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A little over ten years ago, before debit cards became ubiquitous and people cared more about having actual bits of paper for the monetary worth, I had a discussion with a friend about how the world would  eventually move to a cashless society.   I argued over the cost and extent of such a venture going forward.   He did have one good point in his argument – anonymity.

He believed due to corruption (or anything else you wish to argue for) that there would always be cash money to allow for citizens to have an anonymous usage of money in society.   I had several more arguments going against this back then, but I couldn’t truly get around the anonymity factor, especially with small unmarked bills.  I don’t believe the anonymity factor is going to last too much longer though.

Enter in RFID dust, this effectively will destroy anonymity in a cash based society.   The technology was developed as an anti-counterfeiting method.   With this knowledge in hand we can make some assumptions.  The first is that the dust can be used to verify the authenticity of the bills.   The second, when it is truly embedded in the bills and not sprinkled into batches of money – that the RFID will contain a serial that will match the serial number on the bill itself.

If the dollar can “beacon” the serial number, then how does it become anonymous.   In theory before you use any paper money you could microwave it, but eventually that will no longer work either.  The next argument would be that only the government has the readers – this would be a “for how long argument”.   Think of the theft and tracking of the flow of money analysis that could be gained solely on a research perspective.  I can see in 20-30 years as the technology becomes cheaper and centralized databases are more available – that this type of tracking could be the norm.

I’ve written about software currently that can track the flow of money, there is no reason we wouldn’t be able to see real time tracking of every single penny in circulation by utilizing this technology.   The only thing stopping it right now is cost, which will drop.

I just finished watching The World, The Flesh, and The Devil which starred Harry Belafonte as a black man struggling with racial in a post apocalyptic world.   I don’t want to go over the full synopsis since you can get that here and here.   Overall it has the feel of The Omega Man and I am Legend – though it predates The Omega Man by twenty years (I Am Legend by over fifty).     The difference though is this movie has no zombie like creatures of any sorts.

It deals with the racial issues of the time combined with dealing with the loneliness of living in such a world.   If you wanted to look at the actual issues of loneliness and society at the end of the world I can say you should defintely hunt this movie down and watch it.

If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.

If this is too blind for your taste, consult some well-meaning fool (there is always one around) and ask his advice. Then vote the other way. This enables you to be a good citizen (if such is your wish) without spending the enormous amount of time on it that truly intelligent exercise of franchise requires.

Day late…

If you haven’t caught on to this series yet I have mother issues.   Because I have my mother issues I need to sit down and logically recognize what they actually do to me.  Things my mother has made me.

Growing up I was extremely self conscious of everything, how I looked, who had what, etc…  What has happened as an adult is that I just don’t care.   I don’t care what you have.  I want what I want for my own reasons.   As I’m getting older I can care less what society thinks about me, so essentially I’ve become the polar opposite of my mother.   Though Xie will tell me that isn’t always the case.

Because of growing up in my household I learned to thrive in chaos.   This is great in some of things I do since I can make order out of chaos (well at the same time creating more chaos around the thing I made in order).  Unfortunately for those around me this isn’t always a conducive environment for those that deal with me.

I get my anger from my father, and I’ve spent many years getting that in check and controlling.   It’s something I have to deal with.  I have learned however people like my mother are the ones that are most likely to set me off at a moments notice.  This is why I didn’t marry a girl like dear old mom.   My father after the divorce seems to have his anger issues in check, can we say common denominator?

I base(d) alot of what I know about relationships from my parents and their interaction.   When things aren’t going well in my own relationships I’m completely oblivious since things aren’t explosive like my parent’s relationship was.  While our child isn’t born yet we don’t know truly who the enabler and the disciplinarian will be.   I’m pegged for the enabler, and that’s not necessary a good thing.   If I get that from anyone it’s going to be my mother.   I just need to make sure my son doesn’t become a spoiled brat.

Frustration at stupidity.  The exasperation I get over comments that are idiotic, that comes completely from my mother.   I have mentioned her belief that ninja humanoid turtles were possible. I used to do all of her proof reading for her college homework when I was in high school, and I was responsible for the rewrites.  When I was about fourteen she said she was smarter then me.   What she may have meant to said was wiser, though I don’t think that was the case, since if she was wiser or smarter she would have said the word wiser.   Also for anyone wishing to defend her on that one, she still says she is smarter (Oprah must have told her she was).  I have a standing offer to pay for an IQ test so we can settle this once and for all, if she is write (highly unlikely) I may just kill myself since it will be proof that intelligence means nothing. On a side note recently I was just talking about sitting for the Mensa exam.  I don’t know if I’m Mensa smart, I may not be, but I’m confident enough to actually sit for the test.

The last thing is I get insane over little requests people ask of me.   I better be in the right frame of mind because I can go ballistic if it’s something they can do for themselves.   I’ll give you the story I use to describe this whenever I talk to someone about her.   When I was in high school I told my mother I was going to be taking a bath (yes I’m a boy and I like baths get over it).  She acknowledged me and said she was going ot cook dinner.  At this point everything is fine and dandy.   About 10 minutes later I’m in the middle of reading a book and my mother starts screamiming my name.   Now this isn’t a your in trouble name scream, nor was it a where are you at name scream.  What it sounded like was the “OMG THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE” scream.   I threw on a towel and rush down the stairs.

Well the emergency?  My mother needed a wash cloth to do dishes .  Her answer about me being in the bath?  “I forgot”.  In ten minutes she forgot what she had been told and acknowledged (and I’m sure she heard the bath water run) and put all of that aside for her immediate need of a wash cloth.   To make matters worse, she thought I was down in my room.   Now our family was a plit level.  The kitchen on the main floor, the bathroom on the second floor, and my bedroom on the lower floor.   In theory give or take ten feet I would have had to expend the same amount of energy to come from my room or the bathroom to come to the kitchen.   She would have expended half the energy (minus the energy to start yelling) to go down to the second floor and get it herself.  It was absolute pure laziness.   I pointed it out to her, and she didn’t care.   She wasn’t old or invalid, she was healthy and approxiamately the same age as I am now.   The worst part, I was dripping wet, freezing, and I still had to get the washcloth.

I was a sucker and should have said no, but I was a mama’s boy.  That story though is an example of many many things that are quite similar.   Because of her necessity or decorating the house for the holidays, I now loath decorating for the holidays/  I have never had a christmas tree in my  house, that may change next year with the kid on the way.   Compared to my mother’s house and her record breaking three christmas trees she did one year, my house will be quite sparse.

My mother likes to tell people how things are to be decorated and have everyone else do the work.   After the divorce I became the man of  the house.   I learned to loath the holidays.  When your mother is healthy you shouldn’t be fifteen and being Santa Claus setting up the tree late at night for your siblings, but yet I was.  I love the holidays, I just hat emy mothers version of them.  These days though i’m preferring Halloween over Christmas, black and gory for the win.

Ok  I’m stopping now otherwise this will become the post that will never end.

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For some reason it’s a considered a cardinal sin in society to talk about people behind their backs.  In my family however it’s an Olympic event.   I’m not sure my mother would get the gold, but I’m sure she would at least get the silver.

When you live in a split family you get used to what you can tell one side or tell the other. The hard part however is not admitting you talked to the other side at all. Once my mother finds out she grilled me on what my father had to say, though I never really passed the information along that he gave me. In the reverse I never passed it along the other way either. I was not the hub of their game of telephone, nor was I going to start to be.

The whole issue that led up to us not speaking she still blames on my father.  She thinks my father sent me on some fools errand that was not accurate. Ironically what my father told me was accurate by my mother’s own admittal. My father however didn’t prompt me to take action, what I wanted ot do to help my sister was for myself alone. It was me being a big brother.

The irony of this it seems what I hear through the family grapevine that my father seems to get more blame for me not talking to my mother then I do. Who would have thought. I obviously must be a puppet that can be controlled, that has no independent thought or feelings. I know some people are like that, not me though.

