Remember: It Could be Worse

Everyone has a bad day now and then.

Even entrepreneurs with small, startup businesses in an unproven field.

Not that I'm having a bad day. In fact, it's been a pretty good one.

But, if a bad day comes, I can remind myself that it could be worse. I could be back in college. If you don't remember just what college was like, check out College finals from Hell.

Facts have Hard, Sharp Corners

Just a thought for the day:

Facts are good, but they tend to be hard, and often have sharp corners. I think that may be why they're not as popular as they could be. It's too easy to get hurt, running into them.

(from a BlogCatalog discussion thread, Why don’t we stop trading links and actually earn them?. The words are mine, but are a paraphrase of at least one quote from one of Dorothy Sayers' Peter Wimsey novels. One source is "Facts, Bunter, must have facts. When I was a small boy, I always hated facts. Thought they were nasty, hard things, all nobs." ("Clouds of Witness", referencing a 1972 video of the novel))

Stay Focused: But on What?

It's been several days since I posted on this blog.

In that time, I took video of the Stearns County Fair and put together one three "Realreels" about the fair that I plan to put online.

I created a 3d landscape, ostensibly as a sort of comic-relief for a business website that I'm developing for myself. Actually, it's an opportunity for me to learn how to handle 3d authoring software for use in a publishing project that might, maybe, get off the ground next year.

I kept up to date with an online community or two, where I meet people, learn more about the blogosphere and how it's perceived, and (I hope) develop a contact or two, and create interest in my blogs and websites.

I updated blogs; noticed that I'd gotten seriously off-topic on one, and made a course correction; launched a blog on outdoor grilling that I hope will help feed a website about outdoor grilling - and vice-versa.

I put the outdoor grilling website further toward the front in my priorities. I won't say that it's a disaster, but it is about as exciting as a telephone directory as it is.

What was the title of this post? That's right: it had something to do with focus.

An issue that I've noticed, at least with me, is that I tend to spend more time than I should on projects that most engage my talents and interests. Those aren't necessarily the ones that should get the most attention, though.

Without a supervisor to keep track of me, I have to keep an eye on me, myself.

Easy? Fun? No, but that's not the point. All the jobs need doing, even management.

Home Business Opportunities: Earn a Fortune Working Part-Time?

Not likely.

• Wisdom prevents mistakes
• Wisdom comes from experience
• Experience comes from mistakes

That's how I remember a cycling bank sign's contribution to humanity's store of sagacious sayings.

Sooner or later, I figure I'll have made enough mistakes to be wise.

If you haven't seen "business offers" promising thousands of dollars a week through working part-time, a steady income from the privacy of your own home, or financial independence through envelope-stuffing, you haven't been looking very hard.

Envelope Stuffing

I took a look at an envelope-stuffing "opportunity" about a quarter-century back. The newspaper ad seemed promising, and the sales packet they sent was impressive. It also had several square inches of text that described exactly what was involved. If that description hadn't been there, I'd have tossed the packet.

I'm one of those annoying people who likes to look at how much time something is likely to take, how much money it'll bring in, and how often it can be done. I tossed the packet.

The other two "opportunities" worth mentioning involved a business-software company and a craft item distributor.

Business Opportunities and computer sales

The software business had a very well-designed marketing strategy. The company's owner was either among the most likable people I've encountered, or had very good writers. He offered not only software, but computers and peripherals as well.

His sales literature stressed how successful someone could be, using his own experience rather often. Taking a closer look, I decided that his success lay in his ability to sell computers at a bit above the going rate, and that his customers' success stories had involved similar businesses.

Nothing illegal or particularly unethical about the offer, but I declined.

Craft Items

Someone I know tried making money by buying parts, assembling then into a draft doodad, and selling lots of the things back to the parts provider. The numbers looked good, the company was legit, but the person involved isn't the best at making craft items.

The good news is that very little money was lost.

Instead of adding the way I decide whether or not an

The lesson? Some business opportunities are what they claim to be but aren't suited to the person pursuing them, some are a sort of share-the-wealth procedure, and a few actually benefit all parties.

