KURU Lounge

The onslaught against Apple continues

2012-01-30T05:23:00.001-08:00

This is the price for being number one I guess – Over the weekend Business Insider, The Telegraph, and CBS News all ran stories attacking Apple. Business Insider and the Telegraph attacked Apple’s culture of secrecy and cult-like work environment:

Instead, a dictatorial CEO rules with an iron fist, Mr Lashinsky said. Employees don’t ask questions and they leave their egos at the door. There is only one person who was allowed to have a public ego and that was Steve Jobs, he said.

…

“Jobs’s brutality in dealing with subordinates legitimised a frighteningly harsh, bullying, and demanding culture at Apple. Under Jobs a culture of fear and intimidation found roots throughout the organisation,” Mr Lashinsky wrote.

For a company so revered for its innovation, the neutering of entrepreneurial spirit might seem counterproductive, but Apple’s draconian treatment of its workforce is actually part of its formula for success, Mr Lashinsky explained. It creates a loyal ethos among the staff, protecting the products.

Tim Cook once said: "That's part of the magic of Apple. And I don't want to let anybody know our magic because I don't want anybody copying it."

Meanwhile at CBS conditions at Foxconn are examined again:

Daisey went to Shenzhen. Foxconn wouldn't let him in, so he stood outside the main gate with his translator, talking to workers at shift change.

"In my first two hours of my first day at that gate, I met workers who are 14 years old," Daisey said. "I met workers who were 13 years old. I met workers who were 12. Do you really think Apple doesn't know?"

…

"The official work day in China is eight hours long. That's a joke," Daisey said in his performance. "I never met anyone who'd even heard of an eight-hour shift. Everyone I talked to worked 12-hour shifts, standard, and often much longer than that: 14 hours a day, 15 hours a day. Sometimes longer than that. While I am in country, a worker at Foxconn dies after working a 34-hour shift."

…

On January 13, for the first time Apple released a list of its major suppliers, and with it its annual supplier responsibility report, showing that in 2011 it conducted 80 percent more audits than in 2010.

The company's supplier code of conduct limits workers to a 60-hour/6-day week. By Apple's own data, only 38 percent of its suppliers complied.

Again I am presenting this without much comment – You have to make up your own mind on how you feel about the way Apple does business and whether you want to do business with them. I am just pointing out what, at this point, seems like a coordinated attack.

Show Stopper!

2012-01-26T10:45:00.000-08:00

Just finished reading Show Stopper!, an account of the creation of the Windows NT operating system.

Originally written in 1994 and updated in 2008 this book was like a huge jump back in time – you forget just how primitive operating systems were back then and exactly how advanced NT was when it released. Not only that but it gives you an idea of the effort involved in any development project of such major scope and the sacrifices involved, and they are major.

Fast paced, with enough technical detail to give you a good idea of the issues involved without overwhelming the average reader, and clearly written unlike many technically oriented books (or this blog for that matter, although this is hardly a tech oriented blog. Just a poorly written one, but I digress) it is a fairly breezy read. I recommend the book.

Don’t be evil?

2012-01-26T04:32:00.001-08:00

See if you can guess the company described here:

When news arrives that Xxxxxxx is interested in a particular product or service, small celebrations often erupt. Whiskey is drunk. Karaoke is sung.

Then, Xxxxxxx’s requests start.

Xxxxxxx typically asks suppliers to specify how much every part costs, how many workers are needed and the size of their salaries. Executives want to know every financial detail. Afterward, Xxxxxxx calculates how much it will pay for a part. Most suppliers are allowed only the slimmest of profits.

So suppliers often try to cut corners, replace expensive chemicals with less costly alternatives, or push their employees to work faster and longer, according to people at those companies.

“The only way you make money working for Xxxxxxx is figuring out how to do things more efficiently or cheaper,” said an executive at one company that helped bring the iPad to market. “And then they’ll come back the next year, and force a 10 percent price cut.”

WalMart you say? It must be since this behavior sounds like the very epitome of evil capitalist behavior. You would be wrong, it’s every hipster’s darling (and America’s most profitable company) – Apple.

The NY Times continues it’s series on Apple and it’s (main?) overseas supplier Foxconn. The subject this time is employee safety. Again I am going to let you draw your own conclusions without too many comments. I just want to note that however you may feel on this subject I find it interesting that these articles start the same week as the President’s State of the Union address, in which he castigated American companies for using overseas manufacturing. Which was the cart and which was the horse?

Well I feel safer now

2012-01-24T06:10:00.001-08:00

Microsoft says botnet kingpin worked for antivirus vendor

Contrary to what Daniel Patrick Moynihan said…

2012-01-23T06:22:00.001-08:00

Nina Totenberg believes she is entitled to her own facts (via NewsBusters)

NINA TOTENBERG, NPR: You know, Newt knows how to play this game. And as Charles said, he is in his own backyard, right next to Georgia, and he is incredibly glib. It doesn’t matter that, you know, that there were more people on food stamps under George W. Bush. It doesn’t matter that his suggestion is that minorities are the ones who get food stamps, that far more white people get food stamps. It doesn’t matter that working people get food stamps in order to feed their families. Facts don’t matter to him and it makes for great, it makes for great talk.

Ooops:

Oops again:

According to the USDA, 35 percent of SNAP recipients are white. That means that 65 percent are minorities or are of unknown race or ethnicity.

To paraphrase Ranier Wolfcastle – “The facts, they burn!!!”

Presented without comment:

2012-01-22T07:08:00.001-08:00

Some background (not comment – background): In the Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs it is revealed that at a dinner with President Obama Jobs laid out a number of reasons he felt that manufacturing jobs were leaving the U.S.

In a NY Times article today they have a deeper (7 page) account of, what I believe is, that dinner with an exploration of Jobs / Apple’s reasoning for shifting manufacturing overseas.

This section sets the tone of the article, but I will let you read the rest and decide on the accuracy of the arguments:

Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight.

A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.

“The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive said. “There’s no American plant that can match that.”

(I am doing this as a presented without comment because I know that we have people who contribute here who work on both sides of the design / manufacturing process and I want to see if there are contrasting views.)

Survived Fimbulvetr

2012-01-20T09:29:00.000-08:00

Not sure if I will make it through Ragnarok.

The Seattle area was hit by a fairly decent weather system this last week. A few inches of snow and lots of ice. I admit I wimped out and left work early on Wedsnesday and didn't go yesterday. The road weren't plowed or sanded where I live and when I checked the traffic cams on the freeway they weren't much better. I could have toughed it out but why take the chance on an encounter with an idiot who thinks a 4WD means you can drive 70 on ice.

Hmmmm

2012-01-13T08:29:00.000-08:00

So a President who has been aggressively anti-business and pro-government now wants to decrease the size of government and make it more efficient in order to make it more business friendly.

Something here does not compute.

Finished Moneyball

2012-01-12T13:05:00.001-08:00

Not a bad book. Easier to get through than Liars Poker or The Big Short but also a little more superficial. Still all in all it's an interesting look at the business of baseball.

Apple about to push into digital textbook market?

2012-01-12T08:01:00.000-08:00

That's the rumor.

This idea was mentioned pretty heavily in the Steve Jobs biography. I am of two minds about it: on the one hand this is the type of thing that Apple really does well, on the other given Apple's penchant for dictatorial control over products and content I worry a bit about the textbooks we may get. On the gripping hand (ok three minds) I hate textbook publishers with the burning passion I usually reserve for communists, hippies, and OWS protesters (but I repeat myself) so take them down you Jobsian hordes.

At last our (latest) long national nightmare is over…

2012-01-11T00:51:00.001-08:00

Mad Men returns March 25th

It’s rumored that this season Joan (Christina Hendricks), Trudy (Allison Brie), and Betty (January Jones) have all become involved in the “I’m a dirty communist” anti-war movement and at a drug and sex binge love-in end up in a steamy 3 way lesbian session. At least that’s my story and I am sticking to it.

Steve Ballmer CES Keynote address

2012-01-10T05:08:00.001-08:00

As you may have heard this is the last year that Microsoft will be participating in CES so last night I watched the Ballmer keynote address.

It was not good.

The introduction by the head of CES was hugely overblown and the actual speech was done in the form of an interview by Ryan Seacrest who looked like he would rather be getting gang raped than sitting on that stage and at first Ballmer looked terrifying. One of the participants in the This Week in Tech chatroom said he looked like Peter Boyle in Young Frankenstein right before he began maiming villagers. I couldn’t really disagree.

