An interesting interview/book review

From the economists at Freakonomics (usually a breath of reality) at the NY Times.

A Shattered Peace - what happened during the construction of the Treaty of Versailles.

When I get done with The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, I may pick this one up. :^)

Homeschoolers aren't just good spellers...

Yours could win the Heisman some day. :^)

(Good testimony, too.)

Now for something crazy fun!

Sort of heavy on the crazy side, but I'd do it.

LDS position:

Jesus is Satan's older brother. So, that's okay?!?

Check the 2nd question-answered at the link.

HT to World Net Daily

Life (and IT) at the South Pole

And here are several nice pictures of the place.

It sounds a lot like I remember it, though he didn't mention anything about stringing cable in the "utilidor" (sub-snow utility corridor) at -60F. Perhaps once you've been in the 300 club, you don't mind such things.

I never joined the 300 club.

I wisht I coulda been there...

Led Zeppelin reformed and singing their rockin' blues...

*sigh*

Pray for Bert (BikeBubba)

He's in the hospital with an inflamed pancreas and gall stones.

When things settle down a little, the docs are going to cut out the gall bladder.

Wife and kids are doing well...

Ligonier Ministries (RC Sproul) is having a sale...

Take 15% (or more) off all resources at our online store, November 22nd thru 26th.

I used to live here...

Boulder, Colorado.

Apparently, from the comments, there are some liberals all stirred-up and ready to be called to action.

The first commenter does a decent job of pointing out that "Open Space" advocates and their ilk (liberal environmentalists) are more fascistic than anything else.

*sigh*

Manufacturing data?!?

Would NASA really try to make Death Valley even hotter than we think it is? Well, yes, probably. But, you can be the judge of that...

It seems that they've set up a new weather station in the last decade so that they can use it to proclaim the reality of long-term global climate change.

Before Algore won the Nobel Prize...

He spent much time studying his 3 30" Apple displays. *sigh*

Why Reagan Would Still Reject the Law of the Sea Treaty

This is a good read.

It's also important because the LOST has been voted out of its assigned Senate subcommittee. :^( Appropriately, it seems to have been done on Halloween. )^:

Contact your Senators today.

More good news about capsaicin

If it didn't already cure your prostate cancer, or you avoided it and developed prostate cancer, it may speed your recovery. :^)

Hot stuff: good for you.

Tabasco

What you expected, what you got: Windows Vista vs Mac OS X Leopard

So true. So true. :^)

The toughest presidential endorsement of the race:

Chuck Norris comes out for Mike Huckabee

(If you like Huckabee, but think that he doesn't have a chance, it's probably because you haven't been an active supporter... Can you spare $20 or so?)

It's not going to die any time soon,

but maybe we can put it back in its coffin...

From the Home School Legal Defense Association

Congress is poised to consider a bill that would forbid employers from refusing to hire people based on their “sexual orientation.”

The U.S. House Education and Labor Committee will hold a committee markup for H.R. 3685, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007 (ENDA)[It's what won't quite die!!], Tuesday, October 2, at 10 a.m. A markup is where the committee discusses the bill and then votes whether or not to send it to the full House of Representatives.

If you don't want to worry more about the character of those your church or private school is allowed to hire.

They have links to use for action/communication with your Washingcritters.

They used "all-purpose gray tape"...

to fix the Int'l Space Station (ISS).

"They also decided to rig a thermal barrier out of a surplus reference book and all-purpose gray tape."

That would be "duct tape," wouldn't it?

Don't leave Earth without it. :^)

So, it's happened again...

This time, it's Al Gore getting a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on "Global Warming." It's being shared with the UN IPCC committee (Is that redundant?).

The last time that this has been tried was when the Nobel Committee gave researchers a prize for claiming that CFCs were destroying ozone.

It's an argument from imputed strength. An illustrious organization agrees with someone, so they must be right.

I mean Al Gore must be right -- after all, the Nobel Prize isn't political, right? CFCs must destroy ozone, the Nobel Prize Committee knows their stuff, don't they?

