They acquitted Roger Clemens today. I'm not much of a baseball fan and not much of a Clemens fan, but the guv'mint has no business on the athletic doping war path. Doesn't matter what Clemens was or was not using, that's not a matter for the courts. Might be a matter for Major League Baseball, but it isn't a fit matter for the courts.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Should Banks be allowed to Gamble?
Banks are supposed to finance business activity and economic growth. Make loans to home buyers and car buyers. Loan to businesses to purchase inventory, build new plants, purchase production equipment. We all agree that this kind of lending makes the economy grow.
But if you are a bank with a pile of money, there are other things you can do, things which to my way of thinking are just gambling. If the bank bets right it makes money. But no matter how it bets, it does nothing for the economy. In the gambling department we have commodities trading, foreign exchange trading, playing the stock market, sub prime mortgages, credit default swaps, Greek bonds, mortgage backed securities, and whatever it was that JP Morgan lost $2 billion doing. That deal was so opaque that even the Wall St Journal hasn't figured it out yet.
Bankers love to gamble because the return can be very high. And the risks always seem so small. A bank can make more money gambling than it can doing 30 year fixed rate mortgages.
Trouble is, when a big bet goes bad it can wreck the entire world economy. The current Great Depression 2.0 was triggered by Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac (special purpose government run banks) and some of the stupider Wall St banks got to playing with mortgage backed securities, especially the securities backed with sub prime mortgages. This bit of gambling caused the economic crash that we still haven't fixed.
Maybe we should forbid banks from gambling?
Limit banks to doing mortgages and car loans and making loans to real businesses, i.e. businesses that make things, grow things, mine things, sell things, transport things, or furnish telecommunications, gas, and electric power. No loans to "businesses" that just play the various markets. No loans to hedge funds or stock brokers or other banks.
But if you are a bank with a pile of money, there are other things you can do, things which to my way of thinking are just gambling. If the bank bets right it makes money. But no matter how it bets, it does nothing for the economy. In the gambling department we have commodities trading, foreign exchange trading, playing the stock market, sub prime mortgages, credit default swaps, Greek bonds, mortgage backed securities, and whatever it was that JP Morgan lost $2 billion doing. That deal was so opaque that even the Wall St Journal hasn't figured it out yet.
Bankers love to gamble because the return can be very high. And the risks always seem so small. A bank can make more money gambling than it can doing 30 year fixed rate mortgages.
Trouble is, when a big bet goes bad it can wreck the entire world economy. The current Great Depression 2.0 was triggered by Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac (special purpose government run banks) and some of the stupider Wall St banks got to playing with mortgage backed securities, especially the securities backed with sub prime mortgages. This bit of gambling caused the economic crash that we still haven't fixed.
Maybe we should forbid banks from gambling?
Limit banks to doing mortgages and car loans and making loans to real businesses, i.e. businesses that make things, grow things, mine things, sell things, transport things, or furnish telecommunications, gas, and electric power. No loans to "businesses" that just play the various markets. No loans to hedge funds or stock brokers or other banks.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
I hate to say it, but Obama did something right
His new plan for illegal immigrants under 30. Any who came here as children, and have kept their noses clean, graduated high school and/or served in the military, we let 'em stay. at least for a couple of years. I'm for it. If you are a kid, and your parents cross the US border bringing you with them, there is nothing a kid can do about it. If the kid grows up in America, there is really no place to deport him too with any justice. We as country are better off with decent young people as citizens, contributing to the legal economy than we are with illegal aliens hunted by Mr. Migra and willing to do almost anything to avoid getting caught.
For a second point, I strongly believe that anyone who has served in the US military should be granted citizenship upon his honorable discharge from the service. You cannot find better citizens than veterans, anywhere, anyplace. For that matter immigrants make the most loyal citizens we have. The United States needs loyal citizens. What makes the US a superpower is a large and loyal population, and we need to keep it that way.
Carping about immigrants taking jobs from citizens is small minded union talk. We have jobs in America, and we can make more of them.
Too bad Obama cannot do this kind of thing the right way, by getting a law thru Congress. It's a measure of how ineffectual Obama is that he didn't propose a law, lobby Congress to pass it, made the needed concessions here and there to get it thru. He cannot negotiate worth a damn, and after three and a half years few in Congress trust him much. It's hard to cut a deal with a man you don't trust, 'cause you fear he will welsh on it. Nobody wants to be taken for a sucker.
For a second point, I strongly believe that anyone who has served in the US military should be granted citizenship upon his honorable discharge from the service. You cannot find better citizens than veterans, anywhere, anyplace. For that matter immigrants make the most loyal citizens we have. The United States needs loyal citizens. What makes the US a superpower is a large and loyal population, and we need to keep it that way.
Carping about immigrants taking jobs from citizens is small minded union talk. We have jobs in America, and we can make more of them.
Too bad Obama cannot do this kind of thing the right way, by getting a law thru Congress. It's a measure of how ineffectual Obama is that he didn't propose a law, lobby Congress to pass it, made the needed concessions here and there to get it thru. He cannot negotiate worth a damn, and after three and a half years few in Congress trust him much. It's hard to cut a deal with a man you don't trust, 'cause you fear he will welsh on it. Nobody wants to be taken for a sucker.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Marinade for Chicken
Marinaded chicken thighs in white wine and lemon juice with some Bell's Poultry Seasoning. Gave 'em about any hour and then grilled 'em on the Weber. Did good things for the flavor
Thursday, June 14, 2012
100,000 Documents
That is how much paper DOJ churned out over the Fast & Furious debacle. That's a scary amount of paper. Suppose each document takes one hour to write, email, read and backup. That's 100,000 manhours just to do the paperwork. One guy works 40 hours in a week, 50 weeks a year. One man year is then 2000 hours and it takes 50 man years just to do the paperwork, a basic time wasting task. Want to bet it took less than a couple of man years to walk all those guns?
So we have a couple of man years to do something totally stupid, lethal, and illegal, and 50 man years to cover it up, and sweep it under the rug,
Our tax dollars at work.
So we have a couple of man years to do something totally stupid, lethal, and illegal, and 50 man years to cover it up, and sweep it under the rug,
Our tax dollars at work.
U.S. Anti Doping Agency?
Never heard of them before. Now that they are going after Lance Armstrong, they made the TV news. Armstrong retired from bike racing some years ago. Armstrong has denounced them as a spite motivated witch hunt. Since USADA has no legal powers, it's a trial by public relations. Armstrong is a household name, and always looked like a regular guy. USADA is a no body and will need the strongest of evidence to win their case. It will be hard for them to convince me that lab work on blood samples three years old means anything.
It also depends upon how the media feel about Lance Armstrong. If they decide they don't like him, they will slant stories against him, which creates a powerful headwind.
It also depends upon how the media feel about Lance Armstrong. If they decide they don't like him, they will slant stories against him, which creates a powerful headwind.
Kelly Ayotte looking and sounding good on TV
Our new senator, Kelly Ayotte has only been in Washington for two years. But she won some important committee assignments, and has established a useful relationship with the TV news. She has been on the air repeatedly, commenting upon various matters. On air she speaks well and knowledgeably. And she leads the discussion, unlike the usual pol who just responds to the TV people's questions.
Good work.
And Kelly shows up a lot better than Jean Shaheen, our other senator.
Good work.
And Kelly shows up a lot better than Jean Shaheen, our other senator.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Eurovising the Euro Banks
Both the Wall St Journal and the Economist are calling for this. Right now a Euro bank is chartered . regulated, and insured by a national government. Some governments do a good job (Germany) and others don't (Greece). The idea is to create a European Bank Regulator with power to regulate all Euro banks. This would make banks in shaky countries look stronger and reduce incentives to pull deposits out of shaky countries and put them in Germany.
Probably not a bad idea, especially if you believe in creating a United States of Europe, which a lot of Euros do.
