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Opinari - Latin term for Opinion. Opinari.net is just what it seems: a cornucopia of rants, raves and poignant soliloquy.

Friday, October 31, 2003

Wired has an interesting article on how the Dean campaign is utilizing the blog:

But when done right, as the Howard Dean campaign apparently is doing, the blog is a tool for building community. The trick is to turn the audience into the speaker. A well-structured blog inspires both reading and writing. And by getting the audience to type, candidates get the audience committed. Engagement replaces reception, which in turn leads to real space action. The life of the Dean campaign on the Internet is not really life on the Internet. It's the activity in real space that the Internet inspires.

I do wish more candidates would utilize the blogosphere, particularly on the local level. Let's hear town council tell me on tomorrow's post why they are raising the mill rate, again.

One other quote from the article:

The challenge is to find a way to build community without the community feeling built.

It is here that Dean's campaign manager, Joe Trippi, had his insight. After a short stint at Progeny Linux Systems, Trippi recognized, he told me, "you will absolutely suffocate anything that you're trying to do on the Internet by trying to command and control it."

I wish the Democrats felt the same way about loosening restrictions on people's income as they seem to feel about the Internet.

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.: posted by Dave 11:58 AM


Need Orange Paint for Home Office:

I'm a bit sad now that I found out that Home Depot no longer carries the Tennessee Vols "Big Orange" paint. I know they have machines that can match paint from photos, etc., but I really wanted some of the good ol' "Big Orange 101".

So... if anybody out there has a couple cans of the "Big Orange 101" stuff, let me know, and I will have it shipped up here to Connecticut. There really isn't enough orange here, you know. Oh, and if you happen to know the RGB values for the Volunteer orange (I believe the specific orange hue is known as "carotene"), post them here!

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.: posted by Dave 11:43 AM


State firefighters were offered help in fighting the fires in Southern California and refused it because of a regulation that states that "no flights can go up into waning daylight." So, some shortsighted bureaucrats made this little rule on-the-fly, and now, a situation has been exacerbated. Can anyone say that a few air drops in the evening would have put out the fires there? No. But it surely would have helped. This is just a small example of why California is such a regulatory mess, and why common sense should prevail instead of bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo.

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.: posted by Dave 11:22 AM


My wife opines about the study that found that "campus diversity may cut binge drinking."

Sheesh. So now, they have an excuse to "tailor their admission policies" for the "good" of all involved. Asinine.

Yep, that about says it all. So now, if you want to make a dent in campus drinking problems, you need only to admit more women, and minorities, since, we all know, fraternities are responsible for most binge drinking, and most frat boys are white, and, by extension, non-diverse.

Somewhere along the way, cause and effect became lost concepts.

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.: posted by Dave 11:08 AM


Supply-Side Theory 101:

Those of you out there who doubt the validity of supply-side economic theory should follow this little example.

Indian software firms are excited about the newly announced GDP growth in the United States. Why, you ask? Because growth means more orders for their software. When capitalists (investors, purchasers, buyers, and consumers) have more to spend, others (such as the aforementioned software firms) can sell more products, and can subsequently create more products. Creating more products leads to the need for 1) more materials for consumption, and 2) more human capital to do the work. This, in turn, leads to more workers having more capital to spend on more things, as well as more providers of materials for consumption, who will, you guessed it, need to hire more people to produce them. Is this sinking in yet?

Blame the Bush tax cuts. I am.

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.: posted by Dave 10:58 AM


Good news for database administrators everywhere:

CNET News.com - New data says there's lots of new data.

Job security. Definitely a nice fringe benefit.

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.: posted by Dave 10:52 AM


Evidence that stupid people live all over the place:

Edward Gallart, of the Bronx, went to the restroom on the Metro-North commuter train. He dropped his cellphone in the toilet. He reached in to retrieve it. His arm was stuck. Thousands of commuters were stranded because one bonehead couldn't put down his cellphone while he took a leak. It took 90 minutes to extricate this guy's arm. They had to take the toilet apart to do so.

For all of this, it will cost the railroad maintenance department several thousand dollars. Some of this expense will be offset by taxpayers. A more appropriate measure would be to bill this moron.

Oh, and to top it off, the cellphone was not recovered. It figures.

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.: posted by Dave 10:49 AM


Google used to be my favorite search engine. But almost daily, I find reasons to like it less.

I don't like that they weight some sites higher than others in searches if ownersw of those sites pay for such consideration.

I don't like that they enact censorship of Second Amendment advocates, while having no care whatsoever about such things as porn sites.

And now, Microsoft might be buying them. That can only worsen the situation.

To be honest, I like Microsoft generally. I own shares in the company. I am a certified programmer using Microsoft technologies. And I hate the idea of Linux on the enterprise desktop. That being said, I do not wish for Microsoft to own Google. What I do wish is that Google would revert to its original form, but, alas, this is a capitalist society, and who can blame the innovators of Google for wanting to cash in on their product's ubiquity? Even so, that cannot change my opinion. Google was once a great search engine. Now, it is nothing more than a commercial enterprise, with a reputation that exceeds its utility.

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.: posted by Dave 10:34 AM


One thing I find interesting about the political climate in the Northeast as opposed to the South is the lack of distinguishing features between the Republican and Democratic parties, especially on a local level. Next week is the general election for town officers, and both sides have been typically partisan.

Most amusing to me, though, has been the platform of the Democrats. Basically, their main plank is one of "fiscal discipline, and responsibility". Their main complaint: Republicans have raised property taxes too high, too often.

Am I in some kind of Bizarro world, where the parties have swapped identities? Well, not really. In the Northeast, Republicans are really lightweight Democrats. They are more liberal on social issues. They do not shy away from taxes. They pander to unions, and voting blocs. And on a local level, they rarely run have any ideas of "fiscal discipline". In fact, two candidates who call themselves members of the "Enfield Taxpayer's Party" have some compelling ideas, such as an automatic referendum when spending exceeds the rate of inflation, get laughed out of town for such proposals. The Hartford Courant calls them "impractical". It is just fundamentally contrary to the very being of Northeastern politicians on all levels to equate themselves to conservative ideas, especially pragmatism and thrift in spending.

Whether it is a Republican or a Democrat in local office, the mill rates will continue to climb, spending on public services, and education will continue to outpace inflation, and the other party (whomever is not in power at the time) will cry "foul" during the next election. At some point, tax rates will reach a saturation point, and there will be an outcry by the electorate. Until then, I can only dream about a device such as California's Proposition 13.

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.: posted by Dave 10:23 AM


NY Times "economist" Paul Krugman really gets me sometimes. Yesterday's news of 7.2% GDP growth for the last quarter was impressive to everyone in the field of economics, with the obvious exception of Krugman. Ever the pessimist, Krugman lets on that he believes the recovery is precarious at best.

The big question, of course, is jobs. Despite all that growth in the third quarter, the number of jobs actually fell... And unless we start to see serious job growth — by which I mean increases in payroll employment of more than 200,000 a month — consumer spending will eventually slide, and bring growth down with it.

Krugman knows that job growth does not precede capital investment, nor does it generally happen in parallel. Businesses invest, then jobs become necessary as a result of such investment. Should we look for job growth in the fourth quarter? At the current rate, yes. I don't pretend to be an economist, but I am familiar enough with the business cycle to know that jobs inevitably must follow business investment.

Does Krugman give credit to the Bush tax cuts? Of course not.

If so, does it validate the Bush economic program? Well, no.

Stimulating the economy in the short run is supposed to be easy, as long as you don't worry about how much debt you run up in the process... To put it more bluntly: it would be quite a trick to run the biggest budget deficit in the history of the planet, and still end a presidential term with fewer jobs than when you started. And despite yesterday's good news, that's a trick President Bush still seems likely to pull off.

