MONEY: the car dealer cannot print more cars

Thursday, October 4, 2007

http://www.lewrockwell.com/raskin/raskin26.html

Run for Your Money
by Max Raskin

***Begin Quote***

Fractional reserve banking rests on the delusion that if the banks can fool enough people into thinking that they can withdraw their money at any given time, then they can expand credit and make all sorts of unwise investments. The minute the public gets wind of the bank’s insolvency, as with the latest crisis, they rush to demand their money. On the free market, fractional reserve banking is no more of a problem than fractional reserve car dealerships. If a car dealer sells two deeds to the same car it is clearly fraud. Yet somehow the banks are not burdened with the inconvenient job of repaying their depositors. Unlike the central bank, the car dealer cannot print more cars.

***End Quote***

And, they can’t print any more beach front property. Or, gold bullion coins. Or, any such commodity.

When one is in a “fiat money system” (money is unbacked by gold), then you are best advised to convert your paper into something. A house, a business, or anything that ain’t gooferment paper.

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Force is never acceptable

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070928/ts_afp/irelandsmokingpubsmusicoffbeat_070928145420

*** begin quote ***

Interesting…they should try it in Vegas!

*** end quote ***

Vegas has the smoking Nazis already.

It’s not complete, but it’s getting there.

It is the INITIATION OF FORCE. They are using gooferment to inflict their values on us. It’s OK because you agree with this one. What if it is one of your vices? Like golf? It very wasteful of time, energy, and attention citizen. Further, people get hurt at golf and miss work and can’t maximize their tax payments to the state. And, think of the ecology. What about all the poor animals displaced for your “golf course”. That money and land could have been given to the “poor”.

How does that fit for size? Little tight.

If some one can use gooferment to force YOU or ME or ANYONE to do ONE thing, then we are slaves and they can makes us do anything. Citizen, it unhealthy for you to go to Church, wear clothes, eat at mickeyd’s.

Look it from a freedom side. Does anyone FORCE those musicians to take their equipment to the smoke filled pubs? No, they can say “I only play at smoke free venues”. But, then they have to bear the COSTS of that action. And, who owns the pubs. Obviously, the gooferment since they call the shots. Is anyone forced to patronize the pubs? Yes, the gooferment “regulates” them.

Without the gooferment, there’s be MORE CHOICES. The marketplace would create smoke free Irish pubs.

See in a free market, no one is compelled to do squat. Everyone would get to make choices. When you spend your certificates of appreciation give by your fellow workers for something you’ve done that they like, then it’s like having a mini election. AND, everyone is allowed to decide. Sort of like democracy without the force of mob rule.

See no one can be “wealthy” without serving their fellow man. The free market is essentially a coordination mechanism that allows us to cooperate. Socialism is enforced slavery; free markets are a very complex calculus that allows everyone to be satisfied with what’s available to the maximum extent possible.

Socialism’s mantra “from each, according to ability; to each, according to need. The Free Markets mantra is “serve your fellow man and be rewarded to the extent of your contribution”.

See first, you have to dig the well, and then you get to drink. Catch 10 fish and the market can equate that to 2 loaves of bread. If you catch 10 fish and I catch 5, you get two loaves and I get a lesson in motivation and ability.

It’s a complex mechanism, since if fishing is bad and you only catch 5 and I get 1, then the price of fish will rise. If the baker doesn’t lower his price of bread, he winds up with stale bread. So magically, there will be fish for the baker and bread for us.

It’s when force aka gets involved that the mechanism breaks down.

Argh!

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RANT: Developer Builds Around Woman’s Home

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8S1FESO0&show_article=1

Developer Builds Around Woman’s Home
Oct 2 09:57 PM US/Eastern

*** begin quote ***

SEATTLE (AP) – When 86-year-old Edith Macefield refused a $1 million offer to move from her Seattle home, a developer started building a five-story project around it.

