Move your pawns at your own peril

One of the themes of Irving Chernev’s Logical Chess: Move by Move is development, specifically developing pieces, not pawns; and furthermore, only moving those pawns which facilitate development of your pieces. Unnecessary pawn moves also permanently weaken your overall structure, particularly those that protect your King. As an amateur, I understand these principles but sometimes struggle to apply them well. Even more difficult for me is taking advantage of my opponent when they fail to do apply these principles. The following game was particularly instructive to me because my opponent made what I believed to be unnecessary pawn moves and I was able to immediately attack the weaknesses that resulted from this position.

The fix is in: Hypocrisy in Massachusetts politics

Back in 2004 when Senator John Kerry was running for President and Republican Mitt Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts legislature passed a law that would have prevented Romney from replacing Kerry (if he had won) with an interim appointment until a new election could be set up. This was pure politics, wanting to prevent a Republican governor from replacing a Democrat with a Republican.

Fast forward to 2009. In the wake of Senator Edward Kennedy's death, now Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (a Democrat) could not replace Kennedy because of the very law the legislature passed in 2004 to deal with Romney. So what do you do when laws don't suit you? Just change them.

Both houses of the Massachusetts legislature passed bills allowing Patrick to appoint an interim Senator; Patrick is expected to sign the bill into law today. On top of that, Massachusetts laws typically don't go into effect for 90 days. So what do you do when procedure doesn't suit you? Just waive the procedure. Yes, Massachusetts is expected to waive the 90 day waiting period, because, well, the Democrats really need that 60th vote in the Senate. Furthermore, Democrats hold an absolutely majority in Massachusetts politics, so Republicans can't really do anything about it.

No doubt both parties play the political game, but this one just seems over the top.

Peter J. Ganci, Jr. (1946 - September 11, 2001)

Eight years ago today, I was living in Oak Harbor, Washington, and awakened by a phone call by my dad that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. My immediate thought was that it was probably cloudy and some Cessna pilot had probably gotten lost and/or confused and flew into the tower. Turning on the TV, I couldn't have been more wrong.

After waking up my roommate and his (then girlfriend) wife, we watched in horror as the second plane crashed into the South Tower, and then saw both towers collapse soon thereafter.

It was almost an afterthought that we were currently in training at VAQ-129 (EA-6B Prowler Fleet Readiness Squadron, or "Rag"). We were in "ground school," meaning we were doing several weeks of academic training prior to flying.

Getting to the base (NAS Whidbey Island) was actually very easy on 9/11, probably due to the fact that things were still unfolding and it just wasn't very clear at that time what was going on (of course, 9/12 and beyond took hours and hours to get on base, and this is a small town on an island in a remote corner of the state).

As air traffic was shut down, the training flight schedule was also canceled. But ground school classes were not canceled. I remember sitting in class realizing no one was doing any learning, because everyone wanted to know what was going on. During every break, we would huddle around the TV in the front office, trying to find out any bit of news.

We had several people in our class who had relatives in New York City. Sadly, one of my fellow students, Dave Ganci, lost his uncle on 9/11: Peter J. Ganci, Jr., Chief of Department, the highest ranking uniformed fire officer in the NYFD. While we weren't especially close, Dave and I were friends, fellow NFOs and ECMOs, brothers in arms, and every 9/11 I think of the Ganci family and the loss they suffered that day.

Are you kidding me?!

You've all seen those emergency tires that many cars have: they're smaller than normal, they're typically only rated for a short distance (~50 miles) and slower speeds (~50 mph). The idea is that when you get a flat, you use the emergency tire to get to safe location--home, or wherever it is you intend to get your tire replaced. Either way, the point is that they're a very short term, short distance solution.

These tires stick out because they're narrow and smaller than ordinary tires. So while it isn't necessarily common to see them a lot, it's not surprising either.

I was on my way to work this morning and came up upon a car in the right lane whose rear left tire was one of these tires. Not surprising. He's going 60-65, which is perhaps a little fast, but whatever. Then as I'm passing him, I notice that his front left tire is also an emergency tire. Yes, this guy is driving down a highway at 65 mph with two emergency tires on his car. I only wish I had a picture to post, because this thing was screaming bad idea.

I guess its possible that both tires went out at once, but that seems unlikely given that most people only ever have one emergency tire with them at all. More likely, in my opinion, is that this guy had to replace these tires and either didn't want to, or couldn't afford to replace them with actual highway-rated tires.

With the economy the way it is, I can understand that money is tight, and people are penny-pinching. But your four tires are the only thing between you and the road. And when you lose control of your one or two ton hunk of steel because you're going too fast, or too far, or for too long, on two emergency tires, it's not just you that suffers.

Reactions to Vick signing

It is being announced today that the Philadelphia Eagles signed Michael Vick to a one year contract with an option for a second year. Reaction has been swift and (from my perspective) mostly negative. There seems to be a great deal of outrage that anyone would sign Michael Vick at all.

