Boy Scouts (again) sued over land access

Today's paper had an article about the Boy Scouts in court again over lease agreements with the city of San Diego claiming that the Boy Scouts are a religious organization. This is the biggest bunch of bull I've ever heard. Just because the 12th point of the Scout Law is "Reverent" and the Scout Oath has "do my duty to God and my country", it doesn't mean that it is a religious organization. US currency has the word God on it; the Oath of Office for various top positions in the government end with "So help me God.". Does this make the government a religious organization? While I completely respect people's views in whatever religion they may have, I see nothing wrong with the Scout Law and Scout Oath as they are today. I agree with the Boy Scouts of America on this point, I completely disagree with them on their stance on gays as leaders. Being gay doesn't mean that someone is morally wrong, does it? It isn't my choice, but why should I care what others choose? It also doesn't mean that a leader will act inappropriately around the scouts.

I am a huge fan of the Boy Scouts and believe that being a Scout and earning the rank of Eagle Scout has made a big impact on my life. However, I think that it needs to re-think some of its views (particularly its stance on gays) so that it doesn't become associated with highly conservative religious views which could have a very negative affect on the organization.

Aging Hardware

Every now and again, I tend to look at the equipment I have on my desk and think about how long I've had it. The oldest piece of "equipment" is a pair of Apple Design speakers that I got in 1996 or 1997. They still are in use and work quite well. The second most ancient piece of equipment is my PowerMac G4/500 dual processor which I bought in late summer 2000. This machine, despite being 5.5 years old, still serves as my test and build machine. My builds now take 20-25 minutes as there are a ton of components and I keep considering if I should upgrade to a newer machine. I'll still need a PowerPC based machine for testing, so maybe I'll be able to pick up a G5 dual processor machine cheap as soon as the Intel based towers come out.

One of the least accessible places in San Diego

I've always thought to myself that there are several places in the city of San Diego that are extremely inaccessible in case of emergency. One of those would be Cowles (pronounced Coles) Mountain. Why is it so inaccessible? There are 2 ways to get to it on the ground; the first is up the winding narrow trail that won't support a vehicle and the second is a fire road up the back. My theory was proven correct yesterday as Copter 1 had to rescue a hiker off the mountain. The only other option was to have rescuers hike up the mountain and carry the injured person down on a backboard which would definitely not be a fun task. (Parts of Mission Trails Regional Park and some beach areas are also very inaccessible in emergencies.)

Fire truck on fire

Yesterday's news showed a fire truck that caught on fire. That really was a bummer to see a $350,000 emergency vehicle up in flames. To top it off, I saw a big 39 on the side...that's the fire engine that serves my neighborhood. I hope that it gets replaced soon. (This is the second fire truck that has caught fire in the last few days.)