Note: I need a break. A break from this weblog, a break from the rut I am in. I leave for Krasnoyarsk, Siberia in Russia in four days. I will be keeping a travelogue and taking many pictures but I probably won't post anything until I get back. See you in a few weeks.
Siberia: I have two side trips planned. A 2-day trip down the Yenisey River (6th longest in the world) and a 5-day trip to Lake Baikal via the famous Trans-Sib railway, flying back by plane.
$2 Bill: I've been thinking about inexpensive gifts I can take to Russia with me that will create a lasting impression. I was digging through some boxes in my apartment last night looking for the manual to my digital camera and I came across a U.S. $2 bill I had saved for some unknown reason. I had a moment of inspiration and have decided to visit some banks before I left to get more. Because most people in Russia keep their money in U.S. dollars (under their mattresses, etc.) they are familiar with American money, but very few have ever seen a $2 bill. I'll try to locate 10-15 of these and give them out as gifts and leave them as tips at restaurants. I imagine they will become collector's items for the people who receive them, and surely they will show them to their friends.
And now for some links:
Dynamism is a company that sells itty-bitty electronics of all kinds from Japan.
CamWorld Stats:
Here's the most recent web browser breakdown for people visiting CamWorld.
Complete listing of browser stats for all of 2002 up until August 29.
More: About 60% is Windows, 20% Macintosh, and 20% Unix, robots and unknown.
Gateway Ads Parody Apple's iMac. Imitation is the best form of flattery.
Bush Aides Say Iraq War Needs No Hill Vote. If the Bush administration goes ahead with their current Iraq plan, it will have very little public support and lead to a possible impeachment or forced resignation. By that time it may well be 2004 and Bush won't get re-elected. I feel sorry for the person who has to clean up this mess. This is, of course, just my opinion.
NY Times: As Multinationals Run the Taps, Anger Rises Over Water for Profit
What the heck is U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powell wearing? Is she colorblind? Or am I just completely ignorant of fashion?
Aha! After eight weeks of going to the gym nearly every day, following a strict exercise regimen and changing my diet I was disappointed that I only lost about seven pounds. The trainer I hired recommended that I have a thyroid test done, so I scheduled a doctor's appointment and today I got the results. My thyroid is indeed under-active which creates weight-loss issues related to the metabolism. The good news is that a simple prescription of thyroid medication can reverse this and in a few weeks I can expect a much better level of energy and more normal weight-loss. I'm having the test run again next week, and then again every 4 months along with a load of other tests I have done regularly. I am no stranger to the doctor's office.
What the fuck is wrong with HBO? They cancelled Dennis Miller, the only decent late-night show worth watching. I wonder if Dennis was asking for too much money, though I doubt he was. It's more like some dickhead in executive management at HBO decided he didn't like Miller's style. Or perhaps HBO received too much pressure from political lobbying groups. Whatever the reason, Miller's show -- a voice of reason and refreshing wake-up call -- will be missed. [via Doc Searls]
A company called Ongenx, or Generation X Media, has registered both blogmedia.com and blogmag.com. Hmmm, I wonder what they might be planning.
Now the politicians in England are using the whole Bush-Iraq thing as an excuse to attack each other. Jeez.
AlterNet: Connect the Dots With Rumsfeld
Kuro5hin: A Plea for Public Access Television. This reminded me a conversation I had with a British co-worker. He was astonished that the broadcast industry is required to set aside a number of channels for public access television, and that inexpensive resources were available to anyone who wants to make their own TV show.
Mondo Mini Shows has a series of Flash animations called Happy Tree Friends that are truly twisted. It'd be cool to see these on Conan or Letterman some evening.
Village Voice: A World Without Water. A disturbing article that outlines the issues of water conservation and abuse. It also warns of a time when the world may value water more than it values oil, which may be far sooner than we think.
Natural Resources Defense Council: Bottled Water, Pure Drink or Pure Hype?
Credit Card Companies: The other day I finally paid off my Discover Card, a credit account I'd had since 1995. I called them to cancel the card since I no longer needed a line of credit from them.
"Hi, I'd like to cancel my card." "Yes sir, can I ask you why you are cancelling?" "Well, I paid off my balance and no longer need the card." "Sir, you have an excellent history with us." "Yes, I know." "Is there anything we can do to make you keep your account?" "You can lower my APR to under 10 percent. [It was 17.99%]" "I'm sorry, we cannot do that." "Then please cancel the account." "Yes sir, you have 90 days to re-open the account." "Thank you. Goodbye."
This exchange was far more pleasant than when I cancelled my Capital One account about 6 months ago. After being transferred around to 3 or 4 different departments I ended up arguing with the account rep on the other end. He tried every tactic in the book to convince me to keep my account open. I finally ended up practically yelling at him to close my account, indicating that nothing he said was going to change my mind. I am happy to announce I have only two cards left, a Visa and a Mastercard. I only have the Visa because it gives me frequent flier miles and I was able to get them to up my credit limit to the point where I could buy a new car with it if I wanted.