*** end quote ***

SO much for zoning. Health codes. And, all those politicians promising to protect the old folks.

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: We should all use ZULU time!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Once again, this whole nonsense about time zones and daylight savings times aggravated me.

(I got up an hour earlier than I had to for my morning call.)

As a globe, we should all be on GMT.

Who cares if you work 9-5 in eat or 1400-2200 Zulu?

If you talk to someone in another time zone, the conversation has one variable extracted.

And, maybe Microsoft Outlook would work correctly.

Argh!

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TECHNOLOGY: SKYPE and VWBBie

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

FYI, to anyone who is interested or cares, I participated in a conference call from the Denver Tech Center Marriott using SKYPE from my personal NOTEBOOK over the Verizon Wireless Broad Band. And it all worked.

Call was FREE, VWBB ain’t, and quality was acceptable.

So in essence I have turned a very expensive notebook into a free semi-mobile phone.

A sort of large cell phone? A funny phone booth?

Demos available at a modest fee.

Love it when stuff works.

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PRODUCTIVITY: Thoughts about “dumb” questions

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

If I can help you in any way please don’t hesitate to ask. Some times the Universe can be bewildering. So if you just want to ask what you think is the dumbest question imaginable, then feel free to bounce it off me. If I can’t answer it, I’ll ask the appropriate people. They already think I’m a “character, so “dumb” will just be confirming their beliefs.

I personally believe that there are literally no “dumb” questions.

Those supposedly “dumb” questions are: (1) not so “dumb” because probably some one else has the same question but is too “embarrassed” to ask something so “dumb”; AND (2) even if it is “dumb”, all those “smart” people should have made the question unnecessary (i.e., FAQ, documentation, help files, wiki). So as you can see, I never fault anyone who asks “dumb” questions. Or, even think less of them.

And, I’ve learned over my career is that I can learn quite a bit from “dumb” questions. Best is when children ask them because they see things completely differently.

So, if I can help, please just ask.

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Posted by reinkefj

TECH SERVICE: NOTE2EMAIL (My rating 5 *’s)

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

http://www.note2email.com/write

NOTE2EMAIL

***Begin Quote***

Send quick notes to your email address in one easy step.
No need for passwords or usernames.
Note it down and send it , as simple as that !

***End Quote***

Very neat. Very clean. Very … elegant.

Love it. Am quickly integrating it into my SOE.

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UPDATE: One “curve” if you send one to someone else, then you have to tell them not to reply to it. Replies appear to go to the bit bucket. Great service; needs improvement. Definitely a keeper.

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UPDATE: The developer responds. How kool is that?

From: Andrei Aldescu
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 1:40 PM
To: Reinke’s Catch All Email
Subject: Re: What happens to replies?

Hello,

We are sorry but the notes are sent from a generic email address note@note2email.com) therefore, displaying the replay to the sender is not available right now. Basically if someone replies to a note that was sent via note2email.com, that reply will only get in the note2email.com inbox  and will not be redirected in any way to the sender.

We are currently working on a mechanism that shows the status of a note and displays the content of any replies.

Thank you for using our service ,
We will keep you posted.

Andrei

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[Of course, I have to have the last word!]

As you can see from my blog, I like it. It would seem “easy” (Easy for me, cause I don’t have to do anything.) to allow the inputter to supply a reply to address. That would make it the cat’s meow. :-) fjohn

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I’m sure he will be anxious to impress a blogger with 7 readers. :-)  W, MI, SS, F, MF, JF, GC … … and you thought I was kidding. :-)

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POLITICAL: The DOWGs separation of powers was “a nice try”; NEVADA demonstration

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Jul-11-Fri-2003/news/21707576.html

*** begin quote ***

TAX TIME: So much for the suspense. The state Supreme Court announced Thursday that the Legislature, already in triple overtime, was free to ignore the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds majority to pass new taxes. The court ruled that, at this late date, a simple majority is good enough for government work.

