So can you hear the sarcasm?  There is no surprise here.

Our local MLS is notorious for being uncooperative and very secretive, even when it would serve their members well.  We do loads of work with real estate firms and their software needs, not LITTLE firms, BIG guys, national firms.  Our local MLS is always just uncooperative and rude about it, they feel above all others and act as if standard rules of behavior and professionalism do not apply to them.  The individual realtors I know that are in the association are fine and upstanding folks and have no choice but to participate in this organization.

These local MLS systems are a dwindling monopoly and instead of growing and moving forward in a spirit of cooperation, they would prefer to cling to their elitist beliefs and go down screaming.  That does not serve the interest of your members or their clients.

Shame on you.  But karma is fun to watch in action.  Getting the popcorn now.

State official says local real estate group hampering fraud investigations

So, getting ready for our little event a couple weeks ago, we were brainstorming about fun ways to illustrate how the different folks work together, real or stereotype.  Last April at our launch event Ben Hoelting and Eric Johnson had a very popular session of developer vs DBA.  We asked them to do an updated version for the Trifecta.

It was the perfect setup for a video.  When we were tossing around ideas, Dave Yack asked Ben if he had any light sabers we could use for filming and he said "yea, I've got 5, I'll bring 'em."  (whole 'nother post to make fun of this another time).

Watch the video, turn on the sound, shake your head.  Great fun for us geeks.

you tube link

(highly opinionated post follows, you've been warned)

Our kids start this year's round of standardized testing today.  I am not a huge fan of these. 

When I was a kid, I loved them.  I'm a good test taker, so I always scored high, got kudos and praise, loved it.  Looking at that school district's test scores now, they LOVED me, cause their scores stink these days.

As a parent, they lose their value, quickly.

Yes, I understand we need SOMEWAY to gage performance at schools on a large scale.  We need to meet and exceed educational standards and milestones.  These standard tests are really for the benefit of the schools, their staff, the administration, etc.  The results bring bragging rights or excuses depending on the results.  We've got awards, we've got schools closing.  All based on these test scores.  (why don't we pay teachers based on performance then, if we must gather these details, use them more appropriately, like the rest of the workforce, to give pay for performance, good teachers get paid higher, not so good teachers, get paid less)

That's why it is important for our kids to eat a good breakfast only on test days.  Important to get a good night sleep, only on test days.  Come to school sick to avoid missing the test.  That is ridiculous.  Let's get these kids prepared to do well, but only when the teachers and schools are being graded.

I will proudly say that with RARE exception, my children have had a well-rounded education, their teachers taught them, did not teach them how to score well on the test.

If the kids had a good breakfast EVERY school day, the scores would go up on their own, naturally. If the kids had a good night sleep on EVERY night before class, the test scores would go up naturally.  I went many rounds with our last district superintendent on this concept.  By giving these test days such a high profile the message given is that the school's performance, the teachers' performance, is more important than the performance of the individual.  The students have report cards, 4 times per school year, to tell us their progress.  The schools have test scores once and to the schools that is much more important.

Silly me, I thought it should be about the students.