Such a Euro Bank Regulator would have a lot of power. It could set bank capital requirements, set pay of bank officers, set what businesses banks could invest/gamble in. It would audit bank books and manage a Euro Deposit Insurance Corp.
Was I a Euro citizen I'd like to know who will run such a thing. Would this Euro Regulator be answerable to Euro voters? Or would it be a Brussels bureaucrat appointment deal, with lucky bureaucrats serving for life?
Of course the Euro's are often oblivious of such issues. I was in Europe on business back when they were putting the Euro together. None of the Europeans I chatted with at the time had the slightest idea of the power of what they were creating, or any interest in who would control it. None of the Euros understood that the second most important official in America, right behind the president, is the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
I guess I'd be a little more enthusiastic about the idea if I thought there was anyone in Europe smart enough to do a good job running it.
Probably not a bad idea, especially if you believe in creating a United States of Europe, which a lot of Euros do.
Such a Euro Bank Regulator would have a lot of power. It could set bank capital requirements, set pay of bank officers, set what businesses banks could invest/gamble in. It would audit bank books and manage a Euro Deposit Insurance Corp.
Was I a Euro citizen I'd like to know who will run such a thing. Would this Euro Regulator be answerable to Euro voters? Or would it be a Brussels bureaucrat appointment deal, with lucky bureaucrats serving for life?
Of course the Euro's are often oblivious of such issues. I was in Europe on business back when they were putting the Euro together. None of the Europeans I chatted with at the time had the slightest idea of the power of what they were creating, or any interest in who would control it. None of the Euros understood that the second most important official in America, right behind the president, is the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
I guess I'd be a little more enthusiastic about the idea if I thought there was anyone in Europe smart enough to do a good job running it.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
How long will 100 billion Euros last?
Somebody has volunteered to give/loan/print 100 billion Euros for Spanish banks. Spain's basic problem is the Spanish government is spending a lot more than it takes in via taxes. They have been borrowing the shortfall. Except that nobody will lend the Spanish government any more money, 'cause no body believes they can ever pay it back.
This 100 billion goes to Spanish banks, but there is little difference between bank and government. When the government borrows money, it borrows it from banks. Spanish banks find it difficult to refuse loans to the Spanish government. Any right thinking bank surely worries about encounters of the unpleasant kind with bank examiners, taxmen, and stock market regulators if they don't do the patriotic thing and loan their government money.
So Spain has another 100 billion to keep things running. How long before it runs out? A year? Two years? Anyone see any signs of Spanish economic reforms that might reduce their deficit?
This 100 billion goes to Spanish banks, but there is little difference between bank and government. When the government borrows money, it borrows it from banks. Spanish banks find it difficult to refuse loans to the Spanish government. Any right thinking bank surely worries about encounters of the unpleasant kind with bank examiners, taxmen, and stock market regulators if they don't do the patriotic thing and loan their government money.
So Spain has another 100 billion to keep things running. How long before it runs out? A year? Two years? Anyone see any signs of Spanish economic reforms that might reduce their deficit?
AdvertiseFail #3
TV ads for a Jetski. They show the happy jet skiers zipping around in blue water. Then we get to the meat of the ad, brakes. On a boat? They show their Jet ski slowing to stop in much less water than competitor jet ski. Cool. But why do I care?
You slow a boat by putting the prop into reverse and using engine power. To get into reverse you have to throttle back to idle. Shifting at full power makes that ugly grinding noise. Throttling back is likely to make the engine stall, leaving you with NO reverse thrust at all. I learned many summers ago, never to depend upon reverse thrust being there when you need it. Approach dock slowly, to avoid ugly bumping sound should reverse not be there.
Anyhow, I ain't buying a Jet ski just a cause it excels in reverse thrust.
You slow a boat by putting the prop into reverse and using engine power. To get into reverse you have to throttle back to idle. Shifting at full power makes that ugly grinding noise. Throttling back is likely to make the engine stall, leaving you with NO reverse thrust at all. I learned many summers ago, never to depend upon reverse thrust being there when you need it. Approach dock slowly, to avoid ugly bumping sound should reverse not be there.
Anyhow, I ain't buying a Jet ski just a cause it excels in reverse thrust.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Adventures in E-books
Favorite Daughter has been raving about the Kindle she received for Christmas. So, I though I'd see what was out there that could be read on my humble hardware, namely Antique Laptop running Windows XP. Actually quite a bit. Ultra tech savvy son was able to find the latest George R.R. Martin "Game of Thrones" novel. Then I found Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. Yesterday I Googled for an old E.E. Smith space opera. It was there, long out of copyright and thus free and legal, complete with cover art and illustrations from the 1920's pulp magazine in which it had first been serialized.
Only one small hitch, the file had extension was .EPUB and none of the software on Antique Laptop knew what to do with that. Googling for .EPUB came up with a history of the breed, and a most helpful post comparing about 10 different EPUB readers. Of the reviewer's top picks, one from Adobe required the Adobe flash player to work, the other was a straight Windows program. I'm not a Flash fan, that program gets patched on a weekly basis, and usually patches break programs. So I downloaded the Sony Reader, all 40 Mb of it.
And it works. Clicking on the ebook file launches the reader. Comes up with a nice readable font, and a one button page turner.
I suppose I need to go all the way, download a for pay Kindle E-book and a Kindle reader program. That's still on my to-do list.
Actually, I prefer reading a paperback to reading on Antique Laptop. Paperback works in bed, outdoors in bright sunlight. Antique laptop runs hot, and feel hot and heavy in the lap, where as a paperback is next to weightless.
Only one small hitch, the file had extension was .EPUB and none of the software on Antique Laptop knew what to do with that. Googling for .EPUB came up with a history of the breed, and a most helpful post comparing about 10 different EPUB readers. Of the reviewer's top picks, one from Adobe required the Adobe flash player to work, the other was a straight Windows program. I'm not a Flash fan, that program gets patched on a weekly basis, and usually patches break programs. So I downloaded the Sony Reader, all 40 Mb of it.
And it works. Clicking on the ebook file launches the reader. Comes up with a nice readable font, and a one button page turner.
I suppose I need to go all the way, download a for pay Kindle E-book and a Kindle reader program. That's still on my to-do list.
Actually, I prefer reading a paperback to reading on Antique Laptop. Paperback works in bed, outdoors in bright sunlight. Antique laptop runs hot, and feel hot and heavy in the lap, where as a paperback is next to weightless.
President should not check off targets on kill list
Van Jones was on ABC's Sunday talk show with George Stephanopolis making this point. Jones clearly felt that fingering Al Quada leaders for a drone strike was unconstitutional and we ought to be giving them benefit of due process of law.
Since when has due process of law been necessary before the military can shoot at the enemy? I agree the president of the US shouldn't be doing the targeting. That's Lt. Colonel work. Far below the presidential pay grade.
But it is perfectly moral and legal to kill the enemy leaders. Much more so than slaughtering enemy grunts who are just following orders. The leadership that gives the orders is a legitimate target.
Since when has due process of law been necessary before the military can shoot at the enemy? I agree the president of the US shouldn't be doing the targeting. That's Lt. Colonel work. Far below the presidential pay grade.
But it is perfectly moral and legal to kill the enemy leaders. Much more so than slaughtering enemy grunts who are just following orders. The leadership that gives the orders is a legitimate target.
Windows Services Fax Services to Protected Storage
BTW. Sorry about the format. This data was originally a spreadsheet. Converting it to something acceptable to blogger was only partly successful.
Fax
Service
|
The name
says it all. Fax sending works in Man
|
Man.
|
File
Replication
|
Keeps
Files updated between multiple file servers
|
Nohave
|
File
Server For Macintosh
|
The name
says it all.
|
Nohave
|
FTP
Publishing Service
|
Sends
files to clients
|
Nohave
|
Gateway
for Netware
|
Support
for obsolete networking protocol
|
Nohave
|
Human
Interface Dev. Access
|
USB
keyboards/Mice/Etc
|
Nohave
|
Help And
Support
|
Used for
Help&Support center. Not system
critical and can be disabled.
|
Nohave
|
IIS Admin
Service
|
Modify
workings of Internet Info Service (IIS)
|
Nohave
|
IMAPI
CD-burning COM Service
|
Drag&Drop
CD burn
|
Nohave
|
Indexing
Service
|
Supports
fast file finding at expense of slow boot.
