I'm not sure why I haven't been able to sleep well lately. I woke up around 215am this morning and was still lying awake at 330a, so I got out of bed. I came out to start reading a new book and had a pop tart since the milk didn't quite smell okay to put onto the cereal I was planning on eating.
My mind has been racing when I wake up and try to go back to sleep. This morning I was thinking of our 2yr anniversary coming up and my last trip back to Michigan. Then I jump to thinking about the new stamp set I got and how I might do some Christmas cards. Jump back to wishing I had gone to Caleb birthday party -- jump to the layoffs at AAA (outsourced call center place) -- jump to our road trip here -- jump to the Alaskan cruisetour we are thinking about for 2010 -- jump to not being able to "talk" to the Tanners -- jump to hearing some bad news about a friend -- jump to being so thankful for the hug from Caleb -- jump to work being slow -- jump to Ric and his new job -- jump to the election coming up in Nov -- jump to maybe going to Carol's church -- jump to trying the church here in Prescott -- jump to kidney donating -- jump to my niece's open house (when/where/getting tickets) -- jump to another niece's wedding (getting tickets/where to stay) -- jump to "remember to ask for their social security numbers" for the savings bond that will be part of their wedding gift -- jump to the savings bonds that are "lost" that I got while at Peerless -- jump to the Pembertons -- jump to Gomer (grrrrr) -- jump to --- well lost track----- and I'm sure you are all wondering about why I bothered to type this all out. Who knows ---- what can I say, this is our blog and we can say what we want to say! LOL Nobody is making you sit there and read this all.
Well...back to my book until I feel tired again and try to lay down or it is time to jump in the shower and get ready for work. We are planning on doing to see a college soccer game tonite if the weather is decent. This is the team I helped with travel plans last year to go to the finals.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Monday, October 06, 2008
Cafe Job, Day 2
Today, "work" consisted of going through more paperwork, recipes, procedures, etc. In all, a pretty easy five hours. Tomorrow, the real work starts when we begin prep'ing out food, figuring out the best placement for everything on the lines, what we are missing, what needs to be relocated, and about a million other things. The manager has already decided to delay the opening by one day just to be sure everyone was up to speed. The way things work is very similar to how it was when I worked at Rugggero's in Flint, which was probably the most efficient place I ever worked. The kitchen crew that I will be working with really seem to have it together. I'm sure I'll be complaining before long, but for now it's good.
The real test will be if we can put butts in the seats. The local economy seems fragile, based largely on retirees wandering around spending their money during the week and tourists doing the same thing on the weekend. I'm not convinced either of those groups will be out and about much in the current economy. The menu, location, serving times, etc. seem like they will be appealing to people on the way to work or running out for a quick lunch that want something a little higher-end than In-and-Out Burger or What-a-Burger. (And yes, those are both chains out here in the territories.) We all have our fingers crossed that those people will still exist in six months. Of course, for me the alternative was to stay at the bakery until it closed.
The real test will be if we can put butts in the seats. The local economy seems fragile, based largely on retirees wandering around spending their money during the week and tourists doing the same thing on the weekend. I'm not convinced either of those groups will be out and about much in the current economy. The menu, location, serving times, etc. seem like they will be appealing to people on the way to work or running out for a quick lunch that want something a little higher-end than In-and-Out Burger or What-a-Burger. (And yes, those are both chains out here in the territories.) We all have our fingers crossed that those people will still exist in six months. Of course, for me the alternative was to stay at the bakery until it closed.
Wow
Today was certainly... um... interesting for many people. Asia led things off with all it major indexes tanking, then Europe, then us, with the Dow closing below 10,000. The only positive things were the late-day rally in US markets and oil falling below $90 because oxen seem to be coming back into fashion. (They eat grass instead of diesel fuel, they self-replicate, you can burn their poop to heat your house, and when they break down, you eat them. What's not to like?) But never fear, the Fed is rushing in to save the day by further devaluing the dollar.
I'm thinking local businesses should consider wampum.
I'm thinking local businesses should consider wampum.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Our Masters of the Universe
NPR has a good piece on the history behind the current financial mess. It tries to answer the question "What could these people have been thinking?" Unfortunately, the answer seems to be, "They weren't." It's almost an hour long, but probably one of the better uses of an hour.
And an article on Pajamas Media that tries to look at what comes next. I think it is far too optimistic, at least in the next 3-5 years. Innovation is a wonderful thing, but it needs the proper regulatory and fiscal environment. Which we no longer have. Some places do and the "entrepreneurs and smart corporate executives and hard-working everyday people" most likely won't be American (or, more precisely, won't be as overwhelmingly dominated by Americans as in the past).
Last but not least, a complete list of the pork attached to the "rescue" package. What I want to know is why bicycle commuters get money, but pedestrian commuters like me don't. I should write a letter....
(sigh)
And an article on Pajamas Media that tries to look at what comes next. I think it is far too optimistic, at least in the next 3-5 years. Innovation is a wonderful thing, but it needs the proper regulatory and fiscal environment. Which we no longer have. Some places do and the "entrepreneurs and smart corporate executives and hard-working everyday people" most likely won't be American (or, more precisely, won't be as overwhelmingly dominated by Americans as in the past).
Last but not least, a complete list of the pork attached to the "rescue" package. What I want to know is why bicycle commuters get money, but pedestrian commuters like me don't. I should write a letter....
(sigh)
Friday, October 03, 2008
Anti-Terrorism Fail
Why all anti-terrorism efforts fail. What motivates a US politician living a life of privilege is not what motivates a twenty-something third-generation refugee camp dweller. That seems obvious to me and probably anyone reading this. But then these are the same Lords of the Universe that thought loaning out money to people who could never pay it back was the road to prosperity.
Oink, Oink
What do the following things have in common:
Wooden arrows
Puerto Rican rum
Wool
Corporations in American Samoa
Small-budget movies
Alaskan salmon fishers
Alternative fuels
Give up? Read this. Yet another article that can be made hysterically funny by saying "Doomed!" after each paragraph.
Ye flippin' gods.
Wooden arrows
Puerto Rican rum
Wool
Corporations in American Samoa
Small-budget movies
Alaskan salmon fishers
Alternative fuels
Give up? Read this. Yet another article that can be made hysterically funny by saying "Doomed!" after each paragraph.
Ye flippin' gods.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
We're Pissed
Yahoo! Finance has a good video segment on the social aspects of the current financial mess. After you watch it, click on the link to go to the tech ticker main page and just let the videos run for as long as you can stand the bad news.
Interesting times.
(And not to brag or anything, but as you watch those videos, remember what I have been saying for eight years: Get fast. Get small.)
Interesting times.
(And not to brag or anything, but as you watch those videos, remember what I have been saying for eight years: Get fast. Get small.)
Good Question
McCain is constantly throwing his POW experience around. Is being a former POW actually an asset for the Commander-in-Chief? Fred Reed asks the question: Is McCain able?
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
It's Done
The Senate passed it's version of the bailout and it looks like the House will pass something similar sometime this week. (Slight Digression: I just noticed that I said a bailout bill had passed late last week when in fact it had just gotten out of committee and was the bill killed in the House on Sunday. I knew that when I wrote that entry, but my fingers didn't get the memo.) It looks like what started out as a narrow bill to do one specific thing (buy up the worst of the non-performing loans) has become the typical congressional bill loaded up with all sorts of vote-buying. The bill has expanded from its original three pages, something that could actually be read and understood by a member of Congress, to 451 pages that I seriously doubt any Congressman will read or understand. All I know is that as someone who has never been as much as a day late on any credit payment, I will be paying out the nose (either through higher taxes, inflation, or both) for people that took out loans they had neither the ability nor any intention of ever repaying. Just great.
It also looks like the auto industry, and by extension the state of Michigan, will get it in the neck some more. Of course, the unstated assumption in the article, that buying a new car is impossible without credit, really should be seriously looked at. Does it really make sense for an average family vehicle to cost $30,000 or $40,000? Maybe true low-cost vehicles, instead of these rolling mini Best Buy's, will become popular again. And by low-cost, I don't just mean initial purchase price but the total lifetime cost of a car. With every car maker jumping on the hybrid concept, I'm not hopeful.
It also looks like the auto industry, and by extension the state of Michigan, will get it in the neck some more. Of course, the unstated assumption in the article, that buying a new car is impossible without credit, really should be seriously looked at. Does it really make sense for an average family vehicle to cost $30,000 or $40,000? Maybe true low-cost vehicles, instead of these rolling mini Best Buy's, will become popular again. And by low-cost, I don't just mean initial purchase price but the total lifetime cost of a car. With every car maker jumping on the hybrid concept, I'm not hopeful.
Chillin'
Good news: I am officially done at the bakery.
More good news: We are officially landless peasants. Some time this morning, a large sum of cash was deposited electronically into our Michigan checking account. Woohoo! Cha-ching!
Still more good news: All the cafe employees had a meeting with the cafe manager yesterday. There will be a three-day delay in getting the place open, so I have today, tomorrow and Friday to sit on my butt and do nuttin'. So far, it's everything I imagined doing nothing could be.
Even more good news: I finally found out my pay rate at the cafe job; I'll be getting an instant 20% raise. Count in the increase in hours, and my take-home pay should go up almost 70%. Woohoo! Cha-ching!
So today I'm sittin' and chillin' doin' a whole heap 'o nuttin'.
OK; enough of the redneck blogging. On to more serious stuff.
The markets today are just holding their breath so far just wobbling around what they closed at yesterday. European and Asian markets did the same thing. Everyone awaits our messiahs' return to Washington DC to craft the most brilliant legislation that man has ever seen and save us all.
Yeah.
Meanwhile, Kip has some thoughts on the fallacy of intrinsic value and whether or not markets can be "wrong" (short answer: no, they cannot).
With about a month to go before the entire nation (well, 60% of the nation anyway) casts the ballot that will change history, there are a couple studies that you may want to read about. The first one shows that when people are given evidence that their "facts" are wrong, they don't take it in. In fact, there is some evidence that being shown real facts that contradict beliefs actually reinforces the counter-factual beliefs. The second shows that the more stupid you are, the smarter you think you are. The title of the study is "Unskilled and Unaware of It." The assumptions of the study are precious:
More good news: We are officially landless peasants. Some time this morning, a large sum of cash was deposited electronically into our Michigan checking account. Woohoo! Cha-ching!
Still more good news: All the cafe employees had a meeting with the cafe manager yesterday. There will be a three-day delay in getting the place open, so I have today, tomorrow and Friday to sit on my butt and do nuttin'. So far, it's everything I imagined doing nothing could be.
Even more good news: I finally found out my pay rate at the cafe job; I'll be getting an instant 20% raise. Count in the increase in hours, and my take-home pay should go up almost 70%. Woohoo! Cha-ching!
So today I'm sittin' and chillin' doin' a whole heap 'o nuttin'.
OK; enough of the redneck blogging. On to more serious stuff.
The markets today are just holding their breath so far just wobbling around what they closed at yesterday. European and Asian markets did the same thing. Everyone awaits our messiahs' return to Washington DC to craft the most brilliant legislation that man has ever seen and save us all.
Yeah.
Meanwhile, Kip has some thoughts on the fallacy of intrinsic value and whether or not markets can be "wrong" (short answer: no, they cannot).
With about a month to go before the entire nation (well, 60% of the nation anyway) casts the ballot that will change history, there are a couple studies that you may want to read about. The first one shows that when people are given evidence that their "facts" are wrong, they don't take it in. In fact, there is some evidence that being shown real facts that contradict beliefs actually reinforces the counter-factual beliefs. The second shows that the more stupid you are, the smarter you think you are. The title of the study is "Unskilled and Unaware of It." The assumptions of the study are precious:
- Incompetent individuals tend to overestimate their own level of skill.
- Incompetent individuals fail to recognize genuine skill in others.
- Incompetent individuals fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy.
Happy ........
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! to my Mom
Happy day to us --- today is the official closing of our Michigan property. Our bank account will be a bit richer.
Not happy about me being awake at 430AM --- oh well --- I can get the computer all to myself for a few hours.
Happy few days to Ric. He does not have to go into his new workplace for training until Sat. So, he is off for 3 days -- works a few short shifts -- then officially goes on his new schedule (9a-4p M-F) a week from today. Other happy news ---- this place is planning on starting him out at $10/hr. Woo-hoo!!!!
Happy day to us --- today is the official closing of our Michigan property. Our bank account will be a bit richer.
Not happy about me being awake at 430AM --- oh well --- I can get the computer all to myself for a few hours.
Happy few days to Ric. He does not have to go into his new workplace for training until Sat. So, he is off for 3 days -- works a few short shifts -- then officially goes on his new schedule (9a-4p M-F) a week from today. Other happy news ---- this place is planning on starting him out at $10/hr. Woo-hoo!!!!
