WSOD white screen of death ?
TECH: LUGGABLE WSOD at 1901! Reboot and back at 1911
Saturday, June 17, 2006WSOD white screen of death ?
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Posted by reinkefj
LIBERTY: War’s hidden costs!
Saturday, June 17, 2006http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13378156/
Navy thinks it’s found long-lost WWII sub
Wreck found at the bottom of the Gulf of Thailand may be USS Lagarto
Updated: 7:50 a.m. ET June 17, 2006
***Begin Quote***
HONOLULU – For 60 years, Nancy Kenney wondered what happened to her father.
The submarine that William T. Mabin was in disappeared while he and his crewmates were on a mission to attack a Japanese convoy in the last months of World War II.
***End Quote***
We always forget the costs of war. I STILL think that every street, gubamint building, or project should be named for a vet. I'f start with the MIAs, then do the KIAs. If we need more, then let's use the names of the disabled and wounded from the past wars. Maybe, just maybe, we would communicate to the children that vote us into these messes that they cost us more than money. One has to wonder what contributions William T. Mabin would have made had he returned from the war. Maybe he would cure cancer, be elected to office keeping us out of wars, or just be the greatest crossing guard in Michigan history. Like the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" postulates, " … all those men on that ship died, because Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry." We have no idea of the permutations and combinations possible!
But, we know one thing for sure, William T. Mabin would have known his daughter. And she would have known her father. For better or worse. But we can assume we know that war caused Mabin's death, Kenney's sorrow, and all of us are poorer for it.
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Posted by reinkefj
MONEY: The demographic timebomb!
Saturday, June 17, 2006from an ezine I read:
***Begin Quote***
Our policymakers will follow the example of the Japanese, because it is the only model they can reasonably be expected to follow. And, as in Japan, the policies used will ease the pain a little but will certainly not cure the disease. Americans, long scolded by the rest of the world as being spendthrifts, will suddenly start to resemble their Asian counterparts in their saving habits. Consumer spending will drop, and the economy will scratch and claw frantically just to avoid falling into the abyss of deflation, the likes of which haven't been seen on American shores since the 1930s.
***End Quote***
So, we have to prepare for the Great Depression Version Two Point Oh! Interesting since we have exemplars of what happens when politicians run their countries off the economic road. If they inflate their fiat currency too much, hyperinflation a la Germany in the 1920s. If they inflate it too little, they miss an opportunity to profit from their counterfeiting. If they don't inflate, then they get deflation a la the 29 Crash which was caused by the Smoot Hawley tariffs. If they have the pension ponzi, then the old folks WILL be eating dogfood. And, if anyone gets wise to the crisis, a la the Japanese people and shift from spend to save, the economy goes in the dumpster.
My response: cutback on spending, save, avoid extravegence, invest, and horde.
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Posted by reinkefj
TECH: Power hit and inet connectivity lost!
Saturday, June 17, 2006At 0717, I was dong my morning work (i.e., catching up with the news and opinion at may favorite sites). The ups protecting the tv in the living room beeped. It was short one, or maybe two chirps. And, my internet connectivity was gone. LUGable was reporting "limited connectivity". Sigh. I tried restarting my connection to the wireless lan. It said all was ok. Had to save all my work. Rebooted to no avail. So I went to the garage and cycled the "data center".
Everything computing is eventually hooked to one extension cord that end right by the door. One tug, everything powers down. Plug in, everything powers back up. Maybe? Arghh!
By the time I get back to LUGable is happily reconnecting all my apps to the net. The Clam AV tells me "we have had a disconnect" of some stuck drivel! I'm aggravated. And, I've lost 22 minutes. Double Argh! There has to be a better way.
UPS the wap? Or, was the problem the ISP at the pole?
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Posted by reinkefj
LIBERTY: Free to … … learn from the books you are told to learn from!
Saturday, June 17, 2006http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north461.html
Textbooks as Ideological Weapons by Gary North
***Begin Quote***
For four decades, 1961–2001, R. J. Rushdoony was the best-known Protestant defender of Christian education and the de-funding of all tax-supported public education. There were other defenders of Christian education in the twentieth century, but none equally committed to the complete de-funding of public education. The others were defenders of Christian education as supplementary to public education. His position was hard-core: Take away the public schools' money.