The whole problem is that it’s not just my mother. Like I said talking behind the back is an Olympic sport in these parts. Whenever I try to lay out what everyone is saying to everyone else, I’m the bad guy. I’m the bad guy because I lay it out on the line.

Well I guess this is why I’m blogging about it, I’m laying it out on the line.

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As far back as I remember when I went to someone’s house the first question my mother asked me when I got home was never “Did you have fun?” Maybe that was too plebeian for her and her non-bourgeois ways. She didn’t want to be like every other mother on the planet and ask the obvious question. The question she did ask? Well that was “What did their house look like?” My mother was obsessed with other people’s housing decorations and using her eight year old son to do her scouting for her. I was a bad a scout thought, my answer until I was eighteen and moved out was almost always “It’s a house, with stuff in it”. She tried to grill me further and if she was lucky she sometimes got to pluck out some of the details she wanted.

Whenever my mother went to a house she seemed to case the joint like a burglar. What she wanted to steal though was not anything tangible they owned. What she wanted to do was find something that either she could use in her own decor, or talk about with her friends about how much she disliked it. If you didn’t fit in one side of the spectrum you immediately fit into the other side.

If something was featured on Oprah as must have, my mom would scheme to buy it. I can only assume she owns both a Wii and Kindle. I don’t know why she would buy a kindle though, she doesn’t read. I’m not saying she is incapable of reading, only that she prefers every bit of information spoon fed to her through network television compared to any other avenue. I swear my mother thinks the purpose of the newspaper is to hold her shopping advertisements.

She attempted to justify her moronic decision to make the first room you enter in the house being the dining room because one of her friends did it. This was one of those moments where you say, if all your friends are jumping off a bridge would you do it? (My answer to that question has always been “How high is the bridge? Is there water underneath it?” How many friends are we talking about and have they all survived?”) Either way a stupid design choice is a stupid design choice, copying it just makes you dumber.

The correct answer to why you do such a thing? Well I could say it fits until our routine better, it makes the house more functional, who cares about the norm or aesthetics, or it’s my house and I like it. However hiding behind that your friend does it so you decided to do it? That shows you have no thought in the problem other then some selfish little need of instant gratification that you are trying to get fulfilled.

I understand why my mom wants to decorate or own things that other people do. It’s called a psychological term called mirroring. If someone mimics your body movements your mirroring them. It allows for a repertoire to form, a link if you will. People like people that are like them. In some mis-guided learning my mother thinks she needs to dress, talk, and live like everyone else – otherwise she is non-existent. If she isn’t acknowledged because she isn’t like everyone else she get depressed. The whole problem is when you live your life by mirroring all those around you all the time, you are no longer an individual. You are a member of society, but your not going to help further it or challenge new and original thought.

Every single idea my mother has had for house design or money making has been because someone else has done it first and she thinks she can do it also. Mind you she doesn’t think she can do it better, she thinks she can do it just as well and get the same compliments for it. Because of this my mother doesn’t do anything well beyond “keeping up with the Jones’”.

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Ars Technica is reporting that a school in Pennsyvania has suspended 2 students for creating a Myspace profile of their principal mocking him.  A federal judge upheld this ruling when they were sued by one of the students for suspending them for something they created on their own time outside of school.   Personally I find this disturbing on two fields.

The first I want to bring up is parody.  I’m not sure why they didn’t take the parody defense.   To their non-target audience I’m sure the language and style they used was reprehensible, and to the school district bordering in libel.   I however remember what it was like being a teenager, a time period that most adults don’t allow themselves to identify with once they age past it.  The key thing they need ot look at is the target audience.   It wouldn’t be truly fair to have a trial of teenagers to be judged by their “peers” and have the jury made up of people older then 25.   That seems to be the tipping point when the social norms of the next high school generation are lost on the adults.   The language is different.  The clothing is different.   The attitudes are different.  Unless a similar mindset can be understood by the jury, the teenager will loose almost every time in a “Damn kids don’t respect anything” moment.  I think parody would have been the correct defense.

Now let’s look at the freedom of speech angle.  There is quite a few that feel like I do that the traditional schooling these days is to extinguish individual thought and bring people around to “group think”.  We all have our moments when we feel group think is a good thing, most of that time is when group think agrees with what we are thinking.   However when a student has individual thought they seem to get punished.  About eight years ago my sister was almost suspended for going to school with pink hair.   The problem was that “it was a distraction” – really?  Life is all about distraction and things that block you from achieving your goals.   Work through it.   She (nor the boys in question from the beginning argument) hurt or threatened the life or welfare of those around them.   Even then it should be either handled by the police or if it happened in school, by the police and the school.

One of the arguments the defense used was that though the boys wrote the information outside of school, it was targeted at students in it.  Duh!  Almost the whole of their society is wrapped up in school.  They don’t really live work and interact within the community.  Their peer and focus groups are almost all inclusively within that school.  Of course it’s going to be their target audience.  The same way that writing an OP-Ed piece for the local community newspaper is targeted at that community.  It doesn’t matter if the person that wrote the piece technically lives outside the city borders, it’s still valid.  They are addressing their peer group.  What we have now is we are creating a society where it is considered to mock or question public figures.  If their are repercussions outside of the normal legal channels, students then gain a greater fear of authority then they should have.

Like work, there needs to be a seperation between a students personal lives and their work lives.   What I do on my own time is none of my works business.  When I am at work it is completely their business and I have to deal with anything that stems out of my decisions from there.   If this case was going after the libel or slander side of the coin, which is where it should have gone, it should not have been handled by removing the children from the school.  It should have been settled in the courts and outside of the venue of schools.   The biggest issue is while if I do something egregious outside of work that can have a negative effect on the company, I can get fired.  Schools however should not be allowed to fire or punish students on things that take place outside of their borders of jurisdiction, which end at the edge of school property.

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I was listening to the last weeks episode of Net@Night and they were complaining that the Twitter community has become fragmented.  This is true in the online world, as well as the offline world.  We are all not friends.  Sometimes I think what you read, listen to, watch, or have to say is utterly idiotic and reprehensible.   I’m sorry.   I do.   I also know that some of you think the same things about me, especially those that are completely fed up with me.

We call places like Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.  social networks.  They are and they are not.  If you consider High School an experiment in social networking I guess they are social networks.   I prefer to think of them as “Social Platforms”.   These are sites and applications that allow you to be social, but you don’t have to be.   I enjoy going to a movie with someone else and don’t really enjoy going by myself.   That doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there that don’t enjoy going by themselves.   Some people join social networks for the games, some for the functions, and yes most for the social aspect and the ability to connect with people.

I’ve written before that I use different social platforms in different ways.  Some communities, like twitter, I take an active role and participate in, others I hang back and show up when I receive a comment on some piece of work I’ve commented on.   I just don’t have time to be a good community member and interact exclusively (or a lot) on the literally hundreds of social network sites I belong to.  Giving the lack of time in being able to deal with all of them, I write once and post everywhere.  I deal with comments and such.

I won’t add you to my friends list if I haven’t dealt with you in some sort of capacity.  I add you if I’ve met you through online gaming, real life meetings, or I’ve had some sort of conversation with you.   I won’t add you if you thought I look interesting and just want to chat (don’t worry I’m not requesting friendship form you if you look interesting either).   Heck I don’t even like some of the networks I’m a member of.  What does this mean though?

Does it mean I’m not networking socially?   I am and I’m not.   I’m hanging out with friends or exchanging ideas with people I know.   If your coming along for the ride, more power to you.  I’m not going to these just to meet you, some unknown person to me.   Until I know you I don’t want to network with you.