30 pounds
That is what I need to lose before I can "sign up" for a certain program. My BMI is considered too high to be put on the list right now. So, according to our scales I have to lose at least 30 pounds before I can be considered. I was down that much before we moved to AZ, but I know how I dropped those pounds and do NOT want to go thru that again. I am going to try --- watch my meal portions and adding exercise (besides my once a week walk to work with Ric) Keep me in your thoughts --- a life may depend on it.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
On the Way Out the Door
Just some quick links to keep everyone entertained while I work my last day in the bakery:
SpaceX made it to orbit on the fourth try. Things look good if they can get a few more successes under their belt. We, as in America, badly need an alternative to NASA.
Why we need that alternative is China. Mission accomplished. They are replaying Apollo step by step. And, it seems, with significant popular support.
Meanwhile, back here in the US, at least one person is talking sense on the economy. Taxpayers should not be picking up the tab for the gross negligence of the government or private lenders.
So far today, it looks like the bottom feeders have pushed most markets up about a third of what was lost yesterday, but it isn't strong and I doubt it will be sustained. More after work when the markets are closed for the day.
SpaceX made it to orbit on the fourth try. Things look good if they can get a few more successes under their belt. We, as in America, badly need an alternative to NASA.
Why we need that alternative is China. Mission accomplished. They are replaying Apollo step by step. And, it seems, with significant popular support.
Meanwhile, back here in the US, at least one person is talking sense on the economy. Taxpayers should not be picking up the tab for the gross negligence of the government or private lenders.
So far today, it looks like the bottom feeders have pushed most markets up about a third of what was lost yesterday, but it isn't strong and I doubt it will be sustained. More after work when the markets are closed for the day.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Huh.
Go to work for a few hours and the world falls apart:
Dow: -777.68
Nasdaq: -199.61
S&P 500: -106.62
Number of companies on the NYSE whose shares declined today: 3,333
Number of companies on the NYSE whose shares advanced or stayed the same: 222
The House rejected the bailout plan.
There was no late-day rally that could possibly be continued tomorrow. That's not to say the bottom-feeders won't cause a bit of recovery over the next couple of days, but I wouldn't bet on any sort of sustained bounce. More important may be some of the psychological barriers: a loss on the Dow half the size of today's will push it below 10,000; a loss equal to today's loss on the S&P will drop it under 1,000; the Nasdaq is already below 2,000. There is nothing magic about these numbers; after all, 10,000 is just one more than 9,999 and one less than 10,001. But this isn't about logic. This is about emotion. Fear and panic, to be specific. The horses are stampeding into the burning barn.
I did finally get a bit of news: I now know my schedule at the cafe: Monday through Friday 9:30am to 4pm. Banker hours. Not a bad deal. Now we can start doing more stuff on the weekends and see some of the local sites.
Now if I just knew how much I was making an hour....
Dow: -777.68
Nasdaq: -199.61
S&P 500: -106.62
Number of companies on the NYSE whose shares declined today: 3,333
Number of companies on the NYSE whose shares advanced or stayed the same: 222
The House rejected the bailout plan.
There was no late-day rally that could possibly be continued tomorrow. That's not to say the bottom-feeders won't cause a bit of recovery over the next couple of days, but I wouldn't bet on any sort of sustained bounce. More important may be some of the psychological barriers: a loss on the Dow half the size of today's will push it below 10,000; a loss equal to today's loss on the S&P will drop it under 1,000; the Nasdaq is already below 2,000. There is nothing magic about these numbers; after all, 10,000 is just one more than 9,999 and one less than 10,001. But this isn't about logic. This is about emotion. Fear and panic, to be specific. The horses are stampeding into the burning barn.
I did finally get a bit of news: I now know my schedule at the cafe: Monday through Friday 9:30am to 4pm. Banker hours. Not a bad deal. Now we can start doing more stuff on the weekends and see some of the local sites.
Now if I just knew how much I was making an hour....
The Vote is In
Well, the world's markets have responded to the congressional bail-out deal. It doesn't seem to be any more popular than the congress that is voting on it. All the market indicators in Asia, Europe and the US are deep in negative territory.
Another long week.
In other economic news of a more personal nature, I still don't know the exact details of the job I'm supposed to be starting on Wednesday. I'm sure I'll hear something today.
Another long week.
In other economic news of a more personal nature, I still don't know the exact details of the job I'm supposed to be starting on Wednesday. I'm sure I'll hear something today.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
I'm First Now!!
I was going to post last night, but I figured I'd let Debbie's post stay on top for at least twelve hours....
Anyway, after owning (and taking a bath on) two houses, I figured out what this guy figured out without losing $100K. There may be good political reasons to own a house, but the only way they make a good investment is if you ride a bubble. That's not to say that some people haven't made a killing by doing that, but, as everyone is finding out now, many more people get burned by bubbles than benefit from them. What we are seeing now is the tulip bulb craze writ large. (If you want a good illustration of how we never learn from history, read the entire entry on crashes.)
Early this morning, congress passed a bill to save us all from ourselves. Let's hope it works better than the Dutch government's attempt to save the tulip bulb market. We'll know in a few hours what the Asains think of it.
I also would like to point out something that Paolo Solari has been saying for nearly a half century: single family homes are extremely inefficient both in terms of energy use in the home and the transportation costs that are a direct result of the sprawl caused by everyone having a "right" to own a home. Tree-hugging granola-eaters take note: an energy-efficient single-family home is a complete misnomer (or, as Paolo will tell anyone who cares to listen, it is a "different kind of wrongness"). Our apartment, built in the 1960's with it's single-pane windows, uses less energy per square foot than any type of single-family home other than an underground home. And even then, you still have the issue of high energy use for transportation.
[Later]
I forgot to hit Publish before we walked downtown to pet all the doggies at Dog-Toberfest. I got some decent video of a couple of the fribee dogs that I'll stick up on Flickr at some point.
Lunch time!!
Anyway, after owning (and taking a bath on) two houses, I figured out what this guy figured out without losing $100K. There may be good political reasons to own a house, but the only way they make a good investment is if you ride a bubble. That's not to say that some people haven't made a killing by doing that, but, as everyone is finding out now, many more people get burned by bubbles than benefit from them. What we are seeing now is the tulip bulb craze writ large. (If you want a good illustration of how we never learn from history, read the entire entry on crashes.)
Early this morning, congress passed a bill to save us all from ourselves. Let's hope it works better than the Dutch government's attempt to save the tulip bulb market. We'll know in a few hours what the Asains think of it.
I also would like to point out something that Paolo Solari has been saying for nearly a half century: single family homes are extremely inefficient both in terms of energy use in the home and the transportation costs that are a direct result of the sprawl caused by everyone having a "right" to own a home. Tree-hugging granola-eaters take note: an energy-efficient single-family home is a complete misnomer (or, as Paolo will tell anyone who cares to listen, it is a "different kind of wrongness"). Our apartment, built in the 1960's with it's single-pane windows, uses less energy per square foot than any type of single-family home other than an underground home. And even then, you still have the issue of high energy use for transportation.
[Later]
I forgot to hit Publish before we walked downtown to pet all the doggies at Dog-Toberfest. I got some decent video of a couple of the fribee dogs that I'll stick up on Flickr at some point.
Lunch time!!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
The fight for the top
Ha....I won for a little while! LOL (Until Ric gets home from work and blogs again tonite or tomorrow!) Have a great weekend. We may mosey to Prescott tomorrow to check out all the dogs during the "Dog Toberfest" ---- I will love to see the look alike contest.
DOG-TOBERFEST !
September 28 to September 29
Sept. 28, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm Prescott Courthouse Plaza Blessing of the dogs. Dog Contests, most glamorous-handsome, owner look alike, ugliest and best trick. Top winners win dog food for a year and other great prizes! Vendors, low cost vaccinations, mirco-chipping, demonstrations, give-a-ways, and lots more for the four-legged and two-legged friends. Take home your new best friend, dog adoptions throughout the day from the Humane Society and tri-city dog rescues.
Stuff
I feel like I'm in some sort of holding pattern right now. I'm still waiting on some of the details for my new job, like when I'll be working, how much I will be making; unimportant details like that. The joys of being in a start-up.
Financially, last week wasn't a good week for many people. WaMu failed, which doesn't seem to have slowed the flood of credit card applications they send us. One would think that a bank on the edge of insolvency would back off on the unsolicited credit card offers. Anyway, one of our banks, Chase, bought up their assets. This is by far the largest bank failure in US history even adjusting for inflation. And it ain't over yet.
The markets, at least here in the US, continue to diddle around, just like our "leaders," with most indices slightly up yesterday. The rest of the world is in the toilet. Obviously their view of the ability of the Washington brain trust is somewhat less rosey than Wall Street's. The US mint has suspended sales of gold coins in the face of massive demand. I still can't believe that I didn't grab a sack when it was $300/ounce.
Last bit of good news; the only bright spot in the economy doesn't seem to be quite so bright.
Well, soon I'll be off to stand around at work. If the rumors are true, I'm getting out just in time.
Financially, last week wasn't a good week for many people. WaMu failed, which doesn't seem to have slowed the flood of credit card applications they send us. One would think that a bank on the edge of insolvency would back off on the unsolicited credit card offers. Anyway, one of our banks, Chase, bought up their assets. This is by far the largest bank failure in US history even adjusting for inflation. And it ain't over yet.
The markets, at least here in the US, continue to diddle around, just like our "leaders," with most indices slightly up yesterday. The rest of the world is in the toilet. Obviously their view of the ability of the Washington brain trust is somewhat less rosey than Wall Street's. The US mint has suspended sales of gold coins in the face of massive demand. I still can't believe that I didn't grab a sack when it was $300/ounce.
Last bit of good news; the only bright spot in the economy doesn't seem to be quite so bright.
Well, soon I'll be off to stand around at work. If the rumors are true, I'm getting out just in time.
Slow week at work
It was pretty slow at work this week. Monday I was busy playing catch up from being off for 10 days, but other than that .... SLOW! I think the only thing I sold this week was for some past clients -- 11nt pkg to the Bahamas -- they are staying at the Atlantis.
Tonite I worked on "assembling" some of my Stampin' Up stamps. I got Ric to help since I was having a hard time peeling off the backing. In case anybody is interested, I am going to try my hand at selling Stampin' Up things. To be "active" and allowed to place orders, I have to sell a minimum of $300/quarter. I'm hoping this quarter will be no problem -- after that, we will see how it goes. I have two girls at work that are ready with their orders totalling almost $100. I left a catalog with a friend in Michigan and sent two to my Mom to take to her old workplace. Maybe, just maybe......
Ric and I are scheduled on a 4nt cruise at the end of September 2009 -- a Baja Mexico itinerary with Royal Caribbean. If anyone wants to join us (and my Mom and godmother), just let me know. Deposit is $100 per person and is refundable until final payment in July. (For those that don't know -- I work at AAA as a travel agent here in Prescott.)
Tonite I worked on "assembling" some of my Stampin' Up stamps. I got Ric to help since I was having a hard time peeling off the backing. In case anybody is interested, I am going to try my hand at selling Stampin' Up things. To be "active" and allowed to place orders, I have to sell a minimum of $300/quarter. I'm hoping this quarter will be no problem -- after that, we will see how it goes. I have two girls at work that are ready with their orders totalling almost $100. I left a catalog with a friend in Michigan and sent two to my Mom to take to her old workplace. Maybe, just maybe......
Ric and I are scheduled on a 4nt cruise at the end of September 2009 -- a Baja Mexico itinerary with Royal Caribbean. If anyone wants to join us (and my Mom and godmother), just let me know. Deposit is $100 per person and is refundable until final payment in July. (For those that don't know -- I work at AAA as a travel agent here in Prescott.)
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Anatomy of a Fail
Jerry Pournelle provides a good summary of how we ended up in this mess. If it sounds like a lot of smart people took leave of their senses, then you get an "A" for reading comprehension. Nothing that has happened in the last year was surprising to anyone other than those who were responsible for the mess. The result was predictable and was predicted. Repeatedly, and by people in much higher places than a grumpy blogger.
Meanwhile, as Rome burns, our moral defectives in Washington fiddle. If these people are all that stands between us and ruin, we are truly doomed.
Oh, and that little country just east of here that we try to ignore? You know, the one with nukes and spaceships that work and 20% of the world population and an economy based on making things? China, I think it's called? Anyway, they just suspended banking activity with US banks. Probably not important. In fact, forget I even mentioned it.
Meanwhile, as Rome burns, our moral defectives in Washington fiddle. If these people are all that stands between us and ruin, we are truly doomed.
Oh, and that little country just east of here that we try to ignore? You know, the one with nukes and spaceships that work and 20% of the world population and an economy based on making things? China, I think it's called? Anyway, they just suspended banking activity with US banks. Probably not important. In fact, forget I even mentioned it.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Be Mad. And Scared.
The stock market dithered around all day while avoiding the Apocalypse. I'm predicting that it will stay down for the week without some very good news. Short of finding $4 trillion in gold hidden under the floor of the Oval office, I can't imagine what good news there possibly could be. The federal government's $700 billion didn't seem to cheer anyone up. Warren Buffet threw $5 billion at Goldman Sachs to no obvious effect. It certainly won't help that the Treasury Secretary said today that average Americans "should be angry and... should be scared." That'll send the market up for sure.