So Krugman maintains that the deficit coupled with monetary policy is the real reason for economic growth. This blog has mentioned this fact in the past, and it will again. As a percentage of GDP, the deficit is NOT the largest in American history. I would never call the Bush administration spendthrifty, as I have been critical of many of their spending initiatives, but to stigmatize them by saying the deficit is the largest ever, and is the real inertia behind economic expansion is disingenuous.

Truth be told, job growth in the 90s due to a phantom tech spurt was bound to implode upon itself. Manufacturing efficiencies lead to a smaller need for human capital. That is the nature of evolving economies. Human resources have to be diverted elsewhere when such is the case. To be sure, corporate losses, and outsourcing have led to job shrinkage in real terms, but not as much as many would have you believe (read: Krugman, et. al.)

When businesses and individuals are allowed to keep more of their money, they invest it in jobs, homes, and durable goods. This is the real impetus behind economic growth. But economists with an agenda will never tell you that.

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.: posted by Dave 9:55 AM


Nude Karaoke? I at least hope they have minimum physical requirements.

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.: posted by Dave 9:31 AM




If you follow the Vols, you probably know about Chuck Prugh, and his month long fight with mononucleosis, coupled with pneumonia. Prugh has definitely appreciated all of the support from Vol fans everywhere. Says Prugh:

"I learned we've got the greatest fans in the world,'' Prugh said, "and it would be an honor to play for them again.''

These are the kinds of players I love to hear about. These are the kinds players that bring a team together, instead of fracturing them in the middle (are you listening, Kelley Washington?) I, for one, would love to have ten more Chuck Prughs on the roster.

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.: posted by Dave 9:29 AM


Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Here at the office, we had a client who sent us some nifty VCDs (video compact disks) with some details of their business processes on them. Due to restrictive network policies, we could not install the Windows Media Player codec to play VCDs. However, we are enabled to install any third party software that does not write to certain parts of the Windows registry. So, users downloaded something called Global DivX Player. GDP is supposed to be a lightweight tool for playing unconventional formats such as DivX and VCD.

This leads me to my rant on the matter. GDP is full of spyware and adware. You wouldn't believe how system performance was lacking on the network machines. Now, after several users inatalled the package, and complained, I decided to run a quick check using a tool called Webroot Spy Sweeper to view the damage. What I found was appalling: NetDotNet, Alexa, SuperBar, and SaveNow all found their way onto the PCs. (Read today's SlashDot discussion on adware if you want to see how it affects users.)

The moral to the story is this: if you are a power hungry sysadmin, you need to learn to give users a bit of leeway when installing software. I say this because, as the IT leader in my group, I still cannot gain admin access to the machines. This incident could have been avoided if I had only been allowed to download and install the codec for WMP, or RealPlayer, for that matter.

End of Rant.

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.: posted by Dave 10:55 AM


Andrew Sullivan on Dubya's reelection prospects:

The economy may do for 43 what it failed to do for 41: re-elect a Bush.

If so, chalk up a victory for supply-siders everywhere.

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.: posted by Dave 10:40 AM


Brendan Miniter is not sure that now is the time for one-half of a billion dollars in construction projects on Capitol Hill:

It's hard to argue against building an organized entrance point for tourists, especially after Sept. 11 and after Russell Weston shot his way into the Capitol in 1998, killing a policeman. But with money tight, the project seems an extravagance, if not a boondoggle.

I agree with the sentiment. However, I would settle for simply ending spendaholic legislators' abilities to add "pork" projects to necessary bills. This practice is, by far, more wasteful than anything else. I guarantee the savings would easily be in the billions.

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.: posted by Dave 10:36 AM


Wired's Michelle Delio has embarked on a journey along Route 1, from Fort Kent, Maine, to Key West, Florida. Not to be a copycat, but tis is something I would very much like to do myself one day, with my wife and son. I've always had a bit of wanderlust, and this trip sounds like fun.

Delio's first entry is about the northernmost part of Maine, and their history of fighting both Canadians, and prohibition. I never knew Maine once declared war on Canada. Interesting read.

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.: posted by Dave 10:22 AM


Monday, October 27, 2003

Kevin Hassett writes about the irrational congruency of Democratic policy, arguing that the sole motive for their positions is a hatred of President Bush. Writes Hassett:

When high school students who sit next to each other give the same wrong answer it is a sign of foul play. In a similar manner, the fact that Democratic candidates all have converged to the same tax policy is a sign of foul motive. Rational analysis can not explain their policy proposals. Only hatred of Bush can.

I couldn't have stated it more clearly myself.

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.: posted by Dave 2:35 PM




I was as dumbfounded as anyone when Red Sox manager Grady Little stuck with Pedro Martinez in the ALCS. It was obvious that Pedro was out of gas, to everyone except Pedro, and apparently Little. That being said, I don't think firing him was the right thing to do. Living in the Northeast, I have an unusual exposure to everything Yankee - Red Sox. The passions about the game of baseball, and the AL East, rival the passions of UT - Florida, and Bama - Auburn. So, I could call this a knee-jerk reaction to a manager's poor judgment. But I can't help but to wonder if there is something more, behind the scenes, that contributed to Little's dismissal. I mean, the players love him. You can't argue that he wasn't successful. Look at his record: in Little's two years as Red Sox manager, Boston was 93-69 and 95-67. So they lost in game seven, and he gets canned? The Red Sox fans are frustrated by years of ineptitude in the postseason. They always seem to fall short. But to take the frustration out on one man, because of one decision, is wrongheaded.

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.: posted by Dave 12:35 PM


Newsweek's Steven Levy cites the biggest problem with direct recording voting machines - the votes cannot be verified.

After you punch the buttons to choose your candidates, you may get a final screen that reflects your choices—but there’s no way to tell that those choices are the ones that ultimately get reported in the final tally. You simply have to trust that the software inside the machine is doing its job.

Levy also interviews a professor and computer security expert at Johns Hopkins who tells him that "anyone in (his) basic security classes would have done better" and calls the system "far below even the most minimal security standards."

I'm as much a techno-geek as anyone else, but I can certainly see the flaws in the technological solution. I'm not so sure we want to embrace technology until all of the wrinkles are ironed out, and clearly, they aren't. Although more elegant solutions are being developed (like verifiable voting, which prints out the vote as a receipt), I would feel most comfortable with an old-fashioned paper ballot, and making sure voting precincts are small enough, and have enough officials on hand to determine the accuracy of the votes.

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.: posted by Dave 12:14 PM


The Dems Debate:

More and more, I respect Joe Lieberman, much more so than any of the other Democratic candidates. If you look at his financial backing, he is in the middle of the pack. If you listen to many of the dovish Democrats, you will hear the sentiment that Lieberman would be "too cozy" with Israel, thus miring us in a Middle East "quagmire" (an aside: Quagmire is such an overused word. I would encourage the candidates to come up with something else.) Given the mood of the Democratic establishment, it appears that an "anti-Bush" candidate (read: Dean) is much more likely than Lieberman to gain the nomination.

To me, that is unfortunate for the Democrats. Lieberman, if anything else, has been more consistent on his positions than the others (save the fringe candidates Braun, Sharpton, Kucinich, et. al.) In last night's debate, Lieberman questioned the positions of Clark, Kerry, and Edwards. The triumverate of presidential wannabes have vacillated on many of their policies, depending on the crowd to which they have been catering. Lieberman called them on this, to their consternation. Said Lieberman:

“I don’t know how John Kerry and John Edwards can they say supported the war, but then oppose the funding of the troops who went to fight the war...” Lieberman also accused (General Wesley) Clark of adopting “six different positions” on war with Iraq, and complained about Clark that “it took him four days to decide whether voting on the $87 billion was a good idea.”

