comeonfranco

MICHIGAN: Federal judge hears arguments in Michigan medical marijuana case (2010-11-12)

2010-11-12T23:23:00.000-05:00

MICHIGAN: Federal judge hears arguments in Michigan medical marijuana case (2010-11-12)

Finally, an iTunes killer... maybe

2010-10-15T11:32:00.001-04:00

I've been a closet Microsoft fanboy almost my whole life and as you can imagine, I've been pretty disappointed over the last few years. Aside from its enterprise offerings, Microsoft's products have been pretty flat and predictable. In the meantime, we've seen two platforms really take off that being Apple and Google. Apple has superior design and user experience than anyone out on the market, and Google has great engineers who can churn out very functional and useful web-based products. Meanwhile, Microsoft quietly has been pocketing gobs of profits that nobody seems to be paying attention to. Their platforms still dominate the market... they just aren't as exciting. I don't know if it is a branding thing or a marketing thing... I really have no idea because I honestly always thought (aside from IE) they had good products. Anyway, it is what it is, so I'll get to the point of this article.

I hate iTunes as does most of the rest of the world. One common item that almost the entire tech community agrees with is that iTunes is a terrible software product that they really want to get rid of. Even the most hardcore Apple fanboys are pretty disappointed with iTunes. Problem is.. they can't get rid of it because they have some sort of Apple device that they need to sync with iTunes. I'm in the same boat.

I bought an iPod nano several years ago for listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I found that podcasting is the best way to get news that matters and actually affects my life and have been addicted ever since. The device is functional and does what I need it to do. However, I think I'm going to buy a Zune.. or Windows phone touch.. or whatever Microsoft's iPod Touch offering ends up being. Why? iTunes sucks and the Zune software has absolutely blown me away in just a couple of days. I'm now carefully planning my escape plan from Apple's iron grip.

The Zune software is a little difficult to handle at first. Not because it is poorly designed, but only because the user interface is different than the normal view that you'd see in any ordinary program. It only took me about 5 minutes to get it and I really love it now.

The Zune software does almost everything better than iTunes. As a podcast listener, the first thing I noticed is that the Zune software immediately found my existing iTunes podcast library and recognized them as podcasts and showed them to me in the Zune podcast section. It's like they knew people were going to have iTunes info on their computer and it just picked it up and pulled it right in. How about music? Well, it found all my music, too. It grabbed everything from where the iTunes library would normally hold its music. Even though iTunes creates a bunch of sub-folders, Zune grabbed everything in the my music folder. Now, I actually don't keep my music there, but the software easily let me point it to the location for my music actually resides. It even let me remove the 'My Music' folder so whatever junk is in there doesn't get picked up in my Zune library and turn it into a mess. The music showed up INSTANTLY! In iTunes, I had to specifically point it to a folder whenever I added music onto my computer. EVEN IF I copied the music to my iTunes library. When I dropped a folder in the location where my music resides, Zune recognized it almost instantly and it was added to the Zune music directory. Overall, the UI and the way it handles your music is far superior. Here are a few other points that make me very happy.

The Photo display is the best I've seen in any software product on the market. It recognizes your photos based on the folder you have them in, and during a slideshow, it fills the entire UI with a photo. Simply moving the mouse brings up unobstructed controls to let you move on or exit the slideshow.
Video is the same way. It sees your video files and then when you play them, the UI disappears and all you see is the video. Very slick looking. Again - moving the mouse brings up the controls that you need to stop, exit, etc..
The marketplace is amazing. For podcasting, the controls and viewing of the podcast directory is much slicker than the cold iTunes interface. The directory is full with everything you'd find on iTunes. This reminds me.. I need to get my michiganexpats.com podcast in the Zune marketplace.
Purchasing music - I don't actually have much experience with this, so I'll have to defer. But $15/mo for unlimited listening and 10 songs to keep seems decent. I really don't listen to music that much, though. However, this brings me to the Zune failpoint.
Internet Radio isn't there!!!! That is the only thing missing from the Zune software. I got so sick of the way iTunes did internet radio that now I'm actually doing it in windows media player which, I'm sad to say, is actually a better experience.

So, I'm fully convinced that the Zune software is far superior to iTunes. I encourage those who do not yet have an Apple device to NOT BUY ONE. There is FINALLY an alternative. If I could go back, I would have purchased a ZuneHD instead of an iPod. But now, I'm stuck. So I say to you all, my friends. You have an option now.

Or do you?

With the hoards of people out there who despise the price and slavery that comes along with being forced into a 2-year contract, Apple has proven that there is a market for an iPhone sans phone - Hence, the iPod touch. But it's still an Apple product. So you are still a slave. When Microsoft releases its zune-type companion with the Windows Phone 7 OS, I will likely purchase it immediately. I will be free of Apple's way of doing things and I'll have great software paired with a device that does what I need it to do.

The release of Windows Phone 7 could possibly be Microsoft's playing "The Empire Strikes Back" card. I think Microsoft is too late and I don't think they will succeed with this, but at least this time they can claim that they actually have a better product. For everyone's sake, I really hope they succeed.

Break the Law!!!!

2010-09-04T13:38:00.001-04:00

"One may well ask: How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others? The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are so many unjust laws in our society. Let's start breaking the ones that are not just.

Interesting Post

2010-08-30T09:17:00.002-04:00

Regarding women in the technology industry.

While the article is interesting, the comment stream is almost more interesting.

Why don't women choose careers in technology with the same numbers as men?

There are so many theories out there.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/28/women-in-tech-stop-blaming-me/

Marriage is a Religious institution, not a governmental one

2010-08-28T22:01:00.001-04:00

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/d6j67/i_dont_believe_in_marriage_and_my_girlfriend/

Interesting conversation going on in reddit right now. Boyfriend is not religious and neither is the girlfriend. As such, he sees no reason to get married since he feels insulted that he needs the government to certify the love he has for his girlfriend. However, girlfriend wants to go through with the civil marriage.

I agree with him. If you don't hold any religious beliefs, what is the point of a marriage? And why don't institutions such as the Catholic church speak out against a secular institution such as the state governments stealing from them an institution that they believe is sacred? By default does the Catholic church agree that what happens in a courthouse between two non-believers is the same contract as what happens in front of the altar between two believers? If not, then why do we use the same word... "marriage." Clearly they are two distinct things.

I propose new laws that eliminate civil marriage and all the tax incentives that go along with it. Civil marriage is destroying the religious concept of marriage and has cheapened what religious institutions believe it represents. It's time to end it once and for all.

If two individuals want to live together, share bank accounts and deeds to a house, they should be able to enter into a legal agreement that defines the terms by which the two parties operate and live. If two individuals do not believe in God, but have a strong love for each other, then I'm sure that a secular market will emerge which helps to ceremonialize the feelings the two have for each other while leaving God out of the picture.

Poor Digg

2010-08-28T11:45:00.001-04:00

They are having so many issues right now.

digg.com

From Sovereignman.com. Is it really worth it?

2010-08-27T12:30:00.001-04:00

This is from the daily email at www.Sovereignman.com. He raises an important point. Is it really worth it to fight a corrupt and broken system of government and bureaucracy? "Simon" argues that our time and resources are better spent protecting ourselves and our family. Here is a snippet.

Lastly, Wayne asks, "Simon, what are your thoughts on the organization called GOOOH, or organizations like it that aim to clean out the political system and replace all sitting politicians with fresh blood?"

Look, I agree with their goals, and I think it's admirable that such organizations really want to make a positive difference. I truly despise politicians and bureaucrats-- I think they're power-hungry sociopaths who enrich themselves by bankrupting the middle class and stealing from the productive.

In theory, replacing all of them sounds like a good idea; I would rather have a team of well-trained monkeys in our capitols than the folks who are there now.

Here's the thing, though: while the goals of these organizations are admirable, it's futile to try convincing the preponderance of 300 million Americans / 60 million Brits / 30 million Canadians / etc. that less government is the answer.

"We the people" around the world are getting exactly the sort of leadership and solutions that we've demanded-- more regulation, more stimulus, lower interest rates, more bailouts, etc.

It's nearly impossible to win over the people's hearts and minds to the ideals of limited government when an average Brit believes that taxes should pay for free swim lessons... or when an average American thinks that Obama's stimulus spending comes from 'his stash.'

We all have a finite amount of resources-- time, money, and energy. Trying to change people's minds about the political establishment may be morally fulfilling, but it will likely be a waste of these precious resources.

As I travel around the world and I see such a massive transformation underway, I honestly believe that much of what we know today will be virtually unrecognizable in just a few years' time.

Think of how much the world has changed in the last 10-years... and understand that things are changing even more quickly now.

The fundamental question is-- should we be investing our time, capital, and energy to affect a fractured and corrupt political system, and to change people's minds who frankly don't want our help? Or should we invest our resources to prepare and safeguard our families, our assets, and ourselves?

I'm curious what you think.

So, as Simon asks... what do YOU think?

Sub Heading Test

2010-08-21T11:06:00.002-04:00

Michigan Expats - Sports

By Bubba

Insert article about sports here.

Verizon FiOS Internet is screaming!!!

2010-08-17T21:10:00.002-04:00

Enough said.. look at my download speed!!!!

New post on michiganexpats

2010-08-10T23:10:00.001-04:00

Michigan expats has a new post regarding Koegel's hot dogs. It's worth a look.

www.michiganexpats.com

Ex-Mexico President Calls for Drug Legalization

2010-08-10T14:42:00.001-04:00

This is really starting to gain some traction. Vicente Fox isn't a lightweight.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103181125

Someone once made the point that if a person jumps out of a plane to their death, nobody blames the incident on gravity. You don't hear news stories about how gravity is a drag on our society. You don't see politicians condemning the unjust and harmful effects of gravity. You don't see parents warning their children about the dangers of gravity and how it is an evil in society that needs to be defeated. The government does not spend billions of dollars a year fighting to end gravity.

Why?

Gravity is not going to change, it is a constant. A common denominator across all equations. It is a given, a set of constraints within which society operates.

Illicit, dangerous, and harmful drugs are no different. They don't kill nearly as many people as gravity and other laws of physics, but they will be found and used regardless of what we do. We have centuries of evidence of this yet we still continue to throw our money at a legal system that cannot stop or even limit the flow and use of drugs. The end result is gang violence and innocent victims on the government's hands. We are forcing an unstoppable market into the management techniques of the mob and murderous thugs.

Michael Jordan scored tons of points on the Pistons in the 88 and 89 conference finals. He was going to score a lot of points and there was absolutely nothing the Pistons could do about it. It was a given, a common denominator, a set of constraints within which the Pistons had to operate. But who won the NBA world championship those years?

