So-called reality

This isn't reality. This is hell!
Andrew
Bravo was consulted on some elimination decisions.
Top Chef credits

Two weeks (or three blog posts) back, I confessed that I'd been sucked into Bravo's Top Chef, a reality show that can be summed up as "The Apprentice" with chefs. Last night was part one of the big finale. It began with the three finalists arriving in Las Vegas for the final showdown. At the end of the hour, only two remained.

The oft-discussed problem with reality shows is that they are not real. Although the contestents and even the judges are real people, it's still a TV show whose goal is to entertain. Even the decision of who get eliminated is as much a question of drama as of fairness. I should, therefore, not be surprised of the three finalists, the one we all despise did not get eliminated. A final battle between two friends has nowhere near the drama that a battle between two bitter foes, especially when one is the clearly established villian.

But I'm still pissed! That chef deserved to go down! None of their dishes were the favorite. The other chef was eliminated mainly because they made only two of the requisite three dishes in the final round. Even though both of those dishes were well liked, the penalty for one missing dish was worse than for several dishes no one liked. How lame is that? The worst thing a chef can do is serve bad food. To make matters worse, once the the chef was all smug, as if they didn't just get a total pass. Man, I want to be there next week to see that chef go down.

Which is, of course, exactly what Bravo wants.

Why the Impossible Mission Force is bad for America

Since Hollywood execs grew timid and began making movies out of TV shows, no movie has so screwed with its source material. The hero of the TV show had become the villain of the movie.
Erik Lundegaard

I read this commentary on the M:I movies last week and never blogged it. When I saw M:I3 was the top grossing film for the second week in a row, I remembered the commentary. It's good stuff.

There be dragons here

Caution: There be dragons here
Programmers' caveat

It's been forever since I posted anything. I've mostly been at a loss of what to post, mainly because my job has gotten interesting again, and I've been somewhat engrossed by what I'm working on. It's a new web development project using ASP.NET 2.0, SQL Server 2005, and VS 2005 (those who care will know what that all means). Anyway, I figure if that's what's on my mind, that's what I should blog about. So, a few thoughts and observations on comments....

Comments are bits of text in a program that are ignored by the computer. They are there for the sole benefit of other developers who may need to look at your code (not to mention your own benefit, should you need to remember what the hell it was that you did five months ago). They're akin to footnotes in a book, explaining the stuff that may not be obvious to the reader. Good comments are a hallmark of good programming.

Notice I said "good" comments and not "abundant" or "copious" or "numerous" comments. That is because comments, like food, is best in moderation. Not enough, and your program becomes an incoherent shell. Too many, and it becomes a bloated mess. Good programmers try to write programs that other good programmers can follow. Yet sometimes it is necessary to provide a some additional clues as to why your, say, multiplying that number by 3600 (it's in seconds - you want hours). Okay, programmers our there are right now saying, "You don't need to comment that! Any fool could figure that out." You're right, bad example, but you get my point.

Most of the time, one line is all you need. "Make sure the number is not zero," for example. Every now and then, though, you need to do something in your code that's a lot more complex and potentially confusing. Maybe five lines are needed. Then, there's the odd occaison when even you are disconcerted by the confusing nature of what you have just written. Yet, you cannot find a simpler way of doing it. There are many reasons why this may be the case. Often the vendor tools you're using have boxed you into the corner, and this obtuse mess you've just created is the only way out.

When in such situations, you often find developers leaving the comment:

Warning: There be dragons here.

Sometimes, they'll go so far as to say, "serious dragons." Generally this is to be taken, "Read the following code very carefully, or you might screw things up royally." After this comes a detailed explanation if what's going on. Often, there is also some justification of why it had to be done this way. It's an admission that the code is aweful, as in, "I'm really sorry you have to deal with this crap. Truly I am. But if you were in my shoes, you'd have done the same thing and you know it."

I'm writing all this because I'm coming close to the "dragons here" threshold. I am expanding and enhancing an existing tool, so I can claim that, in large part, it's not my fault. I've also found myself cursing the tool's original authors who, IMHO, did not practice good commenting. Some of the code comes close to what I like to call, "Heart of Darkness" code. This is code that is so bad that, when you finally make you're way through it to the other side, you're left muttering, "the horror.... the horror."

It is not the worst code I've dealt with, though. The worst code was very early on in my carreer. I had to find a bug in an X-windows application call xterm. When I openned the first source file, I found this comment:

WARNING: This code particularly, the tty setup code) is a historical relic and should not be confused with a real toolkit application or a an example of how to do anything. It really needs a rewrite. Badly.

