Hrm... falling water
The sound you don't want to hear when you get home.
And today was so warm.
Huray for former bad remodeling jobs.
And today was so warm.
Huray for former bad remodeling jobs.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Vile Banks
So recently I've been trying to move all my banking activities to one location because of the pain involved with have your finacials spread over many different insitutions with many different rules.
So let's go through the history of my bank accounts
San Diego County Credit Union
Maybe I shouldn't have go rid of this one, but considering how painful it was to try to close the account 2300 miles away, I think it would have been just as painful to maintain it as well.
Terre Haute First
This bank sucks. Majorly. At least they have internet banking now. I think I gave up using them my sophomore year.
First National Bank of Monterey
So it was the only bank that I could find that would give me an auto-loan without a co-signer and with only one paycheck as a college graduate. That was nice of them. But they don't have internet banking so its a pain in the ass for me to check up on my accounts (like a checking account that pays no interest and my auto loan). I have my autoloan and $15k consolidated student loan auto-debiting from this account
First Federal Savings Bank
Why can't one bank have the best rates for everything? So I have my house loan through these folks, since it was a moderately good rate and I didn't need a co-signer or a humugous down payment, they offer interest on their checking account... at a whopping 0.75%. They have internet banking but it leaves just a little bit to be desired. And their ACH doesn't show up in all the databases like it should, which means sometimes you can't do electronic check transfers. I have my home loan and my parent's $65k student loan auto-debiting from here.
Netbank
So a friend of mine told me about this bank, they'd been using them for like 7 years and haven't had any troubles with them. This person had also worked at a bank for quite some time, so I take her word on how banks work inside. Anyhow they have awesome rates. Like the money market account I have with them is making like 2.2% right now. So they don't have any branches, but that doesn't really bother me anymore since I seem to move around enough that I just want to have one bank to do everything from, and I know that I'll never find a bank with branches everywhere I'll be. They also have a cool thing that interfaces with lots of credit card companies and brokerage and insurance firms so you can have all your important money sucking information displayed on your main banking page. But they've been having internet throughput problems lately.
So now that I'm splitting my paycheck three different ways and trying to maintain a big enough buffer in each account (especially the one without internet banking, meaning it doesn't export stuff to quicken) I'm starting to really feel the pain of having small fractions all over the place that I can't use to pay off all the misc balances I have around.
So my reconmendation to all of you is to pick a REALLY GOOD bank before you start setting up auto-debiting for loans so you get your nice loan rates on those colsolidated student loans
So let's go through the history of my bank accounts
San Diego County Credit Union
Maybe I shouldn't have go rid of this one, but considering how painful it was to try to close the account 2300 miles away, I think it would have been just as painful to maintain it as well.
Terre Haute First
This bank sucks. Majorly. At least they have internet banking now. I think I gave up using them my sophomore year.
First National Bank of Monterey
So it was the only bank that I could find that would give me an auto-loan without a co-signer and with only one paycheck as a college graduate. That was nice of them. But they don't have internet banking so its a pain in the ass for me to check up on my accounts (like a checking account that pays no interest and my auto loan). I have my autoloan and $15k consolidated student loan auto-debiting from this account
First Federal Savings Bank
Why can't one bank have the best rates for everything? So I have my house loan through these folks, since it was a moderately good rate and I didn't need a co-signer or a humugous down payment, they offer interest on their checking account... at a whopping 0.75%. They have internet banking but it leaves just a little bit to be desired. And their ACH doesn't show up in all the databases like it should, which means sometimes you can't do electronic check transfers. I have my home loan and my parent's $65k student loan auto-debiting from here.
Netbank
So a friend of mine told me about this bank, they'd been using them for like 7 years and haven't had any troubles with them. This person had also worked at a bank for quite some time, so I take her word on how banks work inside. Anyhow they have awesome rates. Like the money market account I have with them is making like 2.2% right now. So they don't have any branches, but that doesn't really bother me anymore since I seem to move around enough that I just want to have one bank to do everything from, and I know that I'll never find a bank with branches everywhere I'll be. They also have a cool thing that interfaces with lots of credit card companies and brokerage and insurance firms so you can have all your important money sucking information displayed on your main banking page. But they've been having internet throughput problems lately.
So now that I'm splitting my paycheck three different ways and trying to maintain a big enough buffer in each account (especially the one without internet banking, meaning it doesn't export stuff to quicken) I'm starting to really feel the pain of having small fractions all over the place that I can't use to pay off all the misc balances I have around.
So my reconmendation to all of you is to pick a REALLY GOOD bank before you start setting up auto-debiting for loans so you get your nice loan rates on those colsolidated student loans
Monday, November 22, 2004
Goodbye Cruel World
What would happen to the United States if it were to close its doors to the rest of the world?
This question has been plaguing me for quite some time. It really came to the front of my mind when I stumbled across this page on yahoo: which shows Iran's “Deputy Revolutionary Guards Commander” Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr at a conference titled: “The world without America”.
Strangely enough when drafting this post I came across this webpage. So it’s Rush, I don’t really care for the guy all that much but the page does sum up things somewhat well.
Now for a Gedankenexperiment .
Lets say the United States were to implement the following policy tomorrow:
A) All ships in port have 24 hours to leave or else be seized if not ported in the United States.
B) All ships from that point that enter the United States waters would be seized.
C) All arriving foreign nationals would be screened to determine if it is the best interests of the United States to remain.
D) Reduce flights in and out of the United States to virtually zero. (Eventually after all citizens outside of the Unite States had a chance to return).
E) Evicted the UN from their HQ. Give them 24 hours to comply before all records are seized (Although from an intelligence stand point it would be better to have a false fire alarm and not let any of those evacuated back to the premises). Oh and of course ending out membership in things like the UN, NATO, WTO, etc.
F) Ended all trade
G) Defaulted on all debts (For the next reason).
H) Set the dollar value on something gold or platinum. (Depending which is easier with how much money is in our economy and how much of the stuff we have). This because we would have zero currency exchange with the outside world.
So lets see what sort of results would I expect?
A) Well pretty much every economy in the world would collapse
B) There would be widespread famine in the world
C) Americans would have a short period of hardship while they adjust to the shock, while the stock market recovers from its huge drop.
D) The United States CPI would probably drop, so would GDP. Though I would guess that it would be short lived since the monetary system would be based on a good that we have and the inflation could then be easily controlled.
E) If done this way I doubt we would have all that high of unemployment other than the initial shock.
That is what the world would be like without the United States. With more thought I could probably add quite a bit of detail to this post, but for the moment I’ll just let y’all peruse it.
Editor's Note:
I thought I'd end this thing with a joke: "You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon'. Need I say more"
This question has been plaguing me for quite some time. It really came to the front of my mind when I stumbled across this page on yahoo: which shows Iran's “Deputy Revolutionary Guards Commander” Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr at a conference titled: “The world without America”.
Strangely enough when drafting this post I came across this webpage. So it’s Rush, I don’t really care for the guy all that much but the page does sum up things somewhat well.
Now for a Gedankenexperiment .
Lets say the United States were to implement the following policy tomorrow:
A) All ships in port have 24 hours to leave or else be seized if not ported in the United States.
B) All ships from that point that enter the United States waters would be seized.
C) All arriving foreign nationals would be screened to determine if it is the best interests of the United States to remain.
D) Reduce flights in and out of the United States to virtually zero. (Eventually after all citizens outside of the Unite States had a chance to return).
E) Evicted the UN from their HQ. Give them 24 hours to comply before all records are seized (Although from an intelligence stand point it would be better to have a false fire alarm and not let any of those evacuated back to the premises). Oh and of course ending out membership in things like the UN, NATO, WTO, etc.
F) Ended all trade
G) Defaulted on all debts (For the next reason).
H) Set the dollar value on something gold or platinum. (Depending which is easier with how much money is in our economy and how much of the stuff we have). This because we would have zero currency exchange with the outside world.
So lets see what sort of results would I expect?
A) Well pretty much every economy in the world would collapse
B) There would be widespread famine in the world
C) Americans would have a short period of hardship while they adjust to the shock, while the stock market recovers from its huge drop.
D) The United States CPI would probably drop, so would GDP. Though I would guess that it would be short lived since the monetary system would be based on a good that we have and the inflation could then be easily controlled.
E) If done this way I doubt we would have all that high of unemployment other than the initial shock.
That is what the world would be like without the United States. With more thought I could probably add quite a bit of detail to this post, but for the moment I’ll just let y’all peruse it.
Editor's Note:
I thought I'd end this thing with a joke: "You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon'. Need I say more"
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Saturday, November 06, 2004
The end of humanity.
I grew in a fairly isolated environment, home schooled. I didn't go to public school or socialize with children my age. Mostly after any sort of formal education assignment was finished during the day I would run over to any number of misc neighbors and help them with whatever they were doing. Whether it was Tim (mexican-american who worked for a catering company) to the North of me to help him remodel his house, or Dan (pretty much as close as you can get to a real coyboy these days) to the south of me to work on whatever project that had caught his fancy that day, I fairly broad exposure to different kinds of people and ideals. I grew up tolerant of people, and mostly with ideals that I thought were liberal.
For the longest time I have noticed that my tolerance (and as some would call it, open-mindedness) has been steadily declining. The only thing I can attribute this to is the numerous arguments/debates/discussions I have participated in, both in college and out. I find myself in a terrible dilemma, I try to hold a discussion with a so-called liberal, and am assaulted by the utter lack of logic they posses. Even those in college that I would somewhat respect I later notice they can absorb and regurgitate material well but they can't generate new thoughts. Being from an engineering school this has actually scared, and scarred, me quite a bit. I realize they are not willing to observe the facts, expand their mind, and extrapolate the truth from them. In fact they are more closed minded than what they accuse me of.
And when I get fed up with all of that I flip over to the conservative side. And again I see the SAME thing. People are still not willing to think for themselves.
So now I'm reduced to believing that there are two different kinds of people. Those with logic and those without. They will never be able to come to common ground. I am forced to reject my childhood education and belief that all people are created equal and thus deserve the same respect. Now I have to revise that to be, all people may be created equal, but some have rejected that which separates them from the apes, and thus should be treated accordingly.
I regret this new thought greatly, but how many times do I have to listen to people puke up what they've been spoon-fed without a tiny bit of analysis or healthy skepticism. I must now think about the two classes of people, monkeys and humans. Those who cannot (or refuse) to question their personal axioms I judge now to be monkeys and order them to read (for a start) Descartes, Kant, Mills, and Rand lest they vote their consciousness out of existence.
Editor's Note: Ironically this follows what happened in the writings of Mills as he aged. I truely hope in my heart that doesn't mean that my conclusion is as right as it would seem to make it.
For the longest time I have noticed that my tolerance (and as some would call it, open-mindedness) has been steadily declining. The only thing I can attribute this to is the numerous arguments/debates/discussions I have participated in, both in college and out. I find myself in a terrible dilemma, I try to hold a discussion with a so-called liberal, and am assaulted by the utter lack of logic they posses. Even those in college that I would somewhat respect I later notice they can absorb and regurgitate material well but they can't generate new thoughts. Being from an engineering school this has actually scared, and scarred, me quite a bit. I realize they are not willing to observe the facts, expand their mind, and extrapolate the truth from them. In fact they are more closed minded than what they accuse me of.
And when I get fed up with all of that I flip over to the conservative side. And again I see the SAME thing. People are still not willing to think for themselves.
So now I'm reduced to believing that there are two different kinds of people. Those with logic and those without. They will never be able to come to common ground. I am forced to reject my childhood education and belief that all people are created equal and thus deserve the same respect. Now I have to revise that to be, all people may be created equal, but some have rejected that which separates them from the apes, and thus should be treated accordingly.
I regret this new thought greatly, but how many times do I have to listen to people puke up what they've been spoon-fed without a tiny bit of analysis or healthy skepticism. I must now think about the two classes of people, monkeys and humans. Those who cannot (or refuse) to question their personal axioms I judge now to be monkeys and order them to read (for a start) Descartes, Kant, Mills, and Rand lest they vote their consciousness out of existence.
Editor's Note: Ironically this follows what happened in the writings of Mills as he aged. I truely hope in my heart that doesn't mean that my conclusion is as right as it would seem to make it.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Explosives
So I've been thinking about this whole stink over some explosives (okay 400 tons of them) in Iraq. I don't know why the government is being obtuse about their whereabouts except if they had seized them and were gonna use them somewhere. Otherwise the US military's standard operating procedure when it comes across explosives that they don't want is to blow them up.
We had all kinds of surveillance up in the air at the time (and I assume we still do), so it wouldn't be trivial to smuggle out 400 tons of high explosives in 55 gallon drums.
So this one tape of the place filmed by a reporter in a plane that was flying over the facility shows "barrels" outside of the location they used to be. My question is... Where is the freaking huge blackened hole in the ground? I just can't imagine a unit giving up the opportunity to explode a really big pile of fireworks.
We had all kinds of surveillance up in the air at the time (and I assume we still do), so it wouldn't be trivial to smuggle out 400 tons of high explosives in 55 gallon drums.
So this one tape of the place filmed by a reporter in a plane that was flying over the facility shows "barrels" outside of the location they used to be. My question is... Where is the freaking huge blackened hole in the ground? I just can't imagine a unit giving up the opportunity to explode a really big pile of fireworks.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Zinger.....
I'm getting really good at writing nastygrams.
Normally they consist of...
The last one I sent I never got a reply to. However, the problem was fixed in a few hours. I wonder what this next one will do.
Normally they consist of...
*Introduction*
*niceties*
*whap*
*whap*
*whap*
*whap*
Bryan H.
The last one I sent I never got a reply to. However, the problem was fixed in a few hours. I wonder what this next one will do.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Life/2 or something like that....
So Half-Life II is scheduled to be released November now....
Any guesses if it will be? And for bonus points: Will it look old now and be overshadowed by whatever else is gonna be coming out this November?
And of course for uber bonus points: If they release it Nov 1st what percentage of the population will NOT be voting?
Any guesses if it will be? And for bonus points: Will it look old now and be overshadowed by whatever else is gonna be coming out this November?
