The Jackson File

blogDecatur takes another hit!

2005-11-07T15:10:00.000-06:00

Talk about a bad weekend!

The thunderstorms that rolled through Saturday night whacked the poor little computer again. As a result, I’ll be rebuilding the site pretty much from scratch – on a different machine, with totally new hard drives and everything…

I really like linux - it’s put up with a lot of ups and downs (that’s power up’s and downs in 5-45 second intervals) It’s a real bummer though that while I was able to find a back up superblock that looked good, the lightning storm came along right in the middle of the restore and *pop* no more restore!

Lol – doubtless some of the *other* bloggers out there will say blogDecatur is suffering the wrath of God (I’m wondering about that myself!!!) ;) But never fear – it’ll be back – with all new and improved hardware!!!!

Seriously, I’ve got to go by the City Council meeting tonight (Near Westside TIF being discussed in the study session – and I really want to be in on that), but I’ll be going by Cerro Gordo tomorrow evening (putting in storm windows on my parent’s house) and pulling seeing if either of the hard drives are salvageable HDD’s to use in a RAID setup…

So…BD should be up within a couple of days now – barring more lighting, floods, plagues of locusts, etc….

Matthew

The trouble with blogDecatur…

2005-11-04T12:48:00.000-06:00

My empire is actually based in the basement of a “secure undisclosed location” in Cerro Gordo. As fate would have it, as close as I can tell at about 2pm on Friday, November 4, Ameren saw fit to rapidly flip the power on and off for an extended period of time, then rounded the day out by giving the town (or my parent’s half of it) a nice little surge. Bottom line – the surge protector blogDecatur was hooked up to wasn’t good enough (I bought a new on from Best Buy in Bloomington at lunch today), and I hadn’t *quite* gotten around to setting up that RAID 1 setup I keep talking about….Bottom line: my little linux box boots, but the disk partition that holds blogDecatur has a corrupted superblock (that’s bad, but not necessarily fatal). I didn’t have a big enough hard drive handy last night when I started troubleshooting, so I couldn’t fix it on the spot, but I should have everything I need now.

Since it looks like it will be down for a little while (today and tomorrow, at least), I’m going to use this opportunity to tidy up the server, update the OS (I think there’s a new version of CENT OS out), and get the latest version of Scoop & mySQL.

If I can, I’ll transfer over all the previous posts/comments and accounts…If I can’t get the superblock back, we’ll have a completely fresh look on Monday! ;)

And yes, on Monday, I *will* have RAID 1 (that’s redundant hard disks for you non technical folks) working; along with a shiny new UPS!!!!!

Thanks for your patience,

Matthew

What’s still going on at DMH?

2005-08-08T23:42:00.000-05:00

The original thread had so many messages in it, blogspot was having major problems posting it (I’m sure you’ve noticed!). Their soloution: “start another thread”. So here goes –

What’s going on at DMH now?

ps - thanks to watcher2300 for getting a full page load of the 688 messages - I'been trying to get that for the past week!

Matthew

blogdecatur.com

2005-05-28T21:10:00.000-05:00

blogDecatur.com
I'll shamelessly flog the new site here.
I'll be positng more and more on www.blogdecatur.com and encourage you to do the same!

It's centered on Decatur and it's environs, and I'd like to see it be a blog-hub for everyone in central-illinois.

Come on over, take a look, and start a bolg (diary) of your own!

Matthew

What's going on at DMH?

2005-05-02T06:52:00.000-05:00

I'm curious about this one.
I know the physicians in Decatur are considering circling the wagons, and bracing for some sort of federal investigation - so far I haven't been able to figure out exactly what is being investigated! As far as I can tell, the doc's themselves don't know what's up, either.
Subpoenas are flying right and left (120 is the number I've heard). It does seem a little odd that DMH, being a major employer and a major player in the city, isn't doing all they can to get out in front of this issue.

Anybody have ideas on what's up?
Is DMH building a Carle-style empire?
What are the fed's looking into?

To lower the price of gas, we need to build more nuclear power plants; to lower the price of food, we need to all plant chives.

2005-04-29T21:53:00.000-05:00

Makes sense, right?

Hmmm… The trouble with everyone planting chives is, while they’re edible, and tasty in their own, strange way, they don’t make a full meal. The same is true with nuclear power. Now, I can speak with some experience on this topic, so I apologize in advance if what you are about to read seems a little dry. Sometimes the truth is that way.

With few exceptions, power plants come in two flavors: those that make a steam generator turn by burning fossil fuels (usually *coal* or *natural gas*), or those that do the same thing by generating heat through controlled nuclear fission reaction. Not surprisingly, the way the power plants (generating units) operate fall into three distinct categories, too. Nuclear generating units are wonderful at supplying “base load”, coal plants are good at meeting, predictable energy demand in a fairly cost-effective manner, and (natural) gas plants are excellent as short-term, high-demand “peaking” units. One interesting thing I learned while I was on a project was that the cost of energy fluctuates widely throughout the day, as demand on the system changes. In the middle of the night, for instance electricity is incredibly cheap, while in the late afternoon, especially on hot, muggy days in the summer, power can cost an amazingly high price. Why? Well, it turns out while you can turn natural gas generating units off (very quickly – they’re pretty-much jet-engines hooked up to a generator!) and you can “ramp-down” coal plants over a few hours, you really can’t do much to a nuclear plant. Once the reaction is started, the system generates what it generates – for the most part, it’s a “use it or lose it” affair. In Central Illinois, our power producing neighbor to the north, Commonwealth Edison, is nuke-heavy. So, in low-demand periods, CE can pretty much supply all of Illinois’ power from their “base” generation. In effect, the *Chicago* area’s daytime “base” load is almost equal to the *whole State’s* nighttime “base” load.
Sooo right now - It’s cheaper for CE to sell the power they generate at incredibly low prices than is to ramp-down their nuclear generating units overnight (if that’s even possible – arguably it’s not, - or at very least it’s more dangerous than leaving them alone)
Which begs the question – why would anyone argue the need for more Nuclear generating units? Answer: we don’t!!!! I’d say we’re pretty much in the perfect position right now: Lowest demand periods are served almost 100% by “base” generators at a very low cost per MW, so we’re not wasting any energy we can’t turn off. And when we need it, we ramp up more expensive and more immediately noxious coal units. Finally if we really have to, we spin up the peaking units – they’re expensive, noisy, and thankfully only there for short-term use. It’s a pretty well balanced system right now.
Personally, I’d like to see large, distributed wind-farms eventually the place of the base load plants (it’s always windy somewhere – insert your own joke here!), but that’s another conversation.

