John over at Commonwealth Conservative comments again on the possibility of Warrenton Mayor George Fitch running for Virginia governor as a Republican. I am actually annoyed since this is at least the third time [1, 2, 3] this has been mentioned with the implication being that Fitch will grievously harm Kilgore by even dreaming to compete.

The Virginia GOP needs to have internal discussions about the direction of the party and the issues for which Republicans should stand. That's what healthy parties do, and I don't have any problem whatsoever with intra-party conversations of this sort. Doing it in the guise of a primary seems a little like self-inflicting a wound. Why damage the party's standard-bearer in the general election?

"Guise of a primary?" Feh. The primary is the time to do it. It's the time when the parties sort the horses, looking for the strongest one for the final run. Fitch seems like a decent sort of fellow, according to published stories about him, so I doubt the contest will leave either primary candidate too bloodied or out of favor with Virginia voters. And with the national party machines writing checks, I doubt either Kaine or Kilgore will run short of cash.

Hark, now there's even rumors that State Senator H. Russell Potts Jr. may run as well. Good for both of them.

I'm with Bacon's Rebellion on this one.

Ponca City Main Street notes this gorgeous building on its downtown walking tour.

4. Masonic Building, 3rd and E. Grand Ave. - built in 1924 in the Plains Commercial style. It was called the first "real office building" in Ponca City. The elegant 5th floor was used for the Masonic Lodge meeting rooms. The other floors housed the Lew Wentz Oil Co. and the Ponca City Building and Loan Co. among other office spaces.

Here's a modern, color photo.

The National Register of Historic Places tells us:

Masonic Building (added 1982 - Building - #82005093)
Also known as Security Bank and Trust
222 E. Grand Ave., Ponca City

Historic Significance: Event, Person
Historic Person: Marland, E.W.
Significant Year: 1924, 1932
Area of Significance: Commerce
Period of Significance: 1900-1924, 1925-1949
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Commerce/Trade, Social
Historic Sub-function: Financial Institution, Meeting Hall
Current Function: Commerce/Trade
Current Sub-function: Financial Institution

And the personal tie-in, my great-grandfather, Paul Cottrell, was a longtime (30+ years) Mason and spent his retirement in Ponca City after a long and successful career in the oil industry at Carter Oil. He was a "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" success and led a life of thrift, professionalism, and quiet class that is an inspiration to me even today, although I spent only some childhood time with him. My grandmother, the baby of her family, had a lifetime of stories about "the folks" that I long enjoyed. He's my link to the 19th Century, being born in 1894.

This blog is the personal weblog of Richard Morgan. None of the content or opinions are the property or opinion of my employer.

I post sporadically here, most often when I have seen something interesting that I'd like to share or taken a cool photo. It is generally not used for political discussion, since there's quite enough of that on the Internet as it is.

You are likely to find mostly technical topics, genealogy, and some tidbits about my experience with my Subaru Outback.

Copyright - Unless noted otherwise, I retain full copyright over all images and content on this site.

With all that said, if you are interested in digital photography, Linux, Subarus, etc, I'd be glad to hear from you and share experiences. My email address, in spammer-proof form, is shown as a graphic at the bottom of each page on this site.

You can find the site archives at: 2003, 2004, 2005

In its running skirmish with Centex, the Town of Haymarket effectively loses a round.

The Haymarket Town Council backed away from action against a developer Monday, deciding instead to send a letter of reprimand.

The town accused Texas-based developer Centex of violating its proffer agreements, site plan and some town ordinances at its Jan. 3 meeting. A resolution passed at that meeting said it would consider stopping Centex construction at Monday's meeting.

Sigh, a "resolution to consider" stopping construction.

We welcome Brandon Meyer and Yvette Stafford at Reporterette to the Old Dominion Blog Alliance. Check out their sites!

After an afternoon of sledding, crashing, and building this little guy, She-Who-Is-Now-Five tells me, "this is the best day of winter ever." They just keep getting better and better.

Jon Henke, over at Q & O comments on the "conceit of natural rights and morality". I think that Jon's taken the easy way out here by simply throwing out some anti-Rand comments (always allowed on the Internet) without apparently reading on the topic of Natural Rights. He certainly doesn't refer to any of the principles of Natural Rights laid out in the book by Leo Strauss.