Worthless
Resource Hog. Use Add/Remove Programs to kill Indexing everywhere.
|
disabled
|
Internet
Authentication Service
|
Pass word
checker for remote clients
|
Nohave
|
Internet
Connection Sharing
|
Small
home network sharing of a single internet connection (dialup. DSL, cable
modem)
|
Nohave
|
Intersite
Messaging
|
Sends
mail from server to server
|
Nohave
|
Ipsec
Services
|
Special
Internet Security not widely used. Not system critical and can be safely
disabled.
|
Nohave
|
IPSec
Policy Agent
|
Internet
Security>
|
Man.
|
Kerboros
Key Dist. Center
|
Enables
user logon via kerborous
|
Nohave
|
License
Logging Service
|
Logs
Client access as Licensed or Pirate
|
Nohave
|
Logical
Disc Manager
|
Reports
new drive installation. Needed for USB storage devices. Otherwise can be
disabled.
|
auto
|
Logical disc Manager Admin Services
|
?
|
Man.
|
Message
queueing
|
? Needed
for Com+ WMI, MSMG
|
|
Messenger
Service
|
Spam
gateway
|
disable
|
Net Logon
|
Processes
net logons
|
disable
|
Net
Meeting Remote Desktop Share
|
Supports
MS net meeting. Bad security hole
|
disable
|
Network
Connections
|
Supports
dialup and tcpip connections
|
auto
|
Network
DDE
|
Dynamic
Data Exchange
|
disable
|
Network
DDE DSDM
|
Supports
Network DDE
|
disable
|
Network
Location Awareness
|
Provides
services the computers that share your internet connection (ICS)
If not using ICS on a home network it may be
disabled.
|
Nohave
|
Network
Nets Transfer Protocol NNTP
|
Be a
usenet news server
|
disable
|
NTLM
Security Support Provider
|
Enables
user logon via NTLM
|
disable
|
Online
Presentation Broadcast
|
Real Time
PowerPoint over the networkl
|
Nohave
|
Performance
logs and alerts
|
Collects
performace data from other computers
|
disable
|
Plug
& Play
|
Loads
hardware drivers. System critical. Do not disable.
|
auto
|
Universal
plug7Play Host
|
Device
host detect and Upnp support
|
|
Print
Server for Macintosh
|
The name
says it all.
|
Nohave
|
Print
Spooler
|
background
printing
|
auto
|
Process
Control Service
|
?
|
|
Protected
Storage
|
Secure
storage for cryto keys? System critical do not diable.
|
auto
|
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Tweaking Windows Services.
Services are little programs that Windows runs behind your back. Some are necessary, many are not. All of them steal valuable RAM and CPU time. You can see just what Services are slowing your machine from the Start Menu. Do Start ->Settings->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services. Services has an icon of meshed gearwheels.
The services application gives you the name, a brief spiel, "started" and the startup type. "Started" should be self explanatory. Startup type "Auto" means load and start this service at boot time, slowing your boot and committing memory to the service even if you never use it. Beware. Service Remote Procedure Call (RPC) MUST be set to auto all the time. Without RPC on auto Windows will fail to boot and the only recovery is to reinstall Windows from CD ROM. Don't mess with RPC, it bites.
Startup type "Manual" means Windows will load and start the service only when some program tries to use the service. Load and start is so fast that putting services to manual doesn't slow anything down. Setting things to manual makes the machine boot faster.
Startup type "Disabled" means never load and run the service no matter what. A number of services are security holes or spam gateways and should be disabled.
I am posting the service settings that work on my machine (Blackbox), which runs Windows XP Media Center (XP with some add ons to make/fake it into being a digital video recorder). It's a single machine home machine running by itself (no networking to other machines). Since the number of services is vast, the service list is long and I'll post it in pieces.
I was able to get my boot time down to 45 seconds and make Blackbox perceptibly livelier with these service settings. I thought I'd pass them on.
The services application gives you the name, a brief spiel, "started" and the startup type. "Started" should be self explanatory. Startup type "Auto" means load and start this service at boot time, slowing your boot and committing memory to the service even if you never use it. Beware. Service Remote Procedure Call (RPC) MUST be set to auto all the time. Without RPC on auto Windows will fail to boot and the only recovery is to reinstall Windows from CD ROM. Don't mess with RPC, it bites.
Startup type "Manual" means Windows will load and start the service only when some program tries to use the service. Load and start is so fast that putting services to manual doesn't slow anything down. Setting things to manual makes the machine boot faster.
Startup type "Disabled" means never load and run the service no matter what. A number of services are security holes or spam gateways and should be disabled.
I am posting the service settings that work on my machine (Blackbox), which runs Windows XP Media Center (XP with some add ons to make/fake it into being a digital video recorder). It's a single machine home machine running by itself (no networking to other machines). Since the number of services is vast, the service list is long and I'll post it in pieces.
I was able to get my boot time down to 45 seconds and make Blackbox perceptibly livelier with these service settings. I thought I'd pass them on.
Tweaking Windows Services Alerter to Fast User Switching
Dstarr Blackbox
|
||
Alerter
|
Transmits
alerts for display by Messenger Services. Spam gateway.
|
disable
|
App.
Layer Gateway Service
|
Supports
Internet Connection Sharing. Obsolete. We use routers now to put multiple
computers on one Internet wire.
|
Man.
|
Application
Management
|
Install
applications off the LAN. Corp IT
might want this, but I don’t.
|
Man.
|
Ati Hot
Key Poller
|
Net rumor
says that is a hot key grabber from ATI who makes my video hardware. I never
use hotkeys
|
Man.
|
ARSVC
|
Media Ctr
always ready stuff. Arservice.exe. Keeps hardware alive even after you power
it down.
|
Man.
|
automatic
Updates
|
Visits MS
website looking for Windows Patches
|
Man.
|
Background
Intel. Xfer Service
|
Network
files xfer in background for Winupdate
|
Man.
|
Boot
Info. Negotiation Layer BINL
|
Install
Windows over LAN
|
Nohave
|
Certificate
Services
|
X.509
Certificates?
|
Nohave
|
ClipBook
|
Allows
other computers to see the clipboard. I ought to make it “disabled”.
|
Man.
|
Cluster
Service
|
?
|
Nohave
|
COM+
Event System
|
auto
Distribution of Com Events
|
Man.
|
Com+
System Applications
|
Same as
above
|
Man.
|
Computer Browser
|
Finds
other computers to place into Network Neighhood. Needed for 2 computer LAN?
|
Man.
|
Crypto
Services
|
Cypto
support to auto update, WinMediaPlay&PNP
|
Nohave
|
Dcom
Server Process Launch
|
Required
for RPC. Do not disable
|
Nohave
|
DHCP
Client
|
Obtains
dynamic IP address from ISP or router. Needed for all networking
|
auto
|
DHCP
Server
|
Furnishes
dynanic IP addresses to clients
|
Nohave
|
Distributed
File System DFS
|
Network
File shares
|
Nohave
|
Distributed
Link Tracking Client
|
Keeps
track of location of files shared over the network
|
Man.
|
Distributed
Link Tracking Server
|
Provides
information to clients to keep track of shared files/
|
Nohave
|
Distributed
Transaction Coordinator
|
Supports
Com+ Msg Queueing, SQL file sharing over the network
|
Man.
|
DNS
Client
|
Needed to
convert www.names into IP numbers
|
Man.
|
DNS
Server
|
Converts
Domain Names into IP addresses for clients
|
Nohave
|
Error
Reporting Service
|
Report
errors back to Microsoft in Redmond
|
Nohave
|
Event Log
|
Logs
Windows errors to disk. System critical cannot be disabled
|
auto
|
Fast User
Switch Compatability
|
Allows
login as new user w/o reboot. I wouldn’t
use it even if I had it.
|
Nohave
|
What is it with Plastic Bags?