I'm tempted to just cancel all my credit cards but I realize that I need to keep my last two accounts open because if I don't my credit report will start looking weird and in a few years may cause problems if I wanted to buy a house or some other big ticket item that requires good credit.
Also when I talk to these companies on the phone they always ask me for my home phone, to which I reply "I don't have one." They act confused and I say that I only have a cell phone and refuse to give them that number because I do not want to start receiving telemarketing calls to it. I've also found that most of these customer reps are powerless in regards to removing your name and address from the company's direct-mail database.
Experian is considering credit card offer spam. Just keep feeding the SpamAssassin monster. He's a hungry beast.
What if Dick Cheney were a 419 scammer? Hilarious! [via BoingBoing]
O'ReillyNet: Open Source Tools and the Process of Programming
IHT: Bush tries to cool Iraq war speculation. Bush made his bed, now he must lie in it. I fear that the administration is going to think they must "save face" and proceed with some kind of military action. This is morally wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to begin. Another point of view is that perhaps this is exactly what they had planned all along; realizing that they'd never receive the national and international support they need, so they 'talk big about war' so that no one is surprised when the U.S. launches an attack. It's exactly the kind of sleazy, back-handed thinking we should expect from our current administration.
The Privacy Act of 1974, a companion to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), allows most individuals to seek access to federal agency records about themselves. Very interesting. I am tempted to find out what the Feds know about me.
NY Times: Mac OS 10.2 Reviewed
Furthermore, Apple is not Microsoft - that's the understatement of the year - and isn't nearly so Big Brotherish. There's no 25-digit serial number to type into a new Mac before you can use it, as on a new PC. Mac OS X imposes no copy protection, no Windows XP-style activation process and no risk of being locked out of your own PC if you upgrade too many of its components. Nor does Mac OS X ever interrupt you with little balloons that nag you to sign up for Passport, .NET or some other Microsoft database.
I really like the new TV ad campaign from Saturn, the one that shows people in place of cars walking/running down the highway, backing out of a garage, stuck in highway traffic, etc. It's a very clever campaign that is surely to win some awards.
Mr. Freeze: Last night I dreamed that my freezer was talking to me. I woke up in the middle of the night to disassemble the fan unit that was making too much noise. Screwdriver in hand I went back to bed and dreamed that my freezer was angry with me. So I put the fan unit back together at about 4:00 AM and today the brand new gallon of milk I had bought two days ago turned sour. The fan unit no longer makes as much noise, but at least my Gatorade is ice cold. Yeah, I need a vacation.
Congratulations to Genehack John and his wife on their new arrival.
Dang, my Amazon Gold Box disappeared again. I hate it when that happens.
I am a huge fan of the movies Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi and am happy to see that Naqoyatsi, the third and final movie in this amazing trilogy is almost finished. Scheduled to be in theaters on October 18th. Apple is hosting the Naqoyatsi trailer. I'm so excited about this!
Motley Fool Post of the Day: Apple
National Review: Remember Ruby Ridge. This article reminded me of the story I read yesterday about the Houston police arresting hundreds of teenagers for loitering in a parking lot.
This is cool. Jonah Goldberg of the National Review is keeping a travel blog during his recent vacation. I'm not sure that the reverse-chronological format works well for a traveblogue since most people like to read about trips all at once from start to finish. I think this format may work if the page is designed to better accommodate the nature of a travelogue, which is very much like a diary. It's difficult to jump into a travelogue in the middle without going back to read all the entries that came before the current one.
Pravda.ru: The Crescent and the Cross: Whither goeth the Muslim Crescent
CNN Money: Video-game stocks on fire. Interesting. I have a couple of PS2 games I bought that I haven't even played yet. I'm not sure if it's a lack of time on my part, a lack of interest in spending hours learning a new game, or a combination of both; but I can safely say that I am not a hard-core gamer and fall well outside the target demographic of who the video game industry relies on for revenue.
Blogs are aggregating. Pretty soon they'll start breeding and then we'll be in for some trouble...
Space.com: How to Become an Astronaut
Airline Rant: Critics decry airline loan board. I'll say it again. The money being given to the airlines needs to be accounted for. How is it being used and where is it going? Using it to shove a competitor out of the market is not a fair use. Using it to pad the executive management's pockets also is not a good use. Using it to maintain a fully-operational regional airline that is continually rated for good service is.
I have flown on Vanguard, America West and National. Vanguard flew new planes with courteous and competent flight attendants. Their flights were on time and inexpensive. I've flown on America West so many times in the past five years I have enough frequent flier miles to pay for 2 round-trip tickets, but I am reluctant to use them just yet. America West has one of the oldest fleets in the airline industry because they regularly buy older jets from other airlines and repaint them. Almost every AW flight I've been on has been pretty bad. On a red-eye flight from San Francisco to Detroit about four years ago the heat was stuck on high and everyone in the plane was sweating and removing as much clothing as possible. The flight attendants said there was nothing they could do about the temperature. National Airlines is slightly better than America West, but they also fly older planes and many of the terminals they use at some airports are very inconvenient because the larger airlines have monopolized the newer/better terminals.
