5 - 2007 | ***Dave Does the Blog

My Firefox extensions

Got an IM from Amanda last evening asking about an updated Extensions list for my FF installation. It has been a while. Here’s the list — the must haves are…

Got an IM from Amanda last evening asking about an updated Extensions list for my FF installation. It has been a while. Here’s the list — the must haves are in bold.

Adblock Plus 0.7.5.1: Faboo tool for blocking banner ads and other ad images and spaces on web pages. I get wildly spoiled by this, and it’s often a shock when I go onto the web on IE and see how many ads there are on pages I visit all the time.
Add Bookmark Here 0.5.5: Makes it easy to add bookmarks within the bookmark menu.
AI Roboform Toolbar for Firefox 6.9.2: Roboform stores passwords and form info (e.g. on credit card or shipping forms online). Saves me hours every week. Works with IE by default, with FF with a plug-in.
Bookmarks Synchronizer 1.03: Backs up my bookmarks online, on the off chance my machine crashes. Not sure if I’m going to keep this — what I really need to do is take a couple of days and clean out my oversized bookmark file.
BugMeNot 1.3: Public helper application to fill in dummy login/passwords for “free registration required” sites.
ChromEdit Plus 2.6.2: Makes it easier to update FF config files.
Clippings 2.6: Create a library of cut-and-paste blocks for use in Web forms. A handy way to help if you blog just through the online blog client.
DownThemAll! 0.9.9.8: A nice tool for doing mass download of files (esp. by type — graphics vs videos vs music, etc.)
Extended Copy Menu 1.3: Nice tool that will let you, in context, copy a block of text from a web page with or without HTML formatting.
FireFTP 0.96.4: Free FTP client that works through FF. Not the most spectacular FTP client out there, but it works pretty well.
Flashblock 1.5.3: Any Flash that gets opened from a web page needs a click on it before it can play. Great way to avoid Flash ads. You can also whitelist regularly visited sites that use Flash for menus (bleah).
Forecastfox 0.9.5.2: Put an Accuweather forecast at the bottom of the window.
Google Pagerank Status 0.9.7: Put a little PR bar at the bottom of the window for each page you visit.
IE View Lite 1.3: Want to see how a site looks in IE? Got sites that you need to automatically open in IE only? Here’s the tool to do it.
ListZilla 0.8: Export a list of all your FF add-ons/extensions to a text or HTML file. Made preparing this list a lot easier, I’ll tell you.
Print Preview Toolbar Button 0.1: Not the greatest toolbar button, but it fills in an annoying FF gap.
Resizeable Form Fields 0.2.1: Stretch a form field larger (or smaller) for easier entry. Faboo!
SnagIt Firefox Extension 1.0.1: I use SnagIt for image captures (actual image files, or screen caps).
Tab Mix Plus 0.3.5.2: Extends FF’s tab controls and behaviors. Excellent tool.
Talkback 2.0.0.3: Comes with FF; lets you feedback to Mozilla when things break.

And there you have it. Anyone have any FF extensions they find invaluable?

Various Episcopal Bits

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has asked Abp Akinola at the eleventh hour to cancel his trip to the US, or at least not to install a new…

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has asked Abp Akinola at the eleventh hour to cancel his trip to the US, or at least not to install a new Church of Nigeria bishop in Virginia today. Akinola is already here; let’s see if he decides to thumb his nose at the rest of Canterbury’s request, or if he just claims he never got the letter.

Meanwhile, the gathering in Virginia is interesting in terms of who is and who isn’t there. Some other “we don’t want to be Episcopalians any more” groups aren’t terribly enthused by Nigeria’s moves, including some earlier break-away groups.

Down in the Springs, the Episcopal Vestry for Grace & St Stephens is telling its followers not to participate in the vote for the parish to break way from the Episcopal Church to join CANA. It claims the 20 May vote is (a) rigged, and (b) not legitimate anyway (holding to the official line that parishioners can leave the church, but the parish per se cannot). It’s a legal and practically correct argument — but I’ve never been fond of the “stay home the vote” types of tactics.

The CANA Vestry, meanwhile, says that Bp O’Neill is a medieval tyrant and a doo-doo head and against democracy and American values and all that. Ah, good ol’ ad hominem attacks — the very model of Christianity.

One would hope that would narrow the field some …

… but, no doubt, it won’t. Republican candidates indicate if they don’t believe in evolution. In the “don’t” column (right there, raising their hands on national TV and everything): …

… but, no doubt, it won’t. Republican candidates indicate if they don’t believe in evolution.

