Journal Entries
Shuttles Destroyed
Posted Feb 3, 2003
On Saturday morning at about around 10:40 Eastern Time, Bev and I left the house to go to Indian Springs State Park. The radio was on in the car, and we heard a discussion about what sounded like a plane crash. It took us a couple of minutes to figure out that they were talking about the break up of the Shuttle Columbia.
As we went to the park, we listened to radio coverage on WSB 750 and NPR, and turned the radio off from time to time to discuss what we heard. After about five minutes of news, it was clear that all we would know that day was that the shuttle broke apart, no one would be able to tell for some time what happened, and the people covering the news would fill the air with a bunch of nonsense that didn't advance anyone's understanding of the event.
In 1986, I left school early. I probably left at about 10:00. I didn't like school, and often left whenever I felt like it. I came home and turned on the television only to see the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger. I remember watching it all day long.
[This was meant to be reflective of the events, but a political rant follows.]
The shuttle is the most complicated machine ever built by man. God willing, it is the most complicated machine that we will ever build. It was meant to be part of series of NASA projects that would give us access to space. Its job was to get people and things into low Earth orbit, where they'd be picked up and moved on by orbital spacecraft that never touched the ground. The space station that was an integral part of the shuttle program took 20 years and a lot of stripping down to get into space. Jerry Pournelle often observes that the Shuttle is an excellent program it does exactly what it is supposed to do. That is it employs 20,000 people to accomplish a single launch. I think there's a lot of truth to that.
As with most readers of science fiction, I think it is critical that we spread humanity into space. This planet is too fragile for us all to live on. I don't think that NASA will get us there. Even when they do have a good plan, Congress is stingy about properly funding NASA programs. Congress has delayed multiple programs for years, and as a result the cost of those programs explode.
I see some serious issues there. I believe that cheap access to space is critical. That probably isn't something that NASA can achieve. Libertarians would argue that if we got rid of NASA, private enterprise would get into space faster and cheaper. I don't know. So far, it seems that our successes have been limited in scope, slow in coming and far too expensive.
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Latest reply: Feb 3, 2003
Grey
Posted Dec 11, 2002
In 1993, I picked up a gray tabby from the humane society in California. Not being terribly imaginative, we named her Grey. We brought her with us out to Georgia.
We take walks with our 
s as well as our 
. After one walk in 1996, Gray didn't come back home. At first, we didn't think much of it. She was pretty independent, and would often spend a few days away from home. After a few weeks, we had to admit that she had moved out.
Every year or two we would come across her. One year, we were out walking, and we ran into some other people and Gray. They called her Willow. They told us that she had lived with them for a while, and she also lived with a few other neighbors from time to time.
Last week, we went for a walk and saw Gray. Bev petted her, and she started following us. She came back home. She looks pretty thin likes she hasn't had a home for a while. We made her a bed in the bathroom near the food. Now she's up and around and looking a little better.
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Latest reply: Dec 11, 2002
Election 2002 in Georgia
Posted Nov 6, 2002
Well it looks like the republicans had a pretty good night last night. They took control of the Senate and gained seats in the House (which almost never happens for the president's party in a mid-term election). It was a good night for America.
In Georgia, we had some surprises. The popular democratic governor, Roy Barnes was defeated by republican Sonny Perdue. Governor Perdue will be the first republican governor of Georgia since reconstruction. Governor Barnes has been ruling this state like an autocrat for the last four years. Sometimes he's done well, sometimes poorly, but he's been forcing his issues down our throats.
Tom Murphy, who has been the speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives for decades, was voted out in his own district. He's had a stranglehold on the house. He's done things like carve out an exemption of the Seatbelt law for trucks because he drives a Ford Ranger, he adjusted the way intermural sports worked, because his local schools were losing football games to private schools. It's really a good day for Georgia.
One bright outcome in Georgia, gerrymandering didn't work as well as the democrats had hoped. The democratic state legislature carved out three US House of Representatives districts designed to elect democrats, the Georgia 11th, 12th, and 13th. The 12th and 13th were specifically designed to elect black Representatives. The republicans won in the 11th and 12th districts.
Unfortunately, I'm in Georgia's 13th House District. My Representative will be David Scott. Oh well, at least I have a Congressman I can be upset with and write letters to. Every time I've wanted something done in Congress, Mac Collins was already a co-sponsor of the bill. There hasn't been any reason for me to write him.
I was a little surprised by looking through the voting results for my precinct. I live in a very conservative county, but I forgot about the poor black drug infest neighborhood nearby. The majority in my precinct did vote for democrats.
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Latest reply: Nov 6, 2002
Voting
Posted Nov 5, 2002
I just came back from voting. I voted for the Republican candidates for Governor, Senate, and the House of Representatives.
I was upset because I live in Georgia's Thirteenth House District. It's a gerrymandered district meant to ensure that a black democrat was elected. The district looks like a large spider smashed on map. My highly conservative area is near the interstate, so it was included to link black democratic areas. Now I have no fear of having a reprehensive in Congress to represent my views until I move.
Strangely enough, my state house district changed along with the gerrymandering. The new state house district seems to be a highly liberal one, and the republicans didn't even bother to put in a candidate.
The area where I live is actually very conservative. In my county elections, the democrats rarely bother to put up a candidate.
For the most part, I voted against new taxes, and I voted for libertarians except when there wasn't one, then I voted republican.
I did vote for a democrat for Secretary of State. Cathy Cox has done a really good job for many years. She has introduced computerized voting, which I tried for the first time today.
The computer voting system is okay. I did see one lady who was very upset, because she couldn't review her vote. She pressed the wrong area of the screen. Instead of scrolling down to review her screen, she pressed 'Cast Ballot'. The system makes it very easy to do write in candidates, which I did for one judgeship. I never really saw the problem with punch card voting. If you check the card, you'd have to be a complete idiot to have a hanging chad. Hence, the discounting of many democrats vote in Florida in 2002. I don't see how it makes much of a difference. Still, if people are more comfortable with this system, then I'm happy to have it.
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Latest reply: Nov 5, 2002
First Jury Trial
Posted Oct 26, 2002
It took five years, but I finally had my first jury trial this week. It was on a DUI case I made last year. It took all morning to select a jury. In the afternoon, I testified. Then the officer who conducted the breath test testified. I found out later that day that the jury convicted her and she received a sentence of ten days. Her attorney was from one of the major DUI defense firms in the areas, so I feel pretty good about the whole thing.
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Latest reply: Oct 26, 2002
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