Author Archive: bfwebster

Webster is Principal and Founder at Bruce F. Webster & Associates, as well as an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Brigham Young University. He works with organizations to help them with troubled or failed information technology (IT) projects. He has also worked in several dozen legal cases as a consultant and as a testifying expert, both in the United States and Japan. He can be reached at bwebster@bfwa.com, or you can follow him on Twitter as @bfwebster.

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“Where do we find such men?”

“Where do we find such men?”

| December 30, 2008 | 1 Reply

This happened last April, but I’m just reading about it now (hat tip to Ace of Spades). Two Marines in Iraq, with just a few seconds to decide, stand their ground and die rather than let an explosive-laden car into their compound: Cpl. Jonathan Yale and Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter saved Iraqi police and fellow […]

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The “Gore Effect” documented

The “Gore Effect” documented

| December 29, 2008 | Reply

The slightly tongue-in-cheek term “The Gore Effect” — meaning an abrupt change of local weather towards intense cold when or after Al Gore (prophet of Anthropogenic Global Warming) visits that location — became so-named after a few incidents several years ago (see the link above). These days, it’s generally applied whenever any Warmist group holds […]

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Dave Barry’s annual review

Dave Barry’s annual review

| December 26, 2008 | Reply

Back when Dave Barry still wrote a weekly column, Sandra and I had a Sunday morning tradition where I’d read the column out loud to her while she was getting ready for church. The highlight of each year was Dave’s annual recounting of the events of that year, in his own style. Well, he stopped […]

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The consequences of environmentalism

The consequences of environmentalism

| December 23, 2008 | Reply

The city of Seattle (WA) has decided not to use salt or other chemicals in clearing ice and snow from roads, with predictable results: To hear the city’s spin, Seattle’s road crews are making “great progress” in clearing the ice-caked streets. But it turns out “plowed streets” in Seattle actually means “snow-packed,” as in there’s […]

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The Star Wars Holiday Special! (1978)

The Star Wars Holiday Special! (1978)

| December 22, 2008 | Reply

Courtesy of Ace of Spades comes the most reviled, most wretched “holiday special” ever produced. First, here’s the Vanity Fair article to give you the entire ugly background: In the summer of 1978, Bruce Vilanch had a bad feeling about the Star Wars television special he’d been hired to write. A veteran of the comedy […]

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Favorite photo o’ the day

Favorite photo o’ the day

| December 21, 2008 | Reply

From Jules Crittenden: Heh.  ..bruce w..

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A winter recipe: beef and mushroom stew

A winter recipe: beef and mushroom stew

| December 20, 2008 | Reply

[Cross-posted from Adventures in Mormonism] Sandra and I, being empty-nesters, eat pretty simply: fresh fruit and veggies, Progresso soup, sandwiches, Lean Cuisine entrees, and the like. The only time either of us really cooks something is when we have company over for dinner. Well, our daughter Heather, her husband Mike and their three young children […]

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The $50 billion Ponzi scheme

The $50 billion Ponzi scheme

| December 20, 2008 | Reply

The New York Times has an outstanding and lengthy article tracing the rise of the Madoff investment firm that, in the end, turned out to be (in Madoff’s own words) a $50 billion Ponzi scheme: The juggernaut began to sputter this fall as investors, rattled by the financial crisis and reaching for cash, started taking […]

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Some seasonal cheer for you

Some seasonal cheer for you

| December 18, 2008 | Reply

Courtesy of The Daily Bayonet, who got it from Jammie Wearing Fool: Heh. UPDATE: And here, courtesy of Dave Barry, is striking scientific proof that white people — particularly Southern white people — are inherently rhythmically challenged: ..bruce w..

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Truth set to music

Truth set to music

| December 16, 2008 | Reply

One of the proudest accomplishments of my adult professional life is that I actually supported myself and my family for a few years solely by writing. That was back in the late 1980s, when it wasn’t quite as easy as it had been in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. However, it was much easier to […]

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