First Washington DC "banned" them. Actually they used the greenie furor to hike prices. Bags used to be free, now the DC markets charge 5 cents a bag. PITA. Now LA is talking about bannng them.
So what do the greenies have against a simple plastic bag? I go to the store, the store puts my groceries into plastic bags, I carry the bags to the car. At home I save all the bags and use them to take my recycling to the "transfer station". (it's not PC to call it the town dump). What's not to like?
So what do the greenies have against a simple plastic bag? I go to the store, the store puts my groceries into plastic bags, I carry the bags to the car. At home I save all the bags and use them to take my recycling to the "transfer station". (it's not PC to call it the town dump). What's not to like?
Real Jobs and Government Jobs
Thing to bear in mind. Real jobs produce real wealth. Real jobs manufacture stuff, transport stuff, grow stuff, mine stuff, construct stuff. At quitting time, the real worker goes home knowing that there is a little more wealth in the world than when he came on shift.
Government jobs do not create wealth. Firemen, cops, school teachers, soldiers, and bureaucrats may be necessary, but they don't create wealth. Their salaries are paid with money taken from the real workers by force of law. At quitting time the government worker goes home knowing that it's five o'clock.
You hear Obama saying "The private economy is doing OK, it's the government employment that needs help." and you gotta know the president is talking thru his hat.
You hear "progressive" economists like Krugman and democratic politicians decrying the reduction of the government work force as if government workers were the key to prosperity. They aren't.
Prosperity comes from real workers at real jobs. Euro style bankruptcy comes from government jobs.
Government jobs do not create wealth. Firemen, cops, school teachers, soldiers, and bureaucrats may be necessary, but they don't create wealth. Their salaries are paid with money taken from the real workers by force of law. At quitting time the government worker goes home knowing that it's five o'clock.
You hear Obama saying "The private economy is doing OK, it's the government employment that needs help." and you gotta know the president is talking thru his hat.
You hear "progressive" economists like Krugman and democratic politicians decrying the reduction of the government work force as if government workers were the key to prosperity. They aren't.
Prosperity comes from real workers at real jobs. Euro style bankruptcy comes from government jobs.
Beast of extreme dampness
Stupid Beast went out yesterday. Then we had one of those sudden summer thunderstorms. A real gullywasher cloudburst. She failed to make it back to the house in time. After the rain let up, she appeared at the door, wanting IN. NOW.
She has somewhere out doors to get out of the rain. But either she wasn't fast enough to get there in time or it wasn't all that rainproof. She was wringing wet, fur soaked, leaving wet paw prints on the rug. I tried to dry her off with a bathtowel, but the towel spooked her (your basic fraidy cat) and she scuttled under a bed, still wet. Didn't dry off for hours.
She has somewhere out doors to get out of the rain. But either she wasn't fast enough to get there in time or it wasn't all that rainproof. She was wringing wet, fur soaked, leaving wet paw prints on the rug. I tried to dry her off with a bathtowel, but the towel spooked her (your basic fraidy cat) and she scuttled under a bed, still wet. Didn't dry off for hours.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Counterfeit MIL SPEC semiconductors
Yet another Aviation Week article on the dangers of counterfeit chips finding their way into US systems such as THAADS anti missile, C-130J transport, Apache and Chinook helicopters. The article goes on to scary speculation with counterfeit chips might have concealed backdoors allowing an enemy to disable US weapons systems in time of war thru a sneaky internet attack.
This is largely a self inflicted wound. The military wants to approve each semiconductor device that goes into a weapons system. They take so long to approve a device that it is out of production by the time the Pentagon finishes doing the paperwork. Since the makers can not obtain approved MIL SPEC devices from the OEM manufacturer, instead they deal with a world full of shady wholesalers/distributers, who for a price, will offer any old MIL SPEC chip you might need. And the wholesalers/disti's will find the needed chips anywhere.
The solution is to require defense contractors to use current production commercial chips from reputable US makers. A box of commercial grade chips shipped from the likes of Intel, Analog Devices, Texas Instrument, Micron, Xylinx or Altera will be what the maker says they are. A shipment of chips from Midnight Semiconductor Supply might be damn near anything , from damn near anywhere.
Current production commercial chips are 10 to 100 times more reliable than any kind of MIL SPEC device. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Built a brassboard system with commercial devices, it worked fine. Built the deliverable system with MIL-SPEC devices which were terrible. A couple of dead devices in every box. Electrical performance so low that we had to redesign circuits that worked fine with decent commercial devices to work with the cruddy MIL-SPEC devices.
This is largely a self inflicted wound. The military wants to approve each semiconductor device that goes into a weapons system. They take so long to approve a device that it is out of production by the time the Pentagon finishes doing the paperwork. Since the makers can not obtain approved MIL SPEC devices from the OEM manufacturer, instead they deal with a world full of shady wholesalers/distributers, who for a price, will offer any old MIL SPEC chip you might need. And the wholesalers/disti's will find the needed chips anywhere.
The solution is to require defense contractors to use current production commercial chips from reputable US makers. A box of commercial grade chips shipped from the likes of Intel, Analog Devices, Texas Instrument, Micron, Xylinx or Altera will be what the maker says they are. A shipment of chips from Midnight Semiconductor Supply might be damn near anything , from damn near anywhere.
Current production commercial chips are 10 to 100 times more reliable than any kind of MIL SPEC device. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Built a brassboard system with commercial devices, it worked fine. Built the deliverable system with MIL-SPEC devices which were terrible. A couple of dead devices in every box. Electrical performance so low that we had to redesign circuits that worked fine with decent commercial devices to work with the cruddy MIL-SPEC devices.
A looming threat
A dock from Japan washed up on an Oregon beach the other day. It had been washed out to sea by the terrible earthquake and tidal wave that hit Japan last year. USA Today called it a looming threat.
Wow. Japan suffered an earthquake, a flood, tens of thousands of deaths, even more still homeless, power shortages, rolling blackouts and radiation leaks. But one piece of flotsam washing up on a west coast beach is a looming threat.
Is not something out of proportion here?
Wow. Japan suffered an earthquake, a flood, tens of thousands of deaths, even more still homeless, power shortages, rolling blackouts and radiation leaks. But one piece of flotsam washing up on a west coast beach is a looming threat.
Is not something out of proportion here?
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Chartres can't borrow money
Yes that Chartres, the one with the famous cathedral in France. It's the custom of European municipalities to finance public works projects with bank loans, rather then by selling bonds, as is customary in the US. Chartres (and a lot of other municipalities) are having trouble finding a bank that will make them a loan. Chartres sent people as far away as China looking for loans. The point of the Wall St Journal piece is that the Euro financial hangup is slowing the European economy. Perhaps.
Of course you have to wonder about some of these projects. Chartres managed to build a really nice water park and a 10 screen movie theater a few years ago with a 500 million Euro loan. Is it appropriate for government to build recreational facilities? As opposed to letting private enterprise handle it? Up here in darkest New Hampshire we have some really nice water parks and movie theaters and they are private operations, privately owned, privately operated, and privately financed.
Of course you have to wonder about some of these projects. Chartres managed to build a really nice water park and a 10 screen movie theater a few years ago with a 500 million Euro loan. Is it appropriate for government to build recreational facilities? As opposed to letting private enterprise handle it? Up here in darkest New Hampshire we have some really nice water parks and movie theaters and they are private operations, privately owned, privately operated, and privately financed.
Yet More Presidential Leadership
And Obama wants to hike the minimum wage. What a great idea. Would you rather have $10 a hour or unemployment?
