Headed up Rt 1 for Monterey ...
Friday, March 17, 2006
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Dinner @ Doc's
Elliot and Doc next to Doc's famous "infinity pool"Sorta breaking my unoffical rule of not posting photos of people, but these guys are well enough known...
Great afternoon/evening, one of the highlights of our trip to Calif.
Later joined by Paul Boutin and his wife Christina.
Just wish I had a DVR-style wittism recording device to capture the best lines, such as Paul's "Rising tide lifts all darts" ... or the discussion of "Creative Studies."
Joyce came up with a nice Irish boiled corned beef and cabbage dinner.
Doc was sorely missed at PCForum ...
Venice Beach
We paid a visit to Venice Beach, home of folks my sister calls "wing nuts"Those who have a found a "Relatively mild" and tolerant climate for their lifestyles. Street people, homeless and the like. One with a plackard "World's Greatest Wino..."
OK ...
Then we had this guy hawking "cheap pizza" ... yum
Well, maybe not today ...
But there was this great wall art
A bit closer : even the windows are painted in.
Monday, March 13, 2006
PCForum
PCForum
Not really bloggin from here, will let others do it
Conferenza
AttentionTrust.org
Between the Lines ZDNet.com
Ross Mayfield's Weblog
Tech~Surf~Blog
business2blog: B2Day
Identity Woman
Saturday, March 11, 2006
California Dreamin ...
Cue up the Momma's and the Pappa's old tune
We're still waitin
Valet here at La Costa says it's "coldest day in Calif History"
Well, just checked my weather widgets and it's all of 2 degrees colder in MAPLE CITY MICHIGAN.
54 vs 52
Will post photos later (should have taken some of Californians frozen on the streets)
Was on the USS Midway - and 1/4 inch hail ... they cleared the flight deck.
Later
Time to unpack
We're still waitin
Valet here at La Costa says it's "coldest day in Calif History"
Well, just checked my weather widgets and it's all of 2 degrees colder in MAPLE CITY MICHIGAN.
54 vs 52
Will post photos later (should have taken some of Californians frozen on the streets)
Was on the USS Midway - and 1/4 inch hail ... they cleared the flight deck.
Later
Time to unpack
Old and new
Shot of CVN 74 (John Stennis) left and CVN 68 (Nimitz) right from the deck of the Midway.Rain and ... Hail
Got chased off by the weather
Here's what it looked like over the bow
Friday, March 10, 2006
At the Zoo
Spent the day at the zoo.Grey, only in the 50's, breezy, some rain.
But it was still nice.
Had not been to this place for just over 50yrs.
That's right ... it's been a while and this dates me
But that the fact jack.
Last visit was '54 with mother and grandmother.
Interesting piece on Ongoing Human Evolution
Still Evolving, Human Genes Tell New Story - New York Times: "Providing the strongest evidence yet that humans are still evolving, researchers have detected some 700 regions of the human genome where genes appear to have been reshaped by natural selection, a principal force of evolution, within the last 5,000 to 15,000 years."
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Does Hillary know about this ?
Not that Dick Morris doesn't have an ax to grind, so take with large grain of salt.
But it seems that George W. isn't the only President with leanings towards a particular Arab country.
Seems that Bill is on the payroll...
Ahh
Ain't politics grand?
VOTE.COM | Column | BILL THE LOBBYIST: "
BILL THE LOBBYIST
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
March 6, 2006 -- BUBBA AN AGENT FOR DUBAI?"
But it seems that George W. isn't the only President with leanings towards a particular Arab country.
Seems that Bill is on the payroll...
Ahh
Ain't politics grand?
VOTE.COM | Column | BILL THE LOBBYIST: "
BILL THE LOBBYIST
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
March 6, 2006 -- BUBBA AN AGENT FOR DUBAI?"
Cracks & Tracks
Only got ice on the lake a few of weeks ago (Feb 11th)Late.
Some intreped (foolish?) fishermen still out on the ice.
I decided against the hike across for this year
Pretty loud this AM
Much groaning and popping.
Good clear night, temp dropped into the single digits, snow has good solid crust. But warmer weather approaching.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Urban insights
Once you get past the Times urban bias, there is much good material here.
From why Detroit should be allowed to die to how zoning drives up prices.
Detroit and the like should be allowed to fail as they no longer have a "purpose" or make business sense. The problem is that housing is persistent, it can take 100yrs to decay. In the meantime, houses sell for less than construction cost – therefore are bargains for the poor.
Home Economics - New York Times:
"Edward L. Glaeser grew up on the East Side of Manhattan, went to school in Princeton, N.J., and Chicago, lived for a time in Cambridge, Mass., and Palo Alto, Calif., and recently moved with his wife and young son to a house on six and a half acres in the affluent suburb of Weston, Mass. To Glaeser, this last move has been a big adjustment. For one thing, he is not a good driver, and the new commute has prompted him to leave his house by 6 a.m. so as not to get ensnared in the morning rush hour. For another, Glaeser and the suburbs are clearly an unholy marriage of sensibilities, especially since his new house is bordered by about 600 acres of conservation land. 'I wake up every day, thinking, My goodness, how many units of housing could you build here?' he says."
His suburban problems aside, it looks like he's a good thinker.
Link should be a permalink - suggest one spends a few min with it.
Conclusion on zoning driving prices up :
Boston, San Francisco and Manhattan are obviously becoming rarefied destinations, mostly for America's elites (Glaeser calls the cities "luxury goods"), with housing floating beyond the reach of the young and the middle class. These cities' economies are in the process of becoming boutique, too, accommodating only the most skilled and privileged. Their desire to limit construction and grow not in buildings and population but in prices has, in effect, begun to shape their destiny. "A healthy city is one that has a healthy mix of demographic groups," Glaeser says. "Shutting out your 25-to-40 year-olds? That feels like a bad strategy for urban innovation."
From why Detroit should be allowed to die to how zoning drives up prices.
Detroit and the like should be allowed to fail as they no longer have a "purpose" or make business sense. The problem is that housing is persistent, it can take 100yrs to decay. In the meantime, houses sell for less than construction cost – therefore are bargains for the poor.
Home Economics - New York Times:
"Edward L. Glaeser grew up on the East Side of Manhattan, went to school in Princeton, N.J., and Chicago, lived for a time in Cambridge, Mass., and Palo Alto, Calif., and recently moved with his wife and young son to a house on six and a half acres in the affluent suburb of Weston, Mass. To Glaeser, this last move has been a big adjustment. For one thing, he is not a good driver, and the new commute has prompted him to leave his house by 6 a.m. so as not to get ensnared in the morning rush hour. For another, Glaeser and the suburbs are clearly an unholy marriage of sensibilities, especially since his new house is bordered by about 600 acres of conservation land. 'I wake up every day, thinking, My goodness, how many units of housing could you build here?' he says."
His suburban problems aside, it looks like he's a good thinker.
Link should be a permalink - suggest one spends a few min with it.
Conclusion on zoning driving prices up :
Boston, San Francisco and Manhattan are obviously becoming rarefied destinations, mostly for America's elites (Glaeser calls the cities "luxury goods"), with housing floating beyond the reach of the young and the middle class. These cities' economies are in the process of becoming boutique, too, accommodating only the most skilled and privileged. Their desire to limit construction and grow not in buildings and population but in prices has, in effect, begun to shape their destiny. "A healthy city is one that has a healthy mix of demographic groups," Glaeser says. "Shutting out your 25-to-40 year-olds? That feels like a bad strategy for urban innovation."
Reinventing the Wheel
Maybe it's more like Dinosaurs mating?
Compete via consolidation...
WSJ.com - U.S. Home:
"AT&T Is near a deal to acquire BellSouth for roughly $65 billion, in an agreement that would give AT&T sole control over Cingular, the nation's largest wireless operator. A deal could be announced as early as Monday."
But is there a brighter side?
Will the FCC view the telco's as Oligopolies and lean against the attempts to fence in the net.
We can only hope...
Compete via consolidation...
WSJ.com - U.S. Home:
"AT&T Is near a deal to acquire BellSouth for roughly $65 billion, in an agreement that would give AT&T sole control over Cingular, the nation's largest wireless operator. A deal could be announced as early as Monday."
But is there a brighter side?
Will the FCC view the telco's as Oligopolies and lean against the attempts to fence in the net.
We can only hope...
Converstion?
Is that an Ash Cross on his forehead?
Did Al-Zawahri convert?
What is he giving up for Lent?
USATODAY.com - In tape, al-Zawahri blasts cartoons:
Cairo (AP) — Al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri criticized the West for its insult to Islam's prophet, complaining in a video broadcast Sunday on Al-Jazeera that the Prophet Mohammed and Jesus 'are not sacred anymore.'"
Did Al-Zawahri convert?
What is he giving up for Lent?
USATODAY.com - In tape, al-Zawahri blasts cartoons:
Cairo (AP) — Al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri criticized the West for its insult to Islam's prophet, complaining in a video broadcast Sunday on Al-Jazeera that the Prophet Mohammed and Jesus 'are not sacred anymore.'"
Saturday, March 04, 2006
juxtaposition
Went to See BrokeBack Mt.
All well and good.
I like Ang Lee's work
I really like Larry McMurtry's work
I have no problem with the theme
Devout and practicing hetrosexual,
the movie was no "threat"
I 've often enjoyed time in the Canadian Rockies
(where it was shot, not Wyoming)
But ... there was an ad before the movie.
Not just one of the "slide show" ads, but a video clip for ...
Come on
Wasn't anyone paying attention ?
Or was it intentional ?
Really had to stifle a laugh out loud...
All well and good.I like Ang Lee's work
I really like Larry McMurtry's work
I have no problem with the theme
Devout and practicing hetrosexual,
the movie was no "threat"
I 've often enjoyed time in the Canadian Rockies
(where it was shot, not Wyoming)
But ... there was an ad before the movie.
Not just one of the "slide show" ads, but a video clip for ...
Come on
Wasn't anyone paying attention ?
Or was it intentional ?
Really had to stifle a laugh out loud...
Confirms my attitude towards collectibles ...
Insight into the hype of the "Collectable Art" Market
Much the same can apply to other items.
Buy what you like, not what others "value"
After Stint of Crime, Art Forger Sells Genuine Fakes:
"After many years as an art forger, both criminal and legitimate, John Myatt has a thing or two to say about the vagaries of the art market.
'Never was there such a load of rubbish talked about anything as has been, and will be, talked about art,' he said, sitting in his kitchen, Van Gogh's beautiful 'Harvest' (a fake, painted by him) on the wall behind him. 'The nonsense, really, is that paintings should be priced the way they are, that a Van Gogh can go for, what is it, $75 million? That's disgusting.'
Former art student, former musician, former impoverished single father, Mr. Myatt for seven years participated in what a Scotland Yard officer called at the time 'the biggest art fraud of the 20th century,' painting fake masterpieces that an accomplice passed off as authentic. But all he really wanted, he said, was a job he could do at home."
Much the same can apply to other items.
Buy what you like, not what others "value"
After Stint of Crime, Art Forger Sells Genuine Fakes:
"After many years as an art forger, both criminal and legitimate, John Myatt has a thing or two to say about the vagaries of the art market.
'Never was there such a load of rubbish talked about anything as has been, and will be, talked about art,' he said, sitting in his kitchen, Van Gogh's beautiful 'Harvest' (a fake, painted by him) on the wall behind him. 'The nonsense, really, is that paintings should be priced the way they are, that a Van Gogh can go for, what is it, $75 million? That's disgusting.'
Former art student, former musician, former impoverished single father, Mr. Myatt for seven years participated in what a Scotland Yard officer called at the time 'the biggest art fraud of the 20th century,' painting fake masterpieces that an accomplice passed off as authentic. But all he really wanted, he said, was a job he could do at home."
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
March(in on)
About 8:30 AM on the 1stPlaying with new camera on beach Sleeping Bear Bay
Shooting towards the passage between the Manitous
Yup
Still Winter
Looking foward to working with more pixels...
Sunday, February 26, 2006
How high's the water Papa
New Camera (Canon PowerShot SD550)
7+Megapixel, vs the older's 3+
How high's the water?
About 2ft less than about a week ago.
Sycamore Creek
Behind my "office" outside of Lansing.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
More on the Port Flap
Pols, both sides of the aisle, jump to conclusions
Mostly just plain dumb ones.
Outside U.S., Puzzlement Over Reaction to the Dubai Port Deal - New York Times:
"Some British publications and analysts were blunt in their criticism. 'The bluster about national security conceals one of the uglier faces of U.S. protectionism — the one with the slightly racist tinge,' The Financial Times said in an editorial Tuesday.
The Economist Intelligence Unit entitled a brief on the deal 'Big vision collides with small minds.'
"
Mostly just plain dumb ones.
Outside U.S., Puzzlement Over Reaction to the Dubai Port Deal - New York Times:
"Some British publications and analysts were blunt in their criticism. 'The bluster about national security conceals one of the uglier faces of U.S. protectionism — the one with the slightly racist tinge,' The Financial Times said in an editorial Tuesday.
The Economist Intelligence Unit entitled a brief on the deal 'Big vision collides with small minds.'
"
Friday, February 24, 2006
Ineffective Explosive Devices ?
Weapons of the World:
"The Sunni Arab fighters in Iraq are, historically, a pretty inept and pathetic bunch. This can be seen in the amazingly low casualty rate of American troops."
"The Sunni Arab fighters in Iraq are, historically, a pretty inept and pathetic bunch. This can be seen in the amazingly low casualty rate of American troops."
Ports and Prejudice
Da Dems got it wrong this time.
Arab Phobia.
Turmoil over which flavor of Islam (the shrine bombing and mosque burning in Iraq) doens't help the Arab cause, but for the Democrats to say that WASPy Brits are OK, but Arabs aren't is a dangerous path to take.
Excerpt from Tom Friedman (NYTimes pay per view)
War of the Worlds - New York Times:
"But while I have zero sympathy for the political mess in which the president now finds himself, I will not join this feeding frenzy. On the pure merits of this case, the president is right. The port deal should go ahead. Congress should focus on the N.S.A. wiretapping. Not this.
