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Why an alcohol ban?
One of the hot topics in San Diego (at least at the beach according to the media) is the proposed alcohol ban at the beaches. Proponents say that it will cut down on rowdiness and make the beach more family oriented. At first I thought it was a good idea (I don't drink as I don't like the taste of alcohol), so it wouldn't negatively affect me. However, after thinking about it for a bit on my run this morning at the beach, it seems like the wrong thing to do. If the city wanted to clean up the beaches, it should enforce the laws already on the books, such as public intoxication, disorderly conduct, alcohol along the seawall, etc. There seem to be plenty of laws that would already help, but they're a little harder to spot. Alcohol is easy to spot...look for case of beer in someone's hand.
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You work with computers? Can you help me with my problem?
This is one of the most common phrases I've heard in my career when I tell people that I write software. For awhile, I was going to say that I designed and manufactured toilets it was getting so bad. Why do people think that just because I write software, I know how to fix someone's wacky computer problem? I have enough problems of my own keeping my computers running. To top it off, if I say I write Macintosh software, people are in awe and without fail have a Mac with some obscure problem. If I wanted to fix computers for a living, I would be a consultant and save the day, but I'm not a people person and frankly, I don't like computers all the time.
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LEGO City construction has begun
After a few false starts putting together my LEGO railroad, I'm finally making progress. My first few starts failed because I kept short circuiting the track and trying to do complex stuff such as running 2 engines at the same time on different loops with 1 controller. I went ahead and ordered a second controller off eBay (still waiting for it) for < $10 shipped (new ones are over $40) so that I could have 2 independent tracks. One track being similar to an elevated (L) train in a city such as Chicago and the other being a freight train. To complicate matters, I wanted to have the freight train track cross my road sections as much as possible at right angles.
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I started a LEGO frenzy!
In a post last month, I mentioned that I believed that LEGO was in violation of the Star of Life trademark for their rescue series. I contacted LEGO to inquire about it as it is important to me that this trademark be used for true emergency medical related uses and that when someone sees this mark, they don't just write it off, but can rely on its meaning. LEGO responded that the trademark was from a government agency and as such, it didn't have "copyright protection", according to their legal department. (Trademark and copyright protection are different.) They said, "As long as LEGO Systems Inc. makes an exact replica of the vehicle on which it usually appears, we would not be violating their rights. Therefore the depiction of the Star of Life logo is not in violation of any trademark infringement."