Long Term Vision

Good stuff on what to believe when it comes to predictions of future events/conditions

Paleo-Future

That said, I still believe in projections, or at least trying to anticipate trends.

Note that trends differ from events and specific devices or technologies.

4AM

Most interesting piece

TED | Talks | Rives: Is 4 a.m. the new midnight? (video)

My first thought was that I am up and about from time to time at 4AM
Men of a "particular age" often get up to go to the bathroom in the night. For me, sometimes it's 3-4AM
If I don't go right back to sleep, I spend sometime getting some work (reading/figuring/writing) done.

Then I flashed back to when we were racing.
The longest was the "24 Hours of Nelson's" (Nelson's Ledges Ohio, near Warren).

Well, the race ran from 4PM Saturday till 4PM Sunday.

4AM was half way
It was also when there was the first hint of dawn. Roughly "Nautical Twilight"
(Wikipedia : At this time, sailors can take reliable star sights of well known stars, using a visible horizon for reference. The end of this period in the evening, or its beginning in the morning, is also the time at which traces of illumination near the sunset or sunrise point of the horizon are very difficult if not impossible to discern (this often being referred to as "first light" before civil dawn and "nightfall" after civil dusk). At the beginning of nautical twilight in the morning (nautical dawn), or at the end of nautical twilight in the evening (nautical dusk), under good atmospheric conditions and in the absence of other illumination, general outlines of ground objects may be distinguishable, but detailed outdoor operations are not possible, and the horizon is indistinct.

Distributed capital and information

Watch it
TED | Talks | Yochai Benkler: Open-source economics (video)

BlueGene vs SETI
MuSoft vs Apache,
Encarta vs Wikipedia
Yahoo vs Google

Social systems vs contracts

Opportunities : build tools and platforms to enable collaboration

Onward Christian Solders

I find it troubling despite the old like that there are no atheists in foxholes.
For a particular sect (fundamentalist or "born again" Christians) to be gaining control of our military is a threat to our Constitution.

First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Soldier Sues Army, Saying His Atheism Led to Threats - New York Times:

"Complaints include prayers “in Jesus’ name” at mandatory functions, which violates military regulations, and officers proselytizing subordinates to be “born again.” After getting the complainants’ unit and command information, Mr. Weinstein said, he calls his contacts in the military to try to correct the situation.

“Religion is inextricably intertwined with their jobs,” Mr. Weinstein said. “You’re promoted by who you pray with.”"


Update: CBS Sunday Morning just carried the story

Up Next, Recaps & Links, Stories, Links, More From CBS News Sunday Morning - CBS News:
"THE MILITARY: Religion in Uniform"

There’s an old saying dating back from World War II, 'There are no atheists in foxholes.' It implies that, even if you think you don’t believe in God, you will -- once the bombs and bullets start flying! The sentiment seems harmless enough, unless you’re an atheist in the U.S. Army, as Jeremy Hall is. Now, he’s suing the Defense Department for religious discrimination, saying he was treated as an outcast, passed over for promotion, and even physically threatened because of his beliefs -- or non-beliefs. Correspondent Susan Spencer looks into the role of religion in the military, and growing concerns that it plays far too great a role.

For more information:

www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org

www.constantinessword.com

www.ocf.gospelcom.net

Transcript:
Fighting For God AND Country, Sunday Morning: Are Service Members Discriminated Against By Evangelists Within The U.S. Military? - CBS News

---

Amen (so to speak)

She's ... here

Got the call late this afternoon
I was just headed out for a frozen pizza (well, we do dress them up quite a bit) when my cell rang.

Carolyn arrived, just a bit after 3PM PDT today
Grand daughter

All doing well!

Energy

Interesting stuff

Bloomberg.com: Exclusive: "Brazil's discoveries of what may be two of the world's three biggest oil finds in the past 30 years could help end the Western Hemisphere's reliance on Middle East crude"

Bloomberg references Strategic Forcast, which I subscribe to and find the staff to be pretty sharp.

Is something afoot

I'm no expert on the Middle East but there are some interesting things that appear to be happening

1) Syria/Israel : Israel and Syria Hint at Progress on Golan Heights Deal - New York Times

Syria is close to Iran, is there something stirring?

2) Iraq: Top Sunni Bloc Is Set to Rejoin Cabinet in Iraq - New York Times

"Even though Mr. Maliki’s American-backed offensive against elements of the Mahdi Army has frequently stalled and has led to bitter complaints of civilian casualties, the Sunni leaders said that the government had done enough to address their concerns that they had decided to end their boycott."

Where does Iran fit in here?

Will there be breakthroughs or measurable progress?
Will there be some sort of a deal, more than one deal?

Are things happening behind the scenes between the US and Iran?

What might the implications be for the Presidential Election?

Interesting snippet: MICHAEL BURLEIGH � Iraq and Finland
"This may sound like one of those Eng Lit couplings: Conrad and Fleming. In fact, as President Bush recently acknowledged, the US needs Iran to leave Iraq in a long-term stable condition. It is currently Iran that is not turning up to the offer of meetings. One scenario I’ve heard about is the Finnish solution. At the end of WWII, the US and USSR agreed that while Finland would be a democracy based on liberal capitalism, it would not join NATO and major decisions would be subject to Soviet veto. Although the prospect seems unlikely, Iran is terrified of a revival of Sunni dominance and a renewal of the war which cost a million Iranian dead in the 1980s. The US is also adamant that Iraq’s oil will not fall under Iranian suasion. One solution is therefore for Iraq to become a latterday Finland. Independent, but incapable of menacing its neighbours. That would also assuage Saudi fears about a Shia dominated northern neighbour. Incidentally, last week Bush expressly ruled out the idea of bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities, claiming that this problem had to be resolved with diplomacy."

Just past full moon

6:30 AM
More experiments with handheld (Canon ELPH)

Parapsycology is so yesterday

NEWS of the WEIRD - Current News:
"Several psychotherapists told The New York Times in February that treatments are being developed for people who are excessively worried about their own carbon emissions being responsible for 'global warming.' More than 120 therapists are now listed as specialists in the field on Ecopsychology.org, and schools such as Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., have created courses on counseling such patients. [New York Times, 2-16-08]"

Suggestions

Most of the following are straight forward, but one stands out
Comments in parentheses


R.O.I. - WSJ.com:

"Don't wait for the politicians to pass a law or some bureaucrat to mail you a check. Don't wait for Uncle Sam to put more money in your pocket. Here are 14 ways to do it that you do tomorrow on your own."

1. Change bank accounts. (pending, but for service)

2. Stop using other banks' ATMs. (I don't use any)

3. Brown bag it to work. (lunch is standing at the sink...)

4. Change your household and car insurance. (done)

5. Sign up for rewards credit cards. (we do it for miles, and see #2)

6. Get rid of your POTS. That's "Plain Old Telephone Service." (we have simple service, no LD)

7. Change your cell phone plan, or your provider -- or both. (done)

8. You pay how much for TV? When you count the cable or satellite service, often in several rooms, premium channels, and TiVo, some people spend well over $100 a month. (keeping this luxury)

9. The biggest waste of money for most people? "No. 1 on the list is eating out and drinking out," says Jan Geiger, a veteran financial planner in Atlanta, Ga. "That's absolutely, by far, No. 1." She says most people never add it all up. When she makes her clients do just that, "They usually freak out. It can easily be $400, $500 or $600 a month." No, you don't have to live on noodles. Just cutting one $100 meal, or two $50 meals, a month will save you $1,200 a year. (well, we enjoy eating out at least once a week, sometimes more)

10. Buy a cheaper car and pay cash. (or just keep the old one)

11. Change your investments. (done)

12. Shop online. (we do, and shop little... see the next one)

13. Cutting out crap. Remember before we paid for "iced tea" and water? And half of what people buy has no obvious purpose or merit. If you don't believe me, go to the mall and look around. And most gifts are a total waste of money. I'll bet the typical household could save $500 a year just cutting out crap. (first off, we rarely go to the mall, and gifts tend to be gift cards so the recipient can choose what they need)

14. Stop wasting energy. (pretty much done)

These are only ballpark figures. The actual savings will vary enormously by household. But just the steps above can save a household thousands a year.