Meanwhile, China prepares to do something that America will be incapable of doing in a little over a year: launch humans into space. The shuttle is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2010 and assuming everything goes according to plan, its replacement won't be ready until 2015. And we know that NASA projects never come in late. Or over budget.
So remember: Be Mad. Be Scared. Let's all put on our best, scared Grrrrr! face, forget about the vanishing value of our homes and retirement funds, and hit the mall!
Meanwhile, China prepares to do something that America will be incapable of doing in a little over a year: launch humans into space. The shuttle is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2010 and assuming everything goes according to plan, its replacement won't be ready until 2015. And we know that NASA projects never come in late. Or over budget.
So remember: Be Mad. Be Scared. Let's all put on our best, scared Grrrrr! face, forget about the vanishing value of our homes and retirement funds, and hit the mall!
WooHoo!
As Ric already mentioned -- he is finally getting out of the bakery. The bonuses are full time and some Saturdays off -- plus a bit closer to our apartment. So my walk home after I "take him to work" on Sat won't be as bad. I swear that last incline from one of the hotels to our place kills me each week. Maybe I need to go walk it everyday like Ric does ......
Home for lunch and a Koegel bologna sandwich. Thanks so much to my Mom for getting me some bologna and hot dogs for my trip back to AZ. Ric was laughing at me when we had the hotdogs on Sunday --- I think I was moaning in pleasure. I certainly miss my Koegels!!!!!!
Home for lunch and a Koegel bologna sandwich. Thanks so much to my Mom for getting me some bologna and hot dogs for my trip back to AZ. Ric was laughing at me when we had the hotdogs on Sunday --- I think I was moaning in pleasure. I certainly miss my Koegels!!!!!!
Quick Update
In about 45 minutes, I'll be heading off to work and giving notice. Again. This time, no matter what, I am done with the bakery. It won't be a two-week notice; more like barely a week. The cafe manager wants everyone there October 1st so we can all practice what we are supposed to do for a couple days, then we open for real on October 6th. The job is supposed to be full time, five days a week. The cafe is closed on Sunday, so I'll have at least one day off with Debbie every week, and I'll also get the occasional Saturday. Plus, the hourly rate is at least the same as I get now if not slightly better. Of course the best benefit is not working for a neurotic female.
Here's a quote for the day. It was from the McCain election staff, but it could have been uttered by any politician or their handlers:
Moral defectives. Every. Last. One.
The market is currently in slightly negative territory, but doing a lot of bouncing around. Today is the tipping point, IMO. Meanwhile, the Treasury department is still trying to convince the market that $700 billion > $4 trillion. For some reason, no one is buying it.
Well, gotta get ready for work.
Here's a quote for the day. It was from the McCain election staff, but it could have been uttered by any politician or their handlers:
To the extent that the comments of members of our staff are misinterpreted, they shouldn't be read into as anything otherwise.
Moral defectives. Every. Last. One.
The market is currently in slightly negative territory, but doing a lot of bouncing around. Today is the tipping point, IMO. Meanwhile, the Treasury department is still trying to convince the market that $700 billion > $4 trillion. For some reason, no one is buying it.
Well, gotta get ready for work.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Ka-Boom!
Not even the promise of unlimited government bailouts could keep the market positive today. Monday's are usually gloomy days on Wall Street, so the key will be what happens tomorrow and Wednesday. If the Dow closes below 10,000, I'm not sure enough money can be printed to save the day.
Oil and gold are on the way back up. No big surprise there given the market.
Surprisingly enough, no one seems to care much about global warming now that the value of their house is dropping, and their investments are vanishing along with their jobs. So it's probably non-news that South Africa is having the coldest weather ever recorded. Because we know that global warming causes freak snow storms, right?
Gotta go; dinner is ready.
Oil and gold are on the way back up. No big surprise there given the market.
Surprisingly enough, no one seems to care much about global warming now that the value of their house is dropping, and their investments are vanishing along with their jobs. So it's probably non-news that South Africa is having the coldest weather ever recorded. Because we know that global warming causes freak snow storms, right?
Gotta go; dinner is ready.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Debbie's Home!
Doing my happy dance!
I finally finished Nixonland. Whew. It was tough sledding at 750 pages of small type and lots of names to keep track of. But very much worth the effort. If you have a week or two of spare time, I would recommend both Before the Storm and Nixonland. Any respect you have for presidential politics will be gone long before you are done, but better informed and cynical than ignorant and a patsy. IMO, of course.
Speaking of politics and sausages, Fred Reed has a new essay up about the presidential election. This is what universal sufferage gets you; lowest-common-denominator politicians. If you want smart politicians, you have to limit the franchise to smart voters. How that's been done has historically been rife with abuses, but better a good system with abuses than a bad system with abuses (because there will always be abuse).
(This is going to be one of those posts, so you may want to settle in. I have been so focused on off-line reading that I have a lot of pent-up blogging.)
The Palin e-mail hack does appear to have a political angle, but so far it looks more like college pranking. But the question remains why state business was being discussed using a Yahoo e-mail account that can be "hacked" by providing answers that can be found on Google. Which of course leads to the question of how someone that stupid gets to be VP. See above.
This week will be studied in history classes in the next generation. What has happened is significant in ways very few realize. The politicians respond predictably; that is to say as the moral defectives they all are. Every action that has been taken to "fix" this crises will only make it worse. Sure the markets got a nice little bounce that erased the two days of losses, but it's all smoke and mirrors. You simply cannot shrug off the disappearance of $4 Trillion in wealth. If you can really call the house of cards known as the US economy "wealth" without doing violence to the English language:
"Leverage" is just a fancy Wall Street word for debt. Massive debt. More debt than can ever be repaid in one's life-time. More:
Systemic problems literally being papered over. And over, and over, and over.
And of course, government intervention in capitalist markets is what has caused every bit of this, so guess what the solution is, according to left-wing French "intellectuals." Yep. I'm not sure how to translate "tree-hugging granola-eaters" into French. (Babblefish says "arbre-étreindre le granola-mangeur" but, even though my last French class was 25 years ago, I don't think that's even close.) The British have several... um... "colorful metaphors" for the French in general, but even I won't put them in a general blog post.
If you want to know how it can all go so wrong when our best and brightest are supposed to be running the show, the answer is The Black Swan. I haven't read that book yet, but it's moved to the top of my to-be-read list after last week. I have some catching up around here that will take me a few days, but I will be at the library looking for it by mid-week. In the meantime, here is an essay by the author on the relation between the misuse of statistics and the current financial melt-down:
Good stuff. It's long, but worth the slog for gems like this:
And we remember what leverage is, right? Debt is slavery with lipstick, to paraphrase one potential world leader.
And just to wrap things up with a little more reading material, here is a review of Charles Murray's new book, Real Education. Charles Murray was co-author of Bell Curve, a book so hated by liberal academics that many didn't even have to read it to know they hated every word of it.
OK. I have carpel tunnel now, so I'll stop.
I finally finished Nixonland. Whew. It was tough sledding at 750 pages of small type and lots of names to keep track of. But very much worth the effort. If you have a week or two of spare time, I would recommend both Before the Storm and Nixonland. Any respect you have for presidential politics will be gone long before you are done, but better informed and cynical than ignorant and a patsy. IMO, of course.
Speaking of politics and sausages, Fred Reed has a new essay up about the presidential election. This is what universal sufferage gets you; lowest-common-denominator politicians. If you want smart politicians, you have to limit the franchise to smart voters. How that's been done has historically been rife with abuses, but better a good system with abuses than a bad system with abuses (because there will always be abuse).
(This is going to be one of those posts, so you may want to settle in. I have been so focused on off-line reading that I have a lot of pent-up blogging.)
The Palin e-mail hack does appear to have a political angle, but so far it looks more like college pranking. But the question remains why state business was being discussed using a Yahoo e-mail account that can be "hacked" by providing answers that can be found on Google. Which of course leads to the question of how someone that stupid gets to be VP. See above.
This week will be studied in history classes in the next generation. What has happened is significant in ways very few realize. The politicians respond predictably; that is to say as the moral defectives they all are. Every action that has been taken to "fix" this crises will only make it worse. Sure the markets got a nice little bounce that erased the two days of losses, but it's all smoke and mirrors. You simply cannot shrug off the disappearance of $4 Trillion in wealth. If you can really call the house of cards known as the US economy "wealth" without doing violence to the English language:
An enormous hoax has been perpetrated on global financial markets during the past 10 years. An American economy based on opening containers from China and selling the contents at Wal-Mart, or trading houses back and forth, provides scant profitability. Where the underlying profitability of the American economy was poor, financial engineering managed to transform thin profits into apparently fat ones through the magic of leverage.
The income of American consumers might have stagnated, but the price of their houses doubled during 1998-2007 thanks to the application of leverage to mortgage finance. The profitability of American corporations might have slowed, but the application of leverage in the form of mergers and acquisitions financed with junk bonds multiplied the thin band of profitability.
"Leverage" is just a fancy Wall Street word for debt. Massive debt. More debt than can ever be repaid in one's life-time. More:
As I wrote on May 20, the proximate cause of the Great Crash is the enhancement of poor returns to capital through leverage. The decline of returns to capital, though, stemmed from a global imbalance of supply and demand for capital in response to the rapid aging of the world population. The aging pensioners of Europe and Asia must find young people to pay interest into their pensions, and they do not have enough young people at home. Germans aged 15 to 24, on the threshold of family formation, comprise only 12% of the country's population today and will fall to only 8% by 2030. But one-fifth of Germans now are on the threshold of retirement and half will be there by mid-century.
Systemic problems literally being papered over. And over, and over, and over.
And of course, government intervention in capitalist markets is what has caused every bit of this, so guess what the solution is, according to left-wing French "intellectuals." Yep. I'm not sure how to translate "tree-hugging granola-eaters" into French. (Babblefish says "arbre-étreindre le granola-mangeur" but, even though my last French class was 25 years ago, I don't think that's even close.) The British have several... um... "colorful metaphors" for the French in general, but even I won't put them in a general blog post.
If you want to know how it can all go so wrong when our best and brightest are supposed to be running the show, the answer is The Black Swan. I haven't read that book yet, but it's moved to the top of my to-be-read list after last week. I have some catching up around here that will take me a few days, but I will be at the library looking for it by mid-week. In the meantime, here is an essay by the author on the relation between the misuse of statistics and the current financial melt-down:
Statistical and applied probabilistic knowledge is the core of knowledge; statistics is what tells you if something is true, false, or merely anecdotal; it is the "logic of science"; it is the instrument of risk-taking; it is the applied tools of epistemology; you can't be a modern intellectual and not think probabilistically—but... let's not be suckers. The problem is much more complicated than it seems to the casual, mechanistic user who picked it up in graduate school. Statistics can fool you. In fact it is fooling your government right now. It can even bankrupt the system (let's face it: use of probabilistic methods for the estimation of risks did just blow up the banking system).
Good stuff. It's long, but worth the slog for gems like this:
If you are leveraged, errors blow you up; if you are not, you can enjoy life.
And we remember what leverage is, right? Debt is slavery with lipstick, to paraphrase one potential world leader.
And just to wrap things up with a little more reading material, here is a review of Charles Murray's new book, Real Education. Charles Murray was co-author of Bell Curve, a book so hated by liberal academics that many didn't even have to read it to know they hated every word of it.
OK. I have carpel tunnel now, so I'll stop.
Hiding Under the Covers
[I've been trying to post this for two days; Blogger has been having some sort of mental breakdown.]
Maybe I should just stay in bed with the covers over my head. Sure the stock market went up, but only because the federal government announce that from now on, all banking risk would be assumed by the taxpayers, while the banks would be able to keep all the profit. Great deal for a very small group of people and major suck-age for the rest of us. The end of the world as we know it, indeed.
Another bad day at the bakery sales-wise. I was busy for some reason that no one could explain and ended up working two hours later than normal, but one person was told today that they would be cut from full time to part time. I have a feeling I may get the chop soon if I don't get out first.
Maybe I should just stay in bed with the covers over my head. Sure the stock market went up, but only because the federal government announce that from now on, all banking risk would be assumed by the taxpayers, while the banks would be able to keep all the profit. Great deal for a very small group of people and major suck-age for the rest of us. The end of the world as we know it, indeed.
Another bad day at the bakery sales-wise. I was busy for some reason that no one could explain and ended up working two hours later than normal, but one person was told today that they would be cut from full time to part time. I have a feeling I may get the chop soon if I don't get out first.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Hey from Michigan
I love this time of year here in Michigan --- it has been (mostly) great weather while I've been here this week. Some of the trees are just starting to turn colors ---- temps in the mid 70's during the day and down to mid 50's at night -- almost perfect. I took a long walk in "our woods" yesterday --- yeah, mine and what was mine --- but it was nice. I will miss it during the fall.
But realistically -- we weren't getting back to Michigan that much; we didn't want to spend the money to improve the cabin, sink a well, and bring in real electricity to the cabin. That old saying is true most of the time -- you need money to make money. My "grand plans" were to improve the cabin as mentioned above and then rent it out most of the year --- "Backwoods Retreat" -- so we could make our money back, pay taxes, pay propane and electric costs and start bringing in some money. Oh well --- somebody else can have those plans.