There were a couple phone announcements and some Windows Phone 7 Demos. I have mentioned before that I did some acceptance testing on Windows Phone and that made me into a convert.

They also had a presentation about Windows 8 that was horrible, not just because it was rehashed content, nothing new released or announced but because the woman giving it wouldtalkatabout6000milesperhourfor3minutes then take a HUGE breath. She sounded like she was going into respiratory distress and it was very distracting. Not a very smooth presentation at all and there wasn’t nearly enough shown of Windows 8 itself

That was about it I was fairly disappointed in the presentation itself but what I did see of the products actually looked good.

Nice - Microsoft Reinvents Wi-Fi for White Spaces

2012-01-09T07:47:00.000-08:00

From the MIT Technology Review

Microsoft has developed a new kind of Wi-Fi network that performs at its
top speed even in the face of interference. It takes advantage of a new Wi-Fi
standard that uses more of the electromagnetic spectrum, but also hops between
the narrow bands of unused spectrum within television broadcast
frequencies

The system utilizes multiple narrow bandwidth radios to slice up the signal and carry more data; this also allows them to move in and out of whitespace more efficiently thus taking advantage of frequencies the FCC open in 2008.

This was also mentioned on the This Week in Computer Hardware podcast.

What in the name of God are these people selling?

2012-01-07T07:21:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T05:02:00.001-08:00

That is all

5 ways we screwed up the Occupy generation

2011-12-30T05:13:00.001-08:00

From Cracked via Carnifex where he is much more sympathetic to the occupiers than I am. Personally I think we screwed them up in the same way a hypothetical persons hypothetical brother and sister are screwing up their hypothetical children. By not beating them enough. Children should be beaten often, randomly and in public just to keep the fear of god in them. So should the occupiers.

(Before you go all ape and start calling the cops to report me for child abuse (or occupier abuse) that was a joke)

Well Ron Paul is guaranteed the win now

2011-12-29T08:01:00.000-08:00

He has picked up the oh-so elusive American Idol endorsement:

“I love Ron Paul,” Clarkson wrote on Thursday. “I liked him a lot during
the last republican nomination and no one gave him a chance. If he wins the
nomination for the Republican party in 2012 he’s got my vote. Too bad he
probably won’t.”

Clarkson shows she is the very epitome of the informed voter when questioned about allegations of racism levied against Paul:

“I have never heard that he’s a racist? I definitely don’t agree with
racism, that’s ignorant,” Clarkson wrote to one fan.

Shorter Clarkson - "I don't know a thing about him but I support Ron Paul because that's what all the cool kids are doing"

Where is the Baroness?

2011-12-27T04:30:00.001-08:00

How the hell do you have a G.I. Joe Movie without the Baroness?

On the plus side it does have ninjas, which are much cooler than zombies any day of the week.

There is a little truth in this

2011-12-26T08:41:00.001-08:00

Peter Thiel, a founder of PayPal opines science fiction has collapsed:

One way you can describe the collapse of the idea of the future is the collapse of science fiction. Now it's either about technology that doesn't work or about technology that's used in bad ways. The anthology of the top twenty-five sci-fi stories in 1970 was, like, ‘Me and my friend the robot went for a walk on the moon,' and in 2008 it was, like, ‘The galaxy is run by a fundamentalist Islamic confederacy, and there are people who are hunting planets and killing them for fun.'

After thinking about it a bit I had to agree. With very few exceptions (John Ringo for one) it seems that most science fiction has devolved into dystopian, anti-technological screeds. No one holds out any hope for the future. It’s one of the reasons that my reading of science fiction has decreased drastically over the past few years. Well that and the fact that all anyone writes anymore is cheap vampire fiction that gets stuffed into the Sci-Fi section at the bookstore. Bastards!! Anne Rice, Charlene Harris, and Stephanie Meyers should all be drawn and quartered on the steps of the US Capitol to serve as a warning to others who would inflict this torture upon us, but I digress. Anyway you get my point; hopefully some talented writer will come to the same conclusion and start churning out some pages.

Merry Christmas All

2011-12-25T14:14:00.001-08:00

I made out pretty well:

1. Steve Jobs Biography

2. Operating Systems Demystified book

3. PHP and MySQL book

4. Stewie (family guy) pajamas

5. Domo T-shirt

6. 2 Mickey Mouse T-shirts

7. Peanut Butter (but no garlic bread)

Morena Baccarin (Inara from Firefly) in one of her lesser known roles

2011-12-24T13:20:00.001-08:00

Hypnotoad wins again

2011-12-23T08:23:00.001-08:00

The owner is just lucky Hypnotoad didn't make him kill himself.

How Democrat’s Fooled California’s Redistricting Commission

2011-12-22T07:30:00.001-08:00

In the weeks that followed, party leaders came up with a plan. Working with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — a national arm of the party that provides money and support to Democratic candidates — members were told to begin “strategizing about potential future district lines," according to another email.

The citizens’ commission had pledged to create districts based on testimony from the communities themselves, not from parties or statewide political players. To get around that, Democrats surreptitiously enlisted local voters, elected officials, labor unions and community groups to testify in support of configurations that coincided with the party’s interests.

When they appeared before the commission, those groups identified themselves as ordinary Californians and did not disclose their ties to the party. One woman who purported to represent the Asian community of the San Gabriel Valley was actually a lobbyist who grew up in rural Idaho, and lives in Sacramento.

In one instance, party operatives invented a local group to advocate for the Democrats’ map.

California’s Democratic representatives got much of what they wanted from the 2010 redistricting cycle, especially in the northern part of the state. “Every member of the Northern California Democratic Caucus has a ticket back to DC,” said one enthusiastic memo written as the process was winding down. “This is a huge accomplishment that should be celebrated by advocates throughout the region.”

Article here

Meanwhile the Economist discusses whether the California GOP can be revived:

…Washington’s Republicans are still testing the power they won in November. Sacramento’s, by contrast, are fighting for survival after a season of epic reverses. All eight statewide offices went to Democrats in the last election. And after falling for decades, the percentage of Californian voters who are registered Republican is now less than 31%, far below the 44% who are Democrats and not far above the 20% who decline to state a preference.

…

although the Democrats have their crazies—largely of the green or unionised sort—they have also picked up most of the rising Latino and Asian political talent. And they tend to be moderate, or even conservative. This may help explain why independent voters in California lean Democratic in elections.

The Economist places a good deal of the blame on perceived anti-immigration policies (read anti-illegal immigration policies). You will have to make up your own mind on that.

On immigration, last week I posted about the EB5 visa program that allows foreign nationals to qualify for a green card based on investing $500,000 in a business or in the case of some investors Gov’t backed bonds. Chuck Schumer, along with Mike Lee, is pushing to expand that program by only requiring the purchase of a house:

Senators Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, are believers. And they're offering a sweet deal. On Thursday, October 20, the two lawmakers unveiled legislation, the Visa Improvements to Stimulate International Tourism to the United States of America Act, or VISIT-USA Act (S.1746), one of whose elements would provide renewable three-year resident visas to foreign nationals who invest at least $500,000 in residential real estate here.

The participants have to pay cash, must live in the house 180 days a year and pay taxes on foreign income. No work authorization or entitlement benefits but spouses and children would be eligible for visas also, and of course children born here would be US Citizens.

Following up on the 9/11 Diet Pepsi can controversy

2011-12-20T10:34:00.001-08:00

I was pointed to Snopes again, as they apparently updated their page:

“In fact the can design was based on the Dubai skyline (with it’s distinctive pointed skyscrapers):

I assume they are talking about the cluster of buildings to the left.

Now that it’s been pointed out I clearly see the resemblance.

Pepsi for it’s part has removed the cans from circulation.

Government programs predestined to fail

2011-12-20T07:07:00.001-08:00

( T )hese programs are predestined to fail because they create self-serving and self-protecting bureaucracies that keep them in business.

…

each government program creates its own bureaucracy to monitor participation in the program. These bureaucracies … become entrenched administrative entities with needs that supersede the needs of the people for whom the program was designed.

Of course we have known that for years but this guy is the dean of a School of Social Policy and Practice, and he wrote a book about it. So Yay, Vindication, Woo Hoo. Of course I have never really though of Social Security or Medicare as the models of efficiency that this guy apparently does so I have to wonder where exactly his bureaucratic tolerance point is set to but it’s progress.