Enough with the silk scarves

I've ranted from time to time about the Air Force mindset, continuing to try to justify expensive projects.

Defense Sec Gates jumps in.

Pentagon chief urges Air Force to embrace change - New York Times: 

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- In unusually blunt terms, Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday challenged the Air Force, whose leaders are under fire on several fronts, to contribute more to immediate wartime needs and to promote new thinking.

Gates singled out the use of pilotless surveillance planes, in growing demand by commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, as an example of how the Air Force and other services must act more aggressively.

Gates has been trying for months to get the Air Force to send more unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, like the Predator drone that provides real-time surveillance video, to the battlefield. They are playing an increasing role in disrupting insurgent efforts to plant roadside bombs.

''Because people were stuck in old ways of doing business, it's been like pulling teeth,'' Gates said of his prodding. ''While we've doubled this capability in recent months, it is still not good enough.''"

Proportions

A most interesting map ...




Where News Breaks � Strange Maps:

"As any journalist knows, news has to be about people - they either make it, or are affected by it. No people, no news. It therefore stands to reason that heavily populated areas of the US, like California or the Northeast, generate most of the news stories. But even allowing for population, some locations account for a disproportionately high number of news items.

Researchers extracted the dateline from about 72,000 wire-service news stories from 1994 to 1998 and modified a standard map of the Lower 48 US states (above) to show the size of the states in proportion to the frequency of their appearance in those datelines (below). Some notable results:"

This Bud's for you

No mention of the energy cost of Aluminum, unless you recycle, like beercans maybe?

Why Cars Don't Get 50mpg | Newsweek Voices - Keith Naughton | Newsweek.com:

"Consider the exercise Ford just went through. It ran a computer simulation on what would happen to the mileage of a Ford Focus small car if you built it entirely out of lightweight aluminum. Losing the steel allowed the Focus to drop 1,000 pounds—30 percent of its body weight. That enabled Ford to outfit it with a tiny one-liter engine, half the size of its old engine, but far more fuel efficient because of new technology. Best of all, the small motor goes just as fast as the big one because the car is so much lighter. The result: fuel economy on this fabulous Focus went from 35mpg to 50mpg. What's stopping Ford from moving this car from pixels to pavement? The cost of an all-aluminum car could top $50,000—not a sum the typical economy-car buyer is willing to pay. 'What's going to be the cost acceptance for this much improvement in fuel economy?' asks Dan Kapp, director of Ford's advanced engines and transmissions. 'We don't know yet.'"

More on weight here : The evidence of weight - AutoWeek Magazine

Creature comforts and safety mandates add pounds.

Cult Classic

Encore running "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" tonight
Classic flick

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)

Kristofferson, Coburn, Rita Coolidge in Peckinpah piece
Yeah ... and Dylan

Knock Knock Knockin on Heaven's door
Slim Pickins get gut shot, dies to the music
YouTube - knocking on heavens door

At last

Click for video of last lap or two and greeting at victory

Danica Wins in Japan

OUCH!

With dislike of the goofiness of the right wing Republicans and distaste for the disorganization of the Democrats, I'll stick to being "devout and practicing non-partisan"

Road Map to Defeat - New York Times: 

"The Democrats are doing everything they can to blow this presidential election. This is a skill that comes naturally to the party. There is no such thing as a can’t-miss year for the Democrats. They are truly gifted at finding ways to lose."

Electric

Willing to consider this one
Electric iteration of the Atom

After all, as Tom Cruizer said in "Top Gun" ... I feel the need, the need for speed

Torque out the wazoo

Not for travel, for "play"
Not practical, for fun

The X1 Prototype

The X1 prototype is a concept car, and a test platform. It is not a production car, and never will be. It’s a proof-of-concept vehicle that will lead to a production car in the future.

To build it as a prototype, we looked for the best of the best, in today’s technology. We chose the AC Propulsion (www.acpropulsion.com) 3-phase AC induction motor and inverter – the highest power/weight ratio system available; brilliantly engineered, and with about a decade of durability testing to date. For the chassis, we turned to Ariel, in Somerset. (www.arielmotor.co.uk). Simon Saunders, the designer of the Atom and the founder and CEO of Ariel, has created in our view one of the world’s most beautiful cars, as well as the quickest, lightest chassis on the road. To drive it is a revelation. Simon’s background is in automotive design, notably for Aston Martin and Porsche. The Atom chassis was substantially modified for the electric drivetrain, but retains the original styling.

The X1 prototype is just the beginning. It meets its design specs of 0-60 in 3 seconds, 170 mpg equivalent; and at 1536 lbs, is only 36 lbs over the design target of 1500. It really does raise the performance driving experience to a new level, even for racing drivers. No clutch, no shifting, precise and immediate control of torque in drive and braking, perfect traction control…first gear takes you to 112mph…

In recent track testing, on street tires, it achieved the following performance:
0-30 mph: 1.35 sec
0-60 mph: 3.07 sec in 117 ft
0-100 mph: 6.87 sec
0-100-0 mph 11.2 sec
Lateral g: 1.3
Braking g: 1.2

The X1 production car will be better… much better.

Rock On

cbs2chicago.com - 5.4 Quake Strikes Southern Illinois



Broadly felt
Bedrock, not the North American Craton, but old, is cool and hard, carries the waves broadly. Lots of sediment over it can shake.

Didn't feel it up here, but reports from Chicago to Georgia

A bit later: more info

Magnitude 5.2 - ILLINOIS:

"Earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S., although less frequent than in the western U.S., are typically felt over a much broader region. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. A magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 100 km (60 mi) from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source. A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 km (300 mi) from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 40 km (25 mi)."

Vid Experiment

We visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium last Fri
Experimented a bit with video function on my pocket Canon digital
Jellyfish ... duh

And yes, picture is right side up.

Oh yeah - kill the sound, just ambient crowd noise.

An important read

Right war, wrong execution.

Reviewer suggests Phil as Democrat National Security Advisor for Republican McCain ... sort of post-modern policy.

Book just went on my - to read list
Read the NYTimes Review

Terror and Consent - Philip Bobbitt - Book Review - New York Times:

"Read as a tract for the times, “The Shield of Achilles” seemed to exemplify the change in American attitudes to foreign policy that began after the collapse of the Soviet Union, accelerated during the Balkan wars of the 1990s and came to a head after 9/11. Some reviewers took it to be a neoconservative work, and Bobbitt’s support for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 lent credence to that view. However, read as a work of history, it was no such thing. Rather, it was a reflection on the decline of national sovereignty in an age of globalization.