Bah. They're a bunch of isolated, aristocratic, Lefties and commies. (He says having done no specific research. ;^)

Another use for "Stoly"

It's Biblical, too!

Our President (Bush) is deluded.

But, then, so was I -- when I was in high school.

Perhaps now that he's nearing retirement age, he'll do some serious Bible study or listen to some serious teaching.

The nut of the article is that the President has stated that Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans all worship the same god.

Well, first of all, I believe in an Almighty God, and I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God. That's what I believe. I believe that Islam is a great religion that preaches peace.

Shall we call Him "Allah?"

No.

Something interesting from the University of Michigan

U-M research: New plastic is strong as steel, transparent

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—By mimicking a brick-and-mortar molecular structure found in seashells, University of Michigan researchers created a composite plastic that's as strong as steel but lighter and transparent.

It's made of layers of clay nanosheets and a water-soluble polymer that shares chemistry with white glue. . .

The University of Michigan College of Engineering, which is ranked among the top engineering schools in the country. Michigan Engineering boasts one of the largest engineering research budgets of any public university, at more than $130 million. . .

The Tyson Index

If you remember the young Mike Tyson - who didn't have time to get in trouble - you might like this statistical way to rank the level of excitement available in a match between fighters.

The reason that I'm considering buying more AAPL stock even though it's over $150...

More Mac users pay to upgrade their software.

That fact contributes toward making the Mac platform far more valuable than Windows; despite having only 3% market share of the entire world’s production of PCs, Apple makes more money on hardware sales than Dell with its 15% share of the market, and--after including Microsoft’s tremendous losses from its non-monopoly businesses--made half as much money in software as Microsoft did with its 98% share. Windows Enthusiast prefer not to think about this.

'nuf said.

Marriage as an institution is recovering...

The nut of the situation is that fewer people are getting married, but those that are will be more likely to stay married. :^)

Does this apply to you?

Are you a "salaried" or "exempt" employee?

Does your employer make you work "off-the-clock?"

Are you on-call? Do you carry an electronic leash?

There are lawyers waiting to take your call and send you some of the money you deserve!

NOAA comes to Second Life

So... I was at Lefty's for lunch today. Chris & Kris are expecting again in March. Michael is now with Xilinx. Dan's still with IBM. Jim is still with NOAA. Craig was too busy to talk. Lorenzo and his wife are still there and look healthy. The waitstaff has changed, though.

They all got a little bit caught up with me - and vice versa.

But, it turns out that one of the guys that used to do the IT for the Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Lab (CMDL - now GMD, "Global Monitoring Division"?) is employed full-time playing Second Life. What a total waste. He's a high-paid guy, too. You might know Eric...

Anyway, I'm going to have to check this out and see if it's really outrageous... When My First Life gives me the time. :^/

Whose computer is it anyway?

Microsoft has probably been updating your computer without your permission.

It seems that they just want your Windows XP and Vista maintenance experience to be smooth. It would be so much more inconvenient to admit that they have to patch one more thing, wouldn't it?

Those who don't...

remember the past...

American Minute with Bill Federer

September 4

Rome fell SEPTEMBER 4, 476AD.

In the century preceding, Rome was overrun with illegal immigrants:
Visigoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Ostrogoths, Burgundians, Lombards
and Vandals. They first assimilated, many working as servants, but
then came so fast they did not learn the Latin Language.

Highly trained Roman Legions marched rapidly on advanced roads but
were strained fighting conflicts worldwide.

Rome had a trade deficit, having outsourced its grain production to
North Africa, and when the Vandals captured that area, Rome did not
have the resources to retaliate.

Attila the Hun committed terrorist attacks.

The city of Rome was on welfare with citizens given free bread. One
Roman commented: "Those who live at the expense of the public funds
are more numerous than those who provide them." Tax collectors were
"more terrible than the enemy."

Gladiators had provided violent entertainment in the Coliseum.