Bottom line: Nukes are here, and we can use what we’ve got, but we don’t need any more!

Hey! So far, I’ve not mentioned how any of this relates to the price of crude oil. Well, strangely enough it doesn’t. Gas-powered generators of any serious size are fired by *natural gas* - you know, that stuff that smells bad and comes out of the ground right here in the US? There are smaller emergency/backup generators that run on diesel or gasoline, but they’re relatively small in the first place. Your power company isn’t using 87 octane gasoline – really! It’s a simple trick of the English language that most of us think of “Gasoline” when we hear “Gas” or “fossil fuel”. And that’s the point! The high price of crude oil is simply meant to raise outrage among the people…It’ll drop once the President gets his way – funny how that works! I’m sarcastic, I know, but deep down you know it’s true.

On the “new refinery on military bases” issue – I simply take this as a hint that in 2009 we’ll discover Halliburton is building a new refinery for Unocal. What’s the nearest accessible military base to ANWR? No surprise there. The administration has to thank those who made it all possible, after all. I’m sure the President thinks of it as his own “retirement savings account”.

So what is the “energy bill” all about? Taking care of the President’s friends, of course! What – you expected something else?

Trouble with blogspot

2005-04-23T15:47:00.000-05:00

This post may not make it out, but is anyone else having trouble with blogspot?
I have a high-speed connection that allows me to run servers, and I'm tempted to move to my own host. Anyone else interested in following? It might be a good weekend exercise - just to see what is involved in runnin a blog-host. I don't expect it's much harder than running a shoestring website. lol - I don't think I'm going to get a million hits a second any time soon!

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Update: I just noticed several of my problems go away when I use IE (I usually use Firefox at home) - anyone else notice this?

Unions in the US, city raises, and what's up?

2005-04-19T12:29:00.000-05:00

I’ve been wanting to write a blurb on this topic for a couple of months now, and not had the inspiration to make it more than a few lines. Last night at the City Council meeting, I watched a little exchange between Mike Carrigan and Steve Garmin that started me thinking.

I’m a pro-union kind of guy – I’ll say that right up front. My father was a union member at the at the Decatur Firestone plant for over 30 years (“clock number 500” - I think I heard it a thousand times) The money he made put me through Millikin, bought a nice set of encyclopedias (pre-internet!), and paid for fun trips to places like St. Augustine, Vicksburg, and Shiloh, etc, etc. etc. Personally, unions have been good to me. During my time at Firestone as an engineer, I was helped to no end by “the guys in the plant”. Likewise, at Staley, ADM, Wagner, the folks on the floor have an understanding of operations that can only be gained by spending time. When I switched jobs in 1996, I came about 5 days away from going to the IBEW hall and trying to turn myself into an electrician (I would have definitely been the “one-wire” variety!)

This is a tangent, so feel free to skip to the next paragraph if you like…One of my favorite guys from Firestone could tell how his equipment (a pin vent trimmer) was working by the sound of the leaks in its air hoses. During a strike, I was assigned to the area (I didn’t have much choice – Dad was on strike!) We were running at low capacity, so I fixed the air leaks (silly me – thinking I was saving money in the long run!) When the strike finally ended, I was given a good talking to by the union guy for “changing the sound” of his equipment! The painful part of the tale is that he wasn’t able to hear the next malfunction before it happened, so we ended up having to take the machine down to fix, where if I had not fixed the leaks he could have fixed it with minor adjustment. The point here is: union (really the people at the operations-level) people usually have process knowledge that’s more practical, and usually much more valuable, than most everyone else.

OK, back to the topic at hand. So here we are in 2005, and what is the role of the modern union? First, I freely admit that these are rough thoughts. As I mentioned, this is a topic I’ve been thinking about for some time, and it’s still a developing notion.
I think it’s clear the current model under which unions exist has must evolve. The power of collective bargaining and the right to strike that gave unions teeth in the 20th century are simply not as effective in a global marketplace. Transportation costs are low enough, and the global workforce (outside the developed world) is poor enough that manufacturers can simply move offshore. – We’ve seen it time and time again.
In the past 20 years or so, the union movement had concentrated on improving its political connections. I don’t think it’s gone very well. In spite of their efforts, we live in an era filled pension plan raiders, personal retirement accounts, and social security reductions. Yet still a majority of average folk vote for non-union friendly administrations!!! The problem, as I see it, is that the current union leader’s mindsets are fine – for industries and areas where workers are being exploited, and for jobs (it’s not flattering, but it’s true) where workers are regarded as interchangeable “cogs” in the machine. Are there places like this? Sure! How is the Chinese union movement doing? Ah banned it’s by the government, yet they’re a “Most Favored Nation”! How’s the Mexican labor movement – they’re a NAFTA partner, after all. Ah – it’s not doing so well, either. So, I think one of the most important things the US labor movement can do is export its beliefs to the rest of the world.
The labor movement in the US is a complex thing. The movement is struggling with the awful (and detrimental) “I don’t care about you – I only take care of myself” attitude of so many people, the political success of anti-union forces (who voted for GW- an awful lot of rank-and-filers!), and the resulting progress of market internationalization. It’s tough out there!

You’ll get no argument from me that the work environment in the US today is not union-friendly. As a consultant, I have to, on a regular basis, justify my existence. No kidding. At least once every year, and more often once a quarter, I have to report how my activity has resulted in cost savings, or profit for the client more than my incurred expenses have cost them. It’s just a fact of life for me. In the past, I’ve gotten as much as 15% raises, and as little as 0% – based on the ability to generate savings/profit/satisfaction for my employer. My point here is that the work environment we exist in is very volatile. A great advantage of being in a modern union is the shielding from the unforeseeable yearly ups and downs the rest of us have to face. Effectively it’s a trade of potential earnings for stability.

And this (finally!) brings me back the exchange that irked me in the Council meeting. It seems telling to me that Councilman Carrigan can’t acknowledge that diverse roles warrant diverse rewards. I don’t know if it was a sound byte for the camera or what, but to me he was clearly implying that if the unionized were limited to a 3% increase, all non union city employees should be limited to 3.5% “without a good explanation”. That’s an “apples to oranges” comparison if I ever heard one! Unfortunately, it’s exactly the kind of instantly adversarial posturing we’ve come to expect from union leadership. I realize that Councilman Carrigan would say he was just being a “watchdog of the peoples money”, and that would sound great – I would have bought it if I hadn’t been there, and hadn’t seen him, not 30 minutes later, vote to spend $50,000 on an issue he clearly didn’t understand – now there’s a watchdog! The contradiction actually made my wife let out a little groan. In all fairness, the rest of the council voted in favor of the matter, too – I think only Councilmen McElroy and Edwards followed all the implications as the item was discussed. It really did border on comedy.