In the “don’t” column (right there, raising their hands on national TV and everything): Brownback, Tancredo and Huckabee. Bzzt … time to vote them off the island.

Though I’ll note two things:

The question was actually, initially, addressed to John McCain. McCain hesitates. Did it take him a moment to puzzle out the question (as in “Why the hell would anyone ask something as self-obvious as asking if I believe in gravity?”) or did it take him a moment to puzzle out what the political implications were of answering one way or the other? At any rate, props to him for giving an answer in the affirmative (which should, again, be self-evident, but, sadly, no doubt cost him some votes).
I would have been more interested in seeing folks affirm in the positive. In a sane world, answering in the negative (as was asked) would be forcing people to commit themselves to a truly goofy position. Alas, in this day, taking a stand that you are a believer in evolution has become a more courageous and risky proposition.

(via J-Walk, who has a new campaign poster)

Billed if you do, billed if you don’t …

So what happens if you’re one of those folks out there who have a basic, unbundled phone setup, with no long distance calling plan, and you don’t make any…

So what happens if you’re one of those folks out there who have a basic, unbundled phone setup, with no long distance calling plan, and you don’t make any long distance calls?

Easy — you get charged for not making any long distance calls.

Verizon last month introduced the $2 fee. It is charged to customers who could dial out for long distance, but don’t subscribe to a long-distance service and don’t make long-distance calls.
Durham, N.C., retiree Daniel Bius discovered the $2 charge on his April bill. He says he has no use for Verizon’s long-distance calling plan because he makes long-distance calls on his cell phone.
“Even though I don’t have a plan with them, they say I still have the ability to make a long-distance call if I ever need to, so I have to pay them $2 a month?” Bius said. “What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to pay them $2 for no reason?”
Telecommunications companies are increasingly profiting from bundled services that package wireless, Internet and even television services on one bill. Basic-phone customers are telecom’s least-profitable sector, spending a minimal amount but demanding reliability.
Phone companies are beginning to charge basic-phone customers for long-distance access, even if they choose not to use the network. “This is not a unique practice to Verizon,” said John Breyault, a research associate at the Telecommunications Research and Action Center in New York. “Most of them charge you some sort of fee nowadays. We’re concerned because we don’t think you should have to pay for something you’re not using.”

Obviously they don’t understand how phone companies work. It makes perfect sense that you should be charged for what you use, what you don’t use, what you might use, and maybe what other people are using, too.

I mean, it’s not like their in it for our good.

O Fleeting Fame

Who’s that guy singing scary songs to kids? The answer, my friends … Kindergarten kids in ritzy L.A. suburb Calabasas have been coming home to their parents and talking about…

Who’s that guy singing scary songs to kids? The answer, my friends …

Kindergarten kids in ritzy L.A. suburb Calabasas have been coming home to their parents and talking about the “weird man” who keeps coming to their class to sing “scary” songs on his guitar. The “weird” one turns out to be Bob Dylan, whose grandson (Jakob Dylan’s son) attends the school. He’s been singing to the kindergarten class just for fun, but the kiddies have no idea they’re being serenaded by a musical legend – to them, he’s just Weird Guitar Guy.

Of course, I’ve often thought Dylan was a bit weird, too …

(via J-Walk)

The One True Litmus Test

UPDATE: My serious goof. The pols were actually asked about their favorite reality show. That doesn’t make their answers any more honest, but it makes them slightly less creepy. Though…

UPDATE: My serious goof. The pols were actually asked about their favorite reality show. That doesn’t make their answers any more honest, but it makes them slightly less creepy. Though … is CSPAN really Reality TV? (Avoids obvious “Jackass” jokes …)

Can a candidate’s favorite TV show tell you something about them? (Comments mine.)

DEMOCRATS:

Delaware Sen. Joe Biden: “Don’t have one.” It’s hard to trust someone who says they have no “favorite TV show.” Do they not watch TV (and, if not, how do they keep any sort of pulse on popular culture)? Or are they just afraid to commit?
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: “American Idol.” I should not be surprised by the number of pols who find a big, overrated, abusive talent contest to be great entertainment. Seems a bit incestuous to me.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd: “‘American Idol.” See above.
Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards: College basketball. Honestly, even though I hate watching sports on TV except as a last resort, I have a lot of respect for someone who fesses up that’s their fave. And college basketball isn’t a bad choice.
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich: C-SPAN coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives. Ego much? Or maybe just humorless wonkishness and an inability to maintain a life/work balance.
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama: “Other than the U.S. Senate on C-SPAN? I don’t watch them too often.” See above.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson: “Fox News.” Oh dear Lord …

