Change your Brain, Change Your Life 1/7 20080420
I watched this last night. Pretty interesting stuff.
INTERESTING: Change your Brain, Change Your Life
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Leave a Comment » | 
INTERESTING | Tagged: INNOVATION | 
Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
POLITICAL: USA has a “de facto” one party system!
Saturday, December 6, 2008http://www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer186.html
Trust In the GOP?
by Butler Shaffer
*** begin quote ***
I have had a few people – fearful of our collapsing into a one-party system – ask me what should be done to restore the strength and integrity of the Republican Party, so that we may have the kind of vibrant political contest necessary for a free society. My answer has been to let the GOP collapse of its own dead weight. For more years than I can recount, we have long had a one-party system in America, disguised in the form of two branches that owe their allegiances to the country’s corporate owners, and who espouse minor variations on the same establishment-serving themes. If you doubt this is so, please explain to me how a Ron Paul – or his supporters – was literally forced into the wings of public debates and conventions, or why the efforts of “third parties” to get on ballots – or be interviewed by the mainstream media – took on a Sisyphian character. At the very least, the demise of the Republican Party can strip away any further pretense that there is any genuine difference in the principles by which political systems are governed in America.
The only alternative to what our nation has become is not to be found in the entities that created and profit from the mess; but in bringing about a major paradigm shift in our thinking about more free, peaceful, and productive ways of living together in society. Such a shift will not take place in Washington, D.C., or via network television, or in so-called “think tanks.” It will occur, if at all, only within your own conscious mind. Libertarian and anarchist philosophies can provide insights to facilitate this transformation but, ultimately, the change will occur only within yourself. Some of the best advice, in this regard, comes from James Wolcott, who tells us that “the lies the government and media tell are amplifications of the lies we tell ourselves. To stop being conned, stop conning yourself.”
*** and ***
December 6, 2008
Butler Shaffer [send him e-mail] teaches at the Southwestern University School of Law. He is the author of the newly-released In Restraint of Trade: The Business Campaign Against Competition, 1918–1938 and of Calculated Chaos: Institutional Threats to Peace and Human Survival.
*** end quote ***
Sorry, but the people ARE sheeple! Like lambs to the slaughter, they are mesmerized by the song of the “one eyed monster”, the “vast wasteland”, TV. And, it’s media clones “the free press”, Hollywood, “talk radio”, and the “illiterate”. Craven politician pander to the mobs every prejudice and have zero backbone. Using the Clinton playbook, when caught, they just look in the camera and lie! (Example, Barney Frank and Chis Dodd who are at the heart of the Fannie and Freddie mess just ignoring their role in it. Rangal and his rent-controlled apartments. Obama’s “public financing” pledge and his position as the “peace candidate”. And on and on.)
No, a plague on all their houses. They fool me no more!
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | Political | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
QUOTE: Pick your battles
Saturday, December 6, 2008“Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.” – Jonathon Kozol
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | Quotes | Tagged: INNOVATION, Quotes | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
CRYPTO: Never underestimate the ingenuity
Friday, December 5, 2008http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/20580
11 Stamp Stories Worth Retelling by the mag – November 30, 2008 – 11:11 AM
By David A. Norris
*** begin quote ***
A Penny For Your Mischievous Thoughts
According to legend, Sir Rowland Hill got the idea for the Penny Postage program one day while watching a barmaid tearfully plead with a mailman. Unable to afford the shilling demanded for postage, she begged simply to hold the letter sent by her beloved brother. Hill then watched as the girl scanned the envelope intensely, as if trying to read its contents mentally. Touched, Hill coughed up a shilling and gave her the letter. The girl stopped crying, but instead of being grateful, she became nervous. After the postman left, she confessed that the letter was blank. Her brother’s message was contained in secret marks made on the envelope. Apparently, the two had devised a system whereby they could send each other messages through the post for free.
*** end quote ***
Never hear that one. BUT, it certainly doesn’t surprise me. At all. If you can’t keep drugs out of prisons, don’t underestimate people’s ability to “game” the system.
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | CRYPTO | Tagged: INNOVATION | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
MCBA: Taking Macs off my recommended list
Friday, December 5, 2008For all the griping about Microsoft and its problems with Operating Systems, Apple is rapidly moving into the same class. There is a very annoying problem that arrived with a required update. Now every so often the Mac Book Air stops working while it rescans and reconnects to the WiFi Access Point.
Browsing the web shows that this has been a problem since the First Quarter of this year.
Argh!
Don’t buy Microsoft or Apple. Bite the bullet and go directly to Linux. At least, when you have a problem, you’ll know you are on your own!