The truth is that frequent travelers prefer the smaller airlines (like Southwest and JetBlue) because they are simply much better-run companies than the large airlines. But because the larger airlines have locked up most of the metro airports (i.e., own most of the terminals) in the country, people are forced to sometimes book with them. The smaller airlines are then left with slim pickings: smaller regional airports and older, run-down and inconvenient terminals at metro airports.
Moscow Times: Global Eye -- The Past Is Prologue (Part 1). Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, a CIA cover-up, and the bizarre story of Frank Olson.
If you are an Earthbound alien, you can use this web site (in Russian) to meet others just like you. A story about this site.
The President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) is a group of prominent citizens who offer advice to the President on sensitive intelligence matters. This article lists who has been appointed to this Board by Bush. The journalist also questions why this information was determined to be secret, and then released only after the White House realized that it has never been withheld before.
alt.appalachian: A young'un's opinion of the world today
Cheap 9/11 Fares
I was surprised to see these prices show up on my Yahoo Travel page. Only after clicking through to see if I could actually book a flight did I realize that National Airlines is offering $2.00 fares for most of their scheduled flights on September 11, 2002.
If you are a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, you will be excited to know that his new movie called Spirited Away opens in theaters September 20. Apple is hosting a great movie trailer. This looks like yet another amazing animated movie. I'm disappointed that Disney has their hands in it, but I trust that it hasn't been too Disney-ised for the American audience. [Hat tip, Kevin White]
A professor at MIT is furious with himself for being ambushed on Donahue after they invited him to be a guest and talk about the issues of violence in the video games. His story rings true with my experience talking to the producers at Oprah, which ultimately caused me to tell them to take a hike. Regardless, they proceeded with their show full of guests who were in the online porn business. Immediately after seeing Oprah's show (without me as a guest) I was reassured that I had made the right decision. Talk shows almost always have hidden agendas. Sad, but true.
A couple of readers have responded with more information about my post of yesterday about the Social Security program.
Oblomovka: The Anti-Spam Haiku. Hire this man.
Newsweek: The Death Convoy of Afghanistan
I find it interesting that there are now reports that the U.S. military drafted plans for terrorism on American cities in the 1960s to provoke a war with Cuba. Those Americans who continue to claim that our government is working toward their best interests are just deluding themselves.
Counterpunch: "If a bomb falls in another country and no American hears it, does it make any noise?"
Counterpunch: Psychic and Political Numbing in Preparations for War
Guardian: U.S. adviser warns of Armageddon. Reading this article made me wonder who the fundamentalist Arabs hate more, the U.S. or Israel? If Saddam has weapons of mass destruction, where would he use them first?
Insight Magazine: Looting Russia's Free Market
Experts in the U.S. for years have been worrying about the rising numbers of retiring men and women who will be relying on Social Security, and have indicated that there simply isn't enough money in the system to cover everyone. Russia has a similar problem because of a rapidly declining population and within two decades the pensioner-to-worker ratio is expected to be 1-1. This is despite the fact that alcoholism, disease and war have lowered the life expectancy of the Russian male to just 59 years.
BushWatch: Twenty Things We've Learned Since 9/11. I fear that Bush&Co are leading this country down a dangerous path, for many of the wrong reasons. I'm tired of the political hidden agendas. I'm tired of the way politicians and Big Business continually lie to the American public. I'm tired of how broken our government is and really hope someone with true political gristle is elected in 2004; someone who can clean out the claptrap that is currently clogging our political system and harming our society and economy.
Dean Kamen may have another trick up his sleeve. The Segway scooter thing might not be the "revolutionary" invention that created all the buzz. Rumor now says Kamen is working on a personal hovercraft of some sort. Sounds cool, I just hope it doesn't burn fossil fuels.
Dori thinks they've gone and changed the formula to Mountain Dew without informning the public. I don't drink soda anymore but if I were a regular Dew drinker, I'd be pretty pissed off about this.
Turning a desktop phone into a cellular phone. This is one of those projects that makes the geek in me split open a wide grin.
Is Apple creating a PDA/Cell Phone? It would be a logical step for them. Hmmm, they happen to own the domain iphone.org.
I am sooooo sick of the Old Navy "Rugby Bunch" TV commercials. I wish they'd kill this ad campaign, and soon. Maybe it's just me but it gets more and more annoying each time I see it.
How do you know you are charging too much for your OS? You can tell when one of your biggest customers does this.
Boston Review: Reclaiming the Commons: Why we need to protect our public resources from private encroachment
LA Times: Camps for Citizens: Ashcroft's Hellish Vision. The Attorney General shows himself as a menace to liberty. [via Andy]
My copies of Manufacturing Consent and Spaceland just arrived from Amazon. I look forward to reading both books. The stack next to my bed is getting taller and taller.
Phonezilla: Form 1500: Stop Junk Mail, Cold
Weird news of the day: Man gets too much junk mail, assaults marketing firm employee with paint.
Far Eastern Economic Review: Betting on the Back Office
eWeek: Senators, Software Battle for Privacy. "The senators -- Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and John Edwards, D-N.C., are not only concerned about Internet spying and unchecked camera surveillance, but they're also concerned that if nothing is done to protect privacy immediately in this anti-terrorism climate, citizens will never gain back some freedoms that existed just a year ago."
