So much has been said on this subject already, I don't feel I have much to add, so I haven't. I guess I can point out I was on the side of letting her live.
Perhaps more notably, it's seldom I find myself on the same side of an issue as Jesse Jackson. I really don't have much respect for the man. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to have full-time civil rights activists (or in his case, with Al Sharpton, agitators) when the core issues of the civil rights movement have already been settled and won. But Jackson stepped up to the plate in what is arguably a real civil rights issue, and while unsuccessful, he was stood for what I feel was good and right. Kudos to him.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Mini-Microsoft: Better off without Ballmer?
Mini-Microsoft: Better off without Ballmer?
This is an intensely interesting read, especially when you consider that it's a Microsoft employee who wrote it. This further justifies my approach to employment at Microsoft, that I'm motivated more by the opportunity to learn stuff that will be long-term useful to my career, regardless of where that takes me, than to become heavily invested in Microsoft stock given as rewards for good work.
This is an intensely interesting read, especially when you consider that it's a Microsoft employee who wrote it. This further justifies my approach to employment at Microsoft, that I'm motivated more by the opportunity to learn stuff that will be long-term useful to my career, regardless of where that takes me, than to become heavily invested in Microsoft stock given as rewards for good work.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Window Factory
I was talking to a friend this weekend about past jobs, and it struck me the analogy between a job I had long ago and what I've had recently. When I was 18, I worked for a summer in a window factory. Now, I'm at Microsoft in what could be called the Windows factory.
To take a merely amusing analogy further, when I was 18, my job was as a glazer, putting the glass in the windows. My first role at Microsoft was Windows Server Community Lead, trying to get the development team's work to be more visible to customers. So, one could say that in both window factories, I was involved in transparency.
To take a merely amusing analogy further, when I was 18, my job was as a glazer, putting the glass in the windows. My first role at Microsoft was Windows Server Community Lead, trying to get the development team's work to be more visible to customers. So, one could say that in both window factories, I was involved in transparency.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Crime & Punishment in Suburbia
http://imdb.com/title/tt0197384/
It's been awhile since I saw a movie I liked as much as this one. It's one of the benefits of the Blockbuster movie pass - instead of feeling like I'm taking a chance with my four bucks on a movie that may be awful, I can rent movies about which I know nothing and if they are awful, just run back over to the store and get something else. I was skeptical that this would be very good, and the IMDB rating of 5.7 isn't in the realm of where I would have expected much.
But instead, I think this one was well acted and contained enough in the way of interesting characters that I was hooked in quickly and cared about what happened to them. Most interesting is the character of Vincent, played by Vincent Kartheiser. He has some cliche elements of the stalker freak at the high school who follows around his favorite girl and takes her picture from the shadows and occasionally does odd things like offer her a necklace of garlic in the middle of science class. But where such a character would normally be the classic "goth", in ever scene he's smiling as though all of life entertains him. He's also the only character in the movie with a strong sense of morality and unlike so many Hollywood heroes, his morality is even allowed to come from basic Christian beliefs.
Also intriguing about the movie is that every character, no matter how far they fall, they have redeeming qualities. Even the step-father, played by Michael Ironside, who commits one of the worst acts in the story, has moments of peace where you think he need not have turned out so bad.
It's been awhile since I saw a movie I liked as much as this one. It's one of the benefits of the Blockbuster movie pass - instead of feeling like I'm taking a chance with my four bucks on a movie that may be awful, I can rent movies about which I know nothing and if they are awful, just run back over to the store and get something else. I was skeptical that this would be very good, and the IMDB rating of 5.7 isn't in the realm of where I would have expected much.
But instead, I think this one was well acted and contained enough in the way of interesting characters that I was hooked in quickly and cared about what happened to them. Most interesting is the character of Vincent, played by Vincent Kartheiser. He has some cliche elements of the stalker freak at the high school who follows around his favorite girl and takes her picture from the shadows and occasionally does odd things like offer her a necklace of garlic in the middle of science class. But where such a character would normally be the classic "goth", in ever scene he's smiling as though all of life entertains him. He's also the only character in the movie with a strong sense of morality and unlike so many Hollywood heroes, his morality is even allowed to come from basic Christian beliefs.
Also intriguing about the movie is that every character, no matter how far they fall, they have redeeming qualities. Even the step-father, played by Michael Ironside, who commits one of the worst acts in the story, has moments of peace where you think he need not have turned out so bad.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Real Estate Excise Tax
My brother Adam asked me today about the move in the Washington State Legislature to increase the Real Esate Excise tax, something with which I'm particularly familiar, having just paid it on the recent sale of my house. Here's my reply to him.