Yesterday I bombed out (almost 100%) of trying to find some friends at their homes. 3 of the 4 places -- nobody was home when I stopped -- so I left notes. The 4th place, they were just loading up the truck to go to TC -- so I got to peek in the back seat to see our newest "honorary grandchild" (who was asleep) and say Hi and hope to see ya Friday sometime. Oh well -- next time I might try to do more planning --- but what fun is that?! I love to surprise people. :-)
As Ric mentioned --- I have the cabin/shed all cleaned out --- mostly because Don decided to help out. He decided it was best to load up everything out of the shed into his trailer and take it to his place. Then he will contact the grandkids (and whomever) some weekend to come over and go through our stuff to see what they want and can use. Just remember ---- it is a long term loan -- do NOT sell our stuff -- and if we want it back for some reason --- it is ours. No --- I"m not bitter --- just wanted to do things my way. I am thankful that I didn't have to put some of the stuff in the back of my rental car ---- might have been interesting to explain all the cobwebs and bugs! LOL
But realistically -- we weren't getting back to Michigan that much; we didn't want to spend the money to improve the cabin, sink a well, and bring in real electricity to the cabin. That old saying is true most of the time -- you need money to make money. My "grand plans" were to improve the cabin as mentioned above and then rent it out most of the year --- "Backwoods Retreat" -- so we could make our money back, pay taxes, pay propane and electric costs and start bringing in some money. Oh well --- somebody else can have those plans.
Yesterday I bombed out (almost 100%) of trying to find some friends at their homes. 3 of the 4 places -- nobody was home when I stopped -- so I left notes. The 4th place, they were just loading up the truck to go to TC -- so I got to peek in the back seat to see our newest "honorary grandchild" (who was asleep) and say Hi and hope to see ya Friday sometime. Oh well -- next time I might try to do more planning --- but what fun is that?! I love to surprise people. :-)
As Ric mentioned --- I have the cabin/shed all cleaned out --- mostly because Don decided to help out. He decided it was best to load up everything out of the shed into his trailer and take it to his place. Then he will contact the grandkids (and whomever) some weekend to come over and go through our stuff to see what they want and can use. Just remember ---- it is a long term loan -- do NOT sell our stuff -- and if we want it back for some reason --- it is ours. No --- I"m not bitter --- just wanted to do things my way. I am thankful that I didn't have to put some of the stuff in the back of my rental car ---- might have been interesting to explain all the cobwebs and bugs! LOL
A (Mostly) Bad Day
The good part of today was my job interview this morning at the cafe. I think it went pretty well. I'll know something Saturday. Fingers crossed.
Another bad day at the bakery. We didn't have any real customers after 2pm, and damn few before that. Get home and jump on the internet to find that the Dow is now down 800 points on the week and every credit market indicator is in the red zone.
Then we have Palin's private e-mail account hacked. This could be interesting in many ways. First of all, the hacking itself is clearly illegal, and it looks as if there were enough tracks left behind to track back to the hackers. A lot of that depends on the competence of the FBI, and we know their record on tech crime can be best described as "uneven." Who is at the end of the trail is also interesting to speculate about. If he/she has even the most tenuous connection to the Obama camp.... Then there is the issue of what was in Palin's personal e-mail account. All e-mails that concern government business are, by law, required to be sent from a government account so there is a permanent record. From all appearances, Palin has been conducting government business through her personal Yahoo account.
So depending on what comes of this, one side may get a big surge, or they may just deliver simultanious death blows to each other.
Moral defectives to the last person.
Another bad day at the bakery. We didn't have any real customers after 2pm, and damn few before that. Get home and jump on the internet to find that the Dow is now down 800 points on the week and every credit market indicator is in the red zone.
Then we have Palin's private e-mail account hacked. This could be interesting in many ways. First of all, the hacking itself is clearly illegal, and it looks as if there were enough tracks left behind to track back to the hackers. A lot of that depends on the competence of the FBI, and we know their record on tech crime can be best described as "uneven." Who is at the end of the trail is also interesting to speculate about. If he/she has even the most tenuous connection to the Obama camp.... Then there is the issue of what was in Palin's personal e-mail account. All e-mails that concern government business are, by law, required to be sent from a government account so there is a permanent record. From all appearances, Palin has been conducting government business through her personal Yahoo account.
So depending on what comes of this, one side may get a big surge, or they may just deliver simultanious death blows to each other.
Moral defectives to the last person.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Gun-Totin' Skank Ho
I know that I don't work for a very smart person, and that most of her "friends" are fellow travelers of the left side of the bell curve, but yesterday was unbearable. I literally had to walk away from my job and get out of hearing for 20 minutes or so.
The title, of course, refers to the bakery owner's brilliant label for Sarah Palin, which was repeated endlessly all through her conversation with her "friend." Highlight of the conversation:
"She's killed all those animals," said without a trace of irony while piling bloody roast beef on a sandwich.
Which was the point I had to just walk away. Again, I have no doubt that Palin is as much a moral defective as any other politician. And I am sure the press will dig up all sorts of ugly things from her and her family's past, some of which may even turn out to be true. But I can't shake the feeling that this outpouring of pure hate from the feminazi granola-eaters is exactly what McCain was banking on. The fact that the feminazi granola-eaters are playing their part so perfectly and so loudly says all you need to know about their intellect.
The title, of course, refers to the bakery owner's brilliant label for Sarah Palin, which was repeated endlessly all through her conversation with her "friend." Highlight of the conversation:
"She's killed all those animals," said without a trace of irony while piling bloody roast beef on a sandwich.
Which was the point I had to just walk away. Again, I have no doubt that Palin is as much a moral defective as any other politician. And I am sure the press will dig up all sorts of ugly things from her and her family's past, some of which may even turn out to be true. But I can't shake the feeling that this outpouring of pure hate from the feminazi granola-eaters is exactly what McCain was banking on. The fact that the feminazi granola-eaters are playing their part so perfectly and so loudly says all you need to know about their intellect.
Federal Take-Over
The federal government now owns AIG, as well as Freddie and Fannie. I'm sure they will do for the financial sector of the economy what they have done for education. At least the Federal Reserve didn't continue its policy of destroying our currency, which prevented a repeat of Monday's Wall Street blood bath and allowed oil to slip below my $100 floor. (Nobody actually makes investment decisions based on my spewage here, right?) Not that we will see any effect at the pump with 25% of our refining capacity knocked off-line. And to repeat again: the systemic problems remain.
I need to spend some time finding out just how hard it is to off-shore money.
I need to spend some time finding out just how hard it is to off-shore money.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Disasters
Financial disaster on Wall Street to go along with the natural disaster in Texas.
Business at the bakery has been a disaster for the last couple weeks. Every day, I think to myself that it can't possibly get any worse, then it does. I interview Wednesday for a job at a place that is supposed to be opening soon. Another restaurant, but I should be OK during the four or five months of the new-restaurant buzz.
No other disasters to report. Debbie is still in Michigan. All the big stuff is out of the cabin and shed. She will be there taking care of the small stuff and giving the cabin a bit of a cleaning before we close on the sale at the end of the month.
Speaking of the sale, October 1 will mark the first time we have not owned real estate in the 20 years we have been married. I'm looking forward to it.
Well, I was going to get to bed early tonight, but that isn't very likely ast it is already tomorrow.
[Update: just found a page of live web cams on Galveston Island. Most of them went off-line around 10am local time on Friday, probably when the power failed. The web site is displaying that last image from each of the cameras.]
[Update: Found some good photos of Galveston. OK, to bed. Really.]
Business at the bakery has been a disaster for the last couple weeks. Every day, I think to myself that it can't possibly get any worse, then it does. I interview Wednesday for a job at a place that is supposed to be opening soon. Another restaurant, but I should be OK during the four or five months of the new-restaurant buzz.
No other disasters to report. Debbie is still in Michigan. All the big stuff is out of the cabin and shed. She will be there taking care of the small stuff and giving the cabin a bit of a cleaning before we close on the sale at the end of the month.
Speaking of the sale, October 1 will mark the first time we have not owned real estate in the 20 years we have been married. I'm looking forward to it.
Well, I was going to get to bed early tonight, but that isn't very likely ast it is already tomorrow.
[Update: just found a page of live web cams on Galveston Island. Most of them went off-line around 10am local time on Friday, probably when the power failed. The web site is displaying that last image from each of the cameras.]
[Update: Found some good photos of Galveston. OK, to bed. Really.]
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
A New Record
Yesterday, the "world ends on September 10th" beat out "Debbie's boob job" for the most unique visitors in one day by a score of 106 to 98, marking the first time since having this blog that we hit triple digits.
Of course, we barely broke 10 visitors for today....
Of course, we barely broke 10 visitors for today....
Doomsday
It's here. September 10th. The day the world has been dreading. Be sure to tell your family that you love them because this could be the last time you ever see them.
Um, er. Wait. Lets see; how many of those pesky time zones are there between Arizona and Switzerland? Ah. Oh. It was flipped on over seven hours ago?
Huh.
What if the world ended and no one noticed?
I expect to see our traffic stats plummet. Does that qualify as the end of the world?
Um, er. Wait. Lets see; how many of those pesky time zones are there between Arizona and Switzerland? Ah. Oh. It was flipped on over seven hours ago?
Huh.
What if the world ended and no one noticed?
I expect to see our traffic stats plummet. Does that qualify as the end of the world?
A Little of Everything
It's late and I should be in bed instead of blogging, but I'm blogging instead of in bed. Don't expect the rest of this to make a lot more sense.
The federal government took over Freddie Mac and Fannie May over the weekend. The Congressional Budget Office, essentially the CPA's for the federal government, is of the opinion that the cost of doing so should be included in the federal budget. The Bush administration "appeared to be caught by surprise." God help us. Nothing good can come of this.
Oil appears to be finding a new "normal" around $100/barrel. The systemic problems of rapidly increasing demand as the rest of the world tries to catch up to the West, remain. Current prices are simply a new floor from which oil prices will take their next leap in 18 months.
Camille Paglia has a lot of very interesting things to say about the November elections, Sarah Palin, and the fingernails-on-a-chalkboard response of the fruits and nuts on the left. Not that I really care; all politicians are moral defectives who will say anything to get elected/re-elected, yet never do anything other than the bidding of the recipients of the government's $8.5 billion a day.
See? I really should be sleeping instead of blogging.
The federal government took over Freddie Mac and Fannie May over the weekend. The Congressional Budget Office, essentially the CPA's for the federal government, is of the opinion that the cost of doing so should be included in the federal budget. The Bush administration "appeared to be caught by surprise." God help us. Nothing good can come of this.
Oil appears to be finding a new "normal" around $100/barrel. The systemic problems of rapidly increasing demand as the rest of the world tries to catch up to the West, remain. Current prices are simply a new floor from which oil prices will take their next leap in 18 months.
Camille Paglia has a lot of very interesting things to say about the November elections, Sarah Palin, and the fingernails-on-a-chalkboard response of the fruits and nuts on the left. Not that I really care; all politicians are moral defectives who will say anything to get elected/re-elected, yet never do anything other than the bidding of the recipients of the government's $8.5 billion a day.
See? I really should be sleeping instead of blogging.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Obsession
Out of the last 100 visitors to this site, only 17 didn't come here from a Google search about the world ending on September 10.
So I guess I won't be an internet superstar on September 11.
So I guess I won't be an internet superstar on September 11.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Good News, Bad News
The good news is that I won't have to work every Saturday and Sunday. The bad news is that it's because the restaurant job evaporated. At least the owner figured out that she couldn't afford to replace an unpaid intern with a paid employee before the bakery owner found my replacement.
So I'll be staying at the bakery for now. I may be working more on Saturday's, but I've heard that line before.
And the hits keep coming. Our numbers from the last week are running about double the number of readers we normally see on this site, all trying to find out if the world is going to end on September 10.
To judge by the screams from liberals, you would think the world already ended. Palin has all the feminazi's and granola-eaters in a complete lather. I stood in the back of the bakery Thursday listening to the owner and two women customers denouncing Palin as a "redneck" and "just a horrible person." The three of them kept at it for at least 20 minutes. Which probably tells you everything you need to know. Here's how I see it: everyone assumes that the taint of George Bush will make it difficult for any Republican to win an election for dog catcher, let alone President. So if McCain gets thumped in November, no big deal. Obama will get the presidency by virtue of people voting against Bush or staying home. But if McCain wins, it will be a huge upset and Obama threw away what should have been a cake walk. Can't lose for McCain, can't win for Obama. And Palin makes a McCain win far more likely than it was a week ago.
Not that any of it matters. The system is in place and no one will ever get near that big leather chair at 1600 Pensylvania Avenue that has plans for any substantive change. The government is spending $8.5 billion a day. Does any rational person believe that those who directly benefit from that money are going to stand by while someone takes away the rice bowl?
Or maybe I'm suffering a Chomsky overload....