Finally, I don’t think the average union member is as uninformed as they once were. I should rephrase that. I do think they’re uninformed – I don’t think they’re as isolated from the flow of information as they once were. Empirical evidence of this at the national level is the re-election of President Bush, and on the local level the poor showing of Mike Shampine in the CC race. Union endorsements simply don’t have the clout they used to have – not because members don’t vote – but because the leadership is no longer able to speak to the typical member’s soul.

That’s always been the key to the labor movement.

More as this thought solidifies – I’d welcome comments

Mr. & Mrs. Jackson go to the City Council Meeting

2005-04-18T21:18:00.000-05:00

My wife met me at the Decatur City Council meeting tonight, and was it an experience. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay for the whole meeting. Councilman-elect Caulkins was the back row, and Pat McDaniel was in the front. It's a bummer, but we didn't get a chance to speak to either of them. Pat McDaniel was busy taking notes when we took off, and Dan Caulkins was out of the room when we left.
I must say I feel like we hit the jackpot of study sessions to sit in on. Both my wife and I were surprised at how little the council members seemed to know about the city's budgeting process, especially when you realize the this should be the fourth budget the most junior member (Councilman Shad Edwards) should have seen.

Councilman Carrigan's contempt for the city manager shone through clearly in the study session. From insisting on being informed of any city employee who gets more than a 3.5% raise (and an explanation of *why* the raise was justified) to asking for a meeting with the Police Chief (“with the City Manager's Permission”) He's subtle!
To me, it appeared Councilman Mike McElroy was the most perceptive member on the council tonight. The Decatur Area Convention and Visitors Bureau had a line item in the budget of $32,500. Councilman Pat Liegler wanted to up it to $50,000. There were a few complications, but in the end, the Council elected to up the line item to 50K plus give the organization more responsibilities in dispensing funds to other organizations (it's more complicated than I'm describing, to be sure). I'm convinced that only Councilman McElroy followed the issue through it's twists. He had a good initial suggestion, then was out-voted. What's that old saying? "Be careful what you wish for..."

More later

I have to see it for myself

2005-04-18T09:29:00.000-05:00

Tonight’s Decatur City Council meeting will be impossible to resist. Wabash Crossing phase two may be up for discussion, and most importantly, I want to see if Dan Caulkins will sprout horns and a tail! The action starts at 5:30 – be there, or…Well, at least watch on channel 10!

Macon county bond issue

2005-04-15T08:48:00.000-05:00

Take a look at this site: http://www.il-democrats.org/macon/amystates.html
The first sentence of the mission statement says pretty much everything we need to know.

Now, what’s the smartest way to minimize the mistake’s financial impact?

The first show down!

2005-04-14T11:19:00.000-05:00

Whew! My first hour on the radio – it really went quickly! I had worried about the pace of the show, but it wasn’t that bad at all. Once I get used to having a microphone 3 centimeters away from my nose (Hi my name is Matthew, and I have a large nose…), I think it will be even more fun.

I really didn’t know what to expect – I was surprised!

For comfort, I made myself an outline this morning – we made it through about half the topics; so I think it went reasonably well. For the record, Brian and I didn’t discuss anything beforehand, and we pretty much just chatted about what we’ve been talking about here in the blogs.

What ideas are up for next time?
* Hopefully we’ll know more about this bond situation. I’m uncomfortable with that issue right now – Honestly, I really don’t understand what went on.
* The first post-election CC meeting is next week – that’ll be interesting.
* Land improvement for The Farm Progress show should be underway.
* It would be interesting to come up with a local angle on Social Security reform – what the proposed Bush plan means for local people.
* Nobody’s happy with the current healthcare reform proposals coming out of Springfield – maybe there will be some interesting topic there.
* And there’s the “changing role of political parties” topic that Mayor Lightner of Oreana raised a week or two ago that I’d like to discuss sometime – probably wouldn’t make scintillating radio, but it would be interesting.

As always, I welcome any topics anyone would like to hear about.

Brian Byers

2005-04-11T13:43:00.000-05:00

If all goes well, I’ll be talking to Brian Byers on WSOY-AM 1340 semi-regularly (maybe every other Thursday from 7AM-8AM). I’ve been a regular listener for a couple of years and traded enough IM’s (anyone remember the chat room?) and ranting (er – I mean, carefully crafted) emails to be asked on in person.

I’d welcome any local topics you like to have discussed. As I understand, we’re just going to chat about almost any topics that take our fancy.

It’s my first time on the radio, and I think Brian’s on-air pace will be a lot for me to keep up with – so I’d really like your input!

Sbean, what should I expect?. ;o)

The free market isn’t free!

2005-04-11T13:21:00.000-05:00

It looks like I may have a little time this afternoon, so I might as well do a ramble on this.

We (the USA) don’t live in a free market economy – nor do we want to. Consider: The free market works well when there is both a large number of suppliers willing to compete for sales, and a large number of purchasers, willing to compete for goods. In theory, inefficient suppliers are forced to either improve, or fail - and there’s the rub.

What happens when a multi-billion dollar company implodes? For starters, job loss, shareholder loss, pension plan loss. Take for instance, the US airline industry. It’s huge, directly and indirectly impacts many businesses, is responsible for many jobs, and is incredibly inefficient from a pure market point of view. The government has seen fit to “bail out” the airline industry multiple times in my casual memory (not just after 9/11!). Is government intervention there a bad thing? Not to the employees and shareholders in the industry.

What really happens in an unregulated market? I’m tempted to describe a 19th century urban American sweatshops, or a 20th century Chinese one, but I think I can paint the same picture in the here and now. Consider the American farmer. Without US grain subsidy programs to keep the farm economy solvent, natural market forces would force an even more rapid depopulation of rural areas, as production first would be consolidated, then, in all likelihood, moved elsewhere. What’s wrong with this? Domestic agriculture is essential to national independence. One could successfully argue that in the case of grain subsidies, the government’s intervention helps ensure national sovereignty.

Government has a regulatory responsibility, too. In theory, the Securities and Exchance Commission (SEC) is charged with enforcing fair play rules on speculators (traders). Created by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (and strongly opposed by wall street), the SEC’s purpose was to monitor the markets, and prevent “manipulative trade acts”. And this brings us to another problem. In today’s environment, it’s relatively easy for a handful of well-funded entities to collude and manipulate market forces. This is what happened with Enron and the California power crisis. California moved from a regulated market with a monopolistic supplier to a virtually unregulated market with oligarchical (a small number of) suppliers. The suppliers easily “gamed” the system, and made out like bandits.

