RANT: Unwinding the Social Security Ponzi scheme

Saturday, May 6, 2006

Fox is ranting about the Social Security Ponzi scheme. How to unwind it? A crisis is looming. Going broke! Again! The gummamint has stolen the cash flow for its own uses.

Un injineers always pride ourselves on recognizing what reality is, defining where we want to go, and building that bridge.

So let's start building a solution.

We can't stop this thing tomorrow because people are depending upon it there. Let's look at how that fellow in Chile unwound their equivalent system. 

http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/pr-ja-jp.html 

He created a three tier system. Current pensioners continued as they were today. Current workers could stay in the system or go out on their own with a "recognition bonds". New workers were automatically in the new private "social security system".

Why can't we do the same?  


Why the politicians will NEVER ever take the taxes off anything!

Saturday, May 6, 2006

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/gastax-hustel.html

The Gas-Tax Hustle
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. 

***Begin Quote***

Congress toyed with the idea of a tax holiday on gasoline as a way to drive the price down to address constituent complaints. But, as you might guess, they rejected it.

Why, oh why, did Congress decline to give us a bit more liberty, aside from the obvious fact that they like the revenue and power? Well, we can't go too much aside after all: they like the revenue and power. From their point of view, why give it up?

Here is the New York Times's explanation: "it was rejected as unworkable, partly because there were no guarantees that the oil companies would pass the saving onto consumers, partly because the tax pays for federal highway projects, and partly because many Republicans say the only answer to the problem of high gas prices is to increase supply."

{Extraneous deleted}

But let's say that the price of gas actually fell in one day by 18 cents (federal level) or a total of 41 cents (if states went along). Can you imagine? Consumers would flip out. It would be a real consciousness-raising moment. "You mean to tell me that every time I fill up my tank of gas, I'm forking over more than $8 to government? Hey, guys, what kind of racket do you have going on here?"

Then there would come a time for the holiday to end. What then? That might really inspire a revolt. Instead of being angry at gas stations, consumers would turn their vengeance on the party that truly deserves the blame. The real gougers would show their face, and they are likely to be pummeled with rotten fruit.

{Extraneous deleted}

This is why government has a principle: never ever, under any circumstances, abolish a tax unless your life depends on it. You might find that you can never get it back again.

***End Quote***

Yup, they'd have less money to spend. We'd learn that the economy would work a lot better with the load of gas taxes factor into every single thing we use or consume. AND, perhaps we would finally realize that if we don't keep government under control, it will control us.


RANT: “Restraining orders work” … well maybe not in this case … or not at all?

Friday, May 5, 2006

http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006605050409

Restraining orders work
Home News Tribune Online 05/5/06
By RICHARD KHAVKINE
STAFF WRITER

***Begin Quote***

Restraining orders work as intended the vast majority of the time: The person against which the order is issued will respect the law and stay away.

More often than not, the fear of serious consequences will sway a person to abide by the order's terms.

"Given the fact that someone has a restraining order against them, they are not a law-abiding person," said Rachel Partyka, an attorney concentrating on family law with Central Jersey Legal Services.

Still, restraining orders, usually secured through the Family Part of the Chancery Division of Superior Court, are useful in the majority of cases, said Sandy Clark, the associate director of the New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women.

"Those are the cases we're not going to see," she said. "They're very useful for many, many women for keeping a batterer at bay."

But, as events in South Amboy early Wednesday morning proved, taking out a restraining order is by no means a guarantee of safety.

"Unfortunately, a piece of paper can't protect you from a butcher knife or a bullet," said Partyka.

On Tuesday, Donna Beckmann-Palladino, 36, secured a final restraining order against her estranged husband, 32-year-old Joseph Palladino. Less than 24 hours later, both were dead.

Before jumping to his death from the Victory Bridge in Perth Amboy, he stabbed and shot his wife, killing her at her mother's South Amboy home, according to law enforcement. Donna Beckmann-Palladino's mother, Mary Jane Beckmann, also was killed.

***End Quote***

Given the anecdotal evidence that the reporter cites, and HNT liberal press bias, the headline is a joke. A more appropriate headline might have been "Restraining orders are not protection", or maybe "Restraining orders are good if everyone obeys", or even "Restraining orders are a bad joke".

If I had an abused daughter and she sought a restraining order, then I'd violate the gun transfer law in the People's Republic of New Jersey and give her my "abusive spouse discouragement device". It has the value of being 100% effective when used. When the abusive spouse came around to do her harm, in violation of the court's order, she'd have an alternative. No, not dial 911 and die! She could defended herself effectively. My advice would be shoot! And, keep shooting till its empty, Then reload and empty it again. (Admitted exaggeration; just slightly!) Problem solved. No 911 call needed; you know the police would be there in record time. Can't have an ordinary citizen doing their job. We might find out we don't need them so much.