I could describe how I decide which is which, but here's a better idea: Check out How to evaluate a home business opportunity,, eight points that the author calls "a short list of how to evaluate a home business."

The points are basic common sense: a quick review of what to do, and not to do, doesn't hurt now and again.

Blogging Tips: Free, and Worth Every Cent

I ran into an interesting article, "10 Things To Do When You Have Nothing Else To Blog About."

The advice is pretty good, from "Find a great story you found on Digg and write about it." to "Brainstorm what you're going to blog about for the next few days."

What does this have to do with starting a small business? Among other things, I'm trying my hand at generating traffic and advertising revenue through blogging. I've got five blogs at this point, and will probably leave it at that.

The what-to-write-about issue doesn't often apply to me: I've got too many interests and opinions. Let's leave it at that.

However, I've hit dry spots, and something like this list-of-10 can be a real help.

$54 Million Pants Dry Cleaners Get Support, Judge Pearson Not Done

The Chungs almost got into the news again. They're the Korean family who allegedly lost a judge's 54-million-dollar pants. Supporters of the Chungs have a fundraiser today.

Anyone who owns a business should be aware of the what a screwball lawsuit brought by a determined lunatic can do: Particularly, in my opinion, when operating in an area where you're an ethnic minority.

Quoting from a website dedicated to supporting the Chungs, "Fundraising event on Tuesday, July 24th, 6:00-7:30pm, co-hosted by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform and the American Tort Reform Association. If unable to attend, you can still support the Chungs." (www.chungfundraiser.com)

The Washington Post has been very quietly covering this case of an american citizen's attempt to destroy the business and finances of an immigrant, ethnic-minority, family. Not in the news so much as in a blog.

The most recent post was Pants Update: Cuffed Again! (July 16, 2007), with a few lines of discussion in a later entry, Washington's Hour of Talk Power (July 19, 2007). In this post, someone asserted that Pearson is out of money, and so not able to reimburse the Chungs' legal expenses even if he felt like it. If so, where he's getting the money to continue his jihad, I've no idea.

As of the Washington Post's July 16 post, Judge Pearson's most recent effort to re-start his suit was refused. With the dogged persistence of a deranged chihuahua, he seems determined to return with yet another legal appeal. I know that it's important for the judicial system to allow appeals, but it would be nice if lunatics weren't allowed to ruin productive families through judicial harrasment.

This judicial farce is not a total disaster. Judging from feedback in the Washington Post blogs, many of that newspaper's readers strongly support the Chungs. More to the point, individuals and corporations seem to be putting their money where their mouth is, by contributing to the Chung's defense.

It's a little late for the Chung fundraiser, but the Custom Cleaners Defense Fund is still around, and able to take donations by PayPal.

Previous posts about the dry cleaners' legal difficulties on this blog:

• Justice Goes Back on the Grill: $54 Million Pants Back in Play July 11, 2007
• Judge Roy Pearson's Pants-Stealing Koreans July 7, 2007
• Legal Jihad and the Pants-Stealing Koreans July 6, 2007
• Another Screwball Lawsuit? June 27, 2007
• Justice is Served (Medium-Well) June 25, 2007

And, a few other blogs on Judge Roy Pearon's vendetta against the Koreans:

• The $54 Million Dollars Pants Saga Continues!!!
• Judge's Jodhpurs, Pearson's Pants, Suer's Slacks
• Roy Pearson Asks Judge To Reconsider Pants Decision
• NOT THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER: Pearson's Knickers Still In A Knot Over His Pants

Free Market of Ideas: Net Neutrality Activists

Unless you have a production and distribution budget the size of Universal Studios', and plan to never use the Internet, you should be concerned about this.

Ever since it became the latest biggest thing in mass media since movable type, powers that be have been trying to rein in the Internet.

I became concerned about this a few years ago when both liberal and conservative activists teamed up to "protect" the masses from the Wild, Wicked Web. And no, although they seemed to perceive the online world that way, they did not call it that.

I'm no fan of a great deal of what's online, and this family has measures in place to shield our kids from inappropriate content. Even so, my belief is:

A free and open Internet is dangerous only to those who fear the open exchange of ideas.