“Terror and Consent” is less historical; indeed, it is more concerned with the future and how best we should anticipate its challenges. Did I say “the future”? Bobbitt has learned from the scenario-builders of Royal Dutch Shell the essential point that there is really no such thing as the future — only futures (plural). The task he has set himself here is to challenge nearly all our existing ideas about the so-called wars on terror (note, once again, the plural), in the belief that only a root-and-branch rethinking will equip us to deal with the problems posed by “the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, mass terrorist atrocities and humanitarian crises that bring about or are brought about by terror.”

Bobbitt’s central premise is that today’s Islamic terrorist network, which he calls Al Qaeda for short, is like a distorted mirror image of the post-Westphalian market-state: decentralized, privatized, outsourced and in some measure divorced from territorial sovereignty. The terrorists are at once parasitical on, and at the same time hostile toward, the globalized economy, the Internet and the technological revolution in military affairs. Just as the plagues in the 14th century were unintended consequences of increased trade and urbanization, so terrorism is a negative externality of our borderless world.

The difference, of course, is one of intent. The rats that transported the lethal fleas that transported the lethal enterobacteria Yersinia pestis did not mean to devastate the populations of Eurasia and Africa. The Black Death was a natural disaster. Al Qaeda is different. Its members seek to undermine the market-state by turning its own technological achievements against it in a protracted worldwide war, the ultimate goal of which is to create a Sharia-based “terror-state” in the form of a new caliphate"

Amazon:
Editorial Reviews

"Philip Bobbitt is perhaps the outstanding political philosopher of our time. Terror and Consent is simply indispensable for our understanding, yet it is as readable as it is profound."
--Henry Kissinger

“Philip Bobbitt has long been one of the most thoughtful and wise commentators on the state of the modern world and the challenge that it faces. But in this book, he sets out with clarity and courage the first really comprehensive analysis of the struggle against terror and what we can do to win it. Above all, he understands that this war is new in every aspect of its nature — how it has come about, the profound threat that it poses, how it has to be fought and the revolution in traditional thinking necessary to achieve victory. It may be written by an academic but it is actually required reading for political leaders.”
--Tony Blair

"In this thrilling book, Philip Bobbitt bravely confronts the myths that confound our understanding of terrorism and provides a new way of understanding this phenomenon. He does us the favor of not only describing the traps we've fallen into, but also the ways of escape."
--Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

"In this original, provocative, and deeply researched book, a superb scholar addresses some of the most basic and vital issues of our time. Philip Bobbitt's Terror and Consent deserves to be widely read, debated and absorbed."
-- Michael Beschloss, author of Presidential Courage

“Philip Bobbitt has taken our understanding of terrorism -- and of how to defeat it -- to a deeper level. This brave book confronts us with the knowledge that the worst is yet to come, and it points the way for America and its allies to counter the new breed of shadowy, ultra-violent adversaries. More importantly, Terror and Consent wisely shows how governments can do this without sacrificing their legitimacy as guarantors of human rights. This is truly the book for our times.”
--Steven Simon, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations and co-author of Age of Sacred Terror

Finally

After Air Force hyping this puppy for everything from ultimate air superiority tool (against who?), to dealing with IED's in Iraq

"Forget the F-22"

The campaign for extra F-22 production is over and lost, says a key general, and leadership must quickly move on to fully embrace the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. “Nobody in [the Bush] administration, nor any of the possible upcoming administrations, is a fan of the F-22. No one.” By comparison, the F-35 still has appeal. “It’s tri-service, more versatile in terms of roles and missions, and a lot cheaper,” he says. “I don’t understand the reluctance of the Air Force to say we’ve lost the battle for more F-22 production. We’ve got 183 Raptors. Let’s use them as best we can and go full-bore toward high-rate production of the F-35.”

Quick notes from The Valley

Some brief notes/links while out here visiting daughter and family.

Doc had musing on blogging
Doc Searls Weblog � What comes after blogging


My response


"How about multi layer, multi participant, multi faceted, not “always on”, non spatial, non or quasi-temporal conversation(s)

I don’t begrudge floggers (those selling product/services)
Read them once and move on
Incremental cost is near zero, other than my time.

Therefore add self selective to the above “conversation”

The beauty is ability to connect where you might not otherwise, pick up snippets of knowledge and insight that might not be available otherwise. The obverse as well, pass along information (not always knowledge or insight, that’s too presumptuous on my part)

Ciao on a Sunday Morn from SiValley"


I've been trying to help build some buzz to help a young man I've know since he was about 5.
Former Racer Fritz Kling Diagnosed With Terminal Brain Cancer, Benefit Scheduled News Article // RoadracingWorld.com

So I tried to learn digg, reddit, facebook etc.

Had waiting for me a copy of Clay 's book with fits all of these issues
Here Comes Everybody
(link to his blog on the topic)
"Clay Shirky has long been one of my favorite thinkers on all things internet-not only is he smart and articulate, but he's one of those people who is able to crystallize the half-formed ideas (the ones I've been trying to piece together) into glittering, brilliant insights that make me think, Yes, of course, that's how it all works" - Cory Doctrow
Amen
Just about every page has a nugget - just get it and read it.

Very brief summary of some ideas here
Running an Office by Wiki and E-Mail

Again - get it, read it, understand it, use it.

Our daughter belongs to a loose Mom's network of about 2,000 out here in The Valley and uses it to seek advice, buy used toys etc.
Craigs list for mom's?

"Some groups we expect to be technology-obsessed, maleness, singleness, and youth all correlate with technophilia, while femaleness, age, and family life don't. So when a group of mothers adopts a piece of technology, it indicates an expression of preference far more serious than seeing a thirteen-year-old boy go wild over an Xbox" - Clay

Spot on

Sent her this yesterday, turns out she reads it daily:
Blogger Mom from the WSJournal (and one of the most popular articles)

Back to grandparenting

Wake up call

Click below for more info
Doc Searls Weblog

Doc is home from visit to the hospital
Blood clot in his lung
Damn good it wasn't heart or head

Wake up for us "mature" ... "desk potaotes" to get off our butts and get our legs working.

I don't wedge myself into airline seats nearly as much as Doc, and latest physical came out pretty well (cardio wise), but a head's up just the same.

Woof

Spotted the following this afternoon.

Reminded me of shorting this puppy (Iomega) back in the late 90's 

No real reason for the stock to be over $100

Got on the old Compuserve boards and started asking questions. "Believers" were looney... talking about Gillette model of giving away razors to sell blades.

NOT

This company was a short term blip on storage devices, and giving away media to sell players.

EMC Reaches Agreement To Buy Iomega - WSJ.com: 

"EMC Corp. reached a deal to buy data-storage firm Iomega Corp. for $213 million in cash, scuttling a deal Iomega had made previously with a group of Chinese companies.

The two sides agreed to the deal after EMC sweetened its offer to $3.85 a share. Iomega turned down EMC's original offer of $3.25 a share in mid-March, saying it wasn't enough to overturn a takeover agreement with a consortium led by ExcelStor Great Wall Technology Ltd., which would have given substantial control of the company to the Chinese government."

Beginning to come to light

Mainstream media starts to understand that there are problems with "green energy"

The Clean Energy Scam -- Printout -- TIME:

"Biofuels do slightly reduce dependence on imported oil, and the ethanol boom has created rural jobs while enriching some farmers and agribusinesses. But the basic problem with most biofuels is amazingly simple, given that researchers have ignored it until now: using land to grow fuel leads to the destruction of forests, wetlands and grasslands that store enormous amounts of carbon."

