"I said, war, huh- good God, y'all! What is it good for?," or... "a glimpse through the eyes of our elders."

Hey! You! the reader:

You don't have to hang around Crock-Town very long to pick up on the management's views regarding violence as a means to constructively solve problems. Herewithin, it has been said that our world does a worse job of collaborating for productivity than a kindergarten classroom.

And thats is just one example of many illustrations and examples of violence feeding upon itself.

Yet I know there must be things I don't understand, and powers older and wiser than I. Maybe I'm just not a good fighter, so my mind is programmed to dissuade violence, because I am a good thinker. Whatever I'm missing- it has to be something. Otherwise I would have to accept that the whole world, including the leaders of major nations, is composed of a bunch of illiterate, dumb-ass, morons.

Follow me:
After reading, No Ordinary Time, a book about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and World War II, I was talking with my father about how I never really grasped in my history classes how close a war it was- how easily the allies could have lost. And during this discussion dad sat up straighter in his chair, seemed to be filled with a sort of animal-like, survival fire, and with a serious-as-a-heart-attack look in his eyes, said something along the lines of, "oh YEAH. I mean, they had US ON OUR ASSES there for a while!"

The point being, I have never experienced a world where I felt unsafe in my own country. Maybe for a few months around 2001 and 2002 I came close to that state, but I have never lived in fear of a stranger coming onto the television one day announcing, "I, along with my forces of violence, am in charge of the United States, Canada, and Mexico from now on. A lot of things are going to change around here. Here are the new rules...."

That said, I recently received an email from my neo-conservative/activist/painter/sculptor/friend (yeah I know- if free-spirited neo-con is not the definition of neurosis, I don't know what is) that I found poignant enough to share.

So as promised, a glimpse into the eyes of our elders:

YOU COULD HAVE HEARD A PIN DROP

When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of "empire building" by George Bush. He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United
States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then there was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?'

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'

You could have heard a pin drop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, 'whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a tour. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. 'You have been to France before, monsieur?', the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. 'Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.' The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

'Impossible, replied the customs officer. "Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France !"
The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained. 'Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in '44 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find any Frenchmen to show it to.'

You could have heard a pin drop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What Is A Veteran?
A 'Veteran' - whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America,' for an amount of 'up to, and including his or her life.'

That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country today, who no longer understand that fact.

testing hardened-email-to-post, special thanks to the Britany-Bot

This is a test.

 

Super special thanks to the Britany-Bot, which is apparently running out of control (see Your website!, or, "Homer Simpson says, 'Doh! Time to reincorporate....'.").

 

I’ve changed my email-to-post to the equivalent of a strong password.

 

If that doesn’t solve the issue at hand, or if BB begins using MMS, too, this means Britany-Bot is growing too powerful.  In which case Britany-Bot must be terminated.  We shall the CA governor!

 

With love and ire,

Crockett Dunn

http://cdllc.la/

 

Internet Treadmill Workstation and Fully Wired Home Gym 2008, ultimate, premium, best of breed

[Note, 12/8/2008: due to popular demand, all internet treadmill walk-station/work-station/desk-station posts have been moved the the following blog, http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com/. ]

[continuation of the following post: http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2008/02/holy-grail-found-introducing-best.htm]

EUREKA... I've done it! The best, most versatile, internet-wired treadmill workstation, or more generally, internet wired home gym, complete with keyboard control, mouse control, air-mouse control, voice recognition when necessary, and screen reader when appropriate in rare situations (the inversion table, in my case).

Now I have to choices,

1. eat breakfast on my arse at my desk as I continue to read, respond to, and compose emails until around 1 or 2 PM, when I notice (as sit, still on my arse) , "hey my back hurts... again. And my goodness, was my belly always that size?" [women substitute, "have my jeans always been this tight, or, "NOOOOOoooo, is that cellulite???!!!"
   
2. eat breakfast, hop on the treadmill and do my email stuff, surf the net... everything I do on the fat-belly chair, but with a better display, a more natural and ergonomic stance, and doing this all while getting an exercise high, getting in shape, and for you pragmatists, extending the time I get to spend alive in this world!

I've tried it all before- the egg timer to take standup breaks every 15 minutes, change my focal length, walk around a bit. I've to the top-end Herman Miller chair and a garage full of lumbar supports.

But this is the solution.

The secret lies in the flux-capacitor, which coincidentally is also the key to time travel. Just kidding. The key was actually earthquake-sticky goop. Or if you're in an earthquake-free zone, it's probably the same as wall-poster mounting goop, or "stay put- kids don't knock over the vases" goop.