As a country, we must not go down this road of global ethnic profiling — looking for Arabs under our beds the way we once looked for commies. If we do — if America, the world's beacon of pluralism and tolerance, goes down that road — we will take the rest of the world with us. We will sow the wind and we will reap the whirlwind.
If there were a real security issue here, I'd join the critics. But the security argument is bogus and, I would add, borderline racist. Many U.S. ports are run today by foreign companies, but the U.S. Coast Guard still controls all aspects of port security, entry and exits; the U.S. Customs Service is still in charge of inspecting the containers; and U.S. longshoremen still handle the cargos.
The port operator simply oversees the coming and going of ships, making sure they are properly loaded and offloaded in the most cost-effective manner. As my colleague David E. Sanger reported: 'Among the many problems at American ports, said Stephen E. Flynn, a retired Coast Guard commander who is an expert on port security at the Council on Foreign Relations, 'who owns the management contract ranks near the very bottom.' ' "
Arab Phobia.
Turmoil over which flavor of Islam (the shrine bombing and mosque burning in Iraq) doens't help the Arab cause, but for the Democrats to say that WASPy Brits are OK, but Arabs aren't is a dangerous path to take.
Excerpt from Tom Friedman (NYTimes pay per view)
War of the Worlds - New York Times:
"But while I have zero sympathy for the political mess in which the president now finds himself, I will not join this feeding frenzy. On the pure merits of this case, the president is right. The port deal should go ahead. Congress should focus on the N.S.A. wiretapping. Not this.
As a country, we must not go down this road of global ethnic profiling — looking for Arabs under our beds the way we once looked for commies. If we do — if America, the world's beacon of pluralism and tolerance, goes down that road — we will take the rest of the world with us. We will sow the wind and we will reap the whirlwind.
If there were a real security issue here, I'd join the critics. But the security argument is bogus and, I would add, borderline racist. Many U.S. ports are run today by foreign companies, but the U.S. Coast Guard still controls all aspects of port security, entry and exits; the U.S. Customs Service is still in charge of inspecting the containers; and U.S. longshoremen still handle the cargos.
The port operator simply oversees the coming and going of ships, making sure they are properly loaded and offloaded in the most cost-effective manner. As my colleague David E. Sanger reported: 'Among the many problems at American ports, said Stephen E. Flynn, a retired Coast Guard commander who is an expert on port security at the Council on Foreign Relations, 'who owns the management contract ranks near the very bottom.' ' "
Thursday, February 23, 2006
No Wonder the Dems Lost to Bush
Was driving around on errandsSpun the radio dial and some call-in show
Caller referred to the '04 election
Bush vs Jim Carrey.
(image borrowed from IMDb.com)
Sheesh
No wonder Kerry lost
Couldn't differentiate himself
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Great Example of Hypestering
Posted because it was first to come up on google ...
There was some sort of story on CNN about this
Trump Skewers Stewart in Open Letter | Donald Trump, Martha Stewart : People.com:
If the Chumpster was so outraged over Martha, why hold his toung until just before the new season of his Apprentice show?
Because this just flat doesn't matter, it's hype, pure and simple.
Amazing thing to me is that some (likely far too many) believe him and his wild-ass claims.
There was some sort of story on CNN about this
Trump Skewers Stewart in Open Letter | Donald Trump, Martha Stewart : People.com:
If the Chumpster was so outraged over Martha, why hold his toung until just before the new season of his Apprentice show?
Because this just flat doesn't matter, it's hype, pure and simple.
Amazing thing to me is that some (likely far too many) believe him and his wild-ass claims.
On Da Lighter Side
Because sometimes we just need to look at the lighter side of life ...excerpts
NEWS of the WEIRD - Current News:
"Palm Beach County, Fla., created the controversial 'butterfly ballot' in the 2000 presidential election that reportedly confused more than a thousand Gore-Lieberman voters such that they wound up marking their ballots for a minor-party candidate. In February 2006, local education officials told the Palm Beach Post that too many of the county's high school students apparently knew answers on the statewide comprehensive test but were incorrectly marking the answer sheets. The multiple choice questions require only one circle to be darkened on the sheet, but other questions require darkening digits of an actual numerical answer, apparently bewildering students into darkening too many or too few circles. [Palm Beach Post, 2-6-06]"
then ...
"A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist, quoting a spokesman for the telecommunications company Lucent in January, reported that "nearly a million people" in the United States still lease their house phones for around $60 a year (about 20 years after they were no longer required to), rather than buy them for as little as $20 each. [Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.), 1-11-06] [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1-28-06]"
Maybe they all live in PALM BEACH ! (editorial comment)
And for our CIA ... we do so miss Don Adams as Maxwell Smart :
"... one clandestine operative left a clear trail of her whereabouts because, even though she booked herself at foreign hotels under aliases, she insisted that frequent-flier miles earned at the hotels be credited to her personal, non-secret frequent-flier account. [Chicago Tribune, 12-25-05]"
NEWS of the WEIRD - Current News:
"Palm Beach County, Fla., created the controversial 'butterfly ballot' in the 2000 presidential election that reportedly confused more than a thousand Gore-Lieberman voters such that they wound up marking their ballots for a minor-party candidate. In February 2006, local education officials told the Palm Beach Post that too many of the county's high school students apparently knew answers on the statewide comprehensive test but were incorrectly marking the answer sheets. The multiple choice questions require only one circle to be darkened on the sheet, but other questions require darkening digits of an actual numerical answer, apparently bewildering students into darkening too many or too few circles. [Palm Beach Post, 2-6-06]"
then ...
"A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist, quoting a spokesman for the telecommunications company Lucent in January, reported that "nearly a million people" in the United States still lease their house phones for around $60 a year (about 20 years after they were no longer required to), rather than buy them for as little as $20 each. [Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.), 1-11-06] [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1-28-06]"
Maybe they all live in PALM BEACH ! (editorial comment)
And for our CIA ... we do so miss Don Adams as Maxwell Smart :
"... one clandestine operative left a clear trail of her whereabouts because, even though she booked herself at foreign hotels under aliases, she insisted that frequent-flier miles earned at the hotels be credited to her personal, non-secret frequent-flier account. [Chicago Tribune, 12-25-05]"
Ouch
Spike into the heart of the defense of Lay and Skilling ?
Executives Modified Enron Data, Jury Is Told - New York Times:
Soo0 ... Do Ken and Jeff wear prison garb before fall elections?
If so, does this help the Republicans?
Curious minds want to know...
Executives Modified Enron Data, Jury Is Told - New York Times:
Soo0 ... Do Ken and Jeff wear prison garb before fall elections?
If so, does this help the Republicans?
Curious minds want to know...
Monday, February 20, 2006
After Neoconservatism - New York Times
Excellent Essay byt Fukuyama on "Life after Necon-ism"
Well worth the time to read
After Neoconservatism - New York Times:
"The problem with neoconservatism's agenda lies not in its ends, which are as American as apple pie, but rather in the overmilitarized means by which it has sought to accomplish them. What American foreign policy needs is not a return to a narrow and cynical realism, but rather the formulation of a 'realistic Wilsonianism' that better matches means to ends. "
Well worth the time to read
After Neoconservatism - New York Times:
"The problem with neoconservatism's agenda lies not in its ends, which are as American as apple pie, but rather in the overmilitarized means by which it has sought to accomplish them. What American foreign policy needs is not a return to a narrow and cynical realism, but rather the formulation of a 'realistic Wilsonianism' that better matches means to ends. "
Then and Now
Just back from a great flick
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Clooney's movie on Murrow vs McCarthy.
Great pace
Shows that B&W still very effective
Strathairn has Murrow nailed, the mannerisms, the intonation, delivery, gestures.
McCarthy as himself was very effective.
His lecture to the Broadcast Executives was most telling.
Such promise for TV, such a waste with what we get.
Not that there wasn't plenty of trash then, but seems that there is nothing but distractions today.
About a month ago I pulled out an old tape (bought it some years ago, just never got around to playing) :
Point of Order (1964):
"A chilling example how telling a lie often and loudly makes it appear true."
"...compiled from TV footage of the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings, in which the Army accused Senator McCarthy of improperly pressuring the Army for special privileges for Private David Schine, formerly of McCarthy's investigative staff. McCarthy accused the Army of holding Schine hostage to keep him from searching for Communists in the Army. These hearings resulted in McCarthy's eventual censure for conduct unbecoming a senator."
Made Good Night even better.
Point of order was a bit "messy" in the edits, some continuity flaws in it's assembly. Nevertheless, effective.
Culmination with Joseph Welch's "have you no shame"
Credited cast:
Roy M. Cohn .... Himself (archive footage)
Joseph McCarthy .... Himself (archive footage)
Joseph N. Welch .... Himself (archive footage)
Aside : Welch played the judge in a later good movie ... Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Now ... to ponder.
If broadcast has failed it's promise, can the Net/Blogisphere/Something step into the breach?
Difference being no "mass" audience.
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Clooney's movie on Murrow vs McCarthy.
Great pace
Shows that B&W still very effective
Strathairn has Murrow nailed, the mannerisms, the intonation, delivery, gestures.
McCarthy as himself was very effective.
His lecture to the Broadcast Executives was most telling.
Such promise for TV, such a waste with what we get.
Not that there wasn't plenty of trash then, but seems that there is nothing but distractions today.
About a month ago I pulled out an old tape (bought it some years ago, just never got around to playing) :
Point of Order (1964):
"A chilling example how telling a lie often and loudly makes it appear true."
"...compiled from TV footage of the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings, in which the Army accused Senator McCarthy of improperly pressuring the Army for special privileges for Private David Schine, formerly of McCarthy's investigative staff. McCarthy accused the Army of holding Schine hostage to keep him from searching for Communists in the Army. These hearings resulted in McCarthy's eventual censure for conduct unbecoming a senator."
Made Good Night even better.
Point of order was a bit "messy" in the edits, some continuity flaws in it's assembly. Nevertheless, effective.
Culmination with Joseph Welch's "have you no shame"
Credited cast:
Roy M. Cohn .... Himself (archive footage)
Joseph McCarthy .... Himself (archive footage)
Joseph N. Welch .... Himself (archive footage)
Aside : Welch played the judge in a later good movie ... Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Now ... to ponder.
If broadcast has failed it's promise, can the Net/Blogisphere/Something step into the breach?
Difference being no "mass" audience.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Currencies
Zakaria on Europe and why the Euro (my opinion) doesn't have a future
Zakaria: The Decline and Fall of Europe - Newsweek: :
Talk to top-level scientists and educators about the future of scientific research and they will rarely even mention Europe.
Then this from NYTimes ... stick to the dollar (in the Americas) for a currency
The Case for Fewer but Stronger Currencies - New York Times
Zakaria: The Decline and Fall of Europe - Newsweek: :
Talk to top-level scientists and educators about the future of scientific research and they will rarely even mention Europe.
Then this from NYTimes ... stick to the dollar (in the Americas) for a currency
The Case for Fewer but Stronger Currencies - New York Times
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Winter
Occasional clearingWe've had some near white-outs
At least you can see some of the
far shore
Early afternoon
Lake effect snows
Staying in single digits today
Chilly Chili
Annual Glen Arbor Chili CookOff
Well, for once, I'll have to admit that it was ... chilly
About 7 above ... at Noon
Even had to wear gloves, which made the sampling a bit clumsy
That said, it was good to get out, town was as busy as it has been for months.
Lake first frozen over just a week ago, but I'd say we have winter back
Friday, February 17, 2006
Fly in the Ointment
Headed out to PCForum in just a few weeks time.
Always a great conference, lots to learn.
Release 1.0 / PC Forum / Theme:
"Erosion of Power: Users in charge"
"Nearly every company I meet is focused on offering users more control and greater choice. With all these Web 2.0 technologies and business models, it seems, users can do anything!
In fact, the "user in charge" theme resonates to the point of irrational exuberance. I love the idea, but the last five years have taught us - or most of us - some healthy skepticism. What's the downside? I want the Forum to celebrate user choice - and to show how to build a successful business by offering it."
Sorry that Doc Searls isn't going to be there.
This is right up his alley.
But I have a recurring image ... Users in Charge? Inmates in Charge?
Marat/Sade (1967):
aka :"'The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum at Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade'"
Haven't seen the movie since it was out in '67 (yeah yeah ... so it dates me) but the images stick.
For those not familiar with the movie, from IMDB:
IMDb user comments for Marat/Sade (1967):
"As the title implies, the film is entirely a play-within-a-play where most cast members depict both a character from the French Revolution as well as an insane asylum inmate playing that character. While the film (like the later comedy-drama about deSade, 'Quills') addresses censorship, it is primarily concerned with a debate between Marat as a sort of representative of revolutionary radical communism, and de Sade as a nihilistic existentialist frustrated with his own, and society's, violently cruel urges, as well as the futility of revolutionary action to improve mankind."
Where is the balance, the "sweet spot" between the flexiblity and control.
I have faith in markets to clear out the junk and blow away the chaff ... but sometimes it gets "messy"
Always a great conference, lots to learn.
Release 1.0 / PC Forum / Theme:
"Erosion of Power: Users in charge"
"Nearly every company I meet is focused on offering users more control and greater choice. With all these Web 2.0 technologies and business models, it seems, users can do anything!
In fact, the "user in charge" theme resonates to the point of irrational exuberance. I love the idea, but the last five years have taught us - or most of us - some healthy skepticism. What's the downside? I want the Forum to celebrate user choice - and to show how to build a successful business by offering it."
Sorry that Doc Searls isn't going to be there.
This is right up his alley.
But I have a recurring image ... Users in Charge? Inmates in Charge?
Marat/Sade (1967):
aka :"'The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum at Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade'"
Haven't seen the movie since it was out in '67 (yeah yeah ... so it dates me) but the images stick.