What does this mean in general?  I’ve pigeon holed myself into these social platforms.  I’ve become cliquish in a way that also existed in high school.   Just because I haven’t welcomed you with open arms doesn’t mean I refuse to get to know you, it just takes time.   This is what happens to the splintered groups amongst all of these social platforms.  They have their own secret hand shakes and communities that exist on the platform.   This is actually quite a good thing, this is how you fulfill the niche market.   One size doesn’t fit all.  I do believe your data and the data explicitly shared with you should be able to be moved to another platform, data should be open and you should be able to make your own decisions over the data and meta data you create.     Splintered communities online just show us the social model that we have in the real world can replicate and exist online.

Because online communities begin to form and evolve organically the same way they do in meat space, we know that they are real true communities.   They aren’t Utopian society love-ins.  Just because your friends with Bob and Jane and I’m friends with them doesn’t mean we have anything in common to talk about.  Personally I have issues with Bob and Jane on some things, what if those are the things that you have in commonality with them?  I would then hate you.   I don’t want to hate, but I don’t want to get to know you either.     That’s not a bad thing.  Like real life we need to get to know each other first.   You don’t give everyone on the street you meet your phone number – why would you add them to your friends list.

It’s not necessarily about hiding information from them.  There are a lot of people like myself who literally broadcast their information broadly and openly across the internet.   You really aren’t gaining too much beyond more access to direct communication to me by being on my friends list.   I think these leads us to rethink the idea of friend lists.

Now go friend me on every possible social network you find that has a Creeva.

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The other day I wrote an article in which I briefly discussed cloud computing and how I accomplish it in my life. I wanted to start a new series called “Living in the Clouds” which goes over the functions that you can do to migrate over to a cloud computing setup yourself.

First we need to define what is cloud computing?  Cloud computing is placing and manipulating on the Internet.  While part of this is cloud storage, where you store your data online so you can access it anywhere, the other part is being able to use and manipulate your data anywhere.   Whether this is from your home computer, your work computer, or any other device you have access to an internet connection with a browser, this is computing in the clouds.

I wanted to outline what I’m trying to accomplish with this series.   What I want to do is go beyond the normal here is a cloud service, isn’t it shiny?  You can get that form anywhere.   What I want to work through in each section of this series is as follows:

Data Types: What type of data can you store or manipulate and what are the best services for that.

Data Security: How can you trust your data and the providers you are using.  How can you minimize the effect of data leakage.

Data Redundancy:  This includes redundant services with the same data, how to make your data portable, and how to back this data up.

Data Accessibility:  What devices and items other then web browsers can you manipulate your data with, what API’s are available.

I’m taking all of this from a perspective of what do I use and how do I use it.   I want to let you know what works for me instead of dovetailing in a goo goo gah gah review over something new and exciting.   If I don’t use it to a decent extent I will let you know.   I will include speculation and theory sometimes, but when I do I will alert you to such.

Hopefully this is a series you will enjoy.

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Today I read a comment on slashdot that inspired me to write on this subject.  The comment was written on the Secret History of Star Wars article and was given by Omestes and was as follows:

Oh god, the Nerd/Dork/Geek argument. We always went with nerds being unwashed, antisocial geniuses who small vaguely like cheese, and somehow manage to reference Yoda, and differential equations in every utterance. Dorks are just like nerds, but dumber. And geeks are the swashbuckling generalists who get all the chicks (er…) because they have some modicum of social skills, while still knowing their swallows apart.

By your jargon though, there still is a deep relation between nerds and dorks, since both of them are “systems” people. D&D is just another complex system to play with, just like math, code, and circuits. As is, oddly, the various nerd friendly mythologies. Both groups, by your classification, are equally likely to get the chicks… Not very. Neither math nor D&D impress many of the chicks I know.

So where does arguing over the semantics of nerdery put one?

Now this has been written about hundreds of times (if you don’t believe check google), but wanted to stick my two cents into this discussion.   Let’s go over my own defintions:

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Dork: A dork is an invidual that has an interest in something in so far that they are singled out and people believe because of some title given to them they are thought to be an expert.  In all actuality they are no better then a lay person and has the largest social anxieties and problems dealing with others.   They normally think they are smarter then they are, but yet normally lack in depth knowledge to move them up the dork/nerd/geek ladder.

However there is a missing factor to this definition, that is the fact that a dork is more likely to be the one that non dorks/nerds/geeks are most comfortable around.   They are the ones that come off lovable – like when your friends or significant other says “You big dork”.   While in some terms dork is an insult, when you properly it is definitely the least offensive to the general population at large.

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Nerd: Nerds are the individuals that have an interest in things the goes so far that not only do they have to prove tehy are better then everyone on the subject of interest, they also are so intensely interested in there area of focus that social situations really don’t bother them.   It’s a waste of time for them.  They don’t know why you don’t want to dig into replicating a hologram in your microwave with tin foil and baking soda, which they do daily for amusement.

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Geek: Geeks usually can deal with society the best, but completely zone out similar to nerds to nerds, but are normally capable of human relationships, though they took the hologram in the microwave and made a short film out of it to upload to youtube.   They are interested in the obscure and bringing it into fruition.   Normally geeks wear the term geek on themselves with a badge of honor.

Me and my grandparents – Years Ago (Years and Years)

I can say in certain areas I’m all three, but I’m mostly a geek.   I’m normally quite knowledgable in the things I have extreme interest in, and i’m capable of zoning out.  Most of my family considers me a nerd when it comes to social networks (and I really am when it comes to crossposting).  When it comes to certain items and gadgets I’m definetly a dork trying to be a geek.

Wait what am I saying I was a pimp, I don’t know why I’m sticking myself into any of these groups.  You don’t believe me?  Behold Creeva with a mullet (once again many years ago):

So which do you identify with and what is your definitions?

A friend and I had a discussion about old technology disappearing and what gets lost in the migration.   He put forth of the example of the CD single.   I stated that the CD single was still around, he stated that it had completely disappeared.   We were both right and wrong.

He wanted to take me up to the challenge on if they still existed.   My problem is that I chose the wrong store.   We were at the mall following this discussion and went into a Fye Store.   After browsing (and I had almost forgotten about the previous discussion) my friend asked the sales lady if they had any CD singles.   She stated they were no longer made since the Internet destroyed that market.   I pointed out some recent bands that released singles and she just kind of shrugged and wandered away.

Score one for him.

What I should have done is gone to the record exchange which deals more in specialized markets and not bulk selling fluff.    I’ll concede greatly that the CD single is no longer a mass purchased item (I never purchased one in my life since singles back in the day were half the cost of a full CD).  I won’t concede that they are disappearing just yet.   I have argued with others before that media will all become digitally distributed.   Physical media will disappear as the main stream item and move into the arena of niche collectors.  Digital media will become the de facto standard once broadband is ubiquitous across the nation.

The problem with the previous statement is that we currently live in a society that has niche collectors and broadband is not ubiquitous.  The people in middle america that has last mile broadband issues do not buy their music on itunes any more then they stream their video on hulu.  If I’m a huge Weezer fan, I want that b-side track.   These things will drive the single market steadily for at leas the next few years.

Searching Amazon there are a ton of CD singles announced and not yet released.   This covers those markets, granted it’s more for the specialized collectors at that point over the itunes barrier, but plenty of people will still purchase them at their local store.  I do wonder if the price has dropped though?

CD singles won’t exist forever, but I’m fairly positive they will hang on as long as CD’s do.   The question is which will disappear first, the compact disc or the modem?  That is an interesting technological discussion.  If you ask me though, I think the compact disc will die first.

Wikipedia defines inbreeding as:
Inbreeding is breeding between close relatives, whether plant or animal. If practiced repeatedly, it often leads to a reduction in genetic diversity. A concomitant increase in homozygousity of recessive traits can, over time, result in inbreeding depression. This may result in inbred individuals exhibiting reduced health and fitness and lower levels of fertility.

So we’ve established that if we agree with wikipedia’s definition on inbreeding as a reduction in genetic diversity, what can we say about communal, intellectual, or societal inbreeding?  Is there such a thing?  I think there is, whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing is for you to decide.  Let’s go over some examples.