And let me tell you, the author wasn't kidding. But at least they had the honesty of saying so up front. I printed this comment out and hung it on my wall.

A Guilty Pleasure

Short is the joy that guilty pleasure brings.
Euripides
Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.
John Lennon

I admit it. I have been sucked in by the reality show Top Chef on Bravo. For those unfamiliar with the show, it's the same formula as Apprentice, done with chefs instead. Each week there are challanges, each week some gets sent home. Instead of, "You're fired!" they say, "Pack your knives and leave."

I have, in general, shown disdain for reality TV. I never watched Survivor, The Apprentice, or any of the other lesser shows whose names of which I can't even think of. But now I'm hooked. I want to see what ridiculous challange they give them. I want to see who goes down in flames. There are the chefs I want to see succeed and the one I wanted so badly to see get booted (and it was oh so satifying when they finally did).

I suppose the subject matter (food) brought me in initially. I love Food TV shows like Iron Chef, after all, so why not? But Iron Chef this ain't. It's pure "reality" TV. There is the requisite footage of contestents sniping and trash-talking. There is the overdramatic judging segments where the contestents get beat up by their "mentors." There is the annoying comercial break right before the final decision (okay, Iron Chef has that, but it's not the same). In short, it's Apprentice with knives and Chef's Whites.

Still, I keep watching. Call it a guilty pleasure.

Seven Wonders of My House

Makin' people happy, that's my favorite game,
Lucky Seven is my natural name.
Slippin' and slidin' my whole life through
Still I get everything done that I got to do.
'Cause I was born 'neath a lucky star!
Schoolhouse Rock

Rob thought this up. Then I read Jeri's. I figured this is one meme I actually have ideas for. So here goes:

1. My Children: They are truly wonders. Each day the surprise us, challange us, frustrate us, and delight us, sometimes all at once.
2. The Family Room Bookshelves: My brother-in-law built them for one of his company's customers, but the interior designer gave him the wrong stain color. The color was just fine for us, so now we have custom-built beautiful recessed bookshelves. He also made us furniture to match!
3. The Solar Panels: Turning each day's sunlight into the electricity that powers our home. Last July we had a $30 electric bill! I never tire of going downstairs to see how many kilowatt hours of electricity we produced and how many kilograms of carbon dioxide we didn't.
4. The Kitchen Cabinet Secret Compartment: The search for the missing teddy bear cake pan led to the discovery of this seeminly extra-dimensional space in our kitchen. A muffin pan and strainer were also recovered, as was a glass lid we had never seen before.
5. Franken-deck: This deck should have been torn down years ago. Each year I pull boards off the privacy screen to replace broken decking. I crawl underneath to shore up the rotting joists. One year we'll give in and buy a new deck. But not this year. (Knock on wood.) (If you can find any on that deck.)
6. The Shelf of no Return: If you can't figure out where to put something, that's where you should put it. If you can't find something, that's where you should look.
7. Sharon: Is there nothing she cannot do? I doubt it. Tremble at her awesome power. (Did I mention she's cute?)

I didn't mention the pets, so let me give them honorable mention here. Also the dining room table, which can hold food for eight and support a six-year D&D campaign.

Thanks again to Rob for a great idea.

Holy Wars

Holy detonation, Batman!
Robin

In Chios, Greece, on Greek Orthodox Easter, this is how parishoners of two churches celebrate:

To mark the resurrection of Christ, the two congregations fire thousands of
handmade rockets at midnight across a valley at each other's churches.

Story and video here. Their goal is to hit the bell tower. No major injuries were reported this year. However, they are not uncommon (ya think?).

More recycling challenges

But, anyway, Signor Sollozzo, my no is final, and I wish to congratulate you on your new business, and I know you'll do very well; and good luck to you - as best as your interests don't conflict with my interests.

The Godfather

A significant challenge of recycling waste seems to be finding someone's back yard to do it in. Awhile back I posted about a fight between Eastern Organic Resources, the DEP, and local governments. The last I heard about Eastern Organic was that the DEP revoked their license.

According to this Asbury Park Press article, a new controversy with a similar ring to it is brewing in Dover Township. Washington, D.C.-based Fuel Frontiers Inc. wants to build a new facility to manufacture ethanol from waste material. The ethanol would be blended with gasoline as a motor fuel.