When the Court issues a restraining order, the Sheriff's office should: immediately deputize her to enforce the order, escort the woman to the firing range, give her some lessons with practice, and "loan" her the pistol of her choice. We know that they are always confiscating guns, let's put them to good use. Further, the court should give her the PRESUMPTION of innocence in any shooting unless it's can be proved she went "hunting". With this type of a restraining order, any spouse would be wise to be extra sure about "staying away".

My personal recommendation is the good old 1911 Colt 45. While it may hurt the shooter's wrist, arm, or shoulder, the abusive spouse isn't gong to be be doing much of anything after receiving "treatment". It's only in the movies that people get shot and keep on going like the energizer bunny.

The dead old white guys, aka the Founding Fathers, recognized that "All men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The Second Amendment was enshrined in the Constitution for just such people as Ms. Donna Beckmann-Palladino, Ms. Mary Jane Beckmann, Saoule Ms. Sveltana Moukhametova, and all the abused spouses usually women in New Jersey. They should have been able to protect themselves.

In better days, it was joked that "God made men and women. Sam Colt made them equal." We need to remember that.

Am I worried that it will be like the gunfight at the OK Corral?

No, I trust my fellow New Jerseyians to know when they are being threatened. Any woman who is a afraid is entitled to the full protection of the State. One of those protections is an express trip to the gun store. But, no, here in the People's Republic of New Jersey, all we give people is a piece of paper and expect that to stop an enraged or psychotic spouse. I like Sam Colt's solution better.

The Anti-Gun proponents would like to believe that we live in a peaceful civilized society where laws protect people. Us gun nuts know that the real world is a dangerous place. Two-legged and four-legged predators abound. Abusive spouses and bears come to mind. The article cites abusive spouses. Don't forget in California the jogger killed by a cougar and in Tennessee a child killed by a bear. Lest you think that the street will run red, consider the many jurisdictions where concealed carry is permitted; some without control. Florida was supposed to be where every road rage incident would devolve into shoot out. New Hampshire has had it for while. You know that the press would have dutiful reported even one incident. New Orleans demonstrated that it is the people who enforce a law and order society. When the good folks of NOLA were gone, crime ran rampant. Heinlein, a famous scifi writer, wrote "an armed society is a polite society". And, it is so true.

There are other benefits of an armed society. The value of concealed carry is that you don't have to carry to receive a benefit. If a criminal has 100 potential victims, then he has to pick one. If out of that hundred people ten are packing, then the criminal has a 10% chance of facing an armed victim. "Hmmm" says the criminal who should I pick? The gay guy. Ever hear of the Pink Pistols? The thin spindly blond woman. Agggg, that's Paxton Quigley and she's describing what a center of mass is to me with a laser assist sight. I know. says out hypothetical criminal, the squat little brownish guy with the big mustache, looks like an mexican arab. Ohhh, good day Mr. Massad Ayoob. Yes sir, I'd be happy to put my hands up. See the unarmed sheep are protected when we "salt" the flock with a few armed sheep. The criminal has to guess. Sometimes they will guess wrong …  dead criminal! Don't have to worry about recidivism then. There's reason why burglars choose unoccupied houses. And remember that TV show that ask hardened criminals what they feared most? Not the cops, the courts, or jail. It was an armed potential victim!

There is no magic in a gun. It's just a tool. Dangerous? No more so then so are cars and chainsaws. Handle it with care, of course. Would all these women have survived? I don't know. But I do know they would have had a chance. And I for one would have liked them to have that chance.

So bottom line, I grieve for these women killed by our collective stupidity. We didn't give them the understanding, tools, and training to preserve their own lives. Worse, we fooled them into beleiving we'd protect them. Let's fix that now.

Any abused spouse is welcome to come by and chat!


RANT: LAPD issues a $114 ticket to an elderly woman trying to cross a street!

Friday, May 5, 2006

http://freetalklive.com/wiki/index.php?title=FTL_2006-04-25

Well the FTL boys have certainly outdid themsleves this time. Just when you thought that they could NOT make Big Gummmint look any worse, an unnamed LAPD dummy hands them a softball. I had to check it out 'cuase I thought to myself "no one could be that dumb' but I was wrong. Father State's copy did give the old gal a ticket for "crossing too slowly". What a fool.

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/14341752.htm 

***Begin Quote***

How could an LAPD officer, as reported Monday in the Daily News, issue a $114 ticket to an elderly woman for struggling to cross a busy five-lane boulevard as the "Don't-walk" signal blinked?

***End Quote***

Will everyone now conceed that we were just fooled by the illusions that the cops are: "our friends", "just here to protect and serve us", and "do a dangerous job that needs doing"?

