OmniNerd

Gay Veteran Separated From Military

VnutZ — Wed Jul 01 10:16:07 -0500 2009

The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy used by the DoD has existed now for more than fifteen years. That policy’s days may be numbered as President Obama had openly vowed to rescind the policy as part of his administration’s actions on social equality. However, his intention was not realized soon enough for Army Lieutenant Dan Choi, a 2003 West Point graduate and Iraqi Freedom combat veteran, who recently joined the New York National Guard only to be discharged for his homosexuality. While the issue’s recent development has been simmering on the backburner for several months, LT Choi’s situation may have forced it back into the forefront. The Secretary of Defense is already speaking out about possible exceptions of applicability to the policy and its effect on service members. As LT Choi’s situation will show, the policy is forcing out soldiers with much needed skills (he speaks fluent Arabic) and also creating a situation were combat veterans will be denied earned benefits by the nature of the policy’s discharge.

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Troops Withdraw from Iraqi Cities

VnutZ — Tue Jun 30 14:29:22 -0500 2009

Last December, President Bush and Prime Minister al-Maliki affirmed the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the United States and Iraq. Some may remember this as infamous shoe-throwing press conference. The SOFA had been a work long in progress seeking to establish a balance of withdrawal for troops and security for Iraqi citizens. Now, as the deadline for troops to pull out from major Iraqi cities draws to a close, the day was heralded with celebration and of course, renewed violence. In the past ten days, hundreds of Iraqi citizens have been killed in bombings around the country. As such, the withdrawal did not come without sentiments of trepidation, “Without the Americans, we were afraid of each other. And now that the Americans are leaving, we will be more afraid. We knew the Americans were holding them back, so now I don’t know what’s going to happen,” quoted a local Iraqi woman from Baghdad. The remaining 130,000 Soldiers in Iraq must have local approval from the government in order to operate within city confines and now largely exist only to support Iraqi troops and police.

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Do you text while driving?

smcbride — Mon Jun 29 06:20:55 -0500 2009

Cast Your Vote - Do you text while driving?

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Epic Pet Wars Pwns My Life

markmcb — Fri Jun 26 18:28:06 -0500 2009

I’m the type that always makes fun of people who “waste their time” doing “stupid” things that any “intelligent” person would avoid by doing more meaningful activities instead. Video games, television, etc., have all been labeled by me as a waste of time at some point in my life (despite the fact that at some point in my life I was totally hooked on those things). Well, thanks to Epic Pet Wars, I have to retire that beloved past time and become the target of these types of derogatory comments.

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The Rubber Room: Endless Breakfast Club for Teachers

gnifyus — Wed Jun 24 22:55:58 -0500 2009

Some of us may remember the 1985 movie ‘The Breakfast Club’ where a disparate group of kids are assigned a Saturday detention where they rediscover themselves and each other after having to spend the whole day together. But what happens to teachers when they misbehave? Do they get a detention also? Well, in New York City it appears they do, and some of them have spent years there collecting full salaries all the while. Officially known as “Temporary Reassignment Centers”, approximately 700 teachers and school employees have been moved into these “rubber rooms” while they await disciplinary hearings from city arbitrators. Some play chess, some start book clubs, Italian classes and Yoga; or some just argue over whether or not to open the window. Card playing, magazine reading, puzzles and sleeping are high on the list of reassignment activities also.

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Totalitarianism vs. Technology

gnifyus — Tue Jun 23 08:21:31 -0500 2009

Most of us are aware by now of the effect technology is having on the modern totalitarian government’s hold on the information their people see and hear. The recent heavy use of Twitter in Iran is one example of how hard it now is for any government to keep all communication at bay. Despite attempts at blocking and jamming internet traffic, many images and videos are still getting through to the rest of the world, and perhaps more importantly, to the very people involved and witnessing the protests.

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Obama's response to Iran's election crisis?

smcbride — Mon Jun 22 09:49:15 -0500 2009

Cast Your Vote - Obama's response to Iran's election crisis?

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Visualize Ruby on Rails Model Associations with rails_assviz

markmcb — Sun Jun 21 22:53:55 -0500 2009

Rails is a nice framework because it does its best to keep things simple. However, even the simplest framework can get cumbersome as an application grows. As I was tweaking some of the Rails code that powers OmniNerd, I was wishing I had a simple command line script that would draw a picture of OmniNerd’s model associations for me. Well, I wished for about 5 minutes and then I fired up TextMate and got to writing. The image you see is the result.

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Light Pollution Hides Milky Way

VnutZ — Thu Jun 18 05:07:17 -0500 2009

Astronomers report that nearly a fifth of the world’s population cannot see the Milky Way band thanks to light pollution. While the condition may seem to simply be a loss of nocturnal aesthetics, researchers believe it actually affects human health by disturbing the circadian rhythms that drive sleep patterns. Some studies have even linked unnatural levels of light affecting hormone levels (specifically in conjunction with rates of breast cancer). Regarding the light pollution itself, even bouncing just 3% of city’s lights into the sky can increase observable sky glow by up to 10% from 100km away. Cities that reflect 10% of their light skyward increase that same sky glow by 570%.

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Twitters Mostly Twitter to Themselves

VnutZ — Tue Jun 16 09:02:00 -0500 2009

What really is the point of Twitter? A recent study conducted by Hubspot reveals the “growth” of Twitter is largely in unused accounts – people signing up and never using it again. Additional findings from the report indicate that many of the active Twitter users basically tweet [I hate the phrase] at themselves and have nobody following them. Not only that, but most of them don’t follow anybody else either. So, unless I’m missing something, the bulk of Twitter users could get the same effect by simply sending text messages to themselves over a cell phone.

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Cheating begins with?

VnutZ — Mon Jun 15 04:52:32 -0500 2009

Cast Your Vote - Cheating begins with?

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The Left and Women's Rights

Brandon — Sun Jun 14 21:01:21 -0500 2009

I get the Change.org e-mailed newsletter. I don’t often share its sentiments, but that’s actually what makes it fun to read. I open the emails expecting a little silliness, so I’m entertained when it’s as expected, and impressed when it’s not. It’s a totally different experience than reading, say, Mitt Romney’s newsletters (that typically contain sound political thoughts and/or requests for donations), and I enjoy the change of pace.

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Ahmadinejad Wins Iranian Election

VnutZ — Sat Jun 13 10:55:48 -0500 2009

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will remain in power after garnering nearly 63% of the popular vote in yesterday’s election. His rival, Mir Hossein Moussavi contests the election citing violations of procedure and a process that was ultimately unfair for rivals. Moussavi was the leading favorite amongst Iranians seeking change and reform from the hard-line approach taken by Ahmadinejad in recent years. While not as obvious as Saddam Hussein’s 100% vote election, the people themselves also have cast skepticism on the election’s outcome as well.

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The service academies (USMA, USAFA, USNA)?

VnutZ — Mon Jun 08 10:11:19 -0500 2009

Cast Your Vote - The service academies (USMA, USAFA, USNA)?

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President Obama's Supreme Court pick, Sonia Sotomayor, is?

LordDilly — Mon Jun 01 07:04:38 -0500 2009

Cast Your Vote - President Obama's Supreme Court pick, Sonia Sotomayor, is?

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