There had been injustice in courts, corrupt government bureaucracies,
exposure of unwanted infants, infidelity, perverted bathhouses and
sexual immorality as seen in the ruins of Pompeii.

5th-Century historian Salvian wrote: "O Roman people be ashamed...Let
nobody think otherwise, the vices of our bad lives have alone
conquered us."

. . . You know the rest...

:^/

One of the things I don't have to worry about today...

When you care enough to advertise...

the very best...

Don't use Windows... *sigh*

How to make a nice pen...

If you're a cheap bloke (like me) or you have nice pens that are out of ink (like me) or don't quite write well any more (like me), try this:



(I have no idea what a Mount Blanc pen is.)

Faceball makes its big splash in the MSM!

Click the title for the story, or click here for my original.

It's not quite Nature's Most Perfect Food, but...

So, here I was, minding my own business when I get the following in an email from the eatery linked in the title:


Going out on a date (to eat) tonight with my wife, I asked her where she wanted to eat. She replied "Famous Dave's, Bambino's, Chilis, " etc. Since Dave's was the first out of her mouth and I know that she really likes his food, that's what was decided upon. Then I recalled the coupon. A quick trip to this computer printed and retrieved it.

Upon sitting down, we were told that it was good for an appetizer or dessert. Cool!

The rib tips and fries basket is as good as a meal for two and we'd be out of there after a generous dessert (the pecan pie is excellent). Then a waitress looked at it and said "Boy are you lucky! That's for the All American Feast!" and walked away. Hmmm... Checked it out with the people at the entrance and it was confirmed. :^)!! Then, while I'm out on the porch trying to get people to help us eat it, Cherry tells the waiter that he may have been mistaken. He checks with the manager and tells us again that it's only for app./dess. But he goes back, checks again and finds that we are really going to get a # of fries, a full slab of ribs, a whole chicken, a 1/2 # of brisket &/or pulled pork, 4 corn muffins, and 4 corn on the cob!!! $56.99 for free!!

1st friends were unavailable, but our pastor and his wife weren't.

We had a wonderful time! So, sign up for the birthday club. If you get prize "B02," you'll also be well blessed and fed!

(I had a soda, so we got out for $2.09 (plus tip) :^)

Dell's answer to the Apple iMac

Here's Apple's interpretation of it:

But, to be fair, here's Dell's:



Really, folks, I am not making this up. :^)

Do You Wonder Why The Stock Market Acts Crazy?

Listen to this interview with a big weasel on TheStreet.com

Process to Zero.

How to get your mail out of the INBOX responsibly and reliably. (Courtesy of Merlin Mann



Example (In order of desireability):

Delete (or Archive)
Delegate (Forward)
Respond (check out "5 sentences." It's a good idea.)
Defer
Do

Don't just let it sit there for years!

(The video is 58 minutes long, but the meat is in the 1st 30 minutes)

Greasemonkey

(Bert you may stop reading this post now... ;^)

About Greasemonkey:

Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension that allows you to customize the way webpages look and function.

Use this if you use GMail and care anything about email security. It has a function that can force your browser to connect to GMail using HTTPS when you might have tried HTTP (non-secure).

If you work some place cool...

You can play "Faceball!"

Zune!

Will It Blend? - iPhone

I like the part where it all goes black. :^)

Here's what happens to cubic zirconia

I think that I might have to get my wife one of these blenders!

This is a funny video!

New York Times Video - No Rights Reserved. :^)

Why the iPhone will be something different...

and better, over time.

What Will Apple Do on the Application Front?
In Apple's April earnings report, [Apple CFO] Oppenheimer explained what the company had in mind for the future of the iPhone in regard to software development:

“We believe the iPhone is a revolutionary device that is years ahead of the competition. At Macworld, we demonstrated a number of the iPhone's breakthrough features, including its pioneering multi-touch display and user interface, visual voicemail, desktop class e-mail and web browsing, and of course, the best iPod ever.