Sigh.

This is akin to the DC shortening the yellow duration on traffic signals when the installed the "red light" cameras. It's not about safety because accidents skyrocketed. It's about revenue which is automatically extracted from the driving public.

In this case, they must have run out of doughnuts at the police station and this fellow was in a bad mood.

Seriously, was this the proper response?

$114 from a poor old lady.

OK here's my suggestion.

Cop suspended without pay until some citizens determine if he should be prosecuted for misconduct or just fired. His boss ditto. His boss ditto. Up the line, until we reach the mayor.

The Mayor and the Governator should be made to cross that street four times every day for a year. For fun, lets give them those glasses that they use to demonstrate elder eyesight, put gravel in one shoe, and hunch them over with a weight around their neck. Then will give them a cane and a plastic sack with two six packs of ensure.

Betcha that light gets fixed before they ever arrive.

And, lest we forget about the "engineers" who deployed such a system. give them the cop treatment.

If the bathroom can be smart enough to turn the water on when I put my hands by the faucet, do you think the traffic lights at the intersection might be samrt enough to know when someone needs extra time? And, since I have sat at night at traffic lights waiting for the dumb light to give me the green when there is no one insight for miles, do you think maybe it should know that it should change?

See the one size fits all solution of Mommy Goverenment and Father State condems us to endure such stupidity!

You can't make this stuff up! If you did, people would say "can't happen here"!


Hey Governor Corzine … … why do state cars speed?

Thursday, May 4, 2006

… … why was td10933 doing 75 mph on Route 295 South MileMarker 43 at 0721 this morning? Rushing to get to work to serve the taxpayers of New Jersey? Guess we taxpayers don't have to save on the gas we buy. By The Way, he went right by one NJ plate holder aka sucker pulled over by the State Police presumably for speeding. Guess that sucker was just trying to get to work on time so as he could pay his taxes. Funny how I never see a state worker, state car, or such pulled over. Guess that is the divine right of the rulers not to be bound by the same rules as every one else in the People's Republic of New Jersey. We all know that no Prince of the State (i.e., a member of the State ruling body) would ever even be bothered by being pulled over since their cars (and those of their immediate families) have special adorned plates with the "regal crown" on them and laughably low numbers. And we'll never see any of the legions of "police" pulled over since they too have special "badges" on their cars (e.g., NJSP stickers; FOP & PBA medallions; etc.; etc.; etc.). No it's only Joe Six Pack who has to worry about being selected by the "Special Revenue Generation" teams aka the various "police" with radar guns and speed traps. Yup, it's not about safety silly taxpayer. It's about splitting the take from their scheme with local politicians thru their kangaroo courts. Visualize it as a bunch of jackels fighting over a rotting corpse of a taxpayer and then looking for the next victim. Hump, silly peasant, think that government is here to protect and serve you. DOn't they read the Supreme Court decisions that say we don't even have to try. We are good at that … … not trying … … anything but your patience. We need a good tax revolt NOW! Why does the gummamint tax gas? So we can watch the State's cars speed by.


What will she do if you never told her? … She’d use the brains that God gave her!

Wednesday, May 3, 2006

The gummamint's (government) anti-drug commercials are often stupid, down right dumb, or occasionally iritating. Tonight I saw one of the especially stupid ones. Reminds me of something I first heard from my now deceased mother in law.

Picture this. Young girl walks to car. A shimmering mother commands "Say thank you" to the socially inept kid. She gets in. The ghostly mother demands "Fasten your seat belt!" to the dumb kid. She's offered drugs. Silence. A stage voice says "What will she do if you never told her?"

I can hear my mother in law saying in a loud irritated voice: "She'd use the brains that God gave her!" which was her favorite rejoinder for any especially dumb idea, stupid action, or disastrous results.

I miss her common sense. I think the government has too much of our money to waste like this.

It's nobody business when people make bad choices, suffer the consequences, and have to overcome the results. Maybe then people will learn to make better choices rather than have Mommy Government to "protect" them paying for it by robbing everyone.

Arghhh!


RANT: Awww, the new Fed Chairman is “misunderstood”. Your FRBies at work!

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12583997/

***Begin Quote***

Stocks fell on Monday after CNBC's Maria Bartiromo revealed on air that Ben Bernanke felt his testimony last week had been "misunderstood."

***End Quote***

This has so many aspects. Let's start with the "Federal Reserve Bank" is a misnomer. It ain't "federal"; it's a private club. It's sole purpose was / is to evade the Constitutional restrictions on fiat currency. Remember the famous Cross of Gold speech? This is taking that to it's absurd conclusion. Hyper inflation. Unelected minions enabling the Federal Government to spend more than it takes in by stealing your savings. And, if you're an economist who subscribes to the Austrian School of vonMises and Ben is "misunderstood". Aghhhh! But I did like the quote "money honey", perhaps Ben was seduced into confessing his feelings. Sex does move the blood from the thinking end to the other end! Madison Avenue knows that.