The link to an ancient article while admirable, is immediately negated by:

This is the essay on morality that I've been wanting to write for some time now. Since it's been done for me, I'll be happy to pass it along with my recommendation.

Update (30 Jan): By breaking one of my ancient personal rules, that is, "never make any decision or hold any substantial conversation (especially on Randian philosophy or the works of Leo Strauss) after 11:00pm", I've written a bit of gibberish (left above, but stricken). The time of the first post was 00:44.

I was mostly taking offense at the characterization of "Randroids" and unsuccessfully mocking Jon a bit, since he noted, "This is the essay on morality that I've been wanting to write for some time now," yet he spends substantial effort arguing his case in the comments of his post. I think he could have written a good piece on the topic, but didn't, hence my comment "I think that Jon's taken the easy way out here" on linking to that article after throwing the "Randroid" elbow.

Sorry, Jon, for the nonsense. You're free to slant your piece in any way you like, but I do wish you'd read the Strauss book.

And for anyone who can't guess, I firmly believe in natural rights and blame some portion of societal ills and political discord on the moral relativism practiced by much of the Left in the guise of "inclusion" or "political correctness". Does that make me "the final moral arbiter of other people's actions", as Shermer indicates? I think not, but it does mean that my belief system will be on the same foundation tomorrow as yesterday, and not simply blow along like shifting sand.

Christoper Petrilli, over at PENSIERI DI UN LUNATICO MINORE discusses the inherent challenges of using the PostgreSQL DBMS in what is traditionally Oracle-dominated territory, tables with hundreds of millions of rows.

While not the DBA for the project, I am the SA for a new system at work where we've settled on Postgres for storage of several hundred gigabytes of new data (lots of inserts) daily. From an operational perspective, I'm going to try and learn as much as possible from our DB guy, so that we can monitor the DB for performance and signs of stress or bottlenecks.

I think that we'll probably see advantages since we're using 64-bit Linux (AMD Opteron) with SAN storage, instead of a standard Intel box with internal drives. The blazing-fast SAN disk I/O with cacheing should help things considerably. Or, at least that's the plan.

Given Sun's flirtations and missteps over the years with its Linux and x86 strategies, color me unimpressed with "open solaris". Sun's Solaris OS for Sparc does some amazing things, handles amazing loads, and has a huge installed base; yet it still lags behind in new features and basic performance. No matter the number of studies or quotes on "the real TCO" of both platforms, Linux on x86 continues to displace Solaris on Sparc every single day. And I'd venture that Solaris x86 is probably the worst of both worlds.

Business Week Online comments on Sun's Open-Source Solaris.

Sun's recovery--if it comes--will be based on innovation and lower prices, a tough combination since innovation costs money. Open-sourcing Solaris barely moves the needle.

Ouch: "Sun's recovery--if it comes"

Although the URL may change, you can see or preorder the new Ronald Reagan postage stamps and related products now.

The Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA will hold its "First Day of Issue" ceremony for the release of the new stamp on February 9th.

Update (30 Jan): Added the image of the stamp to this posting. -RM

E-Commerce Times is reporting that Dulles (VA)-based America Online has announced it will drop support for Usenet newsgroups due to rapidly waning usage.

AOL has some 23 million subscribers in the U.S. alone, but usage of its newsgroups have dropped to fewer than 1,000 a month while its blogging product has seen 500,000 new journals created since the service launched in the fall of 2003.

Usenet has been a cesspool of spam and porn for years, although a substantial amount of early-mid-90's Internet history resides there. At least Google's archives are available.

It's like a train wreck, but we can't turn it off.

Oh, the shame.

Hey, what about Opera?

When he reads the glowing stories detailing the wonders of the fledgling Firefox web browser, Jon von Tetzchner can't help but wonder why his own baby is so often ignored.

Von Tetzchner is the CEO of Opera Software, maker of the Opera web browser. In the sort of grand comedic tragedy that echoes its name, Opera went from spending almost a decade as Internet Explorer's understudy to getting an occasional polite mention in the cavalcade of media attention currently being directed at the new superstar -- Mozilla's Firefox browser.

I, for one, welcome our new original-tabbed-browser overlords.

And putting money where my mouth is, I purchased Opera recently, after using the free-with-ads version for a long time.