So I'll be staying at the bakery for now. I may be working more on Saturday's, but I've heard that line before.
And the hits keep coming. Our numbers from the last week are running about double the number of readers we normally see on this site, all trying to find out if the world is going to end on September 10.
To judge by the screams from liberals, you would think the world already ended. Palin has all the feminazi's and granola-eaters in a complete lather. I stood in the back of the bakery Thursday listening to the owner and two women customers denouncing Palin as a "redneck" and "just a horrible person." The three of them kept at it for at least 20 minutes. Which probably tells you everything you need to know. Here's how I see it: everyone assumes that the taint of George Bush will make it difficult for any Republican to win an election for dog catcher, let alone President. So if McCain gets thumped in November, no big deal. Obama will get the presidency by virtue of people voting against Bush or staying home. But if McCain wins, it will be a huge upset and Obama threw away what should have been a cake walk. Can't lose for McCain, can't win for Obama. And Palin makes a McCain win far more likely than it was a week ago.
Not that any of it matters. The system is in place and no one will ever get near that big leather chair at 1600 Pensylvania Avenue that has plans for any substantive change. The government is spending $8.5 billion a day. Does any rational person believe that those who directly benefit from that money are going to stand by while someone takes away the rice bowl?
Or maybe I'm suffering a Chomsky overload....
Saturday, September 06, 2008
"Here I Come to Save the Day!"
Mighty Mouse has nothing on these bozos. And the Fed has turned into the piggy bank of first resort. Meanwhile, unemployment is up, and foreclosures are up. But at least oil is falling back close to $100.
In completely unrelated news, this site continues to be pounded by people Google-ing about the end of the world. All the activity has driven us up to the third spot in the search results. Today, I was reading up a little on the LHC just to see if it was still on schedule and learned something very interesting. Everyone is worried about what will happen when the LHC is fired up and starts smashing protons, but there is just one thing: Not a single proton will be smashed on September 10; they will just be doing a few laps around the track. So even if the doomsayers are correct and the high-energy collisions do produce earth-eating black holes, it won't be happening until sometime late in October or early November.
So I guess the message is that if you are going to be a doomsayer, at least get the date right.
In completely unrelated news, this site continues to be pounded by people Google-ing about the end of the world. All the activity has driven us up to the third spot in the search results. Today, I was reading up a little on the LHC just to see if it was still on schedule and learned something very interesting. Everyone is worried about what will happen when the LHC is fired up and starts smashing protons, but there is just one thing: Not a single proton will be smashed on September 10; they will just be doing a few laps around the track. So even if the doomsayers are correct and the high-energy collisions do produce earth-eating black holes, it won't be happening until sometime late in October or early November.
So I guess the message is that if you are going to be a doomsayer, at least get the date right.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Paranoia Runs Deep
In the last three days, we have had nearly 100 hits from all over the world, with most finding us by Googling some version of "world ends september 10" and hitting this entry. Of course, the more clicks, the higher that blog entry gets in the Google listings, making it more likely that the next person will wind up here.
Still hasn't reached the level of traffice we got from "debbie's boob job" several years ago, but we still have a week to go.
Not much happening here other than reading and watching movies. Microsoft managed to mangle Media Player somewhere along the way so that when you watch an mpeg video file, the music volume is normal, but speech is nearly inaudible. I assume that as most speech is on the center-front speaker, with music and sound effects on the right-left front-rear speakers, there is some problem with the surround sound settings. I didn't have the patience to dig very far, so I just installed the Windows version of VLC. I wasn't much impressed with its quality of video playback when I ran it under Ubuntu a couple years ago, and I have seen nothing to change my opinion of the current version. At the time, I wasn't sure if the video problem was VLC or Ubuntu, but given that it's no better under Windows, I'm guessing the issue is with VLC. But it will do for now, and it fixed the audio problem. I may yet poke around in the control panel and try to fix Media Player, but I'm not in any hurry.
Speaking of audio, I made another upgrade to our entertainment system. Up until yesterday, I had the laptop's headphone jack plugged into the TV's audio. It worked, but there was a great deal of distortion. For five years or so, I've owned and Edirol UA-1A (essentially an external sound card that plugs into a USB port), but I didn't have a cable to mate the UA-1A's left-right RCA jacks to the stereo 1/8" plug on the TV. I literally had every other audio cable you can imagine except that one. Yesterday, I finally stopped at the Radio Shack that I walk by every day on the way home from work and picked up the appropriate cable. The difference is unbelievable. I had considered getting some external, powered studio monitors to upgrade the TV's audio, but now I'm not sure that I will bother. Anyway, getting the audio sorted out means that we are left with getting a magic black box that will let us wirelessly print to our laser printer in the office, and finding another magic black box that will give us the full native resolution of our TV (1920x1080) from our laptop. I expect the first to be easy, the second to be nearly impossible.
It's also time to sort out our disk space situation. I'm currently running two half-terabyte SATA drives in MX-1 enclosures and an aging 60 gig Western Digital Passport. Files are sort of scattered around with a big xcopy job that copies every file to at least one other place. Not an ideal system, and the Western Digital has been running continuously for six or seven years. I'm seriously considering a Drobo with two 1-terebyte drives plus my two half-terabyte drives. The Drobo uses its own version of RAID to prevent data loss if one of the drives craps out, so I would be able to ditch my xcopy backup system and use more of my disk space for data instead of backups. But all that will have to wait for funding; the Drobo itself plus a couple 1 terabyte drives is running around $700.
Well, time for bed.
Still hasn't reached the level of traffice we got from "debbie's boob job" several years ago, but we still have a week to go.
Not much happening here other than reading and watching movies. Microsoft managed to mangle Media Player somewhere along the way so that when you watch an mpeg video file, the music volume is normal, but speech is nearly inaudible. I assume that as most speech is on the center-front speaker, with music and sound effects on the right-left front-rear speakers, there is some problem with the surround sound settings. I didn't have the patience to dig very far, so I just installed the Windows version of VLC. I wasn't much impressed with its quality of video playback when I ran it under Ubuntu a couple years ago, and I have seen nothing to change my opinion of the current version. At the time, I wasn't sure if the video problem was VLC or Ubuntu, but given that it's no better under Windows, I'm guessing the issue is with VLC. But it will do for now, and it fixed the audio problem. I may yet poke around in the control panel and try to fix Media Player, but I'm not in any hurry.
Speaking of audio, I made another upgrade to our entertainment system. Up until yesterday, I had the laptop's headphone jack plugged into the TV's audio. It worked, but there was a great deal of distortion. For five years or so, I've owned and Edirol UA-1A (essentially an external sound card that plugs into a USB port), but I didn't have a cable to mate the UA-1A's left-right RCA jacks to the stereo 1/8" plug on the TV. I literally had every other audio cable you can imagine except that one. Yesterday, I finally stopped at the Radio Shack that I walk by every day on the way home from work and picked up the appropriate cable. The difference is unbelievable. I had considered getting some external, powered studio monitors to upgrade the TV's audio, but now I'm not sure that I will bother. Anyway, getting the audio sorted out means that we are left with getting a magic black box that will let us wirelessly print to our laser printer in the office, and finding another magic black box that will give us the full native resolution of our TV (1920x1080) from our laptop. I expect the first to be easy, the second to be nearly impossible.
It's also time to sort out our disk space situation. I'm currently running two half-terabyte SATA drives in MX-1 enclosures and an aging 60 gig Western Digital Passport. Files are sort of scattered around with a big xcopy job that copies every file to at least one other place. Not an ideal system, and the Western Digital has been running continuously for six or seven years. I'm seriously considering a Drobo with two 1-terebyte drives plus my two half-terabyte drives. The Drobo uses its own version of RAID to prevent data loss if one of the drives craps out, so I would be able to ditch my xcopy backup system and use more of my disk space for data instead of backups. But all that will have to wait for funding; the Drobo itself plus a couple 1 terabyte drives is running around $700.
Well, time for bed.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
More Randomness from Arizona
I didn't end up being needed at the restaurant on Saturday, and I was offered Monday off from the bakery, which I jumped at. So we had Saturday evening, all day Sunday, and all day Monday available. And we did....
Mostly nothing.
And it was wonderful. I finished up Perlstein's After the Storm and started on another collection of Chomsky. Thanks to a quick jaunt to the library, I have Perlstein's Nixonland on deck followed by Pournelle's Exile - and Glory and Niven's Fleet of Worlds that I purchased with a gift card. Debbie has been burning up about three books a day. I figure at the rate we've been going so far in 2008, we will rip through 250+ books by the end of the year. I think that's a record even for us. We also watched several movies: Batman Begins (which we own), Definitely, Maybe, Fools Gold, and I Am Legend (all Amazon UnBox rentals). And I caught up with a week of Internet reading. So not a bad weekend in terms of productivity. Maybe "nothing" isn't really accurate. More like nothing that involved us moving from the couch.
Meanwhile, reality intrudes in the form of another bank failure, and concern grows that the federal agency that insures deposits will run out of cash before this is all over. But, hey! Gas is "only" $3.53.
In other energy news, at least some on the internet are very excited about Nanosolar putting every coal and nuclear power plant out of business. Small problem; as many point out continuously, indirect sun in the morning, evening, and the six months of winter in the higher latitudes doesn't produce much power; there isn't much sun when it's cloudy, and even less at night. While ground-based solar may well become important for peak loads during the daytime (running all the air conditioners in Phoenix at noon, for example), I will predict that ground-based solar will never be a major contributor to base load. Now, roll up a bunch of those panels and shoot them up to geo-stationary orbit....
And people are starting to figure out that burning food is stupid, but burning weeds (or, in this case, algae) may make sense (you will have to scroll down a bit to get to the part about algae). Algae yields very high amounts of vegetable oil per acre, which can be burned in diesel engines.
Well, after I post this and update the Currently Reading and Recently Read lists, it's back to Chomsky.
Mostly nothing.
And it was wonderful. I finished up Perlstein's After the Storm and started on another collection of Chomsky. Thanks to a quick jaunt to the library, I have Perlstein's Nixonland on deck followed by Pournelle's Exile - and Glory and Niven's Fleet of Worlds that I purchased with a gift card. Debbie has been burning up about three books a day. I figure at the rate we've been going so far in 2008, we will rip through 250+ books by the end of the year. I think that's a record even for us. We also watched several movies: Batman Begins (which we own), Definitely, Maybe, Fools Gold, and I Am Legend (all Amazon UnBox rentals). And I caught up with a week of Internet reading. So not a bad weekend in terms of productivity. Maybe "nothing" isn't really accurate. More like nothing that involved us moving from the couch.
Meanwhile, reality intrudes in the form of another bank failure, and concern grows that the federal agency that insures deposits will run out of cash before this is all over. But, hey! Gas is "only" $3.53.
In other energy news, at least some on the internet are very excited about Nanosolar putting every coal and nuclear power plant out of business. Small problem; as many point out continuously, indirect sun in the morning, evening, and the six months of winter in the higher latitudes doesn't produce much power; there isn't much sun when it's cloudy, and even less at night. While ground-based solar may well become important for peak loads during the daytime (running all the air conditioners in Phoenix at noon, for example), I will predict that ground-based solar will never be a major contributor to base load. Now, roll up a bunch of those panels and shoot them up to geo-stationary orbit....
And people are starting to figure out that burning food is stupid, but burning weeds (or, in this case, algae) may make sense (you will have to scroll down a bit to get to the part about algae). Algae yields very high amounts of vegetable oil per acre, which can be burned in diesel engines.
Well, after I post this and update the Currently Reading and Recently Read lists, it's back to Chomsky.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
The Ol' Switcheroo
Well, in what I'm sure will come as a surprise to no one, I gave notice today at the bakery. I should be starting back at the restaurant full time. (Full time in the sense that I will be working a regular shift five days a week instead of my occasional shift; full time as in a 40-hour week seems to not exist as a concept in The Territories.) Giving notice was made much easier by the lunacy I had to put up with all day today from the psychically damaged owner. But at least I have two full days that I don't have to be there, then I'm just short-timing it.
The switch has some definite advantages: higher pay, more hours, two days off every week. The major disadvantage is that the days I will be working are Wednesday through Sunday with Monday and Tuesday off. When I was originally talking to the restaurant owner, she was going to switch back to Tuesday through Saturday like it was when I started working there. But she caved in to the pressure from the mall owners and backed off that idea. It would almost be easier if she just opened the place seven days a week. Then people could at least rotate the days they work so everyone got an occasional weekend off. The one bright spot is that I may be able to trade some double shifts for days off with another day-shift guy. We'll see. Up to now, most of these deals have just turned to dust.
So now I'm counting days until my "retirement" from the bakery. My last day will likely be Saturday, September 13th, and the first day at the restaurant will be Wednesday, September 17. Or I may need to work at the restaurant on the 14th and the bakery on the 15th and 16th. Or not. Nothing like having predictability in your life.