Pretty much too busy

Unless things change, pretty much too busy doing the grandparent thing to blog this week

So true

Never try to outstubborn a cat.

Eric Raymond ( open source guru )

Compounding Errors not Interest?

Still not happy with my banking at 5th3rd, shopping for alternatives
Then I get home and see this

Wall St.Journal
---

Fifth Third Bancorp is considering a bid to buy its larger rival National City Corp., according to people familiar with the situation, in the latest sign of how stresses on the banking industry are pushing institutions to consider deals long believed far-fetched.


Such a move would create a Midwestern banking giant and stick a thumb in the eye of rival KeyCorp, which is also said to be weighing a bid. Fifth Third is based in Cincinnati, and National City and KeyCorp are both in Cleveland.

Banks and private-equity shops have been poring over National City's books in recent weeks, in large part to ascertain just how sketchy some $25 billion in high-risk assets on National City's books actually are, according to these people. Those assets include brokered home-equity and commercial-real-estate loans, as well as loans remaining after the sale of subprime lender First Franklin Financial Corp.

These risky loans are critical to the structure and price of any potential deal, because they directly affect how much capital a combined company would require. A bank such as Fifth Third, the 12th-largest U.S. bank by market value, potentially could buy National City outright if the loans were so-so. But if the loans were failing, Fifth Third or a similar acquirer likely would seek a capital infusion from a private-equity group to bolster its combined capital, according to people familiar with the situation.

---

Ego over customer service?

Quote of note

Way back last Sunday, we were at brunch with friends Ed and Joni
Joni teaches grade school
Spent a week with classes at local nature area
Walks in the woods every day

From one of the kids, out amongst the pines:
"this smells just like our car air freshener's"

Wow

ZAP..ed

One (maybe among others) that electric cars are not taken seriously.

Just outright fraud

Hype Machine: Searching for ZAP's Fleet of No-Show Green Cars: 

"By early 2007, Kim, Scheder-Bieschin, and Brandao had all resigned their positions. Brandao filed a sexual discrimination complaint against ZAP with the state of California, alleging that she had been underpaid because of her gender and that Starr had verbally abused her.
Scheder-Bieschin says that Starr and Schneider have been insulated from criticism because of the business they are in. 'Steve plays the game that nobody's ever gonna be tough on us because we're the EV guys.'' (Indeed, Robert Taicher, a consultant for ZAP, called Wired editors as this story was in process, asking the magazine to tread lightly on ZAP, given that 'we're in the green space.') 'Gary Starr and Steve Schneider have likely done more damage to the EV industry than Detroit and the Japanese combined,' Scheder-Bieschin says. 'And the failure of this industry to thrive has affected everything from global warming to the war on terror. How do you put a price on that?'
Brandao thinks the EV industry itself bears some responsibility for ZAP's depredations. 'Nobody wants to talk about how bad ZAP is,' she says. 'Everybody wants the EV space to be protected from scandal or bad publicity.'"

Insults

From HBO's docu-drama of John Adams

Benjamin Franklin, in Paris to John Adams, on word that Adams has been named Ambassador to the Court of St. James:

"The English love an insult, it’s the only proof of a man's sincerity"

Prior Post

Heard the News today... oh boy...

Spent a good bit of the afternoon with Fritz and his lovely wife Tina.

Missed the benefit: Fritz Friends

Guess there were a bunch of folks there
Raised some good money, but not enough

Glad I could spend some "one on one" time with Fritz
Small talk, but also dug into some of the creditor issues

There are some "hard assed" lawyers that deserve a real good butt-kicking
We'll have to see what can be done.

I recalled another scene from past times.

I'd had a rather "uncomfortable" crash
In short, not wearing leathers, riding a friends Kawasaki H2
750 2stroke Triple - real fast, but big time shake machine, at about a hundred the bars buzzed enough to be about 3inched in diameter.
Long story short, the front fender came off (likely the vibration) and grabbed the front tire - bam, on the pavement.
Nothing broken (bones that is) but nasty abrasions ... both palms gone, most of a forearm etc.

Well, Fritz had seen me bandaged up (not too pretty)

About this time, maybe a year or so later, he must have been early teens and was growing and feeling his "oats"

I was visiting the bike shop (his dad Fred worked there)
Fritz jumped me from behind and we did a bit of 'rassel'
Broke off and I walked over to Fred, asked if I could rip into the "kid"
"Go for it"

Went back to Fritz, and calmly mentioned that he must know that I really didn't mind pain and we could 'get serious'

Well ... nothing further happened and all was well.

Just a little message.

Haven't seen as much of Fritz in the last few years, we live north, he's been raising his own family.

My thoughts and prayers are with him and Tina.

While the doctors are amazed that he's still with us, I believe that there is good in being a good person, having positive attitude and taking life as it comes.

Hard to find a better person, loving husband and father.

Pulling for you Fritz

Chilean Cyber-Economy

Interesting bit from South American socialists

Before ’73 Coup, Chile Tried to Find the Right Software for Socialism - New York Times:

"The project, called Cybersyn, was the brainchild of A. Stafford Beer, a visionary Briton who employed his “cybernetic” concepts to help Mr. Allende find an alternative to the planned economies of Cuba and the Soviet Union. After the coup it became the subject of intense military scrutiny."

Kudos

He gets my respect for casting as wide a net as necessary.

This is not a Republican or Democratic problem it's a fully bi-partisan problem.

Obama Casts Wide Blame for Financial Crisis

"Speaking at Cooper Union in Manhattan, Mr. Obama blamed Democrats no less than Republicans for the crisis that now casts a shadow of foreclosure and insolvency over millions of Americans. He did not mention former President Bill Clinton by name, but the target of his criticism seemed clear.

“Under Republican and Democratic administrations, we failed to guard against practices that all too often rewarded financial manipulation instead of productivity and sound business practices,” Mr. Obama said. “The result has been a distorted market that creates bubbles instead of steady sustainable growth, a market that favors Wall Street over Main Street but ends up hurting both.”"

Great Right, er Left Wing Conspiracy

Roaring in from left field :

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

It's Time to Give Hillary Clinton a Break.

I'd phrase it "give the Clinton's a break... they are a team.

Starting to melt

Evening

An hour ago (7:45)

West is West and East is East

... and never the twain shall meet

Likely simplistic overview of history

Worlds at War - Anthony Pagden - Book Review - New York Times

Democracy vs Despotism

"The Greeks subscribed, broadly, to “an individualistic view of humanity.” The Persians displayed courage and ferocity on the battlefield but as a society, Mr. Pagden writes, paraphrasing Herodotus, they were “craven, slavish, reverential and parochial, incapable of individual initiative, a horde rather than a people.”

From the Greeks to today's "Crusaders"

“The society of Islam is ultimately based not upon human volition or upon contract but upon divine decree,” Mr. Pagden writes. “In the societies of the West, by contrast, every aspect of life has been conceived as a question of human choice.” Never the twain shall meet.

Mr. Pagden is scathing about the idea that moderate voices might prevail, since the very notion of moderation appeals primarily to one side in the argument. “Who says that tolerance, dialogue and understanding are virtues?” he asks. “The answer is invariably: secular Westerners.”

So here we are, after 2,500 years, back in the same place. On one side stand the liberal democracies of the West, convinced that their Enlightenment values and political ideas apply to all peoples everywhere. On the other side, a restless and aggrieved Islamic world defines itself as a vast community of faith, its members convinced that their beliefs, too, are universal. It may take another 2,500 years to sort this out.

