Mark Gregory Turansky

The Federal government is bleeding red ink, as are nearly all other states in the union.  Why?  Because Americans have lodged in their heads the idea that we are entitled to everything, which includes paying nothing.

We expect and demand safety and security from our police force and fire fighters.  We ask our real estate agents about neighborhoods with good schools and the best test scores.  We cry about the ever-increasing age at which we can retire and collect social security because we all want to retire early.

But we don’t want to pay for any of it.  We feel entitled to it all.

The Greatest Generation was raised in the depths of the Depression only to be called upon to fight World War II.  During the war, families grew Victory Gardens and accepted rationing to aid the war effort.  Buying Victory Bonds was patriotic.  Women entered the workforce, manned the factories, and worked hard to increase our industrial output that proved to be a decisive material contribution to the war.  This generation sacrificed, saved, worked hard, and built a nation.

After September 11, 2001, what did George Bush ask the nation to do?  What kind of sacrifice did he call us all to make?

None.  He told us to go shopping.

The real crack in the foundation wasn’t 9/11, though.  It was the tax cuts in 2001 and 2003.  Together, these cuts turned surpluses into massive deficits. After 9/11, the Bush administration engaged in two wars without asking the American people to sacrifice anything, even while our sons and daughters were sacrificing everything overseas.  Profligate spending accompanied by reckless tax cuts were a recipe for disaster.

Worse still, tax cuts at the Federal level forced all state and local government officials to cut taxes, too, lest they lose their jobs.  That was the political climate of the day.  Today, government at all levels — federal, state, and local — are in extreme financial straits.  All are hemorrhaging money and drowning in a sea of red ink.

Reaganonmics is dead.  Paul O’Neill was Treasury Secretary in 2002 when Cheney was discussing the tax cuts that passed into law in 2003.  O’Neill was concerned that the U.S. was “was careering toward a fiscal crisis” but was silenced by Cheney’s retort “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”  Paul O’Neill resigned later that year.

For the party that loves Reagan so much and hails his landmark tax cuts of 1981, Republicans seem to have forgotten that Reagan raised taxes!  In 1982, he signed two tax increases into law that raised 1% of GDP as tax revenue (~$40 billion, equivalent to $100+ billion today).  Other tax increases followed in 1983, 1984, and 1985.  George H. W. Bush raised taxes in 1990.

The Gipper raised taxes.  It was fiscally prudent to do so in order to reduce his growing deficits.

What should we do today?  Raise taxes!  We’ve got the money!  The average savings rate jumped to over 4%.

Thanks, Obama, for my $1,000 tax cut, but please, take it back.  In fact, raise taxes by 1% of GDP, just like Reagan did.  Restore my tax rate to what I was paying before Bush took office.  Cut spending wherever possible (like that F-22 you successfully fought against).  Restore fiscal sanity to the Federal balance sheet.  Return us to a surplus and start paying down the national debt.

I would much rather pay a few hundred extra bucks per month than be in the crisis we’re in today.  I would much rather be asked to sacrifice to continue the prosperity of our country than be able to buy more imported plastic pieces of crap I don’t need. I have children.  I am looking forward to bettering their future.

Mr. President, please, raise my taxes.

President Barack Obama declassified satellite imagery that graphically shows the effect of global warming. The imagery was previously kept classified by the Bush administration.

Read more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/26/climate-change-obama-administration

View the images:

http://gfl.usgs.gov/Publications.shtml

It’s time for fall planting in South Carolina.  I sowed lots of seeds in my starter trays with my eye on mid-August for transplanting outside.

I planted cantaloupe, (lots of) snow peas, swiss chard, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cucumbers, broccoli, collards, green peppers, kohlrabi, romaine lettuce, and lil’ gem lettuce.

Let’s hope for nice weather, lots of sun, and some good luck!

And I thought writing about composting in a Victory Garden was a good thing to do, but I’ve been easily bested by people in Fiji who created composting toilets because they found their sewage was seeping into the sea and affecting their coral reefs.