New Blog

2010-08-08T17:50:00.001-04:00

I created a new blog and am publishing content along with a few other partners. It is about all things Michigan, but from an expatriot perspective.

We think that a consistent publication of good content (including audio and video) can really make this thing take off. If you are a Michigan reader, I encourage you to add this blog to your reader. It's going to be a lot of fun!

http://www.michiganexpats.com

Cheers

Very Excited about Ubuntu

2010-08-07T13:12:00.001-04:00

I installed the new version of Ubuntu 10.04. So far I am very impressed with a few annoyances.

Perhaps the most impressive part is the Windows installer feature. It allows you to install Ubuntu without any changes to your partition table. It simply adds a line for

Here's how it works.

1. You need to download the Ubuntu ISO from UBUNTU.com. If you have a newer 64-bit system, make sure to pull back the 64 bit version.
2. Next, download the windows installer. You must save it in the same directory as you save the ISO file.
3. Run the windows installer "wubi.exe." If it gives you an error.. just keep clicking "Try Again" until the program starts up.
4. You can then select any drive into which you will install Ubuntu.
5. The installer will write a line into the windows boot list, so when you restart the computer you will have the option of selecting either Windows or Ubuntu.
6. When you select Ubuntu, it will finish installing in about 20 minutes.
7. Then, you will be ready to go! Each time you restart your computer, you will have the option to select windows or ubuntu.

The nice thing about the windows installer is that it makes it incredibly easy for non-linux-geeks to run ubuntu in a dual-boot mode. The windows installer simply creates a directory with some large files in windows and runs the OS directly out of those files. This means, the ordinary users don't need to figure out all the different boot configs and partition tables that linux needs.

Takes a total of 35 min!

Hilarious Ron Paul Video - Drug legalization

2010-08-06T12:33:00.004-04:00

Man, and I thought the political shows were bad today. Looks like its been this way for a while. Maybe the shows today are not as hateful because the powers that be have pushed these sorts of creative ideas far from the forum of public discourse. People always say, "think outside of the box." Well, if you want to survive in politics... make sure you stay well within the limits of the box. Don't go outside of that box!!!!

The best part of this video is when Ron just waves a hand at the lady and says, "you don't make any sense."

Reporter Asks Pelosi: Was THE WORD [Jesus] Made Flesh at Conception or a...

2010-08-06T12:33:00.000-04:00

Honestly, how do so many people vote for these crooks?

Dear Michigan, We’re Ready to Come Home

2010-08-02T21:05:00.001-04:00

As a Michigan Expat and Alumni of the Mott Park Neighborhood in Flint, MI, I hereby request the state of Michigan open its doors a little wider. I am a typical expat. I grew up in Michigan, went to primary/high school/college in Michigan, travelled "up north" on numerous occasions, point out my hometown on my hand etc. etc.. I also share another trait with expats. Shortly after I graduated from college, I left the state because of a job opportunity. This trend is pretty common, and Michiganders have become accustomed to it. What else would you expect in a state with incredible colleges and a terrible economy? We breed smart people, and watch them leave and never return. How depressing!

I moved out to the Washington DC area, one of the most dreadful and corrupt places in the world, yet filled with jobs. Because Democrats and Republicans tend to agree that the government can never be big enough (in practice at least), there has been an explosion of new government jobs and an equally big explosion of private contractors working for the government. Because of this the recession never came here. Naturally, there are Michigan expats all over the DC area who have left their state to migrate to where the jobs are. Can we really blame these people? Not really. Michigan still seems to have a hard time accepting that the past glory is not going to come back in the same form. This isn't exactly the best way to get people to stay. Neither is grasping for Federal money which is subjected to the whims and fancies of a particular administration and passing fads such as green initiatives which are popular but not profitable. Expats, regardless of political beliefs, tend to realize that this approach to bringing jobs back to Michigan is good at little more than filling pro-Michigan brochures and the michigan.gov website with some basic content. We hear about things every once in a while regarding some new company that strikes a deal with Lansing to open up a plant and create 200 jobs or so. Special tax incentives are thrown around to create these scenarios, but we tend to ignore this because we understand that special incentives shouldn't be necessary. We ask ourselves, why do businesses need to go to Lansing, or work with the MEDC just to get a good deal? How about giving the same great deals to everybody? For whatever reason, businesses still don't want to go to Michigan. But I'll leave that debate aside because I want to talk about me... and hundreds of thousands (millions?) of expats just like me. I have a trait that almost all Michigan expats have.

I want to come home.

I've met TONS of Michigan expats out here in the DC area and every single one of them says the same thing. "Yeah, I moved out here after graduating from 'insert Michigan college here' and I work doing 'X' and I like my job, but eventually I want to move back to Michigan." .....And do what?.... Think about what would happen if this conversation changed to "Yeah, I moved out here after graduating from 'insert Michigan college here' and I work doing 'X' and I like my job, but I'm moving back to Michigan in August because my company opened up an office there. I can't wait! I'll be able to get a house with an actual yard for less than I'm paying for rent out here. I'll be closer to family, and I just can't wait to be back in Michigan. There's just so much more to do there, and life is just so much easier." I hope I'm speaking for a vast majority of Michigan expats when I say that Michigan is the most beautiful state in the country. We tend to realize this after going out to the rest of the country (or world) in the hopes of being impressed only to say something to the tune of "ehh, so what, it's just a waterfall, there are a million of those in Michigan and the water is actually clear." We think of much more than just aesthetics. The house next door to where I lived in Michigan just sold for something around $50,000, but that same house would be nearly $500,000 in my current neighborhood. My grocery bill is $150, but I used to pay $80 in Michigan. I can "gasp" PARK MY CAR in Michigan. I can send my kids to a private elementary school for $2,000 in Michigan. Try $7,000 out here. And the list goes on. Michigan has expats who are smart because they went to Michigan colleges and hardworking because that's what you have to do to get good jobs like we have. We are committed to success and achievement, and we want to see our old stomping grounds as a place where we can do that better than anywhere else.

I hope this is seen as a positive message. Yes, Michigan expats grow weary of seeing their old state cast as an example of high unemployment and endless misery. We know that only the former is true. But that won't last forever, and when Michigan finally gets its act together, we'll come back. We'll stay, and we'll raise our families, and teach them right from wrong, take them to Tiger games and to the Mackinac Bridge. We'll make sure they are intelligent and that they seek out the best opportunities whether they are in Flint or Fiji. Either way, we'll try to convey in them a sense that Michigan is home and that even if their dreams take them around the world they'll come full circle and land back in Michigan. We want to create a generation of Michigan-born heroes, entrepreneurs, and examples of success with values. And we will succeed. Just as our parents did. So, I hope to see all of you current Michiganders sooner rather than later. And to all you expats out there, when the time is right for you, I hope you will consider coming back. Who's first?

Wifi Range Extender

2010-07-28T18:42:00.001-04:00

Love this kinda stuff.

Public Sector Laziness in England

2010-07-01T09:21:00.001-04:00

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1289702/Public-sector-inertia-council-office-employees-month-sickies.html#ixzz0s51Nv1j7

Please, Please tell me that the US is better than this!!

Honestly, what is the point of putting in a good day's work anymore? We should all quit and just work for the government. Think about how much more time you can spend with your family!

Nice video!

2010-05-22T17:38:00.001-04:00

You've always wanted to do this.. right?

2010-05-13T21:46:00.001-04:00

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=11d_1273508035

The war on drugs is one of the most evil abominations of our society.

2010-05-09T20:50:00.002-04:00

Next to abortion, the war on drugs is the most in-humane activity that our government engages in.

This man had his house broken into and his dog shot for possessing a small amount of marijuana.

It blows my mind how our society can let people be killed every year as a result of keeping marijuana illegal. So far, I have heard nobody mention any logical reason for it being illegal.

1. It is safer to smoke than cigarettes.
2. You cannot die from overdosing on marijuana.
3. Unlike alcohol, it causes peaceful and laughter-filled behavior.

However, marijuana is kept legal for a few reasons.
1. To keep the private prison industry in business and well-paid.
2. To maintain a base of slave-labor (prison work programs). Yes, slavery still exists in the USA and the government is the slavemaster. People are put in jail for possessing and selling a relatively harmless substance and forced to work building highways etc... How is this not slavery? ok, so they are paid $2 per hour... and the money they make can only be spent at the shops in the prisons.. which are owned by the government or some old college buddy of the guy in charge of the DEA??? This is an insult to humanity.
3. To appease those who are afraid of societal change, mainly the evangelical crowd.
4. To keep a steady cashflow going to private military contractors and a multi-billion dollar government agency.

This is insulting to the human race.

I feel sorry for this guy who lost his dog due to evil and anti-human laws.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbwSwvUaRqc&feature=player_embedded

Jesus dice

2010-04-28T22:37:00.001-04:00

"El mejor mes es Octubre"

-Jesús

Are search engines owned by advertisers?

2010-04-16T00:17:00.001-04:00

It seems to me that, yes, they are. Although, I'm just complaining.

Here is something you CANNOT find out through a google search.

Which US Airports have direct flights to (x) city? Where x = any city. Quito, Ecuador in my case.

All that will be returned is a bunch of links to travel sites trying to sell plane tickets and hotels. You cannot find the answer!

Ha!

--
Joe Petrides
Founding Producer
No Agenda Show
http://www.noagendashow.com

The true meaning of easter

2010-04-01T16:17:00.002-04:00

It's the Easter bunny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcrg0B_yJAo&feature=related

Cultural Decline

2010-03-29T14:14:00.004-04:00

Look how far we've come.

From comeonfranco

Absolutely amazing

2010-03-26T22:51:00.001-04:00

Who wouldn't want to see this? This totally blows me away.

There are few things greater in life

2010-03-26T01:05:00.001-04:00

Than having a computer powerful enough to run a main OS along 2 virtual machines with 2GB ram dedicated to each.

i rule

A Simple Question

2010-03-12T16:48:00.001-05:00

Why do no programs have a keyboard shortcut for the 'save as' function?

This is what we need in the US Congress

2010-02-27T19:54:00.001-05:00

Listen to No Agenda

2010-02-21T17:19:00.001-05:00

If you do not listen to the No Agenda Show podcast, then you are a fool.

http://www.noagendashow.com

Also on iTunes

Don't worry, it won't kill you.

Pretty Funny

2010-02-19T19:21:00.001-05:00

Did you know this about Federal Taxes

2010-02-14T17:54:00.001-05:00

I noticed this while I was filing my returns.

