Thursday, May 26, 2011
Rant: "That's where I want to be"
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Hurricane Pass, Tetons, Wyoming.
One of my fondest late-childhood memories was hiking there.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Quote: Why Doesn't Microsoft Understand Tablets
Awesome quote from http://www.quora.com/Microsoft/Why-doesnt-Microsoft-understand-tablets
So, in this dream, er, nightmare I have, I walk into Steve Ballmer’s Microsoft office back in 2006 and say:
“Hi Steve, I gotta talk to you about our tablet strategy.”
“Sure, Scoble, what you thinking about?”
“Well, it sucks. It just isn’t working. Customers aren’t delighted. The market isn’t afire. Our employees are even bored with it.”
“So, what should we do?” he asks.
“We should ship a device that doesn’t run Office. Indeed, doesn’t run any Microsoft application. Doesn’t do multitasking. Doesn’t run Flash. Doesn’t have a camera. Can’t print. Can’t use a Microsoft Mouse or Keyboard, either. Oh, and just to be really revolutionary, we can’t put any of our normal packaging or stickers on the device or around it. Finally, we can’t sell it at Best Buy, but we have to build a new series of stores to distribute it in.”
“What the f*** are you smoking, Scoble? Get the f*** out of here before I call security. That’s the stupidest idea I’ve heard. Ever.”
Then I wake up and realize, no, I’m not Steve Jobs.
So, in this dream, er, nightmare I have, I walk into Steve Ballmer’s Microsoft office back in 2006 and say:
“Hi Steve, I gotta talk to you about our tablet strategy.”
“Sure, Scoble, what you thinking about?”
“Well, it sucks. It just isn’t working. Customers aren’t delighted. The market isn’t afire. Our employees are even bored with it.”
“So, what should we do?” he asks.
“We should ship a device that doesn’t run Office. Indeed, doesn’t run any Microsoft application. Doesn’t do multitasking. Doesn’t run Flash. Doesn’t have a camera. Can’t print. Can’t use a Microsoft Mouse or Keyboard, either. Oh, and just to be really revolutionary, we can’t put any of our normal packaging or stickers on the device or around it. Finally, we can’t sell it at Best Buy, but we have to build a new series of stores to distribute it in.”
“What the f*** are you smoking, Scoble? Get the f*** out of here before I call security. That’s the stupidest idea I’ve heard. Ever.”
Then I wake up and realize, no, I’m not Steve Jobs.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Link: Borepatch: I am TJIC
The center of reporting & pontificating on the TJIC incident is at Borepatch: I am TJIC
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Rant: I am TJIC
Tis unwise for a government to oppress those who fear being oppressed by their government and opine it unwise.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Rant: Sony BDP-S570 "Internet Connection Failed"
For those struggling with that error on that Blu-ray player...
Select Custom wireless network configuration, with:
IP Address something which no other device on your wireless network will have, say 192.168.1.111 (fiddle with the last number; try a random number between 150 and 254).
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: 192.168.1.1
Primary DNS: 8.8.8.8 (Google's)
Secondary DNS: 8.8.4.4
Apply those numbers. If it doesn't take, wait a couple minutes and try again.
Worked for me.
Select Custom wireless network configuration, with:
IP Address something which no other device on your wireless network will have, say 192.168.1.111 (fiddle with the last number; try a random number between 150 and 254).
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: 192.168.1.1
Primary DNS: 8.8.8.8 (Google's)
Secondary DNS: 8.8.4.4
Apply those numbers. If it doesn't take, wait a couple minutes and try again.
Worked for me.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Rant: Not Being Poor
Not Being Poor
A Rebuttal to a Whiny Screed by John Scalzi
To not be poor...
...know exactly how much everything costs.
...don't let your kids waste their lives being indoctrinated by watching TV.
...buy $800 cars because they’re cheaper than fixing a newer one.
...know regular dental care and insurance is cheaper than tooth-rotting sweets.
...take care of your home so your kid's friends will want to come over to yours.
...don't be ashamed of saving money or accepting handouts.
...move far away from the freeway.
...buy a month's worth of rice for the price of one short-lived box of Raisin Bran.
...take a well-off sibling at his word when he says he doesn’t mind when you ask for help.
...buy off-brand toys.
...run a heater in only one room of the house.
...don't have "friends" who would steal $5 off your coffee table.
...plan for your kids to have a growth spurt.
...teach your kids stealing meat from the store is wrong and unacceptable under all conditions.
...buy Goodwill underwear.
...everyone who lives with you earns their keep.
...know the difference between inexpensive shoes and cheap shoes is not price.
...teach your kids to learn despite 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.
...know $8 an hour is way more than most people on the planet live on.
...know most people don’t give a damn about you no matter how much you make.
...work an overnight shift under florescent lights if need be.
...don't give your body to a man who you would have to beg for child support.