There are quite a few organizations and people who are also concerned. This is a short, and none-too-well-selected list:

Save The Internet

Save The Internet: the YouTube video

Net Neutrality: 21 days left to save the Internet on ghosts in the machine.

It's a little late, now, for ghosts in the machine's petition, but the same site has an update: What's next for net neutrality?. I sincerely hope that, as the article says, the "FCC will advocate the hands-off approach supported by the recent FTC report.... Stay tuned…"

For what it's worth, what follows is the text of a letter I contributed to Save The Internet. If you write a letter on this yourself, please - re-write this - use your own words - do not just cut and paste the text. The effectiveness of written pleas approaches zero when they're palpably copies of someone else's thoughts.

I am extremely concerned about the issue of "net neutrality" which has been discussed by many of my friends and acquaintances.

The Internet has been a wonderful opportunity for people, all people, to get involved in public debates: to share ideas, thoughts, and information, whether it passes approval of editors, studio executives, and others who control traditional mass media.

I beg of you, "please vote for enforceable network neutrality and keep tollbooths, gatekeepers, and discrimination off my Internet."

A free and open Internet is dangerous only to those who fear the open exchange of ideas.

Scheduling, Organization, and Less

The group that I edit a bulletin for was part of the Sinclair Lewis Days parade today: an annual event.

As their wagon passed, they chanted "where's our bulletin?!" It's at the printers, and will (I hope and trust) be ready Monday, and in the mail a few hours after that.

How they'll react when they discover that I had to use last year's information, I don't know.

As part of several weeks of highly deficient organization, I lost updated information for a major fund raising event. As I predicted in the "mea culpa" article I wrote to explain what happened, the information in question showed up quite shortly after the bulletin went to the printer.

Nertz.

Search Engine Optimization: a Discussion

At this moment, there's a pretty good discussion of Search Engine Optimization going on at BlogCatalog: Question for SEO gurus...?

Also, you might check out

• URL Canonicalization - How To Avoid The Duplicate Content Penalty On Google
• 5 Steps On How to Increase Blog Traffic
• Search Engine Optimization: Tip #1
• Search Engine Optimization: Tip #2

Referenced in the same discussion, SEO for FireFox, a FireFox tool. (According to seobook.com, "SEO for Firefox pulls in many useful marketing data points"). I haven't researched or tested it myself.

I understand that there's a Search Engine Optimization: Tip #3 coming.

Here's another site: BloggingMix - "A blog dedicated to helping bloggers improve in their blogging!"

Good Writing and Brevity

I've been exposed to a little more than the usual level of overblown, inappropriately focused writing today, and was going to vent my frustration.

Instead, I'm going to post a link to one of the best and briefest how-to-write pieces I've run into in a very long time: "More Writing Advice."

It's advice written by a novelist, adapted by a professor for students writing academic papers. But the advice is good for anyone trying to communicate in this medium.

Next Week I Gotta Get Organized

It happened again.

It took me all evening, and part of the next morning (it's not quite 1 in the morning as I write this), to finish five videos, ranging from about five to fifteen minutes long, for a website I run.

About an hour ago, I realized that I had a bulletin to finish by the seventeenth of July. Not August: July.

That's a little awkward, since it's now 55 minutes into the 20th of July in this time zone. Make that 56 minutes.

If there ever was a time when I could keep a half-dozen or so unrelated schedules juggled in my head, I can't do it now. Besides that, my wife reminded me that I can't pull all-nighters, sleep a few hours, and spring forth the next morning with a clear head.

It's time to get some sort of formal scheduling process started.

Not entirely unrelated to what I've written so far: I also discovered that I can't stand for well over an hour under a bright Minnesota summer sun without a hat, without turning the acreage on top of my head a rather attractive shade of red.

My wife, noting the condition of my scalp, turned to our second daughter and told her to "get the oil, and do his head."

And so, while I continued with my video production, my daughter oiled my head.

Organ Donation and the People at BlogCatalog

And now, something completely different.