All of this is true. Now, it can be said that Lieberman himself has compromised some of his own positions in the past when he has entered presidential politics. However, on the Iraq position, he has not wavered, nor is he likely to do so. Clark, Edwards, and Kerry, in their thirst for the nomination, have changed their mind, and are free to do so again and again. This might play well to the fragmented constituents to whom they play, but, if one of those candidates secure the nomination, the Democrats will likely fare poorly in the general election. (It is my belief that the Democratic party underestimates the public perception of the war on terrorism, but I digress). Lieberman is probably the most electable candidate of the Dems, yet for his steadfastness in position (given the party's venomous hatred of Dubya and any policy to which he may be attached), he will surely pay. If so, I think the Democrats will regret it.

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.: posted by Dave 11:56 AM


The post office wants to start IDing the mail. Not just parcels, but all mail. There is a movement afoot to strip as much anonymity as possible from our daily lives, all in the name of security. Some level of security is necessary, and proper. However, if it comes down to a choice between security and freedom, I will choose freedom every time. This is one of those cases. I do not want my mail monitored, and stored in a database. I do not wish to be required to present photo ID just to remit a bill, or send a Christmas card to my mom. I'm as concerned with the cost of such measures as I am the inherent intrusiveness accompanying them. Imagine the increased overhead for simply maintaining and tracking a simple envelope. There may well be a plausible reason for monitoring some things, but a $.37 letter is not one of them.

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.: posted by Dave 10:55 AM


First, we had the gay and lesbian school in New York. Now we have the vegan school in San Juan. Now, let me preface my comments by saying that I have nothing against veganism, although... well, let's just say it's not for me. However, funding these sorts of fringe schools with taxpayer money is simply wrong. Taxes should be going to schools to educate kids, not to indoctrinate them, or lean them toward specific lifestyles. That's what this charter school aims to do:

The charter promises to promote "respect for humans, all species and the environment" and "the promotion of harmonious relations, kindness toward domestic pets and humane treatment of living creatures."

The charter model will "replace discipline based on rewards and punishments with one based on respect, responsibility and reverence." (As in: "Sierra, if you can't self-organize your workspace and continue to throw your math manipulatives at Conner, I'm not sure I can trust you with more tofu.")

In the meantime, discipline suffers, cognitive reasoning takes a back seat to "compassion", and society becomes one big "love fest".

Is it any wonder why California is so fiscally dysfunctional?

As the school district's attorney Diana Halpenny noted, charter applicants met all the qualifying criteria, so "there was no (legal) basis for the board to deny the petition"... It turns out that the law doesn't require charter-petition signers to live in the district or even near it. Teachers from Stockton, Manteca and Cloverdale and parents from Redding, Antioch and Modesto signed petitions stating that they were "meaningfully interested" in teaching at or sending their kids to the school.

So a very small minority gets this idea that veganism is sound educational policy, and, despite the fact that many of those endorsing the idea don't even live near the school, nor do they intend to send their kids to the school, it nevertheless, by way of law, becomes necessary to endorse, and validate the idea.

Absurd. One more reason that homeschooling is the best alternative to government schooling.

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.: posted by Dave 10:47 AM


Neal Boortz, Atlanta's libertarian loudmouth, opines about the California wildfires:

These wildfires and these lost homes reminded me of one government outrage I related to listeners quite a few years ago. Is it possible that some of these homes could have been saved if it were not for the Rat Nazis?

Rat Nazis? What in the hell are Rat Nazis? The Rat Nazis are the great and exalted protectors of the kangaroo rat ... that cute little critter which inhabits the very areas that were burning over the past weekend. I can't say that this is happening today, but several years ago the Rat Nazis wouldn't let you clear an area of underbrush around your home in order to protect it from fires. The underbrush, you see, was a kangaroo rat habitat. I remember one story where a homeowner proceeded to clear a firebreak around his home anyway. Good thing he did, too, because the fire came along within days and destroyed all homes on his street --- except his. After the smoke cleared the government cited this poor SOB for clearing out a rat habitat.

Government ... gotta love it.

I don't know what the cause is, per se. Odds are we will be told that Bush, Clinton, and anything in between are responsible. But... it makes me wonder about the environmental policies of the Left Coast.

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.: posted by Dave 10:35 AM


Courtesy of my friend Joe, here's what the new illegal immigrant driver's license will look like:

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.: posted by Dave 10:26 AM


Saturday, October 25, 2003



51 to 43.

Five overtimes.

Over four and one half hours.

The highest scoring Bama - Vol game in series history. If you missed it, you missed an exciting game. No Jim Bob Cooter sightings (sorry SKB). I think I was the only person in the entire New England area watching the Bama game, since the World Series was on at the time.

Speaking of which... thank GOD the baseball season is over. No spring/summer sport should last until nearly November. I love baseball, but enough is enough.

Note to Steinbrenner: get over it. Money can't buy heart, and enthusiasm, and the Marlins had more of it than the Pinstripes did. Give Torre credit for getting you this far.

Well, I'm going to go set my fantasy football lineups for tomorrow, and then get some sleep. It's been a long week, and another long one is just around the corner.

At least I get an extra hour of sleep tonight.

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.: posted by Dave 11:31 PM


Friday, October 24, 2003

I've been trying to catch up on the happenings on the blogs of fellow RTBers, and I noticed that SayUncle is going to be a father. First, I want to say congratulations! This is truly going to be a wonderful time for you.

Secondly, Uncle's post (linked here) makes me reminisce about my own realization of pending fatherhood. As I recall, the Mrs. and I had just returned from the grocery store, and she had missed her, shall we say, time of the month that week. So... we got an HPT, and administered a timely urine stream to the test kit as directed.

Being the nonchalant type, the Mrs. adjourned from the bathroom, not expecting any positive result. She'd done this before, she said. Nothing to see here.

Well, I decided to watch the magic wand. Intently. With focus and clarity. I watched and observed a pronounced + sign appear in the window. This was no ordinary +, mind you. It was intense, aglow... somewhat bold and luminating.

I exclaimed to the Mrs. that our fortunes were changing, for the better, in my opinion. We were about to be parents. Life was about to change.

Naturally, she doubted me. "You're just playing with me," she retorted. But, I wasn't.

Life is unpredictable. Things, and people, change. So do circumstances, and situations. This was one of those times. In one fell swoop, I felt anxiety, surprise, gladness, self-doubt, unworthiness, and inexplicable joy... and that's just the emotions that I can remember.

In thirteen days, I will be something I never imagined I would be - a father. My son, Ethan Joshua, will finally arrive. My wife and I will be the happiest people on God's majestic Earth.

To SayUncle, I say again, congratulations. Enjoy the coming weeks. Savor them. You only have one first child.

God bless children, and the joy that they bring us.

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.: posted by Dave 6:27 PM


Today, I have to take exception to something that irks me every time I see, or hear it. Many times, when someone on the left disagrees vehemently with someone else (usually someone on the right), they like to use language that is as damaging as possible to that person, or persons. One of the most often selected words from the English lexicon in this context is "fascist". When Reagan failed to support public funding for AIDS research (wrongly so, in retrospect), he was labeled a fascist. When George W. Bush... well, seemingly when he does anything contrary to the left's agenda, he is invariably labeled a fascist. Reading the many quotes in context, it could be interpreted that the intended definition of fascist is something akin to an angry, stubborn, and downright bad person. If you look at the definition of fascist, you will see this:

a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

Perhaps those who call Bush a fascist intend to label him a dictator. In practice, Bush couldn't be farther from a fascist. In fact, invariably, a fascist leader in a democracy would likely veto any legislation that didn't come from his hand. Bush's veto record? Zero. Zip. Bush, if anything, leans toward legislative democracy.

Bush as one who exalts nation above the individual? Forcible suppression of opposition? Not hardly. Fascists don't cut personal taxes if they value the state over the individual, nor do they attempt to demarginalize an obviously militant religion like the type of Islam we see manifested daily in the Middle East. A fascist would be prone to confiscate incomes, and exterminate international opposition. This is not the modus operandi of Bush at all.

