I've never really understood the purpose of gay pride flags, bumper stickers, shirts, etc.  I mean, really, who cares who you like to have sex with?  I don't wear or display "straight pride" stuff so why would you want to wear/display gay pride stuff? Well, this morning I think I finally got it.  Those flags, stickers, and shirts have nothing to do with the person's sexual preference specifically but rather their membership within a specific sub-culture.  The people who fly these flags aren't saying, "Look at me!  I prefer sex with the same gender!"  Instead they are saying, "I'm proud of and support the GLBT community." Those rainbow flags and shirts are no different in spirit than the jerseys and flags that fans of some college football programs wear on game day.  Both groups are part of their own subculture and are showing their pride in their particular subculture through the overt display of the symbols that represent their subculture. So, why don't straight people where "straight pride" stuff? Well, the same reason people don't fly an "Earth" flag but they will fly their nations flag.  There just isn't any exclusivity to being a member of "Earth" or in being straight.  Neither of these are sub-cultures.  Being straight is so prevalent that you don't even think of it as a group.  But the GLBT community has been marginalized for so long that they are a true subculture. I may be missing some of the nuance to the GLBT pride displays but I think this is probably the heart of the matter.  What do you think?  Am I just stating the obvious (please, only non GLBT people answer that one)?

#Commentary

Next Tuesday, Oct 20, I will be presenting as part of the "Storytellers" session of the Business track at the Create WV conference because of my work with the whyhuntington.com website. I'm pretty out of practice with my public speaking and the time frame for my presentation is pretty limited (10-15min) so I want to put my outline up for others to review and provide some feedback. I don't know if I will actually get to touch on everything in the outline but all of the elements are somewhat important to me effectively communicating my story. Here's the outline. Please be as harsh as you want; just keep it constructive. Thanks

1. Introduction
   1. Who I am
   2. How Did I get Here?
   3. Why did I stay here?
   4. Why am I speaking today?
2. Why Huntington.com
   1. Why did I create it?
      1. why charleston
      2. lawrence fine
   2. What are my goals for it?
      1. locals
         1. show them how great their hometown is
         2. keep them informed of all that is going on
         3. help get them involved in making the place better
         4. show folks how many great creative people are here
      2. outsiders
         1. counter some of the bad national publicity
         2. high search result for huntington wv
            1. Where did that start?
            2. Where is it now?
         3. show people this is a place they might want to live/work in
      3. Collaboration
         1. I can't do it all alone - I have a job
         2. I don't know everything there is to know
         3. Even when I do know, I'm not always the expert
         4. IT'S HARD to get others to invest themselves in the idea
      4. Aggregated Calendar - http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/services/whyhuntington/html
         1. what is it?
         2. how does it work?
            1. other people publish their own calendars online
               1. google
               2. microsoft live
               3. outlook tie-in
            2. pull it all in programmatically
               1. working with Jon Udell of Keane NH; another small town
         3. Value?
            1. Calendar is always updated with accurate info
            2. Residents know what is going on before it happens
               1. no more, "nothing happens here"
               2. no more, "I always hear about something a week after it happens"
            3. metric of events:popluation ratio
               1. one way to show quality of life here
                  1. possibly show comparisons to other towns in project http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/
                  2. show "tags" and give an idea of temporal scope (90 days) http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/services/whyhuntington/tags_html
      5. Why WV Network
         1. Why Huntington and Why Charleston
         2. Benefits?
            1. Shows great features of the entire state
            2. Helps to counter streotypes
            3. Help people who are thinking of moving here see why they should
            4. Help businesses see the value in opening here (it's the people)
         3. Obstacles?
            1. Getting someone to start it
            2. Overcoming the post-honeymoon slump
               1. how do you stay motivated to keep posting?
            3. Expense?
               1. fairly inexpensive to operate
               2. potentially sizable cost in effort to get a site started
                  1. domain name
                  2. site configuration and installation
                  3. training time
   3. Technology Used
      1. Wordpress Blogging Engine

#General

My boss, Mark, saw this on CBS 60 minutes and shared it with me. I had seen an older video but this CBS one is a higher quality. Check them both (CBS and older)
Watch CBS News Videos Online AND

#Sports #FunStuff

• Cubeecraft - Free Papercraft Toys
  really neat craft projects - you print out and then fold up all sorts of figures and figurines. A perfect afternoon activity for anyone who likes making things
  (tags: fun craft paper toys origami)

#Del.icio.usLinks

Money Graph

While at least one box (solar panels) is kind of useless - the overall graph is pretty interesting.