“We plan to build on this incredible foundation by continuing to develop new software features as well as entirely new applications and incorporate them into the iPhone. Since iPhone customers will likely be our best advocates for the product, we want to get them many of these new features and applications at no additional charge as they become available.

“Since we will be periodically providing new software features to iPhone customers free of charge, we will use subscription accounting and recognize the revenue and product cost of goods sold associated with iPhone handset sales on a straight line basis over 24 months.

“So while the cash from iPhone sales will be collected at the time of sale, we will be recording deferred revenue and costs of goods sold on our balance sheet, and amortizing both of them into our earnings on a straight line basis over 24 months. We will continue to expense our iPhone engineering, sales and marketing costs as we incur them. This accounting policy will have no impact on cash flow or the economics of our business.”

Trouble transferring your old cell-phone # to your iPhone?

If you've moved: The key is to tell AT&T that you're going to use it in the original service area.

See the link for details. :^)

Microsoft's Vista encourages insane behavior

One definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over, expecting to get different results.

Yesterday I had the task of getting a co-worker's email to work on his laptop(It could send, but not receive.). It was a Compaq running Vista. I opened the "Mail" program and went to the Account Settings dialog and checked the settings. They looked fine. I took the computer to my cube and checked the settings versus the ones I use for Outlook 2003. They looked the same - minor differences in servers not withstanding.

I made some changes and got it to receive, but it wouldn't send. I changed it back and it went back. I made it like it should have been and it didn't work. I made other changes and it didn't work either incoming or outgoing. I changed it back and it would send, but not receive. Are you seeing a pattern? I'm not! :^)

So, anyway, after a while I changed it back (again) to the way it should have been and it worked. 5% battery left, too. Perhaps Vista chose to have pity and end the joke whilst I could appreciate it. :^/

I don't get it.

When do you think we started letting too many people vote?

(or Another reason not to like Richard Nixon)

H/T to American Minute with Bill Federer

June 22

In Medieval Europe no one voted except the kings.

In colonial America only landowners voted.

After the Revolution, States gradually let those without land vote, but many had religious and literacy tests.

In 1870, the 15th Amendment let former slaves vote.

In 1920, the 19th Amendment let women vote.

In 1924, American Indians could vote in Federal Elections.

In 1961, the 23rd Amendment let District of Columbia residents vote in Federal Elections.

In 1964, the 24th Amendment let vote those who could not pay a poll tax.

In 1965, the Voting Rights Act removed literacy tests.

On JUNE 22, 1970, President Nixon extended the Voting Rights Act to let 18-year-olds vote.

The Supreme Court, in Oregon v Mitchell, limited this right so the 26th Amendment was passed in 1971 to confirm it.

President Nixon stated March 24, 1970:

"In other areas, too, there were long struggles to eliminate discrimination...Property and even religious qualifications for voting persisted well into the 19th century-and not until 1920 were women finally guaranteed the right to vote."

On August 24, 1972, Nixon said:

"For the first time in the 195-year history of this country, men and women 18 to 21 years of age will have the chance to vote."

No Kissing!

An Egyptian doctor's solution to the avian flue:

"Every Egyptian mother should be very determined in foiling attempts of others to kiss their children, even if they get angry responses"

Courtesy of the NRA

(H/T to Rocky Mountain Gun Owners)

House Passes Bill Enhancing Background Checks for Gun Purchases
The House passed legislation today that intends to strengthen gun buyer background checks and is supported by both the National Rifle Association and gun control groups.

Passed by voice vote under suspension of the rules, the measure (HR 2640) would increase the amount of electronic data available to states for checking the criminal and mental health records of people who want to purchase guns.

According to Gun Owners of America:

"[NICS Expansion] could have a significant impact on American servicemen," wrote Gun Owners of America recently, "especially those returning from combat situations and who seek some type of psychiatric care.

Often, veterans who have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder have been deemed as mentally 'incompetent' and are prohibited from owning guns under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(4). Records of those instances certainly exist, and, in 1999, the Department of Veterans Administration turned over 90,000 names of veterans to the FBI for inclusion into the NICS background check system."