The crew of Challenger, STS-51L: Front row from left, Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, Ron McNair.
Back row from left, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judith Resnik.

Nineteen years ago today, I was changing classes in high school and we heard the first rumors and unbelievable facts, right there on the sidewalk. The Challenger had exploded during the launch and things didn't look good. We gathered in the school library where a television was rounded up and we watched the coverage, marveling at the sickening and stupefying explosion over and over. The booster rockets spin away the same with each viewing, the flames and smoke unchanging, but the shocking transition from powered, purposeful flight to disintegrating machinery still shocks me to watch today.

President Ronald Reagan, spoke to the nation that evening:

And I want to say something to the school children of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.

Yes, like the Boomers, I remember where I was on that day, when I heard that terrible news.

NASA has a tribute online.

Baseball is coming to Haymarket. Yip!

The location of the field is about 5 minutes from our neighborhood. First home game will be June 4th.

Valley League Baseball has a press release.

The Valley League's Northern Division: Haymarket Battle Cats, Front Royal Cardinals, Winchester Royals, Luray Wranglers, New Market Rebels.

Play ball!

The influenza is circulating among the residents of my home. I wish for an emergency trip to a tropical island.

It's wonderful that there is so little crime in Fauquier County that they can put it into a single jpeg image. Attempted theft on Rogues Road. Heh.

Daily commutes on Northern Virginia's hectic roadways shortchange civic groups by wearing you out and eating up your time.

As a result, "you don't have something that's truly representative of the community when you take half the people in this county who work out of the county each day."

Other "Living Here, Working There" articles are here, here, here, and here.

The blogroll has been updated. Visit the many fine blogs seen at the right.

Abitibi-Consolidated, which I've mentioned before, in a not so good light, is not doing so well. The various articles I read all include the possibility of substantial changes to or the sale of the Lufkin plant. I'd bet it will be the latter.

The influenza is circulating among the residents of my home. I wish for an emergency trip to a tropical island.

It's wonderful that there is so little crime in Fauquier County that they can put it into a single jpeg image. Attempted theft on Rogues Road. Heh.

Daily commutes on Northern Virginia's hectic roadways shortchange civic groups by wearing you out and eating up your time.

As a result, "you don't have something that's truly representative of the community when you take half the people in this county who work out of the county each day."

Other "Living Here, Working There" articles are here, here, here, and here.

The blogroll has been updated. Visit the many fine blogs seen at the right.

Abitibi-Consolidated, which I've mentioned before, in a not so good light, is not doing so well. The various articles I read all include the possibility of substantial changes to or the sale of the Lufkin plant. I'd bet it will be the latter.

Thomas over at Red State has succinct piece on that very question.

It means that we believe America is a shining city on a hill, the last, best hope of Mankind. That though America is not perfect -- and never will be -- we are the best thing going. That "American exceptionalism" is a good thing, and not a slander. It means that we believe America can achieve almost anything, if it puts its collective mind to it. It means that when and if America eventually falls, the world will be a darker place -- and it means that we know it.

Some folks aren't pleased with Option "D" for removing thru-traffic from the Manassas National Battlefield Park and moving it to a bypass. Option "D" was to curve northward around the top of the battlefield and connect with an extension to the existing Route 234 Bypass (the Ronald Wilson Reagan Memorial Highway). This week's Bull Run Observer (19 Jan 2005, no online version) has the front-page story, below the fold. The rambling and typically over-quotation-marked BRO story by Gretchen L.H. O'Brien does have its moments:

Gainesville District Supervisor John Stirrup, according to Gorham and Pickeral, is willing to help if he can.

However, quarreling residents with opposing viewpoints and angles on how to address the alternative will likely make politicians at any level put the dispute at arm's length, many at the meeting agreed.

Now, with chants of "Dump D, Fix G" some residents are pushing to have the route changed to run roughly parallel with Interstate 66, south of the park, rather than cutting through their existing neighborhoods.

You can see the various routes here. Friends of Manassas National Battlefield Park have a nice summary of all the proposals.

And, as you would expect, much of the anger and vitriol is generated by the potential benefits to land developers and construction companies, since Option "D" opens up new swaths of western Prince William County to new building. Expanded development is expected in the area once additional traffic capacity is provided by the Battlefield Bypass, the Western Transportation Corridor, and something called the "Tri-county Connector". Various proposals have these highways either combined or co-located in sections.