Why the treatise on fascism? It is bothersome to me that people will reinvent the language in such a way as to attach an enormously negative stigma to someone or something with which they disagree. Far right pols often questioned Bill Clinton's morality, but I never recall such monikers as "fascist" being slung at him. The left and the right are perpetually going to disagree on policy. However, it would be nice if the discourse would contain enough intellectual honesty as to not give a label to something which it doesn't deserve.

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.: posted by Dave 12:30 PM


SKBubba opines about video games, and their role in violence. While I am not going to go the extra mile and blame a video game for a shooting (any more than I will blame the presence of a firearm for a shooting), I must cite Bubba's well-reasoned opinion on responsibility:

Better yet, some of these kids ought to get off their fat asses and go outside and play every now and then. And their parents ought to encourage that behavior instead of enabling their kid's little inner demons by purchasing these games for them and allowing them to spend countless hours being exposed to this crap.

I couldn't agree more. Parents often facilitate their kids' behavior by allowing them access to such garbage. Doing so also implicitly discourages physical activity of any kind. It is solely the parents' responsibility to get their kids into productive activities, and out of sedentary, anti-social ones like... well, like playing Grand Theft Auto.

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.: posted by Dave 12:10 PM


Lenore Skenazy answers the proverbial question, "Why do beauties end up with beasts?" It seems that some believe that it's the fault of the beauties themselves:

But just perhaps, suggests Jill Spiegel, author of "Flirting for Success," the fault lies not in the stars, male, but in the stars, female. "When you're a starlet who gets everything so easy, you crave a little challenge," Spiegel says. "That's why they're attracted to men with a bad boy edge to them."

Boy, ain't that the truth? That sounds like a recap of high school, and undergrad.

However, there are some beauties who are grounded enough to understand their priorities, and not so self-important as to decide that the "challenge" of taming the male beast is such a big deal. I, too, used to wonder how some men were so fortunate enough to end up with such dashing, effervescent women.

But I wonder no longer. Why? Because I ended up with one myself. And this one seeks no challenges. Lucky for me.

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.: posted by Dave 11:49 AM


After being away from the laptop all week, I just realized that Gregg Easterbrook's TMQ column is no longer on ESPN. Apparently, he offended Eisner, and pals, with some alleged anti-Semitic remarks. I don't know the details, although I see the Blogfather and others have been keeping up nicely with the saga.

All I want to know is... when is someone... anyone going to resurrect this brilliant column? TMQ was one of my favorite weekly reads, especially during football season. Why does PC sensitivity have to usurp good writing?

UPDATE: Charles Krauthammer defends Easterbrook in the Jewish World Review. I guess not everyone Jewish was offended by Easterbrook's remarks. Otherwise, I would imagine no one writing for JWR would come to his defense.

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.: posted by Dave 11:39 AM




The world's smallest five megapixel camera? The DSC-T1 is just .8" thick, 2.4" tall, and has a 2.5" LCD viewfinder and a 3x optical zoom Carl Zeiss lens. Being a gadgetaholic, I might have to buy this.

Note to my wife: Ignore this post. :-D

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.: posted by Dave 11:28 AM


Illegal immigrants working for WalMart? Naw. It couldn't be.

Note to the INS: Have you been to Dalton, Georgia, and looked around? Have you raided the carpet mills there, too?

Second Note to the INS: Maybe if you would enforce the law, and deport these people, this wouldn't be such a problem.

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.: posted by Dave 11:25 AM


Big Brother Comes to the Classroom:

Remember RFID? They are basically external microchips that broadcast a unique ID, allowing them to be tracked easily. WalMart has been at the forefront in implementing their use, seeking to replace the UPC bar code with RFIDs.

Well, now a charter school in Buffalo has decided to implement RFIDs to track the attendence of students at the school. Coming soon: tracking library, nurse, and office visits. Every student will have a tracking dossier.

While being able to track your kids makes sense in some way, I don't like this technology. The potential for abuse is enormous. I also don't like these kids serving as essentially a test bed for the technology. If it serves their purposes here, why not track employees in large companies? Why not track everyone, for that matter?

I agree with privacy consultant Richard Smith:

I think the Buffalo experiment is getting children ready for the brave new world, where people are watched 24/7 in the name of security. My main concern is that once we start carrying around RFID-tagged items on our person such as access cards, cell phones, loyalty cards, clothing, etc., we can be tracked without our knowledge or permission by a network of RFID readers attached to the Internet."

That about sums up my view. Once we start down the slippery slope of tracking people, there will only be an increase in the implementation of such ideas. To wit, Intuitek President David M. Straitiff, whose company developed the RFID system for the school, scoffs that abuse of the system would become an issue. It's precisely that cavalier attitude about RFIDs that makes them dangerous.

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.: posted by Dave 11:13 AM


The Blogfather informs us that some people are unhappy with Office 2003. I'm no fan of Digital Rights Management, and I have heard that Microsoft has been trying to integrate DRM into their new Office suite. However, I have to say, Lindows.com is not the place to look for objective Microsoft critiques.

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.: posted by Dave 10:57 AM


The Future of Energy:

The above caption is the title of an article in the Economist predicting the imminent "end of the oil age". Should we be promoting alternatives to fossil fuels? Almost certainly this would benefit all, especially Western ecomonies that would be crippled by the loss or reduction of oil availability.

Being an advocate of Adam Smith's "invisible hand" policies, I am all for letting the market dictate such development of alternative fuel sources. It does, however, make me ill to read the author's proposed solution to the oil "addiction" of the West:

The best way to curb the demand for oil and promote innovation in oil alternatives is to tell the world's energy markets that the “externalities” of oil consumption—security considerations and environmental issues alike—really will influence policy from now on. And the way to do that is to impose a gradually rising gasoline tax.

By introducing a small but steadily rising tax on petrol, America would do far more to encourage innovation and improve energy security than all the drilling in Alaska's wilderness. Crucially, this need not be, and should not be, a matter of raising taxes in the aggregate. The proceeds from a gasoline tax ought to be used to finance cuts in other taxes—this, surely, is the way to present them to a sceptical electorate.

It concerns me when the view is purveyed that a tax is the solution to such problems. At present, the market has a dependence on oil in many forms, and for many things. Heating, infrastructure, and transportation all lean heavily toward all things oil. Imposing a tax on a daily necessity would be akin to taxing food to alter consumption (wait, that's been proposed, too, huh?). The end result would not be consumption of alternative resources, but a stagnation of consumption in other, less essential areas. It helps no one to simply raise the price of oil at the expense of everything else.

The author's position that taxes should be cut in other areas to offset the difference would be a novel, unprecedented maneuver for any Western bureaucrat without "Republican" on his/her business card. Standard operating procedure within politics is that, once a tax is levied, it remains generally intact (just consider the American income tax if you have any doubts). These offsets would likely never occur (just as when Reagan cut spending with the promise of tax cuts from the legislature, only to see this idea never realized), so committing to them would be fiscal suicide. I, for one, am not willing to provide the bullet for the gun.

So how do we encourage such innovation without crippling the economy? Anti-capitalists beware: such things would best be facilitated by giving incentives to businesses to develop such technologies. This is a capitalist society, and capitalists are motivated by profit. If businesses see the possibilities of profit, whether in the form of tax credits, or emerging markets for goods and services, they will begin to enter those markets, and resources will be allocated for research and development. This is American innovation at its best. Penalizing consumers is not the answer; rewarding producers is.

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.: posted by Dave 10:53 AM


Tuesday, October 21, 2003

As you may have noticed, I have been only lightly blogging in the past few days. Blame it on my relocation into a new house, awaiting a new baby, and having to take midterm exams. Or, blame the Bush tax cuts. Anyway, I felt like posting this anecdote sent to me from a friend in California. I think this mirrors political ideologies quite well:

Most of you at one time or another have seen the e-mail using cows to "explain" different political ideologies.
This one goes just a little further:


DEMOCRAT
  • You have two cows.

