From dan at thecsl.org Wed Jan 2 13:04:36 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:04:36 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] CDBG Public Hearing Schedule Message-ID: <477BD234.9080704@thecsl.org> The public hearing is scheduled for next Thursday, January 10th at 6:00 PM, at the Lowell Senior Center at 276 Broadway Street. The CSL is in the group who may arrive at 9:45PM We will have 3 minutes to speak on each of our two $20,000 proposals. 1) Hire youth apprentices to support Network Manager circuit rider 2) Make mvhub more usuable and used by low income people Muriel Parseghian, CSL board member and CDBG committee alumni points out that the more people we have at the hearing, the better. The committee is heavily influenced by public support. I plan to arrive @ the Dubliner on (197 Market St across from LTC very near the "gas with a kick" on Dutton St) at 8:00pm, enjoy a non-alchholic beverage and some greasy bar food, leave for the hearing @ 9:15pn. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 080102 PH Schedule2.xls Type: application/vnd.ms-excel Size: 20480 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.thecsl.org/pipermail/cadre-politics/attachments/20080102/32dcc9bb/attachment-0001.xls From mparseghian at majilite.com Wed Jan 2 13:27:30 2008 From: mparseghian at majilite.com (Parseghian, Muriel) Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 13:27:30 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] CDBG Public Hearing Schedule In-Reply-To: <477BD234.9080704@thecsl.org> References: <477BD234.9080704@thecsl.org> Message-ID: Dan: I am going to go to the hearing early to listen to as many of the other presentations as possible. Also, I will find out if LTC plans to film it for broadcast at a later date. Thanks. M. -----Original Message----- From: cadre-politics-bounces+mparseghian=majilite.com at lists.thecsl.org [mailto:cadre-politics-bounces+mparseghian=majilite.com at lists.thecsl.org ] On Behalf Of Dan MacNeil Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 1:05 PM To: cadre-politics at lists.thecsl.org Subject: [Cadre-politics] CDBG Public Hearing Schedule The public hearing is scheduled for next Thursday, January 10th at 6:00 PM, at the Lowell Senior Center at 276 Broadway Street. The CSL is in the group who may arrive at 9:45PM We will have 3 minutes to speak on each of our two $20,000 proposals. 1) Hire youth apprentices to support Network Manager circuit rider 2) Make mvhub more usuable and used by low income people Muriel Parseghian, CSL board member and CDBG committee alumni points out that the more people we have at the hearing, the better. The committee is heavily influenced by public support. I plan to arrive @ the Dubliner on (197 Market St across from LTC very near the "gas with a kick" on Dutton St) at 8:00pm, enjoy a non-alchholic beverage and some greasy bar food, leave for the hearing @ 9:15pn. ################################################################ ATTENTION - The information contained in this message, as well as any attachment, is confidential and/or privileged and intended only for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of the message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please immediately notify the sender by return e-mail, return the original message to the sender at the above e-mail address and delete the email and all attachments from your computer system. Thank you ################################################################ From dan at thecsl.org Fri Jan 4 13:27:45 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:27:45 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] 3:30pm Message-ID: <477E7AA1.4080308@thecsl.org> delayed by finishing inspirational status msg From dan at thecsl.org Fri Jan 4 13:12:04 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:12:04 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] status: Parker 2007 Message-ID: <477E76F4.3030903@thecsl.org> Andy's (51 Market St) lends a certain useful perspective to my status reporting. Especially on the first Thursday of the month which is "Spoken Word open mike night" As I started this status report, there was a guy barking like a dog "Art! Art! Art!", He was (considering the difficulty of his medium) pretty good. The crowd certainly dug it. Anyway, we've all been waiting for news from the Parker Foundation. Yesterday afternoon, I talked to Phil Hall. We weren't funded this round. Phil will (CC'd) correct me if I err, but the quick strong/weak points of our application: Strong: We are unique, nobody is doing what we do. There is a need for what we do. Many strong letters, calls and emails of support from Parker fundees who value what we do. Weak: Not a compelling business plan Not a conventional organization Funding #2 guy before #1 Before I talked to Phil I talked to one of our best customers, supporters and a avid reader of Cadre-Politics. Our friend advised me to ask Phil about applying for funding in the next round instead of waiting the year Parker usually requires between unfunded requests. I was psyching up to ask, when Phil suggested that such an earlier application might be possible. Moreover, Phil volunteered he'd talk with our friends at Jericho Road and with his friends at 3rd Sector New England about getting a better business plan together. We are not a conventional organization and that is probably part of our success. I'm