Tag Archives: Blacksburg

Footloose (with the Facts), starring Mitt Romney!

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Mitt Romney said a couple curious things Saturday. Fortunately for him, he did so at Regent “University,” which isn’t a place you’re likely to encounter a lot of critical thinking. The most entertaining assertion was this bit:

“It seems that Europe leads Americans in this way of thinking,” Romney told the crowd of more than 5,000. “In France , for instance, I’m told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past.” (Story.)

Mmmmkay. I’ve turned the Internets inside out and can’t find a scrap of evidence to support this claim. Read more

The ballad of a progressive gun owner

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We’ve heard a great deal on the issue of gun control in the wake of Virginia Tech – not surprisingly – and as is always the case when these debates flare up we see a fairly predictable framing: “conservative” = pro-gun, “liberal” = gun control. If you’re a fairly measured reader, which I think I am, you see comment on both sides that you find reasoned and intelligent and considerably more on both sides that strikes you as dim and prefabricated, at best. We’ve been blessed here at S&R to have some comment from the smart/liberal camp (if I might carve the world up that way for a moment) in the person of Robert Silvey.

However, it’s the way “pro-gun” is automatically associated with “conservative” that bothers me. If we’re forced to label people – and this is America, so I am – I guess you’d have to custom order a “progressive gun owner” tag for me. Read more

It was eight years ago today

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Posted: April 20, 2007: 11:19 am MDT
Denver CO

In 1999 I was the Electronic Communications Manager for US West’s internal comm group, and my team rode herd on several channels used to communicate with 44,000 employees in 14 states and DC. Mornings were usually really busy – we posted things when they happened, but we did a big daily update by noon every day. Sometime around lunch Joe Lopez, who handled a variety of things for us, said, “hey, Sammy, there’s been a school shooting in Littleton.” Read more

Stick to the plan

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The stuff rolling across the transom this morning isn’t filling me with rainbows and unicorns.

Could more lives have been saved at Virginia Tech?

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I’m going to try and do this without looking like a vulture – I hate those who profiteer off the misfortunes of others and don’t want to be guilty of that crime myself – so let me begin with full disclosure. I’m a principal in a mobility consulting firm that offers the kinds of services I’m going to describe below. This makes me an informed observer, but it also makes me someone who might benefit financially from what I’m proposing. Take this for what it’s worth.

First, when things began unfolding in Blacksburg yesterday morning, the university notified its students via e-mail. There are a lot of problems with the response, starting with this: college students don’t use e-mail, at least not any more than they have to. Read more