His position was grounded on a concept of responsibility: Parents, not taxpayers, are responsible for their children's education. He accepted church-supported schools, but he thought they were generally a mistake. Parents do not pay for 100% of their children's education, so parents must share responsibility with church members. This leads to division in the churches over how the money should be spent. His ideal was either profit-seeking schools along the lines of Fairfax Christian School in Virginia, or home schooling.
***End Quote***
Even the good Brothers who taught me didn't understand that they were being fooled into indoctrinating me and their other charges.
I particularly like North's two prong test for indoctrination (1) the Federalist debate; and (2) the war of Northern Aggression aka the Civil war but what really should be called the end of the American Revolution. While the new nation state survived, it was set inexorable and inescapable down the path of empire.
It is a tremendous burden that Libertarians have to overcome. We have to reverse literally nearly a century of brainwashing. It makes the Communists look like amateurs.
So how do we take back "our revolution"?
We have to roll back the Socialist's victories. Their key wins: the "publk skoolz"; the fiat currency; the progressive income tax; and the militarization of the American empire.
Focusing on the schools, they are: immoral, ineffective, and inefficient.
By definition, they are funded with stolen money (i.e., taxes). So using the principle of the "end can not justify the means", they are the result of an immoral theft.
They also teach from a common agenda. That can possibly match what the parents believe in, so that's an immoral brainwashing of children.
We have evidence today of their ineffectiveness. We're last in the world in so many categories that it's a joke. We hear the stories about dropouts and rigged tests. We know from personal interaction with children that bright inquisitive children go in and brain dead functional illiterates come out the other side.
The famous Objectivist Branden compared education to shoes, arguing that private enterprise is more efficient at providing goods and services than the government. So we know that they are inefficient.
So how do we strike back. I'd advocate a three pronged approach: (1) Make fun of the whole idea. Big Gubamint doesn't like to be perceived as a fool. It's hard to oppress the people if they are are laughing at you. The recent roll back of the Spanish American War cell phone tax was imho primarily due to the late night monologues making it obvious to even the graduates of gubamint skoolz that they were being screwed. Make the whole subject of gubamint skoolz a laughing matter. (2) Parents want the best for their children. Educate them about what their children will turn into after 8, 12, 16, or 20 years of what passes for education in Amerika. (3) Have an agreed paln about how we get out of this mess. It took us 70 years to get to where we are. We can't fix it overnight. Let's have a forty year plan to get out of this mess. I blogged about 20 to switch to a free market school system and the second twenty to end the taxpayer funding. People need time to adapt. (4) Don't let up keep hammering the message: ridiculously funny, immoral by theft, immoral in what they teach, ineffective, and inefficient. And wrong, un-American, and anti-Liberty.
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Posted by reinkefj
MONEY: Saving in a tax advantaged account more important for the young!
Friday, June 16, 2006June 14, 2006
Who saves for retirement—and who doesn't?
***Begin Quote***
If you're saving for retirement in an employer-sponsored investment plan, you're in good company. According to How America Saves, an annual report published by the Vanguard Center for Retirement Research, about two-thirds of eligible employees join their workplace 401(k) plan.
***End Quote***
Our old friend / enemy is the time value of money! There's a numerical example that regularly kicks around Wall Street that demonstrates a few years of maximum saving early outdistances lots of years later. For the later boomers and all that come after them had best prepare for the "years of lean" coming soon to a country near you.
Carter style inflation, dramatically higher prices, a lot of bickering squabling and hard luck stories on the horizon.
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Posted by reinkefj
LIBERTY: Government Retirement Programs are immoral!
Friday, June 16, 2006http://www.mises.org/story/2196
The Case of Government Retirement Programs
by Mark A. Pribonic
Posted on Thursday, June 15, 2006
***Begin Quote***
I call these programs misdeeds by the political caste because it has been obvious since their inception that there is not enough wealth created to ever sustain them but for a short period of time. The lessons of defined-benefit pensions, which Social Security is the largest example of, have been well documented in the recently revealed financial troubles of the domestic auto companies, airlines, and others. Ignorance of economic law is no excuse.
