Carl Setzer

Children across my life. Odd that none suffer. Free of disease, lacking Any ailments that Chill the souls Of parents. I shudder, fear shakes Hard, knowing statistics Don't lie. Our moment comes. May my grace be strong Enough. Amen.

I've heard so much discussion about texting and driving. Mostly angry rhetoric about "those guys", and how terrible they are. But the real culprit here is our lack of taking driving seriously. Operating cars is a core part of American culture, a rite of passage, cultural status symbol (what you drive says so very much about who you are), etc. We drive so much (we invented the 'Sunday Drive), and from such a young age, it's hard to remember how dangerous this is. Thousands of pounds of mass hurtling through space, bearing an amazing amount of force. And yet we eat, apply makeup, text, talk...rarely do we fully focus on driving. Funny, really, that we minimize the power of driving. Such a powerful act, controlling amazingly powerful forces, keeping everyone around you (as well as yourself) safe. That wound be worthy of adding to your resume for anything less mundane. The solution requires a more rudimentary cultural-psyche change than many realize. We must ele...

Pulling into work, my iPhone's AP app ( here's CNN's bit on this ) pinged me with the news that Syria had agreed to a four day truce starting Friday. Though magnanimous and all, my first thought was "why tomorrow?" I never understood why ceasefires aren't implemented immediately, regardless of whether we're talking about today's story in Syria or WWI's armistice. I understand that it takes time to communicate out to the lines. But why didn't the negotiators, or the government at a higher level, have a plan before they walked into the conference room. Perhaps its the finer details that need ironing out before communications can be launched. Perhaps the 1 day timeline is actually aggressive. However, it's hard to imagine anything more simple than a radio communication of "stop shooting". Mainly, I expect the Syrian forces are more organized and able to disseminate and act on this info quickly. The resistance, however, I expect to...

A self-observation: I have several hundred contacts in my addressbook. Synced automatically with the cloud, my laptop, and OTA with my iPhone, I just haven't thought about them. I can search for who I want. Or, even better, when I'm typing an email, boom, it pops up. Done! However, I'm certain I have duplicate info, and, worse for a data-driven geek like myself, bad data . I know I have expired email accounts, old phone numbers, and worthless addresses. A quick skim shows people I haven't talked to in years, as well as people I don't know. (I've long had the habit of making sure key project contacts were in there "just in case". Some never needed calling, and, thus, their relevance to me has faded form memory.) Cheap storage and good search tools have made this something of a non-issue. But I like my data clean and accurate. Plus, this does provide opportunities for confusion. I have a few folks I infrequently email, and have with multiple email ad...

I've been streaming via Spotify pretty exclusively for some time. Haven't ponied up for the premium plan yet, but look to do so. I really love having the whole world of recorded music at the tip of my ear. Another piece I love: the ability to share music. Here's one of my favorite tunes, by one of my favorite artists, Peter Gabriel . Enjoy!

One thing I've learned from my migraines: limits. I can't do it all. My system stops me too often, and too completely. I'm completely ineffectual once a migraine sets in. Intense pain, light sensitivity, and an inability to focus collude to stop me cold. Sleep is the only way forward. Though my meds work amazingly well, they aren't perfect. The scattered foci of my life can't flourish anymore. One main drive, with my other interests secondary. That's all I really can muster anymore. Though part of me is saddened by this realization, mainly I feel relief. I don't need to save the world. Just do as much good in my place. Go in piece, I guess.