The final ergonomic problem to solve was bringing the keyboard closer in towards my body, and at a flat, perfectly horizontal angle. This has been solved.


IT and knowledge workers of the future, we shall no longer be relegated to a sedentary lifestyle and early death due to poor cardiovascular health! We have been freed to access the internet (and home network if you got it) as we exercise.

And exercise addicts: you're no longer enslaved to your isolation of repetition after set after repetition, with your best case of entertainment being CNN or whatever watered-down station the gym down the road things we can all agree on.

Now I just GOTTA get you the pictures. But alas, I have clients to serve [clients which I now serve more effectively because I can work while I exercise], and CDLLC.la is in the middle of it's largest growth spurt to date.

But that transition has almost settled down, and I look forward to presenting you with photos of the grand creation.

Signing off from the inversion table,
Crockett


P.S. For you do-it-yourselfers, this project is no biggie. All the products, minus the flux capacitor and earthquake goop, are listed at the end of this post:
http://crockettdunn.blogspot.com/2008/02/holy-grail-found-introducing-best.html

Your website!, or, "Homer Simpson says, 'Doh! Time to reincorporate....'."

Dear Crockett,

We can tell you care about your online business by the
strength of your site, but you are still losing a good amount of targeted web
traffic. Give us a chance to show where you can stretch your
budget to produce a better online return. Our consultation
is free and at the very least you will gain savvy online marketing insight
specific to your site. Email us today at britanycohen@gmail.com for your
no-charge site review. Include your URL(s) and the best way
to reach you so we can access your online business quickly and get back to you
with targeted information.

Sincerely

Britany Cohen

britanycohen@gmail.com

---

Zap Marketing

Yahoo! , Google, MSN, AltaVista

This promotion is only valid forUSA websites
If you wish to be
removed from this list, please type the word "REMOVE" in your
subject line

---

Dear Britany-Bot,

You have just violated Blogger's terms and conditions either purposely or inadvertently by spam/guessing blogger post-to-email addresses. Not only that, but your messages also reveal the security credentials of your victims.

This is 3 crimes in one:
1) the equivalent of breaking and entering.... y'know, a hacker. I legally this will be viewed somewhere along the lines of SQL injection.

2) this particular means of breaking and entering falls under the identity theft category.
3) publication / dissemination of private security credentials

This makes your offense, if I had to guess, hmmmmmm….. 6-8 times as serious as that of a spammer. Your “campaign” is the equivalent of a spammer + identity thief + web-defacing hacker.

The only thing that could make your position worse would be if you deleted data, planted PPC ads or found another way to generate DIRECT revenue, or stole credit card numbers.

Google is a virtually a small nation nowadays. I do not envy the position you have put yourself in... I'm imagining they've unleashed the Feds on you already.

My consulting rate is $275/hour, and I estimate it will take me between 2 and 3 hours to change my credentials for all of my blogger sites that you have hit. Please respond with a mailing address to which I can send my invoice.

Cheers!
Crockett Dunn

P.S. it’s not nice to do anything cyber-naughty to Crockett before Crockett has had his morning coffee.

Going Postal, IT Executives, and the Home Offices

[Note, 12/8/2008: due to popular demand, all internet treadmill walk-station/work-station/desk-station posts have been moved the the following blog, http://internet-treadmill-workstation.blogspot.com/. ]

Hello, my name is Crockett Dunn. I own a company called Crockett Dunn, LLC.

CDLLC was born around the time my business partner at Gold Zeppelin, Eric David, was had the good fortune of landing a sweet gig at MySpace. So we each took our respective accounts, and I gave birth to CDLLC.la (actually a more apt metaphor would be to say that I'm still pregnant with CDLLC.la, but the contractions are getting closer together and I'm about to go in for a scheduled induction). [my wife is an OBGYN].

Since late 1994, I've owned one internet business or another for14 years now, with some side ventures along the way.

Oh yes.... there is one very important point that you, the reader understand, to fully appreciate this post:

Hi. My name is Crockett, and I am a workaholic. ("hi crockett")




Yesterday around lunch time (which I never take off), the doorbell rang as I was actually checking my blood pressure to ensure I survive my current business growth spurt.

I shout, "I'll be right there." While noting the slightly high BP reading, I quickly triage and delegate 3 tasks that landed on my windows mobile phone, and run downstairs.

On the way downstairs, the red-phone rings so I tell the guys at the network operations center to take specific decisive action. Apparently another call had been rolled over to my reception while the red-phone rang, so I received another blip on my windows mobile device. "not urgent... HOORAY!"

