The Dave Casper Experience

A balance in the force?

2008-07-23T14:27:00.004-05:00

Via Instapundit:

"I've had to completely take my pants off and show them like my entire leg," Angone said.

As a baby, Angone was diagnosed with cancer. Her parents, both Chicago police officers, had to have her leg amputated. She said she always warns TSA security agents that her prosthetic leg will set off the metal detector, but many insist on doing an embarrassing full body pat-down.

"I feel like I'm being felt up in public," Angone said.

So let's say a police officer witnesses TSA security performing a search on his teenage daughter that seems to be going too far. In fact, if he saw the same thing happening on a city street, he'd probably end up arresting someone. Jurisdiction issues aside, what do you think would happen if he grabbed the security agent, put her in cuffs and started reading her her rights, telling her she was being charged with sexual assault?

Might put the TSA squarely in its place.

Why not just make it free?

2008-07-18T20:19:00.003-05:00

Heck, if you cut the price in half and are guaranteed to increase ridership, just imagine how many riders you'll get if you don't charge at all!

Holy shit, this is freakin' genius! I say let's make Borkowski mayor. No...no, let's make him king! That's right! King of La La Land and the Valley of the Half-Wits!

(Too much?)

Irenda Sendler

2008-07-17T13:36:00.003-05:00

From Snopes...

There recently was a death of a 98 year old lady named Irena.

During WWII, Iliana, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist.

She had an ulterior motive...

She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German).

Iliana smuggled infants out in the bottom of her tool box she carried, and she carried in the back of her truck a Burlap sack, (for larger kids).

She also had a dog in the back, that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in, and out of the ghetto.

The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog, and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.

During her time and course of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.

She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, and arms, and beat her severely.

Iliana kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out, and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.

After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it, and reunited the family.

Most of course had been gassed.

Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes, or adopted.

Last year Iliana was up for the Nobel Peace Prize....

She LOST.

Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.

Achewood is poignant

2008-07-17T08:14:00.002-05:00

And funny. Mustn't forget funny.

She has a boyfriend

2008-07-16T21:05:00.003-05:00

Say what you will about the British (I'm assuming everyone probably has something to say about them), but they do have one hell of a sense of humor. Sure, it may take a bit of getting used to, and sometimes it even means having to look up some things on the internet to get the joke, but once you're in the groove you find yourself laughing non-stop. I mean, come on, these are the people who add an extra 'u' to words just for shits and giggles!

And when you have a great sense of humor, picking up the ladies just comes naturally.

Summerfest attendance numbers aren't a disappointment

2008-07-15T12:29:00.002-05:00

Eugene Kane (along with many others, I'm sure) is calling Summerfest's attendance numbers disappointing.

I actually haven't seen Don Smiley's response to these figures since the fest (well, because I'm not looking), but I do recall him stating in a radio interview before the festival that one million attendees was a magic number he wasn't too concerned with achieving. Stating that his focus was more on quality than quantity, he even said the goal was closer to somewhere between 800,000 and 900,000.

I've long thought that one of the drawbacks of Summerfest, and one of the reasons I haven't attended for many years, is that they try to get too many people into too small a space. Not being a huge fan of crowds, it's always been a turn-off for me to be shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of other sweaty, sometimes shirtless fest-goers before even walking through the gate. Not being able to see any of the acts I'd like because the crowd is too big and having to to wait in line more than a few minutes to get a beer just make it even worse.

Smiley has the right idea here. Making the experience more pleasurable for less people is the way to go. Jamming people in like sardines just to get to some arbitraty number wasn't.

Thought of the Day

2008-07-14T21:20:00.003-05:00

So many people are upset with home lenders for giving people money there was no chance they'd be able to pay back.

But isn't that what the government does every day?

My continuing thoughts on transit for those who really care and something at the end of the post for those who don't

2008-07-11T09:15:00.007-05:00

Via Instapundit, a transit boss isn't practicing what he preeches. A few observations...