The toilets separate liquids and solids, with the liquids becoming a fertilizer after some filtration (it’s sterile, afterall).  The solids are mixed with dry stuff like sawdust and then packed away for several months.  The solids compost over time and become fertilizer, too.

I’ve read before that nitrogen-rich urine makes good fertilizer and also helps a compost pile break down faster, but this is the first I’ve read about people using good ol’ #2 for their garden.

Here is the secret way to kill your application’s portability — and by portable, I mean across different computers, let alone operating systems:  Hardcode all your paths.

That’s it.  That very quickly kills portability.  It’s easy to accomplish, too.  Simply refer to all your configuration files, for example, by fully qualified pathname, like this:

System.setProperty("com.yourcorp.refdata.config.filename",
    "C:\\Documents and Settings\\FOO\\Perforce_FOO\\PATHS_CHANGED_FOR_ANONYMITY\\RefDataConfig.xml");

The above snippet is something I’m battling with to get unit tests working in my project. Naturally it doesn’t work for me because “FOO” isn’t my username nor is my Perforce sandbox “Performance_FOO” because, again, “FOO” isn’t my username.

This unit test won’t work across machines using the same OS, and our brethren using Macs or Linux boxes are completely hosed.

Don’t hardcode any paths in your application!

In Java, use a classpath resource.   This gives you portability.  It also allows a Configuration Management team the ability to package all required resources into a single artifact for better version control.

The safest way to get a classpath resource would be to use your current classloader to find the resource.

// Well-behaved Java programs set the thread's current classloader when running in a
// multi-classloader environment.  You see this when you write containers of any type.
Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResource("/some/path/RefDataConfig.xml");

// or another way... sufficient for most cases
this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("/some/path/RefDataConfig.xml");

Did you know Americans drive 3 trillion miles annually?  We drove 250 billion miles just in April ‘09.  Pretty amazing.

The article Drive Like Gandhi shows how much we could save nearly 700 million barrels of oil and $34 billion by applying a few simple, conservative, and thrifty tips.

It’s said that some of the most stressful things you can do in your life are move, have a kid, get married, and start a new job.  It’s all true, too, but this essay focuses on starting a new job because I’ve just started one.

All new employees are vulnerable, regardless of rank or position.  The newbie doesn’t know anyone, doesn’t know the culture, the business, or how to do the job they were hired for.  Yes, they have the skills and are experienced enough to do the job, but they lack all required institutional knowledge to start doing that job on the first day.  It’s a tough position to be in, especially considering the new hire is probably excited and enthusiastic, but rendered utterly impotent by lack of knowledge.

The best way to keep the enthusiasm alive and make that new hire productive is to get them integrated as quickly as possible.  Here are 5 simple things that will reduce downtime, reduce stress, and increase morale for the newbie.  This list is geared towards developers and techies, but some items apply generally.

1.  Make yourself available!

Nothing is worse than being shown your desk or office and then having your guide disappear, leaving you all alone.  Plan on spending time with your new hire or otherwise arranging their first few days to learn from the right people.  Yes, it takes time and everyone is busy with the current release, but abandoning your newbie increases their stress and lengthens the learning curve.

2.  Make sure their PC is ready to go

Twiddling thumbs is bad enough, but not having a PC online with email ready is even worse.  Make sure the new hire can connect to whatever resources they need to do their job.  Many companies achieve most of this by having ghost images of machines with most software pre-installed, but there are necessary network tasks as well.  Email setup?  Is the new hire in the right distribution groups?  All shared drives and other resources given the right permissions?

Make a checklist of all the tasks required to get the new hire into the network and domain.

3.  Hello, World!

The canonical “Hello, World” program proves a lot of things for such a simple application.  It proves that your environment is setup correctly, that you can checkout, build, deploy, and run your code.  It provides a working foundation to build upon and learn within.