And, at one time, I considered Option "D" a good idea. I'll plead ignorance to Option "G" at the time.

The noises of the winter morning float around me. The ticking as the woodstove warms up, hissing and huffing from Mr. Krups as he finishes making the cofffee, and the devilish wind roaring over the house. Most pleasing is the sound of a happy baby hanging out and the other two playing nicely together.

The internet connection seems a little wonky (the wife's term) this morning, so I got Powerline, but not Instapundit, Dean's World but not Hugh Hewitt. Sigh.

Probably post more later, when the packets align themselves in my favor. Off to post the various inquiries for the Rockwell site.

There's something about the bleak clarity of this photo of a heat shield that really strikes my fancy. It was jettisoned by the Opportunity rover on its entry into the Martian atmosphere.

The Mars rover website has a metric ton of neat images and all the facts on these extremely successful and long-lived missions.

I'll be occasionally posting some shots of the Subaru and our driveway as they disappear under the first substantial snow of the winter today.

For all my Texas friends:

• 12:00 EST
• 12:30 EST
• 13:00 EST
• 13:30 EST
• 14:00 EST
• 14:30 EST

And we're done. I'm underwhelmed. This was supposed to be far worse. Harumph.

Jeremy Boggs, over at ClioWeb tries imagining history from the 1870 census.

I've personally tried this trick myself over the years, as an amateur genealogist. Often times, you have little to go on but the census records or an ancient photograph. I've tried to imagine the voice by looking at the face or the work ethic from the "Value of Personal Property" column on the census page.

Adding some character to the dry facts helps keep me interested, but I've not written much of it, although I once considered (an ill-advised mission, to be sure) a historical novel, a la James Michener, about the fictionalized happenings of my real ancestors arrival in Texas in 1836.

Occasionally, you do strike gold.

Heh.

The response of the students is in dazzling contrast to a couple of emailers to the Achenblog who dismiss my work as 'bland.' Let me just say this to you critics: Bland is underrated. Bland is a style that I have spent years perfecting. I know you think that a blog is supposed to be all snarky and quirky and vulgar and sexy and sparky and snippy, and have a billion links to other sites, and most of all, rage against the evil mainstream media. Listen up: I AM the mainstream media.

503 Connect failed

Your request for http://www.redstate.org/ could not be fulfilled, because the connection to www.redstate.org (64.21.19.80) could not be established.

I had so much of their stuff yet to read. Feh.

The speech is getting its tour around the blogosphere, where everyone gives it the treatment.

My pats on the head:

In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the G.I. Bill of Rights. And now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to serve the needs of our time. To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools, and build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance - preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear, and make our society more prosperous and just and equal.

The capitalist in me quakes with pride and expectation when I hear the phrase "ownership society". Owners take pride and improve property, be it a home, a business, or an investment. When you have skin in the game, you're more likely to pay attention, to improve, and do the right thing. Those traits and actions are pure gold for American families, especially those treading the ragged edge of subsistence, where simple daily existence is already tough and an accident, mistake, or bad decision can land them in a heap of trouble.

In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character - on integrity, and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before - ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Integrity, in finances, personal habits, and business dealings means that government doesn't have to (or think they do) watch, manage, and regulate you. Less goverment ensues. How much better to have had Bernie Ebbers put the brakes on the shenanigans at WorldCom? Or maybe if Ken Lay at Enron ceased the surprised father act and moved to curb obviously illicit transactions and bookkeeping? No, instead we have Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, the compliance with which will cost American companies millions of dollars, reduce investment returns to shareholders, reduce our competitiveness with European and Chinese companies, and generally add drag to our economy. I commend the President for reminding us of these things.

Ponderous moralizing aside, I thought the speech was grand and sweeping, though my mind did wander a bit in the middle. But, as I ask the Wife tonight, can you imagine how glad I am that John Kerry wasn't elected?

That is all.

Holy gelato, it's cold! We had a low here on the Mountain of 7.9F last night. Random linkage for the day, so I can at least say I blogged today.

Spent the holiday in the land of Shenandoah visiting family.