REPUBLICANS:

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback: “None this season; too busy. Last season it was ‘The Amazing Race.”’ Okay, minus points for life/work balance, but at least some honesty. AR is a vaguely interesting show, and I know some clever people who watch it, but the parallels to political campaigning (as with “American Idol”) are amusing.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani: Baseball. See above.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: “Nashville Star,” USA Network’s country music competition. See “American Idol,” though I like the local/genre touch.
California Rep. Duncan Hunter: Watches Versus, previously called the Outdoor Life Network. Which looks to be ESPN on bad steroids. I’d be interested in whether he prefers the yachting competition or the World Cage Match Federation.
Arizona Sen. John McCain: Arizona Diamondbacks baseball. Minor plus for sports, offset by a sense of pandering to the local population.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: “American Idol.” See above.
Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo: “None.” See above. Who’d have thought that Tom Tancredo and Joe Biden had something in common …?

So now I want to know more. How much TV do they actually catch? Is it live, taped, or TiVoed? How do they occupy themselves in their down time? Do they have strange hotel requirements (“The TV must be turned onto the Verge network; if not available, a special Verge satellite feed will be arranged”)?

Or, conversely, I’d like to toss out a handful of my favorite shows and see if any of them have ever watched any of them, and what they thought (including gauging the honesty of the sentiments provided).

(via J-Walk)

Scope creep

I am a man of expectations. That is to say, I build expectations of what a day, or an event, or an outing will be like, based on the available…

I am a man of expectations. That is to say, I build expectations of what a day, or an event, or an outing will be like, based on the available information, and emotionally prepare myself for that. If the experience doesn’t match the expectations, I can get a little cranky (just ask Margie).

So I really hate it when a day that starts out as, “I need to do this, this, and this, go home, and I’ll do this, and this, and then I can relax” ends up getting a steady stream of “and this” items inserted at various places (not to mention “oh, and this, when they get it back to me this afternoon”), and “and then I can relax” gets pushed out on the schedule to around 9 p.m. or so …

*sigh*

The scariest, coolest, scariest picture I’ve seen in a long time

Barrels of radioactive waste at Hanford, Washington. Submerged in a pool of water at Hanford Site are 1,936 stainless-steel nuclear-waste capsules containing cesium and strontium. Combined, they contain over…

Barrels of radioactive waste at Hanford, Washington.

Submerged in a pool of water at Hanford Site are 1,936 stainless-steel nuclear-waste capsules containing cesium and strontium. Combined, they contain over 120 million curies of radioactivity. It is estimated to be the most curies under one roof in the United States. The blue glow is created by the Cherenkov Effect which describes the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle, giving off energy, moves faster than light through a transparent medium. The temperatures of the capsules are as high as 330 degrees Fahrenheit. The pool of water serves as a shield against radiation; a human standing one foot from an unshielded capsule would receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than 10 seconds.

The photo is from what sounds like a very cool book, An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, by Taryn Simon, “a study of spaces typically off-limits to the public.”

Is it just me, or does it vaguely look like the continental United States?

iAnnoyance

I’m annoyed by the “i” prefix being slapped all over stuff to make it seem cool and hip and hi-tech. Okay, so if Apple wants to do that as their…

I’m annoyed by the “i” prefix being slapped all over stuff to make it seem cool and hip and hi-tech. Okay, so if Apple wants to do that as their “thing,” that’s at least a product branding (along with all the gadgets and gizmos that tie into Apple products).

But why on God’s Google Earth has Google changed their personalized home page from “Personalized Google” (or whatever it was) to “iGoogle”? Truly bizarre, and, yet, annoying.

Oh, well — I am at least comforted that someday it will be seen as a sign of obsolescence or being out of date, and all of those iProducts will get renamed. At which point I’ll probably bitch about that, too,

LAPD covers itself in glory again

Yowzers. Don’t these guys know that if you’re going to beat up on journalists, you should either make sure the cameras aren’t rolling or that the journalists in questions…

Yowzers. Don’t these guys know that if you’re going to beat up on journalists, you should either make sure the cameras aren’t rolling or that the journalists in questions will “disappear”?

That the footage is from the local Fox outlet makes it all the more remarkable.

Now, from what was reported, there was some level of provocation, by a small group, off away from MacArthur Park immigration rally. But how that then turns into a raid on the park itself, complete with batoning down local news journalists and camerafolks is a textbook case on “How not to win friends and influence people.”