Cool. More lists. More databases. Less freedom.

Do something. Just don't join the NRA.

(BTW, Blogger now works with Safari 3.0 beta! :^)

So, you don't own a Mac and don't have an iPod...

and don't listen to talk-radio or music streaming through iTunes...

Well, now you can browse with the ease of us Mac-users on your Windows box -- courtesy of Apple's release of its Safari web-browser for Windows!

It's free. It's easy. What more could you want? See what you've been missing!

(Okay, let's be reasonable now... ;^)

Ken Ham's in trouble?

A week after former Queensland science teacher Ken Ham opened the world's first Creation Museum - a $33 million facility in Petersburg, Kentucky - he is being sued by the Australian evangelical organisation he helped to set up and which served as a springboard for his leap into the US evangelical movement two decades ago.

It's a bit short on dirty detals whilst being long on allegations. :^/

(HT to arstechnica again.)

A romp through the Creation Museum...

with the non-Young Earthers of arstechnica.com.

Some odd points:

Presumably to avoid labels of anti-Semitism, the museum takes it easy on Judaism.

...it wasn't considered incest for Adam and Eve's children to marry each other. Apparently there was less sin back then, and therefore fewer mutations in their DNA. Evidently sin, not two copies of the same recessive trait, gives rise to congenital birth defects.

Includes a link to a Flickr.com photo documentary.

Kent Hovind's in jail for tax evasion? Always seemed a little bit slimey to me. :^/

Another silly interpretation of Mohammed's writings:

Temporary marriages. (They may even be a proper interpretation of the "Prophet"'s writings.)

They can last from an hour to 99 years. To discourage prostitution and extra-marital sex.

Hmmm...

Not buying it.

I wasn't going to post this

It's a bit of a downer: "The world's oceans are our plastic dumping grounds."

But then I saw that they were advertising an article on the Bugatti Veyron that I like so well.

Up or down?

A statistical question...

If you understand the conclusion, please help me out. :^)

Something that you'll like doing and will spread joy!

The next time that your church has a time for "requests," ask for the Star-spangled Banner. If they're doing full songs, do the whole thing. If they only do one verse per song, ask for the last verse. It

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand,
  Between their lov'd home, and the war's desolation.
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land,
  Praise the Power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto -- "In God is our Trust;"
    And the star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave,
    O'er the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave.

is very inspiring, God-honoring, and doesn't end with a question, but with a bold statement!

If you happen to be performing the Anthem before an event, think about singing this with/instead. Our church choir has been invited to sing this for the local Rockies' farm team, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, for the last three years. They get many compliments. :^)

As you may have suspected:

the massive advances in technology in the past two decades have brought zero advance in productivity.

What do you think that the American electorate really want?

If stories like this one don't wake up the Republicans, I'm sure that there are some Dems that are paying attention... :^p

Get more for your money while paying less

(You will (if you don't already have one) have to register with the NYT for a complimentary account.)

David Pogue, a funny and intelligent tech reviewer, points out that Kodak is selling printers that cost less per page than their rivals and has "photo" printing that lasts 89 years(!) vs (only) 1 year.

For those of you of a conspiratorial mindset...

There is a bit of wisdom that is talked of and widely believed, but not quite known specifically (at least to me): the Social Security system and IRS tax compliance is voluntary.

In the linked article from Reuters, we have a quote from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that supports my belief.

"We affirm the dismissal of these claims because Hansen's complaint fails to specify the particular statutes and regulations requiring use of an SSN (Social Security number) that he objects to, but instead seeks a general declaration that he and his son are entitled to never use an SSN."

Do you know which particular statutes and regulations require you to get a SSN or pay taxes? Or did you volunteer to do so, like me?

Some good advice for the geek

... who has to give a presentation: "Don't throw up." Check out the comments as well - more good stuff there.

more... "Conference Presentation Judo"

:^)

Beer turns men into women

At least it does so for German men... With their fancy dark, thick beers...