going to need a few more rounds of tutoring to completely understand what we need to lose to move forward and what needs a little chrome plating so we can hide it and keep it. All of us are disappointed, especially Josh who will have to abrade a few more millimeters of his soul at his cushy well paid corporate job, and __ who will wait a bit longer for her server and reliable backups. All of us, (especially those of us who played violent high school sports) are tired of Vaseline on the teeth [1], inspirational cliches. [1] http://www.wikihow.com/Have-Spirit-in-Cheerleading So, of that, not so much. If the poetry dawg didn't lighten the now slightly darker bits of your soul, consider a donation at: http://thecsl.org/go/donate/ No worries if you don't have the full $50,000 we wanted from this round of Parker funding. We'd not have gotten as far as we did without your tech problems, letters and calls of support, hard work, prayers and (from you secular humorists) good vibrations. Thank you, you've done a lot. There is no crises. Our low, low overhead and Eric Bryant's hard work will keep us in the game, but we're better off with your spare money than we are without it. From dan at thecsl.org Fri Jan 4 22:39:29 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:39:29 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] From Felicia RE: status: Parker 2007 Message-ID: <477EFBF1.60205@thecsl.org> Felicia's note got discarded as she's not a subscriber to cadre-politics. ######### Subject: RE: status: Parker 2007 From: "Sullivan, Felicia" Dan, Sorry to hear the disappointing news. I'm cc'ing everyone (who may or may not be intersted), because as someone who also runs a small, shoestring tech-related NPO (www.organizerscollaborative.org), I (andour founder) too have had many conversations with funders like this. Questions of sustainability and impact always seem to be of concern. Even after nearly a decade of doing the work we do, serving thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations, our operating budget is still under $75K. We only have a 1/2 time ED and yet there is passion for our work and we accomplish a lot with little. The CSL seems in a similar place and I think some of the disconnect is that for those who fund techie projects something like the MVHub may not be sexy or hip enough (I know we have that problem at OC). And for those who fund community-based programs, it is often difficult to truly understand what really is required in terms of talent and resources to make something like the MVHub thrive on the technical side. As you know, software development is extremely expensive and in a market like this, the ability to get someone like Josh at $50K is a steal. I also think the kind of philosophy that pushes forth the open source software community is not understood well within the general culture. What I suggest, is that you perhaps talk to some folks who seem to have high visibility in doing this work and may be able to help (along with Jericho Road) in fleshing out your plans. I am thinking of folks like Michelle Murrian (www.nosi.net), Laura Quinn (www.idealware.org), and Alan Gunn (www.aspirationtech.org). Yet still, none of them actually develop software that they are trying to get support for. Given that the MVHub does not benefit from having a large open source community working on the code, the ability to get the development paid for I think will continue to prove to be difficult. OC has been struggling with this for over seven years and the CivicLab folks (who are much bigger with a larger OS community are still struggling). At OC we have also run into funders who don't want to fund our software development because we only have the one project. You might want to talk to David Guilhefe and pick his brain about the frustration of financially supporting a project like CiviCRM. I'm sure Rich Cowan (OC founder) would have much to share as well. It also seems to me that you are missing an opportunity to have folks who have benefited from the MVHub to kick in support via a grassroots fundraising campaign. OC generates about 20% of its budget each year from fundraising appeals. You might also want to think about what sorts of real value consulting services you think you could offer that might generate enough money to cover both the consulting time and contribute to overhead. For instance, Emily (whose cc'd here) is in conversations with Rich about customizing the Organizers' Database for CBA. While the software is free, these consulting gigs each contribute at least 15% to 25% of their profit back to the organization. Organizations are willing to pay for things they believe have value. Also, David Kronenberg was helpful this past summer at the OC conference in suggesting a way to identify a big ticket donor / patron / angel who would provide significant funds to support your work. The Progressive Technology Project (www.progressivetech.org), Grassroots.org, and the Tech Foundation (http://www.techfoundation.org) all are supported in this way. This may be where a combination of the GLCF and Jericho Road may assist too. So, apologies for this long post. Just wanted to share my perspective with you (and others who may be intersted). For my own selfish reason, I too am intersted in figuring these sorts of questions out as well. Later, - Felicia From dan at thecsl.org Tue Jan 8 11:52:02 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:52:02 