Jerry’s Boring Blog

Saturday was the first annual Kingman Classic cyclocross race hosted by UNH cycling. Not sure why they called in the ‘first annual’ because they’ve had the race there in the past.

Pictures at: http://scratchy.unh.edu/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5955

Just got back from the 2007 SIGUCCS fall confrence in Orlando, Florida. What a blast. It was at the Hilton near Downtown Disney so there was lots to do after the meetings wrapped up. It was much more fun and interesting than USENIX, but at USENIX, I was the coolest guy there.

More specific stories to come if and when I feel like it.

It only took five years, but finally, ACS won the coveted Golden Mallet trophy at the annual Academic Technology BBQ. Last year, Chris and I came in second. Two years ago, Tony and I came in second. It took all three of us to finally win the thing. Now the pressure is really on for next year.

Hell Month is finally over. Here’s a wrap up of where we’ve been the past five weeks:

• Weekend of June 9 - Weekend at Cape Cod
• Weekend of June 16 - Father’s Day
• Weekend of June 23 - Five days in and around Toronto
• Weekend of June 30 - Wedding in Burlington, VT
• July 4 - Party at our house
• July 7 - Party at Uncle Johnny’s, and Gaf and Shannon’s wedding

That might not seem like much to some of you, but I’m not used to living this rock and roll lifestyle. I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t know what to do with all the free time I’ll have in the next three weekends, but then I remembered how comfortable my couch was.

The Scooter Libby ‘pardon’ is big in the news. The Administration is trying to deflect criticism by pointing at the two events in the previous administration and claiming it is morally equivalent.

First they say Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, which was controversial, and a mistake. But this is quite different from Scooter Libby. Marc Rich’s crime didn’t benefit the Clinton administration. And Marc Rich didn’t break the law to protect Al Gore.

Then they say that Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice, which I guess is technically correct, but it seems to be he was impeached because the republican house really hated him. You really have to look at the underlying motivation for the perjury/obstruction. Clinton lied about his own infidelity. Scooter impeded an investigation into who outed a covert CIA operative. Both were wrong, but it is intellectually dishonest to say they are the same thing.

The bottom line is the administration really had no choice but to commute Scooter’s jail time. Scooter in a jail cell would have been a ticking time bomb, and it would have only been a matter of time until he started talking.

Hi.

I haven’t updated my page in years and I figure now is the time to get with the program, so I’ve added the blog.  I’m sure it will be boring and uninteresting but it is probably better than the old page.