Nick Bradbury

Regrets About Aaron Swartz

Aaron Swartz wrote about me when he was a teenager. As you can see, he was not a fan.

His insulting headline didn't really bother me - I had done tech support for several years by then, so I was used to far worse. But I did use it as an excuse to ignore him, and I regret that. He went on to do great things, and had I reached out to him back then, perhaps I could've learned from him. Who knows, perhaps he could've learned a bit from me despite our differences over software piracy.

Now that I'm catching up on his life and his accomplishments, I'm saddened, disappointed, and just plain pissed at what we've lost.

Tennessee Storms

My family can be counted among the lucky ones who escaped the full impact of last night's storms here in Tennessee. 

For a while, we weren't sure we'd be so lucky.  Just after 9pm, a tornado siren less than two miles from our subdivision sounded off, and stepping outside I heard what sounded like a jet plane roaring overhead.  We quickly brought our two children downstairs to the safest place in the house, where they stayed until morning.

The sirens continued sporadically until sometime after 2am, but somehow the worst of the storm passed right by us, leaving our area relatively unscathed.

Others weren't so fortunate.  My heart goes out to those who lost their loved ones, homes and communities in the series of deadly tornadoes that tore through the region during the night.

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut has died at the age of 84. Vonnegut's blend of dark humor and moral vision made his novels among my favorites. Discovering Vonnegut's work was like finding a kindrid spirit, and I'm sad to see him go. (Via Brent Simmons).

Torn on Iraq

I have been opposed to the war in Iraq since day one, but unlike some who are against the war, I do believe that the threat posed by Islamic extremists is one we should take seriously. There is a religious war taking place, but it's not about one religion versus another: it's a war against religious extremism. This is a war that demands - and deserves - our sacrifice.

But the war against extremism should've been fought without the unrealistic goal of a democratic Iraq. Taking the battle to Iraq was a colossal blunder, made worse by the deception used to justify it. Thinking we could execute this war without the world's support showed a level of arrogance matched only by the arrogance of an administration that now thinks it can expand the war without the support of the American people.

As much as I believe the war in Iraq was unjustified, I fear that if we leave now, we risk seeing the country turn into a more dangerous foe than it was under Saddam Hussein's rule (especially with Iran and Syria added to the mix). Yet nothing I heard in last night's deer-in-the-headlights presidential address gave me any hope of a solution. I find it hard to believe that sending 20,000 additional troops - most of them to Baghdad - would significantly change the situation.

So I find myself torn over what our country should do now. I'm not pessimistic by nature, but I see no acceptable way out of the intolerable mess we're in.

Hate Mail

OK, I'm used to getting an assortment of smear-laden campaign flyers around election time, but today my mailbox is practically stuffed with them.  Only one of the mailings even mentioned what the candidate stood for - the rest were filled with talk about the "questionable values" of the other candidate.

It's getting increasingly rare that I vote for someone instead of against someone, and sadly, this election season looks to be no different.

What is happening to my country?

Rob Fahrni is right: while it could've been worse, this is still a mistake. One of many. Way too many. It stuns me that so many people are still kowtowing to this insult of an administration.

I hope that when my kids are older, they look back at this period in our history as an aberration rather than as the time "when it all started."

NSA Demon

This morning one of my FeedDemon watches turned up this WashingtonPost.com article about the NSA's harvesting of phone records. My watch was for the keyword "FeedDemon" so I was surprised to see this article turn up - and I was even more surprised to see that the article listed FeedDemon among the software tools used by the NSA.

Based on the subject of the article, I initially assumed that the software listed was all used for the illegal collection of phone records, but a closer read showed that the list was simply of software that was used by the NSA for any reason (whew!).

Trouble in Paradise

Last week my family spent several days in a very nice all-inclusive hotel about an hour's drive from Cancun, Mexico. It was great to get away, and as with most vacations I take, I deliberately avoided watching the news (choosing instead to relax under the sun with a good book).

So it was a complete surprise to discover that a grisly double homicide took place at the hotel while we were there. My wife and I were stunned to hear about it, especially since we saw no indication that anything out of the ordinary had happened (we noticed no unusual police presence, for example).

We had talked about visiting the same hotel later this year, but we're not so sure now that questions have been raised about how local authorities have handled the investigation. There is some speculation that they've attempted to pin the crime on non-locals to avoid hurting tourism in the area (which is already reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma). Needless to say, we'll be watching this story closely over the next few weeks.

New Orleans Outrage

I've made it a practice to avoid political commentary in this blog, but this goes beyond politics, and I can't hold my voice.

Regardless of where you reside in the political spectrum, I have to believe you're as angered as I am with the way our government - both local and federal - handled the foreseeable disaster that hit New Orleans. The disconnect between what took place and what our officials said took place is infuriating, and it demands a response not just from the citizens of New Orleans, but from every last one of us as well.

At a time when we're warned that terrorist attacks are a certainty, how can we be so ill-prepared to help those affected by this disaster? How can any of us believe our own local governments are capable of providing protection?

I'm disgusted with those we've elected to run our government, and with those who apologize for them. I'm disgusted with the photo ops and needless delays while our fellow citizens are living in third-world conditions.

For now, most of us are focusing on what we can do to help. I imagine many Americans have had discussions like the one my wife and I had this morning, where we tried to figure out not only how much we can afford to give, but also where and when to give. But down the road, after we've all opened our hearts and wallets wider than we believed possible, outrage will take over.

Our country will be rocked by this tragedy for years to come. And it should be.

Katrina

I've been in Denver most of this week, and like much of the world, when I wasn't working I was glued to the incoming stream of news about Hurricane Katrina and its awful aftermath. Lately I've been stressing about my pending surgery, but now I'm aware of how small my problems are in contrast to the problems borne by the survivors of this disaster.

In the past I've donated sales of my software to relief agencies, and I'm pleased to see that NewsGator is continuing this practice. I'm also donating my next paycheck to disaster relief, but that's a small sacrifice in comparison to the deeds of NewsGator's Anita Taylor, who is heading to Houston for five days of volunteer work.

BTW, if you've been trying to make a donation to the American Red Cross and have found their site very slow to access, you can always make a donation through Amazon.com, or simply mail the check to:

American Red Cross
Hurricane 2005 Relief
PO Box 37243
Washington, DC 20013

And if you're looking to give to an agency other than the Red Cross, there are plenty to choose from.