One, if the head of the transit system is spending taxpayer money to encourage more people to use said system, he damned well better be good and ready to use that system himself. Sure, he may not do it on a regular basis, but doing so at least during a campaign to push the service saves you from having a reporter writing about it in the local paper.

Two, why on earth is a guy making over $200,000 a year to run a public transit department getting a $26,000 (base) vehicle at the taxpayer's expense to cart himself around? Sure it's a hybrid. But still it's a pricey vehicle that uses gas that most regular transit users probably couldn't even imagine purchasing for themselves. Sure, the guy's job probably demands he be able to get somewhere quickly without having to worry about the (ahem) inflexibility of rail, but a far less expensive sub-compact would accomplish the same goal. Or, using his own car, purchased with his generous salary, just might make it nobody's business to begin with.

Three, somewhat in defense of this guy, this just goes to show that public transit, bus or rail, simply doesn't meet everyone's needs. He himself says the message of the campaign is to "encourage people with less demanding schedules to take the T." Unintentional insult aside, people with "less demanding schedules" will probably greatly limit ridership. And for a transit system to be successfully self-sustaining, it must appeal even to those people who have the luxury of choosing between taking their own car or using public transist. By providing the bare-minimum to those who must use the system and continuing to take money from those who never will you'll always end up with an adversarial situation. Maybe if this transit boss put himself in the shoes of his customers a little more often, he might recognize that.

Look, I ride the bus to and from work most days of the week and am generally grateful for the fact that there's a service that can get me from point A to point B when I need it to. But that's really all it does. Other than that, I've found public transit to be anything but convenient or pleasurable. If I'm one minute late leaving the house and I'm driving, I'm one minute late to work. If I'm taking the bus and that one minute means I miss it, I'll be at least twenty minutes late after catching the next one. If there's any sort of "weather," be it hot, cold, raining, snowing, what have you, I'll have to take that into account more so than if I was driving. When it's raining, pretty much everyone on the bus smells like a wet dog. And few if any drivers bother managing either the quanitity of riders when the maximum capacity is reached or if some are so unruly that other riders are getting off. Fix this stuff, and people who have a choice between their own vehicle and the bus may be more open to picking the latter.

Four, reading some of the comments from the article attacking the reporter and defending this guy was a bit surprising. Of course, this is Boston, so in part it seems to explain the Kennedys. End snark.

And last, but not least, should Milwaukee ever go down the rail path, I can only hope that it hires conducters something like this:

I would ride even when I don't have to.

My quiet, safe community...not so much anymore

2008-07-07T14:24:00.002-05:00

Shorewood residents urged to lock up
By Annysa Johnson
Shorewood Police are urging residents to lock their windows and doors, even when they're home, after a rash of burglaries in which one family lost the wife's engagement ring and another's cat was killed when it escaped and was run over by a car.

The village has had 11 burglaries and one attempt since June 2 - almost all during the day and through unlocked windows and doors - a spike from the five-year monthly average of about four, the department said.

And the rash of breakins has many residents rattled.

Jim Jaynes of E. Olive St. spent Thursday helping a neighbor install security locks on his downstairs windows.

It was Jaynes who discovered the screen to another neighbor's home popped open on Wednesday and his children who found that neighbor's cat dead in the street.

"People don't realize when they break into your house what they're doing to you," said Jaynes, who helped take the cat to a local emergency center.

"A piece of jewelry, an iPod - that can all be replaced. But this is someone's pet."

Shorewood Crime Prevention Officer Kelvin Walton said residents are being urged to lock their windows and doors, make sure they have adequate lighting and remove dense shrubbery where burglars can hide.

"People need to take basic crime prevention steps," he said.