For those not familiar with the movie, from IMDB:
IMDb user comments for Marat/Sade (1967):
"As the title implies, the film is entirely a play-within-a-play where most cast members depict both a character from the French Revolution as well as an insane asylum inmate playing that character. While the film (like the later comedy-drama about deSade, 'Quills') addresses censorship, it is primarily concerned with a debate between Marat as a sort of representative of revolutionary radical communism, and de Sade as a nihilistic existentialist frustrated with his own, and society's, violently cruel urges, as well as the futility of revolutionary action to improve mankind."
Where is the balance, the "sweet spot" between the flexiblity and control.
I have faith in markets to clear out the junk and blow away the chaff ... but sometimes it gets "messy"
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Bit of Winter
Well, we wanted some snow ...
and we're getting it
Early afternoon, view of the beach and ice.
Ice still a bit "warm" so the snow is not really building up on it yet.
It will.
View westerly, Fischer Point in the "shadows"
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Bada Bing - I agree on the concept
Interesting piece
Challanges conventional market wisdom.
"efficient market hypothesis (EMH), which holds that markets aggregate information efficiently and investors form their financial expectations rationally. The reality may be much messier."
Dr. Andrew Lo: Darwinian Investing:
The MIT finance professor's market theory borrows from neuroscience, evolution, and econometrics.
...
"Sci-fi was an important influence on Lo, whose family moved from Taiwan to Queens, N.Y., when he was 5. Raised by his mother, he became an academic star. He skipped eighth grade, sped through Bronx High School of Science and Yale University, and nabbed a PhD in economics from Harvard University at age 24. But it was Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy that steered him toward finance economics. Asimov sketched out a branch of mathematics called psychohistory, whose practitioners sample the proclivities of large numbers of people, then accurately predict the future based on what they learn. Sound familiar?"
...
My comments submitted to BusinessWeek:
"All very very interesting
Patterns to my thinking very well.
Markets are NOT rational, but emotional. Patterns change, players change (both the players themselves and what they pay attention to). Anybody remember M1? M2?
This is why trading was fun, as well as, mostly profitable while I was doing it. Now I’m just a long term investor.
I always viewed the markets as a large experiment in mass psychology. Trade on the basis of how you expected the market to react to news.
I have argued that “Rocket Science” does not work on the street.
Engineering models are “brittle” and prone to failure when exogenous variables are introduced. They work for a while, but eventually fail.
Asimov tie in is very interesting. It influenced my work in college (PoliSci, Econ), but very weak carryover. Flaw in the analogy is that psychohistory demanded subtle measurement of millions if not billions of individuals. That said, there are interesting areas of study in Data Mining."
Challanges conventional market wisdom.
"efficient market hypothesis (EMH), which holds that markets aggregate information efficiently and investors form their financial expectations rationally. The reality may be much messier."
Dr. Andrew Lo: Darwinian Investing:
The MIT finance professor's market theory borrows from neuroscience, evolution, and econometrics.
...
"Sci-fi was an important influence on Lo, whose family moved from Taiwan to Queens, N.Y., when he was 5. Raised by his mother, he became an academic star. He skipped eighth grade, sped through Bronx High School of Science and Yale University, and nabbed a PhD in economics from Harvard University at age 24. But it was Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy that steered him toward finance economics. Asimov sketched out a branch of mathematics called psychohistory, whose practitioners sample the proclivities of large numbers of people, then accurately predict the future based on what they learn. Sound familiar?"
...
My comments submitted to BusinessWeek:
"All very very interesting
Patterns to my thinking very well.
Markets are NOT rational, but emotional. Patterns change, players change (both the players themselves and what they pay attention to). Anybody remember M1? M2?
This is why trading was fun, as well as, mostly profitable while I was doing it. Now I’m just a long term investor.
I always viewed the markets as a large experiment in mass psychology. Trade on the basis of how you expected the market to react to news.
I have argued that “Rocket Science” does not work on the street.
Engineering models are “brittle” and prone to failure when exogenous variables are introduced. They work for a while, but eventually fail.
Asimov tie in is very interesting. It influenced my work in college (PoliSci, Econ), but very weak carryover. Flaw in the analogy is that psychohistory demanded subtle measurement of millions if not billions of individuals. That said, there are interesting areas of study in Data Mining."
More on the Thought Process
Well...
Getting use to the DVR (TiVO style device/software in the cable box)
So nice to be paying half attention to some show, miss something and do a short rewind and play it again.
Now, esp when "multitasking" , if I loose a train of thought, I mentaly reach for the rewind button, trying to recapture the thread of a series of ideas.
Ah well ... maybe someday
Getting use to the DVR (TiVO style device/software in the cable box)
So nice to be paying half attention to some show, miss something and do a short rewind and play it again.
Now, esp when "multitasking" , if I loose a train of thought, I mentaly reach for the rewind button, trying to recapture the thread of a series of ideas.
Ah well ... maybe someday
Things to Think About
Think Different
Or “I’m of two minds on that
Think Different was an ad campaign for Apple a few years back but fits.
Juxtaposition of readings
A week or two ago I re-read, for the first time in at least 30 years, A. E. van Vogt’s Worlds of Null-A. (summary here : The World of Null-A - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
“Null-A, or non-Aristotelian logic, refers to the capacity for, and practice of, using intuitive, inductive reasoning (fuzzy logic), rather than reflexive, or conditioned, deductive logic.”
The protagonist has “two brains” and learns how to train them to modify his environment and teleport himself (and defeat the evil aliens).
What drew me to the work of van Vogt was the ability, even ambition to challenge conventional thought about the mind, how it works as well as interesting experiments with time travel (future and past usually within the same story).
Also to the non-absolutist model of thinking, to the uncertainty of the perceived world (influenced by Heisenberg ?).
The world may not be as it appears.
van Vogt was apparently influenced by the work with General Semantics the ideas that words mean things, but are not the things, the map is not the terrain.
While I have read much “science fiction”, and think that it has made it easier to invest in technology and technology stocks, I went back to van Vogt as the most interesting.
Then there was this piece in the NYTimes on male vs. female brains:
(original piece is behind the NYTimes pay-per-view archive wall)
Blog by Judith Warner :
Jan 30, 2006
9:28 pm
A Marriage of Unequals
Categories: Men, Psychology
A couple of years ago, I was standing by my backyard fence in Washington having a gossip with my neighbor, a school counselor. I told her I was going to start working on a book on the mystery of why so many kids are now being diagnosed with so many “issues.”
“I think these kids are just too damn smart,” she said, with a gesture that took in the totality of our consultant-journalist-professor-economist-cancer-resear cher-filled neighborhood. “I think something goes cuckoo with their brain wiring.”
I filed her insight away. It felt true, but how could you dream of researching it, much less proving it? I relegated it to the realm of useful metaphor.
Then last week, while trawling on the Internet for amusing studies to buttress my claim of my husband’s alleged mental deficiencies, I came across an old article in The Guardian by Simon Baron-Cohen on male/female brain differences and their possible link to autism.
Now, Simon Baron-Cohen, you may remember, if you went to any of the male brain links I previously listed, is the director of the Autism Research Center at Cambridge University who has advanced in The Times the theory that autism may be an aspect of having what he calls an “extreme male brain.” His Guardian article provides a longer explanation of what he means by this.
Brains can be divided into three common “types,” Baron-Cohen writes: there is a “female brain,” or Type E brain, for people who are strongest in empathy. There is a “male brain,” or Type S brain, for people who are strongest at understanding and building systems — “systemizing” for short. And there is a “balanced brain,” or Type B — indicating people who are just as strong at empathizing as at systemizing.
Source she linked to:
Guardian Unlimited | Science | The Essential Difference front page
Strange timing ... or maybe it's just my perception of strange timing ...
Then again, maybe this applys :
Plot Summary for All of Me (1984)
(Lily Tomlin occupies the body of Steve Martin, along with Steve)
Or “I’m of two minds on that
Think Different was an ad campaign for Apple a few years back but fits.
Juxtaposition of readings
A week or two ago I re-read, for the first time in at least 30 years, A. E. van Vogt’s Worlds of Null-A. (summary here : The World of Null-A - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
“Null-A, or non-Aristotelian logic, refers to the capacity for, and practice of, using intuitive, inductive reasoning (fuzzy logic), rather than reflexive, or conditioned, deductive logic.”
The protagonist has “two brains” and learns how to train them to modify his environment and teleport himself (and defeat the evil aliens).
What drew me to the work of van Vogt was the ability, even ambition to challenge conventional thought about the mind, how it works as well as interesting experiments with time travel (future and past usually within the same story).
Also to the non-absolutist model of thinking, to the uncertainty of the perceived world (influenced by Heisenberg ?).
The world may not be as it appears.
van Vogt was apparently influenced by the work with General Semantics the ideas that words mean things, but are not the things, the map is not the terrain.
While I have read much “science fiction”, and think that it has made it easier to invest in technology and technology stocks, I went back to van Vogt as the most interesting.
Then there was this piece in the NYTimes on male vs. female brains:
(original piece is behind the NYTimes pay-per-view archive wall)
Blog by Judith Warner :
Jan 30, 2006
9:28 pm
A Marriage of Unequals
Categories: Men, Psychology
A couple of years ago, I was standing by my backyard fence in Washington having a gossip with my neighbor, a school counselor. I told her I was going to start working on a book on the mystery of why so many kids are now being diagnosed with so many “issues.”
“I think these kids are just too damn smart,” she said, with a gesture that took in the totality of our consultant-journalist-professor-economist-cancer-resear cher-filled neighborhood. “I think something goes cuckoo with their brain wiring.”
I filed her insight away. It felt true, but how could you dream of researching it, much less proving it? I relegated it to the realm of useful metaphor.
Then last week, while trawling on the Internet for amusing studies to buttress my claim of my husband’s alleged mental deficiencies, I came across an old article in The Guardian by Simon Baron-Cohen on male/female brain differences and their possible link to autism.
Now, Simon Baron-Cohen, you may remember, if you went to any of the male brain links I previously listed, is the director of the Autism Research Center at Cambridge University who has advanced in The Times the theory that autism may be an aspect of having what he calls an “extreme male brain.” His Guardian article provides a longer explanation of what he means by this.
Brains can be divided into three common “types,” Baron-Cohen writes: there is a “female brain,” or Type E brain, for people who are strongest in empathy. There is a “male brain,” or Type S brain, for people who are strongest at understanding and building systems — “systemizing” for short. And there is a “balanced brain,” or Type B — indicating people who are just as strong at empathizing as at systemizing.
Source she linked to:
Guardian Unlimited | Science | The Essential Difference front page
Strange timing ... or maybe it's just my perception of strange timing ...
Then again, maybe this applys :
Plot Summary for All of Me (1984)
(Lily Tomlin occupies the body of Steve Martin, along with Steve)
Less than a month away ... our "spring break"
Release 1.0 / PC Forum / Theme:
"Erosion of Power: Users in charge"
Interesting piece from BusinessWeek on Games amd Movies
Game first, movie later:
James Cameron's Game Theory
And the online sidebar, interview with James:
Online Extra: Syncing Hollywood and Gamers
In particular:
" I want to see developers create games in which players can add to the worlds as they go along, so you can see what hundreds of thousands of people in this game environment can create. It's like each is being handed a tool set.... Instead of creating a $50 million game, you're creating $2 million games and letting them grow themselves. "
Maybe a way for "Holly-Would" to avoid the disintermediation of the long tail ?
The Long Tail: The decline of hit albums, in context
"Erosion of Power: Users in charge"
Interesting piece from BusinessWeek on Games amd Movies
Game first, movie later:
James Cameron's Game Theory
And the online sidebar, interview with James:
Online Extra: Syncing Hollywood and Gamers
In particular:
" I want to see developers create games in which players can add to the worlds as they go along, so you can see what hundreds of thousands of people in this game environment can create. It's like each is being handed a tool set.... Instead of creating a $50 million game, you're creating $2 million games and letting them grow themselves. "
Maybe a way for "Holly-Would" to avoid the disintermediation of the long tail ?
The Long Tail: The decline of hit albums, in context
Damn ... hope this helps
Trying updated Firefox
Firefox Central | Mozilla Corporation
1.5.0.1
Hope it helps
Have been running into too many crashes
Maybe part "my fault"
Non-Linear Thinker
Practice is to have a dozen or more pages open, each with up to half dozen, sometimes even more, tabs.
Jump back and forth, some as "placeholders" for later reading.
Thankfully, the history function is pretty, well, functional.
But frustrated in sometimes loosing "train of thought" and need for rebuilding sets of related tabs.
Just updated Firefox, hope the updates/upgrades work !
Firefox Central | Mozilla Corporation
1.5.0.1
Hope it helps
Have been running into too many crashes
Maybe part "my fault"
Non-Linear Thinker
Practice is to have a dozen or more pages open, each with up to half dozen, sometimes even more, tabs.
Jump back and forth, some as "placeholders" for later reading.
Thankfully, the history function is pretty, well, functional.
But frustrated in sometimes loosing "train of thought" and need for rebuilding sets of related tabs.
Just updated Firefox, hope the updates/upgrades work !
Monday, February 13, 2006
Yup ... Winter
Brisk day, Empire Beach and Storm Hill. Only in the 20's but the wind out of the north brings it down.Late afternoon looking south.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
What a difference a day makes
With a nod to the late, great Peggy Lee, what a difference a day makes.First, Saturday, late morning.
Sunny day and some folks walking the beach.
Sleeping Bear Bary view to the west of South Manitou
Then late today
Breeze has shifted to the north, from the south
6+ inches or so overnight and during the day.
Temps in the mid 20's but the breeze puts a bite to it.
Nobody on the beach today.
Shot northwest towards the gap between the Manitous
Winter.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
More on Hybrid Hype
Others getting on the Prius case.
Image, not Economics
Wired 14.02: The Teardown Artists:
"Tearing apart the Prius convinced GM that Toyota was using the car as a 'tip of the spear' to change its image from a maker of good, utilitarian cars to a high tech company, Phillips says. 'And that's how Toyota will market its vehicles in the future. The Lexus hybrid is performance without guilt. It's a premium product. Nine-tenths of the people who buy it will never do the math; it's one big high tech image statement.'"
And : because of the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards, every high milage hybrid, frees up a Big Truck for sale.