So are pure free markets good? I think yes – and no. In the classroom, it’s great – Adam Smith was really on to something there. In practice, without management, it tends to produce Robber Barons, Slum lords, and cavernous divides in class & economic holdings. I don't want Socialism, but I don't want a pure free market either!

A quick update

2005-04-09T12:19:00.000-05:00

I posed a question over at TDD the other day, that Oreana Mayor Dan Lightner picked up on. Dan's comments are insightful, and I certainly worth reading. When I finally get over this flu, I'll write a piece on this myself.

Still, a couple of quick items.

I have in mind is a ramble on evolving political parties. I declare myself a “Conservative Democrat”. Why? Stay tuned

One fundamental lesson I think the Republican party has realized, and the Democrats are just now figuring out, is that people vote their perceived identity – even if it's not really correct, and even if it is not in their own (true) self interest. This was really confirmed to me while having a conversation with a person pretending to be vpcheny over at TDD.

Sooner or later I'm going to write a blurb on free and managed economies (we don't have a free market - and we don't want one!).
etc, etc, etc...

the woozies are returning, so I'm going to hit post now, and take a nap!

stay tuned!

Where's TDD?

2005-04-09T11:34:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to write for a couple of days now, but I've had a really nasty version of the stomach flu – it's really nasty!
Anyway.

Where did the Decatur Democrat go? I can't get there this morning!

Books, parenting models, and the City Council race

2005-04-06T10:37:00.000-05:00

I’ve been reading an interesting book: “Don’t think of an Elephant” by George Lakeoff, - It’s really pretty interesting. His position is that when we go to the polls, we tend to think in terms of family units, with respective candidates as “parents” and voters as “children”. It’s an interesting thesis; I think there may be quite a bit of truth to it – although I doubt if many voters would acknowledge it. According to Lakeoff, there are two basic parental styles candidates (and parties, for that matter) fall into: The “strong father(/weak mother)” and “nurturing partners” family unit. It’s really interesting how cleanly these two fundamentally different viewpoints frame the way Democrats (or “Progressives”) and Republicans (ok, “Conservatives”) see the world and the role their government plays.
This is a broad and quick summary – so please bear with the generalizations you’re about to read.

Conservatives tend to identify with a “Strong Father” role. In general, they see the world as a place to be protected against. Elected leaders should know what to do (or at least seem to); after all, that’s what a good father does! Disagreement may exist, but it should be done in private, since it’s important to always appear in control. They have a keen understanding that in many cases “perception is reality”. To these folks, “Order is everything”, and as a consequence, they are really good at organizing.

Progressives, on the other hand, are more interested in nurturing and producing tangible and intangible growth. Like the parent who is always there, they are driven not by the desire to reinforce dependency; rather they wish to promote success through encouragement. Progressives are willing to allow a mistake or two along the way, and expect to take their lumps. It’s all part of what must be done for “the greater good”.

Now think how this maps onto our own City Council race. The two candidates that were rewarded were those two that represented the purest form of *both* of these frames.

Betsy Stockard, in my opinion, exemplifies the local progressive approach. She’s articulate, friendly, and comes across as a very intelligent, down-to-earth person. I don’t know her, but I get the feeling I’d be comfortable starting up a chat with her if I saw her in Panera. (Sorry, I don’t like Starbucks – they burn their coffee). If she asked me a question, I think she’d listen to, and seriously consider the answer.

Dan Caulkins, on the other hand, is no doubt intelligent, and he did a great job at putting himself in front of people, and “looking and sounding” like a leader. Dan *seems* to “know” what he wants. From garbage collection, to local contracts, to garage lots and the “customer service” spin – Dan had a plan already…And it appealed to a lot of voters.

I was honestly hoping Shad Edwards would come in fourth place, it is clear his incumbency helped him. In the spirit of the rest of this post, I think he suffered mightily by being inconsistent. If he’s a law & order kind of guy, why’s he running with Mike Shampine? If he’s a “fairplay” and “transparent government” kind of guy, why is he playing such a partisan game in a non-partisan election? He managed to find all the negatives, and none of the positives. The result: his future political aspirations are at least temporarily dented.

Pat McDaniels – Personally, I think he should have won the third place slot. From the perspective of this note, I think he needs to make up his mind in the presentation department. He speaks like a conservative, but looks like a progressive. Honestly, I think he was a victim of voter turnout more than anything else. I think the third time might be a charm (2008 is a Presidential year – turnout will be better!).

I'm suprised

2005-04-05T21:40:00.000-05:00

I must say, I'm surprised at the city council election results. I knew it would be a battle for third place, but I thought the runners would be Caulkins and Edwards. Whoops!
Now the questions are:
Will McDaniels be running again next time around?
Will Shad be running in 2008 for state office? - I think he's eyeing Bob Flider's job - is he saving up the CC money for a primary run for State Rep?

McDaniels ran a clean campaign – for what it's worth, I admire him for that.

Here we go!

2005-04-05T05:43:00.000-05:00

All-rightie boys and girls, today's the big day. Will labor get out to vote for Shampine and Edwards? Exactly how effective has Dan Caulkin's billboard campaign been? Has Pat McDaniel made enough door-to-door work to secure a #2 showing? I'm on the edge of my seat!

Good luck to all the candidates; and don't forget to vote!

Top 10 reasons the DecatruRepublican has not taken off.

2005-04-01T12:16:00.000-06:00

I haven't come up with 10 - your contributions would be welcomed. :)

10 ISP charges aren’t included in the Farm Subsidy program
9 “The internet? That’s “Al Gore” territory! I’m not going in there!”
8
7
6
5
4
3 Can’t cost-justify the intellectual effort; therefore there is no point (Goes with #2).
2 Ignorance is bliss: Just ask the President (What? No WMD? You’re kidding!).
1 No need: The Herald & Review maintains its own blog

Reflection on the Decatur City Council Candidate Forum

2005-04-01T07:15:00.000-06:00

Betsy Stockard:
Had a grip on the issues she was familiar with, and ahem, did a fine job of representing the entire community! Personally, I liked the short, concise answers she offered. I tihnk a few times caught off guard, but she handled it well, simply by admitting she would need more facts to fully understand the issue. For me, honesty is the best policy...
Had the winning summary, hands down!

Mike Shampine:
I think he's probably a nice enough guy in person. Unfortunately, I think he's living in a bit of a time warp as far as economic issues go. He's a great labor candidate for 1955; but not for 2005. He consistently had trouble making his point in 60 seconds, and pretty much ignored the rules. - A lot like the (er – non-partisan) campaign he's running, when you think of it...