BlogCatalog.com, an online community that I recently joined, has been encouraged to make today the day for their "BlogCatalog Community Organ Donor Awareness Campaign."

The subject is a bit off-topic, but organ donation is an important issue. Think of this as a PSA (Public Service Announcement).

Organ transplants can save lives. The medical procedures for swapping out damaged organs for ones that work have been around for years.

One of the problems has been that there aren't enough organs available to meet the demand. And this has led to abuses that remind me of Larry Niven's "organlegger" stories. The problem is, this is real. There have been articles about this problem in Fox News and Slate Magazine. (The Slate article is much more dramatic.)

Black market or not, people's lives can be saved through organ donation. On the other hand, people's lives can be ended if critical organs are extracted.

As a Catholic, I needed to see what the rules are. In the current Catechism, paragraph 2296 says:

• Organ transplants are not morally acceptable if the donor or those who legitimately speak for him have not given their informed consent.
• Organ transplants conform with the moral law and can be meritorious if the physical an psychological dangers and risks incurred by the donor are proportionate to the good sought for the recipient.
• It is morally inadmissible directly to bring about the disabling mutilation or death of a human being, even in order to delay the death of other persons.

(From Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994, English translation. Bullets added for clarity.)

So far, so good: as long as I know what I'm doing, and don't kill myself in the process, it's okay for me to donate organs.

Not that I'm terribly keen at the prospect.

However, I've made arrangements for me to be broken down for parts when I die. Assuming that anyone wants them, of course.

So: think about it. As for me, I think and believe that organ donation is a good idea.

The following is an excerpt from a blog post at blogcatalog.com. I have not checked any of the links, and am presenting them "as is," with no idea as to how reliable any of them are

Organ donation is a gift of life. On July 18, let's all come together again and raise awareness about organ donation and the good it can do. If everyone blogs about organ donation, no matter what country you live in, we can save lives! It's easy and we can also prove that bloggers can do good at the same time!

If you live in the United States, all you have to do is link to
http://www.OrganDonor.gov
http://www.organdonor.gov/donor/index.htm
UNOS http://www.unos.org/ or
http://matchingdonors.com

If your country has an online organ donation site, please add it to this bulletin so BlogCatalog members in your country can promote it too or visit the British Organ Donor Society for known worldwide links http://body.orpheusweb.co.uk/lnks.html

Hotlinking and Intellectual Property Rights

I ran into an informed blog post on this topic: Bloggers Hotlink Images, and Cost Webmasters Money by Rose DesRochers.

Good reading, and makes a good point. I had forgotten how much bandwidth could be eaten up by enthusiastic hotlinkers.

A concern I have about the practice is the lack of reciprocity: unless the hotlinker gives credit for an image's source, the image's poster gets no benefit from use of the image.

Viva Dave Barry

This has been a fairly typical day.

I spent the morning, and part of the afternoon, ferrying a member of the family to St. Cloud (about 45 miles/70 KM down the road) and back. An attache case full of books and writing tablets kept me mildly productive, although getting five hours of sleep last night kept real efficiency at bay.

When my daughter was finished with her business, she found me: elbow on table, supporting my forehead a cubit above piled papers. Contemplating the infinite, absorbed in thought, or napping? I'll let you pick an explanation from that list.

Even with the near-all-nighter last night, I'm still unlikely to have a bit of advertising ready by the end of the week.

I may have mentioned this before: my father-in-law is recovering from double knee replacement. It doesn't have a thing to do with the online publishing project(s) I'm trying to launch, but lending a hand in his recovery is distracting the family. And me.

Let's see. I'm feeling stressed. That's bad for efficiency, and blood pressure. Doesn't do my digestion any favors, either.

• I could run, screaming, down the street. Nope. I've had both hips replaced, and believe the medicos when they say "no running."


• I could go down to the corner bar and get plastered. No way. Aside from the expense, that's just adding a hangover to stress, and making more stress when I realize how much time I wasted.


• I could run away. That's crazy. I'm living in the best place on earth: there's no place to run to.