Withholding, as you know, is the way for the government to shield you from the hurt of realizing how much money you are actually paying them. They withhold it from your paycheck so that at the end of the year, you don't owe as much or even get a refund. This makes tax time awesome because you get a nice check in the mail. However, you are getting robbed. What if you took all the money that was withheld from your paycheck and dumped it into a CD. You could keep all the interest income and then drop the balance to the government. Instead, the government keeps all that interest money for itself. I've been looking for a way to do this, but the only easy way I can find is to just lie on my W-4 form so that less gets withheld.

However, I have found that this theory will not work. I found out that the actual due date for your taxes is NOT, I repeat NOT April 15th. You MUST pay throughout the year or else you get fined. It is only the PAPERWORK and syncing of the balance that is due on April 15th. So when the government says that your taxes are due on April 15th, they are lying. Your taxes are due much earlier than that. My theory will not work in practice because I found out that there is a fine if you have not allowed sufficient withholding from your salary.

So, the thing to try and do is set up as little withholding as possible (zero if you can figure out how to swing it), then dump the remaining expected balance at 11:59:59 on December 31st of the tax year. There are ways that you can contribute outside of your company's withholding setup, so in order to do this, you'll have to get yourself signed up. That way, you can hold off your taxes until the last possible moment and avoid the fine.

"

Underpayment Penalties

You'll have to pay an underpayment penalty for 2009 if you owe more than $1,000 in taxes (after taking withholding into account) and:

* Your taxes withheld don't cover at least 90% of your 2009 tax liability, or

* Your taxes withheld aren't at least 100% of your 2008 tax liability if your AGI is up to $150,000 or 110% if your AGI is more than $150,000. (The amount is $75,000 if you're married filing separately.)

For example:

In 2008 Ellen paid total taxes of $6,000. She thinks her income will be lower in 2009, so she plans to pay $5,000 in estimated tax payments for 2009. When Ellen prepares her 2009 return, she has a total tax of $6,500, $500 more than last year. Since Ellen only paid $5,000 in estimates, she must pay a penalty on the underpaid tax. Ellen would not have had to pay a penalty if she had either:

- Paid $5,850 in estimated payment (90% of 2009 taxes), or

- Paid $6,000 in estimated payments (100% of 2008 taxes)."

I missed another great Rush Limbaugh tirade

2010-02-09T20:59:00.001-05:00

About the ingenuity and awesome power of human beings to achieve.

Every once in a while, Rush will get into a great flowing monologue about how great and creative human beings are and that individuals are capable of such amazing triumphs no matter what the odds. He gives perhaps the best "believe in yourself" type speech I've ever heard. This is probably because these monologues seem to come out of nowhere every few months or so. They emerge out of all sorts of different topics and flow out so naturally that I've come to realize that this belief is something he really believes deep down. I'm even more certain of this once I consider his past life before he made his money in radio.

Here is an exert from his website.

"You know, small business people comprise the gamut. A lot of them are just creative, they just have a passion for a service or a product. The business side is something they have to learn. There you go. I've often said, and I maintain it to this day, that even in a circumstance like this, meaning this deep a recession, most of the limitations that people face are those they place on themselves. "

You can see the whole dialogue here.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_020910/content/01125110.guest.html

I saw him live one time when he spoke for Hillsdale College (currently the greatest liberal arts college in the world), but unfortunately he must not have been in the mood that night. He spent his hour blasting Democrats and making gay jokes about Barney Frank.

Great Website

2010-02-05T13:11:00.002-05:00

That's the beauty of it, dude. Its simplicity.

http://www.instantrimshot.com/

Come ON, Vatican!!

2010-02-02T15:57:00.001-05:00

I'm Catholic... but WHY does the Vatican have the lowest age of consent IN THE WORLD??? (12)

Whatever it is... they should bump it up to 16 or so just so people don't catch this and blog about it. I sure hope it isn't intentionally that low.

http://www.avert.org/age-of-consent.htm

John C Dvorak - Stop Complaining about .docx!

2010-01-30T11:41:00.004-05:00

I'm a big fan of yours, John, but one thing that really grinds me is your condemnation of Microsoft's 2007 office file formats. As you know, they changed .xls, .ppt, and .doc to .xlsx, .pptx, and .docx. This annoyed consumer users when they started getting attachments in this new format. It's a shame that Microsoft didn't inform the public enough that downloading and installing a compatibility pack takes care of the problem.

What Microsoft DIDN'T do in the morning is highlight the incredible benefits of this new format. Files saved in this new 2007 format are sometimes more than 50% smaller than the same file saved in the 2003 format. For a consumer user, this is no big deal since chances are, most consumer use of Office documents doesn't get too heavy duty. However, the only people who actually pay $500 for an Office license reside in the corporate world and use Office for corporate use. This means sending big-time presos, excel database table exports, and large training manuals just to name a few. These files are being thrown through emails and choking email servers, not to mention setting everyone over their corporate imposed mailbox limit in no time.

I took some sample files that I received in my email inbox that were saved in the Office 2003 format. I resaved them in the same folder in the Office 2007 format. The file size difference was massive. Take a look at the photo below to see the results.

Again, if you are a consumer user, please don't use office unless...

1. You go to a college that has one of those great deals with MS where you can get Office for $45. I got my copy for $10.

2. Your business gives you a license for "work purposes" on your home computer.

3. You have a bootleg copy that seems to work ok.

There are plenty of free options such as Open Office that work just as well.

Make your computer faster

2010-01-30T11:27:00.001-05:00

One way to do it is to get rid of adobe reader. It is a monstrous program and it installs all kinds of extra garbage you don't need. Why does a pdf reader need to be a 100MB download????

Save yourself a lot of trouble and download foxit reader. It is a smaller, much faster, and has better features.

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/

Cheers,

Joe

Got this from the Tiger Woods Foundation

2010-01-19T20:32:00.001-05:00

Not sure how I got on the email list, but looks like his PR people are trying to bring him back??

Did anyone else get this email?

Foundation Expands Earl Woods Scholarship Program
to 35 Students

Foundation to Welcome 11 New Scholars to the Program in Spring 2010

The Tiger Woods Foundation has launched its 2010 program efforts with a significant expansion to the Earl Woods Scholarship Program. Beginning this year, the Foundation will support 11 additional scholars in the program, bringing the program total to 35.

"The majority of our scholars are first-generation college students, and I'm thrilled that we are able to provide financial support so these bright, young individuals can attend college despite incredible odds," said Greg McLaughlin, President & CEO of Tiger Woods Foundation. "We are grateful to the generous individuals and dedicated sponsors that allow us to continue providing support for youth around the world."

>READ MORE about Scholarships.

Op Ed Runs in OC Register

The Orange County Register recently published an Op Ed piece from Sandra Barry, a long-time superintendent of Anaheim City Schools and TWLC Board Member, about the quality and value of the programs offered at the Tiger Woods Learning Center. Below is the article that ran on December 27, 2009.

Tiger Committed to Helping Kids

By Sandra Barry - Board Member, Tiger Woods Foundation. Ms. Barry is also the retired superintendent of the Anaheim City School District, the largest elementary school district in Orange County with approximately 22,500 students.

Lost in the avalanche of stories about Tiger Woods is the story of the Tiger Woods Learning Center. A 35,000-square-foot building that opened its Anaheim doors in February 2006, the TWLC has benefitted over 25,000 students, in Orange County and in Los Angeles communities via its plethora of outstanding programs and services. In spite of recent media coverage, the TWLC continues its laser focus on helping youth be the best they can be.

My relationship with the Tiger Woods Learning Center began long before the facility existed. In fact, as the former superintendent of the Anaheim City School District, one of several local school districts whose kids benefit from the center, I was invited to advise the Tiger Woods Foundation throughout the design and building of the facility and the development of its programs. I also was invited to serve on the TWF and TWLC boards of directors. I have, in these capacities, observed firsthand Tiger's commitment to create a better tomorrow for kids. Moreover, I have been impressed with the number of people, corporations, and organizations that believe in and support the work of the Tiger Woods Learning Center.

>READ MORE of Sandra Barry's Op Ed.

TWLC Students Support the Troops

Students and their families came together November 19th during the Fall Career Exploration Program Family Night to assemble care packages to send to troops overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq. In appreciation of the hard work and dedication by the military, families packed various snacks and other non-perishable items, as well as hand-written cards filled with heartfelt messages. One unit of the 543rd Military Police Company responded with thanks for TWLC's gesture, saying, "It's great to know our work over here is being appreciated. Thank you for your generosity...and a taste of home!"

Go here to leave this mailing list or modify your email profile.

This email was sent by: Tiger Woods Foundation
121 Innovation, Suite 150 Irvine, CA 92617, USA

--
Joe Petrides

MLK Day. Horray!

2010-01-18T21:13:00.001-05:00

Interesting take by an Econ professor of mine.

http://consultingbyrpm.com/blog/2010/01/strategy-of-nonviolent-resistance.html

Even if your ends are good, using the Federal Government as a means to achieve them is not a good thing.... and.... you are less likely to have long term success.

Anyway - read the article.

Interesting article about Obama's performance

2010-01-18T11:26:00.001-05:00

Numbers tell a different story than words, though both are necessary. I've always enjoyed the "by the numbers" articles. They tell a story that your typical pundits don't.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9DA7L580&show_article=1

Here's one that the Left always tried to pull on Bush. And, of course, now the Right is using this same argument against Obama. Yes, the stock market is up, but where are the jobs???? We can see this in some of the numbers below.

7,949.09—Dow Jones Industrial Average close on Jan. 20, 2009.

10,609.65—Dow Jones Industrial Average close on Jan. 15, 2010.

13 million—Number of people 16 and older unemployed as of January 2009.

14.7 million—Number of people 16 and older unemployed as of December 2009.

7.7 percent—Unemployment rate January 2009

10.0 percent—Unemployment rate December 2009

The Right's response to the Left when it was criticized?

"The stock market always goes up first, then jobs follow behind it." This might be true

The Left's response to the Right now? Has anyone heard anything yet? If they had any brains about them, they would say the exact same thing that the Bush-lovers did.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess.

Chavez Says US Occupying Haiti in the Name of Aid

2010-01-17T23:43:00.001-05:00

Chavez is a nutball, and he hates the United States, that's for sure. I respect him for also hating Obama. After the lovefest that was the Obama election, Chavez is back to blasting the United States including Obama. I have to at least applaud Chavez' consistency across administrations as I feared that his hatred of the US was focused only on Bush. Thankfully, it doesn't look like Obama is going to be "friends" with this lunatic. Chavez' time is running out. We all know where socialism leads, and it was always clear that Chavez' game was only going to last as long $100 oil. Oil prices have fallen, and now Venezuela is bankrupt. Nothing like 40% inflation and a currency devaluation to ruin a wannabe tyrant's party!

