Good On Martha Mullen

Posted on May 11, 2013 by rben13

Martha Mullen is under fire for her role in getting bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev laid to rest in an Islamic cemetery in Virginia. Good on her. She, and those who helped her, did the right thing. Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s actions were evil, but keeping him from being buried doesn’t affect him. It just hurts his family, who are innocent of any crime other than being related.

The anger of the bombings is perfectly understandable. I share it. Bombings like this are a tragedy no matter where they occur, no matter who the target is. But while Tsarnaev and his brother might have been the ones who planted the bomb, they were weapons, used by those who sang lies into their ears about the evils of America and the nobility of martyrdom. Our anger should be focused, at least in part, on those individuals, whoever they are, not on a good-hearted woman in Virgina, who wanted to do nothing more than find a resting place for Tsarnaev and help the healing process start.

It’s time to move on, and let this matter rest.

Somehow, I suspect that won’t happen, though, since CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC all have to find something to talk about other than the important problems we face like Climate Change, the damage the Sequester is doing to our economy, and the continued intransigence of the Republicans in Congress.

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Graves are for the Living, not the Dead

Posted on May 5, 2013 by rben13

While I share and understand the anger all Bostonians feel towards Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother, I don’t feel that same anger toward their mother or other relatives. Instead, I feel a great sadness that they, too, lost someone dear to them, no matter how misguided he was, no matter how evil his actions.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev should be buried where the family wants, where it will be easy for them to visit the grave, if they wish. He is no longer a danger to anyone. He’s not going to turn into a zombie and assault passers-by. If anything, perhaps he’ll serve as a warning to anyone else who might think it’s a good idea to attack Boston.

Nothing we do can erase what happened. If we lash out in anger, all we do is create more victims, more sadness, in a world that is full to the brim with both. It’s time to let go and move on. It’s time to look to those who survived and make sure we give them the best of care, make sure that we give the survivors the support they need.

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Boston Bomber is in Custody

Posted on April 19, 2013 by rben13

Hats off to all the branches of law enforcement that participated in capturing the second of the two suspects that attacked our city. It’s been a terrible, stressful week. I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

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Boston Marathon Bombing

Posted on April 17, 2013 by rben13

Bombers are the worse sort of cowards. There is no honor or nobility in attacking innocent civilians with such a device while hiding in the shadows.

We’ll find who bombed the marathon, and I hope we find him or her quickly. Anyone who is willing to inflict such mayhem on a peaceful celebration deserves to spend the rest of their life in prison. From their cell, they can watch as Boston keeps on going strong.

When I first learned of the bombing, I was angry, horrified, and saddened. But what incensed me so much I wanted to spit was how quickly conservative lawmakers tried to make political hay out of this tragedy. Events were still unfolding when one republican representative declared that the bomber must have ties to the middle east, and Mitch McConnell couldn’t wait 24 hours before declaring that the bombing happened because America has grown complacent.

It’s just as likely, if you go by past history, that the bomber is a U.S. Citizen with a purely domestic agenda. For all we know, at this time, the bomb may have been planted by someone who wanted to scare Congress into giving up on gun control. If so, that appears to have worked. It seems our brave legislators couldn’t act quickly enough to scuttle the gun control measures that the majority badly want.

I hope we apprehend the person or persons who are responsible quickly. And if it were to turn out that their goal was to defeat gun control, I’ll be happy to watch our NRA-owned politicians squirm.

The bomb could have been planted by someone who hates paying taxes, since it went off on April 15. It could be someone who sympathizes with the people who died at Waco. There is a long list of reasons why someone might want to strike out in anger. It might even be someone who simply hates marathon runners. We won’t know for sure until we catch whoever did this and ask.

What we do know is that Bostonians are made of tough stuff. (You have to be to deal with some of these winters.) The actions of those at the scene were exemplary. While most ran away from the sound of the bomb, the first-responders of all stripes ran toward the blast to lend whatever assistance they could. Some of the marathoners kept running, to the local hospitals where they offered to give blood. People working in stores close by ran out and used whatever was available to make tourniquets and apply pressure to wounds, undoubtedly saving many lives.

We live in a good place with good people all around us. If you’re trying to make sense of all this, maybe that’s what you should take away.

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Google Nexus 10 Screen Locking Mystery Solved

Posted on April 7, 2013 by rben13

My Google Nexus 10, which quickly became my constant companion, started doing some really bizarre things about a month ago. The screen would go dark for no particular reason. It became more and more of a problem. When I’d try to unlock the screen, it would seem to work, but then the screen would go dark and I’d be right back at the lock screen.

Google was nice about it and replaced my tablet. But, once I’d configured the new tablet, the problem returned. This time it seemed even worse. I tried uninstalling any and all apps that had system privileges. That didn’t do it. I called Google twice more, but each time I called, we seemed to find a work around, like turning off the lock screen and extending the time-out period. But after I got off the phone, the problem would return.

I’d searched the Internet for people with similar problems, and hadn’t found any that matched. So it wasn’t a widespread problem. Google replaced the hardware, so it seemed unlikely it was the tablet itself. What did that leave?

Then I got to thinking about how the tablet turns the screen on and off when I close the cover of my “smart” case. A little investigation taught me that the “smart” case has a little magnet in the screen cover that winds up right next to the ambient light sensor, where the Nexus 10 has a magnetic sensor. It’s this sensor that detects the presence of the magnet and turns the screen off. When the magnet is removed, the unit comes alive again.

That gave me my answer. Because, when I don’t have the screen cover in place, it is wrapped around back, putting the magnet is close proximity to the magnetic sensor! Depending on how the cover shifts around while I’m holding the tablet, the screen goes off or on, depending on whether it detects the magnet or not.

It was a relief to figure out what the problem was. Now, all I have to do is make sure I keep the cover folded back in such a way that the magnet isn’t close to the sensor.

This whole problem could have been avoided, though. If you put a flat piece of steel or iron on one side of a magnet, it will block the magnetic field that would normally project in that direction. So it’s relatively easy to make a “one way” magnet. Had the tablet cover maker simply added that small piece of metal, I would never have had this problem.

I may fix it myself, by taping a small piece of metal in place on the outside of the screen cover, so when the cover is folded back, it will block the magnetic field from reaching the sensor. If that works, I might try altering the cover itself. If so, I’ll write up the results.

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