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] @ andy's, gym, bank, Message-ID: <4783AA32.2050004@thecsl.org> At Andy's now. Had some good work this morning. I'm off to gym,bank,dog walking @ 1pm, back @ andy's at 3:30pm Would have made it to lab, but caught Eric's "working @ home" note. From dan at thecsl.org Tue Jan 8 12:38:15 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:38:15 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] politics vs nothere Message-ID: <4783B507.5030100@thecsl.org> There are two cadre lists I post to a lot. cadre-politics has 60 or so people on it and is for stuff of interest to our little community cadre-nothere is for the few people who are in the office a lot and want to keep each other in touch with their comings & goings. Lately, I've been getting them mixed. I suspect my gym schedule is not of general interest. My sincere (but not groveling) apologies, From dan at thecsl.org Wed Jan 9 10:12:01 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:12:01 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] URGENT: new time for CDBG hearing Message-ID: <4784E441.2090903@thecsl.org> I just got email from the city. We're on for: 8:30pm instead of: 9:45pm ...as previously scheduled. There will **NOT** be pre-party @ 8:00pm as previously scheduled. Energy permitting, there might be an after-party. We are still at: Lowell Senior Center (across from Market Basket) 276 Broadway Street Lowell, MA 01854 ..TOMORROW Thursday, Jan 10 2008 FYI, members of the committee are: Raymond Boutin Dennis Coffey Frachesska Descoteaux Tami Gouveia-Vigeant Marc Horne Garland Kemper Joshua McCabe Eric Nelson Ann Marie Page Paulette Renault-Carragianes Sophy Theam Schedule of presenting organizations attached: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 080107 Agenda Handouts.doc Type: application/msword Size: 144896 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.thecsl.org/pipermail/cadre-politics/attachments/20080109/fb554ec3/attachment-0001.doc From mparseghian at majilite.com Wed Jan 9 10:55:44 2008 From: mparseghian at majilite.com (Parseghian, Muriel) Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 10:55:44 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] URGENT: new time for CDBG hearing In-Reply-To: <4784E441.2090903@thecsl.org> References: <4784E441.2090903@thecsl.org> Message-ID: Dan: Can you send me the revised schedule? I will be at the Senior Center around 8:00 p.m.; I have to be somewhere else earlier in the evening. This is good; because by 9:45, the committee is pretty tired. See you tomorrow. M. -----Original Message----- From: cadre-politics-bounces+mparseghian=majilite.com at lists.thecsl.org [mailto:cadre-politics-bounces+mparseghian=majilite.com at lists.thecsl.org ] On Behalf Of Dan MacNeil Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 10:12 AM To: cadre-politics at lists.thecsl.org Cc: Christine Cole; Dan Toomey; Mehmed_Ali at nps.gov; Melissa Carino Subject: [Cadre-politics] URGENT: new time for CDBG hearing I just got email from the city. We're on for: 8:30pm instead of: 9:45pm ...as previously scheduled. There will **NOT** be pre-party @ 8:00pm as previously scheduled. Energy permitting, there might be an after-party. We are still at: Lowell Senior Center (across from Market Basket) 276 Broadway Street Lowell, MA 01854 ..TOMORROW Thursday, Jan 10 2008 FYI, members of the committee are: Raymond Boutin Dennis Coffey Frachesska Descoteaux Tami Gouveia-Vigeant Marc Horne Garland Kemper Joshua McCabe Eric Nelson Ann Marie Page Paulette Renault-Carragianes Sophy Theam Schedule of presenting organizations attached: ################################################################ ATTENTION - The information contained in this message, as well as any attachment, is confidential and/or privileged and intended only for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of the message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please immediately notify the sender by return e-mail, return the original message to the sender at the above e-mail address and delete the email and all attachments from your computer system. Thank you ################################################################ From dan at thecsl.org Sat Jan 12 21:05:14 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:05:14 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] how did 2008 CDBG hearing go In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <478971DA.1090205@thecsl.org> Parseghian, Muriel wrote: > Dan: > > How did it go last night? It was too long and drawn out. It is so > unfair for those agencies which were on late at night. Laura will correct me if I err, but I think it went ok. Thanks to Laura, Charlotte, Pete, (Mimi), Melissa, Dan T, Ali for coming out and (for being ready to come), Christine. Thanks also to Laura for walking the dogs when we got home even though she had to get up earlier than I did. The one committee member I know a little bit personally was smiling warmly. The rest of the committee was neither skeptic. nor overly enthusiastic. I think I covered all the points, we needed to cover. The possibility of using search results to determine needs got the most reaction. There were a few people blinking at the news that shelter was the most popular search and the Middlesex transitional living center was the most visited agency. (Thanks to Chris Shannon to