First off, people who live in some of Milwaukee's higher-crime areas may think I should count my blessings to live in a village that's experienced only 12 break-ins in the last month. Frankly, I don't give a flying fart about the "relative" safeness of Shorewood. For the better part of ten years I've taken pride in living in a place where I felt safe leaving my doors and windows unlocked when I'm home and being able to take a walk at night without worrying over who might be lurking around the next corner. That this tranquility is being chipped away at by scum who see my home as nothing more than a smorgasboard for their criminal activities doesn't leave me with a sense of longing for the better days. It pisses me off. It makes me want to put a stop to it right now.

Thursday night a friend and I were chased by a car without plates after at an intersection the occupants jumped out and started threatening us. Why? I don't know. But I do know that after witnessing them driving off at over 50mph down a residential street and driving erratically the entire time, that when I called the police to report these events and that the car would be passing the police station in a matter of seconds, I was told there wasn't much that could be done. I know that at right around this time a friend was receiving a stern lecture from a police officer for walking across a street against a flashing Don't Walk sign. And I know that two days later the police were out lecturing fathers who lit off a couple bottle rockets just to impress the kids.

Listen. I don't want to be too overly critical of our law enforcement officers. Their jobs are tougher than I could ever imagine, particularly when working in areas where there's little to no cooperation from the citizenry they're trying to protect (not that that necessarily happens in Shorewood). But even if it is within their duty (and I'm not arguing it isn't) to prevent jaywalking or shooting off fireworks, when we get to the point where the police are telling people to literally lock themselves in their homes to be safe, it looks like we've got a slight problem with priorities.

If you live in Shorewood, or any community, for that matter, that's seen a rise in crime both on the street and in the home, engage your police department. Find out what they're doing in response to these activities. Engage your neighbors. Encourage them to be vigilant when something "doesn't seem right" in your neighborhood. But most of all, protect yourself. Make criminals painfully aware of the fact that if they attempt to hurt you or your loved ones, you will respond in kind. Let them know that if they enter your property uninvited, if they violate your house and home, that in the end they will be far worse off than when they embarked on their little crime spree.

I'm not saying to carry a gun (but I'm not saying it would hurt, either). And I'm encouraging anyone to take the law into their own hands. Maybe it's just a matter of presenting a unified front to criminals. Maybe it's letting them know that you will snitch. Assure them that your neighbors will as well. Guaranty them that when they are caught you will personally see to it that they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and that since they violated you, you will make it your duty to see to it they never, ever do it again.

Criminals are cowards and weak. They prey on those they think are the same. But so long as we force them to believe they are the weakest among us, it won't be law-biding citizens who live in fear.

UPDATED: A little survey in logic

2008-07-07T13:06:00.000-05:00

This one is for anyone who deals with online form design, or would just like a little exercise in logic.

There is a form with two fields. Field A is always required. Field B is only required based on the value entered in Field A. If the value entered in Field A is X then Field B is required. If the value in Field A is Y, then Field B should be null.

If you're up to it, leave me a comment indicating the simplest way to express these rules to the user and appropriately guide them through accurate entry. I'll eventually give you the story of what actually took place.

UPDATE
Well, it looks as if only Nick was up to the challenge, but it appears that mostly resulted from the seeming simplicity of the issue that bothered him, not to mention he's probably one of the only people who bothered reading this in the first place!

Nick, as well as some folks I discussed this with off-line, provided a solution that was not only simple, but straight to the point. But the reason I'm writing about this in the first place is that the actual solution was anything but.

Now, here's the logic in the most basic way I can present it and as it was originally implemented:

1. If Field A is null, then indicate to the user that Field A is required and move the cursor to Field A.
2. If Field A equals X and Field B is null, indicate to the user that Field B is required and move the cursor to Field B.
3. If Field A equals Y and Field B is not null, indicate to the user that a value cannot be entered in Field B because Field A equals Y and move the cursor to Field B.

I should also point out that the user group is very experienced and well-trained. This isn't a bunch of first-time one-off users. They use this form multiple times each day.