Michael Vick was convicted of federal dogfighting charges and served 18 months in prison and additional time on house arrest (missing two full seasons). Earlier this year, NFL Commissioner Roger Gooddell reinstated Vick conditionally, allowing Vick to play the last two preseason games. He could also miss a handful of regular season games.

Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth was driving drunk and hit and killed a pedestrian. While their were mitigating circumstances (the man was not at a crosswalk, etc.), Stallworth's actions resulted in the man's death. Stallworth served a grand total of 30 days in jail, and Goodell suspended him for the entire upcoming season.

I have never been a Michael Vick fan, but it is difficult to deny his talent. Added to this is the recent addition to the NFL of the "Wildcat" offense for which Vick would seem to be the perfect fit. So it is inevitable that someone was going to sign him this year.

No one is defending the cruelty that Vick perpetrated. It was vicious, violent, and wrong. I willingly admit I was one of the many people who was glad to see him go to prison. But he served his time, and he has apologized and accepted responsibility. What else can you ask of the man? Stallworth will miss this season, but he'll likely be back next year. Why don't we see the same level of outrage at Stallworth, whose action resulted in the death of a human being?

DEFCON17 observations

A few initial thoughts:

1. The Riviera is bursting at the seams to handle DEFCON. In particular, the ballroom/main speaking area is not sufficient to handle the crowds. It's not the goons' fault, it is a matter of layout and design. Clearing and filling rooms through the same bottleneck is a recipe for epic fail. My initial thoughts are to stagger talk times. Separate doors for entry and exit. Sure, you might miss part of a talk, but that's already happening. 00/+30, +15/+45, whatever it takes to make it work.

2. DEFCON is just too big to do all the things I want to do (Thank you very much, Captain Obvious!). In all seriousness, there are too many people I want to see and things I want to do just not enough time to do them all. I didn't even make it past the registration desk until Sunday! I hope Shmoocon stays small enough to be cozy.

3. Peppermill for the breakfast win.

4. They apparently ran out of speaker badges. Considering you know ahead of time how many speakers there are, how did this happen? I sure hope it was just some sort of mixup.

More to come...

BWI Airport woes

Yesterday my wife and I went to Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) to pick up our daughter who was flying into town on Southwest. We arrived at about 4:45PM to pick her up from her 5:05PM arriving flight, and because she is a minor, I figured I would go meet her at the gate.

I explained my situation to the agent at the beginning of the ticket lines and she quickly ferried me into a short line, avoiding the dozens of passengers checking in for flights. After all, I only needed a gate pass, not a ticket. It wasn't going to take the ticket agent very long to get me through.

Passengers were getting checked in at a healthy rate from lines to the left and right of me, but it seemed like only one agent was handling the people in my line. It was pretty slow going and I was getting a little impatient. Our daughter's flight was due to arrive soon.

Finally I was next in line, but the agent who was handling the people in front of me suddenly starting accepting passengers from the queue on our right, signalling to me that she was alternating lines. Not so, as she accepted three more passengers from the right line. I threw up my hands in an exagerrated "What the heck" type of look, and explaining that I only needed a gate pass. Meanwhile, another ticket agent who was helping people inexplicably walked away from his terminal.

My daughter called and explained that her plane had already landed. I finally approached the counter and explained that I only needed a gate pass, not a ticket. It took the ticket agent less than one minute to get me a gate pass. The flight was arriving at Gate A1, but she told me that I should go through the security checkpoint at Gate B because it was faster.

I hustled off to the security checkpoint but there were probably 50-100 people in front of me which would have been a considerable wait. My daughter called again to let me know she was in the terminal, so at this point I pretty much abandoned my plan to meet her at the gate and just guide her to baggage claim. I walked back passed the ticket agents on the way to baggage claim and passed the security checkpoint in front of the A gates, where less than a dozen people were in line. So much for being faster the other way...

My wife was driving the Jeep and I tried calling her to let her know our timetable, but the calls failed. Again, and again. And again. I tried at least a dozen times, but no luck. 4T&T, 3G service showing 4-5 bars, but calls failed. I tried an email, failed. Nothing was working.

I ended up meeting our daughter at baggage claim and were fortunate to grab her bag and meet up with my wife without incident. As we were driving away from the terminal, my email arrived...

Southwest Airlines was disappointing. Meeting a minor at the gate is no problem, airlines will give you a gate pass to get through security, but if you can't even remotely get there in time, what is the point? I realize that ticket agents are busy, but I was presumably put in the "quick" line because I wouldn't have burdened them for more than a minute. Which is exactly what ended up happening. I realize that I probably could have arrived at the airport sooner, but even 30 minutes earlier might not have been enough time.

AT&T was a complete FAIL. 4-5 bars of service means nothing when the backhaul isn't sufficient to meet demand. No doubt time of day and location are factors here, but reliability of absolutely zero is unacceptable anywhere given otherwise normal conditions.

But hey, its Friday. ;-)