figuring out we could measure this) I spoke too softly, but managed to speak into the mike. I said "umm" a fair amount. I mentioned LTC only twice. There is a chance for the public to enter comments into the record and I'll let people know about this in a shorter more focused message. It was obviously a political process. Democracy isn't possible without politics, this is a good thing. As odd as it sounds, it is pretty common for there to be overlap between For those following along at home, the federal government gives "Community Development Block Grants" to cities like Lowell. The government picks a citizen committee who picks the grantees. Everyone gets to submit, everyone gets (3 minutes) to speak. I spoke at about 11:30pm (scheduled for 8:30pm). I think Mimi was absolutely right to suggest we try for a big turn out. Next year, it would make more sense to (as Ali did) have people show up close to a break and make an effort to speak to individual committee members. ---Or we can compete with Victoria Falhberg & OneLowell.net to be the first group to submit a proposal, be the first group to speak, and bring a mob to the podium. From mparseghian at majilite.com Mon Jan 14 15:44:54 2008 From: mparseghian at majilite.com (Parseghian, Muriel) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:44:54 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] how did 2008 CDBG hearing go In-Reply-To: <478971DA.1090205@thecsl.org> References: <478971DA.1090205@thecsl.org> Message-ID: Dan: If we do not get any money, we will appeal. I am trying to find out about the process right now, just in case we will need to do it in the Spring. Mimi -----Original Message----- From: cadre-politics-bounces+mparseghian=majilite.com at lists.thecsl.org [mailto:cadre-politics-bounces+mparseghian=majilite.com at lists.thecsl.org ] On Behalf Of Dan MacNeil Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 9:05 PM Cc: cadre-politics at lists.thecsl.org Subject: Re: [Cadre-politics] how did 2008 CDBG hearing go Parseghian, Muriel wrote: > Dan: > > How did it go last night? It was too long and drawn out. It is so > unfair for those agencies which were on late at night. Laura will correct me if I err, but I think it went ok. Thanks to Laura, Charlotte, Pete, (Mimi), Melissa, Dan T, Ali for coming out and (for being ready to come), Christine. Thanks also to Laura for walking the dogs when we got home even though she had to get up earlier than I did. The one committee member I know a little bit personally was smiling warmly. The rest of the committee was neither skeptic. nor overly enthusiastic. I think I covered all the points, we needed to cover. The possibility of using search results to determine needs got the most reaction. There were a few people blinking at the news that shelter was the most popular search and the Middlesex transitional living center was the most visited agency. (Thanks to Chris Shannon to figuring out we could measure this) I spoke too softly, but managed to speak into the mike. I said "umm" a fair amount. I mentioned LTC only twice. There is a chance for the public to enter comments into the record and I'll let people know about this in a shorter more focused message. It was obviously a political process. Democracy isn't possible without politics, this is a good thing. As odd as it sounds, it is pretty common for there to be overlap between For those following along at home, the federal government gives "Community Development Block Grants" to cities like Lowell. The government picks a citizen committee who picks the grantees. Everyone gets to submit, everyone gets (3 minutes) to speak. I spoke at about 11:30pm (scheduled for 8:30pm). I think Mimi was absolutely right to suggest we try for a big turn out. Next year, it would make more sense to (as Ali did) have people show up close to a break and make an effort to speak to individual committee members. ---Or we can compete with Victoria Falhberg & OneLowell.net to be the first group to submit a proposal, be the first group to speak, and bring a mob to the podium. _______________________________________________ Cadre-politics mailing list Cadre-politics at lists.thecsl.org http://lists.thecsl.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cadre-politics ################################################################ ATTENTION - The information contained in this message, as well as any attachment, is confidential and/or privileged and intended only for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of the message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please immediately notify the sender by return e-mail, return the original message to the sender at the above e-mail address and delete the email and all attachments from your computer system. Thank you ################################################################ From dan at thecsl.org Tue Jan 15 14:44:32 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:44:32 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] funny customer service msg Message-ID: <478D0D20.5030005@thecsl.org> For some personal and possibly non UML happy projects, I've been using dreamhosting. Below is a message in a "human voice" -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [danmac9 15700124] Accidental Multiple Billings! Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:48:36 -0800 (PST) From: DreamHost Billing Team To: Dan MacNeil Hi Dan! Ack. Through a COMPLETE bumbling on our part, we've accidentally attempted to charge you for the ENTIRE year of 2008 (and probably 2009!) ALREADY (it was all due to a fat finger)! We're really really realllly embarassed about this, but you have nothing to worry about. Please ignore any confusing billing messages you may have received recently; we've already removed all those bum future charges on your account (#324811) and fixed everything up. Thank you very very much for your patience with this.. we PROMISE this won't happen again. There's no need to reply to this message unless of course you have any other questions at all! Sincerely, The Foolish DreamHost Billing Team! From dan at thecsl.org Tue Jan 15 21:07:12 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:07:12 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] even funnier human billing messag Message-ID: <478D66D0.2080303@thecsl.org> Another dreamhost customer forwwarded this to me: http://blog.dreamhost.com/2008/01/15/um-whoops/ If you like the last one, you'll like this one more. From dan at thecsl.org Tue Jan 15 23:38:29 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:38:29 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] free food & booze Thursday Jan 17 2008 Message-ID: <478D8A45.5090505@thecsl.org> By definition everyone on the cadre-politics list is a 'non profit leader' Last year, I think they had more food and booze than people. ######### The annual post holiday reception of the Non-Profit Alliance is on Thursday, January 17th, from 4:30-6:30pm. As is the past, this event is hosted by Enterprise Bank at 222 Merrimack Street (lower level), Lowell, MA. Please join us for food, drink, conversation, and a chance to relax and socialize with other non-profit leaders in Greater Lowell. You are also encouraged to bring in other non-profit leaders from the community as this can be a great networking event for future members of the NPA. David A. Turcotte, Sc.D. Center for Family, Work, and Community University of Massachusetts Lowell 600 Suffolk Street, First Floor South Lowell, MA 01854 Tel: 978-934-4682 Fax: 978-934-3026 Email: David_Turcotte at uml.edu From dan at thecsl.org Tue Jan 22 17:18:36 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:18:36 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] rant: stupid children Message-ID: <47966BBC.1040701@thecsl.org> I've lived in Lowell 11 years. I've walked through "bad" neighborhoods at all hours without suffering so much as an unkind word. Thursday night a masked kid stuck a gun in my face and said: "Give me your money" I was inclined to argue. The gun was 90% fake looking and the kid had to reach up over her head threaten me. I probably had 50 more pounds of muscle on her. A second later I saw three more kids with masks. Each was about my height. I took out my wallet. I gave one of the kids three dollars and put my wallet back in my pocket. The 3 of the kids started to run off, the one who took the money said "give me your phone". There was now only one skinny, kid with no obvious weapon facing me. I was again a little reluctant. I took it out, held it up but kept twitching it away. The other kids doubled back, and surrounded me again. I gave up the phone. The kids ran off. I walked 70 feet to the Dubiliner, a bar across the street from LTC and the national park. The bartender called 911. After the basic details. the first cop on the scene was most concerned with why I thought the robbers were kids and why I thought the gun was fake. This was when: "stupid, stupid kids" ...started to run through my head. As the beat cop observed, a fake gun lets somebody with a real gun to kill you without fear. There is no danger a fake gun will shoot back. Law and society offer no sympathy to people killed pointing a fake gun. As the beat cop finished with me, A detective arrived. We went over events again. The detective was hopeful that the call records on the phone would allow the cops to ask: "Who called you?" and: "Where do they live?" When I got home, Laura was asleep. I took the dogs for their good night walk. A few minutes after I got back, Laura's phone rang. It was the cops at the front door. I'd given them her number for obvious reasons. I'd figured to let her know about events the next morning. It was probably a good thing the call didn't come when I was walking the dogs. The cops had people they wanted me to look at: "You are going to be shown people, They may or many not be the people who committed the crime, so you should not feel compelled to make an identification. It is just as important to clear innocent people as it is to identify possible perpetrators. Whether or not you identify someone, the police will continue to investigate . . . Focus on the event: the place, view, lighting, your frame of mind, etc. Take as much time as you need.? I repeated my earlier descriptions, signed a form saying I understood the importance of clearing innocent people, got in the squad car and rode to where the 4 kids were linked up. I identified them from inside the car and from behind a bright light. The cops told me that the kids had been found walking back toward the original robbery location, with my cell phone & three fake guns, wearing the clothing I'd described. (Walmart's bargain line) In the bright light and from a position of safety, they were even smaller than I remembered. The police report says 3 males and 1 female, 2 