EPA–”You know what the US has too much of? Electrical power that’s what.” New rules too take more than 14.7 Gigawatts of power generation offline

2011-12-19T06:35:00.001-08:00

And that’s according to the AP:

More than 32 mostly coal-fired power plants in a dozen states will be forced to shut down and an additional 36 might have to close because of new federal air pollution regulations, according to an Associated Press survey.

…

Together, those plants — some of the oldest and dirtiest in the country — produce enough electricity for more than 22 million households, the AP survey found.

That’s double what the EPA predicted.

Don’t worry though the AP doesn’t let truth win through for long. They make sure to pint out that those 22,000,000 households won’t go dark and that it’s all for the children.

What they don’t tell you, (or minimize really since the do mention that Darrell Issa and Jon Huntsman have pointed out the problem, but they do it in an offhanded way that makes it seem like it isn’t really a concern) is that 14.7 GW is slack capacity that allows for future growth or surges in demand.

I see many rolling blackouts in the future because the grid won’t be able to stand up to summertime loads.

Kim Jong Il dead

2011-12-18T22:13:00.001-08:00

Burn in Hell.

The discussion over at Ace’s is largely about whether the North Korean people are screwed, whether they as a country will be able to fend for themselves?

I spent time in Korea, as did a lot of people, when I was in the service, but I spent a lot of time out in town walking ville patrol with the ROK Marine MPs. In the early and mid-80s South Korea was under the next thing to martial law. There were strict curfews in parts of the country, everyone had to carry their id papers at all times, there were random sweeps by the police and military, beaches were off limits during hours of darkness, things like that. Despite that everyday people were trying to sneak out of the North to the South, just like how in Europe they were trying to sneak from east to west because they wanted to be free from the tyranny in the north. People know what freedom is and large numbers of the oppressed want it*. As long as that’s true the NorKs have a shot – if we don’t just let business continue as usual. If the military manages to get a new supreme leader in place before we can bring any pressure to bear well it will probably be business as usual. Let’s hope that for once Obama’s foreign policy team can drag it’s head out of it’s ass and participate in a positive change.

*That was one of the things that made Reagan great, he realized that as a basic truth.

Diet Pepsi celebrating the destruction of the World Trade Center or urban myth in gestation?

2011-12-17T17:06:00.001-08:00

Update: This topic originally appeared on a blog called The Adventures of Johnny The Guardsman. According to some commenters there the cityscape is meant to be the City of Dubai. I personally think this is bad design work that leaves things open to misinterpretation, but there are four items which makes me think it could be intended to commemorate 9/11. 1) The first sighting of the can was in October, after the 10 year anniversary (inconclusive Dubai achieved independence in Dec 1971) 2) The inclusion of the plane in the cityscape. (again inconclusive Dubai is an air hub) 3) Two towers of nearly identical height clustered in among much smaller buildings with a distinct architectural style that reflect in the water as the WTC did in the Hudson River. (look at the bottom of the can the grey is the reflections) 4) The location of the one large snowflake at the same point which the plane struck the tower. (As far as I know it doesn't snow in Dubai but maybe that is supposed to symbolize December)

As I said probably innocent happenstance but open to misinterpretation. Snopes rates this as a mixture.

I did check pictures of the Dubai skyline I didn't see any that match the can but that doesn't mean much.

Seen on Facebook

FB family I need your help, so today while in Iraq shutting down one of the bases there ironically enough I stumbled upon this can of diet pepsi. Take a close look at the picture and tell me the first thought that comes to your mind. Mine and many other of my brother in arms was not a pleasant one so I just want to make sure we re not bias. If you see the same thing I did, I will never ever buy another Pepsi product again, this is an insult. Thank you for your feedback and participation.

I removed the identifying info to keep the original poster from getting slammed. I hate to think that Pepsi would let this fly but it does look damn suspicious and look at the placement of the star on the left hand building. That is right about the level where the plane smashed in.

And another class bites the dust

2011-12-17T08:41:00.001-08:00

Principles of Management - MGC1

Has China Crashed?

2011-12-15T05:13:00.001-08:00

For years we have been told that China, like the rest of the world, was in the middle of an unsustainable credit bubble. According to the Telegraph that bubble is popping this week:

(S)omething is wrong when the country's Homelink property website can report that new home prices in Beijing fell 35pc in November from the month before. If this is remotely true, the calibrated soft-landing intended by Chinese authorities has gone badly wrong and risks spinning out of control.

The growth of the M2 money supply slumped to 12.7pc in November, the lowest in 10 years. New lending fell 5pc on a month-to-month basis. The central bank has begun to reverse its tightening policy as inflation subsides, cutting the reserve requirement for lenders for the first time since 2008 to ease liquidity strains.

The question is whether the People's Bank can do any better than the US Federal Reserve or Bank of Japan at deflating a credit bubble.

In the words of Leslie Chow:

Better or Worse? Pulp Fiction in Chronological Order.

2011-12-14T16:58:00.001-08:00

You have to watch 2:32:44 hours of YouTube video to decide but at least it’s all in one piece.

Leaked Screenshots of Win 8 Music Player

2011-12-14T06:48:00.001-08:00

Nice clean interface, but then anything looks good and clean compared to iTunes.

more here

Databases

2011-12-13T08:33:00.001-08:00

Every e-commerce site in the world, along with the DMV, the Point of Sale systems at the grocery store, the payroll processing at your place of business, etc. etc. etc. has a database as it’s functional underpinning. They allow the modern world to function.

With that in mind and just for fun I sat down and plotted out the topics of an introductory database class.

It really brings home just how central a topic SQL is to our lives, and no one beyond database administrators understand it.

Shit, we should have just boxed him up and sent him to Khomeni

2011-12-12T20:57:00.001-08:00

Salman Rushdie calls Game Of Thrones "trash," The Wire "just a police series"

The selling of America continues

2011-12-11T09:15:00.001-08:00

Want to be a legal resident of the US but don’t want to wait in those pesky lines with the unwashed masses? No problem, buy a visa.

In 1991 Congress created the EB-5 visa program which allows foreigners who invest between $500,000 and $1,000,000 in a business enterprise to receive a conditional green card.

Congress established the U.S. program 20 years ago to allow foreign investors from any country who could prove the lawful source of their money to obtain conditional green cards for themselves and immediate family members. For the green cards to become permanent, each investment must have created at least 10 new, full-time jobs for legal U.S. residents by the end of two years.

Typically, foreigners invest $500,000 through entities known as regional centers — usually development companies such as American Life, which owns the Sodo office complex that Mu and Anikeeva invested in

I don’t have a problem with that. Entrepaneurship and creating jobs are good things. What I do have a problem with is the fact that the people receiving these visas don’t actually have to be involved with running the company or creating the jobs.

The investors have virtually no direct management involvement in the centers, which are authorized by Citizen and Immigration Services. The investors may live wherever they want in the U.S., regardless of the location of the project.

It is just selling US residence to the highest bidder.

"The first priority is securing the green card," Mu said through an interpreter. "Financial return of the capital is second."

…

Anikeeva can't help but feel a sense of pride when she drives past the building that her investment helped make possible.

"I tell people that being born in the U.S. itself is worth at least $500,000," she said.

Personally, To me this is much more offensive than an illegal alien jumping the Mexican border. Yeah they are breaking the rules but they are risking something to make a better life for themselves. These people are just throwing a little bit of money at us and we kiss their asses.

Just a little item of interest

2011-12-10T11:05:00.001-08:00

I just saw that the Bakken Field in North Dakota is now producing about 500,000 barrels of oil a day. Currently the US imports about 50% of it’s oil which is about 10,000,000 bbl/day. That means production in the Bakken field has decreased of foreign oil dependence by 5%. Since production is still ramping up there we should see further decreases. Yay!!!

On a related note I saw gas at $3.46/gal today, down from $3.95 a couple months ago. This price could be lower still if Ken Salazar wasn’t blocking oil sands production, exploratory drilling in the Rocky Mountain Front and Coal to Gas production. Impeach him now. It would be lower still if Obama hadn’t blocked the pipeline carrying crude from Canada to Texas. I can’t speak for anyone else but I find this to be hugely important because I don’t really think an economic recovery can start really catching hold until gas is below $3.00/gal. I am not an economist so I can’t back this up with numbers but anecdotally I am positive that the last two recessions both started as gas prices climbed above $3.00/gal in California.

Bored? Looking for something to do?

2011-12-09T10:18:00.000-08:00

Schemer, Google’s latest social foray can help. Visit the site add your location and you will see a set of suggested activities. The problem is it’s in limited beta so I have to live with my bottomless sense of ennui until I get an invite.

h/t

And here is where it breaks down…

2011-12-09T04:58:00.001-08:00

Congress sucks.