Letter to the Editor: Mommy Government will impose speed limits for our own good!

Monday, May 1, 2006

Dear Editor Hudzinski, Ocean County Observer,

May I call your attention to a few facts of life about speed limits?

(1) Let’s examine the motivations.

Let’s discuss speed limits. We had the 55 limit in the Carter years and it was a joke. You noted that doing the speed limit on the Garden State Parkway is a good way to get run over. The road is probably engineered for 100. Laws by government don’t change behavior. At best, they are suggestions; at worst, they are just taxes in disguise. So what could be Governor Corzine’s motivation? Increased revenue can’t be ruled out. But, perhaps more likely, the conceit that he knows what is best for all the sheep people.

(2) Let people be free!

People “know” that slower speeds save gas. But, time is money as well. People have a complex calculation that factor in the cost of gasoline, the value of their time, and a slew of other factors. Everyone’s values are differently. The results of those individual calculations are “perfect” decisions for them. When the government comes in and imposes its values and its solutions, it upsets those “ecology” that has served them over time. It takes awhile but they will find their own level again.

(3) Laws don’t do anything!

Since the current set of laws aren’t obeyed, what makes one think that a new set will be complied with better?

(4) If it’s about saving gas … …

How about making it a law that we will have random road stops to test tire pressure? That will save more gas then a speed limit. Most cars tires are under inflated.

(5) If it’s about saving gas … …

How about the state’s own cars? I see them speeding all the time.
And, what happens when the marketplace “fixes” the high price of gas, will those speed limits be raised? Right!

How about a counter proposal?

Let’s eliminate ALL taxes on gas and oil products!

My rationale is not only does it make gas more affordable, BUT, it also takes it out of every product or service that we buy. The bottom line is that the State will have to go on a severe fiscal diet. Governor Corzine’s Wall Street experience will serve us well if he reduces State Government in half.

They say that the State provides needed services. I’d say that it provides those services at the end of a gun. It the services are so needed, then people will voluntarily pay for them. If they don’t get voluntary support, then I guess they are NOT so needed.

It’s also said that democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner by majority vote. State services paid for by theft by taxes is the same thing. The voters deciding what services that the taxpayers will fund.

Liberty works better than government!

F. Reinke
A bennie in
Seaside Heights NJ


At gun shop in Glassboro, ‘responsibility’ is the password

Monday, May 1, 2006

http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060428/COLUMNISTS13/604300317/1062/NEWS01

***Begin Quote***

Orderly racks of highly polished, formidable-looking guns are everywhere; guns made by various manufacturers (all the familiar names), guns of various calibers, guns of various vintages.

"To me, they represent the history of a country that emerged from nothing to what we are today," says Viden, whose two sons, Bob and Wayne, are partners in the business. His daughter, Wendy Copenhaver, is the company's bookkeeper.

"We're not a world power because of guns, but because of the freedom of having guns," Viden adds.

***End Quote***

The virtue of self-reliance is lost. Have a problem run to Mommy Government. Someone hurts your feelings ask Father State to pass a law. Caught in a natural disaster; don't worry, stick it to your fellow taxpayers.

We need to resurect the American spirit, the American energy, and the American values and ideals.


609-guy-luxe

Monday, May 1, 2006

609-489-5876 My laptop phone number when I get my YIM 75 working. Arghh.


9/11 WORSENED BY AIRLINE SILENCE (Good question?)

Monday, May 1, 2006

http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=12071

***Begin Quote***

He cites taped evidence showing that flight attendants from Flight 11 were in communication with American Airlines ground control "minutes after the hijacking began," and notes that American's management was more concerned with "keeping things secret" than with alerting other airlines, or even their own pilots, to possible further dangers. Had they done so, Ridgeway says, "There is a real likelihood people at least could have evacuated the second tower."

Meanwhile, he continues, Flight 93, which was at that time still "sitting on the Newark airport tarmac," might well have avoided its subsequent hijacking. The 9/11 Commission report found "no evidence…that American Airlines ever sent any cockpit warnings to its aircraft on 9/11," while only the relative "mutiny" of a United Airlines dispatcher, acting against the order to maintain silence, gave Flight 93's pilot a too-late warning about his own plane's possible jeopardy. – ST

***End Quote***

Interesting question. You would think that with the FAA "in control" someone would have passed along the information. At the very least, a smart pilot could have kept control,of his aircraft.

It also begs the question. Why are there doors to the cockpit? You'd think that that would be sealed off.