...be grateful you have a toilet.
...stop the car to take a lamp from a stranger’s trash.
...keep your kitchen so clean you won't have to worry whether a cockroach will skitter over the bread.
...know a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.
...don't shop at the mall.
...marry someone whom you trust to watch your kids if you must take a job.
...call the police to bust into the apartment right next to yours if you know they are criminals.
...talk to that girl even if she’ll probably just laugh at your clothes; maybe she won't.
...invite others for dinner, however humble.
...sweep up a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.
...improve your language, knowing others learn about you by the way you talk.
...earn that 35-cent raise.
...make sure library, free and cheap books fill your home.
...go find 120 soda cans to earn that last six dollars for the utility bill.
...pick up and eat that dropped mac and cheese on the floor.
...work as hard as anyone, anywhere - then leverage what you've earned.
...don't be stupid.
...don't be lazy.
...spend the six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap talking to the cashier about payment options and plans.
...never buy anything someone else hasn’t bought first.
...pick the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that’s two extra packages for every dollar.
...teach your 14 year old to live with choices s/he makes.
...make people tired of you being grateful.
...know you’re being judged.
...buy a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.
...check the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.
...know you can always find or make shelter.
...don't spend that buck on a Lotto ticket.
...don't hope the register lady will spot you the dime.
...if your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won’t listen to you beg them against doing so, let go.
...don't ignore a cough that doesn’t go away.
...don't lease a couch.
...failing any other options, collecting cans included, you can survive a few days without $200 waiting for your paycheck to come in.
...take four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.
...sleep on a lumpy futon bed.
...know where the shelter is.
...know that many people who were poor are now not because they chose not to be so.
...quit sniveling over how hard it is to stop being poor.
...use the options you have.
...at minimum, run in place.
...leave.
A Rebuttal to a Whiny Screed by John Scalzi
To not be poor...
...know exactly how much everything costs.
...don't let your kids waste their lives being indoctrinated by watching TV.
...buy $800 cars because they’re cheaper than fixing a newer one.
...know regular dental care and insurance is cheaper than tooth-rotting sweets.
...take care of your home so your kid's friends will want to come over to yours.
...don't be ashamed of saving money or accepting handouts.
...move far away from the freeway.
...buy a month's worth of rice for the price of one short-lived box of Raisin Bran.
...take a well-off sibling at his word when he says he doesn’t mind when you ask for help.
...buy off-brand toys.
...run a heater in only one room of the house.
...don't have "friends" who would steal $5 off your coffee table.
...plan for your kids to have a growth spurt.
...teach your kids stealing meat from the store is wrong and unacceptable under all conditions.
...buy Goodwill underwear.
...everyone who lives with you earns their keep.
...know the difference between inexpensive shoes and cheap shoes is not price.
...teach your kids to learn despite 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.
...know $8 an hour is way more than most people on the planet live on.
...know most people don’t give a damn about you no matter how much you make.
...work an overnight shift under florescent lights if need be.
...don't give your body to a man who you would have to beg for child support.
...be grateful you have a toilet.
...stop the car to take a lamp from a stranger’s trash.
...keep your kitchen so clean you won't have to worry whether a cockroach will skitter over the bread.
...know a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.
...don't shop at the mall.
...marry someone whom you trust to watch your kids if you must take a job.
...call the police to bust into the apartment right next to yours if you know they are criminals.
...talk to that girl even if she’ll probably just laugh at your clothes; maybe she won't.
...invite others for dinner, however humble.
...sweep up a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.
...improve your language, knowing others learn about you by the way you talk.
...earn that 35-cent raise.
...make sure library, free and cheap books fill your home.
...go find 120 soda cans to earn that last six dollars for the utility bill.
...pick up and eat that dropped mac and cheese on the floor.
...work as hard as anyone, anywhere - then leverage what you've earned.
...don't be stupid.
...don't be lazy.
...spend the six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap talking to the cashier about payment options and plans.
...never buy anything someone else hasn’t bought first.
...pick the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that’s two extra packages for every dollar.
...teach your 14 year old to live with choices s/he makes.
...make people tired of you being grateful.
...know you’re being judged.
...buy a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.
...check the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.
...know you can always find or make shelter.
...don't spend that buck on a Lotto ticket.
...don't hope the register lady will spot you the dime.
...if your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won’t listen to you beg them against doing so, let go.
...don't ignore a cough that doesn’t go away.
...don't lease a couch.
...failing any other options, collecting cans included, you can survive a few days without $200 waiting for your paycheck to come in.
...take four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.
...sleep on a lumpy futon bed.
...know where the shelter is.
...know that many people who were poor are now not because they chose not to be so.
...quit sniveling over how hard it is to stop being poor.
...use the options you have.
...at minimum, run in place.
...leave.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Rant: Social Security
There’s two core issues with arguments over Social Security’s viability.