Everyone knows Congress sucks.

It sucks so bad that 76% of the American electorate believes that no one in Congress deserves re-election.

Given that we should be headed for a full scale electoral bloodletting of biblical proportions right? Not really, because while 76% of people say that Congress should be thrown out wholesale 53% believe that their individual members of Congress are just peachy keen. Since we elect by district and state and not nationally that is the number that matters. As long as it stays above 50% noting really changes. At this point if people are dissatisfied with their congressperson / Senator I don’t see what would change that short of finding out they are a baby eating worshipper of Ba’al, and even that might not be enough, after all they would just be practicing their religion.

Prepare for a long hard fought slog to status quo next November.

Darth Vader–Exceptional Project Manager

2011-12-08T15:01:00.001-08:00

10 reasons why Darth Vader is the man you want leading your project to completion:

10. Prioritizes brutally

9. Makes decisions base on objective data and takes decisive action.

…

6. Manages risk and expectations… preemptively

I have to say the case is pretty persuasive.

PSA–NPR Ombudsman has an open forum going today

2011-12-07T08:22:00.001-08:00

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/storyComments.php?storyId=143049573&pageNum=2&pPageNum=2

I’m sure there are some things that the moron nation would like to bring to NPR’s attention. Be polite though we don’t want them to lock the thread before we can air our views.

Windows 8 Public Beta releasing in Feb. 2012

2011-12-07T06:16:00.001-08:00

I have downloaded and played with the developer build a bit and I like it for the most part once I got used to the start screen. It will be interesting to see what the public beta brings to the table.

source

Oh good, some other facet of my life apple can control

2011-12-06T09:34:00.001-08:00

I am not an Apple fanboy. While I like the sleek simple look of a lot of their products I generally find them to be overpriced with inhibited functionality, (such is the antenna issues on the iPhone 4), and the platform itself is unnecessarily restrictive. People say that with Apple you just plug it in and it works, well that’s because you have about 3 things you can plug in and all of them are made by Apple. Not only that but their software sucks. iTunes is horribly clunky and poorly design / implemented. Despite all that I have handed over a good portion of my life to my iPod. Well now here comes another device where Apple will attempt to seize control of what I see and how I think while turning me into some sort of hipster-doofus: Apple TV. 3 sizes with voice control (Siri) and mandatory mind control software.

On a related subject: Siri isn’t very good.

In exchange for surrendering control and submitting to that heftier price tag, I expect Apple products to simply work. That's all. If you use Apple products, I suspect you made a similar bargain.

And so when I first saw the ads for Siri, I expected something remarkable, like I always do with Apple products. The first true consumer-grade AI. Can you imagine how amazing it would be to have a real intelligent assistant on your phone?

After playing with Siri for more than a month, I'm still waiting to find out. Instead of an intelligent assistant I found a lie, and worse, a broken promise.

This isn’t the only report of issues I have seen. Leo LaPorte on This Week in Tech has been discussing problems with Siri for the last couple weeks.

I think I will stick with my remote for awhile.

OK, now I just feel lazy

2011-12-03T16:27:00.001-08:00

This guy is attempting to complete the entire MIT Computer Science curriculum in 12 months:

Over the next 12 months, I’m going to learn the entire 4-year MIT curriculum for computer science, without taking any classes.

Good Luck.

Wetapunga….

2011-12-01T21:51:00.001-08:00

WWWeeetttaaapppuuunnngggaaa!!!

How to Google

2011-12-01T13:11:00.001-08:00

If you are like me you forget how versatile a tool Google can be. Fortunately the people at HackCollege.com put together an infographic to help the rest of us morons out:

h/t Lifehacker

I don’t think the Food Network is in any real danger from this competition

2011-11-25T08:51:00.001-08:00

but Giada De Laurentiis may have to step up her "show the cleavage" game.

Doubling of CO₂ would cause much less warming than previously thought

2011-11-25T07:39:00.001-08:00

Let's assume for a minute that Algore and his goretactular minions are actually right and the main driver of climate change is man - A new study finds that even if that were true a doubling of atmospheric CO₂ levels would have much less effect than has been previously predicted:

Led by Oregon climate scientist Andreas Schmittner the paper suggests the rate of warming from a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be less than the most dire estimates. Specifically, if atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are to double from pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm to 560 ppm, the researchers say Earth’s average temperature is likely to rise from 1.7 to 2.6 Celsius degrees, a decrease from the previous, accepted range of 2 to 4.5 degrees.
“If these paleoclimatic constraints apply to the future, as predicted by our model, the results imply less probability of extreme climatic change than previously thought,” Schmittner said.

This may not seem like a huge deal but I agree with the author of the original Chronicle article, if these results hold up this deals a substantial blow to apocalyptic climate change movement. I'm very certain that the earth, and human kind, could withstand such mild climate shifts if they did occur.

source

Steve Jobs on why companies die

2011-11-24T07:27:00.001-08:00

Seen today on linked-in

“The company does a great job, innovates and becomes a monopoly or close to it in some field, and then the quality of the product becomes less important. The company starts valuing the great salesman, because they’re the ones who can move the needle on revenues.” So salesmen are put in charge, and product engineers and designers feel demoted: Their efforts are no longer at the white-hot center of the company’s daily life. They “turn off.” IBM [IBM] and Xerox [XRX], Jobs said, faltered in precisely this way. The salesmen who led the companies were smart and eloquent, but “they didn’t know anything about the product.” In the end this can doom a great company, because what consumers want is good products.

This isn’t quite the whole story. It’s not just the salesmen. It’s also the accountants and the money men who search the firm high and low to find new and ingenious ways to cut costs or even eliminate paying taxes. The activities of these people further dispirit the creators, the product engineers and designers, and also crimp the firm’s ability to add value to its customers. But because the accountants appear to be adding to the firm’s short-term profitability, as a class they are also celebrated and well-rewarded, even as their activities systematically kill the firm’s future.

Personally I though the canonization of Steve Jobs was overdone. From everything I know he was a bit of a jerk and he built his company and reputation off stolen ideas (Xerox PARC and the windowing system and mouse he "borrowed" for one), but he did understand consumers and had a passion for design and delivery. In my mind that gives his words some greater weight.

And another class done

2011-11-22T14:04:00.001-08:00

ORC1 – Organizational Behavior and Leadership.

Aiming to finish off Principles of Management (MGC1) and Leadership Concepts and Applications (LET1) within the next two weeks.

OK, the bacon meme may be played out

2011-11-22T06:11:00.001-08:00

The bacon man cometh, to South Lake Union and Fremont.

Seriously, he's giving out free bacon to anyone who asks, courtesy of Microsoft.

To grease the skids for Kinect recruiting, Microsoft's operating a quirky bacon cart -- complete with a riddling bacon hawker -- in Seattle tech hubs.

Now I like the salty, greasy, fried porky goodness that is bacon as much as anyone, but seriously once Microsoft is using it to try and recruit engineers it is time to move on. (or maybe I am completely wrong and it is time to swear new allegiance to or Windows overlords).

Interesting little tidbit

2011-11-20T08:41:00.001-08:00

Washington state now has the capability of tracking a kids educational progress from Pre-K to College. One of the statistics that came out:

The report also shows that about 22 percent of the Seattle graduates who went to college had to take remedial math classes — pre-college math — when they got there. About half that many had to take pre-college courses in English.

Statewide, about 63 percent of all 2009 high-school graduates enrolled in college. About a quarter of those 39,537 young people needed to take remedial courses in math, and 13 percent weren't ready for college English.

This is considerably better than you would be led to believe if you follow the education blogs. Now of course the Seattle School District has a vested interest in making it appear that they are doing a good job educating kids but these numbers would appear to be of the type that are easily verifiable so unless they are just counting on everyone being to lazy to double check I don’t see a plus to any deception. My point here is that although 22% needing remedial math is still too high it is better than I had been led to believe and gives me some hope that maybe our kids won’t all be growing up to be illiterate dumbasses.

Sometimes Seattle Is Worthwhile

2011-11-20T07:28:00.001-08:00

Finally, 2008 Explained!

2011-11-19T08:35:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I really wonder about people…

2011-11-17T07:16:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine went to the Austin Comic-Con last week. Among the guests were Charisma Carpenter and Adam Baldwin. So my friend who was playing shutterbug could have been taking pictures of her:

Instead he wastes his time and pixels on this:

He did get one picture of Adam Baldwin, who looks quite bored, and a bunch of Comic-Con girls, but that is no replacement.