Salvation Through Private Property Alone (from the smart folks at Mises Institute)

Monday, May 1, 2006

http://www.lewrockwell.com/edmonds/property-salvation.html

***Begin Quote***

In a free society with all property being privately owned, the problems would have been reduced or entirely prevented.

I'll begin with Katrina: No one can stop a hurricane, nor affect its strength. Remember, though, that the hurricane did ordinary catastrophic damage to Louisiana and Mississippi. It was the existence of "public property" that resulted in subsequent flooding and bungled relief efforts that harmed the greatest number of people the most. If property were private, there wouldn't have been government levees to fail. Either that section of New Orleans wouldn't have been settled, or private levees would have been in place and been maintained far better than the government ones.

A likely scenario for private ownership of the levees would have seen their ownership in the hands of investors, and their upkeep paid for by insurers. Insurers would then charge homeowners in the levee-protected areas enough to cover the cost of maintenance. As it was, since government money paid for maintenance, it was possible for that money to be diverted — as it was, in this case, by the Bush administration, toward the war on Iraq. Then, in the aftermath, government employees turned away private trucks loaded with relief aid. The State continues to squander money earmarked for relief efforts, such as with the non-flood-zone approved house trailers rotting in the mud in Texas and Arkansas. Private insurance companies, who have to compete with each other to retain customers, do better than this.

***End Quote***

There is no doubt that the private free market leads to peace and well-being. Only the gummamint with it's use of force, its unique ability to force "services" upon us, and its inherent unappologetic inability to deliver on its promises is given a free pass on criticism.

Its police ride around in cars that say "protect and serve" but the courts say there is no such obligation.

Its theft is legitimized by "informal ammendments" to the restrictive Constitution.

It just ingores the rules it itself promulgates.

Any other entity that had such a track record would be delt with swiftly and severely. Yet we think gummamint is different.


RANT: Income Tax and Taxes as theft!

Sunday, April 30, 2006

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Apr-30-Sun-2006/opinion/6704537.html

***Begin Quote***

Kicking off from there, "Freedom to Fascism" deals primarily with the basic question of the tax education movement — who owes the income tax, and why won't the IRS show us the law that requires an average wage-earner living in one of the 50 states to file and pay a tax on his wages?

Of course we do have to file and pay, in the sense that armed government goons will seize our houses and cars and paychecks if we don't.

But that's no different from saying you "have to" give your wallet to an armed thug who's threatening you in a parking garage. The question is why judges refuse to allow any detailed reading and discussion of the actual written statutes and relevant Supreme Court rulings in their courtrooms — witness the recent federal trial of Irwin Schiff here in Las Vegas.

***End Quote***

Do I detect a trend here? Are real people, little peopel, beginning to show signs of becoming fed up with taxation. Time for a tea party? 


ARGHHH: Yahoo Instant Messenger v7.5 won’t install on luggable!

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Yahoo support doesn't listen. Message after message, they keep acting as if it's the program that's crashing when it is the installer. Argh. If I ever run a support group again, then I am going to stencil everyone's hand with "Listen to the Customer!". Arghh.


The Hollywood “elite”, should be effite, always offend me!

Sunday, April 30, 2006

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/gyllenhaal%20offends%20gulf%20war%20veterans_29_04_2006

***Begin Quote***

GYLLENHAAL OFFENDS GULF WAR VETERANS   
 
 
Also see:
JAKE GYLLENHAAL
JARHEAD

Movie star JAKE GYLLENHAAL has shocked American Gulf War veterans by joking they did nothing but "masturbate" during their time in the desert in 1991. The cheeky 25-year-old stars in JARHEAD, a movie exposing the US soldiers' lack of combat in the Middle Eastern conflict. He said, "The US soldiers were sent to the desert for 122 days and they sat in the same tent and did nothing, except a little too much masturbating."
29/04/2006 14:28  
 
***End Quote***

I guess this bozo was trying to impress his Hollywood friends by trying to win the Jane Fonda award for "most unpatriotic most ungrateful most insensitive Hollywood snob". Now I'm not for war. But you don't insult the the people that you sent there. Yes, by being part of the American gravy train, Hollywood has to accept blame for the decisions that send our boys and girls in harm's way. I  think that the Hollywood elite demonstrate their shallowness when they open their mouths with unscripted unrehearsed lines. They have been given a great gift by (Pick One: the Intelligent Designer; the American public; the hander out of lucky breaks) and have a chance to demonstrate their sensitivity, humility, and all the other good virtues that American's admire. My model for a Hollywood star is Bob Hope. I don't know if he agreed with any war; he certainly was sarcastic about generals and Presidents. But I do know that he was out do his part for the troops. Not tha the woudl, but if he said something like that, I'd give him a lot of slack. For an actor, who ain't done much for the public good, I give no quarter. By the way, I saw Jarhead and was disappointed. The whole thing stunk. Boring, predictable, and the acting left me "uninvolved". So to quote Nicholson in "A Few Good Men":

"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I would rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to!"

