Debbie and I had a wonderful day yesterday. First we worked ourselves into a stupor, cutting and burning brush in our front yard. I estimate that we cut, carried, and burned between a ton and a ton-and-a-half of pine limbs. The fire was awesomely hot, to the point where it was painful to get within 6 feet or so of it. We started around 7 am, and by the time we wrapped it up at around 3 pm we had almost completely cleared the yard; just a few logs remain. All this to trim up just the first third or so of our pine trees!
After we got done working, we showered and headed for Descanso Junction Restaurant. There we met up with my cousin Mike D. and his significant other Diane. They're from Colorado, and they're taking a grand driving tour of the west. We caught them as they were headed to San Diego for a couple days of sight-seeing. Though we've corresponded quite a bit in recent years, I haven't seen Mike since I was a kid, close to 50 years ago. He's 11 years older than I am, so his memories of that event are better than mine. We had a grand old time, swapping stories and feasting.
Mike and I both chose the same dish: meatloaf and mashed potatoes with green beans, preceded by a seafood chowder. Debbie got one of her all-time favorites, the fried chicken. Diane, the light eater amongst us, got a club sandwich – the look of dismay on her face when she saw the (monster) size of it was priceless. Mike, on the other hand, nearly jumped for joy when he saw the gigantic slab of meatloaf that didn't quite fit on his plate! He finished his entire plate off, then eyeballed Diane's remaining half-sandwich. I suspect that sandwich didn't make it to the refrigerator last night...
We took our separate paths upon leaving the restaurant, but not before we made plans for Mike and Diane to join us for a day of four-wheeling when we're out in Ouray next month. We're going to take them to Yankee Boy Basin for some wildflowers...
Monday, May 9, 2011
Rain!
We had 0.16" (3mm) of rain last night. That's not much in the grand scheme of things, but considering that it's mid-May in the high desert it's pretty remarkable. This year's weather continues to be far off the norms of the past 8 or 9 years. Let's hope the summer continues to be cool – and wet!
Stallman on SaaS...
Richard Stallman (EFF) is a great example of a very smart person who is blinded by their own prejudices. Here he's slamming Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for one issue, while completely ignoring (indeed, not even mentioning!) it's many benefits.
No solution to any problem is 100% perfect. Every choice is an exercise in balancing out the pros and cons. Every time I buy a new vehicle I'm reminded of this – there are a bewildering variety of choices available, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Imagine how arbitrarily limited your choices would be if (for example) you refused to consider vehicles that came with floor mats as standard equipment. That's roughly what Stallman is advocating here.
SaaS is just one way to buy software. It's got a suite of advantages that I (and many others) think are compelling, and a few disadvantages, many of which can be mitigated or minimized. Refusing to consider SaaS for the reasons suggested by Stallman is just silly...
No solution to any problem is 100% perfect. Every choice is an exercise in balancing out the pros and cons. Every time I buy a new vehicle I'm reminded of this – there are a bewildering variety of choices available, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Imagine how arbitrarily limited your choices would be if (for example) you refused to consider vehicles that came with floor mats as standard equipment. That's roughly what Stallman is advocating here.
SaaS is just one way to buy software. It's got a suite of advantages that I (and many others) think are compelling, and a few disadvantages, many of which can be mitigated or minimized. Refusing to consider SaaS for the reasons suggested by Stallman is just silly...
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