This one is funny! And like so many things funny, it hurts, too -- because of the truth involved.

<-- revO evoM

An idea whose time has come!

(Ideas want to be anthropomorphised!)

I'm not dead yet...

What to think about when you prepare to have a heart attack or fall into a frozen lake...!

This is a really interesting article about the possibilities of reviving people who would have been considered dead just a couple of years ago. No, not people who have been "dead" for two years -- read the article, you'll see what I mean!

:^)

Are you a fan of John Browning?

You know, the guy who invented the 1911 .45 pistol, the .50 BMG (Browning Machine Gun - still in use 80 years), and many Winchester and Remington weapons before those...

There is a petition to get his birth commemorated on January 23 and to get his likeness put on a stamp.

Sign up now to get on the list just after me (#2216).

(If you're shy about getting on lists, remember: if you're not on a list somewhere, you're probably not going to have lived a life of consequence... ;^)

Deep thoughts from Mr. Boffo(?!!)

So... Is there life elsewhere in the universe?

If so, did they fall into sin when we did?

If they didn't, do they suffer from the Fall as well?

What's behind today's epidemic of teacher-student sex?

A rather long, but poignant and well thought out piece that has more depth than I expected.

Tabasco Sale

The Unit...

Last week on the Unit, they had an episode about a "hostage situation" where several Mohammedan terrorists celebrate the anniversary of the Beslan Massacre by making a bunch of D.C. high schoolers hostages. The news gets out. The Unit is called in. They train with D.C. SWAT and enter the building. Bombs are detected and disarmed. All bad guys are terminated.

Joe Farah points out that this -- years after "Columbine" -- still isn't the case.

Bah.

My ministry...

has been described by my wife as: "making sure that the computers of our visiting missionaries run properly." (We live close to our church, have a large basement and a penchant for hospitality and a desire to know the missionaries we support.)

Now, as you might have guessed, these are usually PCs. I'm a Mac guy. But, since I work with PCs all day, I know too much about them.

So when the, generally non-techno-savvy, missionaries come for an evening or 4, I hook 'em up to my DSL via wireless connection for their edification and ask them what they use to combat various types of PC malware.

I recommend Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware SE, ZoneAlarm and AVG.

And, as I learned last night, I should also recommend that they do backups more often. Our visitor had a Dell laptop that would emit a "tick-tick-tick" noise every 3 seconds. Doing a hard drive check revealed 20+ cluster errors in a variety of files. I was able to get the system files from my PC laptop, but some of the family photos and 3rd party programs are probably gone.

Proof of success of the endeavor was that E-Sword(.net) was successfully re-installed and working. :^)

How to optimize the ordering of a sandwich

Oh! The savagery...

(to Dan Brown's writing "style") and I enjoyed every bit of it!

more

Speaking of O'Reilly...

Tim O'Reilly has released a Blogger's Code of Conduct...

I've put in a script that monitors the level of discourse on the main page. It's on the right -- you can't miss it.

You can get yours here.

Are you not "geeky" enough already?

Here's the solution for you: the O'Reilly School of Technology.

First it was JPEGs...

Now we're not even safe from animated cursors in Windows. :^/

All you ever wanted to know about ß

How could I have missed this?

Perl 7 has just been released!

Perl — not just for scripting any more!

With this release, Perl becomes not only the best scripting language available, but also the best application programming language. Incremental compilation technology transparently compiles every Perl7 script directly into memory as optimized native code, resulting in a system that combines the convenience of scripting languages with the power of compiled languages. (Odd how Java manages to achieve just the opposite...)

67 times faster than Perl5 — 50% faster than C!...