adult (16+ years) and 2 juveniles were arrested within 90 minutes of the original robbery and charged with "Armed Robbery while Masked" I am not a lawyer and Google is not law library, but in Massachusetts the minimum penalty for a first offense of "masked armed robbery" is 5 years in prison. That is a long time for a 16 year old. For several days, I've muttered, "How could they be so stupid? ...keeping my phone, returning to the crime area, wearing the same clothing, keeping the masks on, using fake guns, risking death and prison. All this risk for $3 and a 4 year old phone? Sometimes, it helps to put yourself in somebody else's place. Some years ago, my carelessness left me stranded in the Port Authority. Before that day, I saw people begging for bus fare as lazy scammers. After 4 hours of begging, I had $2. I was a desperate and humiliated begger. Even if the people routinely asking for money feel a fraction of that desperation and humiliation, I don't grudge them the change in my pocket. From the agencies we (http://thecsl.org) provide services to, I know there are children in Lowell have grim, grim lives. Shoes with holes in the winter slush is a cliche. Cliched or not feet are still numb. I don't know if the kids that robbed me were hungry, bored, or just wanted a 2nd Sony play station. It is mostly from books that I know lives ugly enough to motivate armed robbery. I like to think I would need to be close to starvation to think of it. I don't know what think of this whole thing.. I am baffled as to why any remotely rational person, (amoral or not) would do something this stupid. I wish I'd thought to ask when I had the chance. I'm a pretty conflicted and guilt ridden guy. The waste and misery of children in prison frustrates and confuses me. However, sending these kids to prison is probably a good idea. If we have to have mugging victims, I'm a good one. I am not emotionally attached to the $3 in my wallet. I don't have porous calcium deficient bones. Until the whistle blew, I was pretty happy to for the chance to hurt other high school football players. After a 18 months of regular gym time, I chest press (almost) my own weight now. Being beaten unconscious is no fun, but it isn't an unknown terror for me. I doubt that the kids were looking for durable victims. Threatening strangers and taking their money is crossing a big boundary. From the police report, it turns out the "fake" guns were BB guns. Googling on: (with quotes) "shot in face with BB gun" is reassuring. Googling on: "BB gun eye" is not reassuring. If I lose my left eye, I'm blind. I was robbed near senior housing. Tug of war with a feisty or senile old person on slippery ground would break a hip. My careful conclusion that prison is a reasonable and likely outcome for criminals doesn't reduce my confusion and frustration. I don't feel powerless because I was robbed and might be robbed again in the next 11 years. I feel powerless because the odds are very, very good that "the system" is as much a part of these kids misery and waste as their own actions. 10 percent of the this country owns 76% of its wealth. The richest 76 thousand people own more than poorest 96 million people. As near as I can tell, the rich, or even the moderately well off, are not often tempted by crimes of desperation. I feel powerless because I've spent a big chuck of my adult life trying to improve "the system". Rationally, I know that getting robbed doesn't make the my work useless, but I'm not yet the Vulcan. For some days, I was tempted to do make even a small dramatic gesture. I thought of accepting the Acre Youth Center's low key offer to mentor a (hopefully) college bound kid. I thought to not not charge UTEC even the fraction of market rate we are now charging for custom work. I discarded these and other possible gestures because I'm already behind on the CSL commitments I've made. It is my hope that eventually after some more years of effort that these commitments will be part of a better system. Software and more generally information is wealth. Free software is a way to redistribute wealth without killing the rich. While I'm not one of the 76,000, I am rich relative to the world and big parts of Lowell. I'm all in favor of not killing or robbing the rich. Links: # Lowell Sun Police Notes newspaper story # of robbery will require payment # in a week or so. http://www.lowellsun.com//ci_7997922?IADID=Search-www.lowellsun.com-www.lowellsun.com # paper arguing that "tough on crime" laws # hurt victims by hding more likely threats http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/nwsa_journal/v017/17.3wood.html # contact info for Acre Youth Center http://mvhub.com/cgi-bin/guide/guide.pl?rm=show_program&program_id=500132 # global rich list http://www.globalrichlist.com/ From dan at thecsl.org Thu Jan 31 23:42:20 2008 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 23:42:20 -0500 Subject: [Cadre-politics] News flash: John Miller gets a job :-> Message-ID: <47A2A32C.2030806@thecsl.org> John Miller is working at part of H*rvard.edu coding in php and mysql. 9-5 in Cambridge. I'd say which part but then I couldn't share this titillating bit of gossip without fear of google alerts and PR depts: They don't use version control. ...and therefore score a little worse than they could on the Prophet Joel's easy 12 step self test.(we score a 7) http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html