Center for Immigration Studies: The Jewish Stake in America's Changing Demography
O'ReillyNet: Mystery of the Plodding HTTP Requests. Sounds like it could be bad cables or a screwed-up router/hub.
Seattle Times: Switch to Linux saved us millions, Amazon.com says
Junk Mail: I have a need to find out who a specific toll-free 800 number belongs to. Is there any kind of directory online that provides this kind of information? Email me with your research tips. The number is 1-800-943-3195. If you call you just get a lame work-from-home sales pitch. I want to find out who is behind it.
As you might have guessed, I am combatting junk mail. I find it ridiculous that it took less than 2 months (I moved in early June) before I started receiving junk mail at my new address. I'm trying to track down who is selling my name and address to the work-from-home marketers. Unfortunately, I suspect that it is the U.S. Post Office, since I recently renewed my U.S. Passport. I also received my very first jury summons to my new mailing address. I know all these things might be related, I just haven't found the connection yet.
For kicks and giggles, I am going to mail the marketing weenie company (I'm pretty sure it is a clueless Herbalife rep) an invoice for the time it took me to retrieve the mail from my mailbox, carry it up to my apartment, open it, read it, and call the number advertised. I figure it's at least a half hour of time. For freelance work I currently bill between $100 and $150/hour and since I invoice in a minimum of half-hour increments, my minimum invoice to them will be $75. I don't expect a response from them, but I certainly would like to see how they respond.
SAMPLE INVOICE: Transportation of documents to residence................03 minutes Opening of documents....................................02 minutes Reading and Analysis of documents.......................15 minutes Calling number in documents, as instructed..............10 minutes Total.....30 minutes
An independent computer consultant in Texas wants to bill the court $100 an hour for his jury duty service. The problem here is that as an American citizen, he is required by law to serve jury duty. There are exceptions and most courts are pretty good about letting you postpone your service. I am scheduled for September 5. I called and postponed it because I will be halfway around the world on that day.
The USPS has its own division called Netpost Mailing that sells and rents its database of names/addresses to direct marketers. I have registered a formal complaint with them. It will be interesting to see how they respond.
Postal Spam: A reader sent in a link to this old Salon article about the USPS and junk mail.
Godzilla v. DaveZilla: I've been watching the DaveZilla vs. Godzilla case. Interesting, because it's so completely wrong. The lawyers for Godzilla say that Dave is infringing upon the lizard-like image. But they are so wrong, because Godzilla is not lizard-like. He is a derivative of a gorilla. This story (even though it is labeled as humor) says the initial name for Godzilla was God-rilla, but since it was hard to say in Japanese, it was modified. Also check out this paragraph from a 1998 article in Time Magazine:
And while the snub-nosed, micro-eared Godzilla of the '60s and '70s had a vaguely mammalian mien--appropriate for a creature whose Japanese name, Gojira, is an amalgam of kujira (whale) and gorira (gorilla)--the fin-de-siecle Godzilla has a crocodilian brow, iguana affectations, a T. Rex crouch and a noble if dragonish chin instead of an avuncular Adam's apple. As for the radioactive breath, well, it was hard for Tatopoulos to justify, so don't expect it. No lizard does that in nature, he argues. "We were creating an animal. We weren't creating a monster."
Review of Danger's new PDA-thingamabob-dealy. Hmmm....
Screenshots for the new MSN 8. Interesting how the icons are large and picturesque, in many ways similar to the icon style Apple pioneered with Mac OS X.
Die Spammers Die! Can weblogs reach Ronald Scelson?
CamWorld Mail: August 13, 2002. Cory Doctorow responds to correct my assumptions regarding wireless networks. Lilly Tao comments on my Amazon Gold Box behavior.
Scott Rosenberg: The media titans still don't get it
Cory Doctorow: Can the Digital Hub Survive Hollywood? "Apple has broken every rule except the most important one: build what your customers want to buy."
Two articles worth reading over at Washington Monthly, both written by Josh Marshall. I don't necessarily agree with everything that is written but both articles address issues that the mainstream media generally ignores or glosses over. Confidence Men, is about the myth of Republican competence. Bomb Saddam? is about why so many people in Washington are trying to force the issue of going after Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
V.S. Naipal: "I think that the driving force is Saudi Arabia." Naipal is a very smart man who should be listened to. I find it interesting that the Muslims criticize him for voicing his opinions. I'm sure he respects the Muslim religion, but he may not agree with its beliefs and idealism. It's disappointing to realize that most of the world's problems and wars lead directly back to religious differences. Hey religious people, open up your minds. There are people out there who are different from you. Please practice religious tolerance.
Atlantic Monthly: Homeland Insecurity
Free the Mouse: I've seen Lawrence Lessig speak before and it has always been good. His presentation at last month's Open Source Conference is a sum of all his previous speeches. He clearly outlines the background of copyright law, the problems it faces today, and counters the efforts of Disney and other big media corporations to clamp down on fair-use. He says it better than I can. Download the presentation (an 8.4MB Flash file) and watch and listen. It's well-worth your time (30 minutes long).