Minimum wage workers are the entry level, the summer worker, the less than diligent, the not very employable. They are hanging onto their jobs because the little they produce brings in a little more money to the business than their pay and benefits cost the business.
Raise the pay and suddenly these workers cost more than they bring in. And they get laid off.
Minimum wage workers are the entry level, the summer worker, the less than diligent, the not very employable. They are hanging onto their jobs because the little they produce brings in a little more money to the business than their pay and benefits cost the business.
Raise the pay and suddenly these workers cost more than they bring in. And they get laid off.
Don't get cocky Dept
Going into the Wisconsin recall election, all the polls predicted "Too close to call". Instead, Scott Walker, the Republicans and the Tea Party scored a 6 to 7% victory, somewhere between really decent and land slide.
Right now the national polls call the Obama-Romney race "Too close to call". Suppose those polls work out like the Wisconsin polls? In that case Romney gets a solid win.
Save this warm thought. But don't count on it. This is the year to work really really hard on beating Obama. Any slacking off and he might win.
Right now the national polls call the Obama-Romney race "Too close to call". Suppose those polls work out like the Wisconsin polls? In that case Romney gets a solid win.
Save this warm thought. But don't count on it. This is the year to work really really hard on beating Obama. Any slacking off and he might win.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Innumeracy on NPR
The clock radio came on at the usual time this morning with news that Scott Walker had won in Wisconsin. That's a good thing, I have been hoping that would happen.
But. I listened to the same news item repeated three times. They never did gave the vote totals. That would require dealing with numbers, something that strikes terror into the hearts of journalism majors. Part of the story is how much did the winner win by. Was it a skin of the teeth squeaker, a decent margin, or a landslide?
This was an important election, said by many to foreshadow outcome of the November presidential election. Was it just a fear of numbers or was it a bunch of democratic NPR newsies so unhappy about a Republican victory that they decided to conceal an important part of the story?
Follow up. I never did heard the vote count on the radio, but the Manchester Union-Leader gave the margin of victory as 6%, which is a solid win. Not a landslide, but decent.
But. I listened to the same news item repeated three times. They never did gave the vote totals. That would require dealing with numbers, something that strikes terror into the hearts of journalism majors. Part of the story is how much did the winner win by. Was it a skin of the teeth squeaker, a decent margin, or a landslide?
This was an important election, said by many to foreshadow outcome of the November presidential election. Was it just a fear of numbers or was it a bunch of democratic NPR newsies so unhappy about a Republican victory that they decided to conceal an important part of the story?
Follow up. I never did heard the vote count on the radio, but the Manchester Union-Leader gave the margin of victory as 6%, which is a solid win. Not a landslide, but decent.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Is it a typo or a ripoff?
Flemington NJ. Nice place, I've driven thru it quite a few times on my way to Pennsylvania. At Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington they are working on reducing hospital caused infections. They are into housekeeping, scrub everything down to kill off lurking bacteria. They have a fancy new scanner that can detect bacteria on doorknobs, bed railings, tray tables, water faucets etc. They are issuing stronger cleaners and disinfectants, trying to kill nasty bugs like Clostridium difficile and MSRA.
Not a bad plan. Better to kill 'em off with Clorox on the mop than with antibiotics inside patients.
Then we get to the "hard-to-clean" stuff like computer keyboards. According to the Wall St. Journal article, Hunterdon is paying $15,000 EACH for washable computer keyboard.
Wow. $15,000 for a KEYBOARD!
Google tells me I can get a washable computer keyboard for $19.99.
Either the WSJ has a typo or Hunterdon is getting ripped off big time.
Not a bad plan. Better to kill 'em off with Clorox on the mop than with antibiotics inside patients.
Then we get to the "hard-to-clean" stuff like computer keyboards. According to the Wall St. Journal article, Hunterdon is paying $15,000 EACH for washable computer keyboard.
Wow. $15,000 for a KEYBOARD!
Google tells me I can get a washable computer keyboard for $19.99.
Either the WSJ has a typo or Hunterdon is getting ripped off big time.
Presidential Leadership
The newsies all agree that we need more of it. Today we got some. With the economy well and truly trashed, Europe about to collapse, China entering a recession, the Middle East in chaos, the US deficit out of control, we are getting some presidential leadership. Obama is leading the charge to pass the "Paycheck Fairness Act", a law requiring equal pay for equal work for women.
It's a worthy cause I suppose. But is this what the country needs this year? Let's hear it for leadership.
It's a worthy cause I suppose. But is this what the country needs this year? Let's hear it for leadership.
Monday, June 4, 2012
What would you say?
High school dropouts. You have a kid, 16 or 17, wants to drop out of high school. He has a decent job lined up, construction, or building trades, or factory work or driving a truck. Something with a better future than McDonalds. He isn't much of an academic, doesn't get into book learning much.
Do you say OK? Or do you insist that he/she sit thru another year or two in class to get a high school diploma?
Do you say OK? Or do you insist that he/she sit thru another year or two in class to get a high school diploma?
Keeping score as you tweak Windows for speed
Windows has many faults. It's a virus magnet, it's too plump, its flaky and it's slow. We poor Redmond victims can't do much about the first three items, but we can do something about the the last one. You can make Windows somewhat less sluggish. It can be hard to tell if your tweaks are helping or hurting. You can keep score with Windows Task Manager.
Task Manager is easy to start. Just hit control-alt-delete and Task Manager will open his window. He has five tabs, Applications, Processes,Performance and Networking.
Applications shows what "real" programs you have running. A "real" program is one you started with a mouse click, which displays a screen window and has code taking up RAM and CPU run time. About all the Application window is good for is shutting down applications (End Task in Winspeak) that have frozen up and no longer respond to mouse or keyboard.
Processes is a more interesting tab for the tweaker. Process is Winspeak for any program that takes up RAM and needs CPU time. All sorts of things take up RAM and CPU time but don't show a screen window. My Blackbox has 26 processes burdening the hardware. When he was new from the store he had nearly 50. The only good process is a dead process. Any tweaks you can do to shut off unneeded processes will make your machine run faster. Most processes are actually part of Windows and you can't do anything about them. All the Applications running in the Application Window will also show in the process window. The code part counts as a (sometimes more than one) process. Along with the process name, you want to see how much memory each process is using, how much CPU time it uses and how many I/O writes (disk writes) it is doing.
If these numbers don't show in the process window, click on "View" on the taskbar and then "Select Columns". Put a check mark on the properties (there are dozens of properties) that you want to see. The organized Windows tweaker will keep notes. Note down the number of processes, and keep track of it. Fewer is better.
Process window will show any virus you may be blessed with. As of this writing, anything running will always show up in the process window. The trick is to identify the virus amid the blizzard of ordinary processes. Especially as many virus take the name of perfectly legitimate parts of Windows.
The Performance tab gives score on memory usage. Physical Memory Total, is all the real RAM on your system. Available is what you think it is. System Cache is used as a disc cache. Windows keeps recently accessed disk data in the cache on the idea that it might be needed again soon. It saves a time consuming disk access each the cache hits. When RAM runs low, windows can reduce the size of cache to make more memory available. Kernel Memory Total is RAM taken for Windows use and cannot be used by programs. Any tweak that reduces Kernel Memory Total makes more RAM available to your programs.
Task Manager is easy to start. Just hit control-alt-delete and Task Manager will open his window. He has five tabs, Applications, Processes,Performance and Networking.
Applications shows what "real" programs you have running. A "real" program is one you started with a mouse click, which displays a screen window and has code taking up RAM and CPU run time. About all the Application window is good for is shutting down applications (End Task in Winspeak) that have frozen up and no longer respond to mouse or keyboard.