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | MACBOOKAIR | Tagged: Problems | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
POLITICAL: Think badly about O and get a visit from the Secret Service?
Thursday, December 4, 2008http://ncc-1776.org/tle2008/tle495-20081130-03.html
THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE
Number 495, November 30, 2008
“The Thought Police have arrived.”
Entering the Age of O-ppression? by William Warren
Special to The Libertarian Enterprise
*** begin quote ***
“I certainly feel like they were trying to make me be quiet and trying to intimidate me and take away my free speech… That’s what really enraged me is that I thought ‘there’s a lot of people out there that if [the secret service] showed up on their porch, that’s exactly what they’d do—they’d be quiet’… I wasn’t going to be the one.”—Jessica Hughes, in an exclusive interview with ALG News, November 20th, 2008.
In the face of insurmountable intimidation and bullying from armed Obama lieutenants, Jessica Hughes of Lufkin Texas has remained defiant—like any good American who values free speech and views dissent as a patriotic duty.
*** end quote ***
Obviously, things are not going to improve with the “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS” when one doesn’t agree with the Obama “true believers”.
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: Gooferment, Obama, POTUS08, Presidential2008, raw naked power | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
NJ: Lonegan NJ Guv candidate — for lower taxes!
Thursday, December 4, 2008http://lonegan.com/Where_Steve_Stands.aspx
Steve Lonegan
Republican for Governor
*** begin quote ***
Where Steve Stands On The Issues
Steve Lonegan is New Jersey’s number one fighter for overtaxed working families fed up with high taxes and an intrusive state government.
People know Steve Lonegan as a man of action — a champion for working families who don’t understand why their taxes keep going up and up.
Lonegan is a conservative concerned that state government has grown too big and out of control.
For too long, taxpayers have looked at Trenton as a hostile force working against the interests of working families and local towns. Those days will end when Steve Lonegan is Governor and taxpayers will finally have a friend in Trenton.
Thanks to Jon Corzine and his fellow liberals, New Jersey now has the worst small business taxes as well as the highest state and local taxes. Under Corzine and the Democrats, state government spending has increased from $21 Billion to $33 Billion — a 57 percent increase in just 8 years!
As Governor, Steve will put an end to out-of-control spending. Lonegan will veto liberal spending programs, eliminate wasteful agencies and completely overhaul state government.
New regulations on small business owners from landscapers to fitness trainers will be overturned. Regulations forcing high-density, Low Income Housing projects on our suburban towns will be repealed.
{Extraneous Deleted}
# – # – #
Sounds good to me.
# # # # #
2 Comments | NEW JERSEY | Tagged: Corporate Tax, DOWNSIZING, Income Tax | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
RANT: Guess who will vote for a bailout?
Thursday, December 4, 2008http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/03/cbsnews_investigates/main4646424.shtml
Big Three Spending Millions On Lobbying
Auto Makers Drowning In Red, But Still Give Nearly 50 Million Dollars To Politicians
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2008 | by Sharyl Attkisson
*** begin quote ***
The auto industry spent nearly $50 million lobbying Congress in the first nine months of this year.
And people tied to the auto industry gave another $15 million in campaign contributions, CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.
*** end quote ***
So, the congresscritters have been bribed?
Argh!
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: Bailout, Bailouts, Gooferment, Moral Hazard, Revolt, Tax Revolt | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
JOBSEACH: A budding engineer asks my opinion?
Thursday, December 4, 2008>>Do we know each other or have some connection i’m blanking on?
>Nope, I’m just a reader of your blog and noticed you were on Facebook.
> Just thought I’d add you.
> Oh and I noticed you’re an engineer. I’m on my way to being a mechanical engineer and
>was wondering if you would recommend electrical over mechanical.
Well, I can’t say much about how you waste your time. :-) Reading my blog. Thanks. It’s a very confused modest effort. I’m happy to do the Vulcan mind meld with you on Facebook.
I’m more of a “computer” injineer. I took an EE program because that was how “computing” was done in those “old days”. My first degree was actually BEEE for Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Did the 148 credts for Electrical and an extra 28 credits of “Senior Level” courses for the “Electronic” side. Semiconductor theory, Compiler theory, and such. For the College, who was just dipping their toe in that “pond”, it eventually became their Computer Science major that was jointly offered between the Engineering and Business Schools. I went on to exploit it in the “business world”, as opposed to “scientific” or “theoretical”. The rest is history.