After listening to this speech I emailed Cory at the EFF to recommend that they build a web site that makes it easy for people to send letters to their representatives of Congress regarding the issues being fought. Cory responded, "Hey, we've already done that. Check it out: http://action.eff.org." I am so pleased to see the EFF do this. I know my donations are going to a good cause. I have sent all of my CamWorld Tip Jar donations for the months of July and August to the EFF.
Warchalking: I don't understand the whole issue behind Warchalking. Time-Warner Cable is pissed because some of their broadband subscribers are sharing their bandwidth with others, and are trying to shut them down using a variety of tactics. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who leaves their wireless network open and unsecured is just asking for trouble, especially if you live in a metropolitan area. Identity thieves and other criminals who want anonymous access to the Internet are going to take full advantage of your generosity. If it's not happening already, it will soon. My wireless network at home has been closed and password-protected from Day 1. Not because I don't want my neighbors to use it, but because I don't want my information stolen and my privacy invaded. How soon before spammers park themselves on a street corner and start using your wireless network to relay spam? How soon before criminals use stolen credit cards while on your network? It can all be traced back to you.
Ha ha ha, the meme has spread. "Please, think of the kittens" has landed on Craigslist in the form of a personals ad. Brilliant!
Don't Fear the OOP! A Java tutorial that shows you why coding Java is just like writing a trashy Western novel. Or how to understand Java by looking at pretty colors.
Who Owns Evan Brown's Brain?
Flash Crowds and Smart Mobs.
Nick Denton: "Come 2004, voters will be looking for someone to punish for their investment losses, and George Bush is the most obvious target."
The Economist: "Conventional European opinion is that the Middle East will never be stable until the Palestinians have their state, and that to attack Iraq before then risks setting the region on fire. The hawks in Washington see things the other way around."
The only thing that worries me about such an astonishing invention is that the marketing weenies are going to take advantage of it. Can you imagine walking down the street and suddenly hearing "Buy Coca-Cola" inside your head? This, in my opinion, is the worst form of privacy invasion because you can't control what you hear. It's a remarkable breakthrough, though. I just hope it's used appropriately and with discretion. [via Madman]
I can't figure out why a reader would submit this link, except that perhaps it is an amazingly bad example of web design. Of course, it's a Microsoft Front Page site. Don't forget to be mesmerised by the "webdesigners" page.
This guy wonders why Microsoft is dead silent about the amount of spam its Hotmail servers receive. It must be costing them a fortune in hardware and bandwidth. I have no proof whatsoever, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that Microsoft either sells its Hotmail account databases to "marketers" or is accepting money in exchange for funneling spam. They've got to make money off their investment somehow. I gave up a long time ago keeping my Hotmail inbox clean. Now I just let it fill up with spam until it meets its disk quota. Every couple of months I log in to re-activate the account, just in case I need a Microsoft Passport for something. My biggest fear is that Microsoft will cut a deal with the government to use their Passport technology for a national digital ID system.
A reader writes:
Not only is Microsoft letting spammers bombard MSN, they are giving us the option of getting a bigger mailbox for the low-price of $19.95 a year so we can get even more spam. Isn't life grand?
And so Microsoft loses more customers who are fed up with the levels of spam. It's common sense that if Microsoft offered a spam-free webmail box, they'd retain and attract more customers for their Hotmail system, many who would likely fork over the money for added services. Microsoft is only shooting themselves in the foot by not blocking spam for their users.
Motley Fool: Monster earnings for Pixar. I'm not surpirsed. PIXR is the only stock in my portfolio that is doing well. It's up about 35% since I bought it. By weird coincidence today I am wearing a Toy Story 2 t-shirt that Dan gave me a couple years ago.
NY Times: The Scooter Trash and the Weekend Warriors. The yuppies are infiltrating the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. It sure is different these days. When I was in first grade (summer of 1979) my family lived in Sturgis, South Dakota and the week of the motorcycle rally was the only week my parents forbid me to ride my bike downtown. These days, families are an integral part of the rally, which seems to get bigger every year. All in the name of commercialism, I guess.
New Yorker: Why George Bush is scared of Ron Kirk
Reading this story about how college funds are being affected by the stock market, I caught the tidbit about a guy whose stock in TYCO has dropped 80% because the sprinkler manufacturing company he retired from was acquired by Tyco. It made me realize that these large holding companies like Tyco are dragging otherwise good/solid companies down the toilet with them.
CamWorld Mail: August 8, 2002. Lots of mail about my diet. No one has yet called me crazy for wanting to go to Siberia. I realize it'a a very abnormal vacation. I'm intentionally looking for something that is out-of-the-ordinary.
Stolen debit card yields gambling winnings. Ha!
Paper: Exploiting design flaws in the Win32 API for privilege escalation. Apparently the MS Windows API is inherently insecure.
The crisis in Argentina is worse than I thought. Reading this long Washington post article, I realized that the collapse of their economy and the devaluation of the peso was caused by a number of things. I don't know if there is a solution to pull Argentina out of its death spiral, but I feel bad for a country that was once proud and stable and is now reduced to a pretty horrid state of affairs. I wonder if the U.S. could learn anything from this situation.