The problem was that the "lead" user could never remember to complete either Field A or Field B whenever she used the form, and rather than acknowledging that she wasn't learning from the edits, chose to have the edits changed. So here's the "improved" logic that was requested and implemented:

If Field A is null, indicate to the user that both Fields A and B are required and move the cursor to Field B.

Keep in mind here that a value in Field B is only ever required if Field A equals X. But this logic instructs the user that Fields A and B are always required. So the user is directed to Field B and enters a value, only logic points 2 and 3 above still stand, so if after entering a value in Field B the user enters X in Field A, he will be notified that no value should be entered in B, the very field the previous edit said was required.

When I explained to the "lead" user that it would be confusing to instruct a user to complete one field based on another field not being complete that actually should be and that the user would then potentially be told that they shouldn't have done what they were just told to do, I was told "these people are smarter than that."

The same people, apparently, that weren't smart enough to appropriately complete the fields in the first place.

I considered putting this under "People Who Vote," but I'm still hoping they don't!

And every day thereafter someone's been coming up with the greatest thing since

2008-07-07T12:10:00.001-05:00

Happy birthday sliced bread!

These things will never stop bugging me

2008-07-03T15:19:00.004-05:00

So I was watching part of Revenge of the Sith last night and I'm still bothered by some of the same questions I had the first time I saw it:

- When Mace Windu (Samual L. Jackson) went to apprehend Chancellor Palpatine, did he bring, like, four of the worst Jedi with him or what?

- I know the Force is stronger in Yoda than in other Jedi, but you mean to tell me that he can sense Jedi being murdered across the galaxy but those Jedi are so weak in the Force they can't even sense they're about to be shot in the back?

- Anakin is always with Padme. Padme suddenly gets pregnant. Did gossip columnists not exist long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away?

- Anakin made C-3P0. Anakin fathered Luke and Leia. Is C-3P0 their half-droid-brother or something?

- When Palpatine names Anakin Darth Vader, don't you get the feeling that he just kinda pulled that "Vader" name out of his ass?

- Do you think anyone ever stopped and said, "Hey, you do realize those Wookies are naked, don't you?"

Adding a little hate to the roll

2008-07-03T09:06:00.002-05:00

Son-of-a...I'm not sure which is worse: Having a bunch of lefties concentrated on one blog or having a bunch of blogs operated by individual lefties. They breed like cockroaches, I tell ya'. And what's probably the worst is that the "King of the Hate Left" now has his own little kingdom to reign over where I'm sure socialized health care, a weak military, unarmed populace and the constant stench of patchouli will eventually lead to a spectacular downfall.

Okay, truth be told, the worst part is that I have to update my blogroll.

Historical Events (As depicted by 5 year olds)

2008-07-03T08:30:00.002-05:00

See the rest here.

First Job

2008-07-03T07:40:00.000-05:00

Here's a truly heartwarming story I heard recently, that will make you believe that we all can make a difference when we give a child the gift of our time. It's about the bond formed between a little 5 year old girl and some construction workers.

A young family moved into a house, next to a vacant lot. One day, a construction crew began to build a house on the empty lot. The young family's 5 year old daughter naturally took an interest in the goings-on and spent much of each day observing the workers.

Eventually the construction crew, all of them 'gems-in-the-rough,' more or less, adopted her as a kind of project mascot. They chatted with her during coffee and lunch breaks, and gave her little jobs to do here and there to make her feel important.

At the end of the first week, they even presented her with a pay envelope containing ten dollars. The little girl took this home to her mother who suggested that she take her ten dollars 'pay' she'd received to the bank the next day to start a savings account.

When the girl and her mom got to the bank, the teller was equally impressed and asked the little girl how she had come by her very own pay check at such a young age. The little girl proudly replied, 'I worked last week with a real construction crew building the new house next door to us.'

'Oh my goodness gracious,' said the teller, 'and will you be working on the house again this week, too?'

And here is her answer, which brought a tear to my eye:

The little girl replied, 'I will, if those assholes at Home Depot ever deliver the fuckin' drywall ...'