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G2DW20100117?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true

I think Chavez is partly correct in his assertion. No doubt, we will be the leaders in assisting Haiti as the United States tends to do in most situations such as these. However, I won't be surprised if we ask the Haitians to allow us to keep a military presence there after this is all taken care of. With the US running the show, I bet it will become a nice vacation spot for the well-to-do in our country. Yes, that's imperialism, but nothing else ever seemed to work with that country. Maybe it's wrong, but it IS a better situation.

One clarification about internet service

2010-01-11T20:49:00.002-05:00

When you see an internet speed advertised... as in.. FiOS Internet 15Mbps/5... or Comcast Performance 15Mbps/2 etc, this does NOT mean Megabytes per second.

Internet speeds are measured in Megabits per second, NOT Megabytes. We think of Megabytes because of the size of computer files etc... For example, your average 10megapixel point and shoot photo is 2.5 megabytes. This is different than your internet speed.

Here is how it works.

There are 8 bits in a byte. Simply take your internet speed and divide it by 8. That is how many megabytes per second your internet provider says is the fastest you can go. I have 15Mbps service from Comcast. So I can expect to see transfer speeds cap off at about 1.875 MegaBYTES per second.

One way to see the difference.
MegaBITS per second usually can be seen as Mbps.
MegaBYTES per second normally is listed as MBps.

Note the difference in capital letters.

Just a bit of clarity for anyone who might be wondering.

I love Comcast.... for now.

2010-01-11T20:47:00.001-05:00

Got a great deal upgrading my internet from 1Mbps to 15Mbps.

Look what I can do!!!!

I agree with John C Dvorak

2010-01-09T13:37:00.001-05:00

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2357137,00.asp

The iPhone is ruining the country.

People spend much more time dabbling on these apps and bragging about how cool they are than they actually do being productive.

Here are some guesses.

Time saved per year by apps.. (ex. google maps getting you out of being lost, movie app helping you confirm the time of a movie etc..)
15hrs

Time wasted per year piddling around and trying out "cool" new stuff and engaging in useless conversations with friends.
300 hrs

Time spend showing off your phone to your friends
120hrs

Why do people keep trying to convince me that the 15hrs saved is worth losing a total of 420hrs out of their life?

I pay 39.99/mo to Verizon for voice service and a little more for texting which I don't need anymore now that the gf is back overseas. Even as a tech nut, I still don't feel like I'm missing anything. In many ways, I feel much more free.

Cheers,

Had a great day at work

2010-01-09T13:30:00.001-05:00

Worked from Home on Friday. Here is the setup.

Worked from my new desktop computer.
quad core Phenom II / 8gb ram / 750gb hard drive / 23inch 1920x1080 monitor. Let's just say that plenty of juice was available.

However, this computer has 3 problems.

1. It does not have any bluetooth hardware. This is a problem because I am on a lot of conference calls throughout the day, and I don't want to burn cell phone minutes. I pay $3 or so per month to skype for free calls to the US/Canada/Mexico and I don't have a USB or analog headset. I only have my Motorola bluetooth piece that I use with my cell phone. I figured out how to make it work as a headset on my old laptop from 2003 since this laptop has bluetooth hardware. So, I can only use skype on that computer.

2. It does not have all my work files. I need to use work files for, well, work stuff. All those spreadsheets, ppts, etc.. are all saved on my work laptop. How can I access them on my desktop computer?

3. It runs Windows 7. In order to connect to my work network, I need windows xp so that I can use the VPN software.

Here is how I solved them.

1 and 2. Microsoft Live Mesh solved the problem. <a href="www.mesh.com">Live Mesh</a> is a data syncronization program by microsoft that provides remote desktop support. If you create a mesh, you can syncronize your files across all your computers in an extremely easy way. In addition, if any other of your computers are running with the Mesh software running, you get free remote desktop capabilities to that computer. I have Mesh installed on my desktop, personal laptop, and work laptop. So to run skype or dial in to a bridge, all I needed to do was remote into my personal laptop (across the room), activate the bluetooth radio and dial into a conference. In order to use my work files, I used a great feature in Mesh's remote desktop that is not in other remote desktop programs. That is.... drag and drop of files from one remote desktop window to another. How easy is that?? Most remote desktop programs have a special process that needs to be done in order to access files on the remote machine. Kudos to Microsoft on this one.

3. Installed Virtual PC 2007 and installed Windows XP as a virtual machine on my desktop. That way, I am able to run Windows XP inside of Windows 7, have my VPN access, and do whatever I need to do.

Technology has erased so many small issues in our lives that it's amazing what can be accomplished with free software and a little understanding of how everything works.

Another Anti-Government Tirade

2009-11-07T16:21:00.001-05:00

"People assume that the government is out there to protect us and help us... but that is not what they do... the function of the government is to extract as much money from you as they possibly can..."

- My Company's CEO at a recent management meeting

More Atlas Shrugged Stuff SEX!!

2009-11-07T16:14:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I know.. blah blah blah. I know most of you who read this might not have the time to read the book, but here is another highlight. Again, a speech by Francisco d'Anconia.

Please don't make the mistake if assuming I believe everything here. I found it particularly interesting and I believe it is worth sharing to those who don't have the time to spend reading the book.

Francisco D'Anconia's Speech: Sex and Morality

March 11th, 2008

"Do you remember what I said about money and about the men who seek to reverse the law of cause and effect? The men who try to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind? Well, the man who despises himself tries to gain self- esteem from sexual adventures–which can't be done, because sex is not the cause, but an effect and an expression of a man's sense of his own value."

"You'd better explain that."

"Did it ever occur to you that it's the same issue? The men who think that wealth comes from the material resources and has no intellectual root or meaning, are the men who think–for the same reason–that sex is a physical capacity which functions independently of ones mind, choice or code of values. They think that your body creates a desire and makes a choice for you just about in some such way as if iron ore transformed itself into railroad rails of its own volition. Love is blind, they say; sex is impervious to reason and mocks the power of all philosophers. But, in fact, a man's sexual choice is the result and the sum of his fundamental convictions. Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy on life. Show me the woman he sleeps with and I will tell you his valuation of himself. No matter what corruption he's taught about the virtue of selflessness, sex is the most profoundly selfish of all acts, an act which he cannot perform for any motive but his own enjoyment–just try to think of performing it in a spirit of selfless charity!–an act which is not possible in self-abasement, only in self-exaltation, only in confidence of being desired and being worthy of desire. It is an act that forces him to stand naked in spirit, as well as in body, and to accept his real ego as his standard of value. He will always be attracted to the woman who reflects his deepest vision of himself, the woman whose surrender permits him to experience–or to fake–a sense of self-esteem. The man who is proudly certain of his own value, will want the highest type of woman he can find, the woman he admires, the strongest, the hardest to conquer — because only the possession of a heroine will give him the sense of an achievement, not the possession of a brainless slut. He does not seek to . . . what's the matter?" he asked, seeing the look on Rearden's face, a look of intensity much beyond mere interest in an abstract discussion.

"Go on," said Rearden tensely.

"He does not seek to gain his value, he seeks to express it. There is no conflict between the standards of his mind and the desires of his body. But the man who is convinced of his own worthlessness will be drawn to a woman he despises–because she will reflect his own secret self, she will release him from that objective reality in which he is a fraud, she will give him a momentary illusion of his own value and a momentary escape from the morel code that damns him. Observe the ugly mess which most men make of their sex lives–and observe the mess of contradictions which they hold as their moral philosophy. One proceeds from the other. Love is our response to our highest values–and can be nothing else. Let a man corrupt his values and his view of existence, let him profess that love is not self-enjoyment but self-denial, that virtue consists, not of pride, but of pity or pain or weakness or sacrifice, that the noblest love is born, not of admiration, but of charity, not in response to values, but in response to flaws–and he will have cut himself in two. His body will not obey him, it will not respond, it will make him impotent toward the woman he professes to love and draw him to the lowest type of whore he can find. His body will always follow the ultimate logic of his deepest convictions; if he believes that flaws are values, he has damned existence as evil and only the evil will attract him. He has damned himself and he will feel that depravity is all he is worthy of enjoying. He has equated virtue with pain and he will feel that vice is the only realm of pleasure. Then he will scream that his body has vicious desires of its own which his mind cannot conquer, that sex is sin, that true love is a pure emotion of the spirit. And then he will wonder why love brings him nothing but boredom, and sex–nothing but shame."

Rearden said slowly, looking off, not realizing that he was thinking aloud, "At least . . . I've never accepted that other tenet . . . I've never felt guilty about making money."

Francisco missed the significance of the first two words; he smiled and said eagerly, "You do see that it's the same issue? No, you'd never accept any part of their vicious creed. You wouldn't be able to force it upon yourself. If you tried to damn sex as evil, you'd still find yourself, against your will, acting on the proper moral premise. You'd be attracted to the highest woman you met. You'd always want a heroine. You'd be incapable of self-contempt. You'd be unable to believe that existence is evil and that you're a helpless creature caught in an impossible universe. You're the man who's spent his life shaping matter to the purpose of his mind. You're the man who would know that just as an idea unexpressed in physical action is contemptible hypocrisy, so is platonic love–and just as physical action unguided by an idea is a fool's self-fraud, so is sex when cut off from one's code of values. Its' the same issue, and you would know it. Your inviolate sense of self-esteem would know it. You would be incapable of desire for a woman you despised. Only the man who extols the purity of a love devoid of desire, is capable of the depravity of a desire devoid of love. But observe that most people are creatures cut in half who keep swinging desperately to one side or to the other. One kind of half is the man who despises money, factories, skyscrapers and his own body. He holds undefined emotions about non-conceivable subjects as the meaning of life and his claim of virtue. And he cries with despair, because he can feel nothing for the woman he respects, but finds himself in bondage to an irresistible passion for a slut from the gutter. He is the man whom people call an idealist. The other kind of half is the man whom people call practical, the man who despises principles, abstractions, art, philosophy and his own mind. He regards the acquisition of material objects as the only goal of existence– and he laughs at the need to consider their purpose or their source. He expects them to give him pleasure– and he wonders why the more he gets, the less he feels. He is the man who spends his time chasing women. Observe the triple fraud which he perpetrates upon himself. He will not acknowledge his need of self-esteem, since he scoffs at such a concept as moral values; yet he feels the profound self-contempt which comes from believing that he is a piece of meat. He will not acknowledge, but he knows that sex is the physical expression of a tribute to personal values. So he tries, by going through the motions of the effect, to acquire that which should have been the cause. He tries to gain a sense of his own value from the women who surrender to him– and he forgets that the women he picks have neither character nor judgment nor standard of value. he tells himself that all he's after is physical pleasure– but observe that he tires of his woman in a week or a night, that he despises professional whores and that he loves to imagine he is seducing virtuous girls who make a great exception for his sake. It is the feeling of achievement that he seeks and never finds. What glory can there be in the conquest of a mindless body? Now that is your woman chaser. Does the description fit me?