Journalists are not somehow immune to the rules (de jure and de facto) we have to operate under. The obnoxious, snobbish, in-your-face, “I’m a journalist, by gad!” reporter is as much of an archetype as the thuggish cop. But pushing them around and beating on them with batons is not only wrong, it’s stupid wrong.

(via BoingBoing, which has plenty of other links)

Beer! Good for you! Good for Mother Earth!

Fosters is teaming up with scientists to generate clean energy from the brewing process. The experimental technology was unveiled Wednesday by scientists at Australia’s University of Queensland, which was…

Fosters is teaming up with scientists to generate clean energy from the brewing process.

The experimental technology was unveiled Wednesday by scientists at Australia’s University of Queensland, which was given a 140,000 Australian dollar (US$115,000; euro85,000) state government grant to install a microbial fuel cell at a Foster’s Group brewery near Brisbane, the capital of Queensland state.
The fuel cell is essentially a battery in which bacteria consume water-soluble brewing waste such as sugar, starch and alcohol.
The battery produces electricity plus clean water, said Prof. Jurg Keller, the university’s wastewater expert.
The complex technology harnesses the chemical energy that the bacteria releases from the organic material, converting it into electrical energy.

Cheers!

(via DOF)

And on a note that has nothing to do with the Episcopal Church …

… unlike the last three posts … U.S. State Capitols, Had All States Followed North Dakota’s Example and Named Them After Types of Donuts When I become King of…

… unlike the last three posts …

U.S. State Capitols, Had All States Followed North Dakota’s Example and Named Them After Types of Donuts

When I become King of the World and wear a Shiny Hat, I am so mandating this.

Mmmmm … donuts …

And one last bit of Episcotrivia for today

Anyone who ends up reading much of this stuff online will run smack-dab into the unfamiliar terms of “reappraiser” and “reasserter.” These terms came from Kendall Harmon as replacements…

Anyone who ends up reading much of this stuff online will run smack-dab into the unfamiliar terms of “reappraiser” and “reasserter.” These terms came from Kendall Harmon as replacements for the “conservative” and “liberal” labels within church debates.

I’ve not used the terms because I found them visually confusing at a glance (starting with “rea-” and a double-consonent, and ending in “-er”) and because most people would be even more clueless about them. But they’re worth knowing, in case you get caught up in the trivia of the big Episcopal debate.

A reappraiser is someone who is reappraising the traditions of the church, the orthodox interpretation of Scripture, etc., based on their own reason, insight, inspiration, and so forth. Traditionally such a person is called a “liberal.” In the context of gay rights, to this person, contemporary thought, scientific research, and the experiences of day to day life force a reinterpretation of what’s been understood in the past to be God’s attitude toward homosexuality, and a reevaluation of the historical context and limitations of scriptural writings and traditional teachings of same.

A reasserter is someone who is reasserting the traditional orthodoxy of the Christian not-so-past as valid, complete, and sufficient. Traditionally such a person is called a “conservative.” In the context of gay rights, to this person, it’s perfectly clear what both Leviticus and Paul have to day, as the Word of God, about homosexuality, end of story, game over. Past theologians and social commentators have agreed with this position; that some contemporary ones disagree is of no consequence.

I’m not sure how I feel about these particular labels, though they are probably more useful and less stereotyped than the conservative/liberal names. I probably won’t use them here, though I may feel more free to quote folks who do..

Anyway … so now you know.

Meanwhile, to the North …

More same-sex-marriage brouhaha from our neighbors in the Anglican Church of Canada. The Canadian church has been a footnote in a lot of the discussions to date on what’s going on…

More same-sex-marriage brouhaha from our neighbors in the Anglican Church of Canada. The Canadian church has been a footnote in a lot of the discussions to date on what’s going on with the Episcopal Church. At least one diocese has officially blessed same-sex marriages, as I recall, and, of course, Canada-the-country is allowing gay marriage (or at least civil unions, I lose track of which).

I’d read this the other day, and thought it was a pretty reasonable position for the moment. It’s a letter from the Canadian House of Bishops to the General Synod (their more snazilly-named General Convention) on the whole same-sex blessing thing.

In short, it declines to support same-sex blessings (marriages), but it does everything but. It welcomes gay couples, it allows for non-nuptual blessings and communal participation, it condemns any sort of prejudice against gays, inside or outside the church (e.g., excluding the children of gay households from being baptised), etc. It also offers support for gay clergy in the church.