Pat McDaniel:
Maybe it's the bow tie and the voice, but I find it hard not to like him. I didn't hear a lot of new or innovative ideas last night, but he didn't make any mistakes. I think he's holding his own.

Kimberly Keck:
I don't have a whole lot to say about Kimberly. I think if elected she will have to do a whole lot of studying and background work to contribute to the council. She also reiterated the notion of picking random numbers in the phone book for informal issue polls – probably not all that good a plan. At this stage, I'm a Kimberly skeptic.

Shad Edwards:
I'm a nit-picker, I know, but answering every question with “Sure” was becoming really irritating by the end of the hour. He had a lot of (to me) long-winded answers that slightly dodged the issue – unless, of course practically every question centered around TIPS (whatever that is), and Enterprise Zones. If a politician is defined by his alilty to answer the question he wants to answer, rather than the question he's asked, then Shad is definitely a pro. I think he was glad he was sitting far, far away from Betsy Stockard.

Dan Caulkins:
I was impressed with his focus on customer service, but I think he doesn't quite realize the legitimate role of local government. He's too “laissez faire” for me. From a presentation point of view, I was really impressed. Several times he hit the 60 second limit for his answer – dead on. I think the body of the forum goes to Caulkins – he had nice, clean answers, and made his points well.

Vision 2022 - All rightie!

2005-03-29T13:34:00.000-06:00

Thanks to hilary for pointing me to this link. You’ve made my day! Can you believe this is part of the Vision 2022 stuff? Please, read on (I cut and pasted straight from the link.)

Long term community benefit from grant project

The area has a long history as a farming and manufacturing center and the perceived environmental effects of those industries shape how residents express their environmental concerns, almost to the exclusion of other isues. The visioning process will help focus on the problems currently being worked on, the civic infrastructures addressing them, and break the cycle of repeatedly "addressing" the same issues as well as allow us to move on to other challenges. The process itself examines different perspectives and promotes a greater understanding between participants, opening opportunities for partnering on other projects for the community. The project as a whole supports the mission of our organization and provides community based direction for CEC programs. In addition, the Macon County Regional Planning Commission will utilize the results of this process to cover the environmental portion of the Updated Comprehensive Plan that the Commission is currently developing.

If I can borrow a Bob Sampson phrase, this really is “Fighting over the remote while the house burns down”! I didn’t add the quotes in the “addressing” line, either. Gee, all you’d have to do is address it properly, *once*, then we’d all move on! (Heck, we’d all breathe easier, too! – couldn’t resist that one!)

Come to think of it, does anyone remember the statue of the buck/deer made of “highly stable and non-toxic flyash”..(it *was* non-toxic as long as it kept it’s solid form) that used to be out at Rock Springs? It lasted what - about two years, then it crumbled into dust, on spot it stood. Then there was the fly-ash ski mountain idea. Whatever happened to that one?
Personally, I’d like to see the IEPA set up permanent 24-7 air/soil/water monitoring stations right there on the Farm Progress show site. Of course even that wouldn’t make a difference unless severe penalties, including incarceration, were enforced – and we all know that’s not going to happen.

What's that smell?

2005-03-26T18:39:00.000-06:00

Pride in the community is a great thing, and I like it here in Decatur, but there's one thing that we're going to have to get fixed, sooner or later. What is it? Well, it's right under our noses! It' smells here! Exactly what is that smell?

While I can't tell you the info for 2005; according to the EPA website, data from 2002 would suggest a lot of the smell is coming from sulfuric and hydrochloric acid released in the tens of thousands of pounds per year from our local processing industries. How can this be healthy?
It seems to me responsible community leaders and groups should be doing their best to look after the health of those that live here.
I can only imagine the wonderful press the Farm Progress show will get as ancient farmers are shuttled hospital for emergency respiratory treatment, as clouds of hexane and sulphuric acid drift across the road.

Here are a couple links:
ADM

Tate & Lyle

Amazing, isn't it? Stay tuned – I've got a lot more thoughts on this...

After the election...

2005-03-22T15:03:00.000-06:00

Steve Bean asked a good question over at the Decatur Democrat last night. I’m paraphrasing, but it went something like: “What will there be to talk about in the blogosphere once the City Council race is over?” I think there will still be plenty of local shenanigans going on after the race. I’m willing to bet our friends in the local media will keep a steady flow of local topics to talk about….Spring leaf/branch burning season is just around the corner – will the fires of controversy be stoked again this year? We’ve got a whole summer of Farm Progress Show preparation to work through. And then there’s still the continuing saga of “51 & Mound: Starbuck’s revisited” (that sounds like a great movie title). Couple this with the inevitable justifications the local Republican crew will (have to) make for the goofy ideas the Bush administration will be pushing the next few years, and I think we’ll have plenty to discuss.

Dan Caulkins dot com

2005-03-19T17:29:00.000-06:00

I must say I am surprised at the presence Dan Caulkins is pulling off. Latest case in point: http://www.dancaulkins.com
Jason Ferguson from Homesight in Decatur for did well, pulling off a nice, clean looking site that is very consistent with the rest of the Caulkins campaign. The site needs more content, but it's a really nice look.

Do any of the other candidates have sites of their own?

Who are the sunshine patriots?

2005-03-17T12:39:00.000-06:00

An article about the treatment of veterans over at the DecaturDemocrat rattled a couple of my old American history brain cells. Most of us have heard of “summer soldiers and sunshine patriots”, but I couldn’t remember the rest of the letter. Here it is:

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and women. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain to cheap, we esteem too lightly -- Tis dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.

Tom Paine, The American Crisis (December 19, 1776)

How very odd that those most willing to send those in the service of our country into harms way to fight terrorists based in Iraq – whoops - make that to uncover weapons of mass destruction – whoops - I meant to spread democracy (yeah, that’ll sell!) are the same people who don’t want to live up to the “love and thanks” side of the bargain. And since this note from Mr. Paine is on display, I'd like to pose a question: Is it possible for a people to be given their freedom, or must they themselves discover that “the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph”?

Questions, anyone?