A boy that is two years old and walks over to a new born baby girl sitting in a stroller in front of the neighbors house.  He meets her for the first time.   Over the coming years they run around naked in the yard together at an age where it is somewhat socially acceptable.  They go to dances together.  In all ways they are best friends, brother and sister living next door to each other brought together by location and shared experiences.  At the age of 18 they marry.

Socially acceptable?  You answer that.

Another boy is 11 years old, his single father comes back from a business trip and tells his son that he met a woman and they are getting married in 6 months.  She happens to have a 11 year old daughters.  Seven years later the son and the woman’s daughter marry.  They are step-siblings at the time.

Socially acceptable?  You answer that.

I can’t tell you how you thought and your feelings on it, but if we look at the two above scenarios and define neither of those as inbreeding from a genetic stand point but from a relationship stand point both may be considered incestuous.  Granted incest laws and inbreeding are separate on the moral compass scale, but truly you can’t have one without a varying degree of the other.

Some incest and inbreeding are accidental, take the case in point of the separated twins that got married in England last year.  While they would have inbred if they would have had children before finding out they were related and on the strictest sense it is incest since they were brother and sister, if we throw morality out the door for a second is it truly incestuous?  They had less in common in life experience then either the first two examples I gave.  They are further apart so they bring more to the table for a child to learn from in a life experience department.  From a intellectual or communal stand point this wouldn’t be inbreeding or incest.   It would be two people that were in love that had the unlucky chance of common DNA.

Part of what was discussed at the time that was a news story was that people are attracted to people that are like them.  So people with similar experiences and interest are going to be more attracted to each other with the more they are like each other.   Unfortunately the more your significant other is like you the more your offspring is going to be like you because of the moral traits and beliefs you and your mate educate your offspring with.     Hence while you may have preserved genetic diversity you have squashed a mutation in the sense of the child being more indenpendent and different then yourselves.   Your child is not likely to be more successful then either you or your mate.  It is likely to fall in the same economic and societal structure as their forebearers.

Socially acceptable?  Sure is.

Morally right when you look at the big pictures?  You answer that.

The reason this comes up is all the friends and communities that people have had for years at a time.  Whether it be a church group, a video game guild, an online forum, or a local chess club the closeness you can evolve with these people can become close enough that you can’t differentiate between your feeling for family or your feelings for the group you belong to.  It is a family in every sense of the word except for genetics.    The longer the group stays together and the more they become like the other people the more intellectual and interest stagnation can occur.   If you live your life obsessed with something and so does your mate, highly likely your child will be the same way.

I can say that my wife and I shared friends but we were two very different people.  We knew each other for a few months, and have grown more alike in the decade we’ve been together, but deep down from shared experiences we are very different people.   However what if we would have met at 11 years old and married 7 years later?  What if we had been part of a video game group that we had let our guard down and accepted as family.  What about truly platonic friends that pick up romance after 30 years of friendship?  At what point would there be a moral difference between communal inbreeding  versus genetic?  Is there ever?

If there is no such thing as communal or intellectual inbreeding, then will identical twins be able to legally marry and be accepted by society once we can do genetic manipulation?  At the point we can do true genetic modification we can insure that no inbreeding at the genetic level will occur.  Sure it still will be considered incest, but what would the health reason or societal reason truly be to keep the people apart?  I’m sure eventually mankind will have to grapple and come up with the moral answer code going forward.  Not yet but someday.

This is not a piece to make you decide something one way or another.  It is more a piece to help you decide in the global communication world we live in that there will things that we need to decide on what is family.   Is family only truly a genetic trait?  Is it a lump of love and shared experiences?  If so at which point will be the truly defining line between where incest and inbreeding live and where societies ecceptable norms lie.

Mutation exists through differentiation, mutation leads to evolution.   What needs to be done to insure evolution at all levels?  You answer that.

It seems they have nothing more to say to me and I think this story is going to end on this post.  From the best I can tell they waited a week before reading my response that I sent them the link to (Webserver logs checking who came from Yahoo Mail if you curious how I knew).  I know some people don’t think I should be pointing out these flaws or complaints.  One friend even told me this via e-mail:

Humane society?

Don’t get into an argument with animal-lovers.  They’re as dense as lead. 

Well I don’t think the Ashland Humane Society or any other organization is “as dense as lead” though I think there are things they can do to help future proof themselves now and increase customer service for the future.  I understand that I’m the only complaint, but the ball always starts rolling for the first person.   I sent them a message on how to do things cheaply and that they would save time.

My main complaint of their partnership with Rascal Unit still has the same wording that started this whole ordeal:

Contact the Ashland Humane Society at 419 2814722 or e-mail ashlandhumane@yahoo.com to make an appointment for this clinic date in this area.

The only thing I  have asked is to change the wording t:

Contact the Ashland Humane Society at 419 2814722 to make an appointment for this clinic date in this area or e-mail ashlandhumane@yahoo.com for more information.

This is a minor change and will help alleviate confusing for the technically literate to understand the meanings of the seemingly technically-illiterate.   Trying to narrow the technology divide in the world always starts at the lowest level, whether it be programs like the “One Laptop Per Child” or local community organizations.  Please say what you mean and attend to it.

I’ll keep my readers apprised of the situation but like I said I think this is the end of it.   Too bad I can’t effect change in those who obviously prefer to keep their head in the sand while the world changes around them.

For further reading:

Part 1 – Ashland Humane Society’s Poor Service

Part 2 - Ashland Humane Society Responds to My Blog Post

Part 3 – Ashland Humane Society Customer Service Issues Part Tres

CHAPTER 1

NABOO – GRN – Diametric Parsecs (show #1138) –

ANNOUNCER: The following is a special presentation of GRN Broadcasting

[Title Sequence]                                          

ANCHOR: Welcome to a very special Diametric Parsecs show.  Tonight, we are extremely fortunate to have an interview with a ghost; a very famous ghost.  Tonight, we sit down with the legendary Creeva Murkado for the first interview he has given since before his mysterious and much talk about disappearance.  But, first, let’s take a look at some of this week’s other top stories…

[Headlines]

INT: Thanks, Halla.  [To camera] Perhaps you haven’t heard his haunting kloo melodies.  Perhaps you missed his meteoric rise to fame.  Perhaps you don’t know the inherent weight of his poignant lyrics.  Perhaps you’ve been on a deep space exploration mission.  If any of those are true for you: welcome back to the core worlds, outrider.  This is Creeva Murkado, as we have had the pleasure of knowing him then.

[Montage of musical appearance and stock footage]

INT: And this is Creeva Murkado as we know him now.

            [Camera shows the musician sitting across from the interviewer]

INT: Thank you very much for coming, Maestro Murkado.

CM: Just Creeva will do.

INT: Well, Creeva, it’s safe to say we all wonder how you’ll top your last stir.

CM: [Chuckles]

INT: After becoming one of the most recognizable stars and most sought after musicians in the galaxy since Crying Dawn Singer, you achieved even more notoriety by suddenly vanishing from out scanners.  And then, you return just as mysteriously as you disappeared.  What’s next?

CM: I was thinking about a warm glass of milk.

INT: [Laughs] May not be as celebrated as your return.

CM: Won’t know until I try.  The public interest is fickle and enigmatic.

INT: When you went missing, a thousand theories were put forth.  Among them, you had been abducted by rebels, killed by pirates, had a nervous breakdown, suffered a drug overdose, committed suicide, were murdered by hutts … the list goes on.  In fact, Ambassador Moyakashkaykrit even went so far as to claim a body had been found in Symphonia.  What really happened?  Where did you go?  Billions of people want to know.

CM: Billions of people also want to know what’s in our neighbouring galaxies.  I think that’s far more important than where one man went.