(Those sorts of things (or even supporting them) could get you arrested in Nigeria, of course, if Abp. Akinola had his way, but …)

The letter doesn’t close any doors, however, recognizing that these issues will be discussed at the next Synod (this year) and asking for some specific reports for the following Synod (in 2010) on the underlying theological issues.

In other words, it’s a position not all that different from where the Episcopal Church officially stands, so far as I can tell. No word on whether even these positions will draw down the wrath of the conservative Primates (certainly the folks over at T19 see it as an heretical capitulation to same-sex blessings). It has been met, from the other direction, with disappointment from gay rights supporters in the Canadian church (though that story misstates the recent actions of the US House of Bishops).

Drawing the line? What line?

Yet more Episcopal/Anglican soap opera. Proceed at your own risk … I wrote the other day about Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori sending a letter to Abp. Akinola in…

Yet more Episcopal/Anglican soap opera. Proceed at your own risk …

I wrote the other day about Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori sending a letter to Abp. Akinola in Nigeria, asking him very nicely not to come and consecrate a bishop on American soil, noting (quite accurately) that this was a direct violation of both longstanding custom in the Anglican world (building your province on the territory of another) and in opposition to the recommendations of the highly touted Windsor report.

Abp. Akinola has responded, basically saying (in ecclesiastically somewhat more polite terms), “Is somebody talking to me? I can’t quite hear what you’re saying …” His basic thesis seems to be that it’s all the Episcopal Church’s fault, that the relationship is broken, that the House of Bishops just gave ~~him~~ the Primates the finger, and therefore he doesn’t have to recognize any “ancient traditions” or the like. He doesn’t actually mention the planned consecration, but his position is clear — the Episcopal Church is not part of the Anglican Communion (according to him), and therefore he doesn’t have to respect its boundaries any more than he’d have to respect the boundaries of the Catholic Church.

If this seems somewhat radical, all you have to do is read through the comments at conservative Episcopal sites such as TitusOneNine regarding PB Jefferts Schori’s letter or Abp. Akinola’s response. To these individuals — all of whom seem to be soundly behind Abp. Akinola, TEC is no longer an Anglican institution. Indeed, it’s not a Christian church at all, just a heretical sect, a cult, a crumbling big business that will soon be swept into the sea and/or fiery furnace. The level of personal vitriol toward and contempt about PB Jefferts Schori and TEC is breathtaking.

If that’s the position they want to hold, so be it. I disagree, but, then, I would, be an heretical cultist and all that. But if that’s the case, let’s just stop with all the name-calling and sniping and move on with things.

Aaaah, but then there’s the money issue (we’ll leave aside the “No, we have to clearly be the winners in this” issue). And money’s the reason, to my mind, why this hasn’t been a simple exodus of folks from TEC moving into new congregations of like-minded folks. There’s all that property and such that has to be adjudicated. Folks like Rev Don Armstrong and the rectors of other parishes around the country (and, in some cases, the bishops of some dioceses) don’t want to have to start from scratch. If it’s all the Episcopal Church’s fault, then, by gum, those darned tyrannical heretics should be the losers, and those <s>Episcopal</s> congregational church buildings that we’ve been paying the mortgage for (backed by guarantees by the local diocese and in trusteeship of the local diocese per canon law, but who cares about that) should stick with us, by cracky! At which point we get into the “scandalous” round of court cases regarding who gets the property — cases which the Primates asked both sides to back down on in their Tanzania communique, but which Abp. Akinola only raps TEC for not complying.

Here’s my take on this. If Abp. Akinola is going to come to the US and ordain bishops, and if the rest of the Anglican Communion is going to let them, then what’s the whole point? Let’s all go our separate ways, and in 0-80-odd years from now, we’ll all personally have a chance to chat about it with the one Judge in the case whose opinion actually matters.

(via Preludium (with more commentary here)

I’m feeling better …

Was out of the office the past few days with a horrible head cold or some sort of bug. Back in, feeling better, plowing through extraordinary amounts of e-mail. Making…

Was out of the office the past few days with a horrible head cold or some sort of bug. Back in, feeling better, plowing through extraordinary amounts of e-mail.