2005-03-16T15:06:00.000-06:00

I’m really looking forward to the RCC/City Council forum to be held on the 31st at 6pm at Glad Tidings on Airport road. Wouldn’t it be a great time for our anonymous brothers in blogs to unveil themselves? Ahh – wishful thinking! I heard on WSOY this morning the public is encouraged to submit questions for the candidates to (I think) news@wsoyam.com. I know it’s a week and a half away, but what questions would you like to see asked?
Here are a few of mine:

To each candidate:
	In your own words, what is the role of the Economic Development Council?
	If elected, what relationship with the city manager/administration can we expect to see?
	What does “nonpartisan” mean to you, and is this race nonpartisan?
	Recently there has been much publicized squabbling among the current council members. Is this discord keeping the city from making economic/social progress? Why or why not?
	Do you have any political aims beyond serving on the council, or is this a “stepping stone” office?
	How will you/do you represent constituents different from yourself, bearing in mind “different” includes ethnic/economic/religious?
To non-incumbent candidates:
	Why does the status-quo need to be changed? How will you bring about these changes?
To incumbent candidates:
	Why should you be retained? More specifically, how has your service on the Council benefited the community?

I'm sure there will be more - What do you think?

The look of Decatur

2005-03-15T10:11:00.001-06:00

What does Decatur look like? This question is easy to ask, but surprisingly difficult to answer. As most readers are aware, I am a lifer here in Central Illinois, and as such, my formative image of Decatur originates in the days Woolworth’s store, JCPenny, and Sears were all downtown, when the bumper cars and slide at Joyland were what summers were all about, and the only real root beer came from either Dog & Suds or “the other place” (Sorry – forgot the name) on Eldorado street.

Decatur was predominantly blue-collar with seemingly everyone in town an employee at ADM, Cat, or (as in my Father’s case) Firestone. Outside of town (city?) exclusively Caucasian farm dynasties reigned supreme supported by rail-road “whistle” stop towns full of small businessmen and older “retired” farm couples.

No longer. Here’s a link to the census data from 2000.
Take a look at this link: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/1718823lk.html. The two really surprising things for me was to find that in 2000 the average age Decaturite was 37.4 years old, and it’s really no longer a “blue collar” town, with 20.1% of the labor force engaged in “Production, transportation and material moving”. Here’s a summary of the interesting bit:

	#	%
Employed civilian population 16 years and over	35,794	100.0
Management, professional, and related occupations	9,806	27.4
Service occupations	6,050	16.9
Sales and office occupations	9,474	26.5
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	92	0.3
Construction, extraction, and maintenance occupations	3,170	8.9
Production, transportation, and material moving occupations	7,202	20.1

(copied from http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_DP3&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U&-_lang=en&-_sse=on&-geo_id=16000US1718823)

Pretty interesting, eh?

RCC referendum and City Council candidate Discussion/Debate?

2005-03-11T10:30:00.000-06:00

Thursday, March 31st at Glad Tidings in Mt Zion (not sure about the time – 6pm-ish?) is the current info that I’m getting. I encourage everyone to attend!
Anyone want to share what they think we can expect?
Violent anti-RCC protesters?
Will throngs of Emory board toting Caulkin-ites file down the other candidates with their abrasive actions?
Will Messers Shampine and Edwards present a uninted front, or will a rivally begin to make its presence felt?

Blogspot being squirrelly at TDD’s blog!

2005-03-11T10:06:00.000-06:00

I think there’s a vast Google conspiracy. It seems impossible to post on my favorite blog - http://decaturdemocrat.blogspot.com
What’s up with this???? Is Disenfranchisement Dan may be up to his tricks again? Hmmmm – you be the judge! :o)

Where oh Where is LightnerForMayor?

2005-03-07T12:58:00.002-06:00

We haven't seen him lately, so here are my top 10 guesses:

10. Went to a leadership seminar; out looking for followers.
9. The "godfather" made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
8. It's Maple Syrup season! (no kidding - See Rock Springs Center)
7. Can't be bothered: Holding the "football" for Rod!
6. Went into Target on the 26th...Hmmmmm
5. Out raising the cash to visit the Gov at Tate & Lyle
4. Lost in Oreana's inner city.
3. Dan Caulkins...Can't say any more than....fear the nail files....
2. He's on the psychic network divining who TDD is.
1. Campaign strategy session with Messers Shampine & Edwards...Better send out for pizza!

Does anybody tape the Decatur City Council meetings?

2005-03-07T11:57:00.000-06:00

I wonder if any of the content in the public domain could be cobbled together into TV & radio spots. Surely the war chests of several candidates could afford a commercial or two! Maybe the public library keeps archives – I dunno.

Where do politics end?...And a completely random question.

2005-03-06T19:36:00.000-06:00

Local politics always seem more interesting when I'm sitting at Panera. The steady circulation of the clientèle, the inevitability of seeing an old schoolmate, a former colleague, or local celebrity, and, of course the effects of a couple double espresso's make every visit a new adventure. Today was strangely different. My wife and I celebrated our one-week anniversary (woo-hoo!), and we took my Mom out to breakfast at the Round Table and coffee at Panera. Not much has been going on in the CC race (we saw Billy Roberts working at Wal-Mart on Saturday – didn't say hello), and I thought I would make it through a full caffeine cycle without any political musings....Then it happened!

While driving down route 105 (Taking Mom home), I noticed, a “Roadside maintained by the Shad Edwards Family”. Pretty clever, I thought, it's responsible community service that nets a local politician a little free publicity. Shad gets a nod for being clever on that one. Then, driving back into town, I saw a second sign “Maintained by the Friends of Shad Edwards”. Now that's a bit rich. Unless I'm mistaken, “Friends of Shad Edwards” is the name of the organization Shad's political contributions are directed to – chaired by Mrs. Shad Edwards, if I recall the campaign filings correctly. Now of course there's nothing wrong with this. It's perfectly commendable for Shad's family, and “Friends of Shad” to keep both sides of 105 clean. I do find it a little amusing at the lengths Shad and FOS (Friends of Shad) will go to see his name in public.

Then I remember - Silly me. In an odd kind of way, it does make sense. After all, publicity **is** the name of the game. All that low-key “reading the packets” and “representing your community”stuff is not nearly as rewarding unless you can maximize press coverage. After all, if a roadside is cleaned up, and no one is there to see the work being done, did it ever really happen? Was the it ever littered? If the odd reporter gets a “heads up” from an anonymous”Friend”, well, you know how hard it is to keep confidences in a community this size.

I wonder – will Shad, and Friends of Shad be out on 105 on the weekend before April 4^th, cleaning the roadside, waving at passers by, with their favorite H&R reporters in tow, looking for that perfect last-minute photo-op? Hmmmm.

