Mostly Harmless

I heard this on the radio last night.

A State Supreme Court jury in the Bronx found the defendant, Lillo Brancato Jr., 32, guilty of first-degree attempted burglary, a felony, but said he was not culpable in the death of the officer, Daniel Enchautegui, who was shot by Mr. Brancato’s accomplice after a night of drinking and a search for drugs.

…

Under the law, a person is guilty of second-degree murder in a killing that occurs in the commission of another felony. But the law provides for mitigating circumstances in a defense.

via Ex-‘Sopranos’ Actor Cleared of Murder Charge in Officer’s Death - NYTimes.com.

I do not get this at all. This man participated in a crime and off-duty officer Daniel Enchautegui died as a result.  That’s a direct line event to this officer’s death.  No crime and that officer may still be with us today.

No one likes to put people in jail, and serving on a jury before the holiday’s must be especially difficult.  But it is a duty, a responsibility and justice must be fair and equal.  This was not a plea deal, this was not a administrative move or legal trick.  The jury intentionally gave this man a pass after buying his story.

What an actor. I can’t help but think that if this eloquent actor had been Puerto Rican and the murder victim an off-duty Italian American officer, would the jury’s result have been different? I don’t want to think about that, it makes me more upset.

This result from the jury is unfair and I hope that the judge sentences this man to 15 years in jail for “attempted burglary”. I hope that that would provide some small comfort to Officer Enchautegui’s family.

Today is slow and almost all of our shopping is done. So I am going through my photos this evening and notices something.

I purchased my Nikon D60 in May 2008 and have been using Photoshop Elements since then. My external 1TB WorldBook is where I keep my photos and PSE keeps a tally of all the photos in it’s catalog.

10,272 pictures.  From before May 2008 there were less than 300. Wow. Most of them are disposable and will never be shared but… wow.

It snowed here Friday, so when I got home I started shoveling before I even went inside.  My driveway is on a slope so if you don’t drive an SUV (I do) then going up the ramp is a problem.

This picture is me 2 years ago when I had some forethought. Friday night I thought of that picture a lot. With some effort I was able to clear the driveway in short order.  It was messy but any car would be able to make it up that ramp.

It all was good afterwards, except Friday night and Saturday morning it snowed again and all my work was for naught.   On top of that, Saturday my back started to hurt.  Today I plan to take it easy and go outside and salt the driveway.  If I can I’ll gas up the snow thrower and see if that helps.

It will be fun but no matter how long it takes I need to clear that driveway.  The kids still have school and my folks need to be able to use their mini van.

Update: Let’s hear it for warmer weather, some rain, and Lily. She and I went out and scraped all the ice off of the driveway.

I wanted to stop much sooner but she kept us till my folks car could come and go without touching any ice.

She’s always been much more determined than I am.

Hallo! You killed my Father, prepare to die!

I should watch that this weekend, I never get tired of it.

Just read this on Consumerist. This is a Monster Cable web site http://www.monstercable.com/monster_truth/ about the Monster Mini Golf lawsuit. From Monster Cable’s point of view.

It’s a pretty pathetic read. They sued another company in another area of business because they used the word Monster in their business name. That’s it, it’s about over aggressive trademark protection.

I once bought a set of Monster cables and considered myself gouged.  Now if I need an HDMI cable, I look for one that is less than $20.  I’ve had both and I do not see a difference. The fact that they sue other companies doesn’t really make me inclined to buy another product from them again.

I don’t think this Iraqi journalist is going to be invited to the United States anytime soon.

The President dodges well. It’s a fitting ending to President Bush’s last visit to Iraq.

I don’t like getting calls from strangers.  I’m on the national do not call list for that reason, and whenever the “We’re taking a survey” creeps call I give them the short spiel:

Them: Hello, we’re taking a survey and not soliciting anything -

Me: Remove my number from your list and never call me again. Goodbye and have a nice day.

And then I hang up.  I don’t know if it really works but I get less and less calls.

Robo-calling is pathetic.  When you get a call from a system, they intentionally leave out anyway to get off their list. Politicians use robo-calling and I think that is the worst thing I can say about that.

I just got a call from FindToto.org.  Apparently one of my neighbors lost a beige chihuahua and is using this service to find their dog.  I’ve had pets so I can sympathize but I don’t have to like it.

FindToto.org uses a service called Call-em-All. While tracking down lost pets is admirable, FindToto.org does not do that; they annoy neighbors. I went to that web site and opt-ed out.

Call-em-All’s name sounds like a problem right there.  If people don’t like getting calls from strangers, how exactly will they feel about getting an automated call without an easy non-Internet connected way to make it stop? It’s all automated so how is this not a problem for people like me who are registered with the DNC list?

Sigh, I’m in the technology business but some business ideas should have been put down in it’s infancy.