"God, no!"

"Then you can judge, without asking my word for it, how much chasing of women I've done in my life."

The Love Of Money is the Root of All Good

2009-10-21T17:24:00.001-04:00

I'm reading Atlas Shrugged right now. One of the greatest books I've read.... so far at least.

I came across this speech in the book and it is quite amazing. Money is perhaps the greatest metrical measure of how each of us has shown God the results of the "talents" he has given us argues one of Rand's characters (although the character was probably an Atheist).

Money is a testament to the glory of God's creation a Christian would argue after listening to this speech. Knowing that money can be tracked via numbers and put in a bar graph, the ability to numerically track, say, Mother Teresa's use of her "talents" still eludes us.

Enjoy

http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=1826

DOW above 10,000

2009-10-21T10:28:00.001-04:00

I don't know about anyone else.... but I absolutely do not trust this market.

That being said.... I hate watching it all go up while on the sidelines.

I hate having to cheer for another crash (buying opportunity).

Time to Short Apple

2009-10-19T23:36:00.001-04:00

Sorry, but 202 per share is just too much. This sucker has to drop back down to 170.

Too bad I don't have the guts to do this.

Obama to relax marijuana policy

2009-10-19T15:00:00.001-04:00

FINALLY

I'm starting to like this guy (Obama). Just because something is bad doesn't mean there should be a law punishable by hefty fines and/or jail time associated with that particular action.

If you lie to your parents, you are not fined and thrown in jail.
If you cheat on your significant other, you are not fined and thrown in jail.
If you do not attend church on Sunday, you are not fined and thrown in jail.
If you curse in front of your own children, you are not fined and thrown in jail.
If you don't support your kids' education, you are not fined and throw in jail.

Need I say more..... There are SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES to doing bad things.

The criminalization of marijuana use and possession is one of the most worthless, expensive, and non-functioning laws that this country has ever seen. It serves only to keep the incarceration industry in business.

Drug use is a health problem. We should punish those whose drug use is associated with other crimes that endanger the public just like we do with alcohol. Alcohol which kills and injures more people as a result of abuse than any other drug.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091019/D9BE5D2G0.html

Come on, Apple

2009-09-18T16:16:00.001-04:00

How many iPODs need to be released before we get wireless syncing? This is just getting ridiculous.

CBS SPORTS... FAIL!!!!!

2009-09-13T22:55:00.002-04:00

I don't have TV. So when I want to watch sports, I can go to my friend's house to watch the game, or I can go watch then stream live thru ESPN 360. ESPN "get's it" when it comes to sports. CBS will always fail because they don't understand fans. I, for example, am a tennis fan. I was looking forward to catching the semifinal match between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer live online. However, CBS carried the match, so I was unable to watch it. I went to CBSSPORTS.com, and looked for a live stream..... Nothing.... so, I listened to it on the radio at www.usopen.org. USOPEN.org is not allowed to carry streams of the games that are hosted by CBS sports, however, they do stream all the matches that are hosted by ESPN.com. So I was unable to watch the match because I refuse to pay for TV (mostly because it is seriously dangerous to one's health to watch). I listened to the radio broadcast, then, and Roger Federer made what he called the greatest shot he had ever made. I was glad to be listening to it on the radio. However, when I went to see that actual video at CBS sports.com, I couldn't see the video. The best example I could find was a crappy youtube video taken by someone. Whatever it is you do... in order to please your customers, you need to give them what they want. CBS failed at this and ESPN continues to succeed because it really understands sports, the players, and most importantly the fans. I'll be watching the finals streaming live at espn360 tomorrow at 4pm.

Oh.. in case you want to see the shot....

Forced Child Marriage in Afghanistan

2009-08-22T11:15:00.001-04:00

And we're worried about bank bailouts....

State Supported Industries... FAIL!!

2009-08-05T11:59:00.000-04:00

Post Office cannot make a profit even with a government protected monopoly over an enormous industry. What an embarrassment.

I can guarantee that postage would drop down to 30 cents if this monopoly was dropped. This is almost as dumb as continuing to imprison people for marijuana usage.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124948194775607851.html#printMode

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

2009-08-04T13:29:00.001-04:00

VLADIMIR!!!!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6738969.ece

A suggestion

2009-08-03T16:59:00.001-04:00

Go invest in commodities now. That way, when gas prices go back up to 4.50 a gallon, you will be rich!!

OIL, GSG, or any commodities ETF is a good call. I'm in!!

Americans Will Never Learn Math

2009-08-02T12:26:00.001-04:00

Someone tell me the point of math classes if you can just go to Bing.com and type in x-3/x-1=x-4/x-5.

Of course, there is a point to the math classes, but come on, do you think any kid is going to really learn it anymore when there is an xbox to be played as soon as the math homework is done? This is actually pretty troubling.

I suppose so long as our students don't have internet access during exams, there will always be a way to find out who actually learned something.

Tommy Haas is awesome

2009-07-10T00:06:00.001-04:00

From ESPN.com about Wimbledon's most memorable moments....

Most harmful collision: Michael Llodra slamming into a ball girl, then the umpire's chair, against Haas in the second round.

Llodra, an eccentric Frenchman, was forced to retire minutes after the incident in the first set.

Haas, at 31 keen to enjoy the remainder of his career, stayed on the court and entertained the crowd by hitting with a few ball kids.

Microsoft Rules

2009-07-06T15:48:00.001-04:00

Has anyone noticed that Microsoft has come out with some really awesome products lately? In fact... I've even dropped some google services in place of what Microsoft is providing. Coolest one so far? Microsoft Live Mesh. http://www.mesh.com. How about combining the cloud and local accessibility all in one neat package? Talk about amazing! Bravo, Micro$oft.

More about Live Mesh later

From the Economist

2009-05-26T02:21:00.001-04:00

Smarter regulators and better rules would help. But sadly, as the crisis has brutally shown, regulators are fallible. In time, financiers tend to gain the advantage over their overseers. They are better paid, better qualified and more influential than t he regulators. Legislators are easily seduced by booms and lobbies. Voters are ignorant of and bored by regulation. The more a financial system depends on the wisdom of regulators, the more likely it is to fail catastrophically.

Thank you! Yeah, the free market isn't prefect but for goodness sake, please do not let regulators rule the day. What a waste!

New Roger Federer Gillette Commercial

2009-05-17T13:51:00.001-04:00

Nice, Very Nice...

Hey Carl

2009-05-04T22:48:00.001-04:00

Carl!!! I moved back to Windows and I'm using INTERNET EXPLORER AS MY PRIMARY BROWSER (folks, it's much faster than firefix or anything else I've used)

BWAHAHAHAHAH MUWAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Yesterday

2009-05-03T13:12:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, I fixed a friend's computer whose windows system got completely messed up because of a botched stick of ram.

He was using a netbook without a cd-rom drive, so his installation cd was not useful. However, the installation CD contained all the information I needed to restore the computer.

So, I created a bootable WinPE system on my USB flash drive, and modified one of the boot files to boot directly to norton ghost (a hard drive re-imaging program). However, I still could not get the factory hard drive image file onto his computer since that was still on a cd. The image was 2.1GB. My flash drive was 1GB, and my SD card was 2GB, so those won't work. What do I do now? Not to panic, I deleted a bunch of music off my IPOD, and copied the image there using my laptop cd drive. Then, back on my friend's computer I booted off the modified WinPE from my flash drive and went into Norton Ghost. Norton recognized my iPOD as a hard drive with data on it, so I was able to re-image the hard disk by pulling the ghost image file real-time from my iPOD and on to the netbook's hard drive. The whole thing worked like music. It was beautiful.

I rule.

Great Financial Suicides

2009-04-22T18:51:00.001-04:00

You have to appreciate the "shotgun and a bottle of whiskey" approach to dealing with, in this case, massive personal and public financial turmoil. We have another one!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20670001&sid=acedgzwgKsIw

A little easter cheer

2009-04-11T19:23:00.000-04:00

Tennis and Federer.... again....

2009-03-28T15:05:00.001-04:00

http://www.rogerfederer.com/en/rogers/news/newsdetail.cfm?uNewsID=881

Roger Federer gets his first win in Key Biscayne, FL. Have you ever been to a sporting event where you were able to see your #1 all time sports hero play? I was able to do this 2 years ago when I was down in Miami on business. I noticed there was a tennis tournament going on (this one), so I went back to my hotel and bought a ticket immediately. Lo and behold, Roger Federer was playing the night I bought my ticket. After 2 rain delays and having to watch Venus Williams play, I was able to see him live. Seeing your sports hero play live is an incredible experience, and the one I had was something I will never forget.

Cheers,

25GB FREE ONLINE STORAGE

2009-03-18T22:17:00.001-04:00

So, yeah, I moved to Ubuntu and no longer use Windows. I miss iTunes, and I'm still annoyed that the music program I do use crashes quite a bit. This all tells me that the masses aren't quite ready for Ubuntu. It requires an adjustment, but I'm going to stick with it for a while. There are some features that are just too cool that they are worth the headaches.

Anyway, Microsoft is still has some great products. How about just 25GB of free online storage? Yeah, keep all your files "in the cloud." 25GB of it. I never knew about this until I read about it on DIGG. Go check it out if you are trying to move some of your docs online so you can access them anywhere. Skydrive.live.com (I think).

Cheers!

Goodbye Windows

2009-03-08T00:33:00.001-05:00

So, I bought a new hard drive and windows couldn't recognize it. I found this odd, but figured that since it was an OEM hard drive, maybe there was no boot record or any partition tables written. I figured, hell, let's try the Ubuntu cd that my friend carl over at Terribleidea.net gave to me in college. Ubuntu's setup program recognized and partitioned my hard drive. I installed ubuntu (a windows-like version of linux) and it was great. I upgraded to the most recent version and I like it even more! It boots up in less than half the time that Windows takes (45 seconds vs 3-4 min). When I go to shut the computer down, it takes about 3-5 seconds (vs 20 seconds in windows). I LOVE this "no waiting" thing. The only downside is that there is no iTunes for Ubuntu and it takes a little more digging to find the software that you want. I'm only a few hours into this, but I really think I'm going to keep it and just leave Windows out. OBTW... Ubuntu is FREE.

Great Marketing - Tiger Woods - Roger Federer

2009-03-01T01:41:00.001-05:00

Awesome Roger Federer Tiger Woods Commercial.... been meaning to post this one for a while. Goodness, though, Nike really has the best marketing team in the history of the world. They really nail everything they do. It boggles my mind.