Politics - and Markets

From overseas, why one should pay attention to markets vs polls.

My opinion: markets people vote what they expect, polls what they "want"
Also : in polls... people lie.

FT.com / World - Punters more accurate than polls, says study:


"If you want to know who people really think will win the US presidential election, ask them to put their money where their votes are.

This is the basis for the predictive power of the Iowa Electronic Markets, run by the University of Iowa, which - according to new research - have for 20 years been more accurate at predicting the outcome of elections than opinion polls."

and

"Polls tend to be a static, one-time prediction," she said. "The market is a dynamic system that can respond instantaneously to the arrival of new information and asks traders to forecast how everyone will vote in the actual upcoming election, not just how they, the individual, will vote."

Current
Dems:
IEM 2008 US Democratic National Convention Market Price Graph

National Election
IEM 2008 US Presidential Election Vote Share Market Price Graph

Bookmark them as they update daily

Some Politics links

As the Democrats haven't been able to settle on a candidate, we continue to have a bit of theater.

Dowd

Hillary or Nobody? - New York Times:

"She can’t win without him, said one Hillary adviser, and he can’t win without her."

Maureen's prediction, Hillary takes the party down and expects to return in '12

She references the "Tonya option"

Political Punch:
"The Tonya Harding Option -- the first time I've heard it put that way.

It implies that Clinton is so set on ensuring that Obama doesn't get the nomination, not only is she willing to take extra-ruthless steps, but in the end neither she nor Obama win the gold."

"Hill Hater Dick Morris"
TheHill.com - Hillary’s list of lies:
"The USA Today/Gallup survey clearly explains why Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is losing. Asked whether the candidates were “honest and trustworthy,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) won with 67 percent, with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) right behind him at 63. Hillary scored only 44 percent, the lowest rating for any candidate for any attribute in the poll.

Hillary simply cannot tell the truth."
He lists a catalog of mis-truths/fibs/distortions or whatever

Rules : like changing to soccer at half time from "American Football" Superbowl

Hey: it's still football

Clinton Backer Points to Electoral College Votes as New Measure - New York Times:

"“Presidential elections are decided on electoral votes,” a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Howard Wolfson, said in an e-mail message.

But Mr. Wolfson said superdelegates would also be looking at the popular vote when determining which candidate to support.

Bill Burton, a spokesman for Mr. Obama, said that the idea of using the Electoral College as a metric was specious because the Democratic nominee, regardless of whom it was, would almost certainly win California and New York.

Many Democrats, including Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Bayh, have opposed the Electoral College in the past, particularly after 2000, when Florida’s 25 electoral votes were awarded to George W. Bush, who became president, even though Al Gore, the Democratic nominee, had won the popular vote nationwide.

At the time, Mrs. Clinton, who had just been elected to the Senate, said, “I believe strongly that in a democracy, we should respect the will of the people and to me, that means it’s time to do away with the Electoral College and move to the popular election of our president.”"

Brooks :

The Long Defeat - New York Times

" Last week, an important Clinton adviser told Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen (also of Politico) that Clinton had no more than a 10 percent chance of getting the nomination. Now, she’s probably down to a 5 percent chance.

Five percent."

David paints a picture of a political machine, maybe one that has no "off switch"

Down...hill from there.
And taking down the party with them?

But things may change.

Reflections on a one-of-a-kind

I marked these a couple of weeks ago
Just got around to reading them

Dick Cavett on William F. Buckley
Read for snippets

A Most Uncommon Man - Dick Cavett

and

Uncommoner Than Thou: Buckley, Part Two - Dick Cavett

No "commoner" for sure
I may have disagreed with many of his positions, but he was aways articulate and interesting

Datapoint

Heard this on CNBC this AM

Art Cashin on the takeover of Bear Stearns
Fear was that there were $14 Trillion on outstanding "counter trades"

If major dealer closed up, who knows how far the damage would have run.

Not recession fears, but credit market lock-up/freeze-up

Car

While I never had a chance to see this other than in photos, I found it fascinating
Pure "car"
No place for a person, just ... itself


Blather from an art magazine?

Artform Magazine:

"With the decline of the horse culture the horse became romantic symbol of the past. Now that the car’s decline and replacement is imminent, we have come to see the private car as an even greater object of nostalgic appeal. It took an artist who grew up in California, where the car has had it s greatest boom, to realize an apotheosis model. Potts’s car was built to be stored in heaven as an epitaph to the car, now that the car must soon cease to exist. The car having matched its waste with man’s own, it may soon be impossible in many places on earth for either men or cars to breathe. I suppose the people still have a veto right, and it will be the car which succumbs first. The message of the apotheosis model becomes; This is how the car could have been if the game had been this honest the first time."

Well that was 1970 and cars are still here

I hadn't thought of it much lately until I was visiting this site :
Ariel Motor Company



This one has room for the driver, and even a passenger



Call it a dose of spring fever ...

Video Here
YouTube - Top Gear: Atom

Whoopsie ... cont

So lying SOB's mislead even seasoned vets.

This Is What Jim Cramer Said Last Week Regarding Bear Stearns (BSC) Outlook

March 17, 2008 10:32 AM EDT

It was obviously hard not to fall for the assurances offered by Ace Greenberg and Alan Schwartz of Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) regarding being highly liquid. Even highly-regarded professional investors from the likes of Jim Cramer said there is no need to avoid Bear Stearns.

A person called into Jim Cramer's Mad Money show and asked, "Should I be worried about Bear Stearns
Bear Stearns? In terms of liquidity and get my money out of there? --Peter

Cramer said: “No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble. If anything, they’re more likely to be taken over. Don’t move your money from Bear.”

There is link to video on the site

Healthy Eating

Pretty much sums my my attitude... now to learn to keep the weight off

The Fat Pack Wonders if the Party’s Over - New York Times:

"“I do find it irresponsible that they have done nothing to address health issues,” he said of eGullet, which he left in 2006 after a dispute with another of the site’s founders, Steven Shaw.

“The whole foodie lifestyle and diet I used to participate in — I’m not going to say it is unhealthy, but it is excessive,” he said. “I think you can still keep the food very interesting, but do it in moderation. That’s what the food community of the future is going to have to be.”"

And this is the idea behind Earthy Delights
( which I own a piece of )

When people cut back on calories, they tend to spend more per calorie

Clintonian plot

Publication of piece that infidelity is "normal"

In Most Species, Faithfulness Is a Fantasy

Birds to beetles to amphibians
Cheating and even prostitution is the norm, but with a price

Did Spitzer know this?
His bad was to sign legislation to bust johns ... then get caught as a john.

Bummer

Arthur C. Clarke, 90, Science Fiction Writer, Dies

"Arthur C. Clarke, a writer whose seamless blend of scientific expertise and poetic imagination helped usher in the space age, died early Wednesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956. He was 90."

Perp Walk

I guess the new "perp walk" is the politician (either party) coming to the podium with his wife...

Ouch, that's a hardball one

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan:

"If Obama is being compelled to give a speech about his race, and Romney felt forced to give one about his faith, will Hillary Clinton ever have to give a speech about her husband? Has this campaign shown that it is better to address the elephant in the room, or leave it alone?"

Huh?

Follow the rules until we change them.

(calling Will Rogers...)