The switch has some definite advantages: higher pay, more hours, two days off every week. The major disadvantage is that the days I will be working are Wednesday through Sunday with Monday and Tuesday off. When I was originally talking to the restaurant owner, she was going to switch back to Tuesday through Saturday like it was when I started working there. But she caved in to the pressure from the mall owners and backed off that idea. It would almost be easier if she just opened the place seven days a week. Then people could at least rotate the days they work so everyone got an occasional weekend off. The one bright spot is that I may be able to trade some double shifts for days off with another day-shift guy. We'll see. Up to now, most of these deals have just turned to dust.
So now I'm counting days until my "retirement" from the bakery. My last day will likely be Saturday, September 13th, and the first day at the restaurant will be Wednesday, September 17. Or I may need to work at the restaurant on the 14th and the bakery on the 15th and 16th. Or not. Nothing like having predictability in your life.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
56 and Counting
The Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004 for a 90-day mission. Fifty-six months later, they are still at it. Spirit survived winter and it looks as if Opportunity will be able to climb back out of the crater that it has been working in for most of a year. Not that time and the harsh environment hasn't taken their toll. The list of malfunctions on both rovers continues to grow. But consider this; what would happen to a car that had no maintenance done on it other than dumping in more gas while being driven off-road in the desert for nearly five years?
Too bad we can't get this sort of return-on-investment for the tax dollars we are spending on things like education and killing Iraqis.
Too bad we can't get this sort of return-on-investment for the tax dollars we are spending on things like education and killing Iraqis.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Work Rant
I'm going to gripe about work a little bit. I know; what's new. Last week was very frustrating just getting through each day. This week started in the toilet and has gone down from there. The problems are multiple and interrelated, but the biggies are:
1. The economy. It sucks. Gas prices have eased back from insane to merely nuts, but it doesn't seem to be helping us (or anyone else I talk to in town). And what business we do get is "on the cheap" (plate splits, free ice water instead of soda or smoothies, three or four people sharing one brownie for dessert, blah, blah, blah). And don't even get me started on the crappy tipping. Tips are not something I expect as the dishwasher even though I probably wait on tables more than I wash dishes, but the counter people (when we have them; see below) hustle pretty good, especially with old coots who don't seem to get the idea of a deli-style lunch counter. It seems to me that the least you could do after running a minimum-wage employee ragged getting drink refills and bagging up your leftovers and busing your table and cleaning more food off the floor than we have to clean up from a family with small kids, is dig a lousy buck out of your $500 designer bag for the tip jar.
2. Employee problems. Mainly, they keep quitting and the replacements get little to no training before being dumped on the rest of us. Today, we had a brand new counter person being trained by the counter person that was hired three weeks ago. The owner? Off getting her massage therapy. She finally showed up around noon. Of course, this is why everybody keeps quitting. That and....
3. The owner is a mental and emotional wreck. Seriously; I don't want to hear about how horny you've been since you dumped your boyfriend or why you dumped him or that you have dumped him or that he's back in your bed or your feelings about... well, about anything. What we would like you to do is sit your scrawny butt down and come up with sensible work schedules, written employment policies, written procedures, doing inventory so we quit running out of things we need to do our jobs, getting more wholesale orders so our paychecks don't bounce, etc.
4. The food sucks. At least I think so. When I'm talking to people around town, I always get some line about how great everything is. And I do like the stuff the new pastry chef turns out and some of the cookies. But the sandwiches I make? Wouldn't touch any of it. Mainly because none of the refrigerated stuff is kept at the correct temp. Meat, cheese, mayo, whatever; it all sits out for hours at room temperature. The only things I eat at work are the potato chip crumbs out of the bottom of the bag and Scoobie snacks I get from the pastry chef. I wouldn't ingest anything else on a bet. It's hard to care too much about what the food you serve looks like when you know the meat is likely rancid.
Other irons in the fire: I may go back to the restaurant. There will be an opening there for a prep cook around mid-September. I would be working five days a week. The pay would probably be a bit more and the hours slightly more (but still not 40 a week), than what I'm getting at the bakery. And starting the first of September, the restaurant is going back to Tuesday through Saturday, so I would be back to having Sunday and Monday off. Not perfect, but better than six days a week. Another possibility I've already mentioned; a small cafe about a block and a half from here that is still in the process of being built. They had hoped to open by mid-August, but I would be surprised if they make mid-September given the delays they keep hitting. I have occasional contact with the cafe manager mainly because I walk by the place twice a day, so I can at least keep my name in the front of his mind.
In other sort-of-but-not-really work news, I will most likely be starting up college in January to take the last three electives that stand between me and a college degree. I should be finished up sometime next year. The classes are only six weeks, but I'm not sure when what I need will be offered. That only took from 1982 through 2009....
Well, that should be enough whining for one night.
1. The economy. It sucks. Gas prices have eased back from insane to merely nuts, but it doesn't seem to be helping us (or anyone else I talk to in town). And what business we do get is "on the cheap" (plate splits, free ice water instead of soda or smoothies, three or four people sharing one brownie for dessert, blah, blah, blah). And don't even get me started on the crappy tipping. Tips are not something I expect as the dishwasher even though I probably wait on tables more than I wash dishes, but the counter people (when we have them; see below) hustle pretty good, especially with old coots who don't seem to get the idea of a deli-style lunch counter. It seems to me that the least you could do after running a minimum-wage employee ragged getting drink refills and bagging up your leftovers and busing your table and cleaning more food off the floor than we have to clean up from a family with small kids, is dig a lousy buck out of your $500 designer bag for the tip jar.
2. Employee problems. Mainly, they keep quitting and the replacements get little to no training before being dumped on the rest of us. Today, we had a brand new counter person being trained by the counter person that was hired three weeks ago. The owner? Off getting her massage therapy. She finally showed up around noon. Of course, this is why everybody keeps quitting. That and....
3. The owner is a mental and emotional wreck. Seriously; I don't want to hear about how horny you've been since you dumped your boyfriend or why you dumped him or that you have dumped him or that he's back in your bed or your feelings about... well, about anything. What we would like you to do is sit your scrawny butt down and come up with sensible work schedules, written employment policies, written procedures, doing inventory so we quit running out of things we need to do our jobs, getting more wholesale orders so our paychecks don't bounce, etc.
4. The food sucks. At least I think so. When I'm talking to people around town, I always get some line about how great everything is. And I do like the stuff the new pastry chef turns out and some of the cookies. But the sandwiches I make? Wouldn't touch any of it. Mainly because none of the refrigerated stuff is kept at the correct temp. Meat, cheese, mayo, whatever; it all sits out for hours at room temperature. The only things I eat at work are the potato chip crumbs out of the bottom of the bag and Scoobie snacks I get from the pastry chef. I wouldn't ingest anything else on a bet. It's hard to care too much about what the food you serve looks like when you know the meat is likely rancid.
Other irons in the fire: I may go back to the restaurant. There will be an opening there for a prep cook around mid-September. I would be working five days a week. The pay would probably be a bit more and the hours slightly more (but still not 40 a week), than what I'm getting at the bakery. And starting the first of September, the restaurant is going back to Tuesday through Saturday, so I would be back to having Sunday and Monday off. Not perfect, but better than six days a week. Another possibility I've already mentioned; a small cafe about a block and a half from here that is still in the process of being built. They had hoped to open by mid-August, but I would be surprised if they make mid-September given the delays they keep hitting. I have occasional contact with the cafe manager mainly because I walk by the place twice a day, so I can at least keep my name in the front of his mind.
In other sort-of-but-not-really work news, I will most likely be starting up college in January to take the last three electives that stand between me and a college degree. I should be finished up sometime next year. The classes are only six weeks, but I'm not sure when what I need will be offered. That only took from 1982 through 2009....
Well, that should be enough whining for one night.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
First What Removed Where?
At the Wiklanski reunion, I got into the whole first cousin, second cousin, removed blah blah conversation. As usual, I probably explained it badly and just confused people even more than they already where. This FAQ at Geneology.com explains it pretty well. If you scroll down a bit, there is a truncated version of a chart I was given some time ago at one of my family reunions. (I give up trying to get the table to play nice with Blogger; follow the link if you care about this stuff.)
My chart goes out to 15 generations, but the pattern is pretty clear. If two people are the same number of generations from their last shared ancestor, then they are siblings or first, second, third cousins, etc. The removes come into play when the number of generations from the last shared ancestor are different for the two people in question.
My chart goes out to 15 generations, but the pattern is pretty clear. If two people are the same number of generations from their last shared ancestor, then they are siblings or first, second, third cousins, etc. The removes come into play when the number of generations from the last shared ancestor are different for the two people in question.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Lazy Post
Reclined. Feet up. Relaxed. This is how blogging was meant to be.
Still getting used to the new keyboard and finding various ways to magnify what's on the screen so I don't have to sit in The Chair. Firefox has zoom controls that work more or less well depending on how the particular page you are looking at is coded. Getting a working wide-screen resolution will definitely help. Most web pages have flexible line lengths, but some don't, making for a lot of horizontal scrolling while reading. The cool thing I found out today is that Firefox remembers the zoom level I set for every page, so all the sites I hit on a daily basis automatically zoom to whatever I used the last time I viewed that site. Cool.
The other thing that will help a great deal is the new glasses that I should be getting in a couple weeks. The doc started with my current prescription, then tweaked it using the standard one-or-two, two-or-three, three-or-four technique. When she was done, she snapped from my existing prescription to the tweaked one. Sheesh. No wonder I can't see the TV from the couch (or road signs, for that matter).
I still don't have a good solution for seeing non-Firefox screens. I don't use them often, so I can leave the comfort of my couch/recliner and go back to The Chair.
For now. I'm sure that more toys are on the way.
Still getting used to the new keyboard and finding various ways to magnify what's on the screen so I don't have to sit in The Chair. Firefox has zoom controls that work more or less well depending on how the particular page you are looking at is coded. Getting a working wide-screen resolution will definitely help. Most web pages have flexible line lengths, but some don't, making for a lot of horizontal scrolling while reading. The cool thing I found out today is that Firefox remembers the zoom level I set for every page, so all the sites I hit on a daily basis automatically zoom to whatever I used the last time I viewed that site. Cool.
The other thing that will help a great deal is the new glasses that I should be getting in a couple weeks. The doc started with my current prescription, then tweaked it using the standard one-or-two, two-or-three, three-or-four technique. When she was done, she snapped from my existing prescription to the tweaked one. Sheesh. No wonder I can't see the TV from the couch (or road signs, for that matter).
I still don't have a good solution for seeing non-Firefox screens. I don't use them often, so I can leave the comfort of my couch/recliner and go back to The Chair.
For now. I'm sure that more toys are on the way.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Blogging from the Couch
I'm typing this on our new Adesso wireless keyboard. It is advertised as working up to 100 feet. I'm not sure I believe that, but it seems to work fine from 16 feet away. Finding all the control keys like Home and End is proving to be a challenge; they are sort of stuck every which place in order to keep the form factor small. And we lost our beloved 10-key numeric pad. That always seems to be a low priority. But it is certainly more comfortable to use from the couch instead of a dining room chair in the middle of the floor. The keyboard has a built-in trackball plus the usual media buttons. The trackball is a little tricky, but I'm sure it will get easier with some practice.
But, as always seems to be the case with technology, solving one problem just creates another. Our laptop does not support the full resolution of our TV (1920x1080), so I cannot get anything large enough to see from the couch without having to scroll right-left. But that is a "hardship" we can deal with for the time being. I've been looking for something to plug into a USB port that outputs VGA or DVI/HDMI at full resolution and 32-bit color. There doesn't seem to be such a beast without dumping the laptop and buying a new computer. We don't have that much in the tip jar, so we will deal.
Step by step, we set up the ultimate living room PC.
But, as always seems to be the case with technology, solving one problem just creates another. Our laptop does not support the full resolution of our TV (1920x1080), so I cannot get anything large enough to see from the couch without having to scroll right-left. But that is a "hardship" we can deal with for the time being. I've been looking for something to plug into a USB port that outputs VGA or DVI/HDMI at full resolution and 32-bit color. There doesn't seem to be such a beast without dumping the laptop and buying a new computer. We don't have that much in the tip jar, so we will deal.
Step by step, we set up the ultimate living room PC.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Back Among the Living
Well, sort of. At least the 12-hour days are over for now. The good part is that the tip jar has $300 in it. The bad part is that I still feel like I've been hit by a very large truck even after sleeping most of Saturday afternoon and Sunday. I've always said that the greatest job I ever had was when I worked at Ruggero's. I worked 40 hours in three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and had the rest of the week off. But after the last week, I'm not sure I can hack being on my feet for 12 to 14 hours a day. I was 19 then; it seems to make a bit of a difference.
Yesterday was the first day I had to catch up with what is going on in the world. I find I have to agree with Jerry Pournelle when he asks, "Has everyone at State and in the Pentagon lost their minds?" I realize that the end of the Cold War took away a lot of people's rice bowls, but do we really want to restart it over, of all things, Georgia? What compelling national interest do we have in Georgia? As to why Russia thinks it can get away with the invasion, one of Dr. Pournelle's readers responds:
On the education front: Before you send the wee tykes off to University, read what the Wall Street Journal has to say about the necessity of a four-year college education. Bottom line: the top 20% of the IQ bell curve should be the only students considering a four-year college. Everyone else is wasting their time and money, and driving up costs for everyone.