Between the stairs and the door, the office direct line rings (in my pocket), and one of my support guys tells me a client that is currently beating the hell out of him verbally, without allowing him to help. The issue the client needed education on was the concept of the INSERT key, and how this is completely a function of a client computer and does not in any way relate to a change made to their web-based applications or hosted software service.

3/4 to the door, the mobile phone gets an SMS indicating some suspicious activity having been blocked by the firewall- I quickly forward this to the NOC, too.

I open the door, in my flip flops and non-client-site clothes, and the mailman, in a very cheerful, relaxed, mellow-California voices says, "Soooo.... You're not working today??"


Naturally, I immediately punched him in the face knocking him instantly earth-parallel-unconscious, removed the delivery from his limp hands, signed the appropriate documentation, and inserted it into his breast pocket, closed and locked the door, and returned to work, on the treadmill workstation.

the, COOLEST thing happened today

Sent with my voice via Jott:

The, coolest thing happened today.

Ok, I assume many of us have experienced the disappointment of leaving our beverage on top of our car, and driving off only to have it fall over onto the road, leaving us sad, having to to continue our journey sans refreshing beverage.

Well... today rushing out the door to serve my clients (I LOVE YOU CLIENTS), I left my refreshing & delicious diet coke beverage on my car and zipped out the driveway on my way to streamline business systems via intranet/web-based applications.

And then, 3 miles inot my journey, I realized I had left it there. Oh, the sadness that filled my heart! But wait! I have a sun roof! I opened the shade, (not the glass), and my refreshing (well, my caffeine fix, really) beverage was right above me, held in place by my cargo bars!

So without having to take eyes off the road or two hands off the wheel, I push the "open" button on the sunroof, and my drug of choice drops right into the passenger seat.

SCORE!

Listen to Crockett's Message

Crockett Dunn

What is Jott?

Jott turns your voice into emails & text messages. Simply call Jott and speak your message. Jott converts your voice to text and sends your message. Jott can also create reminders, lists & appointments. Sign up for your FREE Jott account today.

Brought to you by Jott.com - 1-866-JOTT-123
300 East Pike Street, Suite 200
Seattle, WA 98122
Click here to stop receiving all emails from Jott.

Aluminum can crusher, Non-apology # 2, "Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds."

When the first atomic bomb in the history of mankind was dropped from a the Enola Gay to utterly and completely destroy a city and all living things within it, the pilot uttered a quote, "Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds." I would like to think he uttered these words with tears in his eyes, comprehending the full extent of pain and suffering he had unleashed. Unfortunately, it was probably just preplanned quote arranged with some consultation, similar to "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind..."

Anyway, I have an aluminum can crusher featuring a variant of the atomic bomb dropping quote:




Of course, someone pointed out to me that this is totally tasteless and offensive.

No, it is not. I interpret that reaction to mean, "I am not courageous enough to think about troubling issues."

Words are just words. It is the act associated with these words is horribly brutal and offensive.

PLEASE DO ME A FAVOR AND TRY TO PAY ATTENTION. This t-shirt is meant to be provocative! Wait, haven't we been over this before once already?! (see post from Wednesday, April 23, 2008, entitled, "brunch, bbq, t-shirt non-apology."


Provocation is needed, especially as we enter an era of a nuclear armed world run by kids who did not live through the cold war, while simultaneously paranoid former Soviet, first-strike advocate generals still hold positions of influence.


"Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds."

destructive vs. non-destructive testing: a case study

[2008.06.20] Thanks to mom for the following, enlightening link! http://tankonempty.com/[/2008.06.20]

As I sit parked on the shoulder awaiting roadside assistance, I am reminded of my days at Duke University studying for my degree in Civil engineering (yeah, the perfect preparation for a career in information technology, right? But that's another story.).

In science (it works), data is obtained by performing experiments. In engineering, these experiments often involve basically testing how strong something is.

Tests can be non-destructive (look what happens when this factor is introduced, and how the material returns to it's original state when the factor is removed), or tests can be destructive (load up the bridge until it collapses, then make note of the load at failure).

What I am getting at is the following:

I did not just accidentally run out of gas. Only a fool would ignore the low fuel indicator light and the gas gage being below the E line!

What I have achieved is the obtainment of valuable experimental data, by means of pseudo-destructive testing. As the photograph indicates,

I now have exact knowledge of the point below the "E" at which the vehicle ceases to run on vapors.

I think Thomas Edison said something like, "there are no failures in experimentation. Only successful tests proving what doesn't work."

Experimental Success!

;)

ooooh, oh..... HOT!HOT!HOT!HOT!HOT!HOT!

For reasons that are unclear to me, the weather in Monterey county as deviated from the standard "perfect" to more of a state of horrendously oppressive heat.