Via CC, a fellow ODBA member, Will Vehrs of Bacon's Rebellion notes the startup of ODBA. Read the whole thing, but the ODBA is mentioned at the bottom. The comment "elected official who blogs under the pseudonym John Behan" is a little off-putting. John?

This TCS column by Ed Driscoll introduces what appears to be some excellent NASA videos by Spacecraft Films.

Since my prior mention, Heritage Creations seems to be locking down their systems and workflow in response to the theft of credit card information by an insider.

In an article entitled Senators still see unfinished business

Two members of the bipartisan coalition that pushed a historic tax increase through the Virginia General Assembly last year said they hope to continue building on the "nonpartisan, moderate" majority they say put the priorities of everyday Virginians ahead of politics.

...

They shared their thoughts about the start of this year's legislative session in an interview with Times editors and reporters last Friday.

"Virginia had gone longer than any of the 50 states without raising taxes," Potts said. "Did we go far enough? No ... but we woke a sleeping giant that realizes there is no such thing as a free lunch."

What continues to surprise me, though it shouldn't by now, are the verbal contortions that these people attempt to justify tax increases, rather than considering any spending cuts. The state's financial balance sheet needs trimming, both debit, and credit, and that means cutting expenses and outlays before you sock it to the taxpayers yet again..

"The far-right, extremist wing of the Republican Party is obsessed with social issues and not focusing on the day-to-day needs of ordinary, hard-working Virginians," Potts said.

I'd think the voting and tax-paying Virginians have a different opinion about Republicans, give their recent role in the re-election of the President, increases in Congressional majorities, and the existence of a Republican majority among state Delegates.

Oh, and when did "moderate" become code for the go-along bipartisan mentality that raises taxes on citizens then discovers budget surpluses within just a few months? "Everyday Virginians" need less tax burdens from the state and less regulatory intrusion into our personal and business lives. Please, Delegate Do-Gooder, step aside and let the work and innovation of Virginians improve their lot in life.

I'm hoping, and maybe helping, voters remember the behavior of their Delegates this November, when all of their seats are on the ballot. Americans for Tax Reform are helping you identify the culprits with handy 'wanted' poster. Caution, poster file is huge.

The Gainesville (VA) Times has named the active and now unfortunately deceased Richard Hefter as its Citizen of the Year.

Most people who knew of Richard Hefter through newspaper headlines remember him as a three-term Prince William County planning commissioner dedicated to reasonable growth.

To his family, to Gainesville Ruritans, and to the baseball and T-ball kids of the area, he was something else entirely.

When he died in a car crash in October, at the age of 54, the county was deprived of a long-time resident and leader.

...

Sean Connaughton, Board of County Supervisors chairman (R-at large) appointed Hefter to one of his three terms on the Planning Commission and said Monday that "he should be the model for other people who want to get involved in their community.

"He was the model of a citizen activist," Connaughton said. "He believed very much in his community and he was involved in a lot of local political organizations, but he also understood the broader implications."

Aaron Curtis over at American Chronicle (who I've added to my blogroll just tonight) discusses the not-so-great state of Google's blog ad placement program.

I don't currently run any ads on this site, given the benevolence of my hosting company coupled with modest monthly traffic. It's growing, but I'm still only getting a few hundred hits per day. I'd seriously wonder about a business model that would embrace my blog as a platform for ads. Maybe the dot-com boom is back!

Virginia Places has some history of and speculation about continued growth in Northern Virginia.

Under one scenario, steady growth in Fairfax, Prince William, and other counties will lead ultimately to a full build-out of undeveloped parcels in about 30 years. At that point, the road pattern will be in place (for better or worse) and construction of large residential subdivisions would end. Construction would continue to be a significant part of the local economy, as old facilities are replaced with new buildings and transportation systems, but projects would deal with smaller parcels and upgrading of existing systems.

My first QSL card! The lovely Wife bought me a long-awaited shortwave receiver for Christmas and I'm gradually learning the new hobby. I got the QSL card this week in the mail after reporting to Radio Flanders a very clear and strong transmission on 31 Dec. They transmit to the US and other places from Bonaire, in the Netherlands Antilles, on 9590kHz. Unfortunately, it seems the station has plans to end English-language transmissions this Spring.