And just to beat that patch of bare ground where a dead horse used to be, the sun continues to be free of sunspots. The last time a sunspot cycle was delayed, we had the Little Ice Age. Global warming is good for some areas of the world, bad for a few (mostly low-lying coastal areas). Global cooling is bad for everyone.
Well, I need to finish getting ready for another exciting day of standing elbow-deep in other people's half-eaten food.
Yesterday was the first day I had to catch up with what is going on in the world. I find I have to agree with Jerry Pournelle when he asks, "Has everyone at State and in the Pentagon lost their minds?" I realize that the end of the Cold War took away a lot of people's rice bowls, but do we really want to restart it over, of all things, Georgia? What compelling national interest do we have in Georgia? As to why Russia thinks it can get away with the invasion, one of Dr. Pournelle's readers responds:
I have noted some recent published letters to Chaos Manor have alluded to some confusion over the Russian attack on Georgia. As with many of the Chattering Class on Television and Radio, some readers of Chaos Manor have asked "How could the Russian leadership have ever thought they could get away with such a brazen act of 'aggression'?"Which pretty much says it all. Actions have consequences even for super-power nations, and good intentions do not negate the law of cause-and-effect. Most embarrassing has been the response of our "leaders:" a lot of foot-stamping and shouts of, "We are very disappointed!"
For those who ask that question, a primer:
First, take a small country that has one province overwhelmingly populated by an ethnic group that has traditionally been connected politically and culturally with a bordering nation.
Then, that ethnic group decides to revolt, and uses force in an attempt to secede their province from the small nation.
In due course, acting as nation-states are wont to act, the small country uses force to stop the revolt and attempted secession by the breakaway province. This force is directed largely against the ethnic group that seeks to secede.
Peace keepers are then dispatched to the province in order to stop the "ethnic cleansing". Since there is no peace to keep, this is useless, but there you have it. International opinion is appeased.
When fighting continues, the small country decides to cut the "Gordian Knot" and settle things once and for all with relatively massive military force.
So then the local nuclear superpower intervenes to "stop the genocide" (note the escalation in terms?), using massive air power because it's cheap, fast and pretty much all they have ready to go on such short notice, since they were relatively unprepared, and want to protect the peacekeeping forces they have in the breakaway province under the previous agreement. The nuclear powers leadership labels the leadershoip of the small country "war criminals" and demands their punishment.
So then the OTHER nuclear superpower, an ally of the small country, protests vehemently and seeks for anything they can use to punish the offending nuclear superpower for attacking its' ally. With little leverage, the second nuclear superpower is reduced to vehement protests, pointless gestures and a simmering sense of outrage. Over time the entire fiasco poisons the two nuclear superpowers relationship to everyone's loss.
Eventually, when enough times has passed, the breakaway province gains independence, under the protection of the first nuclear superpower, and the small country undergoes a change of regime in a process once called "Finlandization" when we did not like it.
You might think I have just described recent events in Georgia.
You would be wrong.
I have just described events in 1999, in the Balkans, when the United States and NATO intervened in the Serbian province of Kosovo.
Yes, how could the Russians have -possibly- thought that they could get away with something like that? "I'm shocked, SHOCKED!' that they could have ever made such an assumption.
The chickens have come home to roost.
Petronius
On the education front: Before you send the wee tykes off to University, read what the Wall Street Journal has to say about the necessity of a four-year college education. Bottom line: the top 20% of the IQ bell curve should be the only students considering a four-year college. Everyone else is wasting their time and money, and driving up costs for everyone.
And just to beat that patch of bare ground where a dead horse used to be, the sun continues to be free of sunspots. The last time a sunspot cycle was delayed, we had the Little Ice Age. Global warming is good for some areas of the world, bad for a few (mostly low-lying coastal areas). Global cooling is bad for everyone.
Well, I need to finish getting ready for another exciting day of standing elbow-deep in other people's half-eaten food.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Going home
It is confirmed --- I am flying back to Michigan September 11th. No, not for good.
We are selling the rest of our property and the cabin to some family member of the guys we sold the house and 100 acres to. So, I get to come home -- visit with family and friends and empty out the cabin and shed. Luckily the last major big piece of furniture just found a new home.
I still have to figure out the cheapest option of renting an Uhaul or Penske truck to transport the things to Kalkaska, Burt and Waterford. (round trip or one way and make my Mom drive me back to Traverse City and my rental car)
I emailed a couple guys and talked to a couple nephews and a dear friend to try to arrange some help with loading and unloading up north. Then that friend is planning a special "Debbie Frost day" --- she gets me the whole day and will see who can come for lunch and the rest for a dinner get together and chat fest. The one way rental might work best since that will give me extra time with my Mom. We haven't had much one on one time.
I am just soooooooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I still have to email my old coworkers and try to plan a night/afternoon with them. A night with the nieces/nephews if I can get them all together for one night. Maybe combine with a night with Don and Shirley and Richard and Sally......I don't have too many nights to do dinner with everyone I want to. I am using up all of my PTO time again --- pray that I don't get sick between now and the end of Sept.
Ric is working another double tonite. He is going to be dragging by his day off on Sunday. At least he is building up his tip/slush fund and can buy new gadgets for the computer and new TV we got. Right now we have a kitchen chair and TV tray sitting in the middle of the living room so we can use the computer on the TV. He has ordered a new keyboard and mouse or track ball that is suppose to reach over 20ft ... then we can sit on the couch and surf the web.
We are selling the rest of our property and the cabin to some family member of the guys we sold the house and 100 acres to. So, I get to come home -- visit with family and friends and empty out the cabin and shed. Luckily the last major big piece of furniture just found a new home.
I still have to figure out the cheapest option of renting an Uhaul or Penske truck to transport the things to Kalkaska, Burt and Waterford. (round trip or one way and make my Mom drive me back to Traverse City and my rental car)
I emailed a couple guys and talked to a couple nephews and a dear friend to try to arrange some help with loading and unloading up north. Then that friend is planning a special "Debbie Frost day" --- she gets me the whole day and will see who can come for lunch and the rest for a dinner get together and chat fest. The one way rental might work best since that will give me extra time with my Mom. We haven't had much one on one time.
I am just soooooooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I still have to email my old coworkers and try to plan a night/afternoon with them. A night with the nieces/nephews if I can get them all together for one night. Maybe combine with a night with Don and Shirley and Richard and Sally......I don't have too many nights to do dinner with everyone I want to. I am using up all of my PTO time again --- pray that I don't get sick between now and the end of Sept.
Ric is working another double tonite. He is going to be dragging by his day off on Sunday. At least he is building up his tip/slush fund and can buy new gadgets for the computer and new TV we got. Right now we have a kitchen chair and TV tray sitting in the middle of the living room so we can use the computer on the TV. He has ordered a new keyboard and mouse or track ball that is suppose to reach over 20ft ... then we can sit on the couch and surf the web.
Down, Down, Down
Oil is down. Gold is down. And yet the systemic problems remain.
In related news, we are within 45 days of closing on the property. That will rid us of the last thing that cannot fit into a packing crate.
In related news, we are within 45 days of closing on the property. That will rid us of the last thing that cannot fit into a packing crate.
Old Dead Guys
A team digging for dinosaurs has found human remains in the Sahara. Two separate civilizations that existed during wetter times. They must have burned a lot of fossil fuel to make the Sahara desert, because we know, know, that climate never changes through natural processes. Just ask Al Buy-carbon-credits-and-make-me-richer-than-God Gore.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Home Alone
Ric is working a double shift again today. He found out yesterday when he got asked to work at the restuarant again that the kid he is covering for ended up in the hospital. I'm not sure if they know what is wrong with him at all besides the high temps.
One of the bad things about him working doubles is dinner isn't almost done when I get home. :-( Plus what is bad is right now there are not too many quick fix meals for a single person in our place. I gotta quit complaining --- it is nice to get the extra money. It also makes me appreciate Ric more -- thanks honey! The other bad thing is I can't seem to go to sleep until he is here. I "hear" all kinds of noises and in the dark I imagine shapes are something they aren't!
I will be heading to Michigan sometime next month to clean out our cabin and shed. We are selling it to the sister of the guys we sold the house and 100 acres to last year. Still need to get rid of a big metal desk.....anybody want it and have room for it?
Well....dinner (hamburger) is ready to flip.....more later. Take care all of you out there.
One of the bad things about him working doubles is dinner isn't almost done when I get home. :-( Plus what is bad is right now there are not too many quick fix meals for a single person in our place. I gotta quit complaining --- it is nice to get the extra money. It also makes me appreciate Ric more -- thanks honey! The other bad thing is I can't seem to go to sleep until he is here. I "hear" all kinds of noises and in the dark I imagine shapes are something they aren't!
I will be heading to Michigan sometime next month to clean out our cabin and shed. We are selling it to the sister of the guys we sold the house and 100 acres to last year. Still need to get rid of a big metal desk.....anybody want it and have room for it?
Well....dinner (hamburger) is ready to flip.....more later. Take care all of you out there.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Lego Computer
This is awesome.
This one is an all-black monolith, which is cool, but I can think of all sorts of wild stuff you could do with the basic design. Not sure what Debbie would think about it, but I could see one of these sitting next to the TV stand.
This one is an all-black monolith, which is cool, but I can think of all sorts of wild stuff you could do with the basic design. Not sure what Debbie would think about it, but I could see one of these sitting next to the TV stand.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Stupid Mayor Tricks
Out of jail for 24 hours and already the Prime Moron of Detroit is back in hot water. Of course we all know it's just 'cause he's black and a Democrat. If he was a white Republican, The Man wouldn't be all oppressin' him and stuff.
I Wanna Fly Like Harry Potter
Scientists are moving closer to an invisibility cloak.
Apologies to the Kinks:
And Debbie tells me I'm really reaching for this one, but I figure anytime you can work in an obscure Kinks reference, you have to go for it. Even if it means equating an invisibility cloak with flying.
Apologies to the Kinks:
And Debbie tells me I'm really reaching for this one, but I figure anytime you can work in an obscure Kinks reference, you have to go for it. Even if it means equating an invisibility cloak with flying.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
The Long Wait Has Ended
I finally got around to dumping the last three months of photos off the camera, sorting and cleaning them up, and uploading them into Flickr:
Some yellow roses that grow next to our parking spot.
A quick trip to Arcosanti.
Debbie's trip to the Wrigley Mansion.
Prescott's Fourth of July parade.
Our trip to Out of Africa.
The 2008 Vargason reunion.
The 2008 Wiklanski reunion.
There's only 433 photos this time, so no need to provision yourself before you start.
Some yellow roses that grow next to our parking spot.
A quick trip to Arcosanti.
Debbie's trip to the Wrigley Mansion.
Prescott's Fourth of July parade.
Our trip to Out of Africa.
The 2008 Vargason reunion.
The 2008 Wiklanski reunion.
There's only 433 photos this time, so no need to provision yourself before you start.
Working Doubles
Got a call on Friday from the restaurant wanting to know if I could wash dishes for them. Of course I said "yes." So as soon as I was done at the bakery, I walked across the plaza to the restaurant and worked another 7-hour shift. Last night was kind of the same only I had a couple hours to relax between the bakery and the restaurant, and I only worked about four hours at each job.
Today, I plan to do a lot of sleeping while taking short breaks for naps.
In other work-related news, I should hear something tomorrow about the job I applied for on Tuesday.
Well, gotta go take a nap.
Today, I plan to do a lot of sleeping while taking short breaks for naps.
In other work-related news, I should hear something tomorrow about the job I applied for on Tuesday.
Well, gotta go take a nap.
Friday, August 08, 2008
Technically....
No one under the age of 50 actually plans on retiring, right?
[To see the whole strip, you will have to click on it to bring up the page from their server. Instead of jpegs that can be re-sized to fit the width of a blog post, the New Improved Dilbert serves the comics as Flash objects. Which also means that anyone that wants to view Dilbert has to have the Flash player installed. I'm not sure why this is better....]
September 10, 2008: The World Ends
The first full-up test of the LHC will be on September 10. Serious Woo Hoo!!
And for any random drive-by readers, the title is a joke. I'm not one of these nut jobs.
And for any random drive-by readers, the title is a joke. I'm not one of these nut jobs.
A Bit of Good News
Dollar gains against the Euro. Of course that's mainly because of EU action, not anything that we are doing to put some value into our Monopoly money.
Oil "drops" below $120. Never thought I would live to type that sentence, but at least all grades of gas here in Arizona have fallen below $4. Only diesel is still over the $4 mark.
Woo hoo?
Oil "drops" below $120. Never thought I would live to type that sentence, but at least all grades of gas here in Arizona have fallen below $4. Only diesel is still over the $4 mark.
Woo hoo?
Experts Predict
More expert predictions on the number and size of this year's hurricanes. So when the "experts" are completely, absolutely wrong for the nth time in a row, will we continue to listen?