Kojak

2008-07-02T11:16:00.002-05:00

Living in a part of town where finding parking is a premium, my friends and I have taken to referring to snagging a spot right in front of our location as "Kojak parking."

Well, neither us or Kojak have anything on this broad.

"Just him, a bunch of McDonald’s value meals, and a string of horrifying memories of hooking up with really, really fat chicks."

2008-07-01T13:43:00.002-05:00

He should have started with the Filet-o-Fish.

Works both ways, part 2

2008-07-01T10:16:00.002-05:00

Just So I Am Clear
by David Casper

1992: Unquestioningly support the Draft Dodger over the War Hero
1996: Unquestioningly support the Draft Dodger over the War Hero
2000: Unquestioningly support the Soldier over the Draft Dodger
2004: Unquestioningly support the War Hero over the Draft Dodger
2008: Unquestioningly support the guy too young to fight in Vietnam over the War Hero (and accuse anyone of racism who doesn't do the same)

That's the left's position for every presidential election of my voting-age lifetime. I wonder if they are as confused on the inside as they make me on the outside.

Jay, did you honestly not see that the hypocrisy is on both sides when you decided to write that post?

Works both ways

2008-07-01T08:06:00.003-05:00

- Juvenile
- Lunatic
- Delusional
- Pitchfork-and-torch crew
- Racism and hate
- Stupid
- Under-the-rock slugs

Words Mike Plaisted, an attorney who promotes his services on his blog, uses to describe those he disagrees with politically in this post about how inappropriate it is for a business to promote its political agenda to its customers.

But I do agree with Mike's assertion that it's probably not in the best interest of any business to unnecessarily alienate any member of its customer base, which is why I haven't eaten at Beans & Barley ever since I once drove by and saw employees in uniform actively protesting George Bush.

Works both ways.

Put those feet to work

2008-06-27T09:44:00.003-05:00

The Village of Shorewood has been billing itself as a "walkable community" for some time now. Considerable amounts of money have been invested in a streetscaping program, although that's been met with accusations of mismanagement throughout (read back through Tatarowicz's blog for even more examples). But even without a village-sponsored program to enhance Shorewood's walkability, the community is inherently walker-friendly due to its dense population, size, sidewalks (even if unshoveled in winter) and services available.

This in mind, as well as my recent observations on Shorewood policing, lead me to wonder if the Shorewood Police Department has any intention of reflecting the village's desire to position itself as pedestrian friendly. If a fair amount of people are letting their feet get them from point A to point B and criminals are at the same time targeting these walkers, wouldn't it make sense that the police department gets out of its cars and onto the sidewalks as well?

I'm not trying to attack the SPD here, merely make a suggestion. Ten years ago I wouldn't have thought twice about walking after dark through most of the village. Today I won't do it without carrying a golf-club or having my little dog with a loud howl accompany me. In a community like Shorewood, foot patrols seem like a no-brainer.

Didn't take long

2008-06-26T13:40:00.003-05:00

A relatively well-known liberal friend and blogger and I were having a little conversation the other night on the 2nd Amendment. I made the remark that liberals, in general, wish to ban private gun ownership. She not only agreed with me that banning gun ownership was a bad thing, she also said that a ban wasn't what liberals wanted.

While I conceded that liberals, "in general," may not wish to ban private ownership, after pointing out to her many liberal vocal opponents to 2nd Amendment rights, she started to see my point.

Well, it certainly didn't take long for me to find examples of this very point.

Dim sum bad news

2008-06-26T12:20:00.002-05:00

An informant tells me an east side Chinese restaurant has been cooking food on a portable grill set up on the sidewalk outside the establishment for the better part of a month. The informant and her husband, who live in a building next door to the restaurant and have not only witnessed but also videotaped a seeming plethora of health code violations, also say that the grill is lit with cardboard and enough lighter fluid to create quite a stench. Food sits on the ground in open containers. The cooks are wearing open-toed shoes and no hair nets.

