The Black Widow by Daniel Silva
I seem to always need something else to do when I am doing something, which probably says something about me I am not sure I want to examine. Music when I am working. A book… The Black Widow by Daniel Silva
The Second Presidential Debate
I was at a baseball game during the first Presidential debate and at a movie during the Vice-Presidential debate. I was happy to be at the baseball game and I enjoyed the movie. Sadly Sunday… The Second Presidential Debate
Pilot Lights
This morning Ellen told me that we were having a problem with the stove pilot light (subsequently fixed by this afternoon by, as usual, Ellen). In a panic, I asked her if this affected the… Pilot Lights
Springtime in Largo
After a big gap, which I will try not to allow to repeat, I am back and focused on my day job at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC).
My role as the Program Chair of the Information Systems Management (IFSM) Undergraduate Degree program means I have both academic responsibility for the quality of the content of our current 13 courses as well as owning logistical responsibilities associated with staffing and dealing with classroom issues. It is not always easy to spend as much time as I would like on the Academic concerns. Over the last couple of days I spent time assigning faculty for our Spring, 2017 classes which will start in January, 2017. The numbers involved will give you some idea of the logistic challenges.
The UMUC Undergraduate school runs multiple eight week on-line sessions each semester. After we begin the first session of the semester, two to three weeks later the second session starts. We hold four such sessions each Fall and each Spring, and three during the Summer. We cleverly refer to them as OL1, OL2, and OL3 (and OL4 for the fall and spring). The OL stands for on-line. We also hold overlapping hybrid sessions. Hybrid sessions include one three hour in-person class plus the rest is on-line, thus hybrid. We hold two of these in the Fall and Spring, and one in the Summer. We call these US1 and US2. On reflection, I am actually not sure what the US stands for, I’ll need to check. The hybrid classes are held all around the country. Making sure we have enough faculty to staff hybrid locations takes a great deal of time, since in effect all of the on-line courses are one big queue. We also have face-to-face classes, given all in person, in Europe and Asia. While I am responsible for the academic content for them also, I do not have any logistical responsibilities.
Information Systems Management
As I have mentioned a number of times over the last 18 months, I now work for the University of Maryland University College (UMUC), as the Program Chair for Information Systems Management in the undergraduate… Information Systems Management
Stanley Cup Finals
As I have mentioned elsewhere, there tends to be two kinds of fans rooting for their favorite team in the playoffs when that team loses. One type hopes the team they lost to wins the… Stanley Cup Finals
I guess the story today is that mostly old people use Facebook, though of course that puts me right in the Facebook main stream.
Having said that, it is clear that people, old or young, who do not use Facebook or at least one of the more popular social networks do not realize how much interaction goes on that has a reasonable amount of social meaning. While I recognize that in-person relationships are deeper and agree with the studies that most of us can only have a limited number of ‘true’ social friendships, the interactions on Facebook have meaning and allow us to interact with people we otherwise would not touch.
My recent example is a post I made recently about a book that was sent by a publisher to Ellen so she could potentially review it, the joy of leaving your sh*t all over the place. My post said: “I am not sure if I’m more surprised that we have this book to read or that we were not the author.”
That Third Party Option
Third parties have not fared well in American politics over the last century or so, either having no impact on the Presidential race results though in a few cases potentially moving the winner from one party to the other (though not electing the third-party candidate). One example of the latter was when Teddy Roosevelt ran on the Bull-Moose party ticket in 1912 electing Woodrow Wilson and helping to elect a Democrat Congress.
Having said that since I tend to support the non-Trump wing of the Republican party, I have noticed a bunch of like-minded individuals making noises about supporting a third-party Presidential candidate.
The thought is that Trump has no chance of gaining 270 electoral votes. The hope is that with a serious third-party candidate, Hillary Clinton also would not get 270 electoral votes throwing the election into the House.
I decided to take a quick look at how that possibility would play out.
The method for electing the President is covered in Section 1 of Article 2 of the Constitution.
Seder – 2016
Every year we are fortunate to have many friends who join us for our Passover Seder, and I am lucky to have married Ellen who plans, organizes, and works to make it a special event.… Seder – 2016