Of course, even I can predict that it will rain tomorrow. If I make that prediction every day, then every time it rains, I'm right. Every time it doesn't rain, I do a Bugs Bunny: "That's what I said; it will rain tomorrow."
[I've been Googling for 20 minutes trying to find a clip of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck on The Bugs Bunny Show doing their this-week, next-week, last-week routine. It has to be out on the InterTubes somewhere, but I'm not finding it. The internet may have the sum total of all human knowledge, but the indexing sucks dead bunnies.]
Of course, even I can predict that it will rain tomorrow. If I make that prediction every day, then every time it rains, I'm right. Every time it doesn't rain, I do a Bugs Bunny: "That's what I said; it will rain tomorrow."
[I've been Googling for 20 minutes trying to find a clip of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck on The Bugs Bunny Show doing their this-week, next-week, last-week routine. It has to be out on the InterTubes somewhere, but I'm not finding it. The internet may have the sum total of all human knowledge, but the indexing sucks dead bunnies.]
Laughingstock
I see Detroit still knows how to pick a major that truly represents the... uh... diversity. More good stuff here.
I'm sure anyone over 30 remembers Detroit's other nationally famous mayor who made Detroit safe for blacks by driving out all the whites.
Update: And the band plays on....
I'm sure anyone over 30 remembers Detroit's other nationally famous mayor who made Detroit safe for blacks by driving out all the whites.
Update: And the band plays on....
Game Over?
From an article on Neowin:
Mark Dowd of IBM Internet Security Systems (ISS) and Alexander Sotirov, of VMware Inc. have discovered a technique that can be used to bypass all memory protection safeguards that Microsoft built into Windows Vista. These new methods have been used to get around Vista's Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and other protections by loading malicious content through an active web browser. The researchers were able to load whatever content they wanted into any location they wished on a user's machine using a variety of scripting languages, such as Java, ActiveX and even .NET objects. This feat was achieved by taking advantage of the way that Internet Explorer (and other browsers) handle active scripting in the Operating System.Ouch.
While this may seem like any standard security hole, other researchers say that the work is a major breakthrough and there is very little that Microsoft can do to fix the problems. These attacks work differently than other security exploits, as they aren't based on any new Windows vulnerabilities, but instead take advantage of the way Microsoft chose to guard Vista's fundamental architecture. According to Dino Dai Zovi, a popular security researcher, "the genius of this is that it's completely reusable. They have attacks that let them load chosen content to a chosen location with chosen permissions. That's completely game over."
Thursday, August 07, 2008
SpaceX Update
I said last time that it looked like the Falcon 1 launch failure was due to the second stage firing before the first stage had separated. Good first guess, but not quite. The first stage separated when it should have, but had a bit of "residual thrust" which had pretty much the same effect.
And the Elon Musk quote is the perfect response to the whole "space is too hard for stupid private industry only really smart government bureaucrats can do it" crowd.
And the Elon Musk quote is the perfect response to the whole "space is too hard for stupid private industry only really smart government bureaucrats can do it" crowd.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Holy Foot Five Months Later
It only took five months, but the holes have finally filled in. I figure I'm stuck with the scars.
I was thinking about this little incident the other day. I worked around 2300 degree bronze for six months and all I have is one nearly-invisible potmark on my arm. I work in a restaurant for six weeks and I end up with permanent scars from dish soap.
I was thinking about this little incident the other day. I worked around 2300 degree bronze for six months and all I have is one nearly-invisible potmark on my arm. I work in a restaurant for six weeks and I end up with permanent scars from dish soap.
Babblefish
Not much going on around here. I still have two reunions and our trip to Out of Africa sitting on the digital cameras on the floor next to me. I finally got a couple other computer-related tasks done, so I may tackle that tomorrow. Or not. Never put off until tomorrow what you can postpone indefinitely.
I applied for a job at a new coffee shop/restaurant place that I walk by every day on the way to work. I've been watching their progress since January as they gut and rebuild an old motel as the Rooster Cafe and office space. I was chatting up one of the guys on the work site Friday and asked if they were starting to hire yet. He told me to stop by yesterday. I did, but he hadn't gotten the application forms yet, so I stopped in today on the way to work and filled one out. While I was sitting out front doing that, a lady walked in to also put in an application. I gave her my best Southwestern "howdy ma'am" (or maybe it was my best Midwestern head-tip-and-grunt) and told her the guy she was looking for was inside. She came back out a few minutes later with an application and left. I finished up filling out the three-page application (Can anyone tell me why businesses insist on asking for a bunch of information they neither want nor need? Do you really need three pages of information to hire a dishwasher?), I went to turn it in. Turns out the lady that stopped by was a regular at the bakery and made of point of talking about what a great worker I am. For about two beats, I thought about making some comment about that five bucks being worth it, but I figured I'd just smile and do a "Huh. Cool." Let him hire me first, then let him find out I'm a natural-born smart aleck.
Work is getting just plain weird. Money problems, equipment problems, supply problems, bank problems, personnel problems, you name it. All in a business with six employees. Hardly seems possible. It's gotten to the point of being funny; we all stand around trying to guess what the next disaster will be.
Completely unrelated note: Answers.com has been around for a while, but one of Jerry Pournelle's readers sent a link to One-Click Answers. After you download and install the app, highlight any word or phrase in any document, web page, whatever, then Alt-click and a small box will pop up telling you about it with links to more information. It really comes in handy when you read people like Pournelle or Bob Thompson who like to make obscure references to literary or historical figures. Or those annoying bloggers that title their posts with nonsense words like "babblefish".
Like I said. It's been a slow week.
Work continues towards a 3-D computer interface. Most of the concepts in these videos have been around for some time. I recall seeing something similar to this in Byte Magazine in the 1980's. The problem up to now has been the lack of computing horsepower and high resolution displays. The fact that I am sitting in front of a 42" computer screen that doubles as my TV (at one-third the cost of my first 4.77 MHz 8088, 512KB-RAM, dual-360KB-floppy, 4-shades-of-green-CGA-screen computer, if you don't consider 20+ years of inflation) would seem to indicate that the second problem is already resolved. And with quad-core computers now becoming sweet-spot systems and 8-core systems already coming out, horsepower doesn't look to be an issue either. I'd expect to start seeing some of this show up in Apple's next version of OS-X after Snow Leopard. Linux will also jump on this early. Now that Gates is out of the picture, who knows if there will ever be another version of Windows after Vista? Ballmer just doesn't seem to have the drive and focus that Gates has.
OK, enough babbling. I'm going to bed.
I applied for a job at a new coffee shop/restaurant place that I walk by every day on the way to work. I've been watching their progress since January as they gut and rebuild an old motel as the Rooster Cafe and office space. I was chatting up one of the guys on the work site Friday and asked if they were starting to hire yet. He told me to stop by yesterday. I did, but he hadn't gotten the application forms yet, so I stopped in today on the way to work and filled one out. While I was sitting out front doing that, a lady walked in to also put in an application. I gave her my best Southwestern "howdy ma'am" (or maybe it was my best Midwestern head-tip-and-grunt) and told her the guy she was looking for was inside. She came back out a few minutes later with an application and left. I finished up filling out the three-page application (Can anyone tell me why businesses insist on asking for a bunch of information they neither want nor need? Do you really need three pages of information to hire a dishwasher?), I went to turn it in. Turns out the lady that stopped by was a regular at the bakery and made of point of talking about what a great worker I am. For about two beats, I thought about making some comment about that five bucks being worth it, but I figured I'd just smile and do a "Huh. Cool." Let him hire me first, then let him find out I'm a natural-born smart aleck.
Work is getting just plain weird. Money problems, equipment problems, supply problems, bank problems, personnel problems, you name it. All in a business with six employees. Hardly seems possible. It's gotten to the point of being funny; we all stand around trying to guess what the next disaster will be.
Completely unrelated note: Answers.com has been around for a while, but one of Jerry Pournelle's readers sent a link to One-Click Answers. After you download and install the app, highlight any word or phrase in any document, web page, whatever, then Alt-click and a small box will pop up telling you about it with links to more information. It really comes in handy when you read people like Pournelle or Bob Thompson who like to make obscure references to literary or historical figures. Or those annoying bloggers that title their posts with nonsense words like "babblefish".
Like I said. It's been a slow week.
Work continues towards a 3-D computer interface. Most of the concepts in these videos have been around for some time. I recall seeing something similar to this in Byte Magazine in the 1980's. The problem up to now has been the lack of computing horsepower and high resolution displays. The fact that I am sitting in front of a 42" computer screen that doubles as my TV (at one-third the cost of my first 4.77 MHz 8088, 512KB-RAM, dual-360KB-floppy, 4-shades-of-green-CGA-screen computer, if you don't consider 20+ years of inflation) would seem to indicate that the second problem is already resolved. And with quad-core computers now becoming sweet-spot systems and 8-core systems already coming out, horsepower doesn't look to be an issue either. I'd expect to start seeing some of this show up in Apple's next version of OS-X after Snow Leopard. Linux will also jump on this early. Now that Gates is out of the picture, who knows if there will ever be another version of Windows after Vista? Ballmer just doesn't seem to have the drive and focus that Gates has.
OK, enough babbling. I'm going to bed.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Still More Changes
Removed some links and added some new ones over on the right. I'll probably be messing with the format again. I keep going through the templates, but I still haven't found one I like better than the one I have. But it never hurts to look again.
As usual, if things look really weird, give it a few minutes and it will change.
Update: Found one I liked. We'll see if I still like it in a couple days. I may mess with the color scheme and may do some re-arranging over on the right.
As usual, if things look really weird, give it a few minutes and it will change.
Update: Found one I liked. We'll see if I still like it in a couple days. I may mess with the color scheme and may do some re-arranging over on the right.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Progress in Robotics
Looks like science is catching up to science fiction. Watch the video (turn off the audio first; for some reason, they recorded the high-pitched buzzing noise the robot makes when it is running). It is absolutely amazing what this can do.
I would have loved to have one of these when we burned wood.
Update: Check out their other robots: LittleDog, RiSE, and, the coolest one to watch, RHex.
I would have loved to have one of these when we burned wood.
Update: Check out their other robots: LittleDog, RiSE, and, the coolest one to watch, RHex.
The Credibility of Climate Models
Once again, evidence that the antibodies are starting to kick in. Models, computer or otherwise, are useful, even necessary, for science to work. But their function is to show us what we don't know. One way this happens is when the model makes a prediction that diverges from reality.
Which is exactly what all the current climate models do: make predictions that diverge from reality.
Which is fine if the goal is to examine the various models' failures and advance our understanding of global climate. The problem is when they are instead treated as holy writ and anyone criticizing them equated with holocaust deniers and UFO-ologists.
We'll see how long it takes the IPCC politicians to launch the typical ad-hominem attacks against the authors.
Which is exactly what all the current climate models do: make predictions that diverge from reality.
Which is fine if the goal is to examine the various models' failures and advance our understanding of global climate. The problem is when they are instead treated as holy writ and anyone criticizing them equated with holocaust deniers and UFO-ologists.
We'll see how long it takes the IPCC politicians to launch the typical ad-hominem attacks against the authors.
Just Take Away All the Guns
Lefty-liberal females and castrated males have been telling us for decades that if we just take away everyone's guns, we will all come together like one big happy family and sing kum-buy-ya.
Or get into stick-vs.-knife fights.
Whichever.
Or get into stick-vs.-knife fights.
Whichever.
More Banking Trouble
Another bank goes down, four more on the brink, and 90 on a watch list. A watch list that rumors say didn't include Indymac, one of the largest bank failures in US history.
But all we have to do is elect McCain/Obama and it will all be better. Yep. Fer sure, fer sure.
But all we have to do is elect McCain/Obama and it will all be better. Yep. Fer sure, fer sure.
Missing Michigan
For a week at least. The TC Film Festival is, in my humble opinion, the best week to be in Traverse City and likely the entire state of Michigan. While I have serious issues with Michael Moore's politics and even his thin grasp of facts that some of his movies display, this festival is the best thing to happen to Michigan in many years.
SpaceX Launch Failure
SpaceX's third launch attempt has failed. It looks like the first stage did not separate prior to second stage ignition. As you would expect, that makes for a bad day. I did get a chuckle from the "doubts about private space flight" comment. How many launch failures did NASA have before reaching orbit? This is only SpaceX's third launch attempt. A more relevant question might be how many people has SpaceX killed vs. how many people NASA has killed. But that would probably be considered impolite.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Dr. Doom Speaks
Bloomberg reports that Alan Greenspan is making his usual cheery comments:
falling U.S. home prices are "nowhere near the bottom"The last statement should scare the crap out of every American, which means it will become what everyone demands.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... are a "major accident waiting to happen"
"The solution" is the "nationalization" of [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac]
Liquid Day
At last, the Phoenix has direct confirmation of water on Mars. And Cassini has finally confirmed liquid on Titan. The solar system just got a bunch of new beach-front property. Of course, the water on Mars is frozen to the hardness of concrete, and the liquid on Titan is -300 degree F ethane, but it's there. Woo hoo!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