When you sell a house, this is a tax levied by the county or the city or the school board or some combination of them levies on the seller of the house. How much depends on where you are - it's a state law that gives local governments the right to do this, but doesn't mandate it or the amount. The various government bodies that can hit you with the tax each have limits on how much tax they can apply, like .004% for this one, and .0025% for that one. Looking at my closing docs, it appears that in Redmond Ridge, it's currently 1.78%, which was about $9,113 in tax I just pay out as the seller.
Except for the real estate commissions, which are usually 6% for houses under $1 million, it's the biggest chunk of money that reduces that what you get for the sale of the house. It's also useless to the seller, because the seller is typically moving out of the area where the money will be used. That's an easy win to get passed through the legislature because the people that have to pay it are not the ones that benefit.
Interestingly enough, there's a clause in the law that says that if the government hasn't used the money within six years, you then have a year's time (so between year six and seven of paying it) to ask for it back and if you do, you get it back with interest. I've never heard of anyone asking for it back and can't imagine anyone actually getting the money even if they did.
The bill as it stands now (which may not be it's final form) is here:
http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2005-06/Htm/Bills/House%20Bills/2196-S.htm
If it passes, I guess it doesn't mean that anyone's taxes will raise immediately, it just means that local government is authorized to raise them. Of course, such authorization is practically the same thing anyway.
When you sell a house, this is a tax levied by the county or the city or the school board or some combination of them levies on the seller of the house. How much depends on where you are - it's a state law that gives local governments the right to do this, but doesn't mandate it or the amount. The various government bodies that can hit you with the tax each have limits on how much tax they can apply, like .004% for this one, and .0025% for that one. Looking at my closing docs, it appears that in Redmond Ridge, it's currently 1.78%, which was about $9,113 in tax I just pay out as the seller.
Except for the real estate commissions, which are usually 6% for houses under $1 million, it's the biggest chunk of money that reduces that what you get for the sale of the house. It's also useless to the seller, because the seller is typically moving out of the area where the money will be used. That's an easy win to get passed through the legislature because the people that have to pay it are not the ones that benefit.
Interestingly enough, there's a clause in the law that says that if the government hasn't used the money within six years, you then have a year's time (so between year six and seven of paying it) to ask for it back and if you do, you get it back with interest. I've never heard of anyone asking for it back and can't imagine anyone actually getting the money even if they did.
The bill as it stands now (which may not be it's final form) is here:
http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2005-06/Htm/Bills/House%20Bills/2196-S.htm
If it passes, I guess it doesn't mean that anyone's taxes will raise immediately, it just means that local government is authorized to raise them. Of course, such authorization is practically the same thing anyway.
Back from the Near Dead
My blog has sat idle for some time now, but that makes me unhappy. I like to write to my blog.
First, I had all the moving stuff. That's finally done, as I've mentioned.
Then, I had a trip to Maryland to visit Olympia and the kids.
The last day of my trip, I started filling ill. As it turns out, I had the flu, and I had it worse than I can remember since I was a kid. I have a vague memory from childhood about being that sick. I think it was during the time we lived in Alaska before our 18 month sojourn to Arizona. I recall laying in bed utterly miserable and Dad coming in to check on me periodically and looking really worried. That was over twenty years ago, but especially last Thursday, I think I was there again.
I'm still under the weather, coughing and having occasional other weirdness going on, but I'm up and reasonably functional again. We had our daily bug triage meeting a little over an hour ago, and during that meeting I suddenly felt like my right eye was going to just start spewing blood or something, there was so much pressure there, but then it just kind of went away. Let's all hope that stuff doesn't continue.
First, I had all the moving stuff. That's finally done, as I've mentioned.
Then, I had a trip to Maryland to visit Olympia and the kids.
The last day of my trip, I started filling ill. As it turns out, I had the flu, and I had it worse than I can remember since I was a kid. I have a vague memory from childhood about being that sick. I think it was during the time we lived in Alaska before our 18 month sojourn to Arizona. I recall laying in bed utterly miserable and Dad coming in to check on me periodically and looking really worried. That was over twenty years ago, but especially last Thursday, I think I was there again.
I'm still under the weather, coughing and having occasional other weirdness going on, but I'm up and reasonably functional again. We had our daily bug triage meeting a little over an hour ago, and during that meeting I suddenly felt like my right eye was going to just start spewing blood or something, there was so much pressure there, but then it just kind of went away. Let's all hope that stuff doesn't continue.
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