And of course for uber bonus points: If they release it Nov 1st what percentage of the population will NOT be voting?
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Fun with syllogisms
My previous post reminded how much fun one can have with logic. So here's some more for y'all.
Premise 1A) The United States has been victim to job exportation because of lower labor costs in Europe and China
Premise 1B) Energy costs in Europe, Asia, and developing countries is significantly higher than in the United States.
Conclusion 1) Raising energy costs high enough will bring jobs back to the United States.
Premise 2A) The United States primarily consumes oil from domestic sources, Venezuela, and Mexico.
Premise 2B) Europe and China consume oil from the Middle East
Conclusion 2) The United States, can increase world oil costs without significantly affecting its own.
Premise 3A) See Conclusion 1.
Premise 3B) See Conclusion 2.
Conclusion 3) The world opposed the Iraq invasion because it means they could very well loose the business of supplying American consumers to American Suppliers.
Hey that was fun, but doesn’t it naturally follow that we don’t actually care if Iraq stabilizes? Oh wait doesn’t that mean that repairing isn’t in our best interests?
Wow! I wonder why it’s European contractors frantically repairing the pipeline every time it gets sabotaged.
Premise 1A) The United States has been victim to job exportation because of lower labor costs in Europe and China
Premise 1B) Energy costs in Europe, Asia, and developing countries is significantly higher than in the United States.
Conclusion 1) Raising energy costs high enough will bring jobs back to the United States.
Premise 2A) The United States primarily consumes oil from domestic sources, Venezuela, and Mexico.
Premise 2B) Europe and China consume oil from the Middle East
Conclusion 2) The United States, can increase world oil costs without significantly affecting its own.
Premise 3A) See Conclusion 1.
Premise 3B) See Conclusion 2.
Conclusion 3) The world opposed the Iraq invasion because it means they could very well loose the business of supplying American consumers to American Suppliers.
Hey that was fun, but doesn’t it naturally follow that we don’t actually care if Iraq stabilizes? Oh wait doesn’t that mean that repairing isn’t in our best interests?
Wow! I wonder why it’s European contractors frantically repairing the pipeline every time it gets sabotaged.
Aren't firends (ahem, enemies) great?!
So this evening I was talking to somebody I know, though I would not really consider a friend. More like a favorite nemesis. Anyhow, I asked why if they believed in democracy so much why they did not move to any number of democracies around the world that exist today.
The answer?
Because they had respect for this country and felt, it was wrong to have to move because "right wingers" were forcing them out. Moreover, because they wanted to make a difference.
This statement actually really gave me an incredible amount of insight into this particular individual. This statement has so very much information about the democrat condition that I would never have thought it possible to condense it down so far. Because it is so overwhelmingly dense, I will break it into parts and what I got out of it.
Respect for this country. Okay so maybe I cannot argue with this statement. Nevertheless, what is respected? The principles that the founding fathers based the nation of freedom; the final great step for humankind at the gold age of reason? For some reason I cannot believe that much because if that were true then how could one consistently believe in the gradual socialization that has gripped this nation.
If one does not believe in the principles that were used to forge this nation out of barbarism, then how can one claim a right to its protection? In fact, that is the tremendously awesome power of the principles of this nation's foundation, you can claim a right to reside here under its protection because it only cares if you obey the basic moral right: leave alone, and you shall be left alone.
Wrong to move because it would be paramount to be "forced out" by the "right wingers.” This is a highly amusing part of the sentence to me because it is inherently hypocritical. We will go for a syllogism:
Premise A) Democracy is rule of the many.
Premise B) "Right wingers" are the majority.
Conclusion C) Democrats should have no voice.
Isn't it wonderful that the United States isn't actually a democracy? Cause if it was can you just imagine what the outcome would be? Well it’s not too hard for me actually, considering how few people actually support most liberal causes. America is still quite full of the average hard working citizen that only wants to earn a living, raise a family, and not have to worry about the outside world encroaching upon his property and life. If the United States was not a Republic (and the very large population of people above the 45% registered to vote that are currently content decided to change things) then there would be no place for a democrat. Actually likely if we saw that 55% of eligible voters, vote, I don't think we'd be seeing many Republicans either.
Okay the statement is inherently hypocritical, but what other information can be gleaned from it? If I apply my principles, I would say that moving to any other country would be trading a higher value for a lower value, which would violate any number of morals in egoism. However, wouldn't the altruistic principles of Democracy obligate you to move as to increase the tax base of a true democracy and not lend support (in true non-violent protest?) to an evil enterprise?
Making a difference. Ah, the kicker right here. Thinking about everything above the natural conclusion I would draw is that a democrat can't make a difference because every step they take would end up reducing their power by the very nature of the American people.
Thank god for the people. Maybe they aren't as dumb as they sometimes seem.
Actually that leads right into a good article I found the other day:
Empire to the Pursuit of Happiness. I especially like it because it was written by an engineer (some of us actually do care about the conditions around us). In fact, I doubt anybody will ever argue that the arts and literature are what makes America the power it is. But I guarantee that plenty will argue that our innovation, production, and freedom of wealth do.
The answer?
Because they had respect for this country and felt, it was wrong to have to move because "right wingers" were forcing them out. Moreover, because they wanted to make a difference.
This statement actually really gave me an incredible amount of insight into this particular individual. This statement has so very much information about the democrat condition that I would never have thought it possible to condense it down so far. Because it is so overwhelmingly dense, I will break it into parts and what I got out of it.
Respect for this country. Okay so maybe I cannot argue with this statement. Nevertheless, what is respected? The principles that the founding fathers based the nation of freedom; the final great step for humankind at the gold age of reason? For some reason I cannot believe that much because if that were true then how could one consistently believe in the gradual socialization that has gripped this nation.
If one does not believe in the principles that were used to forge this nation out of barbarism, then how can one claim a right to its protection? In fact, that is the tremendously awesome power of the principles of this nation's foundation, you can claim a right to reside here under its protection because it only cares if you obey the basic moral right: leave alone, and you shall be left alone.
Wrong to move because it would be paramount to be "forced out" by the "right wingers.” This is a highly amusing part of the sentence to me because it is inherently hypocritical. We will go for a syllogism:
Premise A) Democracy is rule of the many.
Premise B) "Right wingers" are the majority.
Conclusion C) Democrats should have no voice.
Isn't it wonderful that the United States isn't actually a democracy? Cause if it was can you just imagine what the outcome would be? Well it’s not too hard for me actually, considering how few people actually support most liberal causes. America is still quite full of the average hard working citizen that only wants to earn a living, raise a family, and not have to worry about the outside world encroaching upon his property and life. If the United States was not a Republic (and the very large population of people above the 45% registered to vote that are currently content decided to change things) then there would be no place for a democrat. Actually likely if we saw that 55% of eligible voters, vote, I don't think we'd be seeing many Republicans either.
Okay the statement is inherently hypocritical, but what other information can be gleaned from it? If I apply my principles, I would say that moving to any other country would be trading a higher value for a lower value, which would violate any number of morals in egoism. However, wouldn't the altruistic principles of Democracy obligate you to move as to increase the tax base of a true democracy and not lend support (in true non-violent protest?) to an evil enterprise?
Making a difference. Ah, the kicker right here. Thinking about everything above the natural conclusion I would draw is that a democrat can't make a difference because every step they take would end up reducing their power by the very nature of the American people.
Thank god for the people. Maybe they aren't as dumb as they sometimes seem.
Actually that leads right into a good article I found the other day:
Empire to the Pursuit of Happiness. I especially like it because it was written by an engineer (some of us actually do care about the conditions around us). In fact, I doubt anybody will ever argue that the arts and literature are what makes America the power it is. But I guarantee that plenty will argue that our innovation, production, and freedom of wealth do.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Deep Thoughts
Okay I have a few questions and a few semi-baked thoughts I wish to dump upon this world and possibly hear other people's opinions on.
Given those stated premises my question is: Should we strive to prevent reproduction of those individuals that we have the ability to correct their defect and extend their life through the child bearing ages?
Which weight is greater: The natural right of people to reproduce? Or prevention of a generation dependent upon medical technology?
I can artificially created, through more discussion of course, a dilemma that I can not easily reconcile. However, I will end this post here in the hopes I will hear some thoughts.
- The premise I'm starting off with is the assumption that there exist genetic deficiencies in humans that we have been able over time to correct during a person's life.
- The next premise is that the world's population and hence population density is rising.
- And lastly that there exist certain environmental conditions that are conducive to increasing the probability that a genetic mutation will occur.
Given those stated premises my question is: Should we strive to prevent reproduction of those individuals that we have the ability to correct their defect and extend their life through the child bearing ages?
Which weight is greater: The natural right of people to reproduce? Or prevention of a generation dependent upon medical technology?
I can artificially created, through more discussion of course, a dilemma that I can not easily reconcile. However, I will end this post here in the hopes I will hear some thoughts.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Always good for a laugh
|
personality tests by similarminds.com
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
So I happened to notice that I hadn't posted in a very very long time.
(I know the modifier very really isn't required... but I damn well feel like using it!)
I don't particularly feel interested in making a post to detail all the reasons behind it, so I won't. However, if I get a new job here shortly I will likely be explaining the whole tale in, possibly even great, detail.
For now though just be content to know that work still sucks, but I'm still employeed, and hence still alive.
(I know the modifier very really isn't required... but I damn well feel like using it!)
I don't particularly feel interested in making a post to detail all the reasons behind it, so I won't. However, if I get a new job here shortly I will likely be explaining the whole tale in, possibly even great, detail.
For now though just be content to know that work still sucks, but I'm still employeed, and hence still alive.
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Work
So things have been getting really nasty at work... terms that would fit could be "witch hunt" or "fishing expedition".
Also for those who are of a classical background I think it all stems from somebody I will nickname Iago. For those of the LOTR persuasion I will call him Grima.
Hopefully that is enough to bring understanding to most.
Also for those who are of a classical background I think it all stems from somebody I will nickname Iago. For those of the LOTR persuasion I will call him Grima.
Hopefully that is enough to bring understanding to most.
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
I just ran across a movie that looks really interesting...well at least the trailer looks like they took the 20/30's artistic styles used in drawing of futuristic technology and made a nice apocalyptic movie with them. Throw in a very interesting cast and I actually am interested in seeing it.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Occasionally I find myself deciding to clean out my contact list to get rid of all those people I haven't seen come online in several years or else those that just refuse to reply.
It is actually a kind of depressing process for each of those people I used to converse extensively with, on a daily basis, but no longer.
It is actually a kind of depressing process for each of those people I used to converse extensively with, on a daily basis, but no longer.
Sunday, August 01, 2004
So following up to my previous post about the chemical truck. Friday I was passed by two trucks that were moving very quickly (since I was going 70). The first truck was completely unmarked except for a corrosive warning sign on the back. The truck and trailer were brand new. Now almost tailgating this truck was another one with the strangest looking shipping containers I have seen. They almost looked like they were made of concrete with Phosphorus sulfide stenciled on the side of them. The really odd part was the chemical marking on trailer was 1340 which is not the right number.
The thing about Phosphorous sulfide is while it is used to produce some "high performance lubricants" its primary use is production of insecticides and VX.
And even better yet it was pouring rain out; when Phosphorous sulfide mixes with water it produces Hydrogen Sulfide gas which is pretty deadly in its own right. And do you really think the Indiana Law enforcement have the presence of mind to evac the 3.2km required for a moderate to large spill?
The thing about Phosphorous sulfide is while it is used to produce some "high performance lubricants" its primary use is production of insecticides and VX.
And even better yet it was pouring rain out; when Phosphorous sulfide mixes with water it produces Hydrogen Sulfide gas which is pretty deadly in its own right. And do you really think the Indiana Law enforcement have the presence of mind to evac the 3.2km required for a moderate to large spill?
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
For everybody who has ever gone to school and eaten at a cafeteria I present to you an article:
Beyond Mystery Meat
I end this post with thoughts of many expletives of incredulity.
Beyond Mystery Meat
I end this post with thoughts of many expletives of incredulity.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Thinking of the ranting chemist
So this morning I noticed, when reading some news from my hometown, this article about a chemical spill on the highway. Here is a different article with many more details.
Obviously the truck was hauling waste for some industrial manufacturing (either metal or glassworks), but the thing that gets to me is the fact that pretty much all states are running out of highway funds. In fact in the state I'm currently residing in (Indiana) the situation is so dire the federal government is getting notified of the impending disaster that could eventually be the transportation industry.
From one area I understand the industry concerns of traffic congestion and bad roads, but what about that traffic congestion and bad roads coupled to possible disasters like the one I started this post discussing?
Obviously the truck was hauling waste for some industrial manufacturing (either metal or glassworks), but the thing that gets to me is the fact that pretty much all states are running out of highway funds. In fact in the state I'm currently residing in (Indiana) the situation is so dire the federal government is getting notified of the impending disaster that could eventually be the transportation industry.
From one area I understand the industry concerns of traffic congestion and bad roads, but what about that traffic congestion and bad roads coupled to possible disasters like the one I started this post discussing?
The Ming Fleet
So I was watching PBS last night, yah I know scary huh? And on there was a documentary about a guy's (a former British submarine by the name of Gavin Menzies) new theory about Zheng He and his fleet of treasure ships circumnavigating the world. What I can find on it is definitely very interesting reading. And if you catch the special again on PBS, I'd recommend watching it.
So here is a detailed explanation of the theory of Gavin Menzies.
Artists recreation of Zheng He's largest ships from the descriptions and fragments of ships found
And here are a couple more articles:
NYTimes article only slightly related.
Sort of a biography of Zheng He and his fleet.
So here is a detailed explanation of the theory of Gavin Menzies.
Artists recreation of Zheng He's largest ships from the descriptions and fragments of ships found
And here are a couple more articles:
NYTimes article only slightly related.
Sort of a biography of Zheng He and his fleet.
Ad campaigns
So I was watching TV last night (PBS actually...but that's the next post I'm going to make since it was very interesting) and an ad (or as they say public service announcement) from Philip Morris. I've seen a lot of ads to help the public image of companies but this one took the cake.
