Lincolnite

Here's a matter few people besides me actually care about: I'm thinking about converting Lincolnite.com to a different content management system (CMS). Currently I use Expression Engine (EE) by pMachine. It's a commercial product, and it is relatively powerful. Best of all, the support is great. But progress toward new versions has been slow, and EE is missing a few features I would like to see. Enter Xaraya. I started playing around with Xaraya because my employer may use it as a CMS for its websites. Xaraya is incredibly powerful, very extensible, and totally customizable. The more I play around with Xaraya, the more amazed I become. And it's free. The downside is there is a huge learning curve. I still don't have a clue how Xaraya's templating scheme works. I have printed off and read about 100 pages of documentation, and I'm only just beginning to apply that information to test pages for what could become a new -- and much improved -- Lincolnite.com. Anyway, I'm probably just talking to myself here. If anybody has any thoughts, let me know.

From an AP dispatch:

The House voted Wednesday to eliminate federal estate taxes in 2010 and beyond, a repeal that Democrats said would reward the richest families at the steep cost of deeper federal deficits.

Since when is it a reward for individuals to keep their own money?

In a nice piece over at Reason Magazine that links Terri Schiavo, Bush v. Gore, and Carla Faye Tucker, Jonathan Rauch describes one of the (many) reasons I don't get along very well with President Bush and congressional Republicans these days.

U.S. Has No Exit Strategy for Iraq, Rumsfeld Says -- AP Article "'We don't have an exit strategy, we have a victory strategy,' Rumsfeld told soldiers during a surprise visit to Baghdad." -- Second paragraph, same story.

I would like to gather some input on the following hypotheticals for a little side project I am working on. By the way, this is based on a real series of cases issued by an international court recently! (to be disclosed later) Hypo 1: Country A invades Country B. For purposes of helping to visualize this hypo, lets say Country A is the USA and County B is Canada. The US unlawfully invades Canada but only takes over Quebec, where they set up an unlawful US colony. The rest of Canada continues to be governed by the Canadian national govt. The US begins committing human rights violations in Quebec against Quebecois, but the Canadian govt can do nothing to stop them because of the presence of superior US military forces in occupied Quebec. Instead, after brief fighting, Canada "gives up," concedes to the US, and tries to negotiate with the US to normalize relations. Legally, who should be responsible for the human rights violations in Quebec? A) The US, for invading Quebec and committing human rights violations B) Canada, because by NOT finding them liable, leads to bad intl human rights policy because all nations should always do their utmost to use whatever means necessary to stop human rights abuses and Canada did not try hard enough C) both US and Canada, for both reasons above Why? Hypo 2: The US invades Quebec and sets up an unlawful US colony. The rest of Canada continues to be governed by the Canadian national govt. The US begins committing human rights violations in Quebec against people living in Quebec which the Canadian govt does nothing to stop, even though it could attempt to do so. The Canadian govt does nothing to stop the human rights violations because the majority Canadian govt wanted to eradicate the minority Quebecois people anyway. Legally, who should be responsible for the human rights violations in Quebec? A) The US, for invading Quebec and committing human rights violations B) Canada, because by not doing anything to prevent the human rights violations by the US, basically acquiesced and allowed it to happen. C) both US and Canada, for both reasons above Why? Hypo 3: The Quebecois revolt against Canadian rule and set up an unlawful separatist nation. This new government then begins persecuting its residents and the government of Canada does nothing to stop it. Who is liable for these human rights violations? A) Canada because the "separatist Quebecois" are not a distinct entity but still lawfully Canadian, and Canada has failed to protect its own citizens B) Both Canada and the new separate nation of Quebec C) Only the new govt of Quebec - if they can be apprehended - for committing human rights violations against Canadians in Quebec D) No one, because Canada is not responsible for crimes committed by the separatist Quebec nation and Quebec is an unlawful entity Why? Hypo 4: The Quebecois revolt against Canadian rule and set up an unlawful separatist nation. This new government then begins persecuting its residents and the government of Canada tries to stop it but cannot because the separatist forces are too strong. Instead, after brief fighting, Canada "gives up," concedes to Quebec, and tries to negotiate with the Quebec to normalize relations. Who is liable for these human rights violations? A) Canada because the "separatist Quebecois" are not a distinct entity but still lawfully Canadian, and Canada has failed to protect its own citizens B) Both Canada and the new separate nation of Quebec C) Only the new govt of Quebec - if they can be apprehended - for committing human rights violations against Canadians in Quebec D) No one, because Canada is not responsible for crimes committed by the separatist Quebec nation and Quebec is an unlawful entity E) Canada, because by NOT finding them liable, leads to bad intl human rights policy because all nations should always do their utmost to use whatever means necessary to stop human rights abuses and Canada did not try hard enough Why? Hypo 5: The govt of Canada and separatist Quebecois begin bloody fighting on the physical territory of the province of Quebec after Quebec declared its independence, with numerous human rights violations committed by both sides and absolute chaos in Quebec. Who is liable for these human rights violations? A) Canada because the "separatist Quebecois" are not a distinct entity but still lawfully Canadian, and Canada has failed to protect its own citizens B) Both Canada and the new separate nation of Quebec C) No one, because the fighting has rendered the territory of Quebec "lawless" Why?