Why To Not Not Start a Startup (company)

Here's an interesting article from a venture capitalist about reasons, real and perceived, why people don't ask him for his money:

1. Too young
2. Too inexperienced
3. Not determined enough
4. Not smart enough
5. Know nothing about business
6. No cofounder
7. No idea
8. No room for more startups
9. Family to support
10. Independently wealthy
11. Not ready for commitment
12. Need for structure
13. Fear of uncertainty
14. Don't realize what you're avoiding
15. Parents want you to be a doctor
16. A job is the default

My reasons are #s 7 & 9. Anybody have a need for a computer program that they haven't filled yet?

What are your reasons for going to an office or a cube or other employment?

Sacrilege!

(At the start of the article, but they get into some important
info shortly thereafter.)

Intel goes to (PR)China

The Heaven's Declare...

God's sense of humor.

You see, Saturn has this really weird atmospheric pattern around its North Pole. It's a hexagon and its been there a long time.

Be careful what you steal...

And who you hire to do your websites... If you're on anybody's bad side.

Do you like "Heavy Metal?"

You must be bright and talented.

They say so here.

:^)

For those of you with an interest in Congressional spending...

California US Representative John Campbell, a frequent guest on the Hugh Hewitt radio show, has started blogging at the address above.

I'll save you the trouble of my description and give you his:

Welcome to the Green Eyeshade Blog. I'm John Campbell, Congressman from the 48th District in California. I am also a Certified Public Accountant. Hence the title of this blog. For those of you who don't know, green eyeshades were the headwear of choice for accountants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

But this blog is not for fashion conscious bean counters. It is for anyone who thinks that federal taxes and spending are too high, the federal government is too big and the deficit needs to go away.

Terry Pratchett quotes

Good stuff!

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

Wit and wisdom.

Why Apple is the best retailer in America

Saks [5th Avenue], whose flagship is down the street, generates sales of $362 per square foot a year. Best Buy stores turn $930 - tops for electronics retailers - while Tiffany & Co. takes in $2,666. Audrey Hepburn liked Tiffany's for breakfast. But at $4,032, Apple is eating everyone's lunch.

That astonishing number, from a Sanford C. Bernstein report, is merely the average of Apple's 174 stores...

Say what you will (and you will (though I seem to be short on comments these days)), but they seem to be doing something right.

"Real" Physics

13 things that do not make sense

Well, I've got an answer for number 2... :^)

Movie Physics

9 Laws of Physics That Don’t Apply in Hollywood

Black Sheep

This looks like a lot of fun.

:^)

A comparison of (most of) the major anti-virus utilities

The discussion that follows the article reveals a lot of insight and wisdom about how to use a PC and whether or not you should even have/need anti-virus software.

How does yours stack up?

I'm going to take a closer look at AVG Home. I've heard good things about it before.

. . . Then I go home, log on to my Mac, and don't have to worry about it. ;^)

Addicted to the Internet?

Well, The People's Republic of China has a solution

a tough-love approach that includes counseling, military discipline, drugs, hypnosis and mild electric shocks.

(I didn't say that it was a good solution... ;^)

Here's the joke.

But read the intro first...

[comics courtesy of UserFriendly.org]

Vista: Your new, more beautiful wife...

who:

hides the keys and your wallet,
hides the Display setting,
submissively asks your permission to obey you
asks you to repeat yourself when doing that task again

I've been configuring 3 new computers for our office and it really is much like the new Apple commercial:

F-22s go deaf and dumb, need to be lead home

What's wrong with these programmers/engineers?

In case you're wondering (or needing to know)...

... how to work with Macintosh...

Recent changes to the tax code...

courtesy of Bank of America.

Internet Weather comparison

It's a rather lengthy post (BikeBubba will like that), so here's the nut:

In seeking high temperature forecasts, it looked best to use IntelliCast or The Weather Channel in the long term, but there wasn't a clear leader in the short to mid term. BBC seemed unreliable in all cases, as well as MSN in the long term. The Weather Network, CNN and Unisys all had blemishes (3, 4 and 0 days in advance, respectively), but were generally in with the pack.