And a final, pointless question: What is up with SBC playing all the Eric Clapton songs in their TV/Radio commercials? (Yes - this is a purely caffeine-buzz inspired quandry)

Amtrak, December 7, and September 11

2005-03-03T11:04:00.000-06:00

The Amtrak train to Chicago was two hours late last Sunday. Not the perfect way to start a honeymoon, but we were willing to roll with it. We headed over to the coffeehouse in downtown normal, and over a cup of berry zinger tea, we browsed through a thin paper called the “Weekly Independent”. Always a fan of political satire, I noticed a cartoon of President Bush and Vice President Cheney hovering over a globe somewhere in the White House, while paintings of past Presidents, Democrats, Republicans, Whigs, cast warnings of eroding our freedoms in the guise of protecting us. Here’s a link to the cartoon.

I didn’t think of it again, until our train arrived at Union Station in Chicago. Pulling in, there is a huge American flag painted on the side of a building; to the left of the flag the date December 7, 1941 was painted and to the right, the date September 11, 2001. Something about the dates and the cartoon suddenly struck me. World War II was a profoundly transformative event in our nation’s history. It marks our ascension to prominence in the community of nations. Before World War II, isolationism was a legitimate foreign policy. After the war, the Marshall plan and the UN ensured we would be active participants on the world stage for decades to come. Now back to the dates. Here we are, more than three years after the sneak attack. Is the world a safer place? While we’re so forcefully spreading democracy throughout the Middle East, what are we giving up in the name of “Homeland Security”? What’s going on with the rest of the “Axis of Evil”? Iran and North Korea are still pursuing nuclear programs (uh oh – real WMD!) – Why no military action there? How about Chad or The Sudan? Why? - Because diplomatic efforts have not been exhausted, of course! Don’t get me wrong, I believe that projecting military force is a legitimate diplomatic option. I also believe it is to be used as a last resort - It is the ultimate diplomatic move.

On another note,where is Osama Bin Ladin? Where is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi? I want to see these guys caught! Am I seriously being asked to believe that after toppling two governments, spending 200 billion dollars, and spending three years, we can’t catch two specific guys? Hmmmm…Alright…I should feel *safer* now, because we have to take our shoes off as we go through the airport, we get to pay more for a passport, and above all, we’ve got the patriot act to protect us. FDR’s first inaugural address comes to mind, specifically the part that goes: “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance”

December 7 and September 11 are similar in that both were tragic days for our nation. Both are surely days that will forever live in infamy and warranted quick, certain, and decisive action. I’m still left asking myself this question – if in 1944 we had Adolph Hitler, holed up in a “30 square mile” area of the alps, would we have spared any expense at rooting him out? Really, how serious are we in this war on terror? Ultimately, will the legacy of September 11 be a return to the days of isolationism?

The Big Day!

2005-02-26T09:21:00.000-06:00

Friends, today is the day I gain a Mrs. Jackson! I'm also gaining two fine stepdaughters.

There's only one small flaw – they *think* they're liberal Republicans. They're starting to see there's such a thing as a Conservative Democrat – lol – I'm confident they'll eventuallt see the light.

Things are lively here at the Jackson household. My sister-in-law and my nephew arrived last night. My Brother had to drive separately - straight from some business meeting in Wisconsin. The smell of ham, baked beans, and stuffing is permeates the house. (Reception at mom's house, after the ceremony!)

I really feel the sense of family and community. Tables and chairs brought over by friends and neighbors, strategically placed throwout the house. The wedding cake, made by one of my schoolmates' mothers', Mrs. Day, who makes great wedding cakes, and who's Halloween popcorn balls are legendary! (When I picked up the cake, Mrs. Day threw in 30 popcorn balls! Now that's a touching wedding gift!!!) The neighbors have contributed recipes. A pair of Aunts (Aunt Gin and Aunt Judy), in particular have been assisting tirelessly all this week to help my Mom get everything ready for today. As a small thanks to them last night I treated them to a dinner at Bizou. My Aunts and Uncle had not been there before – I think they enjoied it.

We're heading up to Chicago for a mini-honeymoon, so I'll be out of blogspace until Wednesday evening. I'm sure Mr. Anonymous will keep the commentary lively on all things political over in thedecatrudemocrat blog-space.

I'll catch up on Wednesday!

Post-primary analysis!

2005-02-23T09:19:00.000-06:00

Anyone want to share their thoughts on the effectiveness of the various candidates’ campaign strategies?
Billy Roberts got spanked – again – at a cost of something around $4 per vote cast. Lesson learned: Zero effort, a bad attitude, and lack of any common sense can cast the county $50,000, and net a couple of hundred votes.
Betsy Stockard, as expected, is the big winner. Will she become more vocal for the general election? Surely she will.
Pat McDaniel did surprisingly well. He’s got more grassroots recognition than I gave him credit for. Good for him – I think he’s going to make this race interesting!
Dan Calukins, another pleasant surprise! Personally, I didn’t think his billboards were a good idea, but it didn’t seem to hurt. I wonder how much impact his radio ads had? Whatever the cause, he made an impressive showing - Congratulations!
Kimberly Keck. I’m happy she handily thunked Billy, as I think she is motivated by genuine concern for the community. She’ll have to make a Herculean effort to make it onto the City Council, but I think she’s a legitimate candidate.
As the candidate with the highest profile in the primary, coming in 3 points behind Betsy Stockard and less than 2 points ahead of Pat McDaniel, can’t be a good feeling for Shad Edwards. I don’t know what Shad’s campaign has spent on signs, flyers, phones, etc., but I think it’s safe to say it was money not well spent!
The huge surprise to me is the Mike Shampine result. I’m really left scratching my head on this one. I can’t help but wonder if he will continue to see his association with Edwards as an advantage. In the primary, it seems Shad Edwards had very short coattails!

City Council Contributions

2005-02-21T11:26:00.000-06:00

Do you live in a community of individuals, or do you live in a community of special-interest-blocks? Restated, do direct contributions from special interest groups have any place in the local, theoretically non-partisan, election process? I tend to think not. Local labor unions, for example (I’ll cut right to the quick), have *every* right to encourage their membership to contribute as individuals to the candidate of their choice: as individuals, interested, unique members of the community. Ideally, the greatest contribution a union (or any organization, for that matter) could make is the realized votes of its membership. If given the choice, should a genuinely pro-union candidate rather have 100% of the local union members turn out to vote, or a nice little bundle of cash from their leadership elite?

And there’s the trouble.

Windmills - Hallo!!!

2005-02-20T18:09:00.000-06:00

Hero, a poet of Alexandria, is credited with recording the first description of a working windmill. In the Middle Ages (and after), the Dutch used windmills to transform the lowlands into arable land. Now, it's the early 21^st century, and the windmill is still with us – generating electricity!

Wednesday (the 23^rd of Feb), the Macon County Soil and Water Conservation District will be hosting a “Wind Harvest Banquet” at the Scovil Golf Course banquet hall, at 6pm.