Philip Morris TV Ads
I saw the last one on the list. The following statements are made in this ad:
A) cigarette Smoking and disease
B) There is no Safe cigarette
C) cigarette smoking is addictive
D) ...smoking cause lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema...
E) To reduce the health effects of smoking, the best thing to do is quit
So at first glance I was actually surprised to see a former tobacco company giant paying money to air a public service message telling people not to buy their product.
Then I realized something, the whole thing is about cigarette smoking. They never said tobacco. They never mentioned the tongue, throat, and stomach cancers that tobacco chewers are almost certain to get at some time.
Clever.
Philip Morris TV Ads
I saw the last one on the list. The following statements are made in this ad:
A) cigarette Smoking and disease
B) There is no Safe cigarette
C) cigarette smoking is addictive
D) ...smoking cause lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema...
E) To reduce the health effects of smoking, the best thing to do is quit
So at first glance I was actually surprised to see a former tobacco company giant paying money to air a public service message telling people not to buy their product.
Then I realized something, the whole thing is about cigarette smoking. They never said tobacco. They never mentioned the tongue, throat, and stomach cancers that tobacco chewers are almost certain to get at some time.
Clever.
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Now for something new
So time for something new. A new article about a monkey in Israel that is walking exclusively upright. The part of the article is that some experts think it is brain damage that has caused this behaviour.
But needless to say it is unusual.
But needless to say it is unusual.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Dance Remixed
So what happens when you take a fast paced dance song and remix into a trance song?
Something really freaky.
The song in question was Laura Brangian's Self Control. The remix was on Digital Importated - Vocal Trance 3:40pm EST July 20th 2004 by Vengeance featuring E-LA.
Something really freaky.
The song in question was Laura Brangian's Self Control. The remix was on Digital Importated - Vocal Trance 3:40pm EST July 20th 2004 by Vengeance featuring E-LA.
Monday, July 19, 2004
Of cookies and ads
So I was visiting IMDB and happened to stumble onto Ice-T's biography page when I notice on the side there is an ad for AOL. Such an occurrence is not particularly unusual of course but the random picture of some photogenic subject was none other than Mariska Hargitay who happens to co-star with Ice-T in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
So was the ad a coincidence or another form of targeted marketing?
By the way I took a screenshot to prove this.
So was the ad a coincidence or another form of targeted marketing?
By the way I took a screenshot to prove this.
Thoughts on the Matrix
Okay so not much on the Matrix but more on the main character as he was cast. If you could replace Keanu with anybody who would he be?
Background information regarding this question: This afternoon a co-worker and I were discussing the possibility of displaying information directly in the eyeball or on the optic nerve. And of course I thought about "information overload" from Johnny Mnemonic. And of course saying "you know one of those bad Keanu Reeves movies" didn't help remind anybody of the movie I was thinking of. Thus given the "only" (in quotes as that is the best consensus here at the moment) movie he has played in was the Matrix, thus the question of a replacement was born.
And I am thinking Ed Norton. I know at first it is kind of hard to wrap your brain around but think about movies like American History X or Fight Club.
Thoughts anyone?
Background information regarding this question: This afternoon a co-worker and I were discussing the possibility of displaying information directly in the eyeball or on the optic nerve. And of course I thought about "information overload" from Johnny Mnemonic. And of course saying "you know one of those bad Keanu Reeves movies" didn't help remind anybody of the movie I was thinking of. Thus given the "only" (in quotes as that is the best consensus here at the moment) movie he has played in was the Matrix, thus the question of a replacement was born.
And I am thinking Ed Norton. I know at first it is kind of hard to wrap your brain around but think about movies like American History X or Fight Club.
Thoughts anyone?
Friday, July 16, 2004
Sinuses
So some of you probably will not understand this...but right now I have so much sinus pressure in my head I can hear the difference in my monitor when it is displaying disproportionately large amounts of one color, for instance blue vs say white.
Then again earlier this afternoon I was suffering from light and shiny/sharp object sensitivity (I lump them together cause I haven't figured out if they are related to other things).
All of this simply from gas pressing outward, trying to escape its confinement in little tiny cavities in my head.
Then again earlier this afternoon I was suffering from light and shiny/sharp object sensitivity (I lump them together cause I haven't figured out if they are related to other things).
All of this simply from gas pressing outward, trying to escape its confinement in little tiny cavities in my head.
In the News
So one of the news sources back home has run a few articles about a man who has just been released from prison after 7 years for a crime he didn't commit. One thing that really stuck me in this particular article is that while parolees have access to state services such as job placement, training, and counseling, a person wrongly convicted and exonerated does not.
While this guy received payment from the state of approximately 40000 a year he lost, that came after a great fight. Given how few people are ever proven innocent of a crime later I don't really understand the justification of denying those services to someone, whom now likely has a good reason to become a criminal except for it not being in his personality to commit crimes.
Note: I have no interest in getting into an argument about the existence of services to criminals, everybody should easily know what my opinions regarding that issue.
While this guy received payment from the state of approximately 40000 a year he lost, that came after a great fight. Given how few people are ever proven innocent of a crime later I don't really understand the justification of denying those services to someone, whom now likely has a good reason to become a criminal except for it not being in his personality to commit crimes.
Note: I have no interest in getting into an argument about the existence of services to criminals, everybody should easily know what my opinions regarding that issue.
Monday, July 12, 2004
Thoughts while driving
So I was driving along and listening to XM8 (the 80s station) when "White Lines" by Duran Duran came on. Of course it was an unusual mix and it was being played as part of a DJ set, but during the song I couldn't help thinking that whoever wrote it must have been under the influence of soemthing so I decided to look up the lyrics. And here they are.
About the time the line up your nose or through your veins comes along its pretty clear its a drug song. Considering stations have taken to bleeping words like 45 (as in colt 45), green, and stacks from "What it's like" by Everlast I wonder how this song made it to the air intact.
Of course if you want to hear some really weird music, radio stations still play "I am the walrus" by the Beatles. Now that song is really messed up.
White! Ooh-white! White! Ooh-white!
White! Ooh-white! White! Ooh-white!
(White Lines)
Vision dreams of passion
(Going through my mind)
And all the while I think of you
(Pipeline)
A very strange reaction
(Yours to unwind)
The more I see, the more I do
Something of a phenomenon,
Telling your body to come along
Cause White Lines blow away
Blow! Rock! Blow!
Ticket to ride a white-line highway
tell all your friends they can go my way
Pay your toll, sell your soul
pound for pound it costs more than gold
The longer you stay, the more you pay
my white lines go a long way
Either up your nose or through your vein
with nothing to gain except killing your brain
(chorus)
Pipeline (pure as the driven snow)
connected to my mind
(and now I'm having fun, baby!)
Highrise (it's getting kind of low)
'cause it makes you feel so nice
(I need some one on one, baby!)
Tell me it'll blow your mind away (baby)
going to your little hideaway
'Cause white lines (what do white lines do?)
blow away
Blow! - Rock! - Blow!
A million magic crystals painted pure and white
A multi-million dollars almost overnight
Twice as sweet as sugar, twice as bitter as salt
And if you get hooked baby,
it's nobody else's fault - so don't do it!
(chorus)
(Don't you get too high)
Don't you get too high, baby
(It turns you on)
You really turn me on and on
(Can't you ever come down)
My temperature is rising
('Til the thrill is gone)
No, I don't want you to go
A street kid gets arrested, gonna do some time
He got out three years from now
just to commit more crime
A businessman is caught with twenty four kilos
He's out on bail, and out of jail,
and that's the way it goes!
Cane! Sugar! Cane! Sugar! Cane!
Athletes reject it - governors correct it
Gangsters, punks, and smugglers are
thoroughly respected
The money gets divided - the women get excited
Now I'm broke and it's no joke
it's hard as hell to fight it - don't buy it!
(chorus)
Freeze! (say rock, come on y'all)
Rock (say freeze, come on!)
Freeze! (say rock, come on y'all)
Rock (say freeze, come on!)
Freeze! (say rock, come on y'all)
Rock (say freeze, come on!)
Freeze! (say rock, come on y'all)
Rock (say freeze, come on!)
Aaaaah...
Higher baby, get higher baby, get higher baby
and don't ever come down... Free base!
About the time the line up your nose or through your veins comes along its pretty clear its a drug song. Considering stations have taken to bleeping words like 45 (as in colt 45), green, and stacks from "What it's like" by Everlast I wonder how this song made it to the air intact.
Of course if you want to hear some really weird music, radio stations still play "I am the walrus" by the Beatles. Now that song is really messed up.
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Just in time for the Fourth.
So for today I managed to do two things of great significance
A) Call my boss stupid to his face by accident.
B) Get a burning circuit board on video.
So background on both of these incidents. My boss and I were having a polite discussion about several options about how we could possibly get around a certain company and their really annoying (illegally obtained in my opinion) patent of which they have come out and tried to strong arm us by saying they would vigorously defend their intellectual property (they obtained the patent by not disclosing approximately 10 years of prior art to the patent office). Anyhow my boss made the comment that perhaps we could license the rights to use their idea and have them make approximately $10 worth of harnesses for us. I said this sounded like a really stupid idea because of how poor the CEO of the company has treated us (the largest producer of our product). The response to this was, "Well don't go saying that cause it was my idea".
I am not all that particularly worried about this issue because so far every idea that has gone out and come back eventually comes back the original ideas I had set forth and implemented, and had later had to change. This so far has been a large waste of my time and the company's money. These ideas and changes have, of course, come from above both my boss and myself so we both feel equally annoyed and stressed by the lack of foresight our superiors seem to survive on.
So for the second item on the list I actually have several things to show. The story is that this is the only power handling board on my current project and since this project is being forced out of the door faster than I have time to work on it, occasionally I don't get a chance to go through it with a fine tooth comb. Also because there is no pin length associated with ports on a hierarchical block in OrCAD Capture there can be a line between those two pins without it being visible to the designer. Thus what has happened here is the output of two relays were tied together unintentionally, one of which is normally at battery positive voltage, and the other at battery ground. Hence flames ensued.
My coworker of course noticed that things started to sizzle on the board as soon as he plugged it in and was fast enough to pull power before any damage was done. So the first photograph I have is of the internal power plane delamination due to excessive heat because of the current being passed through this trace (approximately 100A to begin with).
I, feeling somewhat irresponsible this afternoon decided that we should connect it back up to the battery and see if we can clear the fault so I don't have to cut into the board to remove the offending trace. I also of course remembered that my digital camera had a video mode. Thus I present you with:
Board on Fire (505kB Windows Media)
And no I have not seen the movie Man on Fire, despite wanting to. And I meant no copyright infrigement by labeling my short snippet similarly. Perhaps I will buy the DVD when it hits Walmart's $5.50 bin.
Just for comparison's sake I also took a photograph of the same board after significant charring
I feel accomplished today.
A) Call my boss stupid to his face by accident.
B) Get a burning circuit board on video.
So background on both of these incidents. My boss and I were having a polite discussion about several options about how we could possibly get around a certain company and their really annoying (illegally obtained in my opinion) patent of which they have come out and tried to strong arm us by saying they would vigorously defend their intellectual property (they obtained the patent by not disclosing approximately 10 years of prior art to the patent office). Anyhow my boss made the comment that perhaps we could license the rights to use their idea and have them make approximately $10 worth of harnesses for us. I said this sounded like a really stupid idea because of how poor the CEO of the company has treated us (the largest producer of our product). The response to this was, "Well don't go saying that cause it was my idea".
I am not all that particularly worried about this issue because so far every idea that has gone out and come back eventually comes back the original ideas I had set forth and implemented, and had later had to change. This so far has been a large waste of my time and the company's money. These ideas and changes have, of course, come from above both my boss and myself so we both feel equally annoyed and stressed by the lack of foresight our superiors seem to survive on.
So for the second item on the list I actually have several things to show. The story is that this is the only power handling board on my current project and since this project is being forced out of the door faster than I have time to work on it, occasionally I don't get a chance to go through it with a fine tooth comb. Also because there is no pin length associated with ports on a hierarchical block in OrCAD Capture there can be a line between those two pins without it being visible to the designer. Thus what has happened here is the output of two relays were tied together unintentionally, one of which is normally at battery positive voltage, and the other at battery ground. Hence flames ensued.
My coworker of course noticed that things started to sizzle on the board as soon as he plugged it in and was fast enough to pull power before any damage was done. So the first photograph I have is of the internal power plane delamination due to excessive heat because of the current being passed through this trace (approximately 100A to begin with).
I, feeling somewhat irresponsible this afternoon decided that we should connect it back up to the battery and see if we can clear the fault so I don't have to cut into the board to remove the offending trace. I also of course remembered that my digital camera had a video mode. Thus I present you with:
Board on Fire (505kB Windows Media)
And no I have not seen the movie Man on Fire, despite wanting to. And I meant no copyright infrigement by labeling my short snippet similarly. Perhaps I will buy the DVD when it hits Walmart's $5.50 bin.
Just for comparison's sake I also took a photograph of the same board after significant charring
I feel accomplished today.
Quiz Again
Funky quiz time. Hrm, doesn't really make much sense but oh well. Boston is cool though, for a city.
Take the quiz: "What Part of America should you be from?"
North East
A little snobby yet sleek is very you. You take things slow and steady and dont like change. You can be very stuck up but are nice most of the time.
But the alternative if I change my color is:
Take the quiz: "What Part of America should you be from?"
North West
You are the great person everyone loves. You hate the spotlight but love people at the same time. You are generous and loving.
I just don't particularly have any favorite colors. So I blame the choices on randomness.
Take the quiz: "What Part of America should you be from?"
North East
A little snobby yet sleek is very you. You take things slow and steady and dont like change. You can be very stuck up but are nice most of the time.
But the alternative if I change my color is:
Take the quiz: "What Part of America should you be from?"
North West
You are the great person everyone loves. You hate the spotlight but love people at the same time. You are generous and loving.
I just don't particularly have any favorite colors. So I blame the choices on randomness.
