A Visit to Kingston-upon-Hull

Instead of the YMCA and a treadmill this noon, I took a brisk walk out the marsh trail at the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve. I've used this trail for mid-day exercise before. This time, though, I was determined to make the full hike out to Kingston-upon-Hull, the 17th-Century farmhouse two miles out on St. Jones River.

It was a bright, warm day. No blue skies, but not a bad day for photography. I've posted a short photo set focused on the area right around Kingston-upon-Hull. It can serve as a companion to the marsh trail photo set I posted in November. That one was based on the first half of the trail.

I rather enjoyed the old house. It offered ancient brickwork and weathered windows.

This is an interesting corner of Delaware history. The State Archives offers 1677 survey language and a map of the nearly 500 acres of farmland and marsh belonging to John Briggs and Mary Phillips "By Vertue of a Warrant from the Court at the Whore Kill dated the 12th day of March 1677-8."

One of Our Billboards is Down

One of Our Billboards is Down
Originally uploaded by mmahaffie.

This Hooters billboard came down in the gale-force winds that blew through southern Delaware on Saturday night and into Sunday morning. I was going to leave it as just a Flickr posting, but the winds are back today, reminding me that this is what's in the news for this area this week.

I wonder what else will come down?

In Honor of Dr. King

So we don't forget, I wanted to share a link or two.

First, to a great archive of news coverage about the man whose life and work we honor today. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Newspaper Articles Archive is a project of NewspaperARCHIVE.com. It's worth a look, when you have a moment.

Next, to a virtual recreation of what it was like to live under segregation. Just so there is no misunderstanding, this site was created as a reminder of what odd twists racism and inequality can lead us into. It does not celebrate segregation. It saddens me that I have to try to clarify this, but I think I do.

And Again, The Air Gets Just A Little Cleaner

Add another state to the list of places I'm now somewhat more likely to visit and spend money in. According to the News Journal, the Governor of New Jersey has signed into law an indoor smoking ban.

The indoor smoking prohibition has worked well for Delaware. I'm glad to see it spreading out; New Jersey is the eleventh state now.

The New Jersey law exempts Casinos. I'm sorry for the Casino workers who will still have to breathe-in that smoke, but looking at it selfishly, I don't really mind something that will make it even less likely for me to go into a casino.

I was amused to see news coverage of protests against the law before it was enacted by "exotic Dancers." They felt it might threaten their customer base. I don't think it will.

I suppose they felt an instinctual threat from any law targeting one of the vices.

New Digs

Friday, I took a brief tour of the Haslett Armory in Dover. The old National Guard Armory has been gutted and reconfigured as a new state office building. The project has been under way for several years. My group is one of the offices that will move there in February.


This is one of the outside hallways on the third floor, where I will have an office. The old armory was dominated inside by a huge gymnasium area. It was used for indoor military training and vehicle storage and was two stories or more inside with large windows along each wall.

In reconfiguring the building, the state wisely left those windows intact and built two floors of offices within that huge space, leaving an open airway up each outside wall.

The Armory is on Legislative Mall in the center of Dover. We'll be surrounded by other state offices and kitty-corner to Legislative Hall. This is a big improvement. Our present office is several blocks away, across the St. Jones River and isolated from the rest of the government. Meetings out of the office always required a car. Now we'll be in walking distance of many of our colleagues.

Or, they can come to us. The Armory will have several conference rooms, large and small. It looks like I will be able to hold most of the meetings I host in the rooms that will now be available.

This is an interesting situation. This year is my 16th as a state of Delaware employee. I'm with my third different agency. In all that time I've never had a new office, never had furniture that wasn't some form of hand-me-down. I'm not complaining, but I will say that this is a different feeling.

There we were, a handful of people waiting to move to a new work home, trying to get a feel for what the place will be like.

End of the Season

This is what happens when your Christmas Tree dries out drastically. This is what was left after we had removed the decorations and lights and lifted the tree out of its stand.

We keep our tree up at least through January 7 each year. The seventh is Christmas Day in the Eastern Orthodox Catholic faith. Karen was raised in that church, and we married in that church. Karen now hangs out with the Methodists, but we like to keep a link to the Orthodox faith as well.

We worried that this tree wouldn't last until Little Christmas this year. It made it -- barely -- and now it's time to take the tree out to the state park for recycling.

Another Sign That We May Be Sending Too Many People Into Prisons

From the Seattle Times comes word of a new idea to deal with prison overcrowding. This idea is from our friends in Idaho: Idaho senator suggests sleep shifts in prisons

State Senate President Pro Tem Robert Geddes suggests what is known as a "hot cot" plan. Under the plan, some prisoners would share a bed. One would sleep in it by day, another by night. (I will not stoop to the obvious prison-sex joke.)

The hot cot sleep shifts would be for volunteers only, with better prison job assignments as a possible incentive.

"I can't find any place in the nation that's doing this --— or in the world, for that matter --— but why not? The rest of the nation works in shifts," Geddes said Thursday.

At first blush it sounds like a good idea, but prison officials point out that beds aren't the only things in short supply. There are also needs for correctional and medical staff, the cost of feeding inmates, and the need for additional wastewater treatment capacity to take into consideration.

Other folks have asked what might be done to keep people out of prison in the first place.

Dover Air Force Base Museum

At lunchtime today I had a chance to spend 20 minutes wandering among the planes and jets parked outside the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover Air Force Base. It was good opportunity to take some photos. I haven't had enough time on sunny, or at least non-rainy, days lately.

I got enough for a new photo set.

We'd had a meeting this morning of the Planning Committee for the 2006 Delaware GIS Conference at the Museum. My friend Matt and I did a quick tour of the planes. It had to be quick; it was surprisingly brisk out there.

Minor Thoughts

What a Difference a Few Letters Make
At our office Christmas lunch, a colleague gave me a case of beer from around the world, including a six-pack of Pilsner Urquell, which is brewed in the Czech Republic. There were also beers from China, Ireland, and Scotland.

This evening, as I pulled the last of the Pilsner Urquells from the fridge, I was struck by a mental image of Steve Urkel, the character played by Jaleel White in the 1990's sitcom Family Matters.

Troubling.

Novel Idea
A minor joke has occurred to me that needs to be in a novel, which I guess I should write some time.

There's a saying: "Patience is a virtue."

There needs to be a character named Patience in my book. She should be a musician; I think probably a cellist.

So, at some point, someone will say "Patience is a virtuoso."

Sorry.

Another Vote for Wide-Open Education

My young friend Del offers a post today praising Joe Paterno and the Penn State football team after their victory in the Orange Bowl Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

Del is a Penn State alumnus who fondly recalls a chance meeting with the great, but humble, coach one day while an undergraduate. Del explains that he was, at the time, uncertain of what major to pursue. Joe Paterno's advice seems to have stayed with him:

"Well, if you can do it, keep looking at all your options and don't just settle. You'll learn a lot of things here, but the most important will be who you are. And from there you know exactly what you want to do."

Amen.

Life is always changing. Learn all you can. Learn how to learn. Enjoy the changes, because they aren't going to stop happening.