***End Quote***
Clearly Social Security Insurance is not insurance. Ponzi scheme would be a better description. Insurance company executives would be in jail if they did what the politicians have done. If we think about these benefits as a discounted cash flow, that anyone in an MBA or an undergraduate course knows, then there has to be an asset to balance the teeter totter. The ROI of social security insurance is negative. There is no asset to provide the needed balance. So that bill will come do. There is a reason that business has moved from defined benefit pensions akin to social security. But, the business had to create that pool of assets to pay off its pensioners. Otherwise, the government would send the executives to jail. Note that politicians and professional bureaucrats don't go to jail for the same behavior. What's different? The change from defined benefit to defined contribution plans puts the onus on the employee, not the company.
Clearly, governemt employee pensions are not funded like a company's pension plan. Unfunded liabilities abound in the government. And, we get to make good on these when they come do.
Just as clearly, the chickens are going to come home to roost, and they are going to be big, dirty, and nasty.
Consider when all these unfunded liabilities come due, there are only a few choices to make good on them:
- Increase taxes to stunning levels;
- Decrease benefits to manageable levels;
- Sell off the national treasures;
- Inflate the currency;
- Or, do the unthinkable and renege on the promises.
My bet is for inflation. It's the "quietest tax" on accumulated savings, cash, and fixed incomes. The market will respond to the increased amount of money chasing the same amount of goods. It'll make Carter's 21% inflation look tame. It will be like the German hyperinflation in the 20s.
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Posted by reinkefj
TECH: Did you fall for Microsoft’s Window Genuine?
Friday, June 16, 2006http://windowssecrets.com/comp/060615/
***Begin Quote***
Step 1. Stop the misleading installation of possibly unwanted programs.
Step 2. Disable WGA's incessant notifications.
Step 3. Prevent WGA from phoning home to Microsoft servers.
***End Quote***
Sigh, and you wonder why my next migration is to Linux?
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Posted by reinkefj
TECH: “CHOICEMAIL” a spam preventative … free for one account!
Thursday, June 15, 2006I put the free version up on one of my spammy email accounts. It seems to work like a charm. I haven't seen any spam slipping through. AND, I have not heard of any complaints about it incorrectly blocking good mail. More when I have it.
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Posted by reinkefj
TURKEY: Introduction to Being A Turkey … … (offered as needed)
Thursday, June 15, 2006Turkey College
Introduction to Being A Turkey
A twelve week methodical overview of Turkey-ism
The course is intended to help turkeys (i.e., recently unemployed) with their thinking? It moves the new turkey from self-pity, depression, self-doubt, stupidity, blindness, and hubris to where they can embrace their inner turkey. By the end of the course, the emerging turkey will be able to: (1) Recognize their starting point, their progress, and what is left to learn. (2) Express their status as a turkey, not from a loser's pov, but from being a worthwhile and productive member of the turkey fraternity. (3) Demonstrate their value: in an elevator introduction, a two minute "tell me all about yourself" spiel, in a value proposition, in a sales document, in an interview, and in helping others. (4) Perhaps, have a new job.
- Week 01: Establishing rapport
- Week 02: Do you really really want help
- Week 03: Process & funnel (Turkey processing plant)
- Week 04: What do you want? (Requiron)
- Week 05: What can you do? (Value Equations)
- Week 06: What can I sell (UVEs 2 USPs)
- Week 07: How do I market a USP? (Sources of leads)
- Week 08: Conversation starters (covers and resumes)
- Week 09: Measuring results (Fill the funnel)
- Week 10: Networking (It ain't what you think!)
- Week 11: Interviewing (Use Role play)
- Week 12: Evaluating Offers ("yes, but")
- Week 13: Wisdom (Knowing what you don't know!)
This formalizes a FREE service offering by The Big Turkey himself. Currently, the course has 4 seats free. Ping the The Big Turkey for current availability or wait listing.
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Posted by reinkefj
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