Let me note that people cos-playing at comic con are a lot like women wearing stretchpants at Wal-Mart. 99% of those who do really shouldn’t.

Maybe I should give yoga a second look

2011-11-12T07:27:00.001-08:00

Seems to work for her

Friday Morning Palate Cleanser

2011-11-11T07:35:00.001-08:00

Heath Brandon – Billie Jean

This woman cracks me up

2011-11-09T16:09:00.001-08:00

I don’t know why. I do know that we need to get her and Sheldon Cooper in the same room

Just saying…

2011-11-08T09:56:00.001-08:00

Just a quick observation

2011-11-06T07:23:00.001-08:00

Recently I read Too Big Too Fail about the start of the current financial crisis, and I just finished The Big Short and have started Liar’s Poker. I have also read a ton of articles in various magazines on this subject. One thing jumps out repeatedly. How egotistic and childish most of the characters involved are. It is just stunning. What is even more stunning is how many people just want to return to the status quo ante.

Here is the way I look at it. I believe in the free market and “the invisible hand”, but I understand the absolutely free market only works when there is an absolutely level playing field. Total transparency. So, like Hayek I accept that there will always be some regulation. The trick is to get the balance right. That is what we need to be working on.

Who says you can’t improve on a classic?

2011-11-04T20:54:00.001-07:00

Probably the same losers who didn't like New Coke

Free Econ Classes (or for potential #OWS types free Art History classes)

2011-11-03T09:10:00.001-07:00

They are from the Saylor Foundation so they are unaccredited and are probably chock full of Marxist goodness ( I don’t know that I’m just being cynical) but they’re FREE!!!

And, even better, if you want to be an Occupy Wall Streeter but don’t have the $140,000 they have free Art History classes too.

By Popular Demand

2011-11-02T17:04:00.001-07:00

Enter Sandman

Cocaine

Another class down

2011-11-02T10:29:00.001-07:00

Project Management (TPV1) bites the dust. Going to Try and knock out Organizational Behavior, Management and Leadership and Leadership Applications over the next couple weeks.

Three Big Things Two Small Things

2011-10-31T09:57:00.001-07:00

This weekend I read this idea that in order to avoid procrastination you should schedule tasks around the idea of completing 3 big things and 2 small things each day.

Has anyone used this idea?

If I had to say I was going to do this right now I guess I would have to go with:

Big

1. Review 2 Chapters Project Management

2. Read 1 Chapter Organizational Behavior

3. Walk 1 hour

Small

1. Do dishes

2. Clean bathtub.

Wrong, just wrong

2011-10-30T14:59:00.001-07:00

You know what we need?

2011-10-29T12:15:00.001-07:00

I am going through the different job sites updating resumes and such and it occurs to me that what we need is an open resume format, probably done up in XML, so that no matter what site you are on the fields populate correctly from a single resume and skills are presented in a format that is consistent from person to person.

Another thing is all 50 states should share resume data.

Pakistani Intelligence Service Secretly Helping the Taliban…

2011-10-27T07:26:00.001-07:00

Who would have guessed? Aside from the entire Western world?

One Taliban commander, Mullah Qaseem, told the BBC the important things for a fighter were supplies and a hiding place.

"Pakistan plays a significant role. First they support us by providing a place to hide which is really important. Secondly they provide us with weapons," he said, according to excerpts provided by the BBC.

Other Taliban commanders described how they and their fighters were, and are, trained in a network of camps on Pakistani soil.

According to a commander using the name Mullah Azizullah, the experts running the training are either members of the ISI or have close links to it.

"They are all the ISI's men. They are the ones who run the training. First they train us about bombs; then they give us practical guidance," he said.

Source

The 21st Century may be American after all…

2011-10-23T21:13:00.001-07:00

just like the last

The American phoenix is slowly rising again. Within five years or so, the US will be well on its way to self-sufficiency in fuel and energy. Manufacturing will have closed the labour gap with China in a clutch of key industries. The current account might even be in surplus.

…

"Made in America, Again" - a report this month by Boston Consulting Group - said Chinese wage inflation running at 16pc a year for a decade has closed much of the cost gap. China is no longer the "default location" for cheap plants supplying the US.

…

As Philadelphia Fed chief Sandra Pianalto said last week, US manufacturing is "very competitive" at the current dollar exchange rate. Whether intended or not, the Fed's zero rates and $2.3 trillion printing blitz have brought matters to an abrupt head for China.

Fed actions confronted Beijing with a Morton's Fork of ugly choices: revalue the yuan, or hang onto the mercantilist dollar peg and import a US monetary policy that is far too loose for a red-hot economy at the top of the cycle. Either choice erodes China's wage advantage. The Communist Party chose inflation.

A lost learning opportunity

2011-10-23T07:18:00.001-07:00

ASTORIA, OR—The deadly auto wreck that claimed the life of local high school science teacher Donald Vaughan, 47, would have neatly and succinctly illustrated the basic laws of classical mechanics to his fourth-period physics class, sources reported Monday. Having struggled to grasp the rule stating that force is equal to mass times acceleration, Vaughan's students would reportedly have been given an elegant case study in the concept were he still alive to describe the way his 1992 Mazda Protégé lethally collided with a large oak tree late Saturday night. Sources also reported that, had Vaughan's students only witnessed their teacher's head separate violently from his spinal cord, they might have finally understood the fundamental idea that an object in motion will tend to stay in motion.

source

Who knew, Uber-lib Steve Jobs Hated Obama

2011-10-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

Maylybe hate is too strong a word - despised, strongly disliked, disapproved of, in any case:

"You're headed for a one-term presidency," he told Obama at the start of their meeting, insisting that the administration needed to be more business-friendly. As an example, Jobs described the ease with which companies can build factories in China compared to the United States, where "regulations and unnecessary costs" make it difficult for them.

Jobs went on to call for teachers' unions to be disbanded. Obama later invited Jobs to a Silicon Valley exec dinner party, but the two butted heads over the fare: Jobs said the menu was too "fancy," taking particular offense to a chocolate truffle desert. "But [Jobs] was overruled by the White House, which cited the president's fondness for cream pie."

Teachers unions must be dreading the release of this book after the last couple weeks seeing how everyone and their brother has denoted Jobs as both the smartest and greatest man who ever lived. Obama of course will just claim that Jobs was obstructing all his ideas and Biden will declare him a mass rapist.

source

What if there was no US Government debt

2011-10-21T05:17:00.001-07:00

The U.S. borrows money by selling bonds. So the end of debt would mean the end of Treasury bonds.

But the U.S. has been issuing bonds for so long, and the bonds are seen as so safe, that much of the world has come to depend on them. The U.S. Treasury bond is a pillar of the global economy.

...

If Treasury bonds disappeared, would the world unravel? Would it adjust somehow?

Apparently the politicians were so worried about the lack of Treasury bonds they decided to make sure such a crisis could never happen again.

via NPR’s Planet Money

So, about the whole no threat of cyberwar thing

2011-10-19T05:54:00.001-07:00

Those of you who both bother to read this blog and who are without long term memory loss inflicted by drugs, alcohol, or repeated blows to the head, (in math that’s called a null set), may remember that back in June President Obama’s chief advisor on cybersecurity declared there was no such thing as cyberwarfare.

Wonder what he thinks about this:

A new computer virus using "nearly identical" parts of the cyber superweapon Stuxnet has been detected on computer systems in Europe and is believed to be a precursor to a new Stuxnet-like attack, a major U.S.-based cyber security company said today. ... A representative for Symantec said they were made aware of the new threat after the unnamed European research lab forwarded them a sample of the code along with their analysis comparing it with Stuxnet, which Symantec then confirmed. McAfee Labs, another cyber security power player, said they too had been given a sample of the Duqu code for analysis. "One thing for sure is the Stuxnet team is still active..." McAfee said on its website.

Technical details here Two thing I found interesting, a valid digital certificate from a company in Taiwan was used in the insertion, and the data was reported back to a server in India. Now I am just spitballing but who would benefit the most if India and Taiwain were caught some collateral damage from this escapade, and who has a history of cyber attacks? Who can say China? source

#OccupyWallStreet is moving into it’s second month

2011-10-18T07:30:00.001-07:00

As recently as Sunday I was arguing that at this point Occupy Wall Street was too small and too disjointed too accomplish anything significant. At this point I am standing by that statement but I see a couple trends that are making me think they may be on the verge of moving into the mainstream:

1. People are still incredibly angry at Wall Street. I have said before that populism usually breeds bad decisions.

2. They are start to develop some semi-innovative ways of getting their message out. One example would be these infographics:

In addition the last couple of “spokespeople” I have heard didn’t sound like braindead stoners whining about their student loans. They sounded intelligent and put out a lucid argument. I may disagree with the argument but it was coherent.