The Hillsdale Collegian is finally worthy of a blog post

2009-02-13T23:51:00.002-05:00

This is just hilarious. Anyone who went to Hillsdale with me has to chuckle at this. No offense to any Kappas - I'm friends with several - , but I am laughing so hard inside right now. Thanks for the collegian for supporting RSS, I get a steady feed of collegian articles to scroll through, and rarely do I find one worth reading. Today was my lucky day.

http://www.hillsdalecollegian.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=b1c5ed5d-b051-4fac-aedb-2438352df25f
Busted for breaking recruitment rules, members from Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority learned Sunday they must deal with a semester of social probation.

A Panhellenic councilmember said members from Pi Beta Phi and Chi Omega sororities complained in January that members of Kappa Kappa Gamma allegedly sent text messages to potential members, promising bids into their house in exchange for listing Kappa Kappa Gamma as their first and only choice. The councilmember spoke on condition of anonymity.

Some of the women who complied were ultimately denied an offer because the sorority could not uphold their promise based on space limitations in their house.

Potential members who list only one house on their bid card, or "suicide bid," do so as a testament to their interest for one particular house.

The councilmember said several women who chose to suicide bid but weren't picked up approached Panhellenic Council complaining about the infractions, commonly termed "dirty rushing."

Members of Panhellenic Council refused to comment on the record.

Junior Sarah Holland, president of Kappa Kappa Gamma, declined comment per adherence to her sorority's national rules.

Mediated by Hillsdale College's Panhellenic Council, which supports and enforces national policies of sororities, the three campus sorority houses agreed to a set of disciplinary actions to address Kappa Kappa Gamma's infractions. The Collegian learned the sorority forfeited all social functions except for their spring formal.

In addition, Kappa Kappa Gamma issued letters of apology to Chi Omega and Pi Beta Phi Sunday and Monday evenings.

Joanna Wiseley, campus Panhellenic adviser, said Panhellenic Council members make confidentiality agreements before taking office. She became frustrated when she learned that one council member came to The Collegian with information regarding the disciplinary matters.

"The people involved with this situation behaved with utmost maturity, and they are being undermined by this in my opinion," Wiseley said. "Nobody should have known about the probation until Sunday."

Jessi Cole '06 joined Chi Omega after she transferred to Hillsdale from Michigan State University. Cole said she wasn't dirty rushed, but did witness dirty rushing during her college years.

She said it hurts women going through recruitment because they lose the perspective to see all three sororities equally. Cole said promising bids to women is deceptive.

"It can't always be honest because it's not up to one person to choose," she said. "One person doesn't make the decision on who the new initiates are going to be."

The last round of sorority pick-ups occurred in January. Kappa Kappa Gamma picked up 12 women, Chi Omega picked up nine and Pi Beta Phi picked up 11.

An Opposite view of Rush Limbaugh

2009-02-11T21:14:00.001-05:00

This is in response to The Pragmatist's recent post about Rush Limbaugh. It also includes more general observations about Rush.

It takes a lot of listening to Rush to really "get" him. I used to do it when I traveled daily for my job - he was the most entertaining thing on the radio. His wit, creativity, outright humor, made him one of the most entertaining people in this counrty. What also attracts me to Rush is his ability to agitate specific groups of people so cleverly it is funny (Dan Greene,anyone)? Remember the Harry Reid fiasco? It was absolutely brilliant - Rush was laughing the whole time and Harry Reid, a disgraceful senator, was humiliated! Who else in this country makes such a mockery of truly laughable institutions such as Congress? Most importantly, though, is his deep seeded belief in the power and beauty of individual initiative molds its way into some very compelling motivational monologues.

Rush has thus far been branded as a windbag, out of touch, and someone so off the wall, he is not worth paying attention to. He is used by the left consistently to attempt to discredit Republican party policies (though recently, Rush has been openly attacking the Republican party). What is interesting about all of this is that Rush DOES matter, the left DOES care about what he says, they ARE bothered by him, and they DO want him off the air. If he is who everyone says he is, then why is his name consistently mentioned on capital hill? Why does the "Limbaugh Echo Syndrome" still roll through the halls of Congress and the White House? If what he says is hogwash, there is no reason for the left to be so completely annoyed with him. He is the only large voice remaining that is openly critical of the left and challenges the very assumptions of their policies. The Republican party certainly gave up on that, and other voices just don't resonate like his does. Yes, Glenn Beck seems more reasonable, but that is the focus of his show - Rush does just what Beck does, he just does it with more style.

Here are some common beliefs about Rush asserted by the Pragmatist. I have actually heard the full audio from each scenario.

1. He said that he hopes Obama fails.
     Rush's statement was "if Obama attempts to initiate socialist policies, then I hope he fails [at implemting his policies]." This statement was not a personal attack, it was a statement about actions that Rush believes that Obama wants to undertake. Think about if someone was trying to break your arm. You would hope that this person fails - not at life - but simply in the damaging task that he intends to undertake. Of course, the general opinion cares not for what Rush meant because then it would not have a handy tag line. Rush cleverly phrased his statement that way because he probably knew that it would make national news and that it would drive more listeners to his show which in-turn drives ad revenue.

2. Rush did not apologize for abusing prescription pain killers
    I happened to be listening to Rush on that day when he announced his addiction. He spent the last 20 minutes of his show not asking for any grief, admitting responsibility, and informing his listeners that he plans to take corrective action. This sort of addiction can happen to anyone - few who will admit personal responsibility for it. Most blame their addiciton on outside factors.

3. Rush attacked Donovan McNabb on Monday Night Football
    Rush never did such a thing. His statement went something like this.... "Donovan McNabb is being hailed as the driver of the Eagles' success because the media wants to see a black quarterback succeed, the truth is.... it is the defense that carried the team." Rush's statement had nothing to do about Donovan McNabb - he made one statement about the media, then he made another statement about the Eagles' defense. When Rush gets put on a stage like that, everyone and their brother is gunning for him. Granted, maybe Rush should have kept the subject to football and stayed away from the media, but he was hired by ESPN to add some pizzazz to the show.

His article in the Wall Street journal is what is really humorous to me. I'm sure Rush chucked to himself as he wrote an article that one might see in a copy of the onion. The joke truly is on the public. The article had 2 purposes. First - to show that the whole term "bi-partisan" is a joke. He achieved this by associating his name with Obama's and placing it as the title of an official sounding proposal. Second - Rush wanted to drive listeners to his show, thereby filling his pockets. Remember, Rush has always publicly admitted that the sole purpose for his show is to "amass the largest listening audience possible in order that I may charge confiscatory advertising rates." I find it hilarious that everyone, even the Wall Street Journal is taking him seriously on this. I can't imagine how hard Rush must laugh at this gag every night.

Few people really care what Rush really says or means when he speaks because who really has time to listen to 3 hours of talk radio every day? A left-leaning media will naturally go after the biggest name, so few people who don't listen to him really know what he actually says or believes. In truth, Rush honestly cares about people and wants each person to succeed just like he has. It hurts him to see a government that takes away pieces of an individual's will to create for him/herself. Maybe the thing that makes people most uncomfortable about Rush is that he actually believes what he says. In an age where certainty is considered impossible, this character trait really bothers people.

I'll take Rush just as he is, thank you very much.

---------------------------
As a final disclaimer - sorry for any run-on sentences, bad grammar, etc... I am really pressed for time here.

Incredible Trophy Presentation after Nadal Defeats Federer in 5 sets in Australia

2009-02-01T18:34:00.003-05:00

Truly one of the greatest rivalries in all of sport. Pretty one-sided so far. But what great sportsmanship. You don't see this kind of stuff in football anymore.

Priceless - please read comments

2009-02-01T17:09:00.003-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYGUnR0wiCw&feature=related

They really epitomize what Obama really is - a marketing ploy. I don't even think he's a real person - does anyone even know if he's real? Anyway, the point of all the comments are that it is insulting to think that we should "serve" our government (president). We should serve each other, and the government should serve us. In fact, the government should be in constant fear of being overthrown. I guess losing elected office is as close as we can get.

Too many people in this country have become Obama robots and it is really scary. I've learned and observed too much to EVER admit that so much hype and faith in a GOVERNMENT figure a good thing - actually, is very very dangerous. We saw what happened when FDR became that sort of figure - he planted the seeds of socialism in this country and we've been marching that way ever since. Even now, he is revered as one of the greatest presidents in our history. He was THE SINGLE WORST president in our nation's history. He was an enemy of free markets and the constitution, but because he could talk to the people well, he got away with almost everything. I really hope our citizens don't put up with his BS if he starts flinging it.

Australian Open Starts

2009-01-19T22:08:00.001-05:00

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/players/cmatch/atpf324.html

Roger Federer, a man who truly epitomizes sportsmanship, class, and style is looking to tie Pete Sampras' record of 14 grand slam championships. I wish him well. Roger is my favorite athlete of all time and many aspects of his game can be used as analogies for real-life situations. The sport of tennis is unique to play since it requires tremendous coordination, condition, and most of all, complete control over one's emotions. Adding that there are no team members to rely upon makes the disciplined mind even more important. Experience in these situations can keep one calm when a boss or client is putting the pressure on. It can help one maintain focus when work goes until 3am... and the list goes on. This is one of the few times of the year that I wish I had cable (the other 3 are Wimbledon, the French Open and the US Open). I've never had an experience watching sports that was quite as intense of set 5 in last year's Wimbledon when Nadal triumphed over Roger. Perhaps one of the best memories of my life was being able to see him play live in Miami a couple years ago.

I think heroes are important so long as you try to emulate the best qualities the each has. They give us something almost unreal to look up to yet they are also real humans, thus proving that seemingly impossible things can be accomplished. Something to work towards, I suppose.

Go Roger!

Hope

2009-01-17T21:59:00.002-05:00

http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/

Plane Crashes into Hudson River - Everyone Survives

2009-01-15T19:56:00.001-05:00

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE50E8AI20090116

Plane crashes, but... everyone LIVES! Goes to show you that even if you do not have any engines, you can still land safely. The Wall Street Journal had an article describing how this is possible. It was a water landing in the Hudson River.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123205611103787217.html

Props to that pilot.

The most exciting article I've read in a while

2009-01-09T22:05:00.001-05:00

http://edge.networkworld.com/news/2009/010809-palm-pre-webos-debut.html?page=1

The Consumer Electronics Show is taking place now in Las Vegas. It is the yearly drool conference for the world's geeks which is why it excites me. Anyway, when the first year of my Verizon phone contract is up, I will be looking to upgrade to a smartphone. I've been waiting for a phone that includes certain things that I care about such as easy syncing, USB, removable memory, good battery life, bluetooth, wifi among other things. So far, the the first G1 phone by HTC that carries google's Android operating system seems to fit the bill, though reports say that the battery won't even get you through one day. At CES, the fledgeling company, Palm, introduced a new smart phone that is a serious contender. You can read an article about it at the above link.