via informationisbeautiful.net

#photo

Well, fall has managed to sneak up on me and I haven't posted in, probably, over a month. I'm a disgrace to the blogging community! Be that as it may I have decided to throw out a new family update to keep my diasporic friends and family informed. You can thank me later and, yes, I made up the word diasporic; sue me. No, please don't sue me I can't really afford to defend myself - in fact, just forget about the diaspora I suggested and focus, instead, on what follows. After my bad luck bike ride where I ended up with two broken chains and a flat I don't think I've made it back on the trails again even though I did replace my chain. I think I need to tweak a tooth on my second chain ring and thus I've been making excuses to not ride. Not only in blogging have I been a slacker. However, I have not just been sitting on my ass. No, I've been out playing ultimate frisbee again, which, truth be told, has been a blast. Sure, I've sucked - but I've had a lot of fun. I've played once or twice a week over the past three weeks and it has been a great change of pace. My left Achilles tendon doesn't care much for it - but the rest of me is feeling great. In a completely unrelated topic my website, WhyHuntington.com, is still going pretty strong. It has never gotten as many other contributors as I would have liked but it's going OK. Because of it I have been asked to speak at the Create WV Conference being held in Huntington Oct 18-20. I'll be a speaker in the Business Tracks session on "Why West Virginia?" This will probably be my largest speaking audience since High School Debate so hopefully I don't make an ass out of myself. Shannon and Emily are both busy with school; Shannon in 3rd grade and Emily in Kindergarten. They both have homework every friggen night which is a real drag. How much homework should a kindergartner have anyway? Granted, Emily needs to work a bit harder during the day, in school, but sheesh I'm not sure they both need to have so much to do every night. Shannon is working on a solid "C" in her conduct grade becuase she is such a screwball. She talks, pretends like she's sleeping, doesn't turn in homework - or tests for that matter - and is generally a non-model student in class. In large part this is our fault becuase I don't think we've really instilled much responsibility into her so now we are trying to think of some ways to get her to me more responsible. I'm not entirely sure where we are going with that but hopefully, in the long run, we'll pick a winning strategy. Emily, on the other hand, is no better. She doesn't really listen in class, does her own things, and makes up excuses for why she can't do things all the time instead of trying to figure out how she actually can do something. This whole parenting thing is no walk in the park let me tell you. Of course I have no idea how to make her not be a total slacker - but we are trying and hopefully, again, we'll figure out a good strategy for straightening her out a bit. Even with these past two paragraphs as evidence against the girls, in general, they kick ass. They are great. They both keep the house full of joy and creativity. If you're a friend of Lisa's on facebook you've undoubtedly seen some of the breakfasts they've made for her over the past few weekends. They crack me up. I'm pretty sure there still hasn't been a day in Shannon's life where she hasn't made me laugh and smile. Emily is super excited about her upcoming birthday and everyday she comes up with something else she wants. I don't think she'll be getting any of the things she has asked for. She knows her birthday is in the fall so when she heard fall started she was pretty certain it was her birthday. She cracks me up. Lisa just had her birthday and I threw her a surprise party to celebrate the birthday she had while I was in Hong Kong. While she had an inkling I was doing something she didn't realize the scope of the crowd that would be there so I partially surprised her which was cool. It is really hard to schedule, plan, and pull off a surprise party for another adult living in the same house. Especially if the party is in the house. The next time I try that I'll see if someone else will host it or I'll have it at a place. Lisa is working, working, working and hoping for good news around Thanksgiving when she will find out if her companies merger will leave her unemployed. Hopefully the new company realizes what an amazing asset she is and they keep her. Otherwise she will get to fulfill her second career dream (after being a pharma rep) of being a stay-at-home mom. If we thought the budget was tight now I can't imagine how frugal we'll have to become if that happens but I imagine we will figure out some way to work it out. I know our annual vacation will be on the kibosh, as will TV, internet, and any eating out ever. In fact we would probably have to sell our house and move to a much less expensive residence. It would be an interesting change of pace. Our babysitter has been pretty sick lately so Lisa has been with her at the Hospital a lot lately. She was diagnosed recently with several pulmonary embolism's so she was admitted to the Hospital a little over a week ago. Now she is on some blood thinners that are insanely expensive (for a variety of reasons). She also has no health insurance so, initially, we were really concerned about her financial health as well. Fantastically, the state of WV stepped up and gave her a medical card for the next six months which basically covers all of her medical costs. Every six months they will review her financial status to see if she still qualifies. What a great program! I know some of you may be bothered to see the government interfering in health care - but I think she is exactly the type of person who should be getting help. I'm sure there is a lot more I should be saying right now but I can't think of anything so hopefully this will be enough to sate your appetite for all things Rawlinson in Huntington.

#Family #MyLife

• How To Turn On A Mountain Bike At Speed
  Tips on Mt Bike turning with speed - I need to read this about 20 times and then remember to trust my bike more.
  (tags: mountain-biking turning)

#Del.icio.usLinks

So I thought I should show everyone how much better I've gotten at riding my Mountain Bike lately.

But, then I thought - "you wouldn't really enjoy watching me crash" - so I put this video of amazing Danny MacAskill doing his Trials riding in Scotland. He is bad ass. That tree-flip with a twist boggles my mind.

#MountainBiking

• Game Programming Patterns
  Development patterns with an emphasis on their use in Game Programming. A site full of nice explainations of various patterns, their strengths and, more importantly, their weaknesses.
  (tags: development design patterns programming reference)

#Del.icio.usLinks

When I'm driving around I see a lot of people screwing around with their cell phones not even thinking about what might happen. Well wake up folks driving requires you to pay attention. This video is fairly long and a little graphic but I think it illustrates my point pretty well

#Commentary