This makeshift kitchen is apparently an inconvenience to the cooks as well, since on one occassion one was seen turning away from the grill to urinate on the informant's building.

I won't name names yet, but if you're ordering Chinese food from any restaurants around North Avenue on Milwaukee's east side, you may want to think twice.

Funny how that works, Mr. Mayor

2008-06-26T11:55:00.002-05:00

In response to the Supreme Court's gun decision, Tom Barrett said:

It appears the majority of the court has decided its judgment should supplant that of elected officials in Washington, D.C.

Would that be elected officials that have decided their judgement should supplant the Constitution?

And kudos to Feingold and Kagen for supporting the decision and recognizing the importance of the 2nd Amendment.

Whenever I hear this it reminds me of Rerun trying to get on the back of the truck

2008-06-26T09:03:00.002-05:00

If someone were to make an anti-Obama ad that had the theme song from The Jeffersons, or What's Happening? or Good Times playing in the background, people would be offended, and rightly so. But it's also worth noting that African-Americans don't necessarily hold a monopoly over taking offense when a person's ethnicity is implied to be a negative, even if merely insuated through music.

Oh, and Republicans apparently don't hold a monopoly over being guilty of doing this, either.

How many cops does it take to change a lightbulb?

2008-06-25T12:18:00.004-05:00

I knew I was going to write about this as it happened, I just didn't think it would be so soon. But after reading the account on Badger Blogger of overzealous Sheboygan police officers arresting a grandmother for not promptly submitting paperwork after being bit by her own dog, it seemed the time was ripe.

Somewhere between midnight and 1am last night I was having trouble sleeping. After tossing and turning for about twenty minutes, I went to my kitchen to get a glass of water. Just about then I heard a woman shouting "Get on the ground! Face down!"

I finished pouring my water and made my way to the front of the house where I saw two police officers (neither Shorewood or Milwaukee), guns drawn, slowly approaching a girl laying in the middle of the street. Within seconds she was cuffed and sitting on a curb.

From what I was able to put together from snippets I overheard from the officers (of course I sat down on my front porch to get a front row seat for the action), the girl had led the police on a high-speed chase through three cities. That only one squad car was present and I hadn't heard any sirens seemed odd, but that's probably a discussion for another day. What truly interested me was the five Shorewood squads that soon arrived and stayed for the better part of an hour as the car was searched and the cops shared the story of the chase.

Now since the arrest was being made in Shorewood by non-Shorewood police, I can understand why a Shorewood squad was on the scene. But considering the girl was already cuffed by the time the first Shorewood officer arrived, I was a bit stunned by all the others that arrived and stayed to literally stand around for such a long period of time.

As Shorewood has seen a rise in muggings and break-ins as of late, and not to forget a string of armed robberies that took place along Oakland Avenue in the past few years, it wasn't very reassuring to see such a seemingly unnecessary police presence in a single spot. In fact, a neighbor who was coming home as all of this took place even mentioned that she thought something must be happening, since on her drive through Shorewood she didn't see any police cars in any of their usual haunts. Imagine her surprise to find that they were all sitting right in front of her house!

(Speaking of haunts, I should also note here that it's pretty much a given that Shorewood police focus most of their attention on the intersection of Oakland and Capitol. After all, it's where they're all but guaranteed to pull a car over for some sort of moving violation.)

In no way am I defending whatever this girl did to get arrested, but I really have to wonder how pro-active Shorewood police are being in protecting the community when they all show up at a crime scene to just check things out. In the past I've been rather complimentary of the department, even if their fast response to calls have been after the fact. But the next time I'm calling the police out to my house to report another break-in to my car or garage, I'll really be forced to wonder if maybe the crime hadn't been commit ed if crooks knew the SPD was actually out patrolling and not just spending it's time where ticket revenue can be generated or all the "action" supposedly is.