Now it hits me. This is a job for the Dave Barry column. the Miami Herald has an archive of Dave Barry columns at least far back as 1994. I recommend Shooting carps in Wisconsin and, copying from a previous post, Living under the influence of the Weirdness Magnet.

A word of caution, though: Some may not like the wit and wisdom of Dave Barry as much as I do, just as not everyone likes lutefisk or haggis. Or, for that matter, reading blogs.

Justice Goes Back on the Grill: $54 Million Pants Back in Play

All things considered, I prefer living in a country whose legal system that, in theory, allows for people to seek redress for grievances. Sometimes, though, it feels like the legal system in the United States makes it too easy for a rogue or a lunatic to harass others.

The strange case of the Korean dry cleaners, a judge's $54 million pants, and the trouserphilic judge's interpretation of the District of Columbia's consumer protection laws, is back in the news.

Today's Washington Post Metro: The District section posted "Pants Suit Plaintiff Asks Judge to Reconsider" as its third story, after "Greater Southeast Could Get Receiver" and "Rhee Approved as Schools Chief". The online edition of the paper even has a pretty good photo of Judge Roy Pearson, taken June 13, 2007.

Administrative judge Roy Pearson is trying to grab the brass ring again. According to the article, Pearson feels that the judge who heard the case didn't pay enough attention to the "satisfaction guaranteed" sign that Soo and Jin Chung put up in their dry cleaning establishment. The Washington Post says that Pearson filed his latest papers late on the night of July 10, 2007.

Even if Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff refuses to review the case, Judge Pearson can go to D.C. Court of Appeals for a third try.

As someone who's fairly low on the economic food chain and trying to start a business, I'll admit that I'm cheering for the Chungs. Judge Roy Pearson has his position in D.C. society and a compliant legal system on his side. All the Chungs have to defend themselves is good sense.

The Chungs are asking Judge Bartnoff to make Judge Pearson pay $83,000 that they've spent in legal fees so far.

In case Judge Bartnoff doesn't cooperate, or Pearson emulates O. J. Simpson and doesn't pay up, the Chungs have a defense fund set up:

Custom Cleaners Defense Fund

• Justice Goes Back on the Grill: $54 Million Pants Back in Play July 11, 2007
• Judge Roy Pearson's Pants-Stealing Koreans July 7, 2007
• Legal Jihad and the Pants-Stealing Koreans July 6, 2007
• Another Screwball Lawsuit? June 27, 2007
• Justice is Served (Medium-Well) June 25, 2007

And, a few other blogs on Judge Roy Pearon's vendetta against the Koreans:

• The $54 Million Dollars Pants Saga Continues!!!
• Judge's Jodhpurs, Pearson's Pants, Suer's Slacks
• Roy Pearson Asks Judge To Reconsider Pants Decision
• NOT THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER: Pearson's Knickers Still In A Knot Over His Pants

Recreation, Relaxation, and Censored Lava Lamps

Sometimes you just have to take time off, or you'll go crazy. Or crazier, as members of my family have claimed is the case with me from time to time.

For me, time off is Sunday. I go to church, grill lunch, spend time with the family, surf the Web in a desultry way, and in general kick back and relax.

Reading jokes and funny stories seemed like a good idea. One article, "Brit fumes over Wikipedia, lava lamps," seemed like a good place to start.

Not the best choice. It turns out that Wikipedia had censored an article on Lava Lamps, removing it from their online knowitall collection. The Brit had a reaon for fuming. The Wikipedia Lava Lamps are back, now. I even have an idea I know why the article was banned.

On the other hand, that digital diversion to the other side of the Atlantic led me to If surgery was like Wikipedia..., which was funny, in a grim sort of way.

Still looking for a yuck or two, I checked out "Going Bonkers Business Edition - The Business Magazine with a Sense of Humor"" - only to discover that they expect to be paid for a subscription! That's not funny.

It seems to be an interesting magazine, though. Some of the listed articles were:

• The Benefits of Kissing
• Get Off the "Yes" Treadmill
• Dealing with Life's Unexpected Turns
• For Parents Only

Then I struck gold. The Miami Herald archived Dave Barry columns at least far back as 1994. I enjoyed Night of the living roach and Living under the influence of the Weirdness Magnet, but personal tastes will vary.