  • Your neighbor has none.

  • You feel guilty for being successful.

  • Barbara Streisand sings for you.

    REPUBLICAN
  • You have two cows.

  • Your neighbor has none.

  • So?

    SOCIALIST

  • You have two cows.

  • The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.

  • You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

    COMMUNIST
  • You have two cows.

  • The government seizes both and provides you with milk.

  • You wait in line for hours to get it. It is expensive and sour.

    CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
  • You have two cows.

  • You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

    DEMOCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
  • You have two cows.

  • The government taxes you to the point you have to sell both to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow, which was a gift from your government.

    BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
  • You have two cows.

  • The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, and then pours the milk down the drain.

    AMERICAN CORPORATION
  • You have two cows.

  • You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.

  • You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows.

  • You are surprised when one cow drops dead.

  • You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have down sized and are reducing expenses.

  • Your stock goes up.

    FRENCH CORPORATION
  • You have two cows.

  • You go on strike because you want three cows.

  • You go to lunch and drink wine.

  • Life is good.

    JAPANESE CORPORATION
  • You have two cows.

  • You redesign them so they are one tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains. Most are at the top of their class at cow school.

    GERMAN CORPORATION
  • You have two cows.

  • You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.

  • Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.

    ITALIAN CORPORATION
  • You have two cows but you don't know where they are.

  • While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman.

  • You break for lunch.

  • Life is good.

    RUSSIAN CORPORATION
  • You have two cows.

  • You have some vodka.

  • You count them and learn you have five cows.

  • You have some more vodka. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.

  • The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.

    TALIBAN CORPORATION
  • You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which are two.

  • You don't milk them because you cannot touch any creature's private parts.

  • Then you kill them and claim a US bomb blew them up while they were in the hospital.

    IRAQI CORPORATION
  • You have two cows.

  • They go into hiding.

  • They send radio tapes of their mooing.

    POLISH CORPORATION
  • You have two bulls.

  • Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.

    FLORIDA CORPORATION
  • You have a black cow and a brown cow.

  • Everyone votes for the best looking one.

  • Some of the people who like the brown one best, vote for the black one.

  • Some people vote for both.

  • Some people vote for neither.

  • Some people can't figure out how to vote at all.

  • Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which is the best looking cow.

    CALIFORNIAN
  • You have a cow and a bull.

  • The bull is depressed. It has spent its life living a lie. It goes away for two weeks. It comes back after a taxpayer-paid sex-change operation.

  • You now have two cows. One makes milk the other doesn't.

  • You try to sell the transgender cow. Its lawyer sues you for discrimination.

  • You lose in court.

  • You sell the milk-generating cow to pay the damages.

  • You now have one rich, transgender, non-milk-producing cow.
    You change your business to beef.

  • PETA pickets your farm.

  • Jesse Jackson makes a speech in your driveway.

  • Cruz Bustamante calls for higher farm taxes to help "working cows".

  • Hillary Clinton calls for the nationalization of 1/7 of your farm "for the children".

  • Gray Davis signs a law giving your farm to Mexico.

  • The L.A. Times quotes five anonymous cows claiming you groped their teats.

  • You declare bankruptcy and shut down all operations.

  • The cow starves to death.

  • The L.A. Times' analysis shows your business failure is Bush's fault.

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    .: posted by Dave 3:22 PM


    Monday, October 13, 2003

    A sure sign of the apocalypse: Manute Bol (former NBA center who stands 7' 7") has decided to become a horse jockey.

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    .: posted by Dave 2:05 PM


    Joe Lieberman shares his latest Mondale-ism:

    Democrat Joe Lieberman, hoping to jump-start his presidential campaign with a fresh attack on White House policy, is promising to ensure that upper-income Americans pay more taxes than they did before President Bush's record-breaking tax cuts.

    It didn't work for Senator Mondale, Joe. It sure won't work for you.

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    .: posted by Dave 1:53 PM


    Scientists have developed a "stomach pacemaker" to help suppress appetites. This is indeed the era of lost personal responsibility.

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    .: posted by Dave 1:47 PM


    Newsday writes about the exodus of African American families into the ranks of homeschooling parents.

    Two reasons these parents are wise for removing their kids from government schools:

    There was some teasing and a bit of bullying in the schools that Jarrett attended, but most disturbing to the Carters was the sense that their son, in many ways, was not being pushed to reach his potential...

    Gee, that sounds inexplicably familiar. Need further evidence that the taxpayer-subsidized rate is the wrong one for education?

    The turning point for the Carters came when Jarrett, who had previously attended public school, was in second grade at a private school. He wrote a report on Theodore Roosevelt in which he mentioned the Buffalo Soldiers -- blacks, some of them Civil War veterans, who fought in the Indian wars. Carter said the teacher told her, "You obviously went and got this from a black encyclopedia."

    "That's when I said, 'No, he got it from Encyclopedia Brittanica.'" The next year, the Carters decided to homeschool.

    One more family with the wisdom to do what's best for the child, instead of what's best for the family's standard of living.

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    .: posted by Dave 1:44 PM


    Today's Washington Post claims that President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" legislation is threatening to backfire. What is particularly nauseating to me is knowing, from the article, that seventy percent of West Virginia's entire state budget goes to public education.

    This is an egregious amount of money being allocated to something as inefficient as the public education system. Years ago, it was decided that the government was more equipped to administer education to our children than the private sector. Those of us who seek private or, more pertinently to me, home-based education, gain no benefit from these services, nor are we allowed to recoup the significant money we are forced to forgo to states and municipalities to the end of public education.

    It is about time that people learn that teaching children involves more than bussing them off to a school building, and letting a third party indoctrinate them. If parents want their children to avoid being "left behind", they will take a proactive role in their education, whether it be parental oversight, tutoring, or taking the full burden of teaching upon themselves.

    The government should serve a role of providing security through defense, and guaranteeing the "inalienable rights" of the citizenry. Public education was never intended to be one of those "rights".

    The NCLB Act was a bad idea, in my mind. But so is public education as a whole. So also is the expectation of someone else to further the intellect of one's children. Blaming a lack of money, and resources, is wrong. Blaming those who desire full dependence on government for education would be much more productive.

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    .: posted by Dave 1:33 PM


    At last! Blogrolling is back up, and working like a charm. Good job, Jason!

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    .: posted by Dave 1:02 PM


    Friday, October 10, 2003

    I'm in total agreement with SKBubba on this one. I've heard enough about Kobe to make me want to puke. I despise the Lakers anyway (I mean, once you move from Minneapolis to L.A., shouldn't you change your freakin' nickname? Where's the lake in L.A.? This is why I also abhor the Utah Jazz. Mormons don't play jazz in freakin' Utah!), and this does nothing to change my mind. There are FAR more newsworthy events than Kobe and his Colorado capers. Enough is enough.

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    .: posted by Dave 4:44 PM


    Mount Schwarzenegger? Come on. Isn't that a little much?

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    .: posted by Dave 4:31 PM


    I'm no Pat Robertson fan, but let's be honest... Robertson comments that we should "blow up the State Department with a nuclear weapon", and all hell breaks loose. Rest assured, it Michael Moore or Ed Asner made a similar comment, all we would hear would be a yawn of abject disinterest. Double standard? You can argue that. But my point is that people should lighten up, on both sides of the morality line.

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    .: posted by Dave 4:28 PM


    Why the hell do the grocery workers of America need a union? Are they working in squalid conditions? Do they receive a wage that is substantially lower than their output?

    No. They want standard of living guarantees. So use groupthink as leverage to cause the employer to pay a higher wage. Where does that cost go? Yep. The consumer.

    So what's the union's grievance? "One sticking point is health benefits, with the chains wanting to cut coverage and raise the employees' share of the costs"

    My response? Get over it. You know what? We're all paying more these days. Economic conditions dictate that. Costs are higher. Union "sheeple" don't help things.