Clinton aide cautions Obama against blocking Mich. do-over election 

"A top campaign aide with Hillary Clinton’s campaign -- and one who intially voted to strip Michigan of its delegates to this summer’s nominating convention as a member of the Democratic National Committee -- today said if Barack Obama blocks a do-over election in the state, “he will be putting his own political interests ahead of the people of Michigan.”"

As well as the taxpayers don't have to pay ... whatever

October Suprise?

Well, it wasn't used for '04, that was handled in Florida (one way or another, take your pick)

Will this swing things for McCain?

Where's bin Laden?

"So, a bin Laden capture on the eve of the '08 election? Conspiracy theories abound!"

If this counts as a bailout...

As Steve Liesman just said on CNBC ... the end of investment banking.

JP Morgan Pays $2 a Share for Bear Stearns - New York Times:

"In a shocking deal reached on Sunday to save Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay a mere $2 a share to buy all of Bear — less than one-tenth the firm’s market price on Friday."

Only a year ago, Bear’s shares sold for $170. The sale price includes Bear Stearns’s soaring Madison Avenue headquarters.

Prediction

Markets nervous
Fed meets Tues

Will lower rates
Market to start recovery

There will be more shake up's among Investment Banking
Likely no recession

Whoopsie ... yet more

JPMorgan Acts to Buy Ailing Bear Stearns at Huge Discount - New York Times:

"The all-stock deal values Bear Stearns at about $2 a share, based on JPMorgan’s closing stock price on Friday, the companies said. In contrast, shares of Bear Stearns, which fell $27 on Friday, closed at $30."

and

"JPMorgan’s bid of $2 a share for Bear Stearns represents a gigantic 97.5 percent discount to the $80 book value that Bear Stearns has reported, reflecting the broad view that the fallout from the credit crunch has permanently devastated Bear’s core mortgage operations."

Whoopsie... Cont.

Story on attempts to get Bear sold before the opening tomorrow

Bear Stearns Racing Toward Selling Itself to JPMorgan - New York Times:

"There is little faith in the assigned or “marked” value of so many assets, including but not limited to mortgage-related securities. In fact, the experience of Bear Stearns proves that it is confidence, not capital, that topples even the savviest financial institutions."

And perceptions are everything

"Throughout much of its history, Bear Stearns has masterfully persuaded the market that its business — narrowly focused on mortgage finance — was worth more than it actually was. To some degree this trick has been a testament to the coy gamesmanship of two of its past leaders, Alan “Ace” Greenberg and Mr. Cayne.

Both men are devout bridge players, and Mr. Greenberg is an amateur magician to boot, so they are well schooled in the art of not showing their hand. Mr. Cayne’s hint eight years back — that he would sell the firm only for four times its book value — was even then a flight of financial fancy."

I had described it as poker, not bridge, but the idea's the same, you don't show your cards.

No wonder Paulson was cagey on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos this AM.

More on WallSt follies

Some further thoughts on current status of Wall Street.


Andy Kessler: WSJ: What's Next for the Banks:
January 24, 2008

If you want to know what's going to happen to the big banks and investment banks, you've got to go back to early 2003, when the seeds of destruction were planted.

It had been a year or so since a couple of trillion dollars of investor wealth had been wiped out. The Dow was 8000 and dropping, and the stocks of big institutions from Citi to Merrill Lynch to Morgan Stanley were at multiyear lows. Bank lending was down, but no one was really worried. The old 'borrow short, lend long and pocket the difference' game had been around for millennia, and banks had weathered worse than this mild economic slowdown."

And

Rescue Me: A Fed Bailout Crosses a Line - New York Times:

"What are the consequences of a world in which regulators rescue even the financial institutions whose recklessness and greed helped create the titanic credit mess we are in? Will the consequences be an even weaker currency, rampant inflation, a continuation of the slow bleed that we have witnessed at banks and brokerage firms for the past year?"

Bill Fleckenstein had these comments before the Bear Bailout:
Fed's latest giveaway won't work:

"For some time now, the Federal Reserve has been writing a book. It's called "What Not to Do," and on Tuesday it penned a chapter called "The Prudent Bailing Out the Reckless."

That was via the Fed's creation of a $200 billion Term Securities Lending Facility, a pool of money it can lend to securities dealers on top of funds it has already injected into the financial system.

I guess the sight of all those suffering hedge funds and brokers was just too much to bear."

SynFuel?

True nano-tech in the form on biology and development of "bugs" to grow fuel?

Craig Venter: On the verge of creating synthetic life (video):

Might this vindicate my arguments about hydrocarbon fuels for personal transportation?
Convert CO2 to octane?

My bet is here

Interesting Talk

Just over 15 min clip on cheap "fix" for global warming

David Keith: A surprising idea for "solving" climate change (video):

Beware

Just occurred to me that it's The Ides of March

Not suprising

Growing list of problems I've been having with these folks.

Letting Sr.VP go (along with about 50 others in Mich) while I'm in London, leaving replacement clueless with regards to Line of Credit I was arranging.

Then requests for my tax returns...
But I'm putting money into the bank, and not borrowing.

I've been securing the line.

I'm starting to think that, if anything, they need to show me such things as their capital coverage and portfolio quality.

Zacks Sell List Highlights: Fifth Third Bank, UAL Corp, Circuit City and Sunoco:

"Fifth Third Bank (NASDAQ: FITB: 21.84, -0.98, -4.29%) shares have been in a steady decline for over five years, and the situation has only worsened in the last 6 months as the meltdown in the credit markets has tightened its grip on the financial sector. The company badly missed fourth quarter analyst expectations, posting earnings of seven cents per share against the expected 28 cents. Earnings estimates have been plummeting across the board. Within the last 30 days, 14 of 18 covering analysts have lowered their current-year projections, dropping the consensus estimate by 63 cents to $2.45 per share."

Whoopsie

Likely will be gone by this time next week



Fed Races to Rescue Bear Stearns In Bid to Steady Financial System - WSJ.com:

"Bear, although not one of the giants of Wall Street, long had a reputation as one of the most astute risk managers. It has a large mortgage business, but its mix of other businesses is less diverse than those of investment-banking rivals. That profile hurt Bear when the subprime-mortgage problems developed last spring. Two of Bear's mortgage-related hedge funds collapsed in July, costing investors more than $1 billion and worsening the credit crunch then developing. Longtime CEO James Cayne, who was seen by some investors as too hands-off when the mortgage mess unfolded, stepped down in January, though he remained chairman. His successor, Mr. Schwartz, has been trying to rally Bear. But another downturn in the credit markets in the past couple of weeks fed nagging fears that Bear wasn't financially strong enough. Word began to spread among fixed-income traders nine days ago that European banks had stopped trading with Bear. Some U.S. fixed-income and stock traders began doing the same on Monday, pulling their cash from Bear for fear it could get locked up if there was a bankruptcy. That development put firms that still wanted to do business with Bear in a tough position: If Bear did fail, they would have to explain to their clients why they ignored the rumors. On Tuesday, a major asset-management company stopped trading with Bear."

A reply

Doc posted this a couple of days ago
Been too busy (machine updates, file migrations) to reply
Dinner with friends last night and got me thinking

Are humans an itch the Earth wants to scratch?

So here goes
Through the early stages of development, mankind does tend to be hard on the environment, deforestation, farming, mining.

But as we move to a "post industrial" stage, our impact is reduced.
Indeed, we see reforestation, lower impact, more knowledge intensive use of materials.