INT: Is that where you went: Across galaxies on a spiritual journey of inner and outer exploration?  That is one of the theories put forth by some.

CM: Actually, I went to the corner market and got lost in the vegetables section.

INT: I’ll take that as a ‘no’.

CM: Feel free to take it however you like, my friend.  I took it for two small bags of opplocs with some powdered icing for dipping. 

INT: [Sighs] I can see you haven’t lost your talent for being cryptic.  [To camera] When we come back, I’ll have more questions for Creeva Murkado, a musical genius and enigma.

            [Cut to commercial]

            [Excerpt from a recorded Creeva concert]

INT: Now, Maestro Murkado (Creeva), you won’t tell us where you went but can you tell us why you left the spotlight for so long, and so mysteriously?

CM: The Why of anything is almost always much more important than the Where of it.

INT: Precisely!

CM: Precisely.

            [Awkward silence]

INT: Well, what I meant to ask was…

CM: …why did I leave?

INT: Yes!

CM: Yes.

INT: Yes?

CM: Yes.

INT: But, Yes to what?

CM: Yes; that’s why I left.

INT: What is why?

CM: Oh, What is rarely ever Why.

INT: Well, what is it that you’ve said is the reason for your disappearance?

CM: I didn’t; you did.

INT: Then could you elaborate on the reasoning?  I’m afraid you’ve lost me.

CM: Elaborate more than simply Why?

INT: Well, yes!

CM: Well, no.

INT: Oh.

CM: [Chuckles] Isn’t the search for knowledge a wonderful thing?  Let me confess; I’m playing a little here.  The reason I left is ‘Why?’  Why me?  Why now?  Why this? Why not that?  Life had become so secure that I had stopped doing the second most important thing in my life – questioning things.  When you stop examining who you are and where you are and what you are doing, you are no longer grounded.  You cannot always look to the future.  You need to be aware of the present and mindful of the past.  To quote a great writer: “The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us. And our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast terrible in-between.”

INT: So you realized this and left for parts unknown?

CM: Not so much realized it as felt it.  There is quite a difference between the two.

INT: Some would say the suddenness of your unannounced departure could be interpreted as, forgive me, selfish.

CM: [Laughs] There were more qualifiers in that sentence than the start of a pod-racing tournament.  Don’t you mean that you would call it selfish?

INT: Well, erm, I wasn’t implying any assumption on my part.  Only, um, your colleagues and friends had to scramble to address the responsibilities you left behind.  Not to mention the storm of media inquiries and the billions of fans left wondering…

CM: My colleagues are my business, but they wouldn’t be my friends if I had ever thought them to worry about a little thing like this.  And if I made billions of fans wonder at ‘why?’, if I made them stop simply regurgitating my words and my so-called wisdom, and made them actually think for themselves, then the good far outweighs the bad.

INT: What, then, prompted your return?

CM: The lure of the crowd.

INT: But you have neither recorded nor performed before any sizeable audience since your return.

CM: When you are alone for a time, the prerequisite for the term ‘crowd’ grows small. 

INT: Well, when we come back, we’ll see what’s in the future for the always enigmatic Creeva Murkado.

            [Cut to commercial]

            [Excerpt from Creeva accepting an award]

INT: Welcome back! I’m [interviewer name] here with Maestro Creeva Murkado; musician, poet, philosopher.  So, Creeva, now that you’ve returned to us, what are your plans?  Will you return to the prominence of before?

CM: Maybe.

INT: Recording?

CM: Maybe.

INT: Touring?

CM Maybe.

INT: Writing?

CM: Maybe.

INT: Is there anything you’ve determined that you will be doing?

CM: See that’s the best part about life; you just never know what mysteries the universe holds for us around every corner.  The one predictable aspect of the future is that it is inherently unpredictable.

INT: I suppose you’re not planning on telling us the answer, then?

CM: Why ruin the surprise?  The getting there is half the fun. [Chuckles]

INT: You’ve long been friends with the wookiee Moyakoshkaykrit.  Could you tell us what he thinks of the current political climate?

CM: Hmm, no.

INT: Has he not expressed those thoughts to you?

CM: Yes but, not to sound egotistical, this isn’t a show about him, it is about me.  If you want that answer, I suggest you ask him yourself.

INT: Unfortunately, broadcast regulations forbid live broadcast of any wookiee, even one so famous as the Ambassador.

CM: You mean ‘especially one so famous’ as he.

INT: Er, I simply mean … you’re here and …

CM: I suggest you move on to the next question.

INT: Yes, actually we have to take a quick break but, before we do, here’s some footage of your last public concert.

            [Excerpt from Creeva’s last concert]

            [Cut to commercial]

            [Excerpt of Creeva at a children’s hospital]

INT: And we’re back with Creeva.  Since you won’t comment on your friend’s opinions, could you tell how you see the current political climate?

CM: There are no politics of significance.

INT: Well, of course, in the greater scheme of life, politics is merely an activity of society and not of nature.  I do understand how, in that respect, there are no politics of significance.

CM: [Chuckles] Well, as Ithorian-friendly as that sounds, I actually meant that in our current society, there are no politics of significance.  There is no senate.  The ultimate rulership of the galaxy falls to one man.  Unless he argues with himself, there is no political environment to speak of. 

INT: COMPNOR would contend the His Imperial Excellency has long promised that if the people disapprove of his leadership, he will step down.  And that he has never forced anyone to do anything that wasn’t for the good of the galaxy. 

CM: And what would you expect him to say?

INT: That response has been met with nothing short of an overwhelming call for him to continue.

CM: Why don’t we take a poll…

INT: There have been polls taken

CM: …on Alderaan?

INT: Uh.

CM: Let’s ask the people of Alderaan what they think.

INT: Well, again, some would say that tragedy was a direct result of terrorists commandeering a mining facility and using to hold the entire galaxy hostage. 

CM: Was it really?

INT: Official reports have confirmed it.

CM: And what would you expect them to say?

INT: We’ve all seen the spectacular and tragic footage of rebel snubfighters attacking and boarding the mining station just before they turned it on that weaponless planet and massacred billions of peaceful people. Such a thing would be impossible to cover up.

CM: Perhaps that’s why there is another side to the story. As a journalist, even on a mouthpiece show like this one, you must recognize that others are telling a completely different version of those events.  And, if it’s true that the government project was called: Death Star, would that be just a little … odd? 

INT: Those theories were put forth by criminals and lawless terrorists.  None of it can be true.  That many people cannot keep that big a secret for that long a time.

CM: How many people swore on their lives that they knew exactly what happened to me?  How many people tried to get money from the media by enticing them with the truth about my disappearance?  How many of those people are proven completely wrong by my sitting here and talking to you?

INT: Well…

CM: Ask yourself this: If you had attained complete control of this station for several decades, where everything that was produced and broadcast was done only with your approval and then, one day, a letter came in with a bunch of signatures that said, “Please step down,” would you?  Would your first reaction be, “Hey, look they don’t want me anymore, I’ll just give all these years of being in command because they don’t like me anymore?” Do you really think that’s what you’d do?

INT: I suppose I wouldn’t.

CM: In all that time, I’ll bet you would have entrenched yourself with ‘job security’ assurances, allies, doctrine and procedure.  You’d use your position to further solidify itself.

INT: Maybe.

CM: Well, you’re right.  It’s not true for everybody, and perhaps not for you, but what if you took your worst adversary in this station, in this entire organization and put them in the exact same position?  What if you took your worst enemy in the entire galaxy and put him in that chair?  What do you think he would do to protect his position?

INT: Are you saying that Imperial Highness is your worst enemy?

CM: One: You’re deflecting the question, and I’ll allow it, for your sake.  Two: The Emperor is not my worst enemy.  I am.

INT: How so?

CM: Nobody else in this entire galaxy could have nor can hurt me as much as I can.

INT: Is this tied to your disappearance?

