I have the Jasper Jottings website. But that’s weekly static and lots of work. I can simplify my workflow by blogging everything I see when I see it. Then, I can offer a daily raw feed. And, I think if I use BLOGLINES right, I can make the weekly build much more cut an paste. If all the news can come into BLOGLINES on one feed, and all the Obits on another, and each topic category comes in on its own feed, it’s easier. Hmmm!
ALUMNI: Changing my thinking
Sunday, March 18, 2007
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Posted by reinkefj
TECHNOLOGY: The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities
Saturday, March 17, 2007http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm
The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities
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This page is updated regularly – most recent: 13 Mar, 07
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Updated and worth a detailed study.
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Posted by reinkefj
MONEY: A coffee can, a shovel, and a planter!
Saturday, March 17, 2007http://www.lewrockwell.com/hein/
hein160.html
The Big Unknown
by Paul Hein
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For example, no one at the bargaining table is going to interrupt proceedings to ascertain what, precisely, is meant by “hour.” The discussions will not hang on what is meant by “week,” or “year.” Common sense dictates you don’t quibble over words that have a universally understood meaning. Sadly, that also seems to include the word “dollar,” although no one sitting around the negotiating table could define it.
***AND***
And simple curiosity would prompt one to ask why this inability to define one of the most basic units in society should exist. Why cannot “dollar” be defined with as much precision as “quart” or “pound?” The only conceivable answer, I think, is that “quart” and “pound” measure something. No one goes to the store to buy a quart, or a pound, but only a quart of milk, or a pound of potatoes. But “dollar?” Of what is the dollar a unit? In general, of course, the answer is money. And what is that? Once, it was silver, and for a while, gold. Today it is nothing.
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And, in a nutshell, the author has expressed eloquently my problem with planning in the “modern economy”. Now I don’t think I am a doom or gloomer. Not too much! But, I can see all the clouds on the horizon. Of all the risks facing a retiree, there are several 800 pound gorillas.
Will the USA break the promises it makes?
A retiree has a lot “invested” with gooferment. Certainly it violates the 5% rule.
The Social Security Insurance ponzi scheme has several components in that promise: the defined benefit amount, the retirement age, Medicare health care benefit, what it covers, the Medicare drug benefit, and the taxability of the benefits.
The gooferment can also easily upset the planning by messing with inflation, taxation, and regulation.
The deficit, the debt, and the continued “buying votes with future benefits” are all going to the road to perdition at a quickening pace.
Finally, one has to recognize that the gooferment permits “under funding”. Corporations under fund their pension plans. Gooferment itself under funds the pension and medical benefits promised to its own gooferment employees. And, by its involvement in healthcare and drugs, it “under funds” what the marketplace would normally direct to those “silver bullets”. (Drugs are cheaper than hospitalizations. Healthy people are productive people. Nursing homes for “indigents” are obscenely expensive. And Alzhiemer’s, Parkinson, and senility destroys everyone.)
So how does the old fogy invest in this climate. Assuming that you’ve done proper planning, you’re doing a lot of investing. But, if you come upon a windfall, what do you do.
I’m a gold bug. No bones about it.
Of all the things that the gooferment can do to upset my apple cart, the big ones are changing tax policy, “adjusting” the taxability of benefits, and adding a means test to benefits.
So you want to have enough assets for a comfortable retirement, but perhaps you don’t want to have too much on paper?
Like the “medicare trusts” of today’s planners, you have to think ahead. A medicare trust is where the assets are put in trust to get them excluded from the medicare eligibility calculation. People use it to get their old relative’s nursing home paid for by the gooferment and preserve the old relative’s estate that gets passed to their heirs. Dirty pool, but legal.
But, when all these “blank checks” come due, maybe it might pay to have assets that don’t show up on paper anywhere.
Bullion coins!?!
They don’t earn interest. They don’t take up a lot of space. They certainly don’t depreciate with inflation. AND, the don’t show up on any statement or tax return.
A coffee can, a shovel, and a planter!
It won’t be the treasure of the Count of Monte Cristo. But, it might be the difference between being poor and being secure.
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Posted by reinkefj
RANT: Nature gave us a Saint P’s day present
Saturday, March 17, 2007A widow maker.
When I was on the First Aid Squad, that’s what we call a snowstorm that was heavy and hard to shovel.
Today we have an inch or two that’s frozen solid.
I did about 6 feet and now I’m resting.
Argh!
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Posted by reinkefj
LINUX: Linux Desktop – Is it an Option for Normal Users?
Friday, March 16, 2007http://www.techsupportalert.com/review-linux-for-windows-users.htm
Linux Desktop – Is it an Option for Normal Users?