I’d say you’ve got a Chevy versus Dodge choice. It’s in the eye of the beholder. It really depends upon what your vision for your life is. Does electricity or mechanical systems float your boat. IT’s a tough economy out their right now, BUT, (there is always a big butt), I think “engineering” trains you to think in a certain fashion. Must be all the math. Two important caveats: (1) “Life” and “People” are not suitable for “engineering solutions”. You need diferent skills for dealing with them that you don’t necessarily get in engineering school. Engineers are very blunt; that’s not so good. (2) Engineers always think there is a “right answer”, add a safety factor, and everyone will agree. Doesn’t work that way with “soft” problems.
I can’t tell you to pick one over the other. I can suggest that life is much harder for your generation. Success for your generation is: (1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt; (2) a life long interest in learning — education — a degree — they can’t take it away from you; (3) a white collar job in order to save big bux; (4) a blue collar skill for hard times — never saw a poor plumber; (5) one or more internet based businesses — your store is always open; (6) a free time hobby that generates income; and (7) a large will-maintained network of people who can “help” you.
I think: (A) You need to talk to your Deans at school. I assume you have a Dean of Engineering, an “Electrical” Dean, and a “Mechanical” Dean. Seek their guidance. I think you’d find them to be very open and knowledgeable. (B) Talk to at least four alumni from your school. Two in each discipline. Get their opinions of their respective fields. (C) Talk to the jobs people at your school. Find out where the last few graduating classes went. (D) Finally, talk to your parents. (They know you best. And, have your best interest at heart.)
I’m jealous. I wish I was just starting out again. But, I’ve made my mistakes. Paid dearly for them and hopefully learned from them. You’ve got virtually unlimited possibilities. It’s a great time to spread your wings! The world is your oyster. If I were you, I’d seek what made me choose “Engineering” in the first place and carefully “follow your gut” from there.
Good luck, feel free to “stand on my shoulders” anytime. I hope this was helpful.
Your e-freind,
fjohn
P.S.: Begin to build your professional profile on LinkedIn and connect to me there also. It’s like “Facebook” for recruiters and job seekers.
# – # – #
I’m humbled that (a) Someone actually reads my blog. (b) Actually asks my advice on their life.
That’s a very scary position to be put in. I could ruin his life and view of people. So I took the time to bang out an honest and complete answer. I include it here because I have always felt that when some one takes the time and courage to ask, then they deserve an answer. That and if there’s one questioner, there are others out their too timid to ask. Not that I am some “temple of wisdom”, but like I once heard a quiz show exclaim: “But I gave my answer quickly!” That’s me, maybe wrong, but quick. And, approachable. :-)
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | JOBSEARCH | Tagged: Education | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
RANT: Brits did a moral outrage for the US Navy
Wednesday, December 3, 2008http://www.lewrockwell.com/pilger/pilger71.html
The Corruption That Makes Unpeople of an Entire Nation
by John Pilger
*** begin quote ***
During the 1960s and 1970s British governments, Labour and Tory, tricked and expelled the entire population of the Chagos Archipelago, more than 2,000 British citizens, so that Diego Garcia could be given to the United States as the site for a military base. It was an act of mass kidnapping carried out in high secrecy. As unclassified official files now show, Foreign Office officials conspired to lie, coaching each other to “maintain” and “argue” the “fiction” that the Chagossians existed only as a “floating population.” On 28 July 1965, a senior Foreign Office official, T.C.D. Jerrom, wrote to the British representative at the United Nations, instructing him to lie to the General Assembly that the Chagos Archipelago was “uninhabited when the United Kingdom government first acquired it.” Nine years later, the Ministry of Defense went further, lying that “there is nothing in our files about inhabitants [of the Chagos] or about an evacuation.”
“To get us out of our homes,” Lizette told me, “they spread rumors we would be bombed, then they turned on our dogs. The American soldiers who had arrived to build the base backed several of their big vehicles against a brick shed, and hundreds of dogs were rounded up and imprisoned there, and they gassed them through a tube from the trucks’ exhaust. You could hear them crying. Then they burned them on a pyre, many still alive.”
Lizette and her family were finally forced on to a rusting freighter and made to lie on a cargo of bird fertilizer during a voyage, through stormy seas, to the slums of Port Louis, Mauritius. Within months, she had lost Jollice, aged eight, and Regis, aged ten months. “They died of sadness,” she said. “The eight-year-old had seen the horror of what had happened to the dogs. The doctor said he could not treat sadness.”
*** end quote ***
Horrendous. More blood on our hands thanks to our gooferment.
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: Gooferment | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
You must be logged in to post a comment.