    Is it any wonder why a full week's groceries costs so much? Unions have outlived their usefulness. They only serve to increase the cost of doing business. In the end, it's the grocery buyer that pays.

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    .: posted by Dave 4:24 PM


    For the last time: drug addicts are not disabled. The ADA should not mandate that an addict be entitled to a job. As an example, Rush Limbaugh admitted his addiction to pain killers. He would be the first to tell you that he is NOT disabled. Addictions can be treated, and overcome. Making the condition of addiction a criteria for entitlement benefits no one.

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    .: posted by Dave 4:18 PM


    One side effect of socialized prescription drug coverage: the cancellation of employer provided medical insurance to those who are eligible for the plan. Is anyone surprised about this unintended consequence? If I employed people who could get coverage elsewhere, I wouldn't pay exorbitant rates to provide the benefit. As insurance costs rise, employer's willingness to cut such benefits also rises. Like it or not, employers are in business to make a profit. It would only make sense to not provide what the government is only so happy to do.

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    .: posted by Dave 4:14 PM


    More on the SunnComm Technologies' "lawsuit" against a Princeton grad student who broke their feeble attempt at copy-protection, and then proceeded to post his findings online. The company has no case (even when invoking specific articles of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act which forbid "circumventing" copy-protection technology), so they have dropped their challenge. Said Princeton doctoral student John "Alex" Halderman:

    "I expect I will be well-represented in the case of a lawsuit. If pressing the Shift key is a violation of the DMCA, then the law needs to be changed."

    This case further illustrates the absurdity of the DCMA, and, more specifically, the absurdity of the establishment that seeks to invoke it at every turn.

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    .: posted by Dave 4:06 PM


    A little social engineering is all it takes to get access to someone's password protected accounts. Just ask Van T. Dinh, 19, who used a sneaky little email to get his victim to use a "test version" of a stock charting program (how gullible can people be?). Now Dinh is accused of using $47,000 from an unnamed user's account to purchase options in Cisco Systems. It is good that the user remains unnamed, because he/she will be spared humiliation and embarrassment. Let this be a lesson to everyone who uses this dainty little medium we call the Internet. Trust NO ONE.

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    .: posted by Dave 3:59 PM


    Overheard at Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut today: bets are even on who will die first: the Pope or Arafat.

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    .: posted by Dave 3:49 PM


    Well, I noticed today that my favorite news radio personality, Neal Boortz, has moved over to WNOX in Knoxville. Apparently, this rubs Metropulse's Barry Henderson the wrong way. Straight from Neal's website:

    The Neal Boortz Show recently moved to News Talk 99 - WNOX radio in Knoxville, Tennessee. Although we've received good response from the WNOX listeners through phone calls and e-mail, there is at least one person in Knoxville who is, shall we say, less than pleased.

    Barry Henderson writes in Knoxville's Metropulse. Here's just part of what he has to say about my efforts on WNOX.

    Neal Boortz has been on Atlanta radio for something like 35 years. He's a right-winger with not so much an edge as a blunt instrument. Boortz calls himself a libertarian, thereby giving all legitimate libertarians a bad name. I'd mention that the late Lewis Grizzard, a friend of mine for years, was also a friend of Neal's, but one shouldn't speak so badly of the deceased. Personally, I've been listening to Boortz on and off—thankfully, mostly off— for more than 30 years. ... Neal Boortz adds nothing to the argument. His hopeless cynicism and jerk-off rhetoric deserves no attention at all from thoughtful people, and his radio show deserves no airtime in this market. Is anyone listening?

    It's telling that Barry Henderson also states his distaste for Fox News Channel in his column. That puts me in some pretty good company and helps to ease the sting of his negative review. As for his question, "Is anyone listening?" --- in due time the Knoxville listeners will have their say. Perhaps on Monday I can post some e-mail responses to Henderson's critique.

    Neal is one of the things I miss about Atlanta (where I lived for a short time this past year). Thank God for the Internet.

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    .: posted by Dave 3:44 PM


    SayUncle reminded me today in one of his posts that some of us bloggers haven't been posting as much lately. Such is life when one decides to close on a new house. And then there's that little matter of finishing my midterms. And then the wife has a "bun" in the "oven", due to be completely baked in 4 weeks. Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn't feel guilty for not posting more. Heh. I often wonder how the Blogfather manages to have a life and still post so damned much.

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    .: posted by Dave 3:38 PM


    Tuesday, October 07, 2003

    CNet writes about Princeton Ph.D. student John Halderman and his paper explaining how to disable BMG's new CD copy protection, which is as simple as holding down the Shift key. CNet does not link directly to the paper, but you can view it here. Holding down the Shift key bypasses the Autorun feature of the CD, allowing the music to be copied. Apparently this annoyance is supposed to discourage CD-ripping. Somehow, I don't think it will.

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    .: posted by Dave 7:16 PM


    Blogging Shorts:

  • Californians vote on the recall today. The Democrats, as usual, threaten to take any election issue to court. Quoth the AP: "DEMOCRATIC PARTY officials confirmed that on a moment’s notice they would be ready to seek an injunction to keep polls open beyond the 11 p.m. ET closing time should they find any problems or delays." No surprise there. The liberal way of governing is to use a sympathetic judiciary to its full extent. Look for several pieces of litigation in the coming days.

  • Wouldn't it be great to see a Red Sox - Cubs World Series? That way, both teams would lose.

  • If you missed the Bucs and the Colts play last night, you missed a hell of a game. I never thought Peyton and Co. would score 35 points in the second half against the vaunted Tampa Bay defense. Tampa lost their composure down the stretch. They were visibly exhausted. I wonder how other teams will attack the cover-2 now that Indy exposed it.

  • Here in Connecticut, a Meriden woman was convicted of "putting her child at risk" by maintaining an unclean environment in which they both lived. The kid was allegedly harassed at school, and subsequently committed suicide. She faces ten years in prison. I worry what the precedent this verdict carries. This is a threshold of government intervention that I dare say we don't want to cross. I think society wants to blame someone, anyone, other than the child himself. I will agree that there were problems in that household. But holding the mother accountable for the death is dangerous. It opens the door for other issues down the road that can be pinned on parents (illness, anti-social behavior, etc.)

  • While being coked up and then having a stillbirth is reckless, I would not characterize it as murder. A South Carolina court thought otherwise, and the Supreme Court let the verdict stand. Abortion is a non-issue for me; I think society is equally divided on the matter, and I shun most arguments either way about it. But, this case highlights an inconsistency. Why is it not murder when the intent is to dispose of the pregnancy when it is viable, but when the defendent is unintentionally reckless (as it is in this case), it is a felony?

  • An anti-RIAA group is calling for a boycott of CD purchases. I've been boycotting them for years, due to exorbitant prices, and poor selections. The RIAA is just another reason to do so.

  • Self-absorbed Americans will be watching the baseball playoffs and the California recall, but I think the most newsworthy item to follow is the rift between Syria and Israel. There will likely be farreaching rammifications now that Israel has engaged Hamas by bombing a suspected terrorist enclave within the borders of Syria. Don't be surprised if there is an escalation in attacks within Israel in retaliation.

  • Now here's discipline for you. A Moroccan teacher grew tired of hearing two rowdy boys, so she tossed them from a first floor window. That'll teach 'em!

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    .: posted by Dave 12:50 PM


    Saturday, October 04, 2003

    It has been a popular rant to say lately that "sports and politics do not mix" since the entire Rush Limbaugh fiasco. I'm not so sure that advice will be heeded though, as there have been other examples of such commentary since then.