Just like Eastern Organic, Fuel Frontiers idea sounds great on paper. Recycle waste and reduce oil dependency all at once. Unfortunately, local reaction is also similar. The article reports that:

Potential environmental problems are a concern in Dover Township, where the former Ciba-Geigy Corp. plant is now a Superfund site, and dumping of hazardous waste at the former Reich Farm led to contamination of wells in United Water Toms River's Parkway well field. Talk of any kind of fuel plant makes officials uneasy.

Well, who can blame them. Hopefully Fuel Frontiers can address Dover's concerns. The article reports that the two sides are talking:

"We recognize the issue here. We want the town to feel like they know what's going on," [Fuel Frontiers, Inc. President Jack] Young said. "We care about how we look, if we smell, and how we operate."

[Dover Councilman Michael J.] Fiure said he has been pleased that Fuel Frontiers has shown a willingness to work with the council. He said council members hope to schedule a public presentation of the company's plans at a future council meeting.

"I am very encouraged that they are going to meet with us and that we will be able to ask them questions," Fiure said.

In my Eastern Organic post, I said that this is technology we need. Let's hope things go better in this endeavor.

Thanks to Sharon for sending me the story.

More on Advair

The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.
Benjamin Franklin

Of late this blog is a ghosttown, but apparently someone's reading. I got a great comment to my Advair post that actually explains some of the problems with Advair. Forbes would have done better to ask this person to write their article.

Clearing in the east, finally

The smell of hospitals in winter
And the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters, but no pearls
Counting Crows

Several people asked me about the "darker weather" comment in this post. Sorry I left that hanging. I figured I'd have more to say when things settled down a bit, but it's taken a lot longer for that to happen. I'll cut to the chase - everyone is fine. Here are the details:

The comment came from news that a "spot" showed up on my father's chest X-ray. Also, blood tests showed certain elevated levels that can indicate cancer. He would be having a CT scan the next day. It took four more days to get results. To everyone's relief, the scan showed no signs of cancer - the best possible outcome. They'll keep watching, but the news could have been much worse.

A day later, my mom called me. She was in the car, my dad was driving her to the ER with chest pains and elevated blood pressure. She made me promise I wouldn't drive too fast on the way to the hospital, and I didn't. We spent the next several hours there while they ran tests, monitored her vitals, and gave her medication to lower the blood pressure. She was admitted, and they kept her two days under observation in a telemetry unit where they constantly monitor her heart. They did an echocardiogram and a stress test. All came back fine.

She did have a sky-high fasting blood sugar, so she's on drugs for diabetes. It's looking like she doesn't need insulin, though, so some good news there. She's back home now. She was still in the car when she called, enjoying the fresh air. I'm sure she feels better just being out of the hospital. Just being there makes you feel sick, I think.

It's been one thing after another these last few weeks. I'm knocking on wood as I say that maybe things are finally settling down.

Advair scare

Get the widow on the set, we need dirty laundry.
Don Henley

Thursday morning on the Today Show, Katie Couric spoke with Forbes managing editor Dennis Kneale (see the clip here). Kneale was discussing this article in Forbes magazine about the GlaxoSmithkline Asthma drug Advair, and concerns about its safety. The overall question is an important one, worth consideration: what do you do when a drug helps millions, yet can be harmful or fatal to a small percentage. I have a real problem with the way this article, and Kneale's comments on the Today Show, frame the issue.

When I first heard about possible dangers of Advair, I consulted with a friend who is both an MD and asthma sufferer. Advair actually contains two drugs. One is a steroid, the same steroid found in the GlaxoSmithkline's Flovent, which eases inflamation of the airways. The second, a bronchodilator that expands constricted airways, is the same drug found in the GlaxoSmithkline product Serevent. It belongs to a class of drug called beta agonists. All bronchodilators I know of are beta agonists, and some people have adverse reactions to them. The problem with Serevent is that it lasts longer (12 hours instead of 4-6), so an adverse reaction will go on longer before symptoms subside.

The article opens with two stories of people suffering reactions to Advair. One person said that, despite complaints of ill effects, his doctor said to keep taking it (sounds like the doctor's fault to me). The second was another story of someone suffering ill effects who continued to take the drug, an includes visual that is gratuitously repeated throughout the article: dying while still clutching the inhaler.

The the article highlights Advair's popularity, noting the advertising dollars spent. I can't argue with that; I am against prescription drug advertising. I didn't like the way the discussed Advair's "nifty delivery system," which they called a "purple plastic puck." Kneale also uses the purple puck term in the interview, telling Katie how "doctors love gadgets." His tone suggests that it's some kind of unecessay gimmick product, the asthma equivalent of the Swiffer.