Linux has long held the promise of offering normal users an alternative to Windows. With the arrival of the high priced Windows Vista Support Alert subscriber “Briard” decides to put 12 Linux distros to the test. (March 2007)
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Rumbles of Mutiny
Murmurs of revolt spread through the taverns in the Kingdom of Windows. The flashy new Vista model King William had promised the people had taken 5 years to put into production, and the price matched its splendour. During those five years, the Apple Opera Company had staged several new productions of impressive polish. The upstarts from Google were giving people free software and email services, and there were rumours that Desktop Linux was mature enough to rival Vista.
In the rugged mountains of Mozilla, far from the Court at Redmond, fiercely independent tribes had held out against King William. Long ago their artisans had sworn an oath to share their ideas and inventions freely. Their creations were built on open platforms like UNIX and Linux, with liberal use of arcane tools. Now there was talk that they’d produced a Linux desktop of great beauty.
The once loyal-to-the-royal media began asking if King William was losing the steely resolve of old. Would people baulk at the outrageous price of Vista and do the unthinkable: rebel and buy a Mac, or replace their Windows with Linux? Was this the autumn of King William’s reign and would Vista become his elaborate tomb? And who would reign after King William? Would it be Big Jobs and Apple or would it be the rebels from Mozilla? Would 2007 be the year of Linux?
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I’m revolting!
from Vista, Windoze, and Microsoft in general.
I’m tired of fighting to make the platform perform.
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Posted by reinkefj
TECHNOLOGY: 500 GB MyBook for under 200$?
Friday, March 16, 2007http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?
c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A0616000
500 GB 7200 RPM USB 2.0/FireWire 400 External Hard Drive
– My Book Premium Edition
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The 500 GB 7200 RPM USB 2.0/FireWire 400 My Book™ Premium Edition External Hard Drive from Western Digital® offers an easy, high-capacity solution for conveniently storing your photos, music and videos. The drive offers FireWire 400 interface for enhanced speed performance while its USB 2.0 interface gives convenience and compatibility among multiple computers. The compact case shock-absorbing metal keeps the drive cool and takes up less space on your desk, stacks horizontally and allows two or more drives to nestle neatly together like volumes on a shelf. With the Intelligent Drive Management feature, the drive turns itself on and off with your computer while Safe Shutdown™ feature prevents the drive from being powered down until all your data has been written. In addition, the drive incorporates a capacity gauge that lets you see at a glance how much space is left on your drive. The included WD Backup™ software simplifies backing up your data, helps set scheduled backups for future backup while the included Google software helps search your drive, manage your photos, and simplify Web searches. Bundled with USB/FireWire Cables, AC Adapter, Power cord; this 500 GB My Book™ Premium Edition is an ideal external hard drive for all your precious digital assets.
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For 197$!!!
I don’t understand why it’s so cheap?
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: The blog and how to grow it
Friday, March 16, 2007http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2007/03/16/
how_to_grow_your_own.htm
March 16, 2007
How To Grow Your Own Blog: Nine Tips For Would-Be Bloggers
Joshua Porter is the editor of Bokardo, a site about social web design. He is currently the Director of Web Development at User Interface Engineering, a behavioral research company based in North Andover, Massachusetts.
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How can it be true that if you were to start blogging someone would pay attention to your very own writing?
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It’s hard to believe that about 200 people read, or perhaps take in, my babblings. I don’t know if I would pay attention to me! But, I do know that blogging has consumed my attention space. In the sense that instead of trying to capture stuff on little pieces of paper, I use this blog. It serves me. Then, under the heading of repurposing, if you get some benefit from my rambles, then that’s very effective use of my time. If not, at least, I’ll remember what I took the time to post. But a blog without readers, like that proverbial tree, does it still make a sound?
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Posted by reinkefj
ALUMNI: My old websites were too static
Friday, March 16, 2007Are blogs the new websites?
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Posted by reinkefj
JOBSEARCH: e-xxxx doesn’t make it?
Friday, March 16, 2007http://www.alignitadvisors.com/blog/2007/03/true-networking.html
Thursday, March 15, 2007
True Networking
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This investment will take several Face-to-Face or telephonic discussions and e-mail doesn’t make it.
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Not sure I agree with that.
It is possible to establish a relationship, a rapport, and trust with people that one never meets. Never “talks” too. Or, meets.
I’m no expert, but I think you can do it.
I’ve been “in”, “out”, and in between. I’ve done f2f networking from all three statuses. I’ve done “networking” in person, on the phone, even by fax, by email, and by im. It’s about creating a relationship. My objective is to learn enough about the person to serve them well. In doing that, they give me more in return than I think I gave them.
As a “recovering introvert”, I think that my e-efforts have born far more benefits than my “off line” ones.
And, on my blog, I take comments. That’s not available on the the blog where this observation was made. It’s all about getting a conversation going. imho.
Of course, I welcome your comments. (Be gentle; remember I’m ISTJ!)
FUN: Argh!
Friday, March 16, 2007http://terrylj.livejournal.com/212865.html
ARGGHHHH!!!!!!!!
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ARGGHHHH!!!!!!!!
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I know the feeling. Argh!
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Posted by reinkefj
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