What is the “Hello, world” equivalent for real world projects?  A working build from a clean checkout where all unit tests can run, preferably within the IDE, with minimal setup and configuration.

Your new developer needs a checklist of software to install and a simple guide to building and running the project’s unit tests.  I think a checklist is better than a preconfigured environment (from, say, an OS image with everthing preinstalled) because it gives the developer a thorough grounding in the technologies used for the project.  Let them install the build tools themselves and set the appropriate environment variables.  Let them install the source control software and checkout the project.  I believe this gives the new developer a sense of ownership over their PC and deeper project knowledge by knowing how to get it running from the ground up.

It’s true that the new developer will not be truly productive until they gain more intimate knowledge of the code and project, but by having the project running quickly on their local PC, the amount of downtime is lessened and the new developer feels less stress.

 4.  Define your SDLC

How does your new developer get new issues to work and resolve?  What is the process for testing and check-in?  Who are the people responsible for helping the developer get code through the process?

This is basic Software Development Life Cycle stuff and the foundation of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM).  It also helps the new developer feel a whole lot less lost when entering a new environment.

5.   Pair ‘em up!

There’s strength in numbers and comfort in a crowd.  The new hire doesn’t know anyone, so pairing him up with another new hire encourages bonding and forges immediate workplace friendships.  It also helps them both learn more quickly because they are both asking questions and going through it together.  They’ll remember different tidbits when overloaded with too much information in the first couple of days.

If there is only one new hire, have a more tenured employee work with them the first several days.  It’ll slow down the developer who’s been there a while, but it will speed up the new guy.

CONCLUSION

You know your new guy is stressed out and generally uncomfortable.  Making the assimilation process quick and easy is the humane thing to do, but it also makes a lot of business sense.  You are paying that new developer a lot of money.  You should want them to be productive as quickly as possible, as opposed to soaking up company resources.  Make them feel at ease and decrease the learning curve by getting them immersed quickly into the new environment.  It only requires a little bit of planning to keep them busy for the first several days and some basic documentation to get them up and running with a working project.

The above list is certainly not complete, it’s comprised of the first bunch of things that I thought would make my own transition easier. I’m sure a lot of new developers feel as I do when starting a new gig.  Please feel free to leave other helpful tips in the comments.

Victory Gardens were a popular and patriotic way to aid the war effort during World War II.  Millions of families across the country planted gardens to alleviate pressure on the domestic food supply during the war.  Victory Gardens also boosted public morale because everyone felt civic pride through their contributions.  In today’s difficult times, planting a garden makes more sense than ever.  In the spirit of public service, we should consider them Victory Gardens, just like the ones our grandfathers and grandmothers had.

Here are five good reasons we should all grow Victory Gardens.

1.  SAVE MONEY!

Fresh vegetables from the grocery store can be expensive.  Growing your own vegetables is inexpensive!  Seeds are cheap.  Water is cheap.  Time and sunshine are free.

Enjoy a continuous harvest by staggering plantings of various veggies with different maturation rates.  You  are guaranteed that something will be available for consumption every day during the growing season.

2.  100% ORGANIC

Your home-grown, fresh vegetables are chemical-free.  Do you really want your children consuming pesticides and poisons designed to kill organisms?  Growing your own vegetables is 100% organic.

There is a trend afoot for organic farms and gardening that’s bigger than your backyard.  Organic farms are being built into developments and subdivisions as an amenity, giving the local community access to fresh, healthy, and chemical-free produce.

3.  REDUCE WASTE

According to the EPA, 24% of our landfill waste is comprised of lawn clippings, leaves, and organic scraps from the kitchen.  In other words, perfect compost materials account for a quarter of our garbage!  This is a waste of our tax payer money.  Fiscal conservatives and environmentalists alike can agree to save money, space, and resources by composting.

Making compost is easy and it’s great for your soil.  It makes your garden vibrant and healthy, and the legacy you leave long after you move from that house is revitalized and regenerated soil.  This is a Very Good Thing for our communities.

