Randy Cassingham's Blog

Another Week, Another Pack of Clueless School Officials

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:00:00 -0700

Two stories this week deserve some follow-up: one that's pretty light-hearted, and the other ...much less so. Let's start with the comedy; both stories are from True's 13 May 2012 issue:

"I Was Not In an Accident"

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:00:00 -0700

Another story that really needs the photo to drive it home (or to work). A reader sent me the story, and I said "Eh, kind of humdrum" — until I saw what the driver said, which made the story worth telling. And then I saw the photo, and knew it was truly True fodder. Read the story first, from True's 13 May 2012 issue, before scrolling down to the photo:

Survey Results on Book Compilations

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:00:00 -0700

I ran a survey the past week asking what you wanted to see in True's book compilations. Here are the results.

Update on TRUE's Book Compilations

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:00:00 -0700

I'm getting more and more mail asking about this, and I've been dropping hints here and there that something's up. So it's time to give you the skinny on where things are with True's book collections. Exciting things are happening!

Planning for the Rest of Your Life

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:00:00 -0700

A friend who is a career military man is retiring soon. He's still pretty young, so he asked for some advice on what to do next; he sees that I'm pretty successful, and he wants to be successful too, in the next phase of his life.

His question was: how does he figure out what's really right for him, for what he wants to do next? My reply was fairly detailed. After sending it to my friend, I also sent it to the smaller of my two Mastermind groups, asking for their feedback. Some of their responses: "Wow!", "INNOVATIVE", "Thought provoking indeed!", "LOVED the article, literally devoured the whole thing! (Okay, not quite literally, but you know what I mean.)", "What a great job Randy has done at capturing and articulating all of this", and "This is HUGE gift." I thought I'd share that gift with you, too.

Two Tiny Scandals

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:00:00 -0700

Two stories this week will, I think, generate some comments from readers. One has a zero tolerance theme, and the other is a minor political scandal. They're both from True's 19 February 2012 issue.

Don't Have a Cow, Man

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:00:00 -0700

Readers wanted to see the photos that go with this story, about the prisoner-altered State Police car-door decal in Vermont. It ran in True's 12 February 2012 issue:

My Highest Recommendation

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:00:00 -0700

Now and then I mention interesting books I'm reading, or TV shows I'm watching. I've found two related TV specials that are so good, I ended up saving them and showing them to my wife, who is also finding them fascinating.

The Worship of Joe Paterno

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:00:00 -0700

I posted this on Facebook on Sunday. The response was amazing:

I'm having trouble with all the Joe Paterno worship I'm seeing today. Yeah, he was a "winning football coach" and all, but when he found out one of his assistant coaches was raping little boys in his spare time (even on campus!), he did the very minimum required by law (reported it to his supervisor). He did NOT make sure it stopped, he did NOT make sure that the police had been notified, he did NOT fire the assistant coach, he did NOT apparently follow up at all. Seems to me that failure to act as a human being WAY outweighs being good at a freaking GAME. Who seriously disagrees with that? Really: if you still respect the man, tell me WHY.

In less than 24 hours, more than 150 people clicked "Like" to that statement and question, and there are nearly that many comments, too.

Hiding Places

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:00:00 -0700

There were two wonderful stories in this week's issue that really go nicely together. And one has a photo that has to be seen to be believed. Let's start with the stories, from True's 15 January 2012 issue:

Sydney Spies' Yearbook Photo

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:00:00 -0700

You don't really need the photo that the girl submitted to the yearbook to "get" the story in this week's issue (8 January 12), but she did release it to the media, so I'll bring it to you -- along with some additional details. First, the story:

Zero Tolerance: Alive and Well

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:00:00 -0700

When I run a string of zero tolerance stories, readers typically respond, "What should we do about this?" What I don't want you to do is e-mailbomb the school officials or school boards involved.

But first, let's recap several of this week's ZT stories (from the 1 January 2012 issue):

Christmas Blues

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:00:00 -0700

Today I'm working while listening to my collection of "weird Christmas music", which I've compiled over the years. Things like the "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth" mashup duet -- by Bing Crosby and David Bowie in 1977. Yeah, really.

Dah-Dit Dah-Dit, Dah-Dah Di-Dah

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:00:00 -0700

Now and then I mention ham radio (I've been an "amateur radio operator" (the more formal title) for [gasp] a third of a century now; I'm K0RCC. You'd think, with the Internet creating instant, "free", worldwide communications, that ham radio would be dwindling away, with just a few old-timers (heck: even older than me!) grasping at the straws of "No! Don't change!" I'm happy to say nothing's further from the truth.

Rural Electrification, Meet the Rural Internet

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:00:00 -0700

Back in the early years of the 20th century, as cities were starting to get electrical power, that was the problem: only cities were getting electrical power. City clustering of homes and multi-family dwellings made for a lot of customers per mile of wire strung, and the payback to the electric companies came quickly.