Mankind, despite the views of some, does not stand outside of nature, mankind is part of nature. Granted, with amazing powers, and the ability to create vast changes, shall we say wreak havoc on the rest of nature, but we do not stand outside, we are affected by nature, the natural world.

If man does change the world, as there is ample evidence that he does, is it different from how nature changes and adapts the world?

Gaia has managed to maintain a (relativity) stable environment form millions of years

The "Oxygen Catastrophe " of some 2 billion years ago far surpasses anything I can conceive of mankind ever achieving.

My sensibilities are upset by degradation of the "natural" world, but I also realise that weather and tectonic events can cause drastic change.
"Stuff Happens"

We seem to like to think of the "natural world" as something like a painting by Paul Gauguin, or Edward Hicks - Peaceable Kingdom...all peaceful and serene.
When in reality, populations rise and fall, prey/predator ratios get out of whack.

Maybe it's just that mankind has the capability to be aware of changes that he causes, and, hopefully, adjust behavior.

If/when mankind is removed from the planet, it will still be a dynamic and sometimes violent place.

Related thinking : on urbanization from Stewart Brand:
Long Views “Cities And Time”

Too busy

To Blog
Got new MacBook Pro, for some reason "migration" software doesn't want to recognize my old 12" so I'm, ever so slowly, pulling apps and files over to the new machine.

Suppose it's just as well, will only pull what I need, most frequently used files are in the cloud anyway (dot.mac)

Updating log-ons as I go, cleaning up passwords, discarding old stuff.
Just checked Northwest, and have topped 1,000,000 miles as of our last trip to London

Now back to transfers

Not so fast

Caution on "Green Fuels"

Pollution Is Called a Byproduct of a ‘Clean’ Fuel - New York Times

Not necessarily that they are a bad idea, just that they need to be produced and processed properly.
Nominally clean byproducts can be hazardous...

According to the National Biodiesel Board, a trade group, biodiesel is nontoxic, biodegradable and suitable for sensitive environments, but scientists say that position understates its potential environmental impact.

“They’re really considered nontoxic, as you would expect,” said Bruce P. Hollebone, a researcher with Environment Canada in Ottawa and one of the world’s leading experts on the environmental impact of vegetable oil and glycerin spills.

“You can eat the stuff, after all,” Mr. Hollebone said. “But as with most organic materials, oil and glycerin deplete the oxygen content of water very quickly, and that will suffocate fish and other organisms. And for birds, a vegetable oil spill is just as deadly as a crude oil spill.”

Mama don't let your babies grow up to be politicians

Koch: Spitzer has ‘a screw loose’ :

"(CNN) - As the political world comes to grips with revelations of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's involvement in a high-priced prostitution ring, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he thought Spitzer's behavior was 'irrational.'

'I think there's a screw loose,' says Koch. 'I believe that his behavior, beginning with his becoming governor, has been irrational. And, what he did is to indicate that he doesn't play by the regular rules, that regular rules don't apply,' Koch adds."

Regular Rules Don't Apply

How about this:

Foes of Sex Trade Are Stung by the Fall of an Ally - New York Times:

"And with his typical zeal, he embraced their push for new legislation, including a novel idea at its heart: Go after the men who seek out prostitutes.

It was a question of supply and demand, they all agreed. And one effective way to suppress the demand was to raise the penalties for patronizing a prostitute. In his first months as governor last year, Mr. Spitzer signed the bill into law."

And I got a chuckle out of the site of his activities as reported ...
The Mayflower Hotel... also the ship that brought the Puritans to the New World.

He who lives by the sword...

Country living

A bit of reflection.

Around 5AM, sitting in the hot-tub and I was thinking back on city vs country living
Having just visited daughter in London, I was doing some comparisons.

The city (London, Chicago, NYC, any big urban area) offers culture, variety of menus, shopping (when needed)...
But rural spaces offer star filled skies.

This time of year, without the seasonal residents we have a plethora of wildlife.
Couple of days ago, I was, again, in the tub, and as I got out ... there were about a dozen "peeping bambies" (deer) about 30 yards away ... out on the ice.
Lately the deer have been coming by once or twice a day.
Posted a shot of one of our coyote's a bit back.
Red Fox has been coming by as well.

Then there are the skies
We've been getting cloudless days lately
And dark nights
Young moon, so my early AM soaks allow wonderful star gazing
Almost every time, I catch a meteor or two (or more)

All things that would be consider rare to impossible in an urban setting.

We're the Government, we're here to help you ...

How government makes things worse - The Boston Globe:

From Ethanol to Sub Primes

"'No man's life, liberty, or property is safe,' warned Mark Twain, 'while Congress is in session.'"

The season starts

Besides my own involvement with motorcycle racing, back in the bronze age, I enjoy watching it because, compared to cars, the rider is an integral part of the package.
The rider has to use his body to affect the dynamics, the physics, the balance of the man/machine package.

With cars, even if the driver could move his/her butt (he/she can't) it wouldn't make any difference.

Bikes are cambering machines, they steer by lean as well as slip angles, cars steer by slip only.
And note the small contact patch of the tires.
The rear transmits about 230 HP to the pavement



Photo by Graeme Brown on Superbikeplanet.com

Race was this past weekend in Qatar
Dani Pedrosa on a Honda

(Sheila : this is for Keith and Peter)

Branding

Bright guy Seth Godin on political brands
Interesting

Seth's Blog: Sunk costs, quitting and the value of your brand

Whoops

Looks like he's got a cattle prod up his backside

Spitzer has been known for dogged pursuit, sometimes maybe beyond the bounds of legal ethics when prosecuting financial figures on the street.

Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring - New York Times:
"ALBANY - Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation."

He who lives by the sword ...

Articulate

When the conservative "voice" was articulate, not just plain dumb (a la "Rushbo")

When the voice was reasoned not just bombast

When politics was about ideas not simplistic ideology

I'd suggest reading the piece

Bill Buckley: Mr. Right, RIP | Newsweek Politics | :

"He united the conservatives. But William F. Buckley did more than that: he crafted a winning alternative to New Deal liberalism. Now the right is adrift and needs … another William F. Buckley."

There were ideas, sometimes many, that I could not agree with, but I could listen to them.

Resident Evil

Fun to watch from the sidelines
Long long time Apple user, about ready for next upgrade

Disclosure, I do use MuSoft Office
For OS, I've been with Apple since long before the Mac OS
Back to when I'd juiced up my Apple II with a whopping 64K memory, self taught Basic, and stored both data and apps (well, not really apps, call them rudimentary programs) on a tape recorder.

Oh yeah, and managed to catch Browser Wars on Discovery channel, complete with footage of Billy Gates testimony at the Federal Anti-Trust trial.
Made Bill Clinton's "I did not have sex with that woman..." look straightforward.

They Criticized Vista. And They Should Know. - New York Times:
"Then there’s Mike, who buys a laptop that has a reassuring “Windows Vista Capable” logo affixed. He thinks that he will be able to run Vista in all of its glory, as well as favorite Microsoft programs like Movie Maker. His report: “I personally got burned.” His new laptop — logo or no logo — lacks the necessary graphics chip and can run neither his favorite video-editing software nor anything but a hobbled version of Vista. “I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine,” he says.

It turns out that Mike is clearly not a na�f. He’s Mike Nash, a Microsoft vice president who oversees Windows product management. And Jon, who is dismayed to learn that the drivers he needs don’t exist? That’s Jon A. Shirley, a Microsoft board member and former president and chief operating officer. And Steven, who reports that missing drivers are anything but exceptional, is in a good position to know: he’s Steven Sinofsky, the company’s senior vice president responsible for Windows."