Processes is a more interesting tab for the tweaker. Process is Winspeak for any program that takes up RAM and needs CPU time. All sorts of things take up RAM and CPU time but don't show a screen window. My Blackbox has 26 processes burdening the hardware. When he was new from the store he had nearly 50. The only good process is a dead process. Any tweaks you can do to shut off unneeded processes will make your machine run faster. Most processes are actually part of Windows and you can't do anything about them. All the Applications running in the Application Window will also show in the process window. The code part counts as a (sometimes more than one) process. Along with the process name, you want to see how much memory each process is using, how much CPU time it uses and how many I/O writes (disk writes) it is doing.
If these numbers don't show in the process window, click on "View" on the taskbar and then "Select Columns". Put a check mark on the properties (there are dozens of properties) that you want to see. The organized Windows tweaker will keep notes. Note down the number of processes, and keep track of it. Fewer is better.
Process window will show any virus you may be blessed with. As of this writing, anything running will always show up in the process window. The trick is to identify the virus amid the blizzard of ordinary processes. Especially as many virus take the name of perfectly legitimate parts of Windows.
The Performance tab gives score on memory usage. Physical Memory Total, is all the real RAM on your system. Available is what you think it is. System Cache is used as a disc cache. Windows keeps recently accessed disk data in the cache on the idea that it might be needed again soon. It saves a time consuming disk access each the cache hits. When RAM runs low, windows can reduce the size of cache to make more memory available. Kernel Memory Total is RAM taken for Windows use and cannot be used by programs. Any tweak that reduces Kernel Memory Total makes more RAM available to your programs.
"The Supreme Court has the last word"
Heard just this morning on NHPR. Speaker was talking about NH and the NH Supreme Court rather than the Federal brand of same. Must be another well educated journalism school grad. In the real world, the legislature can always override the court, they can always amend the constitution. Or just ignore the court ruling.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Wall St Journal Worry Warts
Medium length OP-ed piece in the Journal about electric cars. Ron Adner, from Dartmouth's Tuck school of business opines that electric cars will have poor resale value due to deterioration of the expensive battery over time. And that resale value is a crucially important factor in the decision to buy a new car. And, plugging in zillions of electric cars to recharge will over load the national electric grid and put the lights out all over North America. Being a professor at the school of business, Mr. Adner suggests a change in business model. Instead of selling electric cars, he suggests leasing them like cell phones. That will solve everything. When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail...
In the real world these are non problems. Sure the batteries wear out over time, but so does every other part of a car. The depreciation on new cars is already so awful that short lived battery packs won't make things much worse. A new car looses half its value the moment you drive it off the dealer's lot. The NADA blue books show cars depreciate to rock bottom after seven years. The design goal for battery life on the Chevy Volt was 10 years. Nobody knows if they achieved that goal, the cars haven't been around for 10 years yet. So electric car resale value will be much less than what they cost new. What's new here?
Then there is the load on the electric grid. Non-problem. Demand for electricity drops way down at night when every one goes to bed and turns off the lights and the TV. Have a timer start the charging after 11 PM. Mr. ElectricCarOwner gets home at 6 PM and plugs in his car. It doesn't draw juice until the timer cuts it in after the evening power peak is over. Electric companies can offer bargain rates to encourage off peak car charging.
I'm glad none of my children went to Dartmouth, since they have turkey's like this teaching there.
In the real world these are non problems. Sure the batteries wear out over time, but so does every other part of a car. The depreciation on new cars is already so awful that short lived battery packs won't make things much worse. A new car looses half its value the moment you drive it off the dealer's lot. The NADA blue books show cars depreciate to rock bottom after seven years. The design goal for battery life on the Chevy Volt was 10 years. Nobody knows if they achieved that goal, the cars haven't been around for 10 years yet. So electric car resale value will be much less than what they cost new. What's new here?
Then there is the load on the electric grid. Non-problem. Demand for electricity drops way down at night when every one goes to bed and turns off the lights and the TV. Have a timer start the charging after 11 PM. Mr. ElectricCarOwner gets home at 6 PM and plugs in his car. It doesn't draw juice until the timer cuts it in after the evening power peak is over. Electric companies can offer bargain rates to encourage off peak car charging.
I'm glad none of my children went to Dartmouth, since they have turkey's like this teaching there.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Trendy Marketeers
"What's Selling Where | Paint colors. Title of a piece in the Wall St. Journal. They list five trendy sounding colors, complete with color illustrations of each color. Plus lots of fancy words about the grooviness of each color.
Trouble is, these forward looking trendy colors are the same dreary light pastels that have been slapped on the walls of Army barracks, gov'mint offices, and tired industrial buildings, for the last 50 years. Nothing new here, just washed out light blues, greens, and tans.
Hint to homeowners. If you are gonna paint a room, there is a lot to be said for good old landlord white (very light ivory). It brightens up any room, makes it look larger, and won't clash with wall hangings, rugs, curtains, furniture, or pictures. If you want to use a strong color on the walls, have your decorating plan well in mind, everything put into the room must either match, or at least harmonize with, the wall color. Done right, it can be effective, but it's hard to do right, especially on a tight budget.
Second hint to homeowners. Think about wall paper. It goes up easily, it hides all sorts of really horrible flaws in the walls, and can transform a room. Wall paper is less demanding than strong monocolors as to matching and harmonizing with the rest of the stuff you put in the room.
Trouble is, these forward looking trendy colors are the same dreary light pastels that have been slapped on the walls of Army barracks, gov'mint offices, and tired industrial buildings, for the last 50 years. Nothing new here, just washed out light blues, greens, and tans.
Hint to homeowners. If you are gonna paint a room, there is a lot to be said for good old landlord white (very light ivory). It brightens up any room, makes it look larger, and won't clash with wall hangings, rugs, curtains, furniture, or pictures. If you want to use a strong color on the walls, have your decorating plan well in mind, everything put into the room must either match, or at least harmonize with, the wall color. Done right, it can be effective, but it's hard to do right, especially on a tight budget.
Second hint to homeowners. Think about wall paper. It goes up easily, it hides all sorts of really horrible flaws in the walls, and can transform a room. Wall paper is less demanding than strong monocolors as to matching and harmonizing with the rest of the stuff you put in the room.
Free Anti virus programs
These are the ones I have used. All of them are scanners, upon command, or perhaps automatically, they compare files on your disc with a list of known badware/malware, and post big "Gotcha" messages when they find a match. They all take an hour or so to do your hard drive, and they all wait for you to personally OK zapping a malware file. Just in case they make a mistake. Which they never do. Since new malware is hatched every day, they all have provisions to download updated badware lists.
Most of them also install "realtime scanners" , programs that load into RAM at boot time and check all incoming stuff (email, email attachments, downloads) for badware, These scanners slow your system down a lot. I just removed a couple from my desktop, and the improvement in response is very noticeable and very pleasant. MicroSoft Security Essentials is the worse offender here. It slowed Blackbox down so much he was falling behind my typing. When a 600 Mhz machine with a Gigabyte of RAM cannot keep up with my 10 keystrokes/sec hand typing, something ain't right. Blowing away Microsoft Security essentials fixed things right up.
I have run all of these antivirus programs within the last few months. The computers all survived the experience. They are all free. They are all fairly easy to run, you download them from the web, run 'em, and tell 'em to zap everything they find. None of 'em will find everything. If faced with a difficult infection, try several of them. What one misses, another might find.
MalwareBytes. A relative newcomer. As a plus feature, no "realtime scanner". He just scans the hard drive, once, and doesn't bother you afterwards. Website BleepingComputer tipped me off to this one.
Spybot Search and Destroy Been around for a while. Started out as an anti spybot scanner and broadened out into scanning for most types of malware. No "realtime scanner", a plus feature in my estimation.
Lavasoft AdAware Another spybot scanner that has branched out. Installs its own "realtime scanner" and whines when it finds traces of other antivirus programs on your machine.
AVG Another relative newcomer. Still shaking the code down, but it works and does no harm.
ZoneAlarm. Started off as a firewall and the latest version includes a disk scanner and a "realtime scanner".