Fitzhead, in the south of England, is a small, picturesque village. It is the home of some of my ancestors.

In 1997, my new wife and I honeymooned in Britain and spent a couple of days around there, making sure to attend Sunday services in the gorgeous church, St. James. We were warmly greeted and made (gladly, I might add) to visit the homes of two local families. The memories of our time in Fitzhead are among my fondest travel memories and stories. If you're genealogiically-inclined towards Fitzhead, you may find transcriptions of the St. James Parish Registers here.

I'm particularly interested in these folks, found in the marriages portion of the Parish register. Several of the Rockwells came to America on the Mary & John in 1630, while others arrived in 1635 on the Hopewell.

ROCKWELL	John	Honor NORTON	19 Jul 1585	
	
ROCKWELL	Symon	Agnes SOUTHWOOD	01 Jul 1592	
	
ROCKWELL	Richard	Tomazin LYTTLEJOHN	13 Sep 1593	
	
ROCKWELL	John	Wilmoth CADE	20 Feb 1620	
	
ROCKWELL	Symon	Avrill PEARCE	11 May 1622	
	
ROCKWELL	William	Mary DYER	13 Nov 1626

Well I was movin' down the road in my v-8 Ford,
I had a shine on my boots, I had my sideburns lowered.
With my New York brim and my gold tooth displayed,
Nobody give me trouble cause they know I got it made.
I'm bad, I'm nationwide.
Well I'm bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, I'm nationwide.

ZZ Top

Back at the laptop finally. I've been painting for several days now and I may finally be done. We're getting ready to move She-Who-Is-120-Days-Old into her own room and it needed some sprucing up. I think that the time for setup and teardown for this job is equal to or exceeds the time I actually spent painting. The dropcloth, the tape, the rollers, the washing up, oy. It is a good time to listen to some bad radio or think paint-fume-induced deep thoughts. Valspar, take me away!

Caught the sun valiantly trying to burn through the fog this morning. The DC Metro area has had a long run of above-average high temperatures and a complete lack of snow so far this winter. My gas bill and commuting nerves thank the weather gods for their benevolence.

Oh, and Robert, here's the custom-made pinata albeit with the very gauche strings.

Once again, it's proven that technology can't beat a determined (or even drug-addled) insider, especially one operating with trust. Genealogy Blog/Heritage Creations was burgled by the owner's son, who has a meth habit, according to the blog. Lee Meitzler worked in the business and had access to sensitive customer information (read credit card numbers) and exploited this position of trust.

Found under Lee's mattress was a bundle of Heritage Creations receipts for eBay sales - most of which had credit card numbers on them. I'm guessing there may have been 50 to 100 receipts. Whether these receipts were involved in any kind of identity theft, we have yet to find out. At one time, we sold quite a bit on eBay, but haven't done a whole lot there the last year or so - mainly because Lee was the person who worked those sales and he wasn't reliable.

At least the owner has had the decency and wherewithal to publicly come clean by revealing the crime. This allows former customers of the business to be extra vigilant for fraudulent activity.

Lessons for consumers:

• Never use your debit card for online transactions
• Reconcile your credit card statements, every month
• Aggresively pursue 'mistakes' no matter how small, in billing
• Thoroughly proof your credit report annually
• Do business through established companies
• Verify that the website uses SSL before entering credit card information

Update: My characterization of the accused was probably more sensational than necessary, so I've toned it down a bit. The lessons, however, have not changed. -RM

ODBA is up and running. Please visit the fine sites of Virginia-based bloggers, listed at right. Thanks to John Behan for herding these cats.

Tim Worstall wants your help. Tell him about your ketchup. I'm serious. Go on. I mean it, go! What are you dragging your feet for? Go!

Alternative D Chosen as Battlefield Bypass Route. In 1988, Congress mandated that thru-traffic be routed around Manassas National Battlefield Park, effectively blocking Routes 29 and 234. The new route has been chosen by the Federal Highway Administration, after many months of heated debate, road signs, and rhetoric on both sides. The route:

Alternative D begins at the Route 234 Bypass/I-66 Interchange, heading north on the western edge of the Park. It comes off Route 29, just west of Luck Stone Quarry and cuts the northern corner of the Battlefield Park.

While this whole thing is terribly invasive for the neighborhoods around it, I think this route was probably the wisest choice.