CM: Perhaps.  Although my disappearance is more tied to a block of cheese than anything suggested by the press.  Now, that producer of yours seems about ready to burst a vessel, so I think that’s our cue. 

INT: [Chuckles] Well, thank you very much for coming by, Creeva.  Cryptic as you are, it’s still an absolute delight!

CM: Thanks for the invitation, it was a pleasure being here.

INT: This is [interviewer] for Diametric Parsecs.  Join us next week when we explore the relationship between a planet’s weather system and a child’s personality.

            [Cut to credits]

Personal writing:

• Cleaning up drafts
• Been awhile since I’ve written anything
• NFS – Oh I Hate You
• Internet Protocols That Need To Die – My Top 3
• Upgrading to Hardy Heron
• Still Downloading
• Hardy Heron Upgrade Complete
• Google Needs to Update it’s Gmail Welcome Letter
• Asian Gilrs For Dating – WTF??
• Ashland Humane Society Responds to My Blog Post
• Ashland Humane Society Customer Service Issues Part Tres
• Getting to Know My Sister All Over Again

Links:

• Creeva’s Daily Link List 02/01/08
• Creeva’s Daily Link List 02/02/08
• Creeva’s Daily Link List 02/05/08
• Creeva’s Daily Link List 02/06/08
• Creeva’s Daily Link List 02/07/08

Writings for other blogs:

• Click Through Advertising – The Evil Truth
• A Reader’s Interesting Strategy on Getting Online Adver…
• How To Never Give Advertisers your Social Security Number
• Choosing a Domain Name Can Be Heart Wretching.
• Journey To Get Paid’s Week In Review 02/08/2008

Posts on other Web Services:

• Twitter Updates for 2008-02-04
• Creeva’s Consumption 02/04/08
• Twitter Updates for 2008-02-05
• coComments by Creeva 02/06/08
• Twitter Updates for 2008-02-06
• coComments by Creeva 02/07/08
• All Consuming Creeva 02/07/08
• Flickr Photos from Creeva 02/07/08
• Twitter Updates for 2008-02-07

Part 1

Part 2

I have sent the following to the Ashland Humane Society’s e-mail address.  I’m not sure if this issue is done or not but to show there is no long term hard feelings on my side I gave them basic instructions on fine tuning their processes and getting into the digital age cheaply:

• First and foremost to end our bickering – have Rascal Unit change the wording on their site to not imply that you can make appointments via e-mail – I don’t suggest you remove your email, but since you are responsible for the text meet the expectations set forth by it or set them accordingly.

  That being said here are the approaches I would take – I’ll add the caveat that I will do it for a fee of $50.00 – but I should lay it out for you simply enough that your current IT person should be able it simply enough.

  1. Purchase a domain since your previous domain expired you are either going to have purchase a new one or go for legal action over the old one – since your a small non-profit organization I am assuming that you are going to buy a new one and skip legal action I have links in this article I wrote about choosing a domain name to some of the cheapest ones online http://journeytogetpaid.com/2008/02/07/choosing-a-domain-name-can-be-heart-wretching/ you should be be able to get a new domain for 6.95 a year (first year included in that 50.00).   I would recommend ashlandhumane.org or ashlandhumane.net since these are both unregistered at this time.

  2.  Sign up for Google Apps for domains – http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/index.html – this will give you further strengthening of your brand.  They do offer an edition for non-profits http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=46576&query=non+profit&topic=&type= what this allows you to do is a few things – the first is simple branding of your organization in the e-mails you send as all your emails can be (username)@ashlandhumane.net or whatever domain name you choose. There are further features though from this service.

  * Free E-mail Branded for your organization

  * Free Instant Messaging Branded for you organization (I don’t see you using this side of it)

  * Free Document sharing – so you won’t have to email everyone when you update a form – they will be able to pull the latest down form the site

  * Free Shared Calender – you could move appointments onto here so all of your members could know events and appointments from home the night before – you could even make a public calender that didn’t show details but would inform the internet public when you were overbooked

  Once again this service is completely free – there is some settings to configure on your the settings for your DNS server/registrar you performed in step one.  The Google Apps help has instructions on how to configure this.

  3.  Set up a web page – I would personally recommend a blog platform here is why.   You currently stated that you update the adoption sites with pictures and information for the pets that you have that need adoption.  Use this information an host it on your own blog in conjunction with the adoption sites.   This allows people to go to your site and see the latest pets you have up for adoption.    I haven’t used your adoption sites but theoretically it should be a copy and paste from those sites to yours.    This would take a little training from your staff and a slight web site design (neither included in my 50.00 but I will configure the functionality for your web site whether you go static or blog style).  If you go with a static page this is included the Google Apps listed in step 2.  If you went with a blog platform I would choose either www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com to host your site at – both of these are once again completely free.

  These three steps would essentially give you the power and tools that most major enterprise environments use that would be yours for the cost of 6.95 a year recurring.  Your volunteers would be more mobile – they would be able to check their calenders and be able to be available when time demands it so you wouldn’t have extra volunteers when you didn’t need it, but could possibly have more when you did.   For the users that aren’t online you can still communicate with those the same way you do currently – for those that are this will save time compared to phone tree methods and even just doing bulk e-mails.    I would also recommend setting up a mailing list so volunteers and the public can subscribe and see the latest news about your organization in a weekly/monthly/quarterly fashion.    More information and communication with the public should lead to more adoptions.   Desktop calenders can be configured to sync with online calenders so users that have dial-up would be able to update the calender every time they managed to get online.

  I may be persuaded to do the work to set this up for you at cost (domain fees and then anything else you may require that does take money) – but I won’t even broach that path until the wording on the Rascal Unit website is changed.   I would suggest the following wording:

  Contact the Ashland Humane Society at 419 2814722  to make an appointment for this clinic date in this area. Inquiries can be made via e-mail at ashlandhumane@yahoo.com

  A small change can go a long way to setting expectations.  Maybe you never had an issue before the one is me over this service.   This doesn’t mean it won’t happen again, and why allow it to with small and 99% free changes that would allow you on the technologically front to compete with multinational companies.   Running a web site you can link users to partner adoption sites, rascal unit, etc.   Communication and awareness is the mantra in this day and ago.   While I may be one person it always starts with one.   While I could go almost as extreme as your personal surgery example you posted on my site and say slavery and voting rights for minorities and women weren’t changed until one person started the ball – I know that’s asinine.   What I will state is a more applicable modern example.   Recently in America there as been an increase awareness in organic foods.   Granted not all organic foods actually hold a benefit, but as more people are becoming aware of those that do customers are demanding it.   Now on your grocer’s shelves you are seeing more and more organic alternatives to the foods you’ve always purchased, more then likely the alternatives are made by the same manufacturer as your own stand by.   This change was not mandated but driven by market force.  I’m sure it started by one guy saying this food sucks, I want this type and then telling friends.   Things like this snowball.

  I’ll state that I can come across like an ass.  I don’t deny this and though I’m not out for any malice, I’m only blunt and don’t mince words.   Whether you ever reply or comment on my blog please take my words to heart.  The earlier you change and the faster you change the easier it is as time goes by and you don’t become completely entrenched.  I understand that you care about the pets first.   If you aren’t working with the customers and giving them the most efficient ways of interacting with you you disenfranchise them.   If you don’t at the very least address complaints directly to the users ASAP – this has a direct reflection on you, timeliness in addressing complaints is one of the first steps of customer service.   Taking 12 days to acknowledge receiving it to the customer that is complaining is unacceptable.   Not taking blame for improperly setting expectations is also unacceptable customer service.   You may care about the pets but ANY poor customer service that can drive away possible money being spent at your location, donations, or especially adoptions is even a more disservice to the pets then anyone that could call, e-mail, or write you.