My words to this fellow, and Hollywood in general, is:

"You have a lot of nerve. You benefit from this society more than anyone. Yet, from your position of privilege and honor, you insult the very people who make you possible. You better repent and atone soon 'cause retribution comes swiftly. Vets, even non-combat ones like me, have very long memories. Ask Jane Fonda. To this day, I shun her. If someone brings it up, I explain that you can NOT bite the hand that feeds you with expecting some adverse consequences. You can be sure that I will inform every vet I know to boycott you and your ilk."

By the way, I sent this is on its way to every vet I know, the American Legion, the VFW, and several thousand of my fellow alums.

I won't be watching any more of his work. He's in my "Jane Fonda" folder.

###


TECHNOLOGY: Need to figure out how to have my favorite auto hot key come up at start up

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Hmmmm?


Coming to the end of April, some soul searching. Or is it sole searching?

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Is this activity of any use? I’m really not sure it’s being read. And if it’s being read, is it of value? And, value to whom?

All I get out of it is a toilet paper roll of random musings. At least they are all captured in one place. I does discharge that self-imposed need to discharge nervous energy. (I just typoed gry. What were those three words — hungry, angry, and ?)

See I am crazy.

Does this advance my thought that each individual has a duty to publish? To share their own particular data – information – knowledge – wisdom. When I do the alumni obits, I always ask “what have we lost”. Each individual has a unique value. Maybe that’s why I’m pro life. Maybe that baby is going to cure cancer, advance human thinking, or just make people laugh.

(I can see the groans on your faces! He’s going to tell the Wally Crowther Cave story again! Arghh! Run. He is “in a twisty maze of passageways, all alike” in his sick mind. Now he’s going to tell that story again. Run! Ahhh! Too late. Not fast enough!)

When I was at AT&T I found adventure. Not out on the plains of Africa, not in the dangerous streets of manhattan, not on a mountain. I found it at the end of a teletype terminal. I dragged it everywhere there was a phone line. I was hooked. Colossal Cave Adventure was the first known interactive fiction game, created by Will Crowther originally, to simulate his cave exploring experiences. I played Adventure so often that sometimes I would fall asleep at the computer, not go to class, or ignore everything. I made maps. And shared them with my fellow geeks. Meeting dwarfs and saying “plugh”. I figured out how to traverse the identical caves. I actually had the path memorized. When I was dropped in the maze randomly. All I need was one object (I always kept the empty bird cage for that purpose) and I could be out of the maze in no more than thirty two steps with the cage. I would find my way out and then go back to get may cage for when it happened again. I enjoyed the world that existed solely in my head and some far off server. Adventure by my keyboard.

Anyway, I became aware of the unknown value of a potential life from a stupid computer game. (No, I was not on drugs! It just came as one of my “insights”. You know, bang your head on the wall long enough and you get the “insight” that maybe it would hurt less if you stopped!)

Early in the game there’s a bird. Fifth or sixth move. And you can do lot’s of things with the bird. Kill it. Eat it. But if you leave it alone, then a few caves later, you’ll find a bird cage. And a few caves later, your progress is blocked by a giant snake. So having nothing much else to do, you go back get the cage, catch the bird, and release it at the snake. The bird drives off the snake and you are free to explore Walter’s world that everyone is raving about.

Now I introduced a number of people to the game. I was amazed at how many smart people for no good reason would kill the bird. It told me something about human nature and life.

(1) Killing things chokes off possibilities. That’s when I became a pro-lifer. Maybe we have aborted the person who will cure cancer, lead us to the stars, or just make us laugh. Look at Hawking advancing the forefront of physics and tell me that it can’t happen. So I formed my opinion, that we ought not be killing people. Before they are born, after they do bad things, because they are deformed, old, sick, or don’t conform to someone’s opinions of what should be.

(2) People do things for no good reason just cause they can. And, they are never aware that they have limited their possibilities. Eliminated a path of great possible reward. Scoped themselves down. Hence I relized that making choices is fraught with hidden risks and I always thought about my choices very very carefully. Choices end to be mutually exclusive. Doing X means you can’t do Y. That makes life tough.

By The Way, I never told any of them what they missed. It was perverse. But those of us who had gotten by the snake formed a sacred oath never to divulge the secret of the snake. It was hysterical to watch people spend literally hours trying to find the now permanently blocked path. Someone once said something about “experience is a hard teach but fools will learn form no other”.

