Just checking if this works.

I know I shouldn’t let the care and feeding of these sites go for so long. Apologize to anyone that was decent enough to request a connection through any of these sites. If you know me, once we’re friends, we’re friends for life - even if I never talk to you again. B)

Alas, I used to be the number one Michael Bauer on Google. Then that San Francisco food critic Michael Bauer took the number one spot. That wasn’t much of a problem as I get treated like royalty when I dine in the Foggy City. Now, I’ve slipped to number three as the artist Michael Bauer has a freaking Saatchi Gallery site. His work is pretty cool so I guess I’m OK with that. Any of these German guys come on strong and I’m going to have to launch my own little jihad to regain my ranking though. Sprechen Sie Deutsch, baby?

I sent copies of the following to the Colorado Secretary of State, the Colorado Senator who is Chairman of the Business, Labor and Technology Committee, and the Editor of the Denver Post.

The State for Colorado may be improperly imposing hidden business fees, supporting discriminatory computer contracts and risking the privacy and security of business financial information. How? Every year, businesses must file an Annual Report. Filing electronically is only $10 – unless you try to file a report using widely available alternatives to Microsoft technology. When you file using one of these alternatives you are never given any indication during the filing that you are not using “recommended” technology. Your credit card information is taken but you may never receive confirmation that your transaction has completed or you might be given some vague message that “the server is not responding.”

What you will subsequently receive is a printed notice of “Delinquency to File” – with the fee now raised to $50.

In this day and age this is wholly unacceptable. There are numerous commercial transactions conducted every second on the Internet where this sort of thing doesn’t happen. At the least it is far below acceptable best practices of software development for online commercial transactions. At the worst it raises serious concerns over the privacy and security of financial information provided by businesses around the state to the state.
I urge you to investigate this matter and take appropriate action.

If you’re going to play paintball with me, here’s how to get to the field. We’re looking to play from 10am to 2pm so it’s a good idea to be there by 9am to get all setup. Plan on bringing about $80. Call me at 303 888 5881. Wear shoes you don’t mind getting dirty, dark long-sleeve and long pants clothes, and some light gloves (like cycling gloves).

I setup a little feeder this weekend out of my little space in Copper and (after about 20 shots) finally caught this Broad Tail Hummingbird in some semblance of focus.

I updated my Flickr Photostream with a few new shots. Just trying to learn how to use this new fangled camera I got. I like Colors on the Craton (which is what geologists call the entire midsection of the United States the Interior Stable Craton - big floating raft of rock on our tectonic plate.)

I’ve spent a little too much time but have updated all my sites. This one, Koano, SeeingForests, and even (drumroll) Internet.ORG. Long time coming for this cobbler to get some new shoes. Some work to be done on feedback forms but other than that, pretty happy.

Bought this here new theme the Thesis Theme and am pretty happy so far. Have some ideas on modifying it but thought it was high time to get something a little more professional looking.

This is a letter to the Editor of the Denver Post. The article Ski deaths prompt look for link demonstrates how we humans are compelled to create patterns to explain things - and how those who should know better don’t stop those with credentials from doing so. Numbers are used, statistics are implied, and causes are stipulated - all without any sound basis in truly rational reasoning. The author strives to imply that groomed slopes are at fault. 9 of the 17 hit trees on groomed runs. He goes on to say that 7 of those 9 had helmets on. Maybe the helmets were at fault. Ridiculous? Certainly. Just as ridiculous as any of the other cause-and-effect relations you could surmise. The lack of intellectual rigor goes on. The author states that there “rarely is statistical proof supporting one theory for why people die skiing”. The phrase “statistical proof” is an oxymoron. You have correlation with statistics, not proof. As such, the choice of word should be “never” not “rarely.”

In any case, the truly random thing about this letter is that I’m actually on the Management Team of Slope Watch, part of Ski Patrol at Copper Mountain. I’ve “stood post” at Copper for seven years helping everyone have as enjoyable a skiing and riding experience as possible in congested areas. I stated on my blog that there “are no patterns” in these incidents. This brought the comment from the author in an email exchange that this was the “canned response from every Kool-aid drinker who has ever earned a dollar from a skier”. I’m actually a volunteer, have never earned a dollar from Copper, and don’t imbibe high fructose drinks. BUT NONE OF THIS IS THE POINT. You could replace the article with something about food poisoning in the restaurant industry. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care about the ski industry. What I do care about is intellectual rigor and the responsibility of journalists - and their editors - not to so blithely dismiss the bitterly random unique circumstance of each one of these tragic deaths by trying to explain them in some cartoon-like semblance of intellectualism. It repels the reality and trivializes the tragic.