In fact, the Advair Diskus (as it's called) is a vastly superior delivery method. Aerosol inhalers required the user to inhale at the moment as the push the cannister down. If you're off (as I was from time to time), you end up spraying most of the drug on the back of your throat instead of inhaling it. Further, unless you kept careful count of uses, you didn't know quite when the inhaler was empty. Finally, you needed between 2 and 4 inhalations, 60 second apart, each time you take it. Advair has a little number that decreases with each use. It turns red when you're under ten doses left. When you inhale, the force of your breath draws out the drug, so you always inhale it properly. Finally, you only need to inhale once each time. That's as much of a gimmick as anti-lock brakes.

Another issue they highlight is overprescribing. One of the people in the openning paragraph also had a persistent cough and wheeze, but was not diagnosed with asthma. Kneale talks about how his doctor prescribed it to him for a persistent cough from bronchitis. He doesn't say if it helped or not. The article also notes that Advair is being prescribed to more than just severe asthma sufferers. I thought that was unfair. My asthma was never severe or life threatenning, but it is still very important to my long term health that it be kept well controlled.

The article and Kneale play free an loose with the numbers. The first statistic the present is a single doctor's assertion that Advair and Serevent are killing 4000-5000 people a year. Only later do the note studies that showed numbers like 12 out of 17000, still taking time to suggest that this finding was inappropriately deemed statistically insignificant. When numbers minimize the risk, the article's tone is always questioning. They never cast doubt on the 4000 deaths/year estimate.

They also mix in statistics for other bronchodilators, like in this paragraph:

But Serevent had been under suspicion from the start, and earlier beta agonists had stirred doubts for decades. In 1948 one study of 2,200 asthma patients found a fivefold-higher death rate for patients who inhaled epinephrine, a beta drug, versus those who hadn't."

First off, I checked and found that almost all bronchodilators are beta-agonists. This article doesn't mention that. Non-beta bronchodilators are not inhaled - they're taking orally, so the side effects tend to be worst. Theophylline is non-beta example I've taken, and it sucked. As for epinephrine, the article is correct about its dangers. I've taken it - it's awful stuff. What the article failes to mention is that more modern beta drugs, Serevent included, are a vast improvement. To read the Forbes article, you'd think epinephrine and Serevent are like Motrin and Advil.

The article does everything it can to hype the danger aspect of Advair. They're searching for the next big drug company scandal.The article says as much when it conjures up the spectre of Merck's Vioxx and Wyeth's Redux. I'm all for keeping the drug companies honest, mind you, but Forbes this article is heavy drama and a light cogent fact. There is next to no mention of the drugs success in controlling asthma and similar respitory ailments. In my opinion, that success is the real reason for Advair's popularity.

There are also no anecdotal stories of people who's lives have improved thanks to Advair. So, here's one:

When doctors, insurance companies, etc. try to assess how well you are managing your asthma, they want to know how often you use your rescue inhaler. A rescue inhaler is a fast acting bronchodilater you use when you're having an attack. If you are using it often, you asthma is not well controlled, and you could be doing harm. Since I began taking Advair, I have all but stopped using my rescue inhaler. If I use it three times a month, it's a lot. I used to use it at least that many times a week. My respitory health has improved drastically thanks to this drug.

I'm one of the millions it's helped. I'd prefer a little less media hype about this one.

Morning buzzkill

The dream is always the same.
Joel
Risky Business

I awoke on my own. I looked at the clock, and it was 10:05 AM. "We overslept!" I shouted, "It's already after 10!" My wife's groggy reply was unintelligible as rushed downstairs to grab my cell phone - I was supposed to be on a conference call for work. As I fumbled through my bag, I noticed that it was still dark out. I looked at one of the clocks downstairs. It was 3:47 AM! Relieved, I headed back to bed, reassuring my wife that we weren't late and the bedroom clock got changed somehow, maybe the cat. I pulled up the covers and settled into the pillow, looking forward to another two hours of sleep....

That was when the alarm went off, and I awoke for real.

The story of John Cazale

Every time I put my line in the water I said a Hail Mary, and every time I said a Hail Mary I caught a fish.
Fredo Corleone
The Godfather: Part II

Last night, we were watching the Godfather. It seems to be a fairly regular staple on cable channels like AMC and Bravo. Sharon observed that you never see the guy who played Fredo anymore. I always figured he drifted into obscurity after the Godfather movies. He didn't.