In seeking low temperature forecasts, IntelliCast and The Weather Channel were again the choice in the long term, joined by Unisys in the short term. BBC was still a dud in anything but the very short term, and MSN performed horribly in nearly all cases, as well as Accuweather in the long term.

Accuweather was the clear leader in anything greater than 10 days in advance, being the only site providing a weather forecast.

In addition to the above observations/recommendations, it was clear from the correlation analysis that the further removed a weather forecast is, the less accurate it will likely be. Much more unexpectedly, however, it was also clear that predictions of the overnight low temperature are less accurate than those of the daytime high.

(A quickie) In pictures - why Windows is less secure than Linux.

iTunes vs. MS Vista

This is a riot! :^)

Draft Walter Williams

'Nuf said?

Been Phished Lately?

And I'm not talking about the band (who I wouldn't know if they bit me)...

The rascally denizens of the web are getting very creative. (See the link).

If you aren't using a Mac, at least consider using another browser: Opera, FireFox, Mozilla or even Netscape!

(BTW: 100th Post!)

A friend from church was telling me that he was putting together a wish list for a new computer so that he could put home video onto DVD. He was waiting until he could pay cash for it. (Smart guy - airplane mechanic.)

We went over for dinner and afterwards men and women drifted in separate directions. We talked. We looked at his computer. LavaSoft's Ad-Aware SE Personal edition found ~153 tracking cookies, spyware, adware whilst Spybot S&D found at least 100 more, including some registry keys that indicated something had turned off warnings for the disabling of Anti-virus and Firewall software - not at all uncommon, really. :^/ I introduced him to FireFox as well.

On the following Wednesday evening, he reports that it's so fast that he probably won't be building a new PC. :^)

So, we're over there again on Monday afternoon. He says that it's running slowly again, he hadn't run Spybot or Ad-Aware again, would I look at it? Sure. The first thing I see is a minimized IE (Internet Explorer) button in the Task Bar.

*sigh*

So, Spybot finds ~190 problems. Ad-Aware finds more, too. Hmmm...

Had he told his wife not to use IE? Nope.

It's an old story: The demon is cast out of the house, but later finds nothing taking his place, invites a host of others over for a party.

PGP/GPG (Encryption)

Bike Bubba asks if there is support for encryption in Lotus Notes (now available for Macintosh, btw).

The answer: yes!

One would need Lotus Notes (but that is understood), GnuPG or PGP (both free -- only the former is open source, though.), gpg4win and a commercial package: PGPNotes.

Note for MS Outlook users: you may also use gpg4win and GnuPG for your encryption needs.

:^)

Comet "McNaught"

In honor of the recent discovery and viewability of the McNaught Comet, StarryNight sent me a notice that you can download the recent version for only $24.95 minus $5 if you use this code "sncomt" at checkout.

If you want to see the comet, here is what they have to say about that:

Subject: Starry Night Viewing Alert - Catch Comet McNaught Now!

Newly discovered Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) is brightening, and this evening may be the best opportunity to catch a glimpse of it.

Some observers are claiming it's one of the brightest comets in recent years.

The keys for a successful observation are clear skies, an unobstructed view of the horizon to the west-southwest, binoculars or telescopes and, of course, knowing exactly when and where to look before Comet McNaught disappears below the horizon.

Use Starry Night to print out star charts with the position of the Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) for your exact latitude and longitude and to determine the best time for catching the comet. In Starry Night, search for "McNaught (C/2006 P1)."

The trouble with "Signing Statements"

Bush says feds can open mail without warrant

Addendum: Residents of planned union
to be 'North Americanists'

Addenda: Social Security for illegal aliens (Courtesy of Mercy Now and GWB)

Fun with Liquids

There are several links to interesting videos!

Something to listen to for the new year...

If you don't like that one, here's another one?

(Those are audio "Bible in a year" links to/from iTunes -- if you don't normally click on links that try to open other programs on your computer, it can seem a little bit odd... ;^)

Soon, I hope to be adding my pastor's sermons to our church webpage and maybe to iTunes.