Buy a Hybrid, and Save a Guzzler - New York Times:
"Instead of simply saving gas when you buy a hybrid, you're giving somebody else the right to use it."
Image, not Economics
Wired 14.02: The Teardown Artists:
"Tearing apart the Prius convinced GM that Toyota was using the car as a 'tip of the spear' to change its image from a maker of good, utilitarian cars to a high tech company, Phillips says. 'And that's how Toyota will market its vehicles in the future. The Lexus hybrid is performance without guilt. It's a premium product. Nine-tenths of the people who buy it will never do the math; it's one big high tech image statement.'"
And : because of the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards, every high milage hybrid, frees up a Big Truck for sale.
Buy a Hybrid, and Save a Guzzler - New York Times:
"Instead of simply saving gas when you buy a hybrid, you're giving somebody else the right to use it."
Friday, February 10, 2006
Peaceful spot
About 1/4 mile off the road.
At the "neck" of a horseshoe in the Crystal River.
Plaque to Ford and Alice Fisher.
Both born 1916, Alice passes away last April.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Up in the Sky, it's a ... a... what is it
Shirley spotted it first
We put the binocs on it
Rising in the east, shimmering and changing color, red, blue, white, almost flickering
Later, finally found it on a sky chart
Skymaps.com - Publication Quality Sky Maps & Star Charts
Sirius
Must have been atmospherics
Cold dry air, maybe some very high, thin clouds
We put the binocs on it
Rising in the east, shimmering and changing color, red, blue, white, almost flickering
Later, finally found it on a sky chart
Skymaps.com - Publication Quality Sky Maps & Star Charts
Sirius
Must have been atmospherics
Cold dry air, maybe some very high, thin clouds
Brand Non-Sense
Car Racing Cologne?
Come on
Background: I'm a long term race fan.
Long term.
Worked at Michigan International Speedway just to see the races, cruise the pits, get close to the action. Ran my own race team and worked as "advisor" to others at Daytona (bikes by then ... much more interesting than cars.)
But I had the sense to take a shower (long hot shower, lots of soap) after a day at the track or evening in the shop.
Still like the aromas of Castrol "R" (caster bean oil), hot rubber, etc.
But there is a time and place.
Regardless of what this new "fragrance" is like, the associations are just not there.
What next ?
For gardeners ... "manure"
Brand Sense Partners:
"In a transaction initiated by Brand Sense Partners, Cosmetics giant Elizabeth Arden, Inc. has signed an exclusive license with International Speedway Corporation (ISC), owner of the Daytona International Speedway and the Daytona 500, to create and market a signature men’s cologne called “Daytona 500”."
Come on
Background: I'm a long term race fan.
Long term.
Worked at Michigan International Speedway just to see the races, cruise the pits, get close to the action. Ran my own race team and worked as "advisor" to others at Daytona (bikes by then ... much more interesting than cars.)
But I had the sense to take a shower (long hot shower, lots of soap) after a day at the track or evening in the shop.
Still like the aromas of Castrol "R" (caster bean oil), hot rubber, etc.
But there is a time and place.
Regardless of what this new "fragrance" is like, the associations are just not there.
What next ?
For gardeners ... "manure"
Brand Sense Partners:
"In a transaction initiated by Brand Sense Partners, Cosmetics giant Elizabeth Arden, Inc. has signed an exclusive license with International Speedway Corporation (ISC), owner of the Daytona International Speedway and the Daytona 500, to create and market a signature men’s cologne called “Daytona 500”."
E85 Eh ? think again
Times takes the other side and, for a change, looks into the costs of corn as fuel.
Ethanol not quite all it's cracked up to be as the answer.
My humble opinion, ethanol from "waste" maybe, but I have severe doubts of explicitly growing a crop as a fuel source.
Corn Power Put to the Test - New York Times:
"The endless fields of corn in the Midwest can be distilled into endless gallons of ethanol, a clean-burning, high-octane fuel that could end any worldwide oil shortage, reduce emissions that cause global warming, and free the United States from dependence on foreign energy.
There is only one catch: Turning corn into ethanol takes energy. For every gallon that an ethanol manufacturing plant produces, it uses the equivalent of almost two-fifths of a gallon of fuel (usually natural gas), and that does not count the fuel needed to make fertilizer for the corn, run the farm machinery or truck the ethanol to market. "
Ethanol not quite all it's cracked up to be as the answer.
My humble opinion, ethanol from "waste" maybe, but I have severe doubts of explicitly growing a crop as a fuel source.
Corn Power Put to the Test - New York Times:
"The endless fields of corn in the Midwest can be distilled into endless gallons of ethanol, a clean-burning, high-octane fuel that could end any worldwide oil shortage, reduce emissions that cause global warming, and free the United States from dependence on foreign energy.
There is only one catch: Turning corn into ethanol takes energy. For every gallon that an ethanol manufacturing plant produces, it uses the equivalent of almost two-fifths of a gallon of fuel (usually natural gas), and that does not count the fuel needed to make fertilizer for the corn, run the farm machinery or truck the ethanol to market. "
Holly-Would
More likely that Holly-Won't
Good discussion and links on the pending demise of Hollywood / motion pictures, big visual media.
Headed down same path as "Big Music"
Why "Blockbusters" will go bust and small media will percolate up to take over.
Related : the end of advertising as we have know it
The Doc Searls Weblog : Wednesday, February 8, 2006
Good discussion and links on the pending demise of Hollywood / motion pictures, big visual media.
Headed down same path as "Big Music"
Why "Blockbusters" will go bust and small media will percolate up to take over.
Related : the end of advertising as we have know it
The Doc Searls Weblog : Wednesday, February 8, 2006
NYDreamers
Nick enamored of "plug-n-play" cars (plug in hybrids)
Pay-Per-View OpEd piece so excerpts
100-M.P.G. Cars: It's a Start - New York Times:
Op-Ed Columnist
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: February 5, 2006
Imagine if we could develop a passenger car that averaged more than 100 miles per gallon — or, if used only for short trips, 1,000 miles per gallon. What if it could cost the equivalent of only 75 cents a gallon to operate and needed to go to a filling station only every other month?"
Goes on to tout plug-ins:
"...plug-in hybrids are economically and technically feasible today. While the batteries still aren't perfect, supporters say that plug-in hybrids can be mass-produced today for only about $3,000 more than a conventional hybrid (which already costs $3,000 more than a regular auto). Skeptics say that the additional cost might be greater, up to $15,000 more than a regular gas car — but even that might find a market among car buyers seeking the Hot New Thing."
OK, but whre's the payback?
Dollars in your pocket or "feel good"
Pay-Per-View OpEd piece so excerpts
100-M.P.G. Cars: It's a Start - New York Times:
Op-Ed Columnist
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: February 5, 2006
Imagine if we could develop a passenger car that averaged more than 100 miles per gallon — or, if used only for short trips, 1,000 miles per gallon. What if it could cost the equivalent of only 75 cents a gallon to operate and needed to go to a filling station only every other month?"
Goes on to tout plug-ins:
"...plug-in hybrids are economically and technically feasible today. While the batteries still aren't perfect, supporters say that plug-in hybrids can be mass-produced today for only about $3,000 more than a conventional hybrid (which already costs $3,000 more than a regular auto). Skeptics say that the additional cost might be greater, up to $15,000 more than a regular gas car — but even that might find a market among car buyers seeking the Hot New Thing."
OK, but whre's the payback?
Dollars in your pocket or "feel good"
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Looking for Moslem Humor
Albert Brooks has a new movie:
"Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World''
Haven't seen it nor even read a review, but methinks there isn't any :
Those Danish Cartoons - New York Times
"Cartoons making fun of the Prophet Muhammad that were published in a Danish newspaper last September are suddenly one of the hottest issues in international politics. Muslims in Europe and across the Middle East have been holding protests with growing levels of violence and now loss of life."
SEPTEMBER ?!?!?
It's now Febuary.
Either these folks are really really slow to get (or not get) a joke, or translations are really really slow or ...
They just don't fit in a modern world.
Where is the Muslim John Stewart, Jay Leno or ... Lenny Bruce ?
I did see interview with one of the Danish Editors who decided on this "experiment"
Paraphrase "respect for religion is one thing, bowing to other's demands is another"
Long live Free Speach
"Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World''
Haven't seen it nor even read a review, but methinks there isn't any :
Those Danish Cartoons - New York Times
"Cartoons making fun of the Prophet Muhammad that were published in a Danish newspaper last September are suddenly one of the hottest issues in international politics. Muslims in Europe and across the Middle East have been holding protests with growing levels of violence and now loss of life."
SEPTEMBER ?!?!?
It's now Febuary.
Either these folks are really really slow to get (or not get) a joke, or translations are really really slow or ...
They just don't fit in a modern world.
Where is the Muslim John Stewart, Jay Leno or ... Lenny Bruce ?
I did see interview with one of the Danish Editors who decided on this "experiment"
Paraphrase "respect for religion is one thing, bowing to other's demands is another"
Long live Free Speach
More on GM
Following friend Mike's comments here:
Looney Dunes: Unions Woes
and my musings here
Looney Dunes: Unions Woes...cont
Piece from Fortune, that digs into the legacy concerns:
The Tragedy of General Motors
Selective Quotes :
"Wagoner is exultant that he and the UAW gruelingly managed last year to make a deal that, if blessed by a federal judge, will cut GM's unfunded liability by around $15 billion and pare cash outlays as well. But that will still leave Wagoner facing a colossal competitive disadvantage. The cost is not his fault. Rather, it is a legacy dumped on him by CEOs of decades ago who gained a certain amount of wage restraint from the union--and labor peace for their own terms of office--by granting retiree health benefits that had neither large, immediate cash costs nor, under the accounting rules then applying, much effect on the bottom line. Today, with health-care costs exploding and the accounting rules stiffened, this mess has come home to roost."
and ...
"The truth is that GM is essentially indentured to the UAW because of the union's power to strike. To that sign of bondage, add another: GM's hourly and salaried employees, present and past, essentially own this company, a fact we will prove by describing some bank accounts. At the end of 2004, the latest date for which figures are available, GM's pension funds (both inside the U.S. and out) had $100 billion in assets--which is wealth belonging to GM's employees, retirees, and dependents. To that you can add $19 billion that GM has put in a dedicated account for retiree health benefits. That makes $119 billion that GM has banked for its employees. In contrast, the shareholders of GM recently owned their grubby $13 billion in market value. That is a bizarre, Alice-in-Autoland result from 98 years in which capitalism supposedly reigned."
Subsiquent news : GM cuts dividend in half, top brass take similar pay cuts.
Looney Dunes: Unions Woes
and my musings here
Looney Dunes: Unions Woes...cont
Piece from Fortune, that digs into the legacy concerns:
The Tragedy of General Motors
Selective Quotes :
"Wagoner is exultant that he and the UAW gruelingly managed last year to make a deal that, if blessed by a federal judge, will cut GM's unfunded liability by around $15 billion and pare cash outlays as well. But that will still leave Wagoner facing a colossal competitive disadvantage. The cost is not his fault. Rather, it is a legacy dumped on him by CEOs of decades ago who gained a certain amount of wage restraint from the union--and labor peace for their own terms of office--by granting retiree health benefits that had neither large, immediate cash costs nor, under the accounting rules then applying, much effect on the bottom line. Today, with health-care costs exploding and the accounting rules stiffened, this mess has come home to roost."
and ...
"The truth is that GM is essentially indentured to the UAW because of the union's power to strike. To that sign of bondage, add another: GM's hourly and salaried employees, present and past, essentially own this company, a fact we will prove by describing some bank accounts. At the end of 2004, the latest date for which figures are available, GM's pension funds (both inside the U.S. and out) had $100 billion in assets--which is wealth belonging to GM's employees, retirees, and dependents. To that you can add $19 billion that GM has put in a dedicated account for retiree health benefits. That makes $119 billion that GM has banked for its employees. In contrast, the shareholders of GM recently owned their grubby $13 billion in market value. That is a bizarre, Alice-in-Autoland result from 98 years in which capitalism supposedly reigned."
Subsiquent news : GM cuts dividend in half, top brass take similar pay cuts.
Monday, February 06, 2006
FON
First spotted news about FON on isen.blog
Sequoia Capital, Google and Skype backing ... impressive
Then saw it on front page WSJournal last night
Doc picked it up here Fon time | Linux Journal
Andy Serwer just talked it up on CNN
Source material (From David) Martin Varsavsky | English
Layer this with talk about Google's buying up of "Dark Fiber" and it might be a poke in the eye with a sharp stick to the established BellCo's
Sequoia Capital, Google and Skype backing ... impressive
Then saw it on front page WSJournal last night
Doc picked it up here Fon time | Linux Journal
Andy Serwer just talked it up on CNN
Source material (From David) Martin Varsavsky | English
Layer this with talk about Google's buying up of "Dark Fiber" and it might be a poke in the eye with a sharp stick to the established BellCo's
Sunday, February 05, 2006
One Year
Not exactly by the calendar, but close enough
Started first blog during Superbowl '05
Spent day today cleaning files, updating software and other such housekeeping
Started first blog during Superbowl '05
Spent day today cleaning files, updating software and other such housekeeping
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Sums it up
Soup :: Flat-Out Fantastic: World's Fastest Indian; Feb 2006:
"'There's more living in five minutes flat-out on a bike than some men have in an entire life'."
"'There's more living in five minutes flat-out on a bike than some men have in an entire life'."
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Extreme Geneology
Interesting piece in Newsweek on :
DNA Testing: In Our Blood - Newsweek :
"It is connecting lost cousins and giving families surprising glimpses into their pasts. Now scientists are using it to answer the oldest question of all: where did we come from?"
Explosion in low cost testing and hints as to one's own origins as well as long term studies of human migration trends.
Some participants find suprising ancestors.
DNA Testing: In Our Blood - Newsweek :
"It is connecting lost cousins and giving families surprising glimpses into their pasts. Now scientists are using it to answer the oldest question of all: where did we come from?"