Any way, does this blog matter? It represents a choice. By doing this, I am not doing somethign else. And you now know why choices are so hard for me. I know there is a lot I don’t know but I don’t know what I don’t know. Help me?


RANT: LET THEM eat cake — or wait in line for a Prius.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/04/27/real_relief_on_gas_prices/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+–+Op-ed+columns

***Begin Quote***

''Gasoline price increases are like a hidden tax on the working people," President Bush said in a speech that called for a federal inquiry into possible price-gouging, an easing of environmental rules on gasoline production, and a halt to new purchases for the nation's energy reserve.

Bush conveniently ignored one built-in cost: Government levies include a federal 18.4 cents-a-gallon tax on gas; and the states tax on top of that.

***End Quote***

Hey, somebody figured out that the tax on gasoline gets added into everything we buy. Hmmm, think I heard that before. What are we stupid?


RANT: Against mindless forwarding of email

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Dear fellow traveler,

I don't understand how forwarding an email that may or may not be authentic helps anyone. Usually I counsel people not to do this bcause:

(1) Cause it doesn't get read.
(2) It absorbs a lot of different kinds of "space".
(3) Exposing all those email addresses to spammers is a bad idea.
(4) It doesn't influence anyone.

[The reader's are urge to improve my list by sharing their own points.]

If you were moved by the underlying message, then tell us about your experience. Trim the text so it has a high signal to noise ratio. Distill it.

(By the way, pictures don't usually come thru the forwarding process well. And they take a lot of space.)

That adding, distillation, and trimming all has value and merit. And, it might influence your fellow XYZers to think about something, think about it differently, or Intelligent Designer forbid they might actually change an opinion. See the way you did it, forwarding a many times forwarded message with no value added, makes people think that it was done in a careless fashion. Where as, if you add some value to it by telling people why you think it's important to share it, then you might actually do some good.

Email is a wonderful tool properly used. This message did nothing for me but make me rant.


Why do the players have to sit out?

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

The New York Post
April 26, 2006 Wednesday
SECTION: All Editions; Pg. 82
HEADLINE: JASPER BIG 3 IN LIMBO
BYLINE: TIM SULLIVAN
LOAD-DATE: April 26, 2006

***Begin Quote***

Xavier, a sophomore guard from Pawtucket, R.I., who averaged 16.6 points this season, has a scholarship waiting for him at Providence if he’d like to transfer, sit out a season and play for his hometown Friars. The Big East might be too tough to turn down, but he is keeping all options open.

***End Quote***

It really not fair that the coach can change at will, and yet the players have to sit out a year if they transfer. It’s just rotten! Now, why doesn’t the coach have to sit out for a year?

Why do the players have to sit out?

At the very least, to compensate them for the “lost years” (i.e., for the time they invested in the departing coach who leaves them in the lurch), they should be allowed to play for some one else right away.


The CEO, the COO, and the CFO conspire to weenie the employees of a start up!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/security/investigator/archives/008976.asp

***Begin Quote***

In several emails he outlined a plan where the company assets (intellectual property, equipment, etc) would be sold and transferred to the buying company. The employees "are not a transferable asset, nor are they essential to a successful IP transition. We are prepared to 'trickle' them out in groups during the transition period". In other emails to C-level executives at our company, he repeatedly fought off the CEO and COO desire for compensation packages for employees that had been around for at least one year of employment. The CFO spewed financial nonsense and bull$hit, however he was accurate to the penny on what each executive would receive as compensation. These guys were going to make millions. In a few of the last emails, the CEO and COO caved under the pressure and greed.

***End Quote***

For anyone who has NOT yet realized that the "rules of engagement" for employment, here is you wake up call.

While I personally deplore the actions that were supposedly taken, I have to admire when justice is served. There is no way, no how, that seekers should be deceived into working like a dog WITHOUT a just reward.

###


What is this “barbara streisand”?

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Important Authentication Disclosure

To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money-laundering activities, Federal law requires Fidelity to verify your identity by obtaining your name, date of birth, address, and a government-issued identification number before opening your account. In certain circumstances, Fidelity may obtain and verify this information with respect to any person(s) authorized to effect transactions in an account. For certain entities, such as trusts, estates, corporations, partnerships, or other organizations, identifying documentation is required. Your account may be restricted and/or closed if Fidelity cannot verify this information. Fidelity will not be responsible for any losses or damages (including but not limited to lost opportunity) resulting from any failure to provide this information, or from any restriction placed upon, or closing of, my account.


Suprynowicz nails the true purpose of “gummint publik skoolzs”

Sunday, April 23, 2006

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Apr-23-Sun-2006/opinion/6595142.html

***Begin Quote***

The purpose of government schooling, Gatto learns from Alexander Inglis's 1918 book, "Principles of Secondary Education," is "to watch over and control a population deliberately dumbed down and declawed in order that government might proceed unchallenged and corporations might never want for obedient labor.