John Cazale, who played Fredo, had won numerous awards for his stage performances before his film debut in The American Way. In addition The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II, he appeared in The Conversation (also directed by Coppola) and Dog Day Afternoon (a performance that earned him a Golden Globe nomination). He was engaged to Meryl Streep, who was his co-star in The Deer Hunter.

That would be his final film, however. At the same time he was filming, he was dying of bone cancer. The studio, upon learning of his illness, wanted to remove him from the film. Streep fought to keep him, threatenning to quit. He completed the film, but died the same year.

Most of these details come from his IMDB biography.

Tough choices

"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
Albus Dumbledore
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
by J. K. Rowling

It's been awhile since I posted. I preoccupied with a pair of decisions that needed to be made.

I had to choose which job I wanted. I had pretty much come to the conclusion that it was time to move on because there was not way to stay here and continue doing what I enjoy - software development. For about a year I've been hunting. There were a few offers, but nothing worth taking. In December I interviewed at a really good place, but no offer came. In February, a new project started up here. It was completely unexpected, and it was exactly the type of stuff I wanted to do (although it's VB.NET, not C#, but I digress). Plus, they need me to get my MS certification, and they'll fund it.

It was nice. I remember telling someone that I was actually enjoying my job again. Wouldn't you know this would be when the place from December called be up with an offer? I know, people should have such problems. I understand that in this economic climate plenty of people are unemployed or under-employed. I'm damn lucky. That said, it was still a touch choice with serious implications on my future. I was back an forth a dozen times, sweating every detail. Finally I decided to stay where I am. This is the last thing I would have expected three months ago, but there it is. What changed was this: I was not longer under pressure to get out of my current job. That raised the bar on any job offer that came. I think I made the right choice. Time will tell.

The other big decision was much easier to make, but much harder to act upon. Odds are good that you've seen seen Sharon's post on the subject. Our 12 year old greyhound Toasty was suffering liver failure, and we decided to end her life quickly. That decision was clear for me. That didn't make it any easier. In reply to our e-mail about this last trip to the vet, my brother replies simply, "Sorry to hear that. Not a fun trip." He'd taken it himself only a week or two earlier. No, it wasn't.

Having weathered those storms, I got to enjoy a weekend of warm sun and gentle breezes. Yet amid the peace of bike rides and campfires, a phone call brought news of darker weather on the horizon. It's Monday now, with overcast skies.

Shoe's on the other foot....

Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it

Here's a clear sign of success for Apple. The French lawmakers approved a bill that would force Apple to open their proprietary formats to competion. Read about it here. For years Apple has been everyone's favorite underdog in the fight with Microsoft. Meanwhile, governments all over were scrutinizing Microsoft's every move, the oft leveled criticism that they purposely designed Windows to lock out competitors.

I often had arguments with the Apple devoted about Microsoft. My supposition was that Apple was no better than Microsoft, jut not as successful. Apple consistently fought to keep out competition. Microsoft's success was, in part, due to the fact that they supported generic hardware. I was convinced that if Apple found a product as successful as Windows, they'd have the government breathing down their neck in no time.

Sure enough....

Can't see the pumpkin pie through the sewer rat

Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker.
Jules
Pulp Fiction

This is the latest MSNBC story about "Operation Swarmer," the new offensive in Iraq. The subtitle carries the denial that politics was a factor in the timing. That sure was the first thing that crossed my mind. I have to admit, there's a good chance it's not politically timed, but I could never believe that at this point.

It's gotten so bad that, when Alberto Gonzales announced a major child pornography bust, I was dubious. This was no doubt a group of scumbags that needed to be stopped, but I cannot see past this loathesome administration. That is how much they betrayed our trust. There's no getting that back.

It doesn't matter what they do any more. It might be pumpkin pie, but all I see is sewer rat.

The opportunity is ours to squander

Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Pink Floyd

Here it is. An NBC/WSJ poll shows a majority in favor a Democrat-controlled Congress. Now is the time. Now is the place. What are we going to do?

Early indicators suggest we're going to blow our best chance yet. Will we yet again be left pleading for leadership? Will the Democrats answer the call?

A majority favors a Democrat controlled Congress. We're running out of excuses here.

Go to Cockeyed.com. Now!

Throughout the ages, man has pondered the question, "How much is inside?"
Cockeyed.com

If you never have, you need to visit Cockeyed.com. Just go there. If you need some extra incentive, check 0ut their "How Much Is Inside" section. It will answer the time honored questions like "How much gold is there in Goldschlager?" and "Are Planter's Mixed Nuts really less than 50% peanuts?" and much much more.