I stopped in at the new Dac Nguyen resturant that apparently just opened in place of the old Vien Dong restaurant across from UNL city campus. I was surprised to see it open since I was under the impression that it was going to be serving Teppanyaki cuisine and would thus need extensive remodeling to move in grills. I was even more surprised when I walked in to find the same waitress who worked at Vien Dong - WTF?! Hmmmmm. Anway, the menu seems to be aiming for some sort of slightly sophisticated Pan East Asian experience. It seemed like the least expensive dish there was $7.50. I tried the chicken curry. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was almost an exact replicate of Indian-influenced Southern Thai or Malay style chicken curry (ie "Massaman" or "Muslim-Man"), with a coconut milk base, onions, and potatoes (hence the Indian touch). This is very different from the typical super oily chicken curry you would order at many chinese or vietnamese places. The ingredients were all fresh, vegetables were crunchy, and the chicken was nicely cooked too. Dissapointing was the fact that the curry itself was extremely mild, even for Nebraska tastes in my opinion. In fact it was about as spicy as a glass of warm skim milk, which was disheartening. Overall, what was a bit unsettling at first is that the entire menu has been completely over hauled and much more limited. However, that is not to say that a smaller menu necessarily means its bad. As the french know, a restaurant with a small menu usually means that the listed items are all high quality! And there were a few items on the menu I have never seen before anywhere. Again, it seems to me like Dat's is aiming for a more sophisticated clientale (ie grad students and faculty from UNL), just based on prices alone. I noticed that there was lobster and other seafood av ailable on the menu. I was definitely dissapointed that virtually all of the pho that was previously offered at vien dong's is now gone. Anyone with any culinary tastes knows that pho ranks among the best of dishes anywhere. And there is no teppanyaki available at all either, contrary to my earlier expectations. Dat's is probably worth a few more visits before a final verdict.

English is now the official language of West Virginia. But don't worry, West Virginia's lawmakers is just idjits, they didn't mean to be intolerant. On second thought, that doesn't make me feel any better.

Salk had help developing polio vaccine In other breaking news:

• World War II ends
• Abraham Lincoln shot, killed
• Ogg, son of Grogg, invents "wheel"

One week down, a whole bunch to go. I survived week one at my new job. I hope writing this doesn't curse me, but I have to say that so far I'm very pleased. This position is so much more "me" than my previous position was. I am meeting all sorts of people, and I'm being presented with all sorts of really cool opportunities. I definitely can't complain. I do miss the people from my previous job, and the work atmosphere was certainly more, umm, "lively" than it is here. (I don't expect to have many rubber band fights any more.) But this office isn't nearly as sterile as I thought it might be. Everybody is very friendly, and everybody seems to have very high job satisfaction. Many of these folks have been here, in one position or another, for years. Oh, and I might get to go to San Diego for a few days, ostensibly to attend a conference. The hotel is right on the water. Good times. So there you have it. Week one is in the books. I'm even going to say something I hadn't said at my previous job in a long, long time: I'm looking forward to Monday.

Once again, Ted Stevens (R-AK) leads the list of oinkers for 2005. Your tax dollars at work, ladies and gents.

Voters in Bennington, Vermont, rejected a 75,000 square foot cap on "big box" retailers, opening the door to Wal-Mart to expand its current store in that community. With the exception of one woman's assertion that she "want(s) a bigger Wal-Mart," the article is strongly biased against the mega chain. But one paragraph takes the cake:

Alicia Romac of the pro-cap group Citizens for a Greater Bennington said she wished the decision had been left up to elected officials. "It's special interests interfering with what's best for the community process, and I don't think that's really the best way to run a government," she said.