3. They are getting more organized. Probably the big labor influence, but it still makes them a more viable force. Of note is the fact that they now have $300,000 in the bank (enough to pay back the student loans of two art history majors) not a phenomenal amount but it shows some organizational ability, and there are reports that they have stockpiles of supplies to carry them through the winter.

With those things in mind my conclusion on @OccupyWallStreet has now changed to, “If they make it through the winter without breaking up they will be a force in next years election”

It’s a semi cold and blustery Saturday…

2011-10-15T11:08:00.001-07:00

And I am just sitting here wondering what the hell to do. Did some homework for my Organizational Behavior class and read all the handouts for that Stanford Database class I am taking. I guess I could watch Green Lantern.

Attention Seattle Area Morons

2011-10-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

Thursday Oct 20 8pm to 9:30pm "The Lives of Islamic Radicals" at Townhall Seattle.

Why does someone become an Islamic radical? What are his deepest beliefs? Is there any hope he can be turned away from terrorism? Former federal prosecutor and congressional investigator Kenneth Ballen, author of Terrorists in Love, spent five years interviewing more than 100 extremists throughout the Muslim world and shares the lives of six of them, unveiling the motivations behind their deadly missions and delivering a startling new thesis about what drives them to violence. Presented by the Town Hall Center for Civic Life with Elliott Bay Book Company. Series media sponsorship provided by PubliCola. Series supported by The Boeing Company Charitable Trust and the RealNetworks Foundation.

Tickets are $5 at Brown Paper Tickets or 800/838-3006, and at the door beginning at 7:30 pm. Town Hall members receive priority seating.

Databases, Databases, Databases

2011-10-10T05:08:00.001-07:00

My second term has started at WGU. My first four classes are Project Management, Organizational Behavior, Management, and Leadership Concepts and Applications. Following close behind are Database concepts, Information Security and Client Server Operating Systems. Well I wasn’t happy with that so in a fit of insanity I enrolled in a free Introductory Database class that Stanford is offering with the idea that hey it will help with the other class and look good on my resume. That class started this morning and now I am like OMG what was I thinking. The next three months are going to be nothing but databases, databases, databases.

Review–Reamde by Neal Stephenson

2011-10-08T08:13:00.001-07:00

Every time I do one of these I feel like I am back in 4th grade:

Reamde is a book by Neal Stephenson. It is a very good book. It is about a man named Richard Forthrast and his niece Zula…

As you can tell I was no smarter in 4th grade than I am now.

OK I know there are a few Stephenson fans that lurk around these pages so in short - This is not the typical Stephenson novel. This is a Tom Clancy novel as written by Neal Stephenson. It’s still a good book but if you go into it expecting a a treatise on Van Eyk phreaking or a side journey into the Calculus Wars you are going to be disappointed. If you accept the book as what it is, a well written thriller, you will be very well satisfied.

Initially Reamde appears to center around Richard Forthrast, a video game addict turned video game tycoon and all the action centers around him and his efforts to maintain his life in some sort of order despite the efforts of outsiders to disrupt it both personally and professionally. This changes abruptly when his adopted niece is suddenly thrust into the middle of an identity theft scheme that goes wrong. From that point the action centers around Zula and her efforts to survive her situation and it becomes obvious that Richard existed only as the introduction to her and to set up further events.

In and of itself this probably would have made a pretty good story, but this is Neal Stephenson and one thing this guy is known for is cultural exploration and observing trends. This trait isn’t quite as pronounced in this book as in others but it remains. Some of the observations I pulled from the book: 1) Coastal / Mainstream America has gone soft. The American ethic is surviving in the center of the country but has dissipated elsewhere. 2) The world exists as an adapt or die ecosystem and Americans are losing the ability to adapt. (This is really obvious through the main character, observe the reversion to Eritrean refugee mode at key points) and 3) Commerce has changed to the point that it is almost unrecognizable. (You have to look for it but I thought I detected a few digs at the idea of a gold standard that makes me think Stephenson is actively laughing at Ron Paul). There is one other that I found a little disturbing and it makes me wonder what Stephenson has observed to depict it in this way: There is a much larger jihadist element in this country than people realize (and they are more organized than suspected). Not that I have ever had any doubt that there were some, but the question has always been how many. In Stephenson's world the answer appears to be “lots”

As usual for Stephenson lots of threads, and they spin out over multiple locales, which appear to be well researched, before finally weaving back together in Northern Idaho for the novels end. Another Stephenson trademark is to string things out forever and then bring them all to a conclusion very quickly. That persists in Reamde, as does his use of Deus ex Machina. In this case I swear he did it just because he knew I would be reading and it would piss me off. (read the final climatic death scene, you will know what I mean)

Overall I would rate this book as probably a 4 out 5. It’s definitely the best fiction book I have read this year.

(Monte expressed low hopes for this book over at Ace’s. I haven’t seen the actual review yet. I’m sure he has read it 6 or 7 times now, between his twice weekly reading of “The Road to Serfdom”, and daily readings of the Bible, Lord of the Rings and The Wealth of Nations, so it should be coming)

Eliminating a botnet?

2011-10-07T07:14:00.001-07:00

Apparently not that easy, or maybe it is but it just can’t be done.

Interestingly, there is one other theoretical option to ultimately get rid of Kelihos: we know how the bot’s update process works. We could use this knowledge and issue our own update that removes the infections and terminates itself. However, this would be illegal in most countries and will thus remain theory.

This scenario is actually explored in the book “Stealing the Network: How to own the box.”

In related news; a year or so after Bradley Manning wreaked havoc on the diplomatic efforts of the US by downloading and ultimately releasing a gazillion diplomatic cables to Wikileaks the government finally gets around to plugging that hole.

WASHINGTON — The White House plans to issue an executive order on Friday to replace a flawed patchwork of computer security safeguards exposed by the disclosure of hundreds of thousands of classified government documents to WikiLeaks last year.

…

Computer security analysts say these safeguards, as well as others in the executive order aimed at bringing greater consistency and accountability to information sharing and protection policies, are long overdue, and lag behind what is routine in the private sector.

I am going out on a limb here

2011-10-06T09:43:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days I have seen quite a bit of coverage of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement. In the media the coverage has ranged from mildly positive to slightly bemused. Most of it is on the order of "You're wasting your time but have fun". In the right wing blogs the vast majority of the coverage is actively hostile. An example would be the response at Ace's the other day; the conversation rapidly dropped to the level of who could be most outraged and come up with the most outrageous way of advocating killing the protesters.

I am going the opposite direction. I am actively proclaiming my support for the hippies of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Now that I have committed myself let me clarify: I don't actually support their goals or think they have much of a point, (In fact having listened to them talk I am pretty convinced that the college they are attending is most likely the Wanda Kessler School of Beauty), but that's beside the point - As misguided (or stupid) these individuals may be they have a political viewpoint and under the First Amendment the right to express it. I support that right wholeheartedly. I also support the right of the rest of us to laugh uncontrollably at their silliness. So... more power to them and if in expressing their viewpoint they manage to actually expose America to their values and ideas well good for us.

Does this mean something

2011-10-05T08:28:00.001-07:00

Other than we kick ass at using electricity and driving cars?

The Economist has a feature called “Daily Chart”. On Monday they published a comparison of India and China. I decided to add the US to the mix and see how we fared. Overall pretty well. Here is what I see – despite rapidly growing economies both nations are still heavily locked into subsistence farming and are underdeveloped in a way that will hurt their economic growth soon. (They aren’t under-consuming on electricity because they care about the planet.)

What's new?

2011-09-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

Mostly the same old stuff. Still on my contract at T-Mobile. New school term starts on Saturday. Managed to knock out 30 some semester hours this last term. I am also starting a Relational Database course from Stanford. Officially runs 10 Oct to 12 December but they released some of that materials early. Other than that just getting back into walking. I mostly skipped last week because I just wasn't feeling that good, but back on it this week. This morning was perfect down at Golden Gardens.