Monday, June 28, 2004
Movie Grosses
Too bad a few more people didn't go see White Chicks on sunday keeping the moment from saturday. If they had it would have outsold the Michael Moore chunky hurl Fahrenheit 9/11. As it stands White Chicks took in $19.6 million against Fahrenheit 9/11's $23.9 million after they tallied in another $2 million (that for some reason wasn't tallied in?).
Oh well my keyboard is almost dead and I need to find batteries for it so I must stop here...
Oh well my keyboard is almost dead and I need to find batteries for it so I must stop here...
Invitations
So I've discovered that as a gmail user I can invite others to join up as well.
So I guess to share the love, so to speak, leave a comment if you want one and I will send you an invite.
So I guess to share the love, so to speak, leave a comment if you want one and I will send you an invite.
Friday, June 25, 2004
Warning Signs
This is a warning sign that I came across today:
Warning: Some experts report that prolonged use of any *DEVICE NAME DELETED* could cause serious injury. Please refer to usage statement in user manual.
Take a wild guess what device this sticker was found on?
Ready?
My new keyboard. Yes a computer keyboard can be hazardous to your health.
*Editor's Note* I need something to scream at me whenever I post without using verbs. For those who read this post before I edited it, I appologize.
Warning: Some experts report that prolonged use of any *DEVICE NAME DELETED* could cause serious injury. Please refer to usage statement in user manual.
Take a wild guess what device this sticker was found on?
Ready?
My new keyboard. Yes a computer keyboard can be hazardous to your health.
*Editor's Note* I need something to scream at me whenever I post without using verbs. For those who read this post before I edited it, I appologize.
The state of blogging
So when I started blogging I had the choice to go with a livejournal or to use blogger (or for that matter misc other systems). I chose blogger even though I knew fewer people using it because the people behind it seemed to be on top of things. That stated I will say the following:
I am going to stop reading all LiveJournals until LiveJournal gets their act together and stops being retardedly slow with massive DNS problems.
That means I will shortly be changing links back to folks that also use alternatives (Yes I use my own blog as a bookmark for all other blogs/journals I read).
I am going to stop reading all LiveJournals until LiveJournal gets their act together and stops being retardedly slow with massive DNS problems.
That means I will shortly be changing links back to folks that also use alternatives (Yes I use my own blog as a bookmark for all other blogs/journals I read).
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
I'm a-l-i-v-e!!!!
So today we had our health screening at work. I learned that I don't have high colesterol, I'm 5' 10", 179 lbs, and 15% of me doesn't do anything.
And I have a sore finger where they squeezed out more blood than what would, of its own will, come out.
And I have a sore finger where they squeezed out more blood than what would, of its own will, come out.
Thursday, June 10, 2004
So a co-worker has writen a nicely writen amusing monologue about our new Wellness program so I won't go into it here because I doubt I could do as well a job. However, I have one thought:
When will they put valves on our chest so they can let out our blood when they feel like it?
(Yes Nate, I was thinking dune)
When will they put valves on our chest so they can let out our blood when they feel like it?
(Yes Nate, I was thinking dune)
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Guadalcanal Epitaph
And when he gets to Heaven
To Saint Peter he will tell.
One more soldier reporting, Sir
I've served my time in Hell!
The author is always listed as unknown.
For some reason it seemed rather fitting for the events of late.
To Saint Peter he will tell.
One more soldier reporting, Sir
I've served my time in Hell!
The author is always listed as unknown.
For some reason it seemed rather fitting for the events of late.
The State of Our Economy
I am very confident that the United States economy is recovering. I am both happy about this and very afraid. Happy because well a good economy is good for us right? Afraid because Price Inflation is ready to raise its ugly head.
Why?
Because electronic components I used to be able to get in 2 weeks in September now will take me 30 weeks. Some of these are commodity level items. This frightens me. At this moment chip fabs averaged out are all above the 90% usage mark. New plants start getting built around the 85% mark. Not many new plants have been made, thus I think the price of parts will rise, and then inflation is evident.
And then we have a job problem because people's salaries don't go up with inflation. I am confident that our fearless leader of all things money, Allen Greenspan, will not let inflation out of control. But 30 week leadtime parts become a huge headache for me at work.
In other news I've receive several responses from recruiters of a resume I posted to monster over a year ago. Scary. Why? Because one of them was from an insurance firm for a sales position, in which I learned that insurance companies do buy people's souls to sell more insurance. Starting salary for an insurance salesman with absolutely no experience whatsoever was 75k + benefits.
Too bad I actually care about my soul.
Why?
Because electronic components I used to be able to get in 2 weeks in September now will take me 30 weeks. Some of these are commodity level items. This frightens me. At this moment chip fabs averaged out are all above the 90% usage mark. New plants start getting built around the 85% mark. Not many new plants have been made, thus I think the price of parts will rise, and then inflation is evident.
And then we have a job problem because people's salaries don't go up with inflation. I am confident that our fearless leader of all things money, Allen Greenspan, will not let inflation out of control. But 30 week leadtime parts become a huge headache for me at work.
In other news I've receive several responses from recruiters of a resume I posted to monster over a year ago. Scary. Why? Because one of them was from an insurance firm for a sales position, in which I learned that insurance companies do buy people's souls to sell more insurance. Starting salary for an insurance salesman with absolutely no experience whatsoever was 75k + benefits.
Too bad I actually care about my soul.
Things of Late
So I've been working on MildlyRetarded.com and it's gradually turning into something. I got moveabletype installed on it today, now I just have to modify the blog to my liking.
*There was an interlude during the writing of this blog post that involved me going to the gas station because my keyboard ran out of batteries*
(Wireless is good for some things... I'm starting to wonder about its use in computer peripherals)
Anyhow, I also had to move over swmuseum.org from where it was pointing for the couple years because my registrar for it had locked it to keep it from getting transferred fraudently. Thankfully, illegal domain transfer happen far less frequently than when they first deregulated the process. But all I had to do was send them an email. Pretty simple really. Just unexpected in my mind, since I was thinking of how much information they should have been asking me for.
A friend has also asked me to host their domain on my server. Thats right Kim, send me an email so I can do the nitty gritty details. See movabletype works!
:)
*There was an interlude during the writing of this blog post that involved me going to the gas station because my keyboard ran out of batteries*
(Wireless is good for some things... I'm starting to wonder about its use in computer peripherals)
Anyhow, I also had to move over swmuseum.org from where it was pointing for the couple years because my registrar for it had locked it to keep it from getting transferred fraudently. Thankfully, illegal domain transfer happen far less frequently than when they first deregulated the process. But all I had to do was send them an email. Pretty simple really. Just unexpected in my mind, since I was thinking of how much information they should have been asking me for.
A friend has also asked me to host their domain on my server. Thats right Kim, send me an email so I can do the nitty gritty details. See movabletype works!
:)
Hump-Day
So today is Wednesday, halfway done for this week. Not that is any consolation to me, since we have the stupid wellness stuff going on (maybe I'll elaborate, maybe not). But one of the things that has really begun to get on my nerves are these "Time sheets". See while we're paid hourly and must still clock in, engineering has these printouts from MS Project that we must log our hours on.
Well there are several problems with this. I work on so many different projects in one day I can't keep track of which 5 minute block of time I spent where, so I just guessimate the number of hours on some random project and put it there. This is the most common method of filling out these timesheets. The second problem is that the project actually in MS Project is a total abomination. Its a series of functional requirements and random misc tasks. There is no structure to it whatsoever and thus putting hours into anything is totally worthless because you still can't find out what you're supposed to be working on and where you're at.
Well there are several problems with this. I work on so many different projects in one day I can't keep track of which 5 minute block of time I spent where, so I just guessimate the number of hours on some random project and put it there. This is the most common method of filling out these timesheets. The second problem is that the project actually in MS Project is a total abomination. Its a series of functional requirements and random misc tasks. There is no structure to it whatsoever and thus putting hours into anything is totally worthless because you still can't find out what you're supposed to be working on and where you're at.
Friday, June 04, 2004
Jaded
So was the world always this stupid and we've just grown up to notice it or have things really been getting out of hand lately?
Friday, May 28, 2004
Don't tell me I can't do it.
Okay so I'm not planning on mentioning names right now. Well I guess it wouldn't hurt but I don't know if this could ever get read by peoples I wouldn't want reading it.
Anyway, that trip to Detroit was not that exciting but the highlights are thus:
A) Succeeded in pissing off Big-Three-Auto-Maker-#1 by telling them about patent by podunk little interlock company that we don't like.
B) May have succeeded in pounding the concept into Big-Three-Auto-Maker-#2's head that we do not splice wires, nor do we plan to. This also made Competitor-#2 look horrendously bad.
C) Getting told that we can not ever tap into Big-Three-Auto-Maker-#2's CAN bus system in their minivans, in fact we have to use some third party gateway.
D) Nobody actually does any work in the united states anymore. It is all outsourcing, and thus nobody knows how anything works and it takes them forever to integrate it. Then they have to create rules that make our life harder because we know more about their system than they do. Except we're missing the full documentation so have to do things in convoluted ways.
Item C is the major peeve for me and a co-worker. See we've already done the majority of the work associated with said interface. In fact Big-Three-Auto-Maker-#2 doesn't plan on using it until the 2007 model year and we figure we can get it done in 6 months. In fact we feel so confident in our abilities we think we can kick out a gateway even faster than the third party we would have to buy one from.
Anyway, that trip to Detroit was not that exciting but the highlights are thus:
A) Succeeded in pissing off Big-Three-Auto-Maker-#1 by telling them about patent by podunk little interlock company that we don't like.
B) May have succeeded in pounding the concept into Big-Three-Auto-Maker-#2's head that we do not splice wires, nor do we plan to. This also made Competitor-#2 look horrendously bad.
C) Getting told that we can not ever tap into Big-Three-Auto-Maker-#2's CAN bus system in their minivans, in fact we have to use some third party gateway.
D) Nobody actually does any work in the united states anymore. It is all outsourcing, and thus nobody knows how anything works and it takes them forever to integrate it. Then they have to create rules that make our life harder because we know more about their system than they do. Except we're missing the full documentation so have to do things in convoluted ways.
Item C is the major peeve for me and a co-worker. See we've already done the majority of the work associated with said interface. In fact Big-Three-Auto-Maker-#2 doesn't plan on using it until the 2007 model year and we figure we can get it done in 6 months. In fact we feel so confident in our abilities we think we can kick out a gateway even faster than the third party we would have to buy one from.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Somebody should burn in hell.
Read this
Then join me in a moment of libertarian outrage.
I have no words to describe my feelings regarding this issue. Since when did the consitution grant the government the ability to legislate how one could provide a service or write their EULA?
Then join me in a moment of libertarian outrage.
I have no words to describe my feelings regarding this issue. Since when did the consitution grant the government the ability to legislate how one could provide a service or write their EULA?
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
$1790 for a ticket?
So some of you all probably know how much I absolutely adore sports. Yah there was a healthy dose of sarcasm there. So the story is I have to go to Detroit for an hour meeting with ford followed by a meeting with chrysler the very next day.
But lo and behold the pacers and pistons have a playoff game that night.
That purple line is 2.5 miles long.
Can you say madhouse?
But lo and behold the pacers and pistons have a playoff game that night.
That purple line is 2.5 miles long.
Can you say madhouse?
Monday, May 24, 2004
Blah....
Sorry nothing exciting today. Just this:
From Go-Quiz.com
| LOOK OUT! ïòð |
| bryguyh is a radioactive squirrel!! |
From Go-Quiz.com
Friday, May 21, 2004
Sure that's what it means
So Cisco has released that they are currently working on a system to link together current high performance Cisco routers together to create massively paralleled routers that move data faster than ever before.
They've code-named the system HFR, supposedly standing for Huge Fast Router.
Anybody think "Fast" was the word the engineers were thinking of when they came up with the TLA?
I didn't think so either.
They've code-named the system HFR, supposedly standing for Huge Fast Router.
Anybody think "Fast" was the word the engineers were thinking of when they came up with the TLA?
I didn't think so either.
Dust to Dust....
So I read an acticle talking about how Microsoft wants to get in on the blogging thing. As I was reading this article I got to thinking that for me to get my work done I notice that I end up turning to the web-browser a lot. In fact Mozilla or IE can be pretty much the sole interface needed for a computer. Every tool you could think of can be found on the web. It harkens back to the day of the command prompt as your sole interface. Now it's the address bar.
I wonder what's next.
I wonder what's next.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Sunday Sunday Sunday
So I got burned by the indiana blue laws again today. See I don't end up going grocery shopping until sunday it seems. So I'm planning on cooking myself some pasta and probably chicken parmasan and it would be really nice to have some wine to go with it. So I was at the store and picked out a nice merlot and was checking out when whammy the cashier reminded me that I live in Indiana.
In honor of that I'll post some of the things you can't do in Indiana:
I like this one a lot:
In honor of that I'll post some of the things you can't do in Indiana:
It is unlawful to dispense alcoholic beverages on Christmas Day. It is also unlawful to dispense alcoholic beverages for "carry-out" on New Years Day. Furthermore, it is unlawful to dispense alcoholic beverages on Primary, General Election, or Special Election Days within the precincts where the special election is being conducted while the polls are open (see attached rule). (IC 7.1-5-10-1)
Monday - Saturday, the legal hours for the dispensing of alcoholic beverages are 7:00AM to 3:00AM (IC 7.1-3-1-14). Sunday sales begin at 12:00 noon and end at 12:30AM (for premises with Sunday permits) Those businesses possessing Sunday permits who are Hotels or have been ATC-approved for "Limited Separation" (IC 7.1-3-1-12(c)) may dispense alcoholic beverages on Sunday starting at 11:00AM and ending at 12:30AM (local prevailing time).