I think these numbers speak for themselves. I have no comment except perhaps that birth control education (and availibility) needs to be introduced on a more global scale.
Amazon's Gold Box: I'm a big fan of Amazon's Gold Box and think that it's a brilliant solution for impulse buying. However, I just realized today that it may be working against them. Like most people I have a number of items on my wishlist that I intend to buy. For the past couple of days, I've been putting off completing an order, but have been checking the Gold Box for an item I really want so as to combine it with my order and save money on shipping. So, while Amazon wins by promoting impulse buying, they are losing because I am reluctant to complete an order until my Gold Box contains something I want. I wonder if anyone else has realized the psychology behind this.
Siberia or Bust: It's official. I'm going to Siberia. Yes, the land of the gulag, frozen tundra and some of the most beautiful wilderness I will ever see in my lifetime. I will be leaving September 2, flying from New York to Moscow and then catching one of the domestic Russian airlines from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk in Southeastern Siberia. I fly back on September 15.
Why am I going? Earlier this year I was thinking about what kind of vacation I wanted to take and starting planning a trip to Las Vegas and another short one to Portland. And then I got an invitiation to visit Siberia via an acquaintence and I thought, "why not -- I'm only young once." I've spent the last three weeks getting my papers in order, which included renewing my U.S. Passport, getting a Russian tourist visa, and reading everything I can get my hands on about Siberia. I chose to travel somewhere where there are few tourists and very few of the comforts that typically cushion a Western tourist.
I am undecided whether I will try to blog from Russia while I am there. I plan to have Internet access but I may not use it much depending on how many other activities I have to do. The Stolby nature preserve is very nearby, and famous Lake Baikal is a short flight away. If I have the time and money, I may even fly up to Tuva and see the Tuvan throat singers. I am purposely not going to set myself a strict itinerary because I don't want to feel like a tourist-sheep while there but want to experience it in a more natural setting. Krasnoyarsk is a large industrial city of about a million people, and I'm told the people are friendly and the nightlife is good.
I will definitely have a lot to write about. If circumstance allow I will keep a travelogue, otherwise I will write about my trip when I get back.
BusinessWeek: Smile When You Say That, Microsoft
MSNBC: Confessions of a scam artist.
Donations vs. Begging: Save Karyn. No, don't save Karyn. I went to Karyn's web site and saw no reason at all to give her money. She has no writings there, no weblog, just pure unadulterated panhandling. How pathetic. I hope her parents are ashamed.
Over the past few weeks I have dropped $2, $5 or $10 into the PayPal tip jars of sites that I really like (you know who you are), mostly as a reward for their hard work in keeping their sites updated, full of great writing and information, and also for being good people and friends. I will continue to do this because I think it's important that talent (and knowledge sharing) be rewarded.
Last winter, an acquaintence (who shall go unnamed to protect his dignity) fell upon some very hard times. He quietly told a few friends that he was going to lose his house if he didn't come up with a couple thousand dollars. Quietly and discreetly, about half a dozen friends, colleagues and acquaintences from around the country sent him checks of a varying amount (usually just a couple hundred dollars). We knew that we were truly helping a good man who was down on his luck and that he would do the same if our situations were reversed. Collectively, we saved him from bankruptcy and the loss of his house to the bank. I think the difference between this situation and Karyn's plea is pretty clear.
Diet and Exercise: After several failed attempts at losing weight, I finally joined a gym about 6 weeks ago. I go for about 90 minutes, usually 5 days a week. My exercise regimen is usually 45-60 minutes on the treadmill (600-650 calories burnt) and 20-30 minutes of lifting weights, doing crunches, etc. I also changed my diet and have been careful to stay away from fat-laden foods, and have tried to eat more food that is high in protein. After six weeks of this regimen I have not lost any weight and my personal trainer is scratching his head. He thinks I have a thyroid problem, which is affecting my metabolism. Given all of my other health problems, this doesn't surprise me. I'll see what my doctor says next week. Here's a breakdown of what my daily diet looks like:
The other issue I've realized after doing this chart is that I am nowhere near my recommended daily calorie intake. Even for a low-calorie day, I should be getting 1400-1700 calories and 180g of protein. I'm not terribly overweight but gained about 20 pounds last year after my doctor put me on a medication that made me hungry all the time. I currently weigh 230 pounds and my goal is to get down to 190-200 pounds (I have a medium-to-large body frame).
Carlos wrote in saying that I'm likely converting fat to muscle. I know this is true because my arms, especially, have gained a lot of muscle mass. My legs are also stronger, though they were treetrunk-like before I started running the treadmill. My biggest issue is the amount of body fat I have around my midsection, which has not changed. I know it will take another month or two of following my regimen before my body adjusts.