Like the heat they talk about in the Great Gatsby. Heat that cannot be ignored. Heat that makes an ice bath sound good. Heat that drives one to setup his temporary office in the garage. Heat that evidently makes frogs dig holes to hide in.











Heat that makes our next door neighbor's dog-friend Lance cower in a precious spot of shade.

brunch, bbq, t-shirt non-apology

Hi,

My name is Crockett Dunn.

Here are a few of the things that I am:

1. IT business owner
2. passionate music lover
3. aspiring serial entrepreneur
4. obsessive systems optimizer.

Lately, over the past 3-6 months, I've had a lot on my mind related to the state of stuff in our world, especially some non-optimal systems. The thing is, I've been busy servicing my clients whilst seeking an operations manager for CDLLC, so the lots on my mind had no previous opportunity to settle into proper organization.

Yesterday I went to a housewarming party/BBQ with my wife, Dr. Marki-Dunn, and hung around with her doctor friends and their IT spouses. I had the opportunity to talk about some of the stuff that I'm curious about with Jason. I can't remember Jason's last name, or if he generates revenue online and therefor desires a plug/link. [Jason, let me know if you want a link.]

{update 5/18/2007- Jay commented, and he does in fact have a blog here.}

Some of the items Jason and I discussed were capitalism, socialism, wealth, interdependency, culture, hedge funds and certain investment vehicles increasingly removed from the actual items of real value, survivalists, elitism, television and how it teaches us what to think, revolutions, civilizations, a trend of increasing socio-economic class division, warfare, fire arms and the second amendment, federations/nations, mankind/humanity/human condition, and our ability to destroy the human race.

I just finished brunch with one of the 5 most kind/compassionate/helpful individuals from my days at Duke University. Her name is Russell Colver, and she does ADHD Coaching in Durham, NC.

So here is the important point in all of this- similar to ideas in previous posts about "c'mon, let's not all destroy each other," and this other post I wrote in the muggy heat of Mobile, AL in August of last year.

I've got this t-shirt depicting a mushroom cloud (which is really not a cloud at all, it's a ball of fire, similar to a pyroclastic blast resulting from a volcanic eruption, but faster, with a larger destruction radius, ergo deadlier.

I can't remember who I upset this time but yes, a t-shirt depicting a mushroom cloud is meant to be provocative and needs to be provocative, especially as we enter an era of a nuclear armed world run by kids who did not live through the cold war, while simultaneously paranoid former Soviet, first-strike advocate generals still hold positions of influence.

So here is my problem. My kindergarten classes have got stuff figured out more than the various governments of the world. If all world governments were on the TV show, "are you smarter than a 5th grader," they would lose in the cooperation category.

Here's the deal: collaboration, cooperation, interdependency, everyone being indebted to one another, global community, teamwork- whatever you want to call it- results in better life. Better, in this extremely general sense, means more problems solved = survival. Some examples of this "better" include

1. reduced chance of starvation
2. reduced chance of death by diarrhea resulting from lack of clean water
3. reduced chance of being randomly killed by an intentional act of anger-motivated violence
4. reduced chance of dying of disease
5. reduced chance of dying as the result of natural disaster.

Global collaboration would produce a world of abundance where with basic needs met... well, we would be free to have fun, party, watch soccer and football- play.

OK, so for this reason, in kindergarten and most school systems, when someone attempts to solve a problem using physical violence (example: can I have that apple? no. ok I punch you in the face and take apple) is considered unacceptable to the point that both parties involved- both aggressor and victim- are usually suspended or otherwise punished.

So why do educational institutions consider violence so unacceptable? Because violence creates fear, hatred, a desire for revenge- it awakens our animal instincts- and this becomes a cycle which is very difficult to break. In some cultures this cycle has been running for 1000s of years.

Does this make me a Utopian? No- I think sometimes people enjoy indulging their animal instincts- it's human nature. Even when we try to satisfy our animal instincts by proxy, spectator sports, often the spectators engage in violence (riots, etc).

Utopian/idealist/romantic I am not.

Pragmatist I am.

I like being alive and would like to continue being alive as long as possible. And again, we are entering an era of a nuclear armed world run by those whose childhoods did not include looming fear of the destruction of the human race, duck-and-cover drills, the concept of mutually-assured-destruction/lose-lose warfare, visions of entire cities leveled and the fall of western civilization.... all because our global community isn't governed by the basic rules of kindergarten school children.


Suggested reading:

• Alas, Babylon
• War Scare: Russia and America on the Nuclear Brink

gotta run- dinner time. more links later