Welcome VeeganMD

Have I ever told you I'm a Vegan? I'm a regular soy boy.
VeeganMD^*

He's an MD. He's a vegan. He might even be Swedish!

And now he has his own blog.

^*Although attributed to VeeganMD, this quote may actually be the product of a fiendishly clever imitation

Eastern Organic Resources battle with DEP worsens

Say you'll be all right come tomorrow
But tomorrow might not be here for you
Ooooh that smell

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Last week I posted about the ups and downs of recycling and renewable energy playing out in a dispute between Eastern Organic Resource and the DEP. Yesterday, as reported by the Times of Trenton, the situation worsened. The DEP has begun taking steps to revoke the recycling company's operating permit and shut down the Burlington county facility. Eastern Organic is vowing a fight. We'll see how it goes, but it doesn't look like this can end well.

Cross-posted at Blue Jersey.

How about a little courtesy?

Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Luke 6:31 (New International Version)

This one has been bugging me for several days, but I'm only now getting off my virtual lazy butt and blogging it....

On Tuesday I was in New Brunswick for lunch at the Harvest Moon Brewery with some friends. The lunch didn't bug me - it was a good food and great beer. No, it was the person I encountered on the drive in. As I was pulling up to the parking deck entrance, a woman darted in front of me from between two street-parked cars. I had to stop short to avoid hitting her, and she gave me a nasty look as jaywalked into the parking deck. Fine. She had right of way, even if she chose to disregard pedestrian laws and common sense. I certainly can't claim to have never jaywalked.

We parked and started heading down the ram to the stairs. There was another person walking a few steps behind us who had also just parked. A car came up behind us all, creeping forward waiting for us to move. We did so quickly, as we were walking a little to far into the middle. Then person in the car gunned the engine and raced by us. Guess what? Yup, same woman flashing that same nasty look.

Here's the thing though, if someone rushed in front of her, like she did with me, she'd have run them over. If, as pedestrian she had encountered herself as a driver, she'd be dead. There would also be one hell of a paradox in the space-time continuum, but I digress.

Okay, I'm about to mention the men's room at my workplace. There will be only vague detail, but feel free to skip this paragraph. When I returned from lunch, I made a pit-stop, as it were. Someone had spit out their gum in the urinal. If you are unfamiliar with the flushing mechanics of the average urinal, let me just say that it is highly unlikely that gum was going anywhere. Anyone who uses a urinal would know this, including the guy who left it there. The person cleaning the urinal would have to remove this item, making an unpleasant job a little more unpleasant. This was not a unique occurrence. Often people throw paper towels in toilets, resulting in clogs that someone will have to deal with. All this with not one, but two trash cans nearby.

Everyone's probably heard the quote leading into this post. It's one of countless expressions of the ethic of reciprocity. Commonly known as the Golden Rule, this moral principle is found in virtually all cultures and religions. Its prevalence suggests the Rule may be related to innate aspects of human nature, according to the Wiki article I've linked to. You've got to wonder, though. It's hard to believe it's an innate behavior when people can't even be bothered to toss a piece of gum in the trash.

I claim no moral superiority on this, by the way. One reason I'm thinking about this now is that I am considering the ways I could have handled a workplace disagreement. I try to keep work out of my blog, so I won't elaborate, except to say this. I had the opportunity to consider the other person's situation and didn't, choosing focus on how I'm inconvenienced. A "conflict resolution" seminar at a recent company meeting was mostly about the golden rule, respecting the circumstances of the person you're in conflict with. It seems obvious when presented in that forum, but it's more difficult in the heat of the moment. Anyway, I could do a better job of dealing with these people, and I'm working on that presently.

To be fair, the lady from the parking garage doing the same thing, asking herself why she didn't just slow down. The guy with the gum might also be asking himself why he didn't just spit it in the trash.

One final thought.... Googling the Golden Rule yielded this essay, which contains the following paragraph:

The golden rule is best seen as a consistency principle. It doesn't replace regular moral norms. It isn't an infallible guide on which actions are right or wrong; it doesn't give all the answers. It only prescribes consistency - that we not have our actions (toward another) be out of harmony with our desires (toward a reversed situation action). It tests our moral coherence. If we violate the golden rule, then we're violating the spirit of fairness and concern that lie at the heart of morality.

I want to take this quote and use it as a context to discuss the policies and actions of our government under the Bush administration, but this post is already long. Besides, I think the conclusions are pretty clear.