Derek writes: "Finally, another youngish adult who drinks Ovaltine! My wife has always chuckled at my habit, which started with my grandmother at about age 3, but I love the stuff." I love it too. I currently go through about a jar of it a week. The store I buy it at noticed that I am buying it regularly, so they keep it well-stocked. I might just have them order me a case of the stuff. I'm going through about 2 boxes of Crispix a week. I love that stuff too; great for snacking or even a whole meal. The cashiers at KMart look at me funny when I go through their checkout with nothing but 8 boxes of Crispix.
A few people have written in to say I need to eat more fruits and vegetables, which have vitamins in them. This can be difficult, so I've been taking vitamin supplements for about a year, including iron pills, flax, zinc, and a Centrum multi-vitamin supplement.
Privacy and Protection: Over the weekend I tried to place an order with an small online retailer and immediately received an email saying that they could not process my order until they had my phone number so they could call and verify that I was a real person. This was despite the fact that my mailing address matched my billing address and the credit card authorization on their end went smoothly with no red flags. Regardless, they insisted on getting a phone number from me. I told them repeatedly via a polite email conversation that I do not have a phone and I was certainly not going to give them my cell phone number. I ended up canceling my order with them and am looking elsewhere for the products and services I was purchasing.
I understand that this company was just trying to protect themselves, so I don't fault them for requiring this information. But I had a hard time accepting that my phone number should be required to complete a transaction. Like the counter guys at Radio Shack asking for you Zip Code, it's completely unnecessary. The disturbing trend in retailers acquiring personal information about consumers is getting out of hand and I make it a point to shop where such practices are not enforced.
Here are some tips to getting around such 'requirements' when shopping:
If you can get past the gratuitous and disgusting Flash, this palmtop PC looks interesting, though I can't imagine that screen will surive getting scratched for very long.
The Globalist: The Russian Roots of the Texan Mafia
I want, I want. Gimme gimme.
Burning Bush: I apologize to my readers (those who come here for the technology links and commentary) who don't like my postings about Bush politics. It's to a point now where I feel that I must voice my opinions. I don't claim to be as informed as I should be on some issues, and I appreciate the links that readers send for clarification. Remember how politics in this country works and that your vote counts when election time rolls around. The more of these corrupt business scumbags we remove from political office, the better off we will be. You're just fooling yourself if you think that Bush and his gang didn't take advantage of corporate tax loopholes during their corporate tenures. It's time to return the control of America back into the hands of the people, instead of leaving it in the hands of the rich and the corporate elite. It's time to demand the Bush administration to be held accountable for their actions and reveal their hidden agendas, whether driven by political needs or by corporate favors.
Now, before you email me, understand that this is my opinion and it's unlikely to change. I've never been a fan of Bush and have been criticizing him from the moment he took office. Anyone who has read Molly Ivin's book Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush (which was published in October 2000 -- long before the media became obsessed with corporate fraud) was aware of the shady business antics of Bush's past. I will continue to criticize Bush when and where I see fit. The last time I checked, free speech was still a protected right in this country. I don't care either way whether you agree with me or not. I will continue to exercise my right of free speech and if you don't like it, you're welcome to go read other sites that cater more to your political beliefs. We now return you to the previously scheduled program.
Some readers want me to continue talking about Bush, others do not. Here's a weblog dedicated to him: smirkingchimp.com
The second edition of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web is out. Congrats to Lou and Peter!
Foundations are in place for martial law in the U.S. Sigh...
When president Ronald Reagan was considering invading Nicaragua he issued a series of executive orders that provided the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with broad powers in the event of a "crisis" such as "violent and widespread internal dissent or national opposition against a US military invasion abroad". They were never used.
WSJ: Fascinating article about using insects instead of chemicals to destroy harmful bugs that feed on valuable crops.
Motley Fool: CEOs Have Cooties
Don't forget, if you listen to RadioParadise, please send them a few bucks. I know I've sent them at least a dozen new listeners, all who have written to say thanks. I PayPal them $5-10 or so every month or so. Doc Searls has more info about the fight to keep Internet Radio stations online.
Airline Bailout: Something doesn't smell right. I read the other day that Vanguard Airlines, a small-but-excellent airline (I've flown them twice) out of Kansas City halted operations and filed for bankruptcy. And today I read that United Airline's stock dived 21% because they announced they hired bankruptcy lawyers earlier this year. Now, I understand that running an airline is an expensive operation and has incredible overhead. I've also read that the profit margin for most airlines is between 2-5% for each flight. Admittedly, not a whole lot of room for error. But what about the $15 billion airline bailout that Congress approved last September. Where did that money go? Why are airlines still failing? It just doesn't add up. I hope that the media don't need to start investigating the accounting of the big airline companies as well.
King of Jordan: Now the king of Jordan has publicly said that he thinks the U.S. going to war in Iraq would be "a tremendous mistake." Hello, president Bush, I hope you are listening. It's like the lights are on but nobody's home. Bush had better start listening to what the rest of the world has to say or he's going to drag the U.S. into a mess that will take years to get out of. One of my earliest criticisms of Bush was that he seemed to have no world perspective at all and didn't pay attention to what was happening outside of America. I really hope that he doesn't go and do something stupid like create a war with Iraq just so he can get re-elected. Given the recent stock market crisis and failing faith in corporate America, I think we as a country have more important things to worry about than an unneeded war in Iraq.