Heard on the news this morning

2011-09-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

Britain's austerity measures have decreased economic activity to the point that Britain is on the verge of slipping back into recession. Now is anyone from the GOP paying attention.

Windows 8- First Impressions

2011-09-16T05:48:00.001-07:00

I installed Windows 8 last night, and so far I have mixed feelings about it. My impressions:

1. Installation was a breeze – once I got it to work. VMWare Player just would not work with the install. That’s not Microsoft’s fault so I am giving them a plus on ease of installation. After this things were decidedly more mixed.

2. Account management – Your Windows Live ID was strongly suggested as the default user account. There is probably a way to skip that but I didn’t really look. I am not thrilled with this idea. I know everyone is into device convergence now, but I want some separation or at least the option of maintaining that separation. Big minus here.

3. Ease of use – BLOWS. This is definitely cellphone / tablet centric. Everything from the start menu is on the desktop, and they mimic that touch pad flick with scroll-bars. I like the initial set of apps, but after that its kind of a cluttered mess. Beyond that, once you open an app the only way to close it is with the windows key, and I use close reservedly. What it really does is minimize and move off the screen like a cell phone. Actually closing a program required opening task manager and killing it. YUCK! On top of that every app was full screen, so no multitasking. YUCK! again.

4. Apps – I have to say that all of the Apps that I tried were very good but they were all very casual, if you get what I mean, lifestyle oriented not productivity oriented. Not useful for anyone trying to do serious work.

That’s all I have had time for so far. As is I see some potential for the teenage XBox live crowd, but not for serious users, definitely not for the business user. Despite that I like the look and feel. I don’t know how to explain it really but the graphic design team did it’s job well. It just feels inviting to the user. That is a huge plus, but it’s not enough.

Fun for Geeks

2011-09-15T05:31:00.001-07:00

Microsoft has released the Developer Preview for Windows 8. Along wit the OS and some tools the site has links to programming tutorials, APIs, and code samples. I am not a code monkey but one of my goals this year is to write an iOS app, an Android app, and now a Windows 8 app.

Something I am wondering about

2011-09-12T09:08:00.001-07:00

A few years ago there was a lot of talk about how Saddam Hussien had moved his WMD to Syria in the run up to the invasion of Iraq. It quieted down and then popped up again when Israel bombed the reactor site., then it quieted down again. Now it looks possible that the Assad regime may fall, if it does and we get in there and find Iraqi WMDs does that vindicate George W. Bush or is he still an idiot for not realizing they had been moved?

Inventor of the e-book dies

2011-09-10T07:55:00.001-07:00

Michael s. Hart died 9/6/2011 in Illinois.

Personally I love the Project Gutenberg site. It’s my go to for things like the Federalist Papers, Locke’s Second Treatise etc. Anyway just thought I would mention it.

h/t

A follow-up on Galileo and Rick Perry

2011-09-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

Instapundit, this morning, links to people who take issue with those of us who thought Rick Perry's invocation of Galileo as the patron saint of Global Warming Skepticism was flawed.

In response, Yes many of Galileo's peers rejected his observations and theories. That is kind of the basis of peer reviewed science. The exchange of ideas back and forth until a consensus is reached. Even then those consensuses can be wrong (as may well be the case with AGW). Galileo engaged in this behavior himself, rejecting Kepler's ideas on the nature of tides. And yes, In many ways environmentalism does mimic a religion; that however is not the question Rick Perry was asked or the question that he answered.

He was asked to name a global warming skeptic that he found particularly convincing - instead he tried to bring doubt on the theory by invoking Galileo and his battle with the Catholic church, but that was not a scientific question that was a doctrinal question and he was prosecuted by the Inquisition (for Heresy I believe but that doesn't really matter). The point is that asked to provide a scientific basis for his views Perry instead fell back on a semi-religious anti-scientific one. When asked a follow-on he doubled down on the anti-science argument:

HARRIS: Just to follow up quickly. Tell us how you've done that.
(APPLAUSE)
Are there specific -- specific scientists or specific theories that you've found especially compelling, as you...
(CROSSTALK)
PERRY: Let me tell you what I find compelling, is what we've done in the state of Texas, using our ability to regulate our clean air. We cleaned up our air in the state of Texas, more than any other state in the nation during the decade. Nitrous oxide levels, down by 57 percent. Ozone levels down by 27 percent.
That's the way you need to do it, not by some scientist somewhere saying, "Here is what we think is happening out there." The fact of the matter is, the science is not settled on whether or not the climate change is being impacted by man to the point where we're going to put America's economics in jeopardy.
source

And what formed the basis for that reduction in Nitrous Oxide levels Governor? Was it perhaps some scientific evidence that showed that Nitrous Oxide had some undesirable health effects as a contributor to smog, caused depletion of the ozone layer, and is a greenhouse gas? Or did someone in Texas just wake up one morning and say - "Hey, you know what? I really hate Nitrous Oxide let's get rid of it" Obviously the decision based on scientific research is preferable.

The argument I would have supported from Governor Perry would have been along the lines of, "There are a lot of scientists who are rethinking their position on Global Warming and because of that I feel further investigation is warranted. Until the time when questions, such as the recent cloud formation research conducted at CERN in Switzerland, have been addressed this is an issue that properly belongs in the purview of the states. And to those who question the ability of the states to handle these questions I would point to the Texas example in regulation Nitrous Oxide and Ozone which have been reduced more in Texas than in any other state over the past decade."

I'm starting to like the cut of this Huntsman fellow's jib...

2011-09-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

I don't agree with him completely on everything of course (for example Global Warming, while I believe that man may be a contributor I'm not sure that I agree that we are the main driver, especially in light of the recent CERN research on cloud formation and the decrease in temps following the lull in sunspot activity), but he does come of as intelligent and both reasonable and reasoning and seems to have concrete ideas on how to address most of the countries current problems that go beyond platitudes. I like that, and I have always said that major changes in politics and culture have to occur incrementally so if Huntsman delivers 60% of what I want that's to the good; I can come back for that next 40% later.

Then there is Rick Perry (and to a lesser extent Michelle Bachman), yes Perry has a record as the Governor of Texas, some of it good such as job creation, some of it stupid, such as talking about Texas's right to secede from the Union, but he really lost me last night when he was discussing global warming. It's a small thing but his comparison of Global Warming Skeptics to Galileo was galling, it wasn't other scientists that locked Galileo away for years, it was the church because science was a challenge their authority which was partly maintained by an Aristotellian world view. Couple that with his recent prayer meeting and to me that indicates a man who filters everything through his religious faith. I know people said that about George W. Bush too, but compare how the two act, with Bush his faith was a personal issue with Perry I think it will be a policy making mechanism.

SurveyUSA–Majority of Obama Voters Will Support Him In 2012 If He Utterly and Completely Destroys the US Economy.

2011-09-02T06:08:00.001-07:00

The message from Obama voters seems clear enough; stop messing around and kill it already. America had a good run but it’s time for it to go. At least that’s the way I read the results of this SurveyUSA poll.

A new survey of Obama voters by Survey USA found that by a margin of 82%-18% they are more likely to support him again in 2012 if he raises taxes on the rich.
What Obama voters don’t want is any kind of deal that would cut government programs in exchange for GOP support of his jobs plan. Forty one percent of respondents said that they would be less likely support his reelection campaign if Obama cuts government programs, and 21% said that they would be more likely to support him in 2012. Thirty two percent said that it made no difference in their support if the president cut government programs. Over 2/3 of Obama voters (67%) said that they would be less likely to support him in 2012 if he cuts Social Security or Medicare.

…

Barring a big jobs plan, there is one more thing that Obama can do to keep his 2008 supporters solidly in his camp.

President Obama can raise taxes on the rich. By a whopping margin of 82%-5%, Obama voters said that they would be more likely to support the president in 2012 if he raised taxes on the rich and closed the corporate loopholes.

(actual poll results)

Looking at these results I am guessing that the respondents won’t be supporting Huntsman’s economic plan, which received the Wall Street Journal’s seal of approval this morning:

Republican Presidential candidate and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is lagging in the polls, but the economic agenda he rolled out this week may start getting him more attention. And deservedly so.

The heart of the plan lowers all tax rates on individuals and businesses. Mr. Huntsman would create three personal income tax rates—8%, 14% and 23%—and pay for this in a “revenue-neutral” way by eliminating “all deductions and credits.” This tracks with the proposals of the bipartisan Bowles-Simpson commission and others for a flatter, more efficient tax system.