Why not the iPhone? Well, it's just too trendy and will be soon pushed back to obscurity because the OS is not developer friendly - aka - Apple made it difficult for computer programmers to write their own programs for the iPhone. Plus, the keyboard sucks. With Android and Palm's new OS, the OS is completely open meaning the possibilities are literally endless. This next year will prove to be the most exciting year for phones. I can't wait.

Now, if only I knew java, html, css....

Chicago public schools spend $67,000 on cappuccino machines

2009-01-07T22:55:00.001-05:00

http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/1365268,CST-NWS-inspect07.article

I wonder how many people will get fired for this. Let me make a prediction....

If this happened in a privately run organization the number of people fired or severely reprimanded would = everyone involved.
Since this happened in the public sector, the number of people fired will = 0.

This goes to show you again that incentives matter. When you are spending someone else's money, who cares? It's such a shame that this is how our money is spent. I mean, come on folks, at least at the Federal level, we can probably cut our costs by 75% and run things more efficiently. Unfortunately, there is just no incentive to do it. I would have to say, then, that tax fraud is probably one of the most honorable crimes one can commit. It certainly is much more helpful to society than paying taxes.

So where does your Federal tax money go? I advise you to look at the Citizens Against Government Waste website.
http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer

German Billionaire commits suicide after losses

2009-01-06T13:33:00.001-05:00

Whatever happened to a bottle of booze and a shotgun - ? Train tracks??? Come on!! Financiers are supposed to use the classic forms of investment stress related suicide.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/business/worldbusiness/07merckle.html?ref=business

Whole Foods CEO Flips out at FTC

2008-12-10T09:04:00.001-05:00

Wouldn't it be nice if the financial guys did the same thing when they were being questioned by congress? I am filled with joy when I read articles like this - there is no reason people should be afraid of the government. If anything, we should be on the attack as is the Whole Foods CEO. All this being said, I still am not shopping there - prices are still way too high. I'll leave it to those who drank the organic food kool-aid.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200812091413DOWJONESDJONLINE000597_FORTUNE5.htm

Blagojevich Charged with Fraud

2008-12-09T20:06:00.001-05:00

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/rod.blagojevich.charged.2.883170.html

Illinois governor charged with conspiracy and corruption. As are all things with politics, it's not about who is corrupt, it's how well they disguise it as public service. This guy just wasn't all that successful. I suppose these are the consequences for not being good at your job - going to jail.

Rush's Website Features Churchill Dinner Address

2008-12-05T19:15:00.001-05:00

Yes, I went to school there and was fortunate enough to see this live.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com

You have to get there today or tomorrow before 4:30 or so pm.

Why I am migrating to Google Chrome

2008-11-27T09:06:00.003-05:00

A picture says a thousand words. This is with just one tab open. Chrome definitely has some annoyances, but my machine is a little older (1.4Ghz Centrino w/512RAM), so I'm trying to conserve all I can.

Powers Catholic Recruitment Video from 1979

2008-11-26T22:15:00.002-05:00

Courtesy of the Flint Expatriates blog. www.Flintexpats.com

So many people I recognize, and a number of parents of classmates are in here. Wow.

Rush Limbaugh to speak for Hillsdale College

2008-11-20T20:45:00.001-05:00

FINALLY!!! Hillsdale College booked Rush to give a public lecture. Though the college has by far the largest endowment per student in the state of Michigan, I'm sure he wasn't cheap. Unfortunately, I always contended that he would be an incredible commencement speaker (he's speaking for Hillsdale's annual Churchill Dinner in DC). Rush gives the most inspiring monologues about the greatness of the country and of the individual that I've ever heard - the stuff that graduating seniors need to hear. I'd much rather have graduating seniors hear someone tell them to go out and conquer the world than listen to someone plugging his/her book (or worse). How awesome of a day would it be for the air traffic controller at the Hillsdale airfield to land Rush's private jet! Oh well, I guess you can't get everything you want. Now that I think about it, I didn't much care for the students either when I worked there. Those buggers slowed down the internet so much, it was unbearable!

Credit Crunch not hitting the responsible

2008-11-07T22:19:00.002-05:00

I just bought a car, and because I didn't have all the cash up front, I did what most people did - financed it. When talking with the salesman, never once did he mention that because I am young it might be tougher to get approved or get a good rate. He simply asked if I have good credit. I told him "not sure what the score is, but I pay all my bills on time." I got approved, no problem with a very good interest rate in about a day. All this nonsense about normal people not being able to get loans seems silly to me.

Oh, it's a 2007 Monte Carlo. This gets me thinking... what happens to my warranty if GM doesn't last the year?

Price of Oil vs Price of Dollar

2008-10-31T13:53:00.003-04:00

Let's play a game.... looking at this graph, try to guess which year we went off the gold standard.

The other item to note is that an oz of gold buys just as much oil today as it did back in 1946, the year where this graph starts. I had gold prices going all the way back to 1800, but was too lazy to try to dig up oil prices that far back. Anyway, it illustrates pretty clearly what out monetary authorities have done to our dollar. Enjoy. I still can't figure out how to upload a good image here, so you might need to click on the photo to get a clearer view of the numbers.

Rafa has a girlfriend

2008-10-31T13:05:00.001-04:00

Rafael Nadal has a girlfriend! Much cuter than Federer's Mirka. I don't know.. have any of you seen a hot girl from Switzerland? Didn't think so. Have any of you met any Spanish girl who wasn't hot? Didn't think so either. I guess each did what they could.

http://www.hola.com/famosos/galeria-de-imagenes.html?imagen=/famosos/2008/10/27/rafa-nadal-paris/imgs/nadal-xisca-a.jpg

--
Joe Petrides

Silicon Valley and the Financial Crisis

2008-10-30T16:24:00.000-04:00

http://calacanis.com/

I hate linking to things, but this is a fantastic piece by Jason Calacanis, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and CEO of Mahalo.com. It addresses a start-up guy´s view of the current financial crisis. It is long, but is an excellent read.

I´ll post more of my own work I promise. In the meantime, I suggest looking up more Jim Rogers videos on YouTube.

Worthy Magister

2008-10-28T17:02:00.001-04:00

http://www.peterkrupa.com/archives/404

Check out Peter Krupa's post about Venezuela and Hugo Chavez. Bottom line... he's just a clown that should be of very little worry to us.

Why I am voting for John McCain

2008-10-16T10:02:00.002-04:00

It seems like I get more comments when I make lists, so I'm going to create another gem of a list. After watching the debate last night and the following punditry, I decided to cast my vote for John McCain. Thus, you can consider Joe Petrides fully endorsing John McCain for president. I encourage my vast international readership to vote for him, and I hope that this endorsement at least secures me a cabinet position. It certainly is necessary to thank some people for making my decision easier, and it is absolutely necessary to list them below.

CNN, specifically Anderson Cooper, Soledad O'Brien, and Wolf Blitzer. The post-debate punditry also convinced me to vote McCain.
ABC News
CBS News
Silicon Valley
Harvard Law School
Digg.com
Hollywood
Rolling Stone Magazine

Lists are much better when they reach a nice round number like 10, but 8 is sufficient. Before I explain, I have to admit that my vote is based on emotion rather than reason or logic. I strongly believe that this makes me much more credible as I better represent the average voting American. Reasonable people don't vote since they realize it doesn't matter. Ok, so here we go...

1. Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer and Soledad O'Brien (hot), mask themselves in the disguise of professional journalists who are really out there to find the truth. We all know they aren't, but what bugs me is that it is so obvious to all of us that they are plugging for Obama! They even plugged for him in the primaries which caused Hillary to soften up to Fox News. I have incredible respect for those who can hide their personal leanings, but these guys just don't have that talent. CNN's studio is filled with huge screens, and the anchors constantly show off cool technology they have such as google maps, and glorified smart boards. It's like their studio's focus is to look sleek and advanced when in reality it is all too much. Ditto for the post-debate punditry. They have this table of pundits (about 20 of them) all with laptops out and Anderson Cooper standing in the center asking questions that make him look journalistic while we are supposed sit in awe at how cutting edge CNN is. Give me a break. And why do they always have to talk so fast? Is this some sort of marketing ploy to always make it look like the world is on the brink? You guys are pathetic.

2. ABC News has always leaned liberal and it bothers me.

3. Ditto for CBS News.

4. Obama is a corrupt scoundrel just like everyone who looks at his past knows. However, he has developed incredible star power within the Silicon Valley elite community. It's trendy to vote for Obama out there and everyone is just going nuts because they think he is some sort of cool, tech savvy guy that is going to green the country and pull us out of Iraq. Of course, the truth doesn't matter. We all know that presidents do not do in office what they promise in their campaigns, so why should we believe that Obama is any different?

5. Who screwed up the financial system? Ivy League elites. Which politicians have the attitude that THEY know how to run your life better than you do? Ivy League elites. Who has run this country for the last 16 years? Ivy League elites. Come on folks, have you ever met an Ivy League grad who was a nice, down to earth regular guy who you never felt held you in contempt even though he/she is far smarter than you could ever dream to be? I know only one - he's a Princeton PhD who teaches philosophy at Hillsdale College. Still looking for others....

6. See #4. Obama's "cool factor" turned Digg.com from a Ron Paul fight the system group to a bunch of Obama robots. I used to like that place.

7. Hollywood is especially annoying. Obama is now so "cool" that everyone out there was fighting to see who could have the best attended Obama party. Do you all remember how in high school there were the "cool kids," but then there also was that group of kids whose parents were extremely wealthy? These kids somehow floated above everyone else and had that aura about them that they were above everything? They always had the parent-sponsored mansion parties with alcohol and the occasional recreational pharmaceutical. This group wanted everyone else to know that it went on but kept it enough under wraps so that you knew they were cool and did cool stuff, but you didn't know enough to be in the group. It helped them maintain a feeling of superiority. THAT's what these guys are, and Obama is an excuse for them to throw more parties like that.

8. I just got back from Buenos Aires where magazine kiosks are literally everywhere. Rolling Stone put Obama on the cover with this elitist pose. I had to look at it every damn day.

John McCain will not make a very good President, but he DID give a personal F-U to the commies out in Vietnam even as they tortured him. Anyone willing to do that for his or her country surely loves this place, even if he has bad policies.