High School Essay Winners: The winner of the Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest wrote about the importance of a free media in America. Reading the winning essays, I couldn't help but notice how short they are. Perhaps there was a low word-count restriction. The first essay uses the word intelligentsia. Hmmm. The second essay has a weird sentence with too many commas:
This may be the best essay you've read in a long while, perhaps even ever, and if you find it as great as I hope you do, you will write shining words of praise in literary criticism journals, and petition the government to make me a laureate of some kind. And I will go down in history as the most celebrated high school essayist.
Yikes! I think it's good that high school kids are writing, but is this really the cream of the crop?
Awesome! My brother introduced me to a musical group from the South Pacific called Te Vaka. I liked the music so much I ripped two CDs to my hard drive and then because I listen to Radio Paradise so often, uploaded a song called Te namo. Within an hour I had received an email back from Rebecca, one of the people at RP who said they really liked it and were wondering if I had a version ripped to a higher bit rate. A few days later I'm plugging away at some code at work, listening to RP and what do I hear but Te namo streaming from their servers. For some reason this gives me happy goosebumps.
Bush, Big Business and Iraq: I just realized that one of the reasons 'the plan' to oust Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq is public knowledge is that the Bush administration needs it to be public knowledge. The Bush administration plans to spend $396.1 billion on military operations and national defense in the 2003 fiscal year. The best way to spend this much money is to launch a large, senseless military campaign against another country. Instead of sending in a few small groups of highly-trained infiltrators and assassins to get the job done quickly (and in comparison, cheaply), Bush is rewarding the defense and military industries, which are also considered Big Business. It makes me ill to think that there might be such an hidden agenda and that the American public are being told that such a 'war' in Iraq is needed. By going public with the whole Iraq thing, the Bush administration gains enough of the support they need from the American public to spend so much money, even though not a single country has come out and said they will support the U.S. if they go through with the plan. [links via The One to Go]
Mark A. Hershberger writes in to point out that assassination is illegal under U.S. and International law, even though as it is written the U.S. breaks those laws regularly:
"According to U.S. and international law, conspiring to kill/destroy, targeting, or killing/destroying civilian government buildings, or civilian government officials, or any head of state is expressly and strictly forbidden."
I agree with Bush that Saddam Hussein is an evil man and that Iraq has suffered under his regime. I also agree that Hussein should be removed from power, if possible. But I do not agree that it will require a long and expensive military intervention in Iraq, funded entirely by U.S. taxpayers. I also realize that the U.S. must do what is needed to prevent Hussein from developing nuclear weapons. I'm just not convinced that the little bits of news we're hearing about the plan are the correct approach.
Criminy, here's an eye-opening article about the motivations behind the Bush administration's push towards a war in Iraq.
Timothy Wilken proposes that we let the free enterprise market take care of Hussein by placing a bounty on his head; a very large bounty somehwere in the neighborhood of a billion dollars. If successful, the cost would be a fraction of the what would be spent in a traditional military campaign.
The $3.3 billion that the executive management 'earned' from these in-the-news bankrupt companies is considered pocket change to how much money we're talking about when it comes to military spending.
Request: I've been digging around for a simple CGI script that will let an end user upload photos and build a basic photo album, similar to Yahoo Photos, but with fewer features. Everything I have found has been too overloaded with features or too complex to install. Not surprisingly, the only one I considered using is one that is used by the people who create porn web sites, but I'm afraid to install it on my server/account because I fear the script may have a back door or something that will expose my site to the wrong people. Send me your links to simple (and trusted) photo album scripts and I'll compile a list here.
Russia's 12 Robber Barons. I find it interesting that there are only 7 billionaires in Russia, and most of them became rich within the past decade by taking advantage of the collapse of the Former Soviet Union, using political influnce, mafiya (Russian spelling) tactics, and sheer force to take over control of the big oil/gas and aluminum companies, previously controlled by the Russian government.
It's also important to realize that the crash of Russia's banks in August of 1998 was highly influenced by the fact that the rich in Russia were engaging in capital flight, the act of moving their money to offshore accounts instead of keeping it in Russian banks. This makes me look twice at the act of American corporations using Bermuda and the Cayman Islands as their company headquarters. The conglomerate Tyco Corporation (basically a diverse holding company) whose stock has been in the toilet for a while is based in Bermuda. While it's not necesarily illegal to base a multi-national corporation out of a small island nation, it sure does raise a lot of red flags in light of the recent accounting scandals and huge bankrupties.
Nando Times: Bush acknowledges tax haven problem
In 2001, 26 companies now located in Bermuda or another tax haven had more than $1 billion in federal contracts, according to Democratic research. More than two-thirds had projects related to defense or homeland security.
Pulled from an email:
AGE OF U.S. DOMESTIC AIRCRAFT FLEET Years Number 0-4 2,270 5-9 1,386 10-14 1,999 15-19 1,380 20-24 1,167 25-29 578 30-34 839 35-40 238
SF Gate: Learning to love Big Brother George W. Bush channels George Orwell
www.kittymail.com. Cute!