Now voters are a "special interest" group? Somebody needs to smack Ms. Romac.

That's right fools...De Leon's on 27th just opened, and I stopped there for an early dinner today. They were still scrambling a bit, and you can tell that counter service is something new to them (the original De Leon's is drive through only). But hell, you dont actually go to fast food for service, or atmosphere for that matter. You go for the food at low prices, and De Leon's is renown for good Mexican fast food at reasonable fast food prices. I got a combo plate of 2 fish tacos with beans and rice at $5.49. It was pretty damn good, deep fried fish fillet chunks with pico on corn tortillas. The pico de gallo was definitely fresh, which I like (not the pale, sicky looking buckets of pico they have at amigos). The fish was fried to a deep brown and also hot, indicating it just came out of the fryer. The beans were good (for beans) and the rice was light and fluffy. All in all, a solid experience and definitely better than any of the other chains in Lincoln. Few notes: 1) They do not have a salsa bar, which is something I believe they should consider. Intead, they just give you little cups of hot tomato salsa. 2) The service is still a bit clumsy...although expected seeing it just opened. Within a few weeks they will hopefully iron out how much labor is needed. When I was there there was only one attendant out front and she was clearly dealing with both sit in customers and drive through ones. 3) They lack other extras which would make it a nicer place. The salsa bar is one missing component. I would recommend that they also throw in a small plate of chips with their combo meals and/or a little cup of hot pickled vegetables. All their combo plates cost at least $5.29 or so, and at those prices, you should get at least either or both chips and vegetables in addition to the rice, beans, and main entree to make it similar to what you can find in southern california. All you can drin k, serve yourself soda would be another plus. In anycase, I can't complain. I will definitely be headed back their tomorrow and also over the weekend to try their other meal sets, and I cant see myself going back to my old mainstay of Taco Inn anytime soon now that De Leon's has opened. I should also mention, they have a breakfast burrito menu, which includes a "Lincoln Burrito" and a "Nebraska Burrito." I asked the lady what they were and she informed me that the former is eggs, bacon, cheese and potatoes and the latter is eggs, steak, cheese and potatoes. I am guessing that this new De Leon's will be a huge success. They already have a very loyal base of customers, its an ideal location, and the place is spacious and looks nice (for a fast food place) from both the inside and outside. With dine-in, De Leon's will definitely succeed.

Chancellor Harvey Perlman of UNL sent this announcement out today to all UNL faculty and staff (abridged version): Yet, we continue to face a significant challenge caused by our enrollment decline this year and the tuition shortfall that decline precipitated. The shortfall could be as high as $6 million dollars. This means we will not have sufficient dollars to fund this year's budget and unless enrollment increases rapidly for fall, we cannot sustain next year's level of expenditures either. I am afraid this means that we will have to begin looking at very real changes in how we manage our resources and, yes, some reductions in current budgets. I believe the enrollment decline is in large part a lingering product of the budget cuts and the significant increases in tuition rates over the last four years. .... Right now we are focused on minimizing the damage. We have enlisted faculty and others to work hard to retain the students we have and to attract additional students to the University. ..... Because this shortfall has been created by enrollment declines, one of the factors that should be considered in making reductions will be patterns of enrollment within academic departments. HMMMMMM. This could be Perl-speak for "departments with low enrollment rates might get axed." Let the rumors, finger-pointing, and hysteria begin.

Here's a great idea: let's criminalize "indecency," First Amendment be damned!

Today is my first day at my new job. It's a weird feeling, sitting here in a new office around all these new people. I haven't started a new job in over three years, and when I started at my previous job I was just a graduate research assistant. This is my first real job, with real benefits and real responsibilities right from the start. I guess that means I'm officially grown up, at least until I decide to go back to school. On the down side, I start work at 7:30a.m., which means I have to hop on the 6:55 bus, getting me to my stop Downtown around 7:15. I used to take the next bus, about 35 minutes later. Right now it's not a big deal to get up earlier, but boy is it going to hurt when I have baseball double-headers out of town, getting me home after 11:00p.m. without having eaten supper yet. But that's a minor quibble. This job will be good for me in a lot of ways. I can't wait to see where it takes me.