Since Robin Starr has spoken out against Michael Vick publicly, a lot of people are comparing what she did accidentally to what Michael Vick did intentionally. Although they are both tragic, to me there is no comparison. Read the story below.

RICHMOND, Va. August 26, 2009

An executive for an anti-animal cruelty group says her 16-year-old blind and deaf dog died after she accidentally left him in her hot car for four hours.

Robin Starr, the CEO of the Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, says she didn’t realize “Louie” was in the car until noon. Starr’s husband, Ed, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch he put the dog in her car as she got ready for work Aug. 19. She often took the dog to work with her.

Robin Starr took the dog to two clinics, but he died of kidney failure.

The National Weather Service says the temperature had reached 91 degrees by noon that day.

The board of the SPCA says it still supports Starr, who has been CEO since 1997 and does not plan to resign. It was unclear whether she would be charged.

The Law – Code of Virginia – 3.2-6570. Cruelty to animals; penalty:

Any person who deprives any animal of necessary food, drink, shelter… carries or causes to be carried by any vehicle, vessel or otherwise any animal in a cruel, brutal, or inhumane manner, so as to produce torture or unnecessary suffering… is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Any person convicted of violating this section may be prohibited by the court from possession or ownership of companion animals.

Yesterday I tried to get a burn permit. First I tried calling local fire departments hoping someone could point me in the right direction, but I couldn’t get anyone to pickup the phone. I finally called the Valdosta fire department and navigated through some automated menus only to get answering machines at every option I tried. Frustrated I called the Valdosta Police Department and they told me to look up “Fire Marshal” in the phone book, and they couldn’t give me the number. I looked up “Fire Marshal” in the phone book, and it was a number I had already tried. I tried it anyway and it was an automated menu which only gave me answering machines again. I kept trying and someone randomly picks up the phone. They told me I needed to call the Lowndes County fire department and not the Valdosta fire department. I looked up fire departments in Lowndes County and tried those numbers. I got answer machines and fax machines at every number I dialed. Finally I got an answering machine that told me I needed to dial (229) 333-5267 to get a burn permit. I dialed the number and the guy told me they don’t issue burn permits after 4:00 PM and I needed to call back tomorrow.

Today I called back (229) 333-5267. I was told I needed to call (877) 652-2876 (OK2-BURN). This number is an automated system that asks if I live in an “unincorporated area”. Do I live in an “unincorporated area”? I don’t know. So I select that I do not live in an “unincorporated area” and it tells me to call (229) 333-5267 (the number I just called). I call the number back and get someone else and they tell me I need to call (877) 652-2876 (the number I just called)! I tell the lady on the phone that the system told me to call her back because I selected that I do not live in an unincorporated area. She tells me just to select that I live in an unincorporated area. I ask, “how do I know if I live in an unincorporated area?” she tells me that it doesn’t matter, just select it anyway. I ask, “what is an unincorporated area?” and she tells me she doesn’t know. I argue a bit more with the lady on the phone and she insists that I will not be fined even if I am in an incorporated area and I tell the system that I am in an unincorporated area. What? I tell her that I’m having a hard time believing that she is telling me is true. She told me it would be fine, I just need to call back and tell the system I’m in an unincorporated area so I can get a permit (even if I live in an incorporated area). It took me two days to get to this point and I still feel like I’ll have angry firemen showing up at my house. I was going to update this post with information about burning in Valdosta, GA, but when I called (229) 333-5267 back and asked for information about burning in Valdosta, GA a guy told me burning anything inside the city limits is against the law. No one you can reach by telephone seems to know exactly what the laws are. Everyone who actually knows the law must be out educating citizens by writing them tickets and issuing fines.

I learned not to call anyone on the phone, because no one in Valdosta or Lowndes County seems to have even the slightest idea on how to obtain a burn permit. All I had to do was fill out a form online: Lowndes County Online Burn Permit and it turns out I can call (877) OK2-BURN and tell it I live in an “unincorporated area” (because I live outside the city limits). But it was not true that the permit would be good even if I lived inside the city limits because I found this on the website for the automated system: “The automated system applies only to fires to be burned outside city limits.”

I was interested on how to host multiple domains on a single server using only one IP address. In my case I’m using IIS 6.0 on Microsoft Windows Server 2003. This can be accomplished using “host headers”. The host header distinguishes between various DNS names sharing a single IP address, allowing name-based virtual hosting.

If you are creating a new website in IIS. The third page in the “Web Site Creation Wizard” has a field titled “Host header for this Web site (Default: None):”.

If the website has already been setup in IIS. Right click on the website and select “Properties”. In the “Web Site” tab, click the “Advanced…” button. Edit the current entry for the website to add a “Host Header value:”.