MicroSoft Security Essentials Fairly new from Redmond. Effective, is able to block some pesky infections spread from websites. CPU hog. Slows your machine a LOT, all the time. Consumes up to 90% of your CPU time. Difficult to turn off or remove.
Most of them also install "realtime scanners" , programs that load into RAM at boot time and check all incoming stuff (email, email attachments, downloads) for badware, These scanners slow your system down a lot. I just removed a couple from my desktop, and the improvement in response is very noticeable and very pleasant. MicroSoft Security Essentials is the worse offender here. It slowed Blackbox down so much he was falling behind my typing. When a 600 Mhz machine with a Gigabyte of RAM cannot keep up with my 10 keystrokes/sec hand typing, something ain't right. Blowing away Microsoft Security essentials fixed things right up.
I have run all of these antivirus programs within the last few months. The computers all survived the experience. They are all free. They are all fairly easy to run, you download them from the web, run 'em, and tell 'em to zap everything they find. None of 'em will find everything. If faced with a difficult infection, try several of them. What one misses, another might find.
MalwareBytes. A relative newcomer. As a plus feature, no "realtime scanner". He just scans the hard drive, once, and doesn't bother you afterwards. Website BleepingComputer tipped me off to this one.
Spybot Search and Destroy Been around for a while. Started out as an anti spybot scanner and broadened out into scanning for most types of malware. No "realtime scanner", a plus feature in my estimation.
Lavasoft AdAware Another spybot scanner that has branched out. Installs its own "realtime scanner" and whines when it finds traces of other antivirus programs on your machine.
AVG Another relative newcomer. Still shaking the code down, but it works and does no harm.
ZoneAlarm. Started off as a firewall and the latest version includes a disk scanner and a "realtime scanner".
MicroSoft Security Essentials Fairly new from Redmond. Effective, is able to block some pesky infections spread from websites. CPU hog. Slows your machine a LOT, all the time. Consumes up to 90% of your CPU time. Difficult to turn off or remove.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
One damn thing after another
We had a serious thunderstorm Monday night. Next morning main computer, trusty old Blackbox, a Compaq, was no longer on the internet. Windows claimed the network cable was unplugged. It wasn't, but the little green LED that indicates connection was out. After some blundering around, I fired up trusty laptop, and lo and behold, he went right on line by wireless. So, that means cable modem is alive, and the router has enough life to do wireless. I'm using one to those wireless routers that puts out a wireless signal AND drives four RJ-45 jacks. Blackbox is connected to one of the RJ-45 jacks. Maybe the Ethernet cable failed, or Blackbox's network adapter got fried. Or the router got half fried, so the wireless still works but the RJ-45 jacks are toast.
So I pull out a PCI wireless adapter card and plug it in. But the install CD refuses to run. So I decide to blow away some of the antivirus software that has been bogging Blackbox down. After a bitter hand-to-hand struggle I get rid of Microsoft Security Essentials and ZoneAlarm. Neither went easily or quietly. But after killing them both, the install CD started to work, and the wireless card connected and Blackbox is back on line.
Joy. And, I knew that the antivirus stuff was slowing him down, but wow, now he is back in his old form, quick and silent. Love it. So I am gonna run barefoot for a while.
So I pull out a PCI wireless adapter card and plug it in. But the install CD refuses to run. So I decide to blow away some of the antivirus software that has been bogging Blackbox down. After a bitter hand-to-hand struggle I get rid of Microsoft Security Essentials and ZoneAlarm. Neither went easily or quietly. But after killing them both, the install CD started to work, and the wireless card connected and Blackbox is back on line.
Joy. And, I knew that the antivirus stuff was slowing him down, but wow, now he is back in his old form, quick and silent. Love it. So I am gonna run barefoot for a while.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Game of Thrones
Netflix delivered the first disc last night. Episodes 1 and 2 from season one. Highly enjoyable. It's a medieval swords and sorcery fantasy. George R.R. Martin wrote five books set in this universe (I have read them all so that makes me a fan). We have Sean Bean as Lord Eddart Stark. Sean has been gaining weight over the years. As Richard Sharpe, battling Napoleon he was lean and elegant especially in that well tailored rifleman's green uniform. Later as Boromir in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, he was a grown man, on the strong and muscular side. Now as Ned Stark he looks overweight. Both roles are set in similar fantasy worlds. Clearly Martin was influenced by Tolkien. Martin's world has a stronger flavor of the high middle ages than Tolkien, who is more into elves and Fairie.
"Production values" (sets, costumes, special effects and such) are really good especially for a TV mini series. Everything looks right, no anachronisms. The camera man knows enough to put the camera on a tripod. No arty "shake the camera" shots which I find annoying. The sound man does it right and the dialogue is understandable. The young Starks (Ayra, Brendan, Sansa) are appealing. The girls are really good looking and sometimes scantily clad.
If you haven't read the books you will need to pay close attention to understand what is happening. Some of the key scenes are glossed over pretty rapidly and if I hadn't read the book I would not have understood what is going on.
Anyhow I enjoyed the first two episodes, and Netflix ought to deliver more of them soon.
"Production values" (sets, costumes, special effects and such) are really good especially for a TV mini series. Everything looks right, no anachronisms. The camera man knows enough to put the camera on a tripod. No arty "shake the camera" shots which I find annoying. The sound man does it right and the dialogue is understandable. The young Starks (Ayra, Brendan, Sansa) are appealing. The girls are really good looking and sometimes scantily clad.
If you haven't read the books you will need to pay close attention to understand what is happening. Some of the key scenes are glossed over pretty rapidly and if I hadn't read the book I would not have understood what is going on.
Anyhow I enjoyed the first two episodes, and Netflix ought to deliver more of them soon.
Business
For today, I made a dump run, and then mowed the rest of the grass. Then I took a nap. Seemed like a full and productive day to me.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Car ads
One the those fliers jammed into our mailbox from a Littleton car dealer. The cover plumps for a Jeep SUV, no price. Open 'er up, and we have a Dodge Challenger, 6.4 Liter Hemi (403 c.i.) manual transmission and 20 inch wheels for only $44,900. Nice car, Cadillac price. Is that manual transmission four on the floor or three on the tree? Same page we have a big Dodge crew cab pickup with Cummins diesel for $50,999. Fancy pickup costs more than luxury sedan. Inside we have real Jeep Jeeps for $20K and a Chrysler 200, V6 and a slush box for $17K.
Then we have Dodge Caravans for $17K and Chrysler Town & Countries (same thing) for $26K.
Damn, new cars cost a bundle.
Then we have Dodge Caravans for $17K and Chrysler Town & Countries (same thing) for $26K.
Damn, new cars cost a bundle.
Tools, new tools
The grass was on the warpath, stalks up to a foot high. Ancient hand mower just wasn't cutting it. Mowing had become a chore to be dreaded. I thought about just turning the whole job over to Ken King, my friendly local lawn care guy. But I have been cutting this little lawn,with a hand mower, for forty years. Going with lawncare is like admitting I'm getting too old to mow.
So, I set off to buy a new mower. Checked Sears, Home Depot and Lowe's. Come home with a brand new Husqvarna hand mower. $149. It fit in the trunk of the Mercury, lid closed. Got it home, read the instruction booklet, (solid boiler plate to repel liability lawyers) put it together and tried it out.
Outstanding. Cuts it level, gets every stalk. It's feather light (lotta plastic). Before I knew it, the side lawn was all cut. Pressed on to the front lawn. That cut like lightning too. They did something good with the gearing so the reel spins faster than the old style mowers. They replaced the roller with real back wheels so the grass stays upright to be cut, rather than lying down flat and escaping its proper fate. Puts the honest self satisfaction of seeing a flat level mowed path slicing thru the shagginess back into the chore.
I could have gotten a power mower for only $30 more. The guy at Lowes assured me that it would start next spring if I put some miracle additive into the gas tank. But this baby is so light and pushes so easily and it makes me feel so environmentally sensitive, that its more satisfactory than a power job.