Deadlines are My Friends

This afternoon, the "Gilligan's Island" theme got stuck in my head.

I did what I had to do.

I put a radio on my head, started listening to a classical music station, and got to work on blogs.

All of which may seem to have nothing to do with deadlines.

This blog, and two others, are part of my collection of online income-generators. So far, the blogs have earned exactly nothing, gross or net. But it's early days yet. Not that I expect to ever rely solely on blogs for income. I've read claims about people making thousands of dollars a month with these things, but a quick check shows a catch. The presumably high-income blogs are also high-traffic blogs. And have an extremely tight focus.

Speaking of focus, I've lost mine. Ah, right! Deadlines.

I don't like deadlines. In fact, I barely tolerate them.

But they're important. For a closet perfectionist like me, they're vital.

Without a deadline, I'm capable of letting a project lag, lapse, tarry, and tumble into that oblivion shared by so many promising ideas.

These blogs, for instance, must be updated no more than once a week.

I know: that's an insanely long time between entries in the fidgety online world.

In fact, I update my blogs much more frequently than that. But, it's possible that a week will come, when some fragment of fact or opinion associated with a blog hasn't made its way to my mind's front desk in time. If that happens, I'll take drastic steps and actually work at scraping some write-worthy bit from the week's headlines, or my experiences.

It was a deadline that got my Minnesota for Web-Wise Travelers site launched while the Minnesota tourist season was still on. And, it will be a deadline that will keep my current project from becoming an uncomfortable memory.

Deadlines? I may never like them, but I've learned to appreciate them.

Judge Roy Pearson's Pants-Stealing Koreans

I hope that this blog's next entry about Judge Roy Pearson and his efforts to crush the Koreans he says stole his pants will be good news.

I'd like to read that the Chung family got their legal fees paid, and can finally concentrate on running their dry cleaning service.

How likely that outcome is, I've no idea.

Roy Pearson and his jihad against the pants-stealing Koreans may be tricky to follow. This is how today's Washington Post article on the case described the crusading judge: "A lawyer for the poor for much of his career, Pearson represented himself, and in making his case, styled himself as a champion of the little guy, safeguarding consumer protection laws and the rights of ordinary citizens who lacked his legal acumen."

How noble.

Every small business owner, particularly the very small ones, can learn something from the Chung's experience.

Ethnicity counts. If you move into an area where you are an ethnic minority, there is a chance that you'll have trouble. You may even find yourself on the defensive against a deeply entrenched majority who have the numbers, the resources, and the legal connections to imperil your business, and you.

I see that, outside mainstream news, there are quite a few people who have twigged to the ethnic aspect of Judge Roy Pearson's legal attach on the Chungs. A quick Google blog search ("roy pearson" "washington post" korean black) showed several: D.C.'s Black-Korean Dynamic: A Simmering Tension, Roy Pearson is an Idiot, plus one blog that was "archived or suspended for a violation of our Terms of Service" by WorldPress.com, apparently because the blogger cited statistics in reference to the attitude of the majority ethnic group in Washington, D.C., toward Jews. I just hope that my blog doesn't suffer the same fate.

Finally, two points here are important, in my opinion.

• Judge Roy Pearson is not an idiot. He'd be much less dangerous if he were. It's his beliefs and emotional responses that make him a threat to those who he feels wrong him.
• The blogs I read were not the hate-filled redneck rants that many of my old college chums and current online acquaintances seem to expect from those who deviate from their approved beliefs.

And, a few other blogs on Judge Roy Pearon's vendetta against the Koreans:

• Justice Goes Back on the Grill: $54 Million Pants Back in Play July 11, 2007
• Judge Roy Pearson's Pants-Stealing Koreans July 7, 2007
• Legal Jihad and the Pants-Stealing Koreans July 6, 2007
• Another Screwball Lawsuit? June 27, 2007
• Justice is Served (Medium-Well) June 25, 2007

Legal Jihad and the Pants-Stealing Koreans

To be fair, Judge Roy Pearson had the good sense to drag the Chungs back into court over the Independence Day holiday. I'm a bit of a news nut, and this one would have slipped by me if an online friend hadn't brought Judge Pearson's 'jihad' to my attention.

