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.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Interesting article about Obama's performance
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.
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.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Chavez Says US Occupying Haiti in the Name of Aid
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.
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.
Monday, January 11, 2010
One clarification about internet service
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.
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.
Got a great deal upgrading my internet from 1Mbps to 15Mbps.
Look what I can do!!!!
Look what I can do!!!!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
I agree with John C Dvorak
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,
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
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.
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.
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