Explosion in low cost testing and hints as to one's own origins as well as long term studies of human migration trends.
Some participants find suprising ancestors.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Step up to the plate and ... whiffle
Instead of radical change, addresssing the challanges of the world, we'll get "more of the same" ...
We'll just keep spending money on systems for a an enemy of the future or some "maybe" threat rather than dealing with the here and now.
Pentagon Scales Back Review of Military Strategy - New York Times
"From the outset, the administration itself raised high expectations for the review, and the theme of 'transformation' came to be something of a mantra in the Pentagon's corridors. Some said the fruits of the review might be as lasting a legacy of the Rumsfeld years as the outcomes of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ryan Henry, a top Pentagon planning official, declared last fall that the effort, instead of the usual 'periodic tool of refinement,' would be the 'fulcrum of transition to a post-9/11 world.'
Instead, by keeping alive some programs whose projected costs have soared in recent years, like the F/A-22 fighter, the Army's Future Combat Systems, and the Navy's DD(X) destroyer, the review has raised questions about how more exotic weapons and capabilities that Mr. Rumsfeld believes are vital to fight terror groups and other unconventional foes can fit into future defense budgets.
Andrew Krepinevich, a defense analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, who participated in the review, said there was a widespread expectation that the review 'would find the Defense Department confronting some tough decisions.'
'In a sense, a lot of these tough choices are kicked down the road,' he said."
We'll just keep spending money on systems for a an enemy of the future or some "maybe" threat rather than dealing with the here and now.
Pentagon Scales Back Review of Military Strategy - New York Times
"From the outset, the administration itself raised high expectations for the review, and the theme of 'transformation' came to be something of a mantra in the Pentagon's corridors. Some said the fruits of the review might be as lasting a legacy of the Rumsfeld years as the outcomes of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ryan Henry, a top Pentagon planning official, declared last fall that the effort, instead of the usual 'periodic tool of refinement,' would be the 'fulcrum of transition to a post-9/11 world.'
Instead, by keeping alive some programs whose projected costs have soared in recent years, like the F/A-22 fighter, the Army's Future Combat Systems, and the Navy's DD(X) destroyer, the review has raised questions about how more exotic weapons and capabilities that Mr. Rumsfeld believes are vital to fight terror groups and other unconventional foes can fit into future defense budgets.
Andrew Krepinevich, a defense analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, who participated in the review, said there was a widespread expectation that the review 'would find the Defense Department confronting some tough decisions.'
'In a sense, a lot of these tough choices are kicked down the road,' he said."
Broadband outrage
From David's (isen.blog) friend Bruch Kushnick
“The $200 Billion Broadband Scandal.” — AKA Where’s the 45MB/s I Already Paid for!
Reminds me of, years ago, listening to Telco flacks and Public Utility regulators ganging up on Telecomunications Inc. broadband initative in the Metro Lansing (Mich) area.
"oh we have such limited right of way, we don't know if we can allow that fiber to be strung"
and :
"oh, looks like somebody might make some money on this (home based business) and we have to be able to tax it"
Time for a new model.
Open up the pipes and let my people go (and ideas flow)
“The $200 Billion Broadband Scandal.” — AKA Where’s the 45MB/s I Already Paid for!
Reminds me of, years ago, listening to Telco flacks and Public Utility regulators ganging up on Telecomunications Inc. broadband initative in the Metro Lansing (Mich) area.
"oh we have such limited right of way, we don't know if we can allow that fiber to be strung"
and :
"oh, looks like somebody might make some money on this (home based business) and we have to be able to tax it"
Time for a new model.
Open up the pipes and let my people go (and ideas flow)
Unions Woes ... cont
I've been pondering the disucssion here
Looney Dunes: Unions Woes
Besides a great big kudos to Mike for hitting the nail on the head, I have some (overly simplistic) thoughts:
Broader perspective
Without supporting documentation, only from memory and prior context
1) US came out of WW2 with
a) no economic competition
b) pent up domestic demand for durable goods, esp. cars.
c) likely also was the exposure of troops to world travel as well as mechanical training. Compared to WW1, WW2 (aka World War part duex) was a mechanized affair, and fought over Oil (Japan after SE Asian - Royal Dutch Shell) and Germans after the Caspian.
d) The postwar Eisenhower Administration embarked on building of the Interstate Highway System. Both for National Defense (move troops and material) and public works (fear of renewed depression) reasons.
Now we had places to drive …
2) with the above in mind, Detroit could build anything and sell it.
Likely this was true of many other operations, from homebuilders to appliance mfgs.
Therefore, security of production was paramount.
3) there was competition, but a social model.
a) Socialism/Communism was the competing model, as it had been through the depression.
b) How to keep the workers happy ... give them a stake, other than equity (the German Model).
4) related : Japan and Germany (most of Europe) were not economic competition, rather, they were to be rebuilt, ward off Socialism/Communism and were allowed to provide cheap goods to the American Worker.
Japan in particular was remodeled, the social structure built to be an
"unsinkable aircraft carrier" off the coast of Asia.
Germany had been partitioned, and would not be a factor in European politics for 50years.
Manipulated currency and trade imbalances were tolerated.
5) meanwhile, in the US, we moved through an era that "big business" knew best. Engine Charlie Wilson, the era of conglomerates, the Harold Geneen's (ITT) and the like.
Threats of strikes (Iron & Steel, Coal) were headed off with either Federal intervention or higher wage settlements.
Pay off the workers, keep producing.
It wasn't until much later that we ran through the pent up demand, got into the 60's with developing disillusion with the "Wiz-kids" (McNamera etc.) and faced the Club of Rome "we're all doomed"... which was followed by the first (for the boomer generation) “Oil Shock”
Moving into the 80’s, GM was managed by “bean counters” who saw the model not as production, but as sales and esp. finance.
It appeared to be more profitable to finance the rolling stock than to find ways to build it (manufacturing techniques and smart buying of components).
With high interest rates and a declining trend in rates, you can make good money lending long, borrowing short. Financing, either via loans or leases, while your cost of funds continued to decline is great … to a point.
Rates cannot decline forever, eventually they approach zero, then the game is up. Especially if you are a manufacturer, with large installed base and plant, labor and equipment overhead, in other words, if you are not a Bank.
Then we discovered deregulation, small is better, flexibility and innovation.
Top it off with the collapse of the "other model" (Soviet Union) and we know of what has happened with 2-3Billion workers/consumers entering the market.
Structures build in the 50's don't apply to the new world model.
Looney Dunes: Unions Woes
Besides a great big kudos to Mike for hitting the nail on the head, I have some (overly simplistic) thoughts:
Broader perspective
Without supporting documentation, only from memory and prior context
1) US came out of WW2 with
a) no economic competition
b) pent up domestic demand for durable goods, esp. cars.
c) likely also was the exposure of troops to world travel as well as mechanical training. Compared to WW1, WW2 (aka World War part duex) was a mechanized affair, and fought over Oil (Japan after SE Asian - Royal Dutch Shell) and Germans after the Caspian.
d) The postwar Eisenhower Administration embarked on building of the Interstate Highway System. Both for National Defense (move troops and material) and public works (fear of renewed depression) reasons.
Now we had places to drive …
2) with the above in mind, Detroit could build anything and sell it.
Likely this was true of many other operations, from homebuilders to appliance mfgs.
Therefore, security of production was paramount.
3) there was competition, but a social model.
a) Socialism/Communism was the competing model, as it had been through the depression.
b) How to keep the workers happy ... give them a stake, other than equity (the German Model).
4) related : Japan and Germany (most of Europe) were not economic competition, rather, they were to be rebuilt, ward off Socialism/Communism and were allowed to provide cheap goods to the American Worker.
Japan in particular was remodeled, the social structure built to be an
"unsinkable aircraft carrier" off the coast of Asia.
Germany had been partitioned, and would not be a factor in European politics for 50years.
Manipulated currency and trade imbalances were tolerated.
5) meanwhile, in the US, we moved through an era that "big business" knew best. Engine Charlie Wilson, the era of conglomerates, the Harold Geneen's (ITT) and the like.
Threats of strikes (Iron & Steel, Coal) were headed off with either Federal intervention or higher wage settlements.
Pay off the workers, keep producing.
It wasn't until much later that we ran through the pent up demand, got into the 60's with developing disillusion with the "Wiz-kids" (McNamera etc.) and faced the Club of Rome "we're all doomed"... which was followed by the first (for the boomer generation) “Oil Shock”
Moving into the 80’s, GM was managed by “bean counters” who saw the model not as production, but as sales and esp. finance.
It appeared to be more profitable to finance the rolling stock than to find ways to build it (manufacturing techniques and smart buying of components).
With high interest rates and a declining trend in rates, you can make good money lending long, borrowing short. Financing, either via loans or leases, while your cost of funds continued to decline is great … to a point.
Rates cannot decline forever, eventually they approach zero, then the game is up. Especially if you are a manufacturer, with large installed base and plant, labor and equipment overhead, in other words, if you are not a Bank.
Then we discovered deregulation, small is better, flexibility and innovation.
Top it off with the collapse of the "other model" (Soviet Union) and we know of what has happened with 2-3Billion workers/consumers entering the market.
Structures build in the 50's don't apply to the new world model.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Interesting insight on the Oil Market
John has some interesting ideas about oil pricing and the effects of supply disruptions
Global Guerrillas: THE GUERRILLA OIL CARTEL
Triggered a series of replys.
In any case, looks like the most likely direction is ... up
Global Guerrillas: THE GUERRILLA OIL CARTEL
Triggered a series of replys.
In any case, looks like the most likely direction is ... up
Unions Woes
Couple of pieces on unions.
Soon we'll just have public employee unions, where they can collect dues and use them to support politicians who will be overseeing public employment ...
Huh ?
Unions Pay Dearly for Success - New York Times:
"Want to hear some good news for the labor movement? The percentage of American workers who are union members remained almost steady in the private sector last year.
The bad news is that the figure stood at 7.8 percent — less than a third of the rate of the early 1970's.
Even worse for labor, the rate of unionization has further to fall, according to most labor economists and experts in industrial relations. 'In the immediate future, unions will carry on shriveling in the private sector,' said Richard Freeman, a professor of economics at Harvard. "
Then there is this bit by good friend Mike Gorman :
(which is in reply to Mel Ravitz: GM gets it wrong again Automaker had opportunity to institute single-payer health care)
Don't Blame GM
Soon we'll just have public employee unions, where they can collect dues and use them to support politicians who will be overseeing public employment ...
Huh ?
Unions Pay Dearly for Success - New York Times:
"Want to hear some good news for the labor movement? The percentage of American workers who are union members remained almost steady in the private sector last year.
The bad news is that the figure stood at 7.8 percent — less than a third of the rate of the early 1970's.
Even worse for labor, the rate of unionization has further to fall, according to most labor economists and experts in industrial relations. 'In the immediate future, unions will carry on shriveling in the private sector,' said Richard Freeman, a professor of economics at Harvard. "
Then there is this bit by good friend Mike Gorman :
(which is in reply to Mel Ravitz: GM gets it wrong again Automaker had opportunity to institute single-payer health care)
Don't Blame GM
Don't blame GM
Medical trends make health benefits difficult to sustain
Sunday, January 29, 2006
BY MICHAEL J. GORMAN
I take issue with the Mel J. Ravitz Other Voices piece published Jan. 15 in The Ann Arbor News. Ravitz characterizes General Motors Corp. as targeting its own workers and retirees regarding pensions and health care costs.
Let us look at some facts.
In 1948-50, GM first began to offer health care and retirement benefits to its represented workers. The retirement age was 65; life expectancy was 68. There were about 7.2 workers age 20-64 in the U.S. workforce for each person over 65. The proportion now is less than 5:1 and will drop below 3:1 within the next 20 years.
There were no such things as MRIs, CT scans, angioplasties, pacemakers, AIDS, organ transplants, or computerized prostheses. Total U.S. health care expenditures in 1950 were about $70 billion and a modest percentage of GDP; in 2003 that had risen to $1.7 trillion and a shocking 15.3% of GDP.
Ravitz goes on to suggest that if only GM had educated Congress, our lawmakers would have taken the burden off the shoulders of the corporation and distributed that burden equitably over all taxpayers.
History offers little record of such congressional initiative.
The fact that workers are living dramatically longer in retirement and utilizing new and more costly medical interventions both during and beyond their productive years does not reflect poorly on GM, the UAW, or Congress. However, the fact pattern does change the funding assumptions necessary to provide benefits. If the life span in retirement grows from both ends through earlier retirement and later death additional funds must be obtained.
If that funding were to come from shorting new product development, skimping on product content or abandoning plant investment and maintenance, the impact on GM's ability to produce the desirable products essential to success would be very negative.
If GM were in a position to increase its margins by raising prices, perhaps it would be able to continue indefinitely to provide more-costly benefits for longer life spans. However, those margins are pressed by competitors who do not pay pensions and health care for retirees and families based on U.S. cost levels. Even those transplant manufacturers employing U.S. assemblers have the advantage of a younger workforce and negligible retiree population.
I agree with Ravitz that we need a more balanced approach to providing health care and to funding retirement living. I do not think he has made the case that GM is somehow the villain. I see GM as a company struggling mightily to meet its obligations to all its stakeholders. GM products have shown dramatic improvements in recent years, and the continued success of GM has been instrumental to the prosperity of people in Southeast Michigan as no other public or private organization.
As I see it, GM has not targeted its workers: Rather, it has helped to contribute materially to the circumstances leading to the longer lives and earlier retirements that have led us all to the present predicament. Only a successful GM can sustain such largesse.
News readers can contribute essays of general interest to Other Voices. Please call Mary Morgan, Opinion editor, at (734) 994-6605 or e-mail mmorgan@annarbornews.com
Friday, January 27, 2006
Let's just call it Pimping
The Frey Flap : Oprah/Million little pieces(lies)
Live on 'Oprah,' a Memoirist Is Kicked Out of the Book Club - New York Times
Did some checking - yup his publisher, Nan Talese is wife of writer Gay Talese.
How about publishers as pimps trying to sell writers wares to the public.
