Easy Reader

I’ve had a few interesting things come through my inbox of late and I thought I would share them with you:

• The CT Forum will be hosting A Conversation… Thomas Friedman & Malcolm Gladwell on 6 April 2006 in Hartford, CT. This should be pretty interesting to witness as Gladwell’s Tipping Point and blink. have been incredibly influential in the business world and Fiedman’s The World is Flat is also starting to make some heads turn. Not sure if I am going yet or not, but it looks to be pretty cool.
• For those of you looking for socially responsible places to donate money for victims of Katrina, Radical Reference has compiled a great list for your reference.
• I’m a little late on this one, but today is the deadline for applications to intern at the League of Young/Independent/Pissed Off Voters. There are a ton of positions availble in New York City for the fall. This is a great organization and I highly recommend hooking up with them if politics is your bag. To apply, send a statement of interest and any relevant resume to erubinstein@indyvoter.org with “INTERNSHIP” in the subject line.

In the wake of the tragedy that befel the citizens of and visitors to New Orleans recently, I’ve been amazed at the amount of support and kindness being shown to the survivors (Barbara Bush’s comments notwithstanding). Help has come from the likely places as well as some unlikely ones and I am sure most of you have already donated money, blood and possibly even a room or two in your house/apartment. While a good deal of assistance is still needed for our fellow humans, there are others in need too: their displaced pets.

I received an email from a friend in Florida who has agreed to take in two dogs that made it through OK, but there are thousands more animals that need temporary homes, be they in kennels, animal boarding houses, veterinarian’s offices, animal shelters, foster homes or rescue programs.

From what I understand, there are all breeds of dogs and cats in need of our help. Some are in family groups of 2, 3 and 4 while others are solo. And there are volunteers willing to drive them to you, no matter where you live. The current safe houses for these animals are being inundated and some of these pets will have to be euthanized if they are not moved to make room for the incoming animals.

If you are interested in taking in a dog or cat (or know someone who is), contact Lynda V. on her cell: 203-515-3024 or at home: 203-227-5308 at any time (day or night).

Congress in going back into session after their summer recess and they will be taking a vote on the Estate Tax (or “Death Tax” as some people like to call it). It is a hotly contested issue that I feel very strongly about. The truth is that a lot of public services depend on the revenue generated by the estate tax and the number of people affected by it is less than 1.4% of the population. I should be so lucky to be wealthy enough for my children to have to pay the Estate Tax.

I recently wrote to my Senators and Representative to let them know how I feel and I thought I’d share it with you. Maybe you’d like to write to yours.

Dear Senators Dodd and Lieberman and Congresswoman DeLauro,

I am a small business owner and I support preserving the Estate Tax. I owe my life and business to the America the Estate Tax has helped build.

The Estate Tax provides the needed revenue to create wonderful services and opportunities for many companies. Without the internet (which the Estate Tax helped fund), I would not be able to be the successful Web Designer I am. In fact, my career path would never have been an option. Likewise, I may not have had the education to do my job—nor my employees, theirs—had it not been for the public school system, also funded in-part by the Estate Tax. Without a stable mail service, I would not be able to send the invoices and receive the payments my buisiness depends on. Without the infrastructure our public highways and roadways provide, I would not be able to travel to meet with clients and my business would suffer. The same goes for air travel: it would not be as safe or reliable if the Federal Government had not used tax revenues (including the Estate Tax) to make it so.

If I should become so wealthy that my children would even have to pay the Estate Tax, I do not feel it would be unfair for the U.S. Government to ask for a little back to repay the society that has made my business, job and lifestyle a reality. In order to ensure future generations can acheive the success that I have, we need to keep the Estate Tax.

Sincerely,

Aaron Gustafson

So my order from Jinx arrived today and I finally got a chance to read the back of the “Revolution is not an AOL Keyword” tshirt I bought. For those who are too young to recognize the allusion, “The Revolution will not be Televised” was written and performed by poet/musician Gil Scott-Heron (1 April 1949 -). I have a copy of it on Black Power: Music Of A Revolution, an ablum I highly recommend for anyone interested in the Black Power movement’s speeches and music (both of which are collected on this 2-disc set). Anyway, enough history.

“Revolution is not an AOL Keyword” was penned by Eddan Katz in March of 2003 and uses the same structure as “Televised” to great effect. Here’s a sample:

Revolution will not promise penile enlargement.
Revolution will not get rid of spam.
Revolution will not earn you up to $5000 a month
Working from home, because revolution is not
An AOL Keyword, Brother.

And, while quite humorous, it does pack a few strong political punches:

Revolution is not an AOL Keyword.
Revolution will not be brought to you on Hi-Def TV
Encrypted with a warning from the FBI.
Revolution will not have a jpeg slideshow of Dubya
Calling the cattle and leading the incursion by
Secretary Rumsfeld, General Ashcroft and Dick Cheney
Riding nuclear warheads on their way to Iraq,
Or North Korea, or Iran.

I don’t think any shirt I’ve bought has made me smile quite so much.

Other clothing arrivals include the now infamous “All Your Base…” and “Stop Laughing. Computers are cool now.” tshirts. And soon to debut on my car is the classic “Pirates are way cooler than ninjas” bumper sticker (don’t worry, I only put stickers on glass).

Also in the mail today was yet another addition to my ever-expanding reading list: Pragmatic Version Control Using Subversion. I am currently reading The Pragmatic Programmer and become more impressed with each page turn. It is like a philosophical/spiritual guidebook for geeks. I’m loving it.

And since I am on the topic of books, I wanted to throw out this teaser: I just finished reading the rough draft of a book by a good friend and colleague and I can’t wait until all of you can read it too. It reinforced a lot of my deeply-held beliefs and even taught me a few things. That’s all I am saying for now. I will post more on it later, when the book is nearing delivery, but I thought I’d peek your interest (well, the interest of the three of you reading this).