Retailer permittees may allow the consumption of alcoholic beverages for a period of thirty minutes after the legal dispensing hours only if the alcoholic beverages to be consumed were purchased and received by the consumer before the applicable times (see above hours) to stop the dispensing of alcoholic beverages. After this thirty minute period, all containers that have previously had alcoholic beverages in them must be cleared from the tables, counters, bars, etc. (905 IAC 1-10-1)
I like this one a lot:
It is a criminal offense to sell or furnish alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated person. In addition, the provider may experience cival liabilities if death or injury, even to a third party, occurs as a result of the act. (IC 7.1-5-10-15)
War III
So I was playing a little warcraft III on battle.net tonight and I came across something very sleazy. So there was this dude (RNu-LordZeebler if you want to beat him up too) that after a very very failed peon rush on my base (I very nearly have my undead sequence perfect for the first oh 5 minutes) he would pause the game, claiming that his dad wanted him to mow the lawn.
First problem, I'm on a us-east server. It was 11pm Chicago time meaning that the sun was well down. So I figure he's trying to get the win by me getting annoyed and leaving. So I hit resume, he yells at me saying he needs to mow the lawn...oh and get gas with his dad. At this point in time I was getting really annoyed and there was no way I was going to give up the win just so I wouldn't have to deal with the turd. I proceeded to tell him what I thought he was up to. He's like no dude I wouldn't do anything like that at all. So I told him that in 15 minutes if didn't say anything I was going to resume the game and nuke him.
So he's still trying to pretend to need to mow the lawn and 15 minutes go by at which point he comes back and asks if I'm around. I of course know what he's thinking so I don't respond. He asks again, resumes the game then quickly repauses. He asks if I'm around again and then a fourth time. He then resumes again and starts moving troops towards my base. He of course just burned his three timeouts so I came up from behind his base and proceeded to lay waste to it while he was protesting how cheap the tactic was despite me informing him that he resumed the game when I wasn't around.
Dweeb.
I felt righteous in my smiteage.
First problem, I'm on a us-east server. It was 11pm Chicago time meaning that the sun was well down. So I figure he's trying to get the win by me getting annoyed and leaving. So I hit resume, he yells at me saying he needs to mow the lawn...oh and get gas with his dad. At this point in time I was getting really annoyed and there was no way I was going to give up the win just so I wouldn't have to deal with the turd. I proceeded to tell him what I thought he was up to. He's like no dude I wouldn't do anything like that at all. So I told him that in 15 minutes if didn't say anything I was going to resume the game and nuke him.
So he's still trying to pretend to need to mow the lawn and 15 minutes go by at which point he comes back and asks if I'm around. I of course know what he's thinking so I don't respond. He asks again, resumes the game then quickly repauses. He asks if I'm around again and then a fourth time. He then resumes again and starts moving troops towards my base. He of course just burned his three timeouts so I came up from behind his base and proceeded to lay waste to it while he was protesting how cheap the tactic was despite me informing him that he resumed the game when I wasn't around.
Dweeb.
I felt righteous in my smiteage.
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Phases
Okay so I seriously think I have a problem with one of the phases the power company has hooked up to my house since only a couple circuits from time to time stop working. However now my dryer doesn't work and the phase hasn't come back in several hours. So I guess I'll finally be getting my ass in gear and upgrading to 200A service this next week.
(Cause the breaker box looks awfull and instead of having them come see it I'll just have them disconnect, then I'll do all the wiring and when 'they hook it back up if I still have a phase missing then it means the problem is up at the transformer)
*Update*
Turns out that the wires feeding my breaker pannel are like a hop and a jump away from totally coroding away and why the one phase is going out is because it is loose in the terminal block. Very uncool, so taking an insulated screwdriver to tighten things up just seemed to break off little bits of wire and shoot sparks everywhere....very very ummmmmm.... cool for a spectator, but I'm not a fan of sparks. So while I've been meaning to do it for a while, I could very well end up upgrading that monday.
(Cause the breaker box looks awfull and instead of having them come see it I'll just have them disconnect, then I'll do all the wiring and when 'they hook it back up if I still have a phase missing then it means the problem is up at the transformer)
*Update*
Turns out that the wires feeding my breaker pannel are like a hop and a jump away from totally coroding away and why the one phase is going out is because it is loose in the terminal block. Very uncool, so taking an insulated screwdriver to tighten things up just seemed to break off little bits of wire and shoot sparks everywhere....very very ummmmmm.... cool for a spectator, but I'm not a fan of sparks. So while I've been meaning to do it for a while, I could very well end up upgrading that monday.
Friday, May 14, 2004
...never there
Why do I see your face behind the wheel of every car?
Why do I see you in every person I see out of the corner of my eye?
Why do I see you in every person I see out of the corner of my eye?
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Awesomeness
New Computer!!!!! New Computer!!!!! New Computer!!!!! New Computer!!!!!
More information will be provided tomorrow when I'm done with the IPC-A-610 Training CRAP!
More information will be provided tomorrow when I'm done with the IPC-A-610 Training CRAP!
Monday, May 10, 2004
Sunday, May 09, 2004
BBQ
Okay I haven't posted any of my favorite lyrics recently so I don't feel bad about this post. This song is by the 2 Skinnee J's and is called BBQ. Actually they played my school once, my friend's band Citizen's Arrest openned for them. But for some reason summer made me think of it.
Lets get this party started,
I've got the gas grilled started.
I wanna see your weenie shrivel
I wanna see your burgers burnt .
I wanna see you toast your buns,
toast your buns on my deck tonight.
I've got the gas grilled started
so lets get this party started.
Pump up the gas grill
pump it up,
while the flame is jumping.
Pump up the gas grill
pump it up,
BLUE FLAME.
Outside in the backyard,
underneath the trees,
We're gonna grill it up
cuz we've got burgers
we've got weenies.
We got the Aunt May
and the Uncle Bob
we've got
the green peas
and the corn on the cob,
yes the line, the line,
the line is very long
and my brother,
my brother he's a slob.
The food is piping hot,
the beer is icy cold,
the coleslaw’s from the deli
and the Jell-O’s in the mold
Dip your chip in my dip, dip
Dip your chip in my dip,
Dip your chip in my
Dip your chip in my
Dip your chip in my dip, dip
Pump up the gas grill,
get it going ya,
gotta get the propane full
the coals are hot
the mother fucker grills so
pump up the gas grill, get it goin
The citronellas burning,
the refrigerators stocked
and the bug zapper is zapping
So this BBQ will ROCK
all in line
for the beanies and the weenies
yes the line is long
but the portions ain't teeny all
in line for the beanies and the weenies
yes the line is long but the portions ain't teeny
Come on, kick it,
grill it,
I don't care if you spill it cuz we're outside,
we're outside, we're OUTSIDE!
Got the rip ripple chips,
and onion dip
Got the rip ripple chips,
and onion dip
Got the rip ripple chips,
and onion dip
Got the rip ripple chips,
and onion dip
Pump up the gas grill
pump up the gas grill
Toast your buns on my deck tonight
Toast your buns on my deck tonight
Toast your buns on my
Toast your buns on my
Toast your buns on my deck tonight
Lets get this party started,
I've got the gas grilled started.
I wanna see your weenie shrivel
I wanna see your burgers burnt .
I wanna see you toast your buns,
toast your buns on my deck tonight.
I've got the gas grilled started
so lets get this party started.
Pump up the gas grill
pump it up,
while the flame is jumping.
Pump up the gas grill
pump it up,
BLUE FLAME.
Outside in the backyard,
underneath the trees,
We're gonna grill it up
cuz we've got burgers
we've got weenies.
We got the Aunt May
and the Uncle Bob
we've got
the green peas
and the corn on the cob,
yes the line, the line,
the line is very long
and my brother,
my brother he's a slob.
The food is piping hot,
the beer is icy cold,
the coleslaw’s from the deli
and the Jell-O’s in the mold
Dip your chip in my dip, dip
Dip your chip in my dip,
Dip your chip in my
Dip your chip in my
Dip your chip in my dip, dip
Pump up the gas grill,
get it going ya,
gotta get the propane full
the coals are hot
the mother fucker grills so
pump up the gas grill, get it goin
The citronellas burning,
the refrigerators stocked
and the bug zapper is zapping
So this BBQ will ROCK
all in line
for the beanies and the weenies
yes the line is long
but the portions ain't teeny all
in line for the beanies and the weenies
yes the line is long but the portions ain't teeny
Come on, kick it,
grill it,
I don't care if you spill it cuz we're outside,
we're outside, we're OUTSIDE!
Got the rip ripple chips,
and onion dip
Got the rip ripple chips,
and onion dip
Got the rip ripple chips,
and onion dip
Got the rip ripple chips,
and onion dip
Pump up the gas grill
pump up the gas grill
Toast your buns on my deck tonight
Toast your buns on my deck tonight
Toast your buns on my
Toast your buns on my
Toast your buns on my deck tonight
Saturday, May 08, 2004
Weekly Conclusion
So to elaborate on my Tuesday post. This week majorly sucked. But I don't particularly feel up to describing the entire week. I think I may come back and visit this post when I do. I just thought I'd make sure I gave some kind of closure to it.
Space Credits
So lets say you started to mine asteroids and built a shipyard in space to produce spacecraft. What do you do about an economy? Does it need to be Earth based? How do you prevent your company from ending up being like the coal mining or railroad companies of our history?
Friday, May 07, 2004
Email A Letter
You know what's really sad?
I'd be willing to spend 50 cents to send a letter if all I had to do was go to a website, type in a letter, and hit send.
Such a website would be majorly cool, and especially useful for folks like me who find it impossible to keep up handwritten correspondence.
I'd be willing to spend 50 cents to send a letter if all I had to do was go to a website, type in a letter, and hit send.
Such a website would be majorly cool, and especially useful for folks like me who find it impossible to keep up handwritten correspondence.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Dear Lord....
Its tuesday? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
This week sucks.
I think it's going to get worse.
I think my brain is going to need to be de-fraged after it.
My computer hasn't shipped yet, so I'm sad.
My $65k student loan payments start this month.
I need to write stuff up for the lawyers to read over to make sure what I'm working on at work is okay.
My registration on my vehicles is up this month.
Oh damn! I just remembered half yearly property taxes are due this month, I hope everything is taken care of in escrow.
I need to find a dry-cleaners I can trust before the end of the month.
1 year, 9 months, and 29 days before it's too late.
This week sucks.
I think it's going to get worse.
I think my brain is going to need to be de-fraged after it.
My computer hasn't shipped yet, so I'm sad.
My $65k student loan payments start this month.
I need to write stuff up for the lawyers to read over to make sure what I'm working on at work is okay.
My registration on my vehicles is up this month.
Oh damn! I just remembered half yearly property taxes are due this month, I hope everything is taken care of in escrow.
I need to find a dry-cleaners I can trust before the end of the month.
1 year, 9 months, and 29 days before it's too late.
Monday, May 03, 2004
Ah... The great outdoors
Bunus points if you know where that quote is from.
So I bought a new computer today, so that way I can play warcraft III more effectively. And where did I purchase said computer? TigerDirect? Buy.com? Dell? Gateway?
The Home Shopping Network
Thats right I bought it from HSN.com. Why? Becuase it was $600 less than Gateway was going to sell it to me for on their site. And it came with a 15" LCD and Lexmark Color printer/scanner. So there is about $300 worth of stuff to sell off which would get me close to paying half price, which is awesome.
What did I get?
A Gateway 901 Media PC
Processor:
3.0GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor with 800 Mhz, 512k level 2 cache and hyper-threading technology
Hard Drive:
120 GB Ultra ATA100 7200 rpm hard drive
Memory:
512 MB DDR SD-RAM memory
Optical Drive:
DVD+/-RW +/-R/CD-R/RW recorder all-in-one combo drive (DVD Burner/CD Burner combo drive)
Operating System:
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition
Additional Features & Specifications:
Integrated TV tuner, media center IR remote and receiver
6-in-1 memory card reader for Compact Flash I and II, Multimedia (MMC), Secure Digital (SD), Smart Media and Sony Memory Stick formats
128 MB NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200G with TV output graphics accelerator
4 USB 2.0 (2 in front and 2 in back), 4 IEEE 1394 FireWire, and 1 each 7.1 line out and SPDIFF optical out external ports
Integrated 10/100 ethernet
56K PCI data/fax modem
Gyration wireless keyboard and mouse
So I bought a new computer today, so that way I can play warcraft III more effectively. And where did I purchase said computer? TigerDirect? Buy.com? Dell? Gateway?
The Home Shopping Network
Thats right I bought it from HSN.com. Why? Becuase it was $600 less than Gateway was going to sell it to me for on their site. And it came with a 15" LCD and Lexmark Color printer/scanner. So there is about $300 worth of stuff to sell off which would get me close to paying half price, which is awesome.
What did I get?
A Gateway 901 Media PC
Processor:
3.0GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor with 800 Mhz, 512k level 2 cache and hyper-threading technology
Hard Drive:
120 GB Ultra ATA100 7200 rpm hard drive
Memory:
512 MB DDR SD-RAM memory
Optical Drive:
DVD+/-RW +/-R/CD-R/RW recorder all-in-one combo drive (DVD Burner/CD Burner combo drive)
Operating System:
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition
Additional Features & Specifications:
Integrated TV tuner, media center IR remote and receiver
6-in-1 memory card reader for Compact Flash I and II, Multimedia (MMC), Secure Digital (SD), Smart Media and Sony Memory Stick formats
128 MB NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200G with TV output graphics accelerator
4 USB 2.0 (2 in front and 2 in back), 4 IEEE 1394 FireWire, and 1 each 7.1 line out and SPDIFF optical out external ports
Integrated 10/100 ethernet
56K PCI data/fax modem
Gyration wireless keyboard and mouse
Friday, April 30, 2004
And the truth will set you free.
The CEO of Quest Communications Dick Notebaert has come out and in a truly amazing turn of events has told the rest of his industry that it "has to accept the fact that we are a commodity," but at the same time recognize that "commodity is not a bad word."
Why? Because Quest is the smallest of the baby bells, and while the others like BellSouth and SBC are blowing their profits in legal battles with the government that in the end will only be futile (anybody remember AT&T and GTE when they tried it?), Quest can already be negotiating deals and grabbing customers and networks when people get utterly fed up and start jumping off the sinking ship.
Not abusing the customer is not a new idea, in fact you've probably been hearing about "Do No Evil" which is one of Page and Brin's company mottos. Hopefully a new wave of honest hardworking CEOs is on its way.