"That, unfortunately, is the purpose of mandatory public education in this country."

The result? "We have become a nation of children," Gatto offers as our cultural epitaph, "happy to surrender our judgments and our wills to political exhortations and commercial blandishments that would insult actual adults."

This week and last, I have cited many sources, though necessarily in much abbreviated form, on literacy during the era of the Founding Fathers, which is generally held to have ended with the deaths of Adams and Jefferson in 1826.

Surely whether a reader chooses to seek them out and study them at more length, or responds by harrumphing that, "I certainly don't agree with those facts," will best allow us to judge whether he or she truly "wants to learn" why our government youth internment camps are producing an ever higher percentage of functional illiterates …

Just as they were intended to.

***

Vin Suprynowicz (vsuprynowicz@reviewjournal.com) is assistant editorial page editor of the Review-Journal and author of "Send in the Waco Killers" and the new novel "The Black Arrow.." His column appears Sunday. 

***End Quote***

A pretty compeling indictment. But how do we move from "gummamint publik skools" back to prive schools?


But which party is fat and which is ugly? To me, they’re both like Cinderella’s step sisters!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/51102

***Begin Quote***

This is like a fat person telling an ugly person they can lose weight, eventually, but there's no time like the present for the Dems. 

***End Quote***

When will people realize that they are being hustled? There is no difference between the two. With Shrub's eight years (Bush 2's two terms), we now have AMPLE evidence that the R's are NOT the party of smaller government. They fooled you didn't they. Not me! I voted Libertarian. AND, Clinton's two terms demonstrates, that while the D's during those eight years weren't as bad as Shrub's eight years, they aren't going to give you smaller less-intrusive government.

No, for all the flaws and foibles of the Libertarian Party, they are the Party of Principle. That principle is liberty. You have to be free. Free to make your own decisions. Good decisions, bad decisions, and personal decisions.

The Federal Government is both FAT and UGLY!

Fat in that they are involved in everything. A bloated organization, which really is the gang that can't shoot straight, where one out every five Americans relies on the government for employment. (Five may not be exactly right but it's close. It's definitely single digits.) They have run up an enormous debt (that we need to grow ourselves out of), inflated the currency that eviscerates our savings and impoverishes pensioners, run the Social Security Ponzi scheme for their own spending, and have citizens fighting each other over scraps (to preserve this or that program).

Ugly in that they have destroyed our Constitutionally recognized, Intelligent Designer given, inalienable rights. Lets itemize a free of the more obvious ones: (1) First Amendment free speech zones; (2) Second Amendment gun seizures in NOLA; (4) Fourth Amendment "war on drug" raids and airport searches; (5) Fifth Amendment Kelo decision; (6) Tenth Amendment Medical Marijuana State laws abrogated. AND that is just off the top of my head. Don't forget we are fighting and undeclared war. Don't forget we have a President who says that he doesn't have to follow the law. Don't forget that we have an out of control bunch of private gangs running around like the BATF, every darn agency has guns with "police" power (like Department of Agriculture), and tax laws that are enslaving us.

I no longer consent to this government!


Don’t get old!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

While I urge evryone to get the paperwork in order when they are young, (i.e., will, poa, hcp, and advanced directive), I predict that we all will get old. I have three old folk that I am responsible for. Tonight I am elder-sitting my Mom who just came home from the hospital. She lives in NYC and I’m in Jersey. This would have been so much much easier if I could have convinced her to move to NJ with the rest of the relatives decades ago. But her stuborness, and my inability to convince, and my failure to “make her”, puts me where I am today. She’s getting older and could have had an easier life by being closer.

So, under the theory that you dont have to pay tuition for every lesson (i.e., don’t make the same mistakes I do; learn from the mistakes of others; be a “fortune teller” predict the future), learn from my mistakes. If you are an only child, have your parents physically close to you. Whine, cajole, cry, snivel, snit, and even be down right nasty about it. Cause it’s a pay now or pay later situation. I’m paying now. And I regret not have prepaid for this trouble.


FUP: on Ed’s post

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Well in this case it was not handholding that was needed but a solution. The product did install after a slew of retries, I lost count after 10, I was not eligible for a free first support because I was already a customer. I bought a copy a few years ago and it works for me. I foolishly showed my doc friend how neat it was and he had me buy a copy for him, install it, and help him get running. Even after getting it running, it stopped working (i.e., just will not execute the code). It works flawlessly on my notebook but not his. Oh and By The Way, Dragon is Nuanced also. Which is why I aimed him at ViaVoice as opposed to Dragon. Bottom line: Buyer beware.