  Customer service can be adjusted by modify your current processes.   Making the new processes the norm will mean after a short while you won’t understand why you thought they took so much longer that you refused to change sooner. I never said the receptionist was rude, I stated the e-mail issue was poor customer service.  The way you have handled this and the time it has taken you has been poor customer for something so small.   Admitting that will be the first step to better customer service.   I know it’s hard to admit you were wrong.  Maybe I should have been quiet, but maybe I’m not alone.  Maybe others have had this exact same issue but haven’t spoken up to anyone.   How do you or I know that I’m the singular issue in this equation?  I doubt if I hadn’t posted this on my blog that you would have ever responded.   If it hadn’t been ranked so high in google you would have never responded.   This in and of itself states you are aware of the power of technology and it’s effect.   While I may just be a vocal singular person, I’m speaking up for that possible other person, or handful or people, that may have had similar issues and complaints that haven’t expressed them so publicly.

  I could have gotten a picket sign and marched on public property for hours until this was all changed and addressed.  Ironically in the digital age that spending an hour writing e-mails to you and the effect in google have more of an impact on you then having an article about me picketing in front of your organization.   I’m aware of this and now so are you.   So also is the next person that may have a complaint about your organization.  My post gives credence and a sense of community to any you disenfranchise.   If you don’t address your issues properly to some extent remember that I have given an easy forum for users to state what complaints they also may have with you.  The silent complaints will not stay so silent in the future because of this.

  Finally like I said, I’m blunt.  I feel I’ve handled this properly and professionally especially since there is more of a public eye on companies and the issues people have with them.  If it wouldn’t have been me it would have been the next guy.   Not only have I pointed out the issues, I’ve given you a low cost method of addressing where it only requires some learning and effort on your part.  I also gave you the option of having the work done for an extremely low fee (find out how much it costs at the local computer store to do an hours worth of labor and realize it may take upwards to 3-4 to get you happy with the setup I laid out for you).  I’ve also posted the whole process online, so as you modify your steps and the assurances I hear from you I will post those as well as your failings.   I have no reason to pursue a hatred vendetta, I will champion you as much as I denounce you. You run a great organization with what I am sure is great volunteers and people behind it.   However your customer service, your customer services processes, and your ability to address issues still all do suck.   Addressing these issues can raise the bar across the organization, you can be mediocre or you can be better.   The choice is yours. 

We thank you for your input regarding our email address being posted by Rascal. They are a wonderful organization and they do great things for the communities that they go to.

They offer low cost spay and neuter to areas where people have lost their jobs, homes, or had to take a reduced income and/or have a large population of un-spayed or neutered animals. In some of the southern counties in Ohio, they actually screen the people who use the rascal clinic for need, based on income. You can imagine how grateful these people are, who could not afford such a procedure with out the services rascals. The Ashland County Humane Society has not decided to take this approach and has allowed all who would like to use the clinic, to be able to do so.

I am responding to this blog as you forwarded it to us, i would assume for some response. Serious consideration regarding rather it should be responded to was given, but have decided to do so. There are things that would be helpful for the community to know.

I’m curious if they would have still responded if my post entitled “Ashland Humane Society’s Poor Service” wasn’t the the third hit in google when you search for the “Ashland Humane Society”. While I stated in my original letter that I was posting it on my blog an e-mail reply would have been fine, though I would have replied with this post just the same.

Lets address your above issues.

Yes, you did email us regarding an appointment. That email was sent on Fri Jan 25 @ 12:52 pm. This is LESS then 48 hours prior to the arrival of Rascals. We close out the schedule for each clinic, either when the clinic is full, or the Thurs or Fri prior to the arrival of the clinic. Rascal needs some type of surgery schedule prior to arrival, so they know how to stock the unit for that clinic. Usually, our clinics fill up first.

This particular clinic was closed out weeks prior to Fri, Jan 25, as it was FULL. This information was stated on our voice mail at our phone number. I am not sure how we could have conveyed that information to you since you only emailed us. We may have been able to respond to your email if emailed us earlier.

The time ahead was irrelevant since according to the Rascal unit site there was no stipulations on the amount of lead time that I would need to schedule the appointment nor did it even suggest I call ahead and verify. I just had the forethought since it was the morning of and didn’t know what time they arrived in the morning. If the Rascal Unit needs a certain amount of lead time it should state that on their web site where it states to schedule it.

The easiest method to respond to individuals who do not know any better would be to set up an auto-responder in your
e-mail stating the best option is to call ahead and verify if you need to make an appointment or need immediate assistance. This is how you would inform anyone via e-mail. Simple to the point and no one trying to get in contact with you would have proper expectations set.

I am sure this is still upsetting to you as your perfered communication is email, and you seem to be a very techy person having his blog and webpage. But, we are a Humane Society dedicated to the welfare of ANIMALS. So, we have animals to take care of, animals need medications, transported to vet care, spay and neuters scheduled, adoption visits arranged and handled, cages need cleaned, adoption websites need updated, injured animals need picked up, neglect and inhumanities called need fielded and investigated, community public relations, fund raising events, managing volunteers, and we could go on. So, our apoligizes, if we only get to check the email once a day or less. Animals come first.

E-mail is my preferred communication and I expect any business that offers this as a means of contact to take it seriously. I do not need immediate contact, though you felt a full two weeks to respond in any fashion is good customer service. If e-mail is too technical I’m sure postal mail would arrived in that same time frame. I neither asked nor requested a post on my blog, but since i did post it I felt it fair to include that I did in the e-mail. While you may say animals are your primary concern within the same time frame I have contacted other veterinary clinics on spay and neuter prices and have gotten a response with 24 hours. At least two of those were volunteer organizations, from your assumptions this must mean they care about pets less then you.

At the point my blog article was originally published you were unaware which person it was that e-mailed you, I would expect that any organization that offers e-mail as a form of communication to at least check it before they go home for the day. While you may state that pets are your first concern if I was contacting you about a potential adoption of of one your pets and had not received a response I could have moved on to the next place that would. If you honestly believe e-mail is separate from telephone calls wait until the current tweens are grown up and expect responses via text messaging. Maybe that will be the time frame you actually take it as an important business tool. It is a business tool to you, it allows for adoptions and communications with your customers. Not having a timely response may put off potential adopters and then an animal may have to put to sleep if it’s not rescued. Ironically checking your e-mail at the end of every day may save at least 1-2 animal lives a year, so I too think of the animals.

Your email started with ” I would like to make an appointment.” And, appointment IS need. Someone would have had to made contact with you to schedule your animals, get your animals names, give you a time to show up, and pre-operative surgery instructions. Your blog here starts that you called to CONFIRM your appointment, just by sending an email does NOT mean that an appointment has been set. It is just a means to contact the Humane Society, to let them know of your need/interest, so someone can get back in touch with you.

If you notice that e-mail that prompted you to respond was written to the Rascal Unit – I was kind enough to CC to let you know what was being said. It is as much your fault as it is their’s that the site said I could make an appointment via e-mail. This also begs the question – why would someone have needed to make personal contact? To Schedule – that was what the e-mail was for? Get my animals name’s? I could tell you there names were larry, curly, and moe but there real names may be profanity terms that I only use around my own house (they aren’t before you ask). The point is there is no ID or verification that I’m bringing you the pet I said was hence the name requirement is ridiculous especially since it is on the paperwork I would have to bring in. Give me a time to show up? This is as simple as replying to an e-mail. Pre-Operative instructions? I already received these from the Rascal Unit website, also I had all the paperwork filled out and ready to go. It seems I was more prepared for this then you were.

If it’s just a means to show interest you are beholden to contact your partner Rascal Unit and inform them to make the changes on their web site.

I am sure that you would not contact your personal medical surgeon via email to schedule a surgery. and if you did and recieved no response assume that things were going to go all as planned. How would you even know if they received the email? How would you know if they were or weren’t having email/computer problems. Wouldn’t you be concerned when you did not hear from them, if they even recieved your email. Would you know wonder if there was anything you needed to know or prepare for prior to your surgery? ‘Wouldn’t you want your appointment confirmed? Wouldn’t you want to personally hear from someone?