    For example, check out ESPN GameDay's talking head Chris Fowler's column on the Alabama fan who stupidly shot at his kid after the Tide lost to Arkansas in overtime:

    "However, on the college football beat I've often witnessed the flipside of fans' deep passion. It's ugly and it's dangerous. It's a pretty thin line between a screaming fan, so enraged his eyes and veins are bulging, and an attempted murderer. Sometimes all that seperates them is the availability of a gun, or a knife, or a bottle.

    A fan was shot near Legion Field following an Auburn-Alabama showdown that GameDay attended. I believe the year was 1996. Clearly, there are too damn many guns available, but that's another column for another web site."

    Yeah. Blame the gun. Fowler would be better served to refer back to his comments in 1997 when he brought up the "white trailer trash mentality" of Volunteer fans who were outraged about Peyton Manning losing the Heisman to Charles Woodson. Maybe it's something in the loony father's cabeza, Chris.

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    .: posted by Dave 10:28 AM


    Union workers at Pratt and Whitney, Connecticut's long time aircraft engine manufacturer, have voted by a margin of 219-203 to reject offered pay cuts, and instead take the alternative: 160 jobs will be cut instead. This vote was watched carefully yesterday here in the Nutmeg State, and some were surprised at the outcome. Most were disappointed either way. I watched the local news, and followed in the newspapers the comments from the union members. Most has been predictable.

  • "I'm really upset right now."
  • "It never should have come to this."
  • "It's going to be tough to make that kind of money elsewhere."
  • "I think it's corporate greed."


    • Corporate greed. There's the mantra I was waiting to hear. It's always about corporate greed, and never anything else.

    Let me start by saying that I don't wish job loss on ANYONE. I've been there. It hurts, and not just financially. But anyone who works for a publicly held company needs to know that the executives who make such personnel decisions work for the shareholders (ironically, most of the union members are also shareholders). Shareholders are interested in one thing: maximizing the value of the share. This cannot be done by overpaying for work that can be outsourced.

    Let's delineate the job details here. Currently, the materials handlers make an average of $21.70 per hour plus generous benefits. The company, as per the union contract, offered to keep all of the workers, but with a 15% pay cut, or they would be forced to eliminate 160 positions, and offload the rest to external vendors.

    The reason? Pratt is paying too much for work that is largely unskilled. Connecticut is an expensive place to live, to be sure. But, honestly, $21.70 for shipping and receiving personnel is a bit excessive. Many people are willing to do the same work for less. That's a byproduct of an economy that is losing manufacturing jobs every cycle.

    Additionally, the company offered early retirement in the form of a $10,000 payout, plus one week's pay for every year of service to the company, plus their existing pension benefits. The company sought to encourage older workers to step aside, so that those with less senority could stay aboard. This apparently swayed few to make the choice to do so.

    To be frank, the expectation of the standard of living in America has made it so that keeping unskilled manufacturing jobs here is cost prohibitive. It would be cheaper for some companies to simply go out of business. This happens more often than we would like.

    So, the machinists voted narrowly to reject the pay cuts. I think this is indicative of the mentality of the union. They typically believe that their position with the company is an entitlement. No concessions are ever needed. No performance metrics are ever acceptable.

    This time, they are misguided to vote against concessions. The logic is that the company will seek to outsource the work anyway. The truth is that they have no choice presently if they want to remain competitive in the aerospace industry. The market dictates this. As far as I can tell, a wage cut is better than no job at all. Apparently, if I were part of the machinist's union, I would be in the minority.

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    .: posted by Dave 10:04 AM


    Our Friends, the French:

    This from Reuters, of all places:

    Polish troops in Iraq have found four French-built advanced anti-aircraft missiles which were built this year, a Polish Defense Ministry spokesman told Reuters Friday.

    Of course, France denies the missiles could have possibly been built in 2003, as such activity has been banned by the UN since 1990. We know the French wouldn't lie, now don't we? Just like they wouldn't do anything to undermine American security policies. Yeah.

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    .: posted by Dave 9:25 AM


    Friday, October 03, 2003

    This one might interest those women who have a, shall we say, diminished capacity "under the covers."

    "SEXUAL enjoyment improves after a hysterectomy despite the concerns of many women that it could reduce their pleasure, researchers say today."

    Suddenly, I can hear the clamoring of people lining up to get hysterectomies. Next, we will be told that castration enhances sex, too.

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    .: posted by Dave 6:56 PM


    Funniest lead sentence of the day: "To put it bluntly, it's common to travel to foreign lands and come back with a case of the trots." Maybe I've been visiting too many foreign countries lately.

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    .: posted by Dave 6:53 PM


    The scientists who devised Murphy's Law, "if anything can go wrong, it will", were honored with an Ig Nobel prize. The Igs (Ig is short for ignominious) are given to those who essentially do research "that first makes people laugh, and then makes them think". Sadly, the scientists were not vindicated. In fact, Murphy himself has been dead for awhile. Oh well. If it can go wrong, it will, indeed.

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    .: posted by Dave 6:49 PM


    The IRA turned 90 today. Ninety, as opposed to 227, which is the age of the United States. Think about that next time someone like Wesley Clark says that "this country was founded upon the principles of progressive taxation".

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    .: posted by Dave 6:40 PM


    57,000 jobs were added to the US economy last month. It's all Bush's fault.

    UPDATE: Apparently, Howard Dean does too.

    Democratic candidate Howard Dean responded that the latest economic data "confirm that the latest Bush tax cuts have failed to live up to President Bush's promises."

    Whatever you say, Howie.

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    .: posted by Dave 6:38 PM


    Smoltz reportedly reinjures elbow:

    If this is true, the Braves are really in trouble.

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    .: posted by Dave 6:28 PM


    The National Enquirer reports Rush Limbaugh has a problem with prescription medications. The lefties are, predictably, assaulting Rush, especially after the Donovan McNabb incident. And why not? Rush has pulled no punches when citing them for behaving badly. I'm sure Rush can stand the heat.

    I have to ask... if you were in pain, and nearly going deaf, as Rush was many months ago, what would you do? I damned sure would have been taking Percocet until I was numb. I think many of the same people looking for a scintilla of evidence of a Rush "drug problem" would have done the same.

    That being said, it's an absurd storyline to begin with, and, quite honestly, none of anyone's business. Of course, if you get yours "news" from the Enquirer, you should be ashamed anyway.

    UPDATE: Elephant Rants asks some pertinent questions about the Limbaugh story:

    ...do you really think a man as educated as Rush with so much to lose would send emails to a maid to order "some more little blue ones"?

    She also gave the Enquirer a ledger documenting how many pills she claimed to have bought for him - 4,350 in one 47-day period - and E-mails she claimed Limbaugh sent her.

    Do the math: 4,350/47=93 pills per day. Anyone know any guys out there who could swallow 93 pills per day and live to tell about it?

    The allegations alone seem to insult one's intelligence. 93 per day? Come on. And still do a daily radio broadcast, not to mention prepping for monologue, and public appearances. I think this story lacks a modicem of credibility. But, then again, it IS the Enquirer.

    MORE: Every athlete in America today has presumably been asked what they think about Rush Limbaugh and his comments about Donovan McNabb. It stands to reason that someone would ask John Rocker.

    Said Rocker:

    "All I will say, is people need [to] stop being so sensitive... (Rush) wasn't trying to physically hurt or mentally hurt Donovan McNabb. I mean, he just wasn't doing it. I know Donovan is probably a little upset by it, but that certainly wasn't his intent. He has been a journalist and newsman long enough to know better than to intentionally, blatantly make a comment like that to intentionally offend somebody."

    Apparently, 70% of respondents to the AJC poll (pictured on the same page) agree with Rocker. I would have to second that opinion.

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    .: posted by Dave 6:16 PM


    Hobbs asks why this isn't getting more airplay.

    A report published by the Centers for Disease Control on Thursday found no conclusive evidence that gun control laws help to prevent violent crime, suicides and accidental injuries in the United States.