Why? Because Quest is the smallest of the baby bells, and while the others like BellSouth and SBC are blowing their profits in legal battles with the government that in the end will only be futile (anybody remember AT&T and GTE when they tried it?), Quest can already be negotiating deals and grabbing customers and networks when people get utterly fed up and start jumping off the sinking ship.
Not abusing the customer is not a new idea, in fact you've probably been hearing about "Do No Evil" which is one of Page and Brin's company mottos. Hopefully a new wave of honest hardworking CEOs is on its way.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
A serious case of double O stOOpid
What do you do when somebody knows the rhetoric so well that you can't argue with them other than to come right out and tell them to stop being a hypocrite and do what they're talking about?
Today's show is brought to you by the letter....
So today's magical words and phrases are a) anal leakage, b) grogan load, c) once you start you can't stop, and finally d) purple.
Isn't lunch among friends wonderful?
Isn't lunch among friends wonderful?
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Public Power, Private Gain
Okay so abuses of eminent domain are getting worse and worse. Like in San Diego they are explicitly taking away a business and giving it to Marriott for a new hotel. This is not a blighted area. The business is an upscale cigar and coffee shop that had been there for years. The city has not even pretended to say its for a public works, it going to a private business. And the courts have said that its okay.
Current News Report
The previous news report with more detail
If fact when I searched google for eminent domain abuses I found out that there have been more than 10 THOUSAND documented cases of eminent domain abuses, blatantly illegal, that courts have refused to rule justly on.
I'm appalled.
Public Power, Private Gain: The Report '98-'02.
Goldwater Institute Article about the report.
Current News Report
The previous news report with more detail
If fact when I searched google for eminent domain abuses I found out that there have been more than 10 THOUSAND documented cases of eminent domain abuses, blatantly illegal, that courts have refused to rule justly on.
I'm appalled.
Public Power, Private Gain: The Report '98-'02.
Goldwater Institute Article about the report.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Walmart: One Stop Terrorist Supply
So this evening I went to get some needed supplies for myself (food) so I wouldn't have to go out for lunch again this week. While I do seem to be racking up overtime hours since I seem to be on every project and its bastard stepchild I don't want to waste them on extra lunches. Anyway, to continue my story I went to walmart as well as the grocery store. When I got back I noticed that the things I bought at walmart probably were a set of items that could be used in some fairly effective improvised munitions. While I actually purchased them for legitimate uses I just thought it was rather funny when I got home and thought about what else I could do with them.
Death and Taxes
Okay so this is my view of taxes. If use a service provided by a government entity than I will pay for it. If it is not provided I will not pay for it. In other words I will gladly pay federal taxes for military and government operations because I gain a benefit from being protected and having a stable government. The government is in no way involved with providing me the ability to use IM or buy something from Ebay. I am very angered by the prospect that many local and federal levels of government wish to start taxing IM and user transactions online. Luckily right now there are slightly more sane people than greedy bastards, but I'm sure that will change soon.
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Observation Post
So I was at my computer and turned around and looked outside and saw some movement in the woods, which turned out to be a group of deer (I wonder if they have a special term for them...maybe herd?), so of course I had to take a picture. So here it is: Deer.
Saturday, April 24, 2004
Quote Time
So its a really long quote but I have always really liked this quote, I think I first ran across it when I was 14 or so. And whenever you read a biography, no mater what the length, Hoover always comes across as very libertarian, and proof that when you get somebody honest in power after a period of corruption you end up with things falling apart. (Hoover came in and the stock market crashed because of government and big business corruption, more recently we had Bush come in and had huge number of business accounting scandals, my only wish is that Bush wasn't so pro large-strong central government).
Engineering ... it is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege.
The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned....
On the other hand, unlike the doctor his is not a life among the weak. Unlike the soldier, destruction is not his purpose. Unlike the lawyer, quarrels are not his daily bread. To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort, and hope. No doubt as years go by the people forget which engineer did it, even if they ever knew. Or some politician puts his name on it. Or they credit it to some promoter who used other people's money ... but the engineer himself looks back at the unending stream of goodness which flows from his successes with satisfactions that few professionals may know. And the verdict of his fellow professionals is all the accolade he wants.
--
Herbert Hoover 31st President of the United States
Friday, April 23, 2004
Hurah! for the dumb liberal media
So while a woman and her husband getting fired for publishing photos taken against federal law and company policy ran as a top story with even more photos from a website under the "freedom of information act" I propose the follow up to it should read "CNN, AP, Washington Post and other liberal sources made another blunder in their overzealous quest vilify the current administration"
The photos weren't of any military personnel, they were in fact the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
I dare you to try to find a correction or retraction from any new sources that published anything to do with the "US Military Servicemen Casket Photos". In fact the original site to post the photos has not even made a whisper alluding to the fact they are not "Casualties from Iraq"
I agree with the policy of not releasing photos quite strongly because I believe the families of those lost still have a right to say whether or not a photo containing their loved one, in any form, is to be released.
The photos weren't of any military personnel, they were in fact the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
I dare you to try to find a correction or retraction from any new sources that published anything to do with the "US Military Servicemen Casket Photos". In fact the original site to post the photos has not even made a whisper alluding to the fact they are not "Casualties from Iraq"
I agree with the policy of not releasing photos quite strongly because I believe the families of those lost still have a right to say whether or not a photo containing their loved one, in any form, is to be released.
Thursday, April 22, 2004
No Way!
Okay so I happened across these things and they are amazing. Go check out the PowerSkip they have videos there, pretty wild stuff is all I have to say.
As to review the day it was one of those days where despite what the world tried to do I was in far too good of a mood to let it get to me thus I managed to blast through everything that needed to get done, which means pushing through 4 different circuit board designs, coordinating part deliveries, and perfectly soldering a 100 pin 15 mil. TQFP. And I even managed to get a little bit of overtime in so if I felt like it I could leave early tomorrow. And when I got home every tree that I can see from my "sunroom" was green and absolutely gorgeous. Mind you two days ago they were still brown and barely even budding. Now all I have to have happen is for the rest of my life to move so well and look so pretty.
As to review the day it was one of those days where despite what the world tried to do I was in far too good of a mood to let it get to me thus I managed to blast through everything that needed to get done, which means pushing through 4 different circuit board designs, coordinating part deliveries, and perfectly soldering a 100 pin 15 mil. TQFP. And I even managed to get a little bit of overtime in so if I felt like it I could leave early tomorrow. And when I got home every tree that I can see from my "sunroom" was green and absolutely gorgeous. Mind you two days ago they were still brown and barely even budding. Now all I have to have happen is for the rest of my life to move so well and look so pretty.
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
I rule...
...something, somewhere, very small.
So today they painted yet again in the engineerin shop. I wonder if they will ever learn. Tim has a more indepth discussion of it from the last time they did it.
In other news because yours truly is a blogger he gets to try out Gmail. Since my yahoo account is sitting at about 50% capacity and I have to make sure the junk mail folder gets emptied routinely so I can still receive emails I think its really cool to have a full GB of space for my email. Ha, you thought I was going to list my email address here. Well if you know me you should be able to easily guess what it is. Or you could just ask me what it is.
Also running still sucks, but this time for a different reason. See back in the day, when I was still fit, running was an arduous task because my feet point outward slightly so my knees would ache after a short period of time. Now my legs and knees are fine but my lungs get sore. Majorly annoying. On the other hand I can do more pull-ups and sit-ups than I ever could before. Go figure. I been finding this getting back into shape after this seven years of college thing is not all that difficult to motivate myself to do whenever I think about the current work state and wish I was actually in Nuclear Power School.
So today they painted yet again in the engineerin shop. I wonder if they will ever learn. Tim has a more indepth discussion of it from the last time they did it.
In other news because yours truly is a blogger he gets to try out Gmail. Since my yahoo account is sitting at about 50% capacity and I have to make sure the junk mail folder gets emptied routinely so I can still receive emails I think its really cool to have a full GB of space for my email. Ha, you thought I was going to list my email address here. Well if you know me you should be able to easily guess what it is. Or you could just ask me what it is.
Also running still sucks, but this time for a different reason. See back in the day, when I was still fit, running was an arduous task because my feet point outward slightly so my knees would ache after a short period of time. Now my legs and knees are fine but my lungs get sore. Majorly annoying. On the other hand I can do more pull-ups and sit-ups than I ever could before. Go figure. I been finding this getting back into shape after this seven years of college thing is not all that difficult to motivate myself to do whenever I think about the current work state and wish I was actually in Nuclear Power School.
Friday, April 16, 2004
Ow! my TESTis!
So the utter lack of testing finally came up and bit us in the ass again. Not to my surprise except for the fact that the problem landed on my plate. Simply because I helped replace an expensive component with a lesser expensive one (to the tune of $30k a year) and I demanded the ability to test it. So 2 months later I have the ability to test it, and guess what? It doesn't work.
And to add insult to injury I have to stop the production of this item because, well to put it simply, it doesn't work.
All because it wasn't tested. I'm getting fed up with the whole process of rush rush rush, don't test, rush rush, don't test, Nothing works! Its happening on everything and I literally have half a dozen boards on my desk that have gone through this process and are just siting there waiting to be tested and yet they want to put them into production because they are siting on my desk.
So yah I feel like my balls are in a vise.
And to add insult to injury I have to stop the production of this item because, well to put it simply, it doesn't work.
All because it wasn't tested. I'm getting fed up with the whole process of rush rush rush, don't test, rush rush, don't test, Nothing works! Its happening on everything and I literally have half a dozen boards on my desk that have gone through this process and are just siting there waiting to be tested and yet they want to put them into production because they are siting on my desk.
So yah I feel like my balls are in a vise.
Monday, April 12, 2004
I did it for a reason
Okay so the only thing I have to say about today is this: If you change something on a schematic without me approving it I will not take responsibility for how wonderfully it fails. I can do my best to make sure your stupid changes don't make it through but in the future don't ever dare make a change to my design without my approval.
To explain my remarks the following is what happened.
A) An old design was updated by myself to make it use lower cost components. There were several resistors in the design, and since the design had been tested and is working in the field I left them the same.
B) Today I was asked to populate the new board and notice that the values seemed really wrong.
C) The following resistors were changed from my design (and hence the original) by the drafting guy without knowledge of it or approval from anybody else:
R2 was 240 ohms now 5.1 kilo-ohms: difference of 2000%
R6 was 750 ohms now 1.37 kilo-ohms: difference of 82%
R13 was 1 kilo-ohm now 1 ohm: difference of 100000%
R14 was 1.5 ohms now 1 ohm: difference of 50%
So it would definitely never work. And why the fuck did it ever change!? I mean come on how fucking hard is it to use the design I came up with instead of changing all the values. It actually takes a lot more work to change all the values because you have to go into the libraries and change each and every part. I mean the work all already done by me in the first place. So having to correct the print and send it back is really retarded.
Also changing part values is one thing, but lets say on a complex design, if a net were to change on me I would never be able to find it. I mean there has to be some accountablity in this and there just is none and it is driving me absolutely bonkers.
Editor's Note: Replacing the 1kohm part with a 1 ohm part would result in that one ohm part blowing clean off the board in a rather spectacular flash.
To explain my remarks the following is what happened.
A) An old design was updated by myself to make it use lower cost components. There were several resistors in the design, and since the design had been tested and is working in the field I left them the same.
B) Today I was asked to populate the new board and notice that the values seemed really wrong.
C) The following resistors were changed from my design (and hence the original) by the drafting guy without knowledge of it or approval from anybody else:
R2 was 240 ohms now 5.1 kilo-ohms: difference of 2000%
R6 was 750 ohms now 1.37 kilo-ohms: difference of 82%
R13 was 1 kilo-ohm now 1 ohm: difference of 100000%
R14 was 1.5 ohms now 1 ohm: difference of 50%
So it would definitely never work. And why the fuck did it ever change!? I mean come on how fucking hard is it to use the design I came up with instead of changing all the values. It actually takes a lot more work to change all the values because you have to go into the libraries and change each and every part. I mean the work all already done by me in the first place. So having to correct the print and send it back is really retarded.
Also changing part values is one thing, but lets say on a complex design, if a net were to change on me I would never be able to find it. I mean there has to be some accountablity in this and there just is none and it is driving me absolutely bonkers.
Editor's Note: Replacing the 1kohm part with a 1 ohm part would result in that one ohm part blowing clean off the board in a rather spectacular flash.
Saturday, April 10, 2004
*peon voice* Work Work Work */peon voice*
*Editor's Warning: Herein contains a rant, it has not been edited for content, colorful metaphors, or for the correct use of spelling and grammer
It will never cease to amaze me, the amount of work I do in two hours when there is nobody around is more than what I get done in a full work week with everybody there. With the paging system going off every two seconds because people are too fucking lazy to look at the ONE PAGE phone dirrectory that is in everybody's cube. And then theres the constant retarded banter from the drafting area, which is starting to get majorly annoying because thats where the bottleneck is so I just have to sit in my cube bored to tears because I did everything before anybody even asked for it because of this constant problem.
So excuse me for being proactive and finding problems then coming up with solutions and implimenting them before anybody even things about maybe asking if maybe this one thing isn't exactly right. At this point in time I just can't find enough stuff to even keep me looking busy because I'm getting held up on the slow drafting folks.
As for that thinking of things before hand the typical one is when I get asked if ______ controller could be put in ______ vehicle. Well I of course say that it was specifically designed for that vehicle. So then I get told to make up the harnesses for them. At this point I understand where the conversation is going so I stop, take a deep breath, count to 5, and let it all out. It went something like this: "The harnesses are already done, the harnesses are released, they have been tested, they even have earlier part numbers than the harness that are in there for what we are using now since the controller was designed for that specifically in mind and while we were distracted by putting in _____ other vehicle, everything is complete"
Of course what I was thinking was this: "Well duh! the only reason the current harnesses exist is because of a stupid cludge of a controller that we had to come up with so the manager of engineering could push out his dumb pet project that simply took away from the market share of our own product instead of the competiors and it should have waited till now because this controller was designed from the ground up to do the correct thing"
It will never cease to amaze me, the amount of work I do in two hours when there is nobody around is more than what I get done in a full work week with everybody there. With the paging system going off every two seconds because people are too fucking lazy to look at the ONE PAGE phone dirrectory that is in everybody's cube. And then theres the constant retarded banter from the drafting area, which is starting to get majorly annoying because thats where the bottleneck is so I just have to sit in my cube bored to tears because I did everything before anybody even asked for it because of this constant problem.
