There is something about magic and wizardry that has always had a special appeal to me, even as I have grown up.  I was lucky enough to have a young sister when the first Harry Potter books came out and so I got an instant introduction.  I have an incredible amount of respect for the talent and imagination it takes to create a world so incredible and enthralling that in can capture the minds of children and adults.  This weekend I took my mom and my little sister (she's now 12) to see Order of the Phoenix.  I have been very cautious of movies.  The last couple of Pirates movies were somewhat disappointing, 300 was good but not Gates of Fire, and a whole slew of movies seemed just mediocre at best.   However, I had incredibly high hopes for Harry Potter 5.  Transformers was a great, great movie, and restored my faith that things that I considered awesome could in fact be made into stunning, entertaining, and fun movies.  For the cost of $10 a ticket + whatever else is needed, movies have to do a lot to be really worth it for me.  And Harry Potter was.  It is a very different movie from the first few.  The story is much darker, the violence in the series more real, the relationships and emotions more strained and complex.  It was a brilliant movie though, I thought every minute was outstanding and honestly can not wait for Elichia to finish reading the book so I can go see it again.

Before I get to my post, I wanted to explain a little about Oklahoma 2.0. When people think about Oklahoma, rarely, and by rarely I mean never, does internet or technology enter into their thoughts. What we have done with ONEsite is built an incredible technology company in what seems to most people to be the middle of nowhere. Oklahoma 2.0 is just a reflection on the trials, tribulations, and good times we have being a high tech company, certainly one of the only web companies, in the Great State of Oklahoma.

Yesterday I was discussing a contract with a potential client. It was a great, very productive call – they will be great to work with. Just like most companies, we always try and keep any legal issues close to home, so we naturally had a clause about the contract being governed by the laws of Oklahoma.

The potential client laughed a little and pointed out that it would probably be better to put it under California or New York law, where we might even find better protection because there was a body of law built up around the web business. Oklahoma law might provide an incredible depth of protection and understanding of which rancher owned which cows, but probably not a lot about the web.

And yes of course he is right. We have a lot of common sense laws (and some that seem to completely defy common sense) and certainly can deal with any cattle or land dispute with the best of them, but technology, maybe a little more gray. Still, there’s a straightforward way of thinking to the laws here, just like there is to life, and if they don’t have a law to cover it they can certainly figure out what a good honest person would think, and settle the dispute the old fashioned way (and I don’t mean a shootout) but without a lot of complicated legal twists and turns. So while we don’t have book after book of laws governing the web, there are certainly worse places to worry about legal issues than an Oklahoma court house.

 -Thad

Most cultures have tales describing the end times - war, oppression, famine, plague, the return of one god or another, the war between some god and another.  We all see signs - global warming, wars, etc etc etc of the coming apocalypse, but none so telling, as a cat getting along with a mouse.

A knowledge of history is critical to the understanding of the world, there can be no question about that.  It is impossible to understand where we are and where we are going without understanding where we have been.  In the UK they are no longer teaching about the Holocaust or the Crusades out of fear of causing anger, insult, and offense.  

No nation on this earth is free from past transgressions.  Every country has engaged in its share of deplorable acts.  The lessons we learn from history are an understanding of how the acts occurred, what brought them about, how people were influenced to commit such things, all so that we might LEARN FROM THEM SO THAT THEY MIGHT NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.  Merely ignoring events removes the worth from an education, and worse destroys and undermines the understanding of the world around us.  Without that understanding, individuals can only act in ignorance.  Without that understanding we are condemned to the inevitable repeat of past offenses and atrocities.  How can we hope to find a better future if we are unwilling to look to our past objectively and learn from it.

I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes, and it still holds true 

"The risk of insult is the price of clarity" 

 We must be willing to open our eyes, to become educated, even if it is uncomfortable and troubling, because this is how we grow as people and nations, but looking at the past with reasons so that we can gain KNOWLEDGE and act accordingly.  

I really do love Alanis, and this is the most awesome remake ever.

BRAVO