That means economically inefficient tax carve outs for mortgage interest, municipal bonds, child credits and green energy subsidies would at last be closed. The double tax on capital gains and dividends would be expunged as would the Alternative Minimum Tax. The corporate tax rate falls to 25% from 35%, and American businesses would be taxed on a territorial system to encourage firms to return capital parked in overseas operations.

Pretty much the opposite of everything Obama voters say they want.

I don’t remember Pokeman being anything like this:

2011-09-01T22:07:00.001-07:00

Republicans not welcome…

2011-08-28T22:42:00.001-07:00

At the Wausau Wisconsin Labor Day Parade.

Organizers of the Labor Day parade in Wausau say Republican lawmakers aren't welcome in this year's event.

The Marathon County Central Labor Council sponsors the Sept. 5 parade. The council includes about 30 local unions from the Marathon County area.

Ah, tolerance for opposing viewpoints. That’s what I like to see.

Higher Education Bubble Update

2011-08-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

The title is blatantly stolen from Instapundit

I have commented on the idea of a higher education bubble before, unlike Instapundit I don't believe there is a higher education bubble - I believe there is a bubble in specific fields of study (i.e Lawyers, MBAs, and some (many) of the social sciences), but there is a shortage in others such as engineering and that the educational system will need to be retooled to address them.

This is happening. Apart from for-profit schools and schools such as Western Governors University, The New York Times points out today (link later) a new set of collaborative universities that are beginning to develop. Courses are being developed in conjunction with and at the request of students. Personally I think this is a good direction to be moving in.

The next step should be the elimination of traditional degrees in favor of Educational Competencies, i.e. instead of having a degree in business you would have a competency in retail management. Strings of competencies could be strung together into a meta-grouping of some sort, and not just classwork should count. Field experience should be quantified and noted also by eikther the educational institution or some sort of professional organization (although that runs the risk of "guilds" developing ala Heinlein's "Starman Jones").

WGU Week 21

2011-08-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

So, it's the second day of week 21 of my first term. Had my weekly call with my mentor yesterday and had to tell her that since I have taken this job my schedule has been thrown off a little. Not going to complete Windows 7 this term. I'll have to get it very early next term. Officially all I have to complete are the two math classes and I am good for the term, but I still want to get the Project Management class knocked out also.

Other than that not a lot to report. The new job seems to be validation of Wireless Applications on various Android devices that T-Mobile is adding to it's line-up. They didn't make me sign an NDA or anything but common sense is don't talk about work in detail so I won't be. All I will be offering is general impressions as time goes on. Impression so far both the company I am contracting thru and this contract specifically are a good deal. At this point I am very happy this fell into my lap.

New Stephenson Novel Releases 9/20

2011-08-18T05:49:00.001-07:00

Titled “Readme”, it seems to be a technothriller kind of in the vein of “Cryptonomicon” rather than a sci-fi offering.

This ends our special news break.

While in the Geek realm – I watched part of Revolution OS, a movie that explores the rise of the free / open source software movement, last night. The one thing that really stood out is that Richard Stallman is kind of an egocentrist. I don’t disagree with a lot of his ideas regarding free software, although I do disagree with his idea that any restriction on access to software source code is unethical, but man is that guy annoying.

Not the most inspiring photo of a Presidential candidate

2011-08-15T11:55:00.001-07:00

Obviously the only reason this photo is running on the leftie sites is to embarrass Michelle Bachman. But, please Congresswoman remember that phallic shaped objects, cameras, and campaign events are not a good mix.

PSA–Google+ Users be sure to log out

2011-08-15T06:08:00.001-07:00

Heard on the This Week in Tech podcast. There is apparently a bug in Google+ that allows a Google talk user to intercept your IMs if they log into Google talk on the same computer where you had an active Google+ session if you just close the browser tab without logging out.

Full details here. Google thinks it is pretty unlikely that many users will encounter this issue but better safe than sorry.

(Note: Google says that the bug is fixed but since it is still be reported as active today take some basic precautions)

Blast From the Past–MMM MMM MMM

2011-08-11T09:37:00.001-07:00

I wonder how many of those kids are still singing this song?

Some WGU News

2011-08-07T11:47:00.001-07:00

First off, Texas just partnered with WGU to create WGU Texas. Texas was already part of the consortium that created WGU but I think this is important because Texas is the counties second most populous state and give Gov. Perry’s calls for decreasing cost and increasing access to education I think this might drive some expanded course selections at WGU.

Second, there is a rumor floating around that WGU may be creating a new Masters in Networking. Not sure what it would entail but I think that is a pretty interesting development.

In these troubled times…

2011-08-06T05:42:00.001-07:00

When the world seems to be crashing down around us, instead of panic and despair we should just ask ourselves “What Would Don Draper Do?”

complete flowchart

Around the Moronosphere 8/5/2011

2011-08-05T14:11:00.001-07:00

Ace of Spades – weighs in on killing off Peter Parker.

Hot Air – Good News Everyone (Professor Farnsworth reference here)

Slashdot – West silent about China’s 5 year long cyberwar.

more importantly the real reason for bandwidth caps is revealed: Internet Eats into Time Warner Cable Porn Profits

The Art of Manliness – How to Throw a Tomahawk Like a Mountain Man. Hey you never know when Jeremiah Johnson may attack.

Marketwatch – Once again environmentalists f**k it up, “Buy Local” may not actually be good for the environment.

Filmdrunk – Mila Kunis tells off reporter in Russian

KURU Lounge

The onslaught against Apple continues

Show Stopper!

Don’t be evil?

Well I feel safer now

Contrary to what Daniel Patrick Moynihan said…

Presented without comment:

Survived Fimbulvetr

Hmmmm

Finished Moneyball

Apple about to push into digital textbook market?

At last our (latest) long national nightmare is over…

Steve Ballmer CES Keynote address

Nice - Microsoft Reinvents Wi-Fi for White Spaces

What in the name of God are these people selling?

Happy New Year

5 ways we screwed up the Occupy generation

Well Ron Paul is guaranteed the win now

Where is the Baroness?

There is a little truth in this

Merry Christmas All

Morena Baccarin (Inara from Firefly) in one of her lesser known roles

Hypnotoad wins again

How Democrat’s Fooled California’s Redistricting Commission

Following up on the 9/11 Diet Pepsi can controversy

Government programs predestined to fail

EPA–”You know what the US has too much of? Electrical power that’s what.” New rules too take more than 14.7 Gigawatts of power generation offline

Kim Jong Il dead

Diet Pepsi celebrating the destruction of the World Trade Center or urban myth in gestation?

And another class bites the dust

Has China Crashed?

Better or Worse? Pulp Fiction in Chronological Order.

Leaked Screenshots of Win 8 Music Player

Databases

Shit, we should have just boxed him up and sent him to Khomeni

The selling of America continues

Just a little item of interest

Bored? Looking for something to do?

And here is where it breaks down…

Darth Vader–Exceptional Project Manager

PSA–NPR Ombudsman has an open forum going today

Windows 8 Public Beta releasing in Feb. 2012

Oh good, some other facet of my life apple can control

OK, now I just feel lazy

Wetapunga….

How to Google

I don’t think the Food Network is in any real danger from this competition

Doubling of CO2 would cause much less warming than previously thought

Steve Jobs on why companies die

And another class done

OK, the bacon meme may be played out

Interesting little tidbit

Sometimes Seattle Is Worthwhile

Finally, 2008 Explained!

Sometimes I really wonder about people…

Maybe I should give yoga a second look

Friday Morning Palate Cleanser

This woman cracks me up

Just saying…

Just a quick observation

Who says you can’t improve on a classic?

Free Econ Classes (or for potential #OWS types free Art History classes)

By Popular Demand

Another class down

Three Big Things Two Small Things

Wrong, just wrong

You know what we need?

Pakistani Intelligence Service Secretly Helping the Taliban…

The 21st Century may be American after all…

The American phoenix is slowly rising again. Within five years or so, the US will be well on its way to self-sufficiency in fuel and energy. Manufacturing will have closed the labour gap with China in a clutch of key industries. The current account might even be in surplus.

A lost learning opportunity

Who knew, Uber-lib Steve Jobs Hated Obama

What if there was no US Government debt

So, about the whole no threat of cyberwar thing

#OccupyWallStreet is moving into it’s second month

It’s a semi cold and blustery Saturday…

Attention Seattle Area Morons

Databases, Databases, Databases

Review–Reamde by Neal Stephenson

Eliminating a botnet?

Doubling of CO₂ would cause much less warming than previously thought