1. The existence of the “trust fund”
A key premise of the “Social Security is broke” crowd is the line “there is no ‘trust fund’, it’s just a Ponzi scheme.”
One may contend that there will be trillions of dollars in the fund a la federal bonds, ready to carry it on for decades to come.
One may contend that those dollars are merely self-owed IOUs, with the money having already been spent.
Roughing the numbers...
You pay two dollars of FICA tax.
Those dollars go to the Social Security Administration.
One dollar, allocated to current costs, goes right back out to pay dad’s SSI check this month.
Other dollar, being surplus, buys a US Treasury Bond as long-term stable investing – to wit, the “trust fund”.
That bond purchase routes that other dollar right back out to facilitate deficit spending.
The only “investment” at that point is a promise by the left hand that it will pay back the right hand.
This can only happen if
- there is sufficient revenue at the time payment by the left hand is demanded by the right
- another dollar of debt is created
- or another dollar is printed.
Notice there is no actual investment, to wit tangible or legal property, involved in this “trust fund”.
The only way money goes out is if there is enough money coming in, either directly from FICA taxes or from general revenue used to pay off the bonds involved.
The “trust fund” is just shuffling the books with “I O Me”s.
It’s a Ponzi scheme.
2. Political axioms and their impact on solutions
The reason some of the “myth”s originally enumerated were phrased the way they were is that if one holds certain axioms, there is no other way to put them. This, of course, strikes as odd those who hold different/conflicting axioms. Example:
"Myth: Benefit cuts are the only way to fix Social Security."
If, for assorted legitimate reasons, one holds that tax increases are not a valid option, and that budget re-shuffling is unviable, the short way to put the point is that, indeed, the only way to fix the problem of long-term Social Security viability is to cut benefits. Hold that axiom, and there is no other realistic option.
This, of course, seems odd to someone who does not hold that axiom. The response advocates that which a large fraction of the population opposes:
"Reality: ... If the very rich paid taxes on all of their income, Social Security would be sustainable for decades to come.5 Right now, high earners only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,000 of their
income.6 ..."
Hence what is plainly reasonable to some is legitimately outrageous to others. Their differing opinions are the natural consequence of differing axioms.
There’s an old computer science joke: “two plus two equals five ... for very large values of two.” To call some of the points “myths” is to create straw-man arguments: remove the foundational principles and definitions creating the wording, and look surprised and delighted when the wording crumbles.
1. The existence of the “trust fund”
A key premise of the “Social Security is broke” crowd is the line “there is no ‘trust fund’, it’s just a Ponzi scheme.”
One may contend that there will be trillions of dollars in the fund a la federal bonds, ready to carry it on for decades to come.
One may contend that those dollars are merely self-owed IOUs, with the money having already been spent.
Roughing the numbers...
You pay two dollars of FICA tax.
Those dollars go to the Social Security Administration.
One dollar, allocated to current costs, goes right back out to pay dad’s SSI check this month.
Other dollar, being surplus, buys a US Treasury Bond as long-term stable investing – to wit, the “trust fund”.
That bond purchase routes that other dollar right back out to facilitate deficit spending.
The only “investment” at that point is a promise by the left hand that it will pay back the right hand.
This can only happen if
- there is sufficient revenue at the time payment by the left hand is demanded by the right
- another dollar of debt is created
- or another dollar is printed.
Notice there is no actual investment, to wit tangible or legal property, involved in this “trust fund”.
The only way money goes out is if there is enough money coming in, either directly from FICA taxes or from general revenue used to pay off the bonds involved.
The “trust fund” is just shuffling the books with “I O Me”s.
It’s a Ponzi scheme.
2. Political axioms and their impact on solutions
The reason some of the “myth”s originally enumerated were phrased the way they were is that if one holds certain axioms, there is no other way to put them. This, of course, strikes as odd those who hold different/conflicting axioms. Example:
"Myth: Benefit cuts are the only way to fix Social Security."
If, for assorted legitimate reasons, one holds that tax increases are not a valid option, and that budget re-shuffling is unviable, the short way to put the point is that, indeed, the only way to fix the problem of long-term Social Security viability is to cut benefits. Hold that axiom, and there is no other realistic option.
This, of course, seems odd to someone who does not hold that axiom. The response advocates that which a large fraction of the population opposes:
"Reality: ... If the very rich paid taxes on all of their income, Social Security would be sustainable for decades to come.5 Right now, high earners only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,000 of their
income.6 ..."
Hence what is plainly reasonable to some is legitimately outrageous to others. Their differing opinions are the natural consequence of differing axioms.
There’s an old computer science joke: “two plus two equals five ... for very large values of two.” To call some of the points “myths” is to create straw-man arguments: remove the foundational principles and definitions creating the wording, and look surprised and delighted when the wording crumbles.
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