Follow the money!
NYO - Cover Story 2:
"The Awful Untruth
Nan Talese Says James Frey
Never Called Book Fiction"
Gay's reaction :
Live on 'Oprah,' a Memoirist Is Kicked Out of the Book Club - New York Times
Did some checking - yup his publisher, Nan Talese is wife of writer Gay Talese.
How about publishers as pimps trying to sell writers wares to the public.
Follow the money!
NYO - Cover Story 2:
"The Awful Untruth
Nan Talese Says James Frey
Never Called Book Fiction"
"Not surprisingly, the scandal has only been good for business. According to a source at the company, Doubleday just went back to press on A Million Little Pieces in hardcover (the popular explanation is that the recent intrigue has prompted those who own the book in paperback to want it in hardcover, too)."
The vast divide between critics, journalists and nonfiction writers horrified by Mr. Frey’s unapologetic misrepresentation of himself, and members of the publishing industry who have cynically shrugged it off, was evident within the confines of Ms. Talese’s own Bermuda hotel room. As Ms. Talese was speaking, her husband was pacing in the background, interjecting the occasional remark. Before handing the phone over to his wife and temporarily leaving the room, Mr. Talese said that what Mr. Frey had done was unacceptable.
“We do not want people to intrude upon our world of nonfiction, saying they’re nonfiction writers when they want the benefits of nonfiction, and then to take off and do what would more properly be called fiction, or exaggeration or falsification,” said Mr. Talese, who characterized his own upcoming book, A Writer’s Life, as a memoir."
Gay's reaction :
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Ah well, guess the the secret's out ...
Old British proverb:
"Better to keep your opinions to yourself, and let society think you're an idiot, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
"Better to keep your opinions to yourself, and let society think you're an idiot, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Trumped Up
Flap over "Trump Nation" buy Timothy O'Brian
Such as :
Independent Online Edition > Americas:
"How dare you! Trump sues writer for $5bn for saying he's only worth $250m"
Beware men of fragile egos ...
And then there's this:
Donald Trump, Tim O'Brien, Trump Nation, Trumpworld - Money Week:
"Thanks to The Apprentice, “the Trumpster’s” billionaire public profile has never been higher, says The Washington Post. But he is saddled with a paradox: “people who know least about business admire him most, and those who know the most admire him least”. This irks the man who is always complaining his achievements are overshadowed by the soap opera of his life."
(Shirley and I treat the show as a sit-com)
But what about "Daddy" ??? :
Such as :
Independent Online Edition > Americas:
"How dare you! Trump sues writer for $5bn for saying he's only worth $250m"
Beware men of fragile egos ...
And then there's this:
Donald Trump, Tim O'Brien, Trump Nation, Trumpworld - Money Week:
"Thanks to The Apprentice, “the Trumpster’s” billionaire public profile has never been higher, says The Washington Post. But he is saddled with a paradox: “people who know least about business admire him most, and those who know the most admire him least”. This irks the man who is always complaining his achievements are overshadowed by the soap opera of his life."
(Shirley and I treat the show as a sit-com)
But what about "Daddy" ??? :
The biggest and the best
It’s not just about money, says The Washington Post. Trump has a near-pathological craving to be envied. “Everything in Trumpworld is fabulous, or in first place, or better looking, or richer, or taller, or it has bigger breasts.”
This compulsion for pre-eminence is down to nurture and nature. Trump’s father, Fred, the son of a German immigrant Klondike entrepreneur, was also a showman developer who built a $200m property empire in Queens and the Bronx. After graduating from the Wharton School of Finance, Trump Junior arrived in Manhattan in the late 1970s with $200,000 “and the dream of making the island his personal Monopoly board”, says Scotland on Sunday.
He succeeded spectacularly, emblazoning his name on buildings and businesses, including the ultimate “look-at-me” landmark, Trump Tower. By 1989, Forbes put his wealth at $1.7bn.
Or maybe it should be called "Chumped Up"
Trump resurgent
Within a year, Icarus had crashed to earth. The property crash left Trump with debts running to billions, and the great sell-off began. Trump, who was simultaneously brokering an expensive divorce settlement with his first wife, Ivana, escaped bankruptcy but was relegated to mere manager of the properties he once owned.
But the Donald retained a genius for self-promotion, writing a series of books such as Trump: The Art of the Comeback. In reality, it was the markets who rode to his rescue, says O’Brien. “In a tribute to the sucker-born-every-minute theorem”, Trump took two of his casinos public in 1995-1996, using the proceeds to unload huge amounts of debt."
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Always good for a laugh or two
or many ...
A testament to human Weirdness:
NEWS of the WEIRD - Current News
and even better, less "edited" for the public
Backstage at Newza da Weird
With links to source material(s)
A testament to human Weirdness:
NEWS of the WEIRD - Current News
and even better, less "edited" for the public
Backstage at Newza da Weird
With links to source material(s)
On the study of Religion
Interesting interview:
Questions for Daniel C. Dennett - Interview by Deborah Solomon - New York Times:
Q: How could you, as a longtime professor of philosophy at Tufts University, write a book that promotes the idea that religious devotion is a function of biology? Why would you hold a scientist's microscope to something as intangible as belief?"
Questions for Daniel C. Dennett - Interview by Deborah Solomon - New York Times:
Q: How could you, as a longtime professor of philosophy at Tufts University, write a book that promotes the idea that religious devotion is a function of biology? Why would you hold a scientist's microscope to something as intangible as belief?"
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Equal Opportunity bashing
We did this one
Looney Dunes: Good laugh from David
KickBack Mt.
Now we have
Mayor Nagan and the Chocolate City ...
Great little "mashup"/PhotoShop
Looney Dunes: Good laugh from David
KickBack Mt.
Now we have
Mayor Nagan and the Chocolate City ...
Great little "mashup"/PhotoShop
It wasn't just the sweaters ...
While checking up on one of life's little pleasures
NEWS of the WEIRD - Current News
Spotted the following :
"Former President Jimmy Carter told GQ magazine for a January article that he saw a UFO in 1969 in southwest Georgia as he was preparing to speak at a Lions Club meeting. He recalled that it was a bright light that got 'closer and closer to us,' but then 'changed color to blue,' then to red, then back to white, and then 'receded into the distance.' However, he said, 'I've never believed it came from Mars.' (In September, Paul Hellyer, a former Canadian minister of defense, asked Parliament to hold hearings on extraterrestrials. UFOs, he said, 'are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head,' and he fears the U.S. military might get Earth involved in an intergalactic war.) [GQ, January 2006] [Canadian Press, 9-11-05]"
Ah yes
Nuke Officer and UFOligist
Amazing what the American Voter can do if he/she puts his/her mind to it ...
NEWS of the WEIRD - Current News
Spotted the following :
"Former President Jimmy Carter told GQ magazine for a January article that he saw a UFO in 1969 in southwest Georgia as he was preparing to speak at a Lions Club meeting. He recalled that it was a bright light that got 'closer and closer to us,' but then 'changed color to blue,' then to red, then back to white, and then 'receded into the distance.' However, he said, 'I've never believed it came from Mars.' (In September, Paul Hellyer, a former Canadian minister of defense, asked Parliament to hold hearings on extraterrestrials. UFOs, he said, 'are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head,' and he fears the U.S. military might get Earth involved in an intergalactic war.) [GQ, January 2006] [Canadian Press, 9-11-05]"
Ah yes
Nuke Officer and UFOligist
Amazing what the American Voter can do if he/she puts his/her mind to it ...
Sat musings
Reading
The Doc Searls Weblog : Saturday, January 21, 2006
Led to several musings
Doc finds links to ancient Irish Warlord as ancestor
Well, not sure how far back we truely go, but sister seems to have traced us back to the Mayflower.
Good enough.
Dad just tried the National Geographic DNA ancestory test.
(The Genographic Project Y - DNA test)
60K years back
I said "bet it says 'Out of Africa'" ... yup, it does.
Then off to West Central Asia and on West to Iberian Pennisula.
NatGeo has some cool tools here:Atlas of the Human Journey - The Genographic Project
Patterns to the Black Sea / Noah's Flood diasporia.
Amazon.com: Noah's Flood : The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event that Changed History: Books
and
PBS - Scientific American Frontiers | Beneath the Sea | Noah's Flood
Other : among collection of Google Stuff I posted interesting piece on MuSoft and it's ongoing dotage.
Big Blue of the early 21st Century.
Other : we have Hillary's "Plantation" remark.
For which she got the following rebuke from the NYTimes Op/Ed pages
Crying Much Worse Than Wolf - New York Times:
"NEW YORK'S junior senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton, joined quite a group of substance abusers the other day. In this bunch, no one is likely to even try kicking the habit.
The substance is history. The abuse is taking some of its most brutal and shameful chapters - slavery, the Holocaust, the massacre of American Indians - and exploiting them for whatever issue happens to land on the agenda.
Not that Mrs. Clinton invented the technique. She merely followed a well-worn path when she went to Harlem and likened the House of Representatives to a plantation, because, she said, its Republican leaders squelch dissident voices."
To which good ol Dick Morris weighs in with (and remember he has a book to sell):
Fears of Condi Spurred Hillary's Racial Remarks: "Sources close to New York civil rights leader Rev Al Sharpton tell me that Hillary used his annual Martin Luther King Day forum to liken the House Republican majority's conduct of the House of Representatives to a 'plantation' because she fears a Sharpton challenge in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary.
Hillary also fears that if Sharpton were to challenge her, it could weaken her in a possible contest against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the fall, if Rice were to be the GOP nominee.
'She is afraid of Condi,' one of Sharpton's key people said."
After a day of working on taxes, I guess I'll agree with Hank Williams Jr.
"Are we ready for some Football?"
Yup
The Doc Searls Weblog : Saturday, January 21, 2006
Led to several musings
Doc finds links to ancient Irish Warlord as ancestor
Well, not sure how far back we truely go, but sister seems to have traced us back to the Mayflower.
Good enough.
Dad just tried the National Geographic DNA ancestory test.
(The Genographic Project Y - DNA test)
60K years back
I said "bet it says 'Out of Africa'" ... yup, it does.
Then off to West Central Asia and on West to Iberian Pennisula.
NatGeo has some cool tools here:Atlas of the Human Journey - The Genographic Project
Patterns to the Black Sea / Noah's Flood diasporia.
Amazon.com: Noah's Flood : The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event that Changed History: Books
and
PBS - Scientific American Frontiers | Beneath the Sea | Noah's Flood
Other : among collection of Google Stuff I posted interesting piece on MuSoft and it's ongoing dotage.
Big Blue of the early 21st Century.
Other : we have Hillary's "Plantation" remark.
For which she got the following rebuke from the NYTimes Op/Ed pages
Crying Much Worse Than Wolf - New York Times:
"NEW YORK'S junior senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton, joined quite a group of substance abusers the other day. In this bunch, no one is likely to even try kicking the habit.
The substance is history. The abuse is taking some of its most brutal and shameful chapters - slavery, the Holocaust, the massacre of American Indians - and exploiting them for whatever issue happens to land on the agenda.
Not that Mrs. Clinton invented the technique. She merely followed a well-worn path when she went to Harlem and likened the House of Representatives to a plantation, because, she said, its Republican leaders squelch dissident voices."
To which good ol Dick Morris weighs in with (and remember he has a book to sell):
Fears of Condi Spurred Hillary's Racial Remarks: "Sources close to New York civil rights leader Rev Al Sharpton tell me that Hillary used his annual Martin Luther King Day forum to liken the House Republican majority's conduct of the House of Representatives to a 'plantation' because she fears a Sharpton challenge in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary.
Hillary also fears that if Sharpton were to challenge her, it could weaken her in a possible contest against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the fall, if Rice were to be the GOP nominee.
'She is afraid of Condi,' one of Sharpton's key people said."
After a day of working on taxes, I guess I'll agree with Hank Williams Jr.
"Are we ready for some Football?"
Yup
File under "Hoover wears a dress..."
Good ol' Robert S weighs in on the whole wiretap/NSA spooky stuff
Now, if the numbers bantied about of 3 dozen unauthorized taps ... not much more than a tempest in a teacup.
Brief history of Federal taping and snooping...
PBS | I, Cringely . January 19, 2006 - Hitler on Line One:
"Who is listening-in on your phone calls? Probably nobody. Right now, there is huge interest in phone tapping in the United States because the Bush Administration (through the National Security Agency) was caught listening in without appropriate court orders. What I have noticed is that, for all the talking and writing on this subject, there seems to be very little real information being presented. So this column is my attempt to share what I've learned about the topic. It might surprise you."
Now, if the numbers bantied about of 3 dozen unauthorized taps ... not much more than a tempest in a teacup.
Brief history of Federal taping and snooping...
PBS | I, Cringely . January 19, 2006 - Hitler on Line One:
"Who is listening-in on your phone calls? Probably nobody. Right now, there is huge interest in phone tapping in the United States because the Bush Administration (through the National Security Agency) was caught listening in without appropriate court orders. What I have noticed is that, for all the talking and writing on this subject, there seems to be very little real information being presented. So this column is my attempt to share what I've learned about the topic. It might surprise you."
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Telco Troubles
Spotted the following early this AM
Hey, Baby Bells: Information Still Wants to Be Free - New York Times
Pinged a couple of my Telco/Net guru's
Knew I was going to be tied up till evening
Doc
and
David
Both have much louder (and more cogent) bullhorns than I do.
Hey, Baby Bells: Information Still Wants to Be Free - New York Times
Pinged a couple of my Telco/Net guru's
Knew I was going to be tied up till evening
Doc
and
David
Both have much louder (and more cogent) bullhorns than I do.
Ascent of Man
For all the women in my life ... the following may or may not ring true
I'll leave it to others to decide...
Above image is year end "double issue" of my favorite read.
I'll leave it to others to decide...
Above image is year end "double issue" of my favorite read.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Tempest in a teapot ???
If the numbers quoted below are anywhere accurate ...
30 taps over the last couple of years ?
30?
Not quite big brother, not listening (active monitoring vs. data mining and sampling of text/word streams) to everything said.
