate section for Decisions8 and follows up with an online quiz to test your knowledge of the nitty gritty details.

    This is what I’ll push for if I’m ever on one of those committees. This will allow experienced engineers to review the guidelines quickly and for new engineers to deeply learn what is meant by “unfair competition” and other important details.

    1: Institute of Transportation Engineers Canon of Ethics for Members
    2: American Society of Civil Engineers Code of Ethics
    3: American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Society Policy: Ethics
    4: IEEE Code of Ethics
    5: The various documents I’m referencing go into more detail about what all that entails, on a “year to year” basis. I was going to say “day to day” but it’s not so detailed as to list specific no-nos.
    6: Moonlighting is the practice of cost-competing for extra work while employed in a full-time job elsewhere. The moonlighting engineer can underbid a competitor due to having their overhead expenses taken care of by their employer. Moonlighting is not unethical always, it depends on the circumstances. I’m primarily aware of this ethical standard due to my time as a mechanical engineer where work was less likely to be awarded on Qualifications standards.
    7: Although I will chastise them for allowing “(d) A minimum of 1 PDH per renewal period must be in the area of professional ethics, roles and responsibilities of professional engineering, or review of the Texas Engineering Practice Act and Board Rules [ed. emphasis].” Reviewing board rules isn’t a strong indicator of ethical practices, in my opinion.
    8: A Decision is the official determination of a questionable rules situation by the USGA.

  • Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

    Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel CoverIn keeping with my goals from the Hugo reading project I finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke yesterday. My review of the book is: A delight and I’ll never read it again.

    I won’t re-read it because it’s a freaking thousand page tome! It’s huge, and would probably have been better read in the hardback. The paperback started to give me hand cramps and I found it necessary to break one of my most fundamental rules with respect to paperbacks: Never Bend The Spines. The middle section required it or I would have had to take breaks to keep my left hand from yelling at me.

    This book was a delight because of the detailed interweaving of current events, backstory, “historical” tidbits and character development that at times threatened to overwhelm the reader. The story begins in the first decade of the 19th Century, set in England, and chronicles the re-establishment of English Magic throughout the isles of Britain. The failures and victories of the two title characters make up approximately 60% of the volume with the rest being attributed to the various people in orbit around them and the footnotes (many many footnotes) concerning the history of English Magic. The tone of the novel is Edwardian and if you are a fan of Jane Austen or any of the “society novels” set in England, you’ll like this book.

    There are a bevy of characters but Ms. Clarke introduces them in a fashion that makes it easy to keep track of who is who. Not like some other authors I can name for whom you need a Dramatis Personae list to have a clue.

    Two thumbs up! Yay for the Hugo Project!

  • Tradition!

    It’s a tradition when you’ve done it twice, right?

    In this case, my new tradition is to count, stack, and wrap the coins that have accumulated in my presence.

    My Favorite Coin

    The last time I did this was when we had just moved to Lubbock and I was in the middle of six months of unemployment. Now that I’m unemployed again (temporarily) I decided to count up and deposit all the change that has piled up since 1999. The pictures I took are over at my flickr set, but the one here is my favorite. I just love the Washington Quarter. All the special state quarters are nice, but this one retains my devotion.

    How much was wrapped up in all that change? Well, let’s just say that I don’t need to worry about next month’s natural gas bill.

  • Poe's Law

    If you’ve never heard of it, there’s a “law” out there called Poe’s Law which states:

    Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is uttrerly [sic] impossible to parody a Creationist in such a way that someone won’t mistake for the genuine article. (link)

    Which brings us to today’s link. Props to Annie who alerted us to this article over twitter.

    Michelle Obama is a man!

    People are just crazy. It’s unfortunate that so many of them reside in the fundamentalist sector.

  • Happy Anniversary!

    Today is the (x)th anniversary of the Destruction of the Ring and the Fall of Sauron. Be thankful of all the oddly-idyllic Hobbits and their allegory friends.

  • Bailout Bonuses

    While I’m opinionating, I’ll just say that today’s Xkcd sums up my opinion on the Bailout Bonuses as succinctly as possible.

    March 30, 2008 Xkcd

  • 2009 Hugo Awards (Nominations)

    The 2009 Hugo award nominations are up and available for viewing! Surprise of surprises, I’ve read three of the five best novel nominees.

    Best Novel
    (639 Ballots)

    * Anathem by Neal Stephenson (Morrow; Atlantic UK)
    * The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury UK)
    * Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (Tor Teen; HarperVoyager UK)
    * Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)
    * Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi (Tor)

    Since last year I’ve read Zoe’s Tale, Little Brother (I gave a copy of this to my oldest nephews) and Anathem. I will probably get around to reading the other two before WorldCon in August. They’d been on my list already. Must remember to put them on reserve in the Library…

    As you may know, I have a love/hate relationship with the Hugos. At least with the Best Novel Hugo. My project to read the Hugo best novels that have escaped me is coming along, although I wish I could report more success. I started with To Say Nothing of the Dog but I had to give up on it about a third of the way through. Now I’m reading Hominids which is working out better for my reading style, but still not something I’d really recommend to others.

    Sigh.

    Next book on the list is Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Hopefully!