http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8S1FESO0&show_article=1
Developer Builds Around Woman’s Home
Oct 2 09:57 PM US/Eastern
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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.
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SO much for zoning. Health codes. And, all those politicians promising to protect the old folks.
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Leave a Comment » | 
Ranting | 
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Posted by reinkefj
I thought that title would get your ‘attention’. This is my second post to John’s blog, he gave me authorship privileges to write ‘one’ article a couple of weeks ago, and now here I am putting another post on his blog! (I may lose my ‘interim’ author privileges, eh?) Well here goes…my late father wrote some memoirs before he died, and in those he wrote a piece about how he won on the roulette tables. Not always win he said, but more often than not. He looked at the roulette wheel as a circle, with various ‘arcs’ within it. I believe he had memorized the position of the numbers on the wheel, or maybe he carried a picture like the one below with him.
His ‘process’ was to look at the previous numbers that had ‘hit’ on a wheel (all casinos display them as a list…probably about the last 20 spins I believe). He would look for ‘patterns’ in the hits, ie, an abundance of numbers hitting that fell into a particular ‘arc’ of the wheel. In other words, take the picture below and assume the roulette wheel is a clock. Divide the clock into four sections, e.g., 12 – 3 o’clock, 3 – 6 o’clock, 6 – 9, and 9 -12. He would look at the list of the previous displayed hits on the wheel, and on some roulette tables he noticed that the most frequent numbers that hit fell into one of these four arcs, at least more times than the other arcs of the wheel. So on that roulette table, he would then place his bets on the nine or ten numbers (1/4 of the possible 38 numbers) that are located in that arc. For example, let’s say most of the numbers that had been hitting were numbers in the ‘6 – 9 o’clock’ section of the wheel. Looking in the sample wheel below, those numbers would be: 6, 10, 31, 19, 8, 12, 29, 25, 10, and 27.
Now if you follow his logic, it would imply that certain roulette tables have wheels that are slightly off-level, or for some reason have a tendency for numbers to land in a particular arc of the wheel. They are probably manufactured such that this is supposed to be an impossibility, but who knows….I know it worked for my dad, maybe it was the humidity of the room and its affect on those wheels, or some other phenomena like that…or maybe it was because this was over 15 years ago and they didn’t have the technology to make wheels like they do today. I also must confess I haven’t tried this yet, but I will on my next trip to a casino, and then I will let you know!
Image above compliments of: http://www.ds.unifi.it/VL/VL_EN/games/games5.html
19 Comments | INTERESTING | Permalink
Posted by frenchync
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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Leave a Comment » | Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
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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Leave a Comment » | Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
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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Leave a Comment » | Productivity | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.note2email.com/write
NOTE2EMAIL
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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 !
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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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Leave a Comment » | SERVICE | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Jul-11-Fri-2003/news/21707576.html
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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?
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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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Leave a Comment » | Political | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Beyonce dumps Malaysia show to avoid Muslim outcry
Tue Oct 2, 2007 1:43am EDT
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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.
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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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1 Comment | INTERESTING | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2007/092607backspin.html?page=2
The industry’s soft underbelly
Backspin By Mark Gibbs, Network World, 09/26/07
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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?
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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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Leave a Comment » | Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.nhinsider.com/matt-simon/2007/9/21/values-voters-get-earful-of-truth-from-ron-paul.html
Values Voters’ Get Earful of Truth from Ron Paul
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But anyway, I want to get back to the draft…
This is an issue where the pro-liberty position, the truly moral position, is painfully simple. If we are forced into a service for which we would not volunteer, then we do not own ourselves. If we do not own ourselves, we are not free people. This would have been a no-brainer for the founding fathers, who constructed our government based on the notion that individuals were born free and sovereign.
To the signers of the Declaration of Independence, it was “self-evident” that people were born with “inalienable rights” and that a legitimate government “derives its just powers from the consent of the governed.” Over time, we have been successful in extending the Declaration’s promise to individuals who happen to be female and/or non-white. But we’ve gone in a radically wrong directon on other fronts, and the draft provides a perfect example. Forced service is a form of slavery, period.
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It’s clearly an idea who’s time has past!
So why are the politicians afraid to end it?
It means jobs for their friends and relatives. Contracts for their contributors. And, more than anything, something they can pander about!
End the draft and draft registration now!!
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Leave a Comment » | LIBERTY | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
-
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FJohn Reinke
Consultant at Technology Legacies LLC
Advisor, Computer Governance Committee at Manhattan College
Editor / Publisher at Jasper Jottings
Greater New York City Area
JJ Positraction JJ Endnotes Downsize DC
Philosophy of Liberty
I have NOT received any gagged governmental information requests
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