Making plans for some vacation time at the end of June. We have our normal “KOA” weekend, but then Kitten is going to “Grandma & Grandpa Camp” (i.e., staying with the respective grandparents) for a couple of weeks, so Margie and I are flying direct from California down to Albuquerque (well, by way of Denver, but we won’t leave the airport) and renting a car up to Santa Fe for the rest of the week. Good food, expensive art, lots of margaritas …

Timetables

Feel free to chortle over some no-nothing backwater state Governor stomping his foot and demanding the President set clear exit strategy conditions and a timetable for the troops to come…

Feel free to chortle over some no-nothing backwater state Governor stomping his foot and demanding the President set clear exit strategy conditions and a timetable for the troops to come home.

Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is. … I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.”

Except, of course, in this case the Governor was one George W. Bush of Texas, and the President was Bill Clinton and the troops were in Kosovo. Fast forward from 1999, and the commander-in-chiefly shoe is on the other foot.

Now, to be fair, (a) It has been sixteen years, and it is to be hoped that Bush would have learned something in the interim, and (b) It’s a lot different sitting in the White House than in the Texas statehouse. And, truth be told, I think a legislated timetable is actually a horrible idea, except that it seems to be the only way to get Bush to take any action. Bush has done his typically inept job at actually, y’know, persuading the American people about much of anything about it (except to repeat the same empty platitudes and stomp his foot and say “I will not!”

Still, all that having been said, the quotes from the last presidential election are worth a sad chuckle or two.

Holy Batfish!

Scientists have named a “Batman Fish.” The new loricariid catfish is a member of the hypoptopomatine genus Otocinclus and has a dark marking on its tail resembling the Batman…

Scientists have named a “Batman Fish.”

The new loricariid catfish is a member of the hypoptopomatine genus Otocinclus and has a dark marking on its tail resembling the Batman logo.
Ichthyologist Pablo Lehmann, of the Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul, has named the species Otocinclus batmani in a paper in the current volume of the journal Neotropical Ichthyology.
“The name batmani, alludes to Bob Kane’s hero Batman of the comic adventures, which had a bat shape for his symbol, referring to the single W- or bat-shaped vertical spot on the caudal fin”, wrote Lehmann.

What next? Joker Fish?

(via Avocet)

The Ugly American Visit

Long waits, rude functionaries, presumption of criminality, intrusive security measures, and other obnoxious activities during travel? For Americans, all we can do is sit around in grumble. But tourists to…

In a January Listener article New Zealand journalist Marilyn Head described how she missed a flight after being treated like a criminal by US airport guards.
“I left the US vowing never to return,” she wrote. “I’m not alone.”
She’s right. Head’s experience echoes that of many disgruntled tourists who have bitter memories of treatment meted out by US immigration officials.
Before September 11, US airport staff often seemed to err on the laid-back rather than on the vigilant side. Now some overzealous officials appear to regard all tourists as potential terrorists. Entering America can feel like running the gauntlet.
“We are citizens of a country regarded as one of the closest allies the US has,” frequent British visitor Ian Jeffrey told the Orlando Sentinel last November. “Yet on arrival we are treated like suspects in a criminal investigation and made to feel very unwelcome.”
Such comments, and the poll results – which rate the US by a 2:1 margin as the world’s “most unfriendly” destination for foreign travellers – are found in “A Blueprint to Discover America,” unveiled in January by Discover America Partnership to halt a dramatic decline in foreign visitors.
According to the blueprint overseas travel to the US has slumped 17 per cent since 2001, even as world travel to other countries reaches historic growth levels. The decline has cost US$94 billion ($127 billion) in visitor spending, US$16 billion in tax receipts, and some 194,000 American jobs. Many poll respondents said that visiting the US had become a hassle and that they would take their holiday money elsewhere.

Interestingly, the objections are less to American foreign policy, or even the acknowledged need for border security, but over a combination of rudeness and an attitude from border personnel that every potential visitor is a terror suspect until proven — for the moment — innocent.

In the business world, it’s an established fact that for every “good story” that someone shares about their customer service experience, someone with a bad experience will tell eleven others. The assumption that the only way we can be secure is by driving away everyone, even our friends, or assuming that there’s no way we can possibly use up all the good will that people might hold for us, seems to be SOP for an Administration that’s been tone deaf to everything but it’s own fiat to do whatever it wants in pursuit of its goals, no matter what others think about it.

Wag the Dog

Dogs wag their tails a lot — and it turns out the wagging can convey a message. If it’s wagging more toward their left, the dog is fearful or apprehensive. …

Dogs wag their tails a lot — and it turns out the wagging can convey a message. If it’s wagging more toward their left, the dog is fearful or apprehensive. When the wagging is more to the dog’s right, it signifies attaction and happiness. If so, interesting; I’ll have to watch Jake more.

(via BoingBoing)