Lexington | The paranoid style in American politics | Economist.com:
"And the proof of dictatorship? On more than 30 different occasions, Mr Bush authorised the tapping of telephone calls made by American citizens. Tapping domestic telephone calls without getting a warrant is illegal. But Mr Bush claims that his constitutional powers as commander-in-chief allowed him to do so because all these calls were international ones. He maintains that going to the courts would have been cumbersome and that his first priority was to prevent another terrorist attack.
You can pick at this reasoning—for instance, there are retrospective warrants that might have done the trick. But it is hard to claim that Mr Bush is being outlandish on any of these scores. John Schmidt, an associate attorney-general under Bill Clinton, thinks Mr Bush has the constitutional power to approve such taps; General Michael Hayden, the deputy director of national intelligence, has argued that the programme “has been successful in detecting and preventing attacks inside the United States”.
That assertion is for Congress to probe, but the real argument here is surely one of nuance: it has to do with how much freedom you should reasonably curtail in the name of security. Mr Bush may have crossed a line, but he has hardly smashed through it. Most European countries have more intrusive surveillance regimes than America's. As for impeachment, the prospect of having to defend Mr Bush against the charge that he went a tad too far trying to avert a terrorist attack is the sort of thing Karl Rove salivates about."
30 taps over the last couple of years ?
30?
Not quite big brother, not listening (active monitoring vs. data mining and sampling of text/word streams) to everything said.
Lexington | The paranoid style in American politics | Economist.com:
"And the proof of dictatorship? On more than 30 different occasions, Mr Bush authorised the tapping of telephone calls made by American citizens. Tapping domestic telephone calls without getting a warrant is illegal. But Mr Bush claims that his constitutional powers as commander-in-chief allowed him to do so because all these calls were international ones. He maintains that going to the courts would have been cumbersome and that his first priority was to prevent another terrorist attack.
You can pick at this reasoning—for instance, there are retrospective warrants that might have done the trick. But it is hard to claim that Mr Bush is being outlandish on any of these scores. John Schmidt, an associate attorney-general under Bill Clinton, thinks Mr Bush has the constitutional power to approve such taps; General Michael Hayden, the deputy director of national intelligence, has argued that the programme “has been successful in detecting and preventing attacks inside the United States”.
That assertion is for Congress to probe, but the real argument here is surely one of nuance: it has to do with how much freedom you should reasonably curtail in the name of security. Mr Bush may have crossed a line, but he has hardly smashed through it. Most European countries have more intrusive surveillance regimes than America's. As for impeachment, the prospect of having to defend Mr Bush against the charge that he went a tad too far trying to avert a terrorist attack is the sort of thing Karl Rove salivates about."
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Retro Chuckles
Modern Mechanix � Hair Helmet - Literally
Should have been titled "Helmet Hair" ( a common malady)
Lots more where it came from : Modern Mechanix
Besides a good bit of chuckles, there is a message to take predictions and prognostications with a grain of salt, and maybe the weirder they sound, the weirder they are …
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Diet indicators
Signs that we are dieting
1) change of mix of foods in the fridge
2) smaller loads of trash go out (less packaging I think)
3) run out of small plates in the cupboard - all in the dishwasher
and of course
4) weight down ... 3% YTD, beating last January ... so far.
1) change of mix of foods in the fridge
2) smaller loads of trash go out (less packaging I think)
3) run out of small plates in the cupboard - all in the dishwasher
and of course
4) weight down ... 3% YTD, beating last January ... so far.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Just another comment re: wiretaps vs security sieves
Frankly not as worried about taps when we have Sloppy Security
InformationWeek | Data Security | Sad State Of Data Security | January 2, 2006
Businesses and government agencies seem inept when it comes to protecting personal information, as the list of mishaps keeps getting longer
By Tony Kontzer and Larry Greenemeier
InformationWeek | Data Security | Sad State Of Data Security | January 2, 2006
Businesses and government agencies seem inept when it comes to protecting personal information, as the list of mishaps keeps getting longer
By Tony Kontzer and Larry Greenemeier
How does this keep happening? Companies have been publicly humiliated, slapped with audits, and threatened with prosecution, but sensitive personal data continues to be compromised. The U.S. Department of Justice is the latest to demonstrate its information-security incompetence. The mistake: exposing Social Security numbers on its Web site.
It's the IT problem that just won't go away. From the time early last year that ChoicePoint Inc. admitted it had been duped into revealing personal data to identity thieves, dozens of other businesses, government agencies, and schools have followed with their own admissions of ineptitude. In most cases, victims can't do much more than keep a watchful eye on their financial statements and credit reports--and hope for the best. Not surprisingly, fraud is on the rise and consumer confidence on the decline.
NYC Horror Movie ... Da 'Burbs
My first reaction was... get a life!
Desolate, lonely, boring ... we need that city action
But then when I read that you couldn't get FOOD DELIVERY
Oh the horror ...
What about "Shopping" ... or "Cooking"
The Suburbs: For Some, It's a Disaster, and They Race Back to the City as Fast as They Can - New York Times:
"After nine months, she persuaded her husband - who was enjoying his truncated commute to his financial services job in Greenwich, Conn. - to sell the house. 'Summer had come and gone and I was looking at another winter of being completely alone,' she said, citing frequent power failures as another concern, along with the so-so restaurants and lack of food delivery. 'He was very supportive, the poor man.'"
"It's like death out there," said Mr. Torossian, a fast-talking Bronx native who resisted the comparatively tempered pace, like food delivery that stops at 9 p.m. and a newspaper delivered at 7:30 a.m....
"I can't wait 15 minutes in a bagel store to get two bagels," he said. "I can't have people looking at me like I'm crazy when I walk in and put a quarter on the table to get my paper and walk out. I go home and there's, like, people doing their lawn every five minutes. They seem like normal people but they spend, like, hours working on their lawn."
or how about this ... Lyme Disease!
"We had this beautifully landscaped acre-and-a-half of land for the kids to play in, but we were terrified of Lyme disease," Ms. Sweeney said. "We lived in a cul-de-sac and it was lovely but if we biked off the cul-de-sac, we were on these beautiful country roads that were curved so that bike riding on them wasn't so safe. We realized we were far safer going to Central Park, really playing with the kids and having our picnic, especially in the summertime."
---
After reading through this, it looks an awful lot like a prior story on the horrors of living outside the city.
Will have to dig, but suspect it's a Times rehash
The Curmudgon in the Wilderness ...
Desolate, lonely, boring ... we need that city action
But then when I read that you couldn't get FOOD DELIVERY
Oh the horror ...
What about "Shopping" ... or "Cooking"
The Suburbs: For Some, It's a Disaster, and They Race Back to the City as Fast as They Can - New York Times:
"After nine months, she persuaded her husband - who was enjoying his truncated commute to his financial services job in Greenwich, Conn. - to sell the house. 'Summer had come and gone and I was looking at another winter of being completely alone,' she said, citing frequent power failures as another concern, along with the so-so restaurants and lack of food delivery. 'He was very supportive, the poor man.'"
"It's like death out there," said Mr. Torossian, a fast-talking Bronx native who resisted the comparatively tempered pace, like food delivery that stops at 9 p.m. and a newspaper delivered at 7:30 a.m....
"I can't wait 15 minutes in a bagel store to get two bagels," he said. "I can't have people looking at me like I'm crazy when I walk in and put a quarter on the table to get my paper and walk out. I go home and there's, like, people doing their lawn every five minutes. They seem like normal people but they spend, like, hours working on their lawn."
or how about this ... Lyme Disease!
"We had this beautifully landscaped acre-and-a-half of land for the kids to play in, but we were terrified of Lyme disease," Ms. Sweeney said. "We lived in a cul-de-sac and it was lovely but if we biked off the cul-de-sac, we were on these beautiful country roads that were curved so that bike riding on them wasn't so safe. We realized we were far safer going to Central Park, really playing with the kids and having our picnic, especially in the summertime."
---
After reading through this, it looks an awful lot like a prior story on the horrors of living outside the city.
Will have to dig, but suspect it's a Times rehash
The Curmudgon in the Wilderness ...
Your Tax Dollars at Work
Must be a pretty damn special plane
Cut BUFF's, all U2's and we don't need those 117's any more.
Impressive ...
Either damn impressive plane, or damn impressive desire.
Supercruise defense against IED's ?
Not sure of THAT concept.
Defense Tech: B-52s Axed for More Raptors:
"Air Force chiefs want their new stealth fighters, bad -- so bad, they're willing to scrap some of their best-performing planes early, in order to free up cash for their controversial, next-generation jet.
raptor1.jpgInside Defense reports that 'nearly half the B-52 bomber force and the full U-2 spy plane and F-117 stealth fighter fleets' will be retired ahead of schedule, under a Pentagon budget plan endorsed by the Air Force. It's part of 'a bid to save $16.4 billion and boost spending' for the F-22 Raptor program."
Cut BUFF's, all U2's and we don't need those 117's any more.
Impressive ...
Either damn impressive plane, or damn impressive desire.
Supercruise defense against IED's ?
Not sure of THAT concept.
Defense Tech: B-52s Axed for More Raptors:
"Air Force chiefs want their new stealth fighters, bad -- so bad, they're willing to scrap some of their best-performing planes early, in order to free up cash for their controversial, next-generation jet.
raptor1.jpgInside Defense reports that 'nearly half the B-52 bomber force and the full U-2 spy plane and F-117 stealth fighter fleets' will be retired ahead of schedule, under a Pentagon budget plan endorsed by the Air Force. It's part of 'a bid to save $16.4 billion and boost spending' for the F-22 Raptor program."
Old Orbital Observations Flap
Story on Skylab photo of Area 51
Cue up X-files ...
The Space Review: Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident
Cue up X-files ...
The Space Review: Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident
"Far out in the Nevada desert, miles from prying eyes, is a secret Air Force facility that has been known by numerous names over the years. It has been called Paradise Ranch, Watertown Strip, Area 51, Dreamland, and Groom Lake. Groom is probably the most mythologized real location that few people have ever seen. According to people with overactive imaginations, it is where the United States government keeps dead aliens, clones them, and reverse-engineers their spacecraft. It is also where NASA filmed the faked Moon landings.
However, for humans whose feet rest on solid ground, Groom is the site of highly secret aircraft development. It is where the U-2 spyplane, the Mach 3 Blackbird, and the F-117 stealth fighter were all developed. It has also probably hosted its own fleet of captured, stolen, or clandestinely acquired Soviet and Russian aircraft. Because of this, the United States government has gone to extraordinary lengths to preserve the area’s secrecy and to prevent people from seeing it."
Monday, January 09, 2006
Huh? part duex
Unsure of the concept.
From our local Electric Utility (Consumers Energy) , I was checking our bill online.
Noticed a link :
From our local Electric Utility (Consumers Energy) , I was checking our bill online.
Noticed a link :
"The estimated restoration time returned by this application is only an estimate and represents the best information available at this time. Actual restoration times may vary from this estimate. Changes in weather and road conditions, as well as the extent of the outage will impact when service is actually restored. The restoration estimate returned by this application is the same information that is available through our telephone Customer Service Representatives and our automated voice response system. Estimated restoration times are updated regularly as we get better information."
S000... here I am with my home computer, which runs on electricity, connected to my Cable, which runs via electricity (and therefore likely to be affected by the same outage, via Modem, Router, Hub, Wifi (all electric)... but I can get information as to when my electricity might come back on ... to power the devices that I can use to find out when it might come on.
Chicken or egg?
Sorta fits with the "routine" with Sprint LD
You go through the automated bill payment, the robo-voice gives a "Confirm Number" then asks "is this correct?" ...
What committee dreams this stuff up?
S000... here I am with my home computer, which runs on electricity, connected to my Cable, which runs via electricity (and therefore likely to be affected by the same outage, via Modem, Router, Hub, Wifi (all electric)... but I can get information as to when my electricity might come back on ... to power the devices that I can use to find out when it might come on.
Chicken or egg?
Sorta fits with the "routine" with Sprint LD
You go through the automated bill payment, the robo-voice gives a "Confirm Number" then asks "is this correct?" ...
What committee dreams this stuff up?
China Demographics : source material
Good stuff on the prospects for China.
In short, they only have about 15 years before they "hit the wall"
of old and still poor...
CSIS - Publications
In short, they only have about 15 years before they "hit the wall"
of old and still poor...
CSIS - Publications
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Corruption in High Places
From some who should know, having been amongst the halls of Congress.
Cue up Joni Mitchell ... Both Sides Now...
First, from the Washington Post, quoting "the Newt"
(maybe MC5 with "Kick out the Jams ... MF's")
The Fix - Chris Cillizza's Politics Blog - (washingtonpost.com): "Gingrich: 1994 Legacy 'Hangs in the Balance'
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich today cast the Jack Abramoff scandal as symbolic of a broader level of corruption in Washington and called on the Republican majority in Congress to adopt broad-based campaign finance and lobbying reforms.
'This is not one bad person doing one bad thing,' Gingrich said of Abramoff during his luncheon remarks at a D.C. Rotary Club event held at the Hotel Washington. 'You can't have a corrupt lobbyist without a corrupt member or a corrupt staffer on the other end.'
Quoting from the Federalist Papers and invoking such luminaries as Lord Acton and President Abraham Lincoln, Gingrich launched an unapologetic indictment of the Washington culture -- a culture he partially dominated from 1994 until his resignation in late 1998.
Among the other topics on which Gingrich heaped scorn: Wealthy individuals 'buying' Senate and gubernatorial seats, the influx of foreign money into the American political process, the ability of a single senator to place a 'hold' on presidential appointments, and the loophole in campaign finance law that allows for the creation of so-called 527 (soft money) organizations to influence the political process.
In classic Gingrich fashion, the former Speaker had a slew of potential fixes for what ails Capitol Hill. The most radical -- and seemingly impractical -- is a plan to abolish all political fundraising in Washington, D.C., and its environs.