Here’s a link to the article in the Herald & Review on the subject.

Distributed micro-generation has the incredible potential to transform (no pun intended) the energy landscape. Small, efficient wind farms, distributed throughout our rural areas, initially financed by co-ops, eventually maturing into private single-windmill-per-farm operations could drastically reduce the load on our nation’s long-distance transmission system.

Would big power plants “go away”? I shouldn’t think so - not for a really long time. I would expect large generating units would remain online to regulate the grid’s frequency and voltage. Still, it’s a very exciting concept.

Wind power, a form of bio-energy, makes perfect sense for us as a community to embrace. $75 a couple for dinner may seem a bit steep, but considering this may be one of the most important emerging technologies of the new century, I’ll go!

Comments?

City Council: the view from Panera

2005-02-18T12:34:00.000-06:00

As I sit here at Panera pondering the what the next few days in the city council race will bring (a rain of frogs, voice mail message on every cellphone *doi* that's allready been done)…what do I think of the candidates so far? What's working? What's not? Hmmmmm...

At this stage, I think Betsy Stockard has adopted the best political stance. She’s addressing the issues when she has to, but for the most part saving her resources for the general election – where it really matters. Ultimately, I think she’s the power to watch in the race for council.

I think Kimberly Keck is getting more than she expected. It would be very interesting (maybe in a good way) to have her on the city council. She could be an asset to the council, since I personally believe her motivation to run stems from her genuine concern for the community. Frankly, I don’t think she would be a council innovator, but I wholeheartedly believe she would do her best to be a good steward of the people. I would like to see her make it through the primary. I expect she’ll beat out Billy in the primary, then get edged out in the general election. If she were running in Cerro Gordo, or Macon, or Oreana, I think she’d win with no trouble.

Billy Roberts. What can I say? Not a particularly nice guy; not all that interested in the community (my opinion). My impression is he’s easily manipulated….Hey- why isn’t *he* running signs with Mike Shampine? Maybe he’ll run against Bob Flider next…Now that would be a tough choice!

I really don’t know much about Dan Caulkin beyond the billboards. At this point (in primary-space) that’s probably a good thing. From the little I do know, he seems competent, able enough with the financials, and probably a little on the pro-corporation side of things. I tend to give him a pass though the primary, but he really needs to turn the heat up and build real name recognition after the primary. I’ve heard he’s got plenty of personal cash, so that shouldn’t be much of a problem for him.

Pat Mcdaniel. He’s another one I really don’t know much about - I'd like to learn more.

My limited knowledge on the last two candidates is entirely my own fault. I’m sure a lot more info will become clear after the primary.

Now to the two candidates that I have definite feelings about: Mike Shampine and Shad Edwards. Mike Shampine, I don’t know. I do dislike, though, the notion that he is so obviously (in my opinion) Michael Carrigan’s lapdog. Personally, I just can’t get over the belief that Mike Shampine’s top priority will pleasing Mike Carrigan, and not doing what he honestly believes is best for the city. And Shad Edwards.

I casually knew Shad when we were both students at Millikin. Frankly, in the past 16-or-so years he’s changed very little. Politics are a means to and end – and the end for Shad has *always* been to put Shad in political office (Penny Severns used to be his role model).

The root of the trouble, as I see it now, is Mike Carrigan. Shad is simply (and always has been) enamored with the big names and faces. If Mike Carrigan can occasionally produce a Glen Poshard for dinner, Shad will be his friend for life. It’s just Shad. Should he be an elected official? Not in my opinion. Does he really represent the principals of the new Democratic party – I sure hope not.

That’s all for now – time for lunch!

I’d love some comments.

Asterisk - a Linux-based PBX

2005-02-17T22:10:00.000-06:00

Asterisk is a linux-based PBX capable of handling T1/E1, multiple FXS & FXO's - all using relatively inexpensive (and non-proprietary) hardware!

I am trying to build an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system. Someday soon, a phone call to my home may well result in a welcome message, and a "Press 1 for Matthew, Press 2 for Debra, Press 3 to leave a message for the cats...etc." The really cool thing is the system can be trained to recognize unwanted/caller id blocked phone numbers, and shunt them to a busy or service tone.

Beyond that, Asterisk is capable of using IP phones. Someday we might want to switch the phone service to transfer through the cable internet....We could get international rates for pennies a minute, if we only had someone to call.... :p

Welcome

2005-02-17T15:25:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my blog!

Since this is the first entry, allow me to introduce myself.

I am a Central Illinois native, born at St. Mary’s, a product of the Cerro Gordo public school system, undergraduate degree from Millikin (Computer Science), and a Master’s Degree (Applied Computer Science) from Illinois State University.

My mother’s family has deep community roots in Cerro Gordo she taught in the school system for many years; my grandfather & uncles owned/ran the local Ford dealership, a cousin is the local Dentist, and another cousin is our local insurance agent. Aren’t small town’s great!? My mother’s side is active on the Democratic side of the fence rare is the election you don’t find a Sochor(cousin)/Jackson(mother)/Gisinger(aunt or uncle) as an election judge.

My father was from rural Macon, grew up on a farm, and worked as a union member at the Decatur Firestone plant for over 30 years. His father was active in county politics on the Republican side, and served several terms on the county board (I think – it was long before my time!).

Politically, I consider myself a Conservative Democrat. I’m very big (read liberal) on personal rights, and pretty conservative on fiscal issues. If you’re an old Millikin-ite the venerated Dr. J. Graham Provan pegged me as a “Secular Humanist”, which, if I have to be pigeonholed, is a pretty close to correct (the “Humanist” bit for sure – at best my version of “secular” would be put in very small lowercase letters).

Personally, things are great – I am engaged and very soon to be married. She’s bright, beautiful, and really everything I could hope for (and more!). I could go on and on, but let’s just let it go with this – she’s definitely the gal for me, and I’m happy to be the guy for her.

Professionally, I am a Senior Consultant with Keane, a software consulting company. Presently, I am helping a large client re-educate its workforce. Every day bring a new challenge, but it’s going really well. I’ve also had the pleasure of teaching courses in Computer Science at Illinois State University – teaching seems to be a genetic trait in our family. I really enjoyed it – unfortunately the mixture of a full time job, late-night drives home from ISU, and any kind of personal life just didn’t make for a happy Matthew.

I also am also an aspiring entrepreneur – One of these days I’m going to turn into Matthew Jackson, Consultant at large…If I can just figure out a little cash-flow problem. ;o) There are lots of things in the works, I think it will happen soon. I’m sure I’ll write about them in later posts.

I welcome any comments!