A map of the affected area

A brace of Haymarket v. Developers stories. It's my fear that the Haymarket Town Council may be outgunned in a lot of these building and development deals.

Centex and Town Council duke it out over proffer agreement violations. Related story

Residents of Haymarket Villages development have signed a petition protesting planned additions to the development.

Thus spake Homer

The WaPo has this heartbreaking story from Appalachia, Virginia about the death of three-year old Jeremy Davidson, killed in his bed by a falling boulder. A coal company bulldozer, widening the road above the Davidson's house, pushed the boulder loose to hurtle down 650 feet into the home below. Of course, it was an accident, the construction permits didn't allow for road-widening, but the blow to this family has to be horrific.

Heh.

A surge in the number of hybrid vehicles has left carpool lanes nearly as congested as the regular lanes they are intended to relieve, a Virginia transportation task force said yesterday.

Most of us write for others to read. Community and grouping together are baked into our humanity. Bloggers are no different. John Behan over at Commonweealth Conservative is proposing the creation of the Old Dominion Blog Alliance.

Keep an eye here for an announcement very soon about the brand new Old Dominion Blog Alliance.

UPDATE: There have been some inquiries, so if you are interested in joining the Alliance, here are the only requirements: you must have a right-of-center blog, be based in Virginia, and you must blog about politics at least occasionally.

Oh, and you need to be willing to be aggressive in the face of misinformation from this state's MSM, and be willing to stand up and counter the opinions of the loony left.

If you fit the bill, come on down, we'd love to have you. The more, the merrier. If you are interested, just email me at jbehan at verizon dot net, or leave a comment to this post.

John Behan over at Commonwealth Conservative examines the 2005 governor's race in Virginia. It's an exhaustive overview. The big issue, or at least one that Kilgore will hammer Kaine with, is the recent and apparently unnecesary tax increases.

What Kilgore has going for him is the fact that, as soon as the tax package was passed, it was revealed that Virginia actually enjoys a budget surplus (and there is evidence that Warner knew about these budget numbers prior to pushing for the taxes). Kilgore will say over and over that the tax increases were unnecessary, and he has some numbers to which he can point to back his argument up.

Two of my great-grandparents were born in Findlay, Ohio, though by 1937, they were gone, having moved to the oil fields and glass plants of southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. My grandmother told stories of visiting the relatives in Ohio as a child. There were often so many kids around that they slept in tents outside the house.

Not surprisingly, the Internet brings me this excellent site with information and more photos of the National Refining Company and its Findlay plant.

Welcome to 2005!

A quick spin through some news stories that have my interest:

As I blogged before, I think the USDA really should allow private testing and certification of cattle. This piece reports on yet another case of BSE in Canada. Beef producers really shouldn't have to absorb the economic body blows from a relatively small number of BSE cases, helpfully exacerbated by a media-frenzy. Allowing, though that word is galling to use, beef producers to certify to foreign buyers that the product is safe beyond a doubt strengthens the beef industry and the U.S. economy.

Given the speculation over the years about his political goals, this story about Colin Powell's political retirement doesn't seem to have gained much traction in the MSM. Many of us thought he could be the first black President, or at least VP.

House Republicans have abandoned plans to relax rules that govern the treatment of House members who are in ethical hot water. There may be some "nuance" there in the original intent, but the whole idea just doesn't seem quite right. Insert the condescending "even the appearance of impropriety" here. I'd also point to my sincere hope that some measure of pragmatism has seeped into that august body and we can now get on with using the solid Republican majority to pass some effective legislation.

Indoor Skate Park Closes, Leaving Few Alternatives. How about some more homework? And a little less sneering, and get that damn hair cut, you look like a hippie! Damn kids, mutter, mutter...

Traffic here in Northern Virginia is a daily nightmare waiting to happen. I schedule my day around when the traffic between here and my office is tolerable. The traffic reports are duly consulted on the eights and elaborate schemes and detours for avoiding backups, woefully also chosen by other drivers, are devised. And, for my taste, there are entirely too many West Virginia license plates floating around here. Poor, sleepless commuting bastards, my heart goes out to you. Now that business is feeling the pinch, maybe we'll get the real pressure on state legislators that is needed to help relieve the area's traffic congestion.