How to get started?

I just can't seem to keep any momentum at all in this blog. Part of that comes from not having a burning issue that I want to hammer on all the time. When I have the opportunity to sit down and write out an entry, I'm usually at work, and I feel guilty for doing it, even on my break. Then when I have the perfect time to do it and really feel like it, I either don't have a computer available or no Internet connection. I look around at my friends and my daughter, and their blogging at least several times a week. They're also on Ravelry and other venues.

I think from now on I'll treat this as a letter to my friends.

I'll try to upload more pictures. I have lots of good ones that I just haven't resized and uploaded to Flickr. I've been taking some baby steps into the craft of knitting.

Poison Ivy

I recently found out what poison ivy looks like, and this is it.

Getting the Family Outdoors

If you're anywhere near Austin or Kyle, Texas, here is an interesting event for your family, especially if you have young children. Outdoor Family Event. Getting your kids connected with nature is a cure for all sorts of ills, and produces more balanced, well-rounded individuals. Give it a try!

Padre Island

Idyllic Scene

This is one of my favorite watercolor sketches. I've done copies of it several times, no two of which ever come out the same.

Homelessness a Choice

I just saw an article on the website of the City of Ft. Worth that stated that the "Homeless Czar" of the United States was coming to that city. It went on to say that Mayor Mike Moncrief would express his concerns over the "homelessness crisis" there. There are 4,000 people living on the streets of Ft. Worth.

I have seen interviews with some of the homeless, and they indicate that they have a great deal of freedom that they wouldn't want to give up for a permanent address. With our government at all levels taxing us to distraction, funding a war across the planet, and wasting money right and left, sometimes I sympathize with those we usually consider "less fortunate".

I once saw a documentary about a homeless man. The film crew arranged for him to "find" $100,000, then followed him as he spent it all in about six months, and once again moved in under a bridge. He "didn't want nobody telling [him] what to do."

Well, maybe the government can supply housing to some of them who want it, but they won't eliminate the phenomenon. And we'll have another government program to waste our money. On the other hand, if there wasn't so much government control over our lives, we would all find a place to sleep, and no one would worry about it.

Digital Millenium Copyright Act - Public Enemy No. 2

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998 was the second worst piece of legislation in recent memory. It sold all the public's rights to use and modify ideas over to large media companies, and made it possible for companies such as Disney and the large recording companies to use technology to prevent their own customers from exercising the rights which we still retain. If a computer professional writes software to overcome these barriers to fair use, they are breaking the law to enforce a right. How does this make sense?

We've had the infamous DMCA for 9 years now, and there are a host of unintended consequences. Congress, in buying a bill of goods from Hollywood and the Recording Industry of America, passed the DMCA based on lies, and the results are disastrous. You really must read this article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.