Not that it should surprise anyone who has followed the tumultuous proceedings the past seven months, but the high court’s ruling is bound to generate all manner of litigation and citizen initiative petitions. Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus official Dan Burdish, acting in his capacity as the leader of Nevadans for Tax Restraint, wasted little time in bashing the court.

“The Nevada Supreme Court in an unprecedented usurpation of the Separation of Powers today threw out the Gibbons Tax Restraint Initiative,” he wrote in a mass e-mail. “Nevadans for Tax Restraint is considering a recall of these six Justices in addition to the Referendum we will conduct to overthrow the soon to be passed $1 billion tax increase.”

You didn’t actually expect the tax-increase critics to go away, did you?

*** end quote ***

Well, “nice try” DOWGs. The Framers of the Constitution never expected that all three branches of gooferment to be in bed with one another.

But, we know better.

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INTERESTING: Beyonce gets labeled “obscene”?

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSKLR22737320071002?feedType=RSS&feedName=entertainmentNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Beyonce dumps Malaysia show to avoid Muslim outcry
Tue Oct 2, 2007 1:43am EDT

***Begin Quote***

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – U.S. R&B star Beyonce Knowles has axed her debut concert in Malaysia in protest against the nation’s ultra-strict dress code and over fears of a Muslim outcry over her show, an industry source said on Tuesday.

***End Quote***

While they are oppressing their people and our visitors, then they can’t be busy making other mischief. It should be a wake up to the women in our country of just how oppressive “religion” can be.

Hey, it’s freedom of religion for everyone to be free from the religion of others!

When I see women in this country dressed in Muslim attire, I just shake my head. Of course, they can do whatever they want. But, I wonder how much is their own free choice.

We need every person in this country “working” on what they see as their best interest. We don’t need to shackle a portion of “our” productive brains. That’s why irrational discrimination is wrong. It hurts the bigot, the victim, and us in general as a civil society.

So, I think this is a perfect issue for the feminists and libertarians.

And, you know these nuts jobs have a Playboy or two hidden away.

So they are sexists and hypocrites. Probably a lot of other ists and ites as well.

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: the computer industry’s soft underbelly

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2007/092607backspin.html?page=2

The industry’s soft underbelly
Backspin By Mark Gibbs, Network World, 09/26/07

*** begin quote ***

What are the big issues that people outside of the computer business should really pay attention to? More important, if we believe that outsiders should be paying attention, then what will it take to clue them in? So, you tell me: What is the computer industry’s soft underbelly? What should consumers know?

*** end quote ***

I think there are several “hot issues”:

1) Computers don’t necessarily make one more productive. The certainly don’t make organizations more efficient. And, the noise level of electronic communication is such that it really prevents concentration, attention, and focus. Computing can effectively conceal process problems.

2) The novice, and most experienced, users have no clue how fragile everything is. Hard disk failure is the easiest understood. Data corruption by — malicious, corrupt, buggy, or poorly designed — software is the hardest to understand and protect against.

3) Similarly, software sucks. It’s rare that it works with 100% reliability. If you could keep it locked in a box, then maybe it would stay uncorrupted, unupdated, unfixed, uncustomized, un-what-evered. Put it in use and stuff happens. And, some of that stuff ain’t good. For example, look at Microsoft SUS updating “silently” regardless of what your settings are.

4) Now let’s talk about costs. You don’t “buy” software. “barbara streisand” You give the vendor your money and that the last you’ll get any attention from them. So you don’t “buy” it, but you pay thru the nose. If you’re an old pro, you use Open Source Software where your upfront cost is zero and you can buy some support as you need it. (A better model imho).

5) Companies want your credit card so they can keep billing that card month after month. Good luck getting them to stop. Plan on changing your number to get rid of them. AND, Intelligent Designer help you if you want a refund!

These vex pros and novices alike. And, no one talks about it. But, these are the 800# gorillas in the room imho.

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