New Blog

2008-10-13T19:45:00.002-04:00

I started a new blog called Venga Franco. This means "come on, Franco" in Spanish. For those of you who want to read commentary in Spanish, I will try to translate my English posts as well as write some original work in Spanish. This is mostly for my own benefit and practice, but for those of you who want practice reading badly written Spanish, feel free to peruse. The link is vengafranco.blogspot.com.

The Dow was up almost 1000 points today. What an incredible time to be interested in all things economics. My advice is to buy yourself some gold if it gets into the low 800s or even dips into the 700s range. We are going to have a serious inflation problem in about 5 years or so.

When do WE get to riot

2008-10-12T22:28:00.003-04:00

An interesting monologue from Rush Limbaugh. Love him or hate him, he is VERY entertaining to listen to and is incredibly talented. I think he brings up a good point here. I can't include myself in the "we" that he talks about because I'm not rich, but I certainly can understand where he is coming from. You can see the entire monologue at http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_101008/content/01125110.guest.html.

RUSH: We always hear about riots. We're going to have riots if that happens, going to have riots if that happens. Who are the people rioting? Who are the people protesting? Well, when you look at who they are the vast majority of them are supported by those of us who play by the rules, we go to work every day, and we pay our taxes. What do they have to riot about? When do we get to riot? Look at what we've had to pay for. We've had to pay for the second New Deal. The Great Society, LBJ comes along with the war on poverty, the Great Society. Now we're learning that we had to pay for a totally corrupt mortgage housing scandal in which Obama and ACORN are deeply embedded.

We have people who were given loans who had no way of paying them back, they weren't even asked to state their income. And when we hear about all those foreclosures, people losing their homes, and we think, “Oh, my gosh, our fellow citizens are being thrown out.” No! It's the people who shoulda never been given the loans in the first place. It's the people who weren't paying them in the first place. It was people who were put into these homes when they had no business being put in these homes. It's not a brief against them. But this was a scheme and it was a tactic employed by the Democrat Party exclusively to create a never-ending and growing percentage of our population that was totally dependent and owed everything to the Democrat Party. Now their candidate and their guy, James Carville, “Going to be very traumatic out there, very, very traumatic.” We know what he means.

When do we riot? When do we stand up and say, “We have paid for all of this; we have played by the rules, and now you come to us and you tell us that the whole reason this happened is because we are unfair and we are too advantaged and we are too lucky, that it's not right that not everybody can win life's lottery?” I'm not suggesting riots, don't misunderstand, folks, I'm just suggesting here that the people who are going to riot are the people who ought to be getting down and thanking every damn one of us, because the New Deal number two -- and, by the way, I think we're in the midst of the New Deal number three here. And why do we need a New Deal number two if the New Deal number one didn't work? The New Deal number one did not work.

New Look Coming for Flint, MI

2008-10-12T11:07:00.003-04:00

Now that I am back in my hometown of Flint, MI, I am starting to pay more attention to what is going on. I have long argued that Flint would be a great place to live but that the people are what is holding it back. Flint is much like Detroit in that the politics are dominated by racial tensions and corruption. We don't seem to care much since we keep voting clowns into office. This is partly because good people are either too busy being productive to run for office or simply too lazy. Of course, the quest for some false sense of power and importance propels the wrong people to be aggressive in seeking office which they ultimately win.

All that aside, I really want to be excited about the downtown development. I took a stroll down Saginaw street last week and was surprised to see construction going on. Readers can see the plans for downtown at www.whatsupdowntown.com. The reason I want to be excited is because I want to see the city I grew up in succeed. The reason I am not excited is because of the list of investors I see on the website. Normally, a sign of good things to come is indicated by a large number of private investors realizing that property and opportunity in the downtown area is significantly undervalued thereby resulting in a flood of investment. Unfortunately, I don't see names of many private investors. I see a list of government funds and community foundations which tells me that the private market largely does not see much profitability in downtown investment at this point. So why is any money being put into downtown? Well, it is because of pride in the city and a want to see it succed. This is all fine and well, and it speaks volumes for those involved - they are true patriots of the city. However, as much as we hate to admit it, the profit motive is the ultimate signal that an investment is worthwhile. This "community patriotism" always works temporarily, but I will be a believer when foundations and governments are no longer needed to make Flint a great place to live. We need private investment in Flint in the form of a new industry, plant, etc. This will be the building block of a productive, profitable Flint. To get this, we need better government and more of the "right" people. Which residents will step up?

That all being said... those loft apartments look really nice....

Dumb Americans are smarter than you think, Washington

2008-10-05T13:55:00.002-04:00

I was not going to write about this bailout, but Jim Cramer pissed me off so bad, I just have to rant a little bit here. What did he say? He was a guest commentator on one of CNBC's afternoon shows last week and was asked, "If you had to pitch this plan to the American people, what would you say?" Jim's response was more or less like so, "Listen America, you are not as smart as me or my friends on Wall Street, or my friends in Washington. You don't understand what is going on. We do. Please, just shut up, get out of our way, and let us smart people take care of this problem." My response -"go to hell, Jim Cramer." Why should we let the people who caused this problem come up with a solution? They should be FIRED and replaced with others who DIDN'T cause the problem.

So, this bailout thing went down last week. It was not voted in the first time around because of the typical Washington infighting. It went around the second time once the Senate and House filled it up with pork projects. However, there is another reason the bill did not pass the first time around. Constituents were calling like mad to their representatives demanding a no vote. It must have been a bad day to be a congressional staffer fielding all those angry phone calls.

All of this makes me wonder. Congress said we need to do this. Wall Street and all of the mainstream press said we needed this, but the American public, for the most part was really pissed off and wanted nothing to do with a bailout bill. So, what did Washington, Wall Street and the media do? They resorted to scare tactics, telling us we would lose our jobs and our homes and the the economy would go into a deep recession. This was all reminicent of what we were told before the Iraq war. Did the American people buy it? Not really. We aren't financial wizards, we don't know how to work all the numbers and what exactly this bailout entails. But that doesn't matter because we knew what this was all about. Sure, we don't know the details and we can't prove anything, but everybody knows this is a bailout and not a rescue plan. We all know that Congress and Wall Street is a good ol boys club and it was a way for Congress to funnel money to their campaign donors. This is no secret to anyone, and the American public has a right to be pissed off about this. They are literally taking our money and giving it to a bunch of rich guys. Sure, CNBC pundits will try to explain to us that it is not "technically" a bailout, but we all know the truth. After following this whole saga, I have come to these undeniable facts of life. If you disagree with any of them, or want further detail, please comment and let's talk about them.

Barack Obama will not change anything.
John McCain will not change anything.
Sarah Palin will not change anything.
Joe Biden will not change anything, but he has a crush on Sarah Palin.
There is virtually no difference between Barack Obama and John McCain.
Barack Obama and John McCain will do very little of what they promise if elected.
The Washington elite considers the American public stupid.
The public reaction to the bailout shows that regular Americans are not stupid. We just lack access to inside information.
There is no place to find an objective media source. Not CNN, not Fox News, not ABC, NBC, MSNBC or anywhere else. You are better served by following your own instincts.
This bailout bill speeds up our approach to European-style socialism.
This financial mess has nothing to do with capitalism. It was the fault of the government and the Federal Reserve system.
A recession is not a bad thing and the government can only make it worse.

There you all go, let me know what you think!

Keyboard Layout

2008-10-01T15:12:00.005-04:00

Well, folks. I made it back to the United States only to see banks crashing all over the place just as I saw from afar. I also am witnessing without a doubt the dumbest thing our government has done in my lifetime happen right before my very eyes. Anyway, this post is not about that.

I write this in English only because I´m short on time. BUT, have you ever wondered how to put accents like this áéíóú and tilde´s like this ññññ into your Spanish papers easily? Or how about writing in Greek like this ηελλο, τηισ ισ ξοε σπεακινγ... or any other language?? Well, follow the steps below and you can change your keyboard input language to any language in the world. Now, remember, you have to be accustomed to the layout of the keyboard. I grew knowledgeable of the Argentine keyboard layout at work and at the internet cafes, so I can use it without a problem. Ok, here is how you do it.

First, go to control panel and select Regional and Language Settings

Click on the Languages tab on top.. then click details
In the settings tab, select "add"
Select the keyboard layout you want. If you travelled to Mexico, you are probably familiar with the Mexican layout. I was in Argentina, so I know the Argentine layout.
Select your input language and the keyboard layout will automatically adjust.

Then click on the button labeled "language bar," and make sure these items are checked.Then click ok. A language bar should appear on your desktop. You should be able to drag it onto your taskbar to get it into a less intrusive place. You can change the language by clicking on the button and selecting the language. You may have to re-change the language if you move from Microsoft Word to Firefox or any other area where you may be typing. If you want to know what the keyboard layouts are, go ahead and google "keyboard layouts" and you will see them all there.
Happy typing!

Vino

2008-09-05T19:40:00.001-04:00

El vino en este pais es divino. La compre una BOTELLA a un restaurante para solo $10. No tengo tiempo para escribir mas ahora, pero cuando hay tiempo, postare mas.

Ciao

Iguazu Falls

2008-09-02T14:11:00.000-04:00

Si piensas que las cataratas de niagra son lindas, no son nada comparado a las cataratas de Iguazu. ¡Holy cow fueron impresionantes! Voy a poner fotos en facebook mañana. Ahora hay una problemita con mi tarjeta de memoría de mi cámara.

¿Qué más? Ahora, mi tobillo está mucho mejor y creo que voy a jugar tenis en una cancha de polvo de ladrillo. Son el mismo color que las canchas del abierto francés de Roland Garros. ¿Con quién voy a jugar? Conocí a un chico, Sergio, en el website tenisargentina.com. Él respondió a mi post sobre encontrar un compañero para jugar. Vamos a ver. Ojalá que no sea mucho mejor que yo. Hace más que una mes que jugué tenis.

Hay que ir. Más mañana.

Iguazu aquí vengo.

2008-08-22T11:48:00.003-04:00

La semana que viene (si nada cambia) salgo por un viaje a las cataratas de Iguazu. Yo leí que son como las cataratas de Niagra multiplicada por 100. Hay que asegurar que la batería de mi cámara está cargada. Creo que voy a tomar más que 100 fotos. Cuando regreso, postaré los más buenos acá en el blog y la mayoría de los restos en facebook. Si querés leer sobre Iguazu y ver fotos puedes googlear "Iguazu" o hay un website acá que es el oficial.

Esta noche, Argentina va por el oro en fútbol - el deporte más importante en este país. Juegan contra Nigeria a la 1 por la mañana. Los bares van a ser loco, y por eso hay que ir! La gente son loco de este deporte. A mí me parece que los mejores deportes de argentina son 1. fúbtol, 2. Basquet, 3. Hockey sobre césped, 4. yachting. Interesante, ¿no?