4.  GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Your fresh vegetables have a small or even negative carbon footprint. There is no truck carrying your produce across the country for consumption, so there is no pollution from your veggies.  And considering that all green plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, your garden is cleaning the air.

5.  IT’S FUN AND REWARDING

My daughter loves picking snowpeas with me when I get home from work.  She loves playing in the dirt and planting seeds.  It’s a great way to bond, but it’s also a valuable learning experience.  She is seeing the results of her work while learning when and how to plant various crops.  I know she’ll have great memories of working the garden with Daddy.

More than bonding with my girls (the baby just likes playing in the dirt, but she’ll learn), gardening is also rewarding for me.  I enjoy watching it come alive and grow.  It’s a great reason to spend time outside enjoying the sunshine.  It’s fun to get dirty while getting some exercise. I also know I’m doing a good thing for my family, my community, and our environment.

I encourage everyone to grow a Victory Garden during this recession.  Let’s show future generations that we’ve learned something from The Greatest Generation.  We’ll all be better off, and so will our communities and environment.

To any parents using this brand of outlet cover:  They suck.  Safety 1st apparently does not test their products with real babies, because my nine month old bested their plug protector with ease.  Turns out, she’s not gifted or special.  There is another video on YouTube of a baby crawling across the floor and easily pulling this plug from the outlet.

Do not buy plug protector / outlet covers from Safety 1st.  Needless to say, we are replacing ours. Now here is the entertaining video:

And here is the other baby I mentioned: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OXe-uQZA-E&NR=1

Sesame Street is 40 years old and struggling (ratings-wise) against Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants.  What little bit of Spanish Dora teaches my little daughter is not the same as the impact Sesame Street has had on the world.

Newsweek has a retrospective new article that talks about the importance of Sesame Street.  I can corroborate the facts stated in the article:

“Before Sesame Street, kindergartens taught very little,” says [Joan Ganz Cooney, Sesame Street co-founder and TV producer], “and suddenly masses of children were coming in knowing letters and numbers.” Independent research found that children who regularly watch Sesame Street gained more than nonviewers on tests of letter and number recognition, vocabulary and early math skills.

My daughter isn’t 4 yet, but she’s reading her bedtime books to us now. She turns 4 next month, and for this past month she’s taken over all nighttime reading. I simply help with the hard words and encourage her to sound out the rest.

We’re doing math now, too.  We incorporate fun little games into daily activities that demonstrate addition and subtraction.  For example, we’ll ask her how many strawberries she’ll have left in her bowl if she eats 3 of them.  She gets it.  She understands addition and subtraction.  It’s time to start with multiplication and division.  Maybe I’ll show her how to separate her blocks into groups of 3 and ask her how many groups she has.  It doesn’t matter how I introduce the concepts, so long as it’s fun.

Maria Montessori was right in her approach to learning and her new pedagogical style, but researchers today find there is almost no age requirement to early education.  Maria Montessori originally developed her curriculum for young children aged 3-6, but there are now programs for younger children, too.

My daughter learned sign language as a baby.  The benefits are amazing.  Toddlers can communicate with us long before they can speak.  Knowing their needs are being heard gives them confidence and makes for an easier child.  My daughter once signed “cold” to me in a gas station parking lot during a road trip.  She was only old enough to say a couple of words (”dada”, “mama”, “dog”, and “duck” come to mind), but she knew dozens of signs and this was the first time she used “cold” on her own.  I was stoked! She very clearly communicated her need to me. She wanted to be back in the car!

I read that 18 month old toddlers can only speak 8-10 words but can know up to 75 signs.  We counted my daughter’s vocabulary and the math was spot on.  She knew 8 words and 65 signs, many of which were genuinely useful (others were just fun):  up/down, hot/cold, hungry, sleepy, more, milk, apple, diaper, dog, cat, and many more.

Kids are natural sponges.  They want to learn.  They just need the right environment and encouragement.