Just wondering….

Sun keeps trying to offer Sun essentials for startups to Amplafi. The problem is that we don’t want to purchase services at the box level. We want to purchase at the java vm level. Buying a box means we have to worry about maintaining it. But that is the level that Sun is used to talking at and selling at.

We are agnostic out of necessity to questions about os, hardware, etc…. so Sun needs to go further up the foodchain for Sun to be able to sell to Amplafi.

Sun should stop being afraid of pissing of partners and start experimenting with offering their own hosting service at the java vm only level. After all who can manage Sun boxes and Sun’s java vm better - Amplafi, JoeBlow’s hosting service or the people who wrote the vm and built the box?

One of our cats died over the weekend, and it was interesting the reaction of the kids.

Arianna (3 1/2) was really melodramatic. “Sunshine is dead” spoken in a pseudo-emotional level. Rosemarie (4 1/2) is more concerned about death and understanding that Sunshine is permanently gone. We buried him dead in the garden so there would be some permanence attached to death. We avoided euphemisms and talked frankly about Sunshine’s body is no longer working and he is not going to “wake up”.

Rosemarie is doing pictures showing the car that hit Sunshine. Fortunately, no one saw it happen.

The letter I sent to Amtrak :

As someone who has traveled on Amtrak frequently, as a rail fan, and as an advocate of rail in general within the environmental community, I am extremely upset that Amtrak is contributing to the destruction of America’s civil liberties.

Today (6/12 @ 6:40pm) while visiting Union Station in Washington, DC, I was taking pictures of the station. As a rail fan and a transportation advocate, this is something I have done at many train stations. I was ordered to stop taking pictures first by a member of the janitorial staff (apparently they are now police here in the city of Washington) and then by a member of Amtrak Police, Sgt Epps badge # 179. His argument was that my civil libraries did not apply to the Union Station because it was private property and he ordered me to stop taking photos. Sgt. Epps claimed it was because of “heightened security after 9/11″. It should be noted that at the time I was not in any secured area nor was I engaged in any activity that would result in possible harm. Never the less, Sgt. Epps said that his “years of training told him that I did not have a ticket but did have a camera and was therefore suspicious”. As an aside, I was with my wife and my 2 young children, if anything was obvious it was that I was a tourist and oh by the way he never established that I nor my family did not have a ticket. Furthermore the area in question was a public area open to all.

I am well aware of no law being passed restricting rail fan photography. But I am also well aware that numerous police agencies have used 9/11 as a ploy to take away our civil liberties. Rail fans who enjoy taking pictures of trains have been subject to harassment such as I experienced.

I ask that Amtrak stop having the Amtrak police harass people simply for being rail / transportation fans. Having a camera should not be considered a suspicious activity!

Amtrak is using the cover of the “war of terror” to attack rail fans civil rights.

Update and to Amtrak’s credit here is their reply:

It is distressing to have this happen to anyone, but particularly so to someone who is such a good customer and loyal supporter of our mission.

We will be discussing your story with both Amtrak Police, the customer services people and I think most importantly, the employee communications people in this department who can mount a re-education campaign to all employees about the policies involving photography.

On behalf of the company, please accept our apologies for the overzealous application of our “See Something, Say Something” policy that you were subjected to on your recent trip.

Once again, thank you for writing. We look forward to having you aboard, under more pleasant circumstances.

Sincerely,

Karen Felder
Customer Relations Specialist