I don't feel so bad, though, seeing that The $54 Million Pants Suit That Wouldn't Die is an item on the Washington Post's Metro section.

One aspect of the case that has been given, at best, scant attention is the issue of diversity. The Chung family, recent immigrants from Korea, are not only foreigners, but cannot blend into Washington D. C.'s ethnic majority (which made up 60% of the city's population in the 2000 census).

For anyone in business, especially those who aren't corporate giants, this is really bad news. The Chung family didn't have the sort of money it took to finance the first two-year court battle, let alone a second one. I understand that hundreds of Washington Post readers have contributed to a legal defense fund for the Chungs, but the besieged family is going to need more than that.

Much as I respect our legal system, I'm disturbed that an obviously deranged lawsuit like this can't be given a decent burial.

I've heard arguments, usually waving the Dred Scott v. Sanford flag, that courts must hear all cases, no matter how bizarre. The idea seems to be that contemporary mores may need to be changed, and that this change can only come through the courts making fools of themselves.

There's gotta be a better way, though.

And, somehow I doubt that "the best interests of all Washington residents" are being served by protecting them from what Pearson seems to regard as evil, pants-stealing Koreans.

(Lunatic lawsuits seem to be a recurring theme in this blog, so I'm starting a list of related posts.)

• Justice Goes Back on the Grill: $54 Million Pants Back in Play July 11, 2007
• Judge Roy Pearson's Pants-Stealing Koreans July 7, 2007
• Legal Jihad and the Pants-Stealing Koreans July 6, 2007
• Another Screwball Lawsuit? June 27, 2007
• Justice is Served (Medium-Well) June 25, 2007

A Troll Poll - Just for Fun

At first glance, trolls have nothing to do with starting and running a business.

After brief consideration, however, business owners have enough stress to deal with, without the help of cybertwits getting in the way of online discussion.

In an effort to relieve stress, and to satisfy my curiosity about the views of others on this Information Age pest, I created a poll last month. Of six responders, one felt that online trolls most nearly resembled gnats, another that they were like coyotes. Two each voted for "horse flies" or "rabid badgers."

If you are a LiveJOURNAL member, I invite you to participate in Troll Poll II: Return of the Troll Poll. It takes only a few seconds to complete. (If you aren't, you might consider joining that online community - particularly if you have artistic or creative interests.)

I hope you have as much fun with this poll as I had, creating it.

I plan to post the results of the poll after (and if) responses accumulate.

Computers and Kids: Son of Return of the Sequel

It's almost a week since my kids and I discussed a new way for me to ensure that my software is left alone when I leave it alone.

Bringing the mini-saga up to date, the new process seems to be working. The kids have been paying attention to the okay-to-visit list. Just as good, my son talked to me about another site that was overlooked when we discussed the white list. He has my oral assurance that the site is okay to visit, and play games on: and I'll be updating the printed and posted list shortly.

I suppose that they could be sneaking visits behind my back, but between browser logs and the fact that my kids know that I know about such things, I think they're toeing the line.

Previous posts in this mini-saga:

• Computers and Kids: Return of the Sequel (June 27)


• Computers and Kids: the Sequel (June 26)


• Computers and Kids: Home-Based Business vs Bionicles (June 25)

Minnesota for Web-Wise Travelers - up and running at last!

It's finally up and running, Minnesota for Web-Wise Travelers. My goal had been to get this directory of "Destinations and Diversions in Minnesota" up by June 1. At least there's still a couple months of the summer tourist season left: and this resource will be useful year-round.

I was a bit optimistic about how I'd deal with the set of data I'd collected, but I'm satisfied with the result.

For now, at least.

The next step will be to let folks know about this traveler's resource. That's a job for next week.

After that, I've got the next version of 'Minnesota Web-Wise' to work on, and Easy Griller ("I'm not lazy, I'm efficient!).

Right now, I'd better work on getting some sleep.