Gingrich also advocated a lifting of campaign contribution limits on individuals living in either the district or state of the candidate to whom they are donating. In his prepared remarks, he singled out Gov.-elect Jon Corzine's (D-N.J.) $100 million personal expenditures on his 2000 race for Senate and 2005 gubernatorial bid as 'convincing proof' that citizens should be allowed to donate unlimited amounts to home-state or local-district candidates 'to offset the big rich ability to buy power.'"
Then we have Gary Hart:
Over Life on the Hill - New York Times: interview in NYTimes Magazine
"Might you consider running again for a seat in the Senate?"
I have never believed in careerism. The founders thought you ought to serve and move on. Otherwise, you become a captive of the system. You've got to raise millions and millions of dollars to stay in office, and you can get that from lobbyists, and what you trade is access. It's a corrupt system. It's massively corrupt."
Cue up Joni Mitchell ... Both Sides Now...
First, from the Washington Post, quoting "the Newt"
(maybe MC5 with "Kick out the Jams ... MF's")
The Fix - Chris Cillizza's Politics Blog - (washingtonpost.com): "Gingrich: 1994 Legacy 'Hangs in the Balance'
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich today cast the Jack Abramoff scandal as symbolic of a broader level of corruption in Washington and called on the Republican majority in Congress to adopt broad-based campaign finance and lobbying reforms.
'This is not one bad person doing one bad thing,' Gingrich said of Abramoff during his luncheon remarks at a D.C. Rotary Club event held at the Hotel Washington. 'You can't have a corrupt lobbyist without a corrupt member or a corrupt staffer on the other end.'
Quoting from the Federalist Papers and invoking such luminaries as Lord Acton and President Abraham Lincoln, Gingrich launched an unapologetic indictment of the Washington culture -- a culture he partially dominated from 1994 until his resignation in late 1998.
Among the other topics on which Gingrich heaped scorn: Wealthy individuals 'buying' Senate and gubernatorial seats, the influx of foreign money into the American political process, the ability of a single senator to place a 'hold' on presidential appointments, and the loophole in campaign finance law that allows for the creation of so-called 527 (soft money) organizations to influence the political process.
In classic Gingrich fashion, the former Speaker had a slew of potential fixes for what ails Capitol Hill. The most radical -- and seemingly impractical -- is a plan to abolish all political fundraising in Washington, D.C., and its environs.
Gingrich also advocated a lifting of campaign contribution limits on individuals living in either the district or state of the candidate to whom they are donating. In his prepared remarks, he singled out Gov.-elect Jon Corzine's (D-N.J.) $100 million personal expenditures on his 2000 race for Senate and 2005 gubernatorial bid as 'convincing proof' that citizens should be allowed to donate unlimited amounts to home-state or local-district candidates 'to offset the big rich ability to buy power.'"
Then we have Gary Hart:
Over Life on the Hill - New York Times: interview in NYTimes Magazine
"Might you consider running again for a seat in the Senate?"
I have never believed in careerism. The founders thought you ought to serve and move on. Otherwise, you become a captive of the system. You've got to raise millions and millions of dollars to stay in office, and you can get that from lobbyists, and what you trade is access. It's a corrupt system. It's massively corrupt."
Thursday, January 05, 2006
More on Data Mining vs WireTaps
My opinion, Data Mining OK, wiretaps ... questionable
Like who really wants to listen in on millions of teens on their cellphones?
Matter of fact, maybe that would be "torture" ... ?
Defense Tech: NSA Spying: Two Views:
One :
"The law says 'the search does not use personal identifiers of a specific individual or does not utilize inputs that appear on their face to identify or be associated with a specified individual to acquire information,' I take it to mean the new computer-based data mining isn't looking for an individual per se, it is looking at information about all individuals (at least all who make international telephone calls or send e-mails overseas or travel to foreign countries according to the government) to select individuals who may be worthy of a closer look."
Another:
"As best I can tell, the NSA program was not actually recording domestic Internet traffic, putting it in a database, and then 'mining' it for key words and the like," he writes. Instead, what went on is packet-sniffing -- "installing a monitoring device on a steam of traffic that looks for specific sequences of letters, numbers, or symbols... [like] phone numbers and e-mail accounts... For those with criminal law experience, this was basically a large-scale pen regsister/trap-and-trace or wiretap, depending on how the filters are configured."
Like who really wants to listen in on millions of teens on their cellphones?
Matter of fact, maybe that would be "torture" ... ?
Defense Tech: NSA Spying: Two Views:
One :
"The law says 'the search does not use personal identifiers of a specific individual or does not utilize inputs that appear on their face to identify or be associated with a specified individual to acquire information,' I take it to mean the new computer-based data mining isn't looking for an individual per se, it is looking at information about all individuals (at least all who make international telephone calls or send e-mails overseas or travel to foreign countries according to the government) to select individuals who may be worthy of a closer look."
Another:
"As best I can tell, the NSA program was not actually recording domestic Internet traffic, putting it in a database, and then 'mining' it for key words and the like," he writes. Instead, what went on is packet-sniffing -- "installing a monitoring device on a steam of traffic that looks for specific sequences of letters, numbers, or symbols... [like] phone numbers and e-mail accounts... For those with criminal law experience, this was basically a large-scale pen regsister/trap-and-trace or wiretap, depending on how the filters are configured."
Monday, January 02, 2006
Huh ?
Let's just call it a bit of a head scratcher ...
2005's Kind of Progress - Newsweek Columnists - George Will:
"Onward and upward with progressivism: In a Las Vegas suburb, the United Food and Commercial Workers union hired temp workers at $6 an hour to picket a nonunion Wal-Mart, where wages start at $6.75 an hour.
A British teachers-union official proposed that instead of bad students' receiving a 'failing' grade, their grade should be called 'deferred success.'
A Milwaukee 17-year-old and his father sued to end summer homework because the stress of honors precalculus assignments spoiled the lad's summer.
When Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of actor Will Smith, told a Harvard audience that women 'can have it all—a loving man, devoted husband, loving children, a fabulous career,' the campus Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance said its members were made 'uncomfortable' because Mrs. Smith's words were 'extremely heteronormative.'"
Heteronomative ?
OK ... I suppose
2005's Kind of Progress - Newsweek Columnists - George Will:
"Onward and upward with progressivism: In a Las Vegas suburb, the United Food and Commercial Workers union hired temp workers at $6 an hour to picket a nonunion Wal-Mart, where wages start at $6.75 an hour.
A British teachers-union official proposed that instead of bad students' receiving a 'failing' grade, their grade should be called 'deferred success.'
A Milwaukee 17-year-old and his father sued to end summer homework because the stress of honors precalculus assignments spoiled the lad's summer.
When Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of actor Will Smith, told a Harvard audience that women 'can have it all—a loving man, devoted husband, loving children, a fabulous career,' the campus Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance said its members were made 'uncomfortable' because Mrs. Smith's words were 'extremely heteronormative.'"
Heteronomative ?
OK ... I suppose
Lost in Translation
Well, we finished off the "first season" of Lost.
This morning, Shirley started digging further into the Wikipedia episode summary, the trivia and details of the episodes.
We re-watched (is that a word?) a portion of Deus ex Machina with the captions turned on to catch some of the dialog (the Beechcraft radio sequence).
Beats "Reality TV" offerings.
This morning, Shirley started digging further into the Wikipedia episode summary, the trivia and details of the episodes.
We re-watched (is that a word?) a portion of Deus ex Machina with the captions turned on to catch some of the dialog (the Beechcraft radio sequence).
Beats "Reality TV" offerings.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
We manage to get "Lost"
Not that failure to read a map or get directions ... we got "Lost" for Christmas ... and my daughters are right. It's addictive.
At first, I thought it was to "predictable" but not now.
Episodes of Lost (Season 1) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
At first, I thought it was to "predictable" but not now.
Episodes of Lost (Season 1) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A giggle
Martha "lays bare" (whoops, not sure of the imagary there) the "truth" about "Reality TV" ... about as real as daytime soaps.
Note that in both Apprentice shows, there appears to be a situation where the "contestants" live in the same "dorm" for the entire taping, just that the loosers are edited out, and that there is an "open bar" policy (to help build "tension")
Martha Stewart: "I Consider Myself A Visionary Still": "A big part of your reintroduction to the public has been two TV shows that launched this year: The Apprentice: Martha Stewart and Martha. Which has been more satisfying to you?
It's unusual for me to take a job like The Apprentice, and it was just a job. I got paid a fee. I have no participation in the show. Generally, we're the originators. But I did it because I knew it would be a jump-start, and it would get attention.
You're getting close to the conclusion.
Yeah, we're getting close to which of those inappropriate contestants we are actually going to have to hire. I can't believe people behave like that. They're exhibitionists and opportunists, those kids. I did not choose them either, by the way. I just want you to know I had nothing to do really with the choice of the contestants. That's part of reality television.
How is your relationship with Donald Trump?
I would not say we were close friends, but we are friendly to one another. I always like people who are themselves. Donald is himself. You see it on TV. He's the same person on TV that you know in person -- the same guy. He's not an actor. He's not a fake. And his hair really is horrible. When I get close to him, I just want to [get] the scissors. But he's a nice guy, and his wife is really nice. All his other wives are really nice, too. He didn't know about me coming on [with a new version of] The Apprentice. This was as big a surprise to him as it was to me, that he wasn't leaving."
Note that in both Apprentice shows, there appears to be a situation where the "contestants" live in the same "dorm" for the entire taping, just that the loosers are edited out, and that there is an "open bar" policy (to help build "tension")
Martha Stewart: "I Consider Myself A Visionary Still": "A big part of your reintroduction to the public has been two TV shows that launched this year: The Apprentice: Martha Stewart and Martha. Which has been more satisfying to you?
It's unusual for me to take a job like The Apprentice, and it was just a job. I got paid a fee. I have no participation in the show. Generally, we're the originators. But I did it because I knew it would be a jump-start, and it would get attention.
You're getting close to the conclusion.
Yeah, we're getting close to which of those inappropriate contestants we are actually going to have to hire. I can't believe people behave like that. They're exhibitionists and opportunists, those kids. I did not choose them either, by the way. I just want you to know I had nothing to do really with the choice of the contestants. That's part of reality television.
How is your relationship with Donald Trump?
I would not say we were close friends, but we are friendly to one another. I always like people who are themselves. Donald is himself. You see it on TV. He's the same person on TV that you know in person -- the same guy. He's not an actor. He's not a fake. And his hair really is horrible. When I get close to him, I just want to [get] the scissors. But he's a nice guy, and his wife is really nice. All his other wives are really nice, too. He didn't know about me coming on [with a new version of] The Apprentice. This was as big a surprise to him as it was to me, that he wasn't leaving."
Psychohistory or Deep Data Mining in Perspective
More on the "Domestic Spying" flap...
Note the core concept that individuals are hard to track and predict, but patterns are measureable ... "...analogy of a gas: in a gas, the motion of a single molecule is very difficult to predict, but the mass action of the gas can be predicted to a high level of accuracy."
This is not to say that individuals cannot be tracked and spied upon.
Just that data mining does NOT mean that ALL inviduals are being spied upon.
Psychohistory (fictional) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Psychohistory is the name of a fictional science in Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe, which combined history, psychology and mathematical statistics to create a (nearly) exact science of the behavior of very large populations of people, such as the Galactic Empire. Although fictional, this science is slowly being brought to life through the science of Sociophysics. Asimov used the analogy of a gas: in a gas, the motion of a single molecule is very difficult to predict, but the mass action of the gas can be predicted to a high level of accuracy. Asimov applied this concept to the population of the fictional Galactic Empire, which numbered in the quadrillions. The character responsible for the science's creation, Hari Seldon, established two postulates: that the population whose behaviour was modeled should be sufficiently large and that they should remain in ignorance of the results of the application of psychohistorical analyses."
Note the core concept that individuals are hard to track and predict, but patterns are measureable ... "...analogy of a gas: in a gas, the motion of a single molecule is very difficult to predict, but the mass action of the gas can be predicted to a high level of accuracy."
This is not to say that individuals cannot be tracked and spied upon.
Just that data mining does NOT mean that ALL inviduals are being spied upon.
Psychohistory (fictional) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Psychohistory is the name of a fictional science in Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe, which combined history, psychology and mathematical statistics to create a (nearly) exact science of the behavior of very large populations of people, such as the Galactic Empire. Although fictional, this science is slowly being brought to life through the science of Sociophysics. Asimov used the analogy of a gas: in a gas, the motion of a single molecule is very difficult to predict, but the mass action of the gas can be predicted to a high level of accuracy. Asimov applied this concept to the population of the fictional Galactic Empire, which numbered in the quadrillions. The character responsible for the science's creation, Hari Seldon, established two postulates: that the population whose behaviour was modeled should be sufficiently large and that they should remain in ignorance of the results of the application of psychohistorical analyses."
Asimov on psychohistory
On September 25, 1987, Asimov gave an interview to New York Times reporter Terry Gross. In it, Gross asked him about psychohistory:
- Gross: What did you have in mind when you coined the term and the concept?
- Asimov: "Well, I wanted to write a short story about the fall of the Galactic Empire. I had just finished reading the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [for] the second time, and I thought I might as well adapt it on a much larger scale to the Galactic Empire and get a story out of it. And my editor John Campbell was much taken with the idea, and said he didn't want it wasted on a short story. He wanted an open-ended series so it lasts forever, perhaps. And so I started doing that. In order to keep the story going from story to story, I was essentially writing future history, and I had to make it sufficiently different from modern history to give it that science fictional touch. And so I assumed that the time would come when there would be a science in which things could be predicted on a probabilistic or statistical basis.
- Gross: Do you think that would be good if there really was such a science?
- Asimov: Well, I can't help but think it would be good, except that in my stories, I always have opposing views. In other words, people argue all possible... all possible... ways of looking at psychohistory and deciding whether it is good or bad. So you can't really tell. I happen to feel sort of on the optimistic side. I think if we can somehow get across some of the problems that face us now, humanity has a glorious future, and that if we could use the tenets of psychohistory to guide ourselves we might avoid a great many troubles. But on the other hand, it might create troubles. It's impossible to tell in advance.
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