So, I set off to buy a new mower. Checked Sears, Home Depot and Lowe's. Come home with a brand new Husqvarna hand mower. $149. It fit in the trunk of the Mercury, lid closed. Got it home, read the instruction booklet, (solid boiler plate to repel liability lawyers) put it together and tried it out.
Outstanding. Cuts it level, gets every stalk. It's feather light (lotta plastic). Before I knew it, the side lawn was all cut. Pressed on to the front lawn. That cut like lightning too. They did something good with the gearing so the reel spins faster than the old style mowers. They replaced the roller with real back wheels so the grass stays upright to be cut, rather than lying down flat and escaping its proper fate. Puts the honest self satisfaction of seeing a flat level mowed path slicing thru the shagginess back into the chore.
I could have gotten a power mower for only $30 more. The guy at Lowes assured me that it would start next spring if I put some miracle additive into the gas tank. But this baby is so light and pushes so easily and it makes me feel so environmentally sensitive, that its more satisfactory than a power job.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Memorial Day Parade, Littleton, NH
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| Parade down Littleton NH Main St. |
Decent turnout, all things considered. We had our US Rep (Charlie Bass) our selectmen, some of our state reps, a state senate candidate (Debi Warner) and a lot of veterans.
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| ROTC Color guard |
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| Ninth Grader sings National Anthem |
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| John Starr (my brother) delivers memorial address |
Sunday, May 27, 2012
The Economist's plan to save the Euro
The Economist, for those of you unfamiliar with it, is a weekly news magazine based in London. It has good world wide coverage, tells it fairly straight, and thinks it knows all the answers. This week they opine upon a fix for the Euro crisis. Here is their solution.
1. Create an EU bank regulator that would operate an EU wide version of deposit insurance (like the American FDIC), along with setting regulation about bank capital, winding up the affairs of failed banks, and have the money to "recapitalize" (otherwise known as "bailout") shaky or broke banks. Give this new agency control of the existing European bank rescue funds. Hopefully the EU regulator would shield banks from national government pressure to lend to national government favored industries or buy national government bonds.
2. Create "Eurobonds" backed by all the Euro countries. Unsaid, but understood by bond buyers is that Germany pledges to make Eurobonds good. Use the proceeds from Eurobond sales to make loans to countries that no one else will loan money to, like Spain and Italy.
"All that is required is for over indebted countries to have access to money and for banks to have a 'safe' euro-wide class of assets that is not tied to the fortunes of one country."
As the Economist sees it, German backed Eurobonds would be as good as American T-bills. Dead broke governments would not have to clean up their acts so soon. Out of the goodness of their hearts the Germans extend their excellent credit rating to the rest of Europe. Angela Merkel is the only person standing in the way of this financial nirvana. Shame on her.
I got another plan. Let the stupid banks go bust. Let the dead broke counties reduce their spending now, rather than after they run out of other people's money.
1. Create an EU bank regulator that would operate an EU wide version of deposit insurance (like the American FDIC), along with setting regulation about bank capital, winding up the affairs of failed banks, and have the money to "recapitalize" (otherwise known as "bailout") shaky or broke banks. Give this new agency control of the existing European bank rescue funds. Hopefully the EU regulator would shield banks from national government pressure to lend to national government favored industries or buy national government bonds.
2. Create "Eurobonds" backed by all the Euro countries. Unsaid, but understood by bond buyers is that Germany pledges to make Eurobonds good. Use the proceeds from Eurobond sales to make loans to countries that no one else will loan money to, like Spain and Italy.
"All that is required is for over indebted countries to have access to money and for banks to have a 'safe' euro-wide class of assets that is not tied to the fortunes of one country."
As the Economist sees it, German backed Eurobonds would be as good as American T-bills. Dead broke governments would not have to clean up their acts so soon. Out of the goodness of their hearts the Germans extend their excellent credit rating to the rest of Europe. Angela Merkel is the only person standing in the way of this financial nirvana. Shame on her.
I got another plan. Let the stupid banks go bust. Let the dead broke counties reduce their spending now, rather than after they run out of other people's money.
Blogger's new features
The programming staff at blogger has time on their hands and they recoded the user interface, the interface seen by us blog owners, not the interface seen by you readers. Now after posting we see a list of all our recent posts with a count of the comments and views of each post. Fun, I can see which posts get the most views, which I hope means the posts most popular with readers. Going by this I oughta do more posts on movies, at least I have a higher view count on movie posts than on my political rants.
Of course I am wondering how this view count thing works. How does the software know which post gets credit for a view when more than one post is in view at the same time? Which is the usual case, few of my posts fill an entire page on Firefox.
Of course I am wondering how this view count thing works. How does the software know which post gets credit for a view when more than one post is in view at the same time? Which is the usual case, few of my posts fill an entire page on Firefox.
Space-X
Congratulations to the whole Space-X team. Getting the Falcon to lift off and the Dragon to dock is a huge victory over Murphy's law. There are a zillion things, some tiny, some large that can break, and it only takes one breakage to scrub the mission, or worse. The Space-X team did the required quality control checks, designed out the weak points, worked hard, and succeeded.
It should be remembered that Elon Musk made a fortune in Silicon Valley, and then plowed a good deal of that fortune into Space-X. Clearly better use of the money than Uncle Sam would have made of it had Uncle taken it in taxes. Let's hear it for private enterprise.
It should be remembered that Elon Musk made a fortune in Silicon Valley, and then plowed a good deal of that fortune into Space-X. Clearly better use of the money than Uncle Sam would have made of it had Uncle taken it in taxes. Let's hear it for private enterprise.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Pop goes the tendon
Must be getting old. I was in the kitchen and I just flipped a bit of crud off my fingers into the sink. They was a faint pop sound and all of a sudden the index finger was off at a funny angle. It didn't get better so next day I went to see my doctor. Got there about nine o'clock. Did some Xrays, nothing's broken, got set up to see a hand surgeon in Concord (hour and a half drive). Surgeon looked at it. The tendon that runs over the knuckle tore out of its groove. Only fix is splint the finger and wait FOUR WEEKS for it to heal. With the splint in place. Arrgh.
So now I am learning to do one handed, all kinds of things that I always used two hands to do. Including typing.
Note to self. Don't wave hands rapidly. Something might break off.
So now I am learning to do one handed, all kinds of things that I always used two hands to do. Including typing.
Note to self. Don't wave hands rapidly. Something might break off.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Words of the Weasel, Part 30
"Growth". As used by European politicians.
Plain English meaning.
"Germans give us money."
Plain English meaning.
"Germans give us money."
Perhaps Europe can't pull the US economy down
Interesting charts in today's Wall St. Journal. It shows US exports to Europe to be only 1.2% of US GNP. That means the entire continent could disappear from the face of the earth and we would only loose 1.2% of GNP in export sales. To be real, Europe won't disappear completely, worst that can happen is it drops into recession and it's US imports drop off somewhat.
Somewhat larger, Eurozone banks make loans to the US equal to 10.5% of US GNP. If things get bad enough in Europe, and enough Eurozone banks fail, that lending can dry up. But so what? We have plenty of banks over here, and we can print as much money as well like to fund loans.
In short, a Euro meltdown won't hurt us nearly as much as it hurts the Europeans. Of course plenty of US politicians are already pointing fingers at Europe to explain miserable US growth rates. How can you tell when a politician is lying to you? When you see his lips moving.
Somewhat larger, Eurozone banks make loans to the US equal to 10.5% of US GNP. If things get bad enough in Europe, and enough Eurozone banks fail, that lending can dry up. But so what? We have plenty of banks over here, and we can print as much money as well like to fund loans.
In short, a Euro meltdown won't hurt us nearly as much as it hurts the Europeans. Of course plenty of US politicians are already pointing fingers at Europe to explain miserable US growth rates. How can you tell when a politician is lying to you? When you see his lips moving.
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