Are you going to compare the two? Really? We’ll start with the fact to get medical surgery you have to be referred to a surgeon from a general practioner. At this point what I did do was contact the general practitioner (Rascal Unit) went to their web site. They referred me to contact you – their contact method stated for you was to to calls OR e-mail to schedule an appointment. In real life though your GP would contact the surgeon and the surgeon would then contact you to make an appointment. Yes I have dealt with medical confirmations of my appointments via e-mail. I would also defy you to find me a doctor’s office that doesn’t reply or acknowledge their e-mail they receive. I know you don’t have to deal with insurance but they do and their e-mail addresses are regularly monitored. They know this is how they get paid. I’m sure a receptionist at the doctors office would reply in e-mail that the person would have to call for an appointment if e-mail was an issue.

Why would I personally want to hear form someone. I’m sorry you don’t think e-mail is personal. Wouldn’t taking the time to handwrite a note actually be more personal? Yet because I type it out instead of hand writing it (which in my case would have been far less legible) it becomes more impersonal then a phone call? I don’t need you to waste time calling me since your could have replied to the e-mail that you can’t take appointments liek that quicker then it takes you to walk from one end of the room to another to answer the phone. If you throw in that somehow you have someone sitting next to the phone – this person should have a computer alerting about incoming e-mail.

Further, many Humane Society are not open on weekends, others still have short hours on Saturday’s and office staff is not there. I am surprised that you were not concerned about this possible issue when you sent your email on Fri. afternoon.

Are you daft? I knew the Rascal Unit was going to be and knew from the website how long the procedure would take. The only thing I didn’t know was the start time. Why should I have worried about the hours?

Apparently, concerned came about the morning of the clinic Jan 27, 2008. That is when a phone call was placed by you. And, one of two volunteers for that day (sharing her own personal time) answered the phone, in the middle of checking in, half of the 59 people/pets scheduled for the clinic that day. She was trying to keep the check-in flow going, and answer peoples questions, give instructions, handle surgery paperwork, assist with animals, ect. things were a little chaotic. She personally apoligizes if she conveyed herself as rude to you, as that was not her intent. She also stated she did not elaborate or explain to you the procedure or discuss the email as she did not have the convience of time to do so. She stated she told you it must not have been checked as she knew how hard we work at getting back with everyone. She personally did not know who & when the last time the email had been checked. You even stated that services were offered for Feb 24, 2008. We schedule the clinic on a first to contact us basis, even if a message is left.

We did not ask or instruct rascal to place our email address on their website. And, we gave serious consideration over the last couple weeks to your input about having it removed. In the end we decided let it remain as in the 14 plus clinics we have done with rascal, this is the only incident. And, we apoligize to you, we are terribly sorry.

Once again – I was worried since I hadn’t heard back about the start time or arrival. I hadn’t even considered my e-mail would have been unseen or ignored. I stated the woman who answered the phone cut me off, which was fine. She didn’t do it rudely and I understand what she was going through. Since I couldn’t say she was or was not the one responsible for checking the e-mail I didn’t take it our on her. Her answer about how often you do check your e-mail made my original addressed to the Rascal Unit rather then you. The partnership you two have going on is what is at issue. If I remember correctly you are the ONLY one that states on the Rascal Unit web site that you accept appointments via e-mail. Other stops have e-mail addresses you can INQUIRE to. Yet under your listing it states I can make an APPOINTMENT with you at that e-mail address. This means Rascal Unit doesn’t have a standard block posting it puts with all of it’s partners, hence you or more specifically someone in your organization has put forth that expectation. You don’t have to remove your e-mail address you have to get the wording changed to set expectations properly.

One more note for the community and yourself to know. Your Ashland County Humane Society is only operated by volunteers, NO PAID EMPLOYEES.

These very same volunteers have regular paying jobs at 40 or more hours a week, some go to college in addition, involved in their church communities, some also volunteer for other non-profits, they have spouses, kids and some grandkids. They have regular busy lives such as yourselves and the hours they give to the humane society are hours taken away from the other parts of their lives. They do this for their love of animals and to provide service such as this for the community, to provide a better future for the animals, and to help and assist the people in the ,Ashland Community. The core group of daily volunteer’s is small as most do not have time or want to dedication such a large amount of their free time to keep this Humane Society operational on a day to day basis. We appreciate and are grateful for anyone who can, does or wants to help, no matter how big or small a gesture. Mr. Gueth yourself included, as you can see we could use help in the techy department, it take a “back burner” to the needs of the animal.

These volunteers are the very same people who are “providing poor service”, a little support and understanding is uplifting and greatly appreciated, it makes it worth the effort.

Ashland County Humane Society

Why does paid or un-paid make a difference. If I come over and mow half your lawn and then don’t charge your not going to be annoyed. I understand volunteering – I used to volunteer at for the Friend’s of Habourtown yearly for 3 years before my move to Oregon. Counting my commute I had a 55 hour work week and still volunteered 30-40 hours a week minimum for 5 months a year. My wife during this same time frame put in more hours then myself with the same organization. This being a decade ago – we still checked and responded to our e-mails daily. Some of us even checked them from our day jobs on break since it takes less then a minute to know if there is anything pressing.

Via the Internet today I can order pizza from at least 3 places in town (one of them I can or soon can text message in an order), I can order groceries and have them delivered next day. I can mange my bank account and order anything over the internet. I can order dog collars that have GPS tracking on my pets so I can get e-mail updates on where they are or track them in real time with a cell phone. The Internet really is where communication and business of all types is going.

After posting the original blog article my wife and I discussed starting a low cost service for non-profits to get suitably wired in the 21st century. You may say that this is to make a profit, but really it isn’t. The price we have been throwing around is less then 1 hours worth of computer repair at most places in your town, also it is to cover the prices for the other services we would be configuring for you – domain registration is not free. Essentially the cost has been driven down where the profit would be less then what I make in an hour during my day job. So I want to make clear that trying to work on that idea is not some get rich quick scheme. Though we may be able to work something out at cost for you.

I tell it like I see it and don’t hold back. In your letter you admit there is some PR shortcomings and wrong expectations set that I have pointed out more explicitly. I hold no personal anger to you that has lasted more then the 20 minutes that it took to write the original post/e-mail I sent out. I call it like I see it, because of this some people don’t like me. That’s fine. If you can look at this as straight talk and no personal animosity we may be able to work something out. The best thing I can say is that I’m enough of a straight shooter that I won’t lie to you since I have no reason, nor will I go behind your back since obviously I believe in the openness of the public forum.

I would say you can call me (I think I left my number in the original e-mail) I would suggest you write though. You see if your not on my contact list any phone calls to me go straight to voicemail. My voicemail is then e-mailed immediately after it’s left. So essentially in take the time to call me it’s still going to be handled on my side via e-mail. Oh and that service is free. If you were on my calling list though it would ring my work phone, my home phone (if it was plugged in), and my cell phone at the same time until I answered one of them.

P.S.

Same with faxes too (also free).

P.P.S

Soon I may be moving my postal mail over to a service that scans it in an e-mails it to me.

E-mail really is important to a business to get anything done in a faster fashion then the old ways.

UPDATE:

I forgot to add a couple things – I managed to respond within an hour and half of the comment being left since I was alerted to it via e-mail.   The second part is the first hit in google for “Ashland Humane Society” points to an adoption site.   To adopt a pet I have to e-mail someone outside of the Ashland Humane Organization to a personal e-mail address.  Granted that person probably works for the Ashland Humane Society, but all inquiries should be set to go through the address they use for business.   Finally the same site points to the Ashland Humane Society’s website  – www.ashlandhumane.com – the problem with that is they allowed their domain to expire and it was picked up by a spam blog on Jan 17th of this year.  This is another they need to update with their partners and fix within their organization.