So excuse me for being proactive and finding problems then coming up with solutions and implimenting them before anybody even things about maybe asking if maybe this one thing isn't exactly right. At this point in time I just can't find enough stuff to even keep me looking busy because I'm getting held up on the slow drafting folks.
As for that thinking of things before hand the typical one is when I get asked if ______ controller could be put in ______ vehicle. Well I of course say that it was specifically designed for that vehicle. So then I get told to make up the harnesses for them. At this point I understand where the conversation is going so I stop, take a deep breath, count to 5, and let it all out. It went something like this: "The harnesses are already done, the harnesses are released, they have been tested, they even have earlier part numbers than the harness that are in there for what we are using now since the controller was designed for that specifically in mind and while we were distracted by putting in _____ other vehicle, everything is complete"
Of course what I was thinking was this: "Well duh! the only reason the current harnesses exist is because of a stupid cludge of a controller that we had to come up with so the manager of engineering could push out his dumb pet project that simply took away from the market share of our own product instead of the competiors and it should have waited till now because this controller was designed from the ground up to do the correct thing"
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Retribution
So the question for today is: If somebody can't get the right information to you, or gave you misleading information, do you decided to spend an extra dollar* to go with somebody else that will?
Sales reps annoy me to no end. I know it's their job to whore themselves out to get business but they need to learn to give me a freakin' straight answer the first time before I wait for two weeks for samples that never arrive forcing me to look for alternative companies to sell the $4 part. And then they come back and say "We didn't ship you the samples because the fab is starting full production items in two weeks" to which I have to reply with "I'm submitting a final BOM to a CM in two weeks for 45k units a year and I only have two samples to work with and I need at least three simply to do basic testing."
Okay so then he says "I'll call you back first thing tomorrow then and make sure you get your samples". Well great dude I've already made phone calls and am about two steps from getting more than enough actual production parts in less than a week. Would it have been so hard to have told me months ago that the parts weren't actually in production yet?
Sorry I make judgments fast, but its a fast paced world and I don't doddle when it comes to choosing what deserves my time and what is a total waste of it.
Editor's Note: *BTW thats one buck per device.....we'd use 45 thousand.
Sales reps annoy me to no end. I know it's their job to whore themselves out to get business but they need to learn to give me a freakin' straight answer the first time before I wait for two weeks for samples that never arrive forcing me to look for alternative companies to sell the $4 part. And then they come back and say "We didn't ship you the samples because the fab is starting full production items in two weeks" to which I have to reply with "I'm submitting a final BOM to a CM in two weeks for 45k units a year and I only have two samples to work with and I need at least three simply to do basic testing."
Okay so then he says "I'll call you back first thing tomorrow then and make sure you get your samples". Well great dude I've already made phone calls and am about two steps from getting more than enough actual production parts in less than a week. Would it have been so hard to have told me months ago that the parts weren't actually in production yet?
Sorry I make judgments fast, but its a fast paced world and I don't doddle when it comes to choosing what deserves my time and what is a total waste of it.
Editor's Note: *BTW thats one buck per device.....we'd use 45 thousand.
Monday, April 05, 2004
Huh?
Okay so just out of curiosity I decided to look over what I eat naturally and see if it lines up with any sort of diet. So this is the general daily set of meals:
Breakfast: Poptart and a coke: 111g of Carbs, 12g of fat, 540 Calories
Lunch: (Can't really quantify it right now, normally involes two slices of potato or oatmeal bread and something inbetween: pb&j, or misc meats. Sometimes dinner leftovers, and always a yogurt and a banana)
Dinner: Normally 1/2 lb (prior to cooking) of pasta and a tomato based sauce, a clove of garlic, and about a tsp of olive oil. Other times about a 1 lb of beef (in steak form), a baked potato. I do know that a 1/2 lb of pasta has 500 calories and 160 carbs and a 1lb of beef loin is about 1700 calories and mostly just protein
Of course there are others but this is about the most "unheathy" set of meals I can think of right now. So it looks like that in general I eat a low fat diet, but I don't care about my carbs, in fact when I cook my own food normally I have a lot of something very starchy. If I don't eat any fast food I slim down to a little smaller than I am now (6' tall, I wear a 42" coat, 32" pants, and weigh between 175-185lbs).
So yah about all I can say is avoid fast food and things heavy on greese, and actually thats been the general understanding for many many years. So ya I'm not all that impressed with the atkins thing, it seems like people are removing the nutrionally valuable things from food and just leaving the taste and fat, in that case why even bother eating it to begin with. Oh wait I forgot people eat for the hell of it these days.
Breakfast: Poptart and a coke: 111g of Carbs, 12g of fat, 540 Calories
Lunch: (Can't really quantify it right now, normally involes two slices of potato or oatmeal bread and something inbetween: pb&j, or misc meats. Sometimes dinner leftovers, and always a yogurt and a banana)
Dinner: Normally 1/2 lb (prior to cooking) of pasta and a tomato based sauce, a clove of garlic, and about a tsp of olive oil. Other times about a 1 lb of beef (in steak form), a baked potato. I do know that a 1/2 lb of pasta has 500 calories and 160 carbs and a 1lb of beef loin is about 1700 calories and mostly just protein
Of course there are others but this is about the most "unheathy" set of meals I can think of right now. So it looks like that in general I eat a low fat diet, but I don't care about my carbs, in fact when I cook my own food normally I have a lot of something very starchy. If I don't eat any fast food I slim down to a little smaller than I am now (6' tall, I wear a 42" coat, 32" pants, and weigh between 175-185lbs).
So yah about all I can say is avoid fast food and things heavy on greese, and actually thats been the general understanding for many many years. So ya I'm not all that impressed with the atkins thing, it seems like people are removing the nutrionally valuable things from food and just leaving the taste and fat, in that case why even bother eating it to begin with. Oh wait I forgot people eat for the hell of it these days.
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Movie Quote
What we have here is a failure to communicate
This quote illustrates my problems at work.
Editor's note: if you don't recognize the quote check out the link.
Friday, March 26, 2004
Chew with your mouth closed
Okay so I can hear somebody eating peanuts an asle away. Its one of those sounds that grates on your nerves untill you want to pull your hair out and scream "Can you eat any LOUDER?"
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Culture or something like it
So I already know what I'm going to be doing to my bedroom, or more specifically what I'm planning on doing to and hanging on the walls to make them less boring, I have yet to figure out what to do with my living room. I just ran across an artist named Jack Vettriano, who started off as a coal miner but eventually started painting after he was given a set of watercolors by his wife at the time. Anyway I'm thinking a print of Only the Deepest Red would work nicely, and work as a good transition between the blues and reds in my house. But I am also a big fan of Dancer for Money and An Imperfect Past which right now are just a limited edition prints making them very very pricey.
The engineer in me wants Bluebird at Bonneville though.
The engineer in me wants Bluebird at Bonneville though.
Mid-week Update
So I'm thinking about purchasing a new computer: Gateway Media PC. Something about still using a computer that I built 6 years ago makes me think its about time to retire that computer and use it for simply word processing, finances, internet surfing, etc. instead of using it for serious gaming. I doubt it would survive the rigorous upgrade process to make it gaming compatable anyway (after all its just a poor Dual Celeron thats been runing overclocked by 25% to 416MHz for its whole life with Intel's box fans)
Also again today I'm dealing with people that cannot ever seem to pay attention to details. So every single time I get something from them I have to read over every single stinking line to make sure they made the change I wanted to and didn't make it to something else, and I also have to make sure they read the redline and actually made the change instead of ignoring it. I don't understand why this keeps on happening, I know that I'm not the best of people to pay attention to the itty bitty details so for me to pick up on all these things all the time makes me wonder.
Maybe I am very picky and I just assume its normal. Of course even if that was the case I don't feel bad about it. With what I'm doing I feel not paying attention to the details could be a very bad thing and I expect everybody I work with to at the very least work at what I would consider average.
Also again today I'm dealing with people that cannot ever seem to pay attention to details. So every single time I get something from them I have to read over every single stinking line to make sure they made the change I wanted to and didn't make it to something else, and I also have to make sure they read the redline and actually made the change instead of ignoring it. I don't understand why this keeps on happening, I know that I'm not the best of people to pay attention to the itty bitty details so for me to pick up on all these things all the time makes me wonder.
Maybe I am very picky and I just assume its normal. Of course even if that was the case I don't feel bad about it. With what I'm doing I feel not paying attention to the details could be a very bad thing and I expect everybody I work with to at the very least work at what I would consider average.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Today's Stupid
Okay so I've decided that this year's election is going to be an insult to the intelligence, or lack, of the voting populace. So far all the campaigning I've seen has consisted of mostly the following rhetoric: "You're stupid" and "No, YOU'RE stupid" and "Well you're majorly stupid, and yer mommy dresses ya funny". They seem to be able to say these things using big word and booming voices. I'm peeved at them.
And in other news some people have actually tried to get the US government to regulate google. Luckily a judge said google results classify as an opinion and is protected by first amendment rights. But jeez that's pretty scary. With the government the way it is today I don't know if you could defend yourself against an anti-trust lawsuit even if the service you provide is free to the user and the reason there aren't any competitors is that they can't develop a technology that works as well.
And in other news some people have actually tried to get the US government to regulate google. Luckily a judge said google results classify as an opinion and is protected by first amendment rights. But jeez that's pretty scary. With the government the way it is today I don't know if you could defend yourself against an anti-trust lawsuit even if the service you provide is free to the user and the reason there aren't any competitors is that they can't develop a technology that works as well.
Saturday, March 20, 2004
Well folks the 2004 American Le Mans race season has started and it looks as if it is going to be a pretty interesting year. They changed up the classes, Ferrari developed a new car and Saleen is looking to add another car to their team.
Thursday, March 18, 2004
Racing like non other
Okay if you have the speed channel you need to check out Ice Racing. Seriously it is the craziest sort of racing I've seen. Its amazing to watch these guys go around corners sideways, on purpose!, with sparks flying out from underneath the studded snow tires.
Cue the Inspirational Music
BURNING HEART
Survivor
Two worlds collide
Rival nations
It's a primitive clash
Venting years of frustrations
Bravely we hope
Against all hope
There is so much at stake
Seems our freedom's up
Against the ropes
Does the crowd understand?
Is it East versus West
Or man against man
Can any nation stand alone
CHORUS
In the burning Heart
Just about to burst
There's a quest for answers
An unquenchable thirst
In the darkest night
Rising like a spire
In the burning heart
The unmistakable fire
In the burning heart
In the warriors code
There's no surrender
Though his body says stop
His spirit cries - never!
Deep in our soul
A quiet ember
Know it's you against you
It's the paradox
That drives us on
It's a battle of wills
In the heat of attack
It's the passion that kills
The victory is yours alone
CHORUS (sing chorus 3 times)
In the burning heart
Survivor
Two worlds collide
Rival nations
It's a primitive clash
Venting years of frustrations
Bravely we hope
Against all hope
There is so much at stake
Seems our freedom's up
Against the ropes
Does the crowd understand?
Is it East versus West
Or man against man
Can any nation stand alone
CHORUS
In the burning Heart
Just about to burst
There's a quest for answers
An unquenchable thirst
In the darkest night
Rising like a spire
In the burning heart
The unmistakable fire
In the burning heart
In the warriors code
There's no surrender
Though his body says stop
His spirit cries - never!
Deep in our soul
A quiet ember
Know it's you against you
It's the paradox
That drives us on
It's a battle of wills
In the heat of attack
It's the passion that kills
The victory is yours alone
CHORUS (sing chorus 3 times)
In the burning heart
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Behold the Power of Stupid
Today has been one of those days that makes me want to crawl up into a ball under my desk and hide from the world. Today I have had to:
I'm sure there was other things but I've blocked them out.
- Listen to very lengthy emails of an enormously obnoxious service guy (we'll call him lee).
- Rip apart a lift and extract the board because another service guy wouldn't listen and simply gave me a board instead of pulling one from a lift. I then had to pull one single component off and replace it with a wire jumper and reinstall into the lift. All to prove that the component in question was superfluous. This board and mounting system was design by somebody that is no longer here, also the way its mounted, the number of wires going to the board, number of identical connectors and whatnot make it a total service nightmare.
- Deal with another guy working on drawings that can seem to ever listen to me or read my instructions and never gets part numbers right even when I write them in huge block letters on the print.
- Had to answer for we're modifying controllers in house as opposed to getting them in modified, somehow the concept that the board house is done making them and that we aren't ordering anymore seems to have escaped some peoples mind. Also nobody seems to know exactly how many vehicles we're going to be building in the next month and half.
- Had to deal with a "severe weather alert" drill. However, the room that we're supposed to go to in case of a tornado now has a massive hole cut in one wall where they are planning on putting a glass window overlooking the shop floor. Nice move, I was safer at my desk where there aren't bins of scrap steel.
- Fix a Feature creep problem. I hate feature creep. Now they want to use resistive switches instead of regular hard closure switches. Great maybe I could get it to work but I still have to change a BOM and change component quantities and add a reel meaning, blah blah blah. Our contract manufacturer probably hates me.
I'm sure there was other things but I've blocked them out.
Saturday, March 13, 2004
Middle of Nowhere
So I was watching TBS this evening and there was a walmart commercial that came on... well there was the main character talking about how she grew up on main street in a really small town; warsaw, in.
I think what this is saying that I live in the middle of nowhere because warsaw is about an hour away from here.
I think what this is saying that I live in the middle of nowhere because warsaw is about an hour away from here.