    I would think that it would in an ideal world, but the press does not have an agenda that enjoys positive news regarding guns. Were the study reported in a context that led the reader to believe that guns were the cause of all evil, you can guarantee that the networks and newspapers would be all over it.

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    .: posted by Dave 6:07 PM


    Today's lament:

    I wish Blogrolling would start working again. I should have signed up when it was working.

    sigh

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    .: posted by Dave 6:02 PM


    Andrew Sullivan highlights the gist of the WMD report. Go and read his commentary. The summation:

    Would you be happy, after 9/11, if the president had allowed such capabilities to remain at large, and be reinvigorated, with French and Russian help, after sanctions were removed? I wouldn't. But Howard Dean and Dominique de Villepin would have happily looked the other way rather than do anything real to enforce the very resolutions they claimed to support.

    Amen, Andrew. Now if only we would hear the press proclaim the same.

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    .: posted by Dave 5:59 PM


    Thursday, October 02, 2003

    Rhetorical Questions for the Day:

    Why is Wesley Clark running for President as a Democrat when he isn't registered as a Democrat?

    Why is it being reported that six women are making allegations of sexual misconduct against Arnold Schwarzenegger when, in the same article, it is also reported that none of these women are pressing charges, all had to be solicited for comment, and all claimed that the conduct was nothing more than "horseplay"?

    Why is Al Gore wasting his time on a new TV network catering to liberal biases when we already have CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC (not to mention Bill Moyers on PBS, and most anything on NPR)?

    When, if ever, will the Democrats allow a vote on an executive nominee with which they do not agree?

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 9:07 AM


    So who's right and who's not?

    First, we hear that David Kay is going to testify in front of Congressional intelligence committees that Saddam Hussein was "bluffing" about his WMDs.

    Then, we hear that the Kuwaitis have stopped several chemical weapons from being exported from... yes, Iraq... to an "unnamed European country".

    Hmmm.

    UPDATE: Donald Sensing is skeptical of the WMD discovery. It is odd that, if there is any merit to this finding, that it hasn't been repeated in America on the major networks. The story on the Hindustan Times does carry an AP byline, but there is no story to be found from the AP itself. Interesting.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 8:36 AM


    Well, I wasn't going to comment on the Rush Limbaugh controversy, but I think I will. I hope those of you being so hypercritical listened to what he said, and read the item before assuming that Rush was criticizing black quarterbacks. He wasn't. Read the quote that has everyone's blood boiling:

    "I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

    Limbaugh sought to do two things here: to criticize the media for canonizing players based on a criteria other than their ability (read: race, in this case), and to properly give the credit for the Eagles' past success to the defensive unit, who carried the team in the past. Rush' statement clearly was not an indictment of black quarterbacks, but an indictment of the media.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 8:17 AM


    Wednesday, October 01, 2003

    Today's Bottom 5 List:

  • Vending machines that have no Caffeine Free AND Sugar Free Drinks.
  • Microsoft Exchange, in combination with .pst files.
  • Game 1 of the Braves - Cubs series.
  • Ted Kennedy (lifetime member).
  • Property assessors who do not perform their job in a timely manner.

    • Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 1:05 PM


    Great Moments of the Democratic Party:

    This is all I need to hear to know just how bizarre a presidential candidate Wesley Clark is going to be:

    "I still believe in e=mc2, but I can't believe that in all of human history, we'll never ever be able to go beyond the speed of light to reach where we want to go," said Clark. "I happen to believe that mankind can do it."

    "I've argued with physicists about it, I've argued with best friends about it. I just have to believe it. It's my only faith-based initiative." Clark's comment prompted laughter and applause from the gathering.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 12:59 PM




    Photo courtesy of Palminfocenter.com

    Palm has debuted their new handhelds, the Tungsten T3, Tungsten E, and the Zire 21. At last, I can give my Tungsten T to my wife, and upgrade to one with more space. Hooray!

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 11:52 AM




    Confirming what my wife already knew, Chick-Fil-A has maintained its position atop the list of "Best Drive-Thrus (sic) in America." She is a native Atlantan, where Chick-Fil-A is, putting it lightly, ubiquitous.

    Saith the Mrs., "I'm so proud! *Sniff*."

    Note to readers: the Northeast has exactly one Chick-Fil-A of which I am aware. It is located in the mall in Nashua, NH. If any enterprising individual wants to open a franchise in the area, my wife will certainly do her best to keep you in business.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 11:26 AM


    More on public education:

    Yesterday, I wrote about my decision to homeschool my son, and the reasons why. I anticipate that, from now on, I will be blogging a lot more on educational issues.

    Today, I read that two new studies have debunked the previous wisdom that the homework burden on kids is far too excessive. It's about time a study came to the forefront that cited the obvious.

    Take a look at today's kids. Do you honestly think they have too much homework? When I was in high school, each class was given a minimum of one hour of homework per class. Lower grades were less, but esily exceeded two hours per day.

    What about today's kids?

    When asked how much homework they were assigned the day before, most students age 9, 13 and 17 all reported less than an hour, according to a federal long-term survey in 1999. The share of students assigned more than an hour of homework has dropped for all three age groups since 1984.

    To this, I reply with... "Duh!" Do you know any kids, at least in the public education system who do more than one hour per night of homework? It's likely that you don't. If you do, it's likely that they are not working intensively for one solid hour.

    Let's hear from two of the anti-homework apologists:

  • “We’re trying to relieve some of the pressure on them, to teach them to be a real person, and to put some balance in their lives,” said Mike White, principal of Lynbrook High School in San Jose, California, of his 1,700 students. “It’s not all about homework.”

  • "Many of our families have two people working, and the kids go home to empty homes or to day care, so there’s just not a lot of support for homework," says June Shoemaker, fourth-grade teacher in Twin Lakes, Wis.


    • Are these people serious? I agree that kids should be encouraged to be kids, but not at the expense of learning. They need reinforcement in everything. Studies are no exception. Does anyone wonder why kids are ill-equipped for college these days? I would speculate that bad study habits, and poor allocation of personal time are two fundamental issues that contribute to poor performance, and hindered learning at a post-secondary level. If we continue to discourage kids from doing extracurricular studying, that's the price that we, and our children, will pay. Sadly, many in today's generation already have.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 11:19 AM


    Courtesy of Arianna Huffington, on the Larry King show:

    "I was against the recall in principle. I've always believed this is not the way to run a democracy."

    Does Arianna not know the definition of democracy? In its purest form, a democracy is a government in which the majority rules. She obviously missed this subject when learning American Civics.

    It should be noted that democracy is a dangerous form of government. When 50.1% of the voting public is empowered to make decisions for the other 49.9%, it becomes, essentially, mob rule. Add into the equation persistent propaganda, and a Laodecian electorate, and the potential for abuse is strong. This is why the founders sought to create a representative republic.

    That being said, the recall is a constitutionally valid tool for the residents of California, provided to them to directly hold their elected officers accountable. Ms. Huffington knows this, but chose to inject her personal views nonetheless.

    As my wife says, "If the majority wants to recall someone they elected, that's what they get to do. So she's not that bright. Ah, well. We knew that, didn't we?"

    Indeed, we did.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 10:31 AM


    Congratulations to Bill Haslam for his winning campaign for mayor of Knoxville. Random thoughts about the mayoral race:

  • Madeline Rogero was outspent $580K to $155K and yet only lost by less than 2000 votes.

  • Rogero won more precincts than did Haslam. In an "electoral college", Haslam would be the equivalent of Al Gore.

  • Bill Lyons was quoted as saying that it was "closer than he expected". Maybe that should tell the political establishment something.

  • Haslam won the suburbs. Rogero won the city proper. The disconnect between the two has never been so well illustrated.

  • Speaking to a few friends of mine, I am convinced that Madeline's "living wage" proposal was a big reason that some people didn't vote for her who otherwise would have.

  • Anything is better than Victor Ashe.



    • Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 10:00 AM


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