More from Marc on Barack

Andreessen, a seriously bright guy

Should have posted this before
The listening part stuck with me.

An hour and a half with Barack Obama:

"First, this is a normal guy.

I've spent time with a lot of politicians in the last 15 years. Most of them talk at you. Listening is not their strong suit -- in fact, many of them aren't even very good at faking it.

Senator Obama, in contrast, comes across as a normal human being, with a normal interaction style, and a normal level of interest in the people he's with and the world around him.

We were able to have an actual, honest-to-God conversation, back and forth, on a number of topics. In particular, the Senator was personally interested in the rise of social networking, Facebook, Youtube, and user-generated content, and casually but persistently grilled us on what we thought the next generation of social media would be and how social networking might affect politics -- with no staff present, no prepared materials, no notes. He already knew a fair amount about the topic but was very curious to actually learn more. We also talked about a pretty wide range of other issues, including Silicon Valley and various political topics.

With most politicians, their curiosity ends once they find out how much money you can raise for them. Not so with Senator Obama -- this is a normal guy."

Collaboration Tools

Good stuff, patterns to what I've been trying.
Read it

Running an Office by Wiki and E-Mail - US News and World Report:

"Wikis, blogs, E-mail, and other new technologies are reshaping how customers, workers, and companies interact—and making it much cheaper and easier to be in touch. In his new book, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (Penguin), Clay Shirky zeroes in on which tools are best suited for various tasks. Excerpts from a chat with U.S. News:

Shirky recommends wikis for developing a consensus.

What's the thesis of the book?
One of the underappreciated revolutions that the Internet is bringing about is the ability for groups to communicate together and to do things together. In particular, you get groups doing it who don't have to look or operate like traditional organizations."

Piling On

Links to various pieces on the Clinton's, who appear to fear cheated out of their rightfull return to the White House.

James Fallows (March 05, 2008) - More on Clinton, Obama, and the OODA loop

Gloria Borger:

Hard to Be Happy in Camp Hillary - US News and World Report

Then there's Confronting the Kitchen Sink - New York Times:
"And if there is one thing the Clinton crowd knows how to do, it’s provoke."

Dick Morris:
TheHill.com - It’s over:
"The next time Hillary uses the recycled red phone ad, counter with one of your own. When the phone rings in the middle of the night, have a woman’s voice, with a flat Midwestern accent, answer it and say, “Hold on” into the receiver. Then she should shout, “Bill! It’s for you!”"

and, on the rules of politics

Gary Hart: Breaking the Final Rule - Politics on The Huffington Post:

"One of those rules is this: Do not provide ammunition to the opposition party that can be used to destroy your party's nominee. This is a hyper-truth where the presidential contest is concerned.

By saying that only she and John McCain are qualified to lead the country, particularly in times of crisis, Hillary Clinton has broken that rule, severely damaged the Democratic candidate who may well be the party's nominee, and, perhaps most ominously, revealed the unlimited lengths to which she will go to achieve power. She has essentially said that the Democratic party deserves to lose unless it nominates her."

Well, it makes for interesting theater from here on the sidelines, and I would really like to see a campaign on issues, carried out by reasonable candidates ... McCain & Obama?

Tut Tut

Interesting exhibit, but I wonder how much of the story is interesting (restoration of the old gods after Achnatan) because of access to the artifacts, how much due to the story itself.

In other words, if other tombs had been preserved as well, would the stories also be interesting?

We caught it while in London earlier this week...

Tutankhamun :: About the Exhibition:

"It has been almost 30 years since the golden artifacts of the boy-king last left their home in Egypt. In the 1970's, the unprecedented King Tut exhibit fascinated millions of visitors with the marvelous treasures of King Tut's tomb, setting attendance records worldwide. Now Tutankhamun's treasures are back, giving a new generation the chance to learn firsthand about the life and magic of this ancient monarch."

I think we're going to post these in the guest house

From Ian's private club...

Milk & Honey - House Rules:

"Do not bring anyone unless you would leave that person alone in your home. You are responsible for the behaviour of your guests."

Home ...?

Whitney & Ian got us a suite at the Chester Grosvenor
Turns out that the suite was the Talbot Suite
Talbot is my middle name ...
Tre Cool
(Talbot is a Norman name, don't know how far back we can trace it)



Imagine me with big ol broadsword?
Maybe if I got back to some free weights...
As for horseback, Whitney was way ahead of me

British Dining

We managed some wonderful dining while in London & Chester

I'll try to post some link's and impressions

First night (Thursday) was Hereford Road for some "English Fare"
Home | Hereford Road
"We will be bringing whole-hearted, robust, simple British cooking to our new restaurant using the great wealth of our national produce."

Nice, but had to field call about 5th3rd bank, maybe more on that later...

Then we caught a train to Chester
Ian had arranged dinner at The Arkle Restaurant: with a Michelin star for 18 years !

Saturday with Ian's family, late dinner (for us ... about 9PM) at Piccolino �Restaurant in Chester:
"Stylish, modern Italian restaurant voted by many as 'The' Italian restaurant in Chester and the place to be seen in. Stand alone bar, fab food and an incredible atmosphere."

Well, it wasn't Glen Arbor on a Saturday night!
Loud, and looked to me like all the young women were there, wondered if the guys were at the sports bar... but seems that there were several birthday parties going on.

Good food, good time

Sunday back to London for simple Italian, local place nearby:
De Amicis Restaurant

"Situated in the heart of London’s Notting Hill area and a stones throw from Kensington Gardens we have been serving fine and authentic Italian food using fresh andDe Amicis seasonal ingredients for nearly 15 years."

Good food, again, good time...

But Ian saved the best for last:
A visit to Milk & Honey - London
Then dinner at: Indigo

Delicious dinner, topped with (sorry, can't recall exact age, I think it was about 30 yr) Port

In between we tried GBK Gourmet Burger Kitchen
I'll have to pass some ideas along to Tim at Art's
The satay burger was very nice

I'll get back to it

Light bloggin for the last week
Note that I did post a few pieces, dated them to when I read them.

We were off to London and Chester, time with daughter and son-in-law to be, met his folks (very nice couple of visits, look forward to seeing more of them), etc.
Gone Wed to Wed

A few photos, will have to work on that

Bunch of links to post
Maybe a few comments

Meantime
As we sat down to supper, we got a bit of fresh snow coming through

Just read it

Excellent piece on one of the candidates
Marc Andreessen on Barack

An hour and a half with Barack Obama

"He's a post-Boomer.

Most of the Boomers I know are still fixated on the 1960's in one way or another -- generally in how they think about social change, politics, and the government.

It's very clear when interacting with Senator Obama that he's totally focused on the world as it has existed since after the 1960's -- as am I, and as is practically everyone I know who's younger than 50."

British view of "America" ?

Prince Albert Monument

The Naked and the Dead

(title a nod to the late Norman Mailer)

Warren Buffett sums it up well.
Reminds me of being on Greek Isle of Mykonos, known for nude beaches.
Well, sitting in a cafe, noting the passers by, we decided that mostly they were folks we'd just as soon not see without their clothes...

Tough time for insurers? - WSJ.com:

"'As house prices fall, a huge amount of financial folly is being exposed,' Mr. Buffett, 77 years old, wrote. 'You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out -- and what we are witnessing at some of our largest financial institutions is an ugly sight.'"