Friday, March 12, 2004
Ground Beef
Now that it costs less to buy the DVD than to go to see a movie (since I have a thing about going to a theater alone), DVD sales seem to be on the rise. DVDs also cost less than CDs. CD sales have been steadily falling. I can't even think of much music released these days that I'd even be willing to download much less spend my hard earned dollars and cents on. This lack of good or even distictive music has finally prompted me to present this idea to ya all:
Lets call the 2000s the meat grinder age.
Lets call the 2000s the meat grinder age.
Saturday, February 28, 2004
There's a sucker born every day
Okay so I'm always amused when I read about people eager to jump on a google ipo. In my opinion a google IPO would be the begining of the end for the company because the primary individuals responsible for the dirrection of the company are adiment about it not ever going IPO so if google were to IPO it would be because those individuals were tired of runing a company and wished to get out of it all together and take their stake with them. Management turnovers can be a good thing but when they involve a very successful company it probably means things will sink after people figure it out. Its the people aspect.
Investing is not about this magic thing that you bet on. Its all about people and what their feelings are. Why is gold continuing on climbing? Because people are afraid that the economy hasn't recovered yet. Why would it be a good idea to invest in Heavy Trucks right now? Because truckers and shipping companies buy new trucks every 3-5 years. The last peak was in 1999 and there was a very tough economy in 2002 and 2003. So 2004 is bound to show some profits for heavy trucks. Its stuff, its people, it is not magic.
People are stupid.
Investing is not about this magic thing that you bet on. Its all about people and what their feelings are. Why is gold continuing on climbing? Because people are afraid that the economy hasn't recovered yet. Why would it be a good idea to invest in Heavy Trucks right now? Because truckers and shipping companies buy new trucks every 3-5 years. The last peak was in 1999 and there was a very tough economy in 2002 and 2003. So 2004 is bound to show some profits for heavy trucks. Its stuff, its people, it is not magic.
People are stupid.
Friday, February 27, 2004
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Committing the sin of which there is no repentance...
Okay I feel the need to be extremely plain about this. I'm also posting this here instead of in a friend's blog comments as a nicety, but I still may post it there if I feel like inciting a nice flame.
This government needs to remain secular. To endorse an amendment about marriage would do the one thing that to this point has been impossible for evil in our society to do thus far. That amendment would for the first time decidedly negate one of the most fundamental of rights listed in our Constitution. The freedom of religion. It would be the first amendment to reach into each person's life and say you will think this way. Then again maybe you feel comfort in taking orders and abandoning your right to be free:
And if that wasn't bad enough, what would that set as a precedent? What could be added to the Constitution later if you could convince enough people to add it? How far could it go? Is the Constitution destined to become the manifesto of a Democracy?
Marriage is NOT a RIGHT. It is a law set forth by the religion of which you believe in. As a Christian I firmly believe it is limited only for a man a woman. I believe homosexuality is wrong. But I believe people have the RIGHT to choose to be that way. They have the right to believe what they wish, they have a right to form a religion in which they can marry.
The Constitution is not to protect the people's "soul" it is to form a government that will protect them physically. It is only to protect the rights each person has as an individual, not to tell them how to live their life.
I will paraphrase Voltaire: "I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Because we know we are right it is our duty to make sure our religion is to remain separate from our government, or else both will be utterly corrupted. Death and the blood of our fathers is the price we have paid for our freedoms*. The quote "freedom isn't free" is both true and false, it wasn't free for those who paid the dearest price for it, but because it is free to us now and we must not squander it whenever we feel threatened.
*1. Interestingly enough if you were to take the mode average of the cause of death of the males in my family it would be war.
This government needs to remain secular. To endorse an amendment about marriage would do the one thing that to this point has been impossible for evil in our society to do thus far. That amendment would for the first time decidedly negate one of the most fundamental of rights listed in our Constitution. The freedom of religion. It would be the first amendment to reach into each person's life and say you will think this way. Then again maybe you feel comfort in taking orders and abandoning your right to be free:
"All you have to do is knock on any door and say, "If you let me in, I'll live the way you want me to live, and I'll think the way you want me to think," and all the blinds'll go up and all the windows will open, and you'll never be lonely, ever again."
--from the play Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee--
And if that wasn't bad enough, what would that set as a precedent? What could be added to the Constitution later if you could convince enough people to add it? How far could it go? Is the Constitution destined to become the manifesto of a Democracy?
Marriage is NOT a RIGHT. It is a law set forth by the religion of which you believe in. As a Christian I firmly believe it is limited only for a man a woman. I believe homosexuality is wrong. But I believe people have the RIGHT to choose to be that way. They have the right to believe what they wish, they have a right to form a religion in which they can marry.
The Constitution is not to protect the people's "soul" it is to form a government that will protect them physically. It is only to protect the rights each person has as an individual, not to tell them how to live their life.
I will paraphrase Voltaire: "I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Because we know we are right it is our duty to make sure our religion is to remain separate from our government, or else both will be utterly corrupted. Death and the blood of our fathers is the price we have paid for our freedoms*. The quote "freedom isn't free" is both true and false, it wasn't free for those who paid the dearest price for it, but because it is free to us now and we must not squander it whenever we feel threatened.
*1. Interestingly enough if you were to take the mode average of the cause of death of the males in my family it would be war.
I'd vote for the self-righteous prick.
Okay so I always seem to do the most thinking in the shower. Something about cleansing away the dirt that accumulates during the day. As a seat-warming desk worker this is mostly mental. Anyway I got to thinking about several things, namely who I would choose to throw my vote at, of our founding fathers, of the bill of rights, and a few other things which I forget as I write this post.
So to hell with my previous comment about bringing back Washington or Franklin. I have changed my mind. I want Hitler or Stalin. I would vote for Stalin. Or Hitler. I don't particularly care which of the two, but I would be full supporters of them getting into office. I'd then be a full supporter of the uprising that would ensue. How else do you get lazy people off their ass and do something about the world? Well to phrase it simply, by shoving a cattle prod up their posterior.
I don't care what their views are I'm all for the candidate that I know exactly what they are going to do with my rights. It better be one of the two: restoring what is rightfully mine, or taking them all away. But no mucking around in the middle, too many people will go with the flow.
Also while I was thinking about it, what amendment to the Constitution after the Bill of Rights actually has done any good for this country? Name an amendment that could have easily accomplished the same thing as a court ruling without inflicting a massive amount of damage to the Constitution? I sure can't think of any. People often say the genius of our Constitution was that our founding fathers knew they weren't perfect and so they left a way for future generations to fix the errors they made. Well our founding fathers were so right they were wrong. They only made one single mistake. They didn't realize that they were 100% right and thus the Constitution should never need the provision to be changeable.
I think the people of this nation should sue every politician in our government for violating their oath. We should sue them because they have failed to protect the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. So I will close with a quote most of us should be familiar with:
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,..." say fuck you and the jet you rode in on.
So to hell with my previous comment about bringing back Washington or Franklin. I have changed my mind. I want Hitler or Stalin. I would vote for Stalin. Or Hitler. I don't particularly care which of the two, but I would be full supporters of them getting into office. I'd then be a full supporter of the uprising that would ensue. How else do you get lazy people off their ass and do something about the world? Well to phrase it simply, by shoving a cattle prod up their posterior.
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
--John Stuart Mill--
I don't care what their views are I'm all for the candidate that I know exactly what they are going to do with my rights. It better be one of the two: restoring what is rightfully mine, or taking them all away. But no mucking around in the middle, too many people will go with the flow.
Also while I was thinking about it, what amendment to the Constitution after the Bill of Rights actually has done any good for this country? Name an amendment that could have easily accomplished the same thing as a court ruling without inflicting a massive amount of damage to the Constitution? I sure can't think of any. People often say the genius of our Constitution was that our founding fathers knew they weren't perfect and so they left a way for future generations to fix the errors they made. Well our founding fathers were so right they were wrong. They only made one single mistake. They didn't realize that they were 100% right and thus the Constitution should never need the provision to be changeable.
I think the people of this nation should sue every politician in our government for violating their oath. We should sue them because they have failed to protect the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. So I will close with a quote most of us should be familiar with:
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,..." say fuck you and the jet you rode in on.
Circles and Ellipses
Things need to change again to the way they were. We need to close the circle a little earlier than what I think is its scheduled date. I once predicted a revolution was in order in the next half of my lifetime, like somewhere in my 30's or 40's. I think it should happen now, or soon at least. The American people have for years been known to be un-squashable. They can be squeezed for a while, but there reaches a critical point where there are too many people getting too squeezed and then all hell breaks lose and the internal energy gets released. And when the dust settles the oppressors are gone and the world is a different place.
We need that to happen again. Now. And none of that Cultural Revolution BS. It needs to be for real, government needs to be turned over and fixed. And of course we need some resurrection of those un-corrupted. I'm thinking we need George and Ben (Washington and Franklin for those not of similar mindset) and maybe a few others.
We need that to happen again. Now. And none of that Cultural Revolution BS. It needs to be for real, government needs to be turned over and fixed. And of course we need some resurrection of those un-corrupted. I'm thinking we need George and Ben (Washington and Franklin for those not of similar mindset) and maybe a few others.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
DIE DIE DIE
I hate scalpers. I think if you show up to the gate of a venue and you don't have the credit card that bought the tickets you shouldn't be admited (just like airlines). This would kill the scalper industry real fast. I bet venues could even charge more and people would be happy if they implimented this policy, because they know that everybody got their tickets fair and square.
Hey nifty, its a title
Okay so I think I may have figured out how to fix a few problems of my blog (commenting still looks borked though). Also it looks better, now that it is not pages and pages and pages long.
I'm also deciding on how much color I want to add. Do I want it to be garish, or monochromatic?
I'm also deciding on how much color I want to add. Do I want it to be garish, or monochromatic?
Why the ACLU, NEA and misc other unions are evil: Our representatives are greedy and stupid.
So is the problem that the unions exist or is the problem that they have sway over politicans?
Representatives are supposed to be elected for their wisdom, not for their ability to be mouth-pieces for special interests. I wonder where people forgot that...probably somewhere in the 1800s.
I could go on but I don't feel like it. If you agree with me than you understand. If you don't, then you're stupid and there is nothing in this world that could fix that problem, except for you to die, yes I hate you.
So is the problem that the unions exist or is the problem that they have sway over politicans?
Representatives are supposed to be elected for their wisdom, not for their ability to be mouth-pieces for special interests. I wonder where people forgot that...probably somewhere in the 1800s.
I could go on but I don't feel like it. If you agree with me than you understand. If you don't, then you're stupid and there is nothing in this world that could fix that problem, except for you to die, yes I hate you.
Sunday, February 22, 2004
well since things never seem to work quite right here I think I'm going to start experimenting with movable type.... so yah... fun...
Saturday, February 21, 2004
So I spent some of today working out in the cold fixing my suburban which is still sitting in my parking space at work and now I have everything attached in the place they should be I haven't yet tightened everything up because I was seriously loosing any feeling in my fingers (well except the feeling of pain when doing anything, which I've been told is a good sign because it means that you haven't yet got frost-bite). And its 36 degrees outside, way better than last week when it was like 30 and working on stuff. Maybe its the wind and lack of sun. So the forecast for tomorrow shows a high of 41 and sun. Yippie. Then again if I could convince myself to go back out into the cold and finish things up it'd be like done.
I've been informed that my commenting system is broken again. Hrm...much much joy, I'll have to fix that at some point in time.
And yay for using all the ol' tax return for paying off credit card bills. But hey at least they won't be compounding interest anymore. Although I did find out that the average amount of credit card debt people have is like 10 times what I was carrying (stupid appliances).
I've been informed that my commenting system is broken again. Hrm...much much joy, I'll have to fix that at some point in time.
And yay for using all the ol' tax return for paying off credit card bills. But hey at least they won't be compounding interest anymore. Although I did find out that the average amount of credit card debt people have is like 10 times what I was carrying (stupid appliances).
Thursday, February 19, 2004
I don't know why I always have this perspective, but I always seem to be a third party observing my life, never really making decisions with my heart, but simply with my head. Thus, it seems I always choose the bittersweet, or simply hard choice, I guess assuming its the best one since it took the most thought. But you know what? I hate having regrets about decisions; decisions you thought you had time to think about, but really as soon as you made the decision in question events in the world irreversibly changed leaving you to stand back and watch the world spin around you, forever changing relationships and life's outcomes.
I am not trying to make anybody's life difficult by writing this, I don't have a problem with the way events have transpired, I do think they are on the right path now. But I will always miss the very short period of time that things were the way they were; carefree and peaceful.
I am not trying to make anybody's life difficult by writing this, I don't have a problem with the way events have transpired, I do think they are on the right path now. But I will always miss the very short period of time that things were the way they were; carefree and peaceful.
Friends
Industry
Previous Posts
- Curious about 'The Whale?' Read the Book
- Mobile Blogging Test
- Coming Soon: Guitar Hero Battle.net Edition
- Up in yer country speakin' da english!
- Escalation
- Movies, movies, movies.
- Morning Music
- Yum...
- BofA sucks part II
- Online Banking Retardation
Archives
- 09/01/2002 - 10/01/2002
- 10/01/2002 - 11/01/2002
- 11/01/2002 - 12/01/2002
- 12/01/2002 - 01/01/2003
- 01/01/2003 - 02/01/2003
- 02/01/2003 - 03/01/2003
- 06/01/2003 - 07/01/2003
- 07/01/2003 - 08/01/2003
- 08/01/2003 - 09/01/2003
- 09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003
- 10/01/2003 - 11/01/2003
- 11/01/2003 - 12/01/2003
- 12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004
- 01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004
- 02/01/2004 - 03/01/2004
- 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004
- 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004
- 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004
- 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004
- 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004
- 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004
- 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004
- 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004
- 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004
- 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005
- 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005
- 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005
- 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005
- 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005
- 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005
- 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005
- 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005
- 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005
- 11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005
- 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006
- 02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006
- 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006
- 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006
- 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006
- 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006
- 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006
- 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006
- 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007
- 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007
- 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007
- 04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007
- 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007
- 12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
- 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008
- 02/01/2010 - 03/01/2010
