2011 archive
QOTD 0
At our pre-meeting TWUUG dinner last night, we had a new participant from Finland. One of the guys told a story of wearing a “Planet Hollywood Helsinki” tee shirt, which he bought as a souvenir of a visit to Finland, to the grocery store (I would have bought something a little more Finlandish than a U. S.-based restaurant chain tee shirt, but that’s me).
The checkout cherk asked him, “Where’s Helsinki?”
“Finland.”
Then she asked, “Is that a New England state?”
Thus today’s quote of the day, from Ambrose Bierce:
Working Dog 0
From Unspeakable Deeds to Speakable Ones 0
Democrats propose that a Senate filibuster actually include filibustering:
Makes sense to me. Suiting words to action and all that.
Via Hanlon, who observes quite accurately that
The awesome part is I know it’s gonna be Republicans that whine about it.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Back over 400k, but still a slightly positive trend:
Firings have been waning in recent weeks, a necessary step toward gains in hiring that will help boost consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy. A report tomorrow is projected to show employers added to payrolls in December for a third month as the U.S. expansion gained speed.
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Society 0
Discussing a proposal in Massachusetts to mandate mediation in foreclosure cases, Davd Abromowitz explains how short-term incentives militate against mortgate mediation:
And while foreclosure may yield less money for investors in the long run when all the costs are factored in, many of the foreclosure costs come “off the top’’ from the foreclosure sale, and are not borne by the servicer making the decisions.
In short, the mortgage pooling system that was set up to encourage private money to flow into mortgages and make them cheaper for consumers is now a virtual doomsday machine for the economy, pushing the process to foreclose on homes instead of modify loans.
In other words, kicking persons into the street is easier and more profitable than keeping them off the street.
Low-hanging fruit and all that.
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source.
What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.
Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.
Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk-Employee Cafeteria. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.)
When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, January 6.
Directions: Lake Taylor Hospital-1309, Kempsville Road, Norfolk, 23502 (Kempsville Rd. at Lowry Rd.) 461-5001
Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks) at Uno Chicago Grill, Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). Accessible through the Janaf parking lot or directly from the ramp from Virginia Beach Blvd. to Military Highway north.
Real Snakes on Real Planes 0
Or “How To Rethink Air Travel without the Help of the TSA.”
Radio Times reports. From the website:
Follow the link above or click here to listen (MP3).
In the Navy 0
This has been Big News in these parts, the home of the largest complex of military bases in the world and the home port of the U. S. S. Enterprise:
Last night, a friend of mine who is retired Navy came over to help me watch football (we picked the most exciting bowl game so far), so I asked him what he thought about the “XO videos” (follow the link above and look on the left side of the page for links to selected edited videos).
He dismissed Captain Honors’s apologists and defenders with a snort: “That’s not leadership.”
It reminds me of those parents who think they should be “pals” with their kids. However pure their motives, they usually end up as ineffective parents and not-very-good pals, however much fun they and their kids might have had along the way.
Facebook Frolics 0
Thomas Jones, writing at the Guardian, discusses how Facebook creates and builds on “the illusion that you are among friends.”
It is worth a read, especially the bit on how immersing oneself in Facebook narrows horizons:
Zuckerberg’s answer to the second question would be that the more Facebook knows about you, the more it can tailor your “experience” of the web to suit you. On the Facebook blog last April, he wrote:
“If you’re logged into Facebook and go to Pandora [an internet radio station] for the first time, now it can immediately start playing songs from bands you’ve liked across the web. And as you’re playing music, it can show you friends who also like the same songs as you, and then you can click to see other music they like.”
It’s a nice enough idea, in its limited way, though it misses one of the great points of radio, which is to expose you to music that you and your friends don’t know already: there wouldn’t be a place for someone like John Peel in Zuckerberg’s universe.
Happiness Is a Warm Gun 0
Republicans compete to see who’s happiest. Dick Polman:
The five aspirants own a total of 25 guns.
This is apparently quite important, if only as a measure of the requisite Republican machismo. Or perhaps as visceral proof that the candidates love Freedom. Or perhaps it’s meant to suggest that we should all sleep better at night knowing that the Republican chairman is locked and loaded. Or maybe it’s just Republicans behaving as parodies of themselves.
Afterthought:
Read the entire Polman article. It’s a story of a bunch of juvies arguing over who has the bigg–oh, never mind.
Alarming iPhone Fix 0
Andy Borowitz prescribes a fix for persons who iGadgets no longer get them up:
Follow the link for the full report.
Can You Have One without the Other? 0
Comically Vintage wants to know.
Robber Barons Redux? 0
This should be interesting:
Hattiesburg-based South Mississippi Electric Power Association said Norfolk Southern is the only railroad company that delivers coal from the Appalachias to Plant Morrow, the utility’s main electricity generating station located in Purvis, Miss.
Contract negotiations for the utility’s new delivery contract are under way.
The first Federal regulatory body of any consequence was the Interstate Commerce Commission, which was created because of railroads’ abuse of their customers in the late 19th century.
On the railroad, there is a truism that every safety rule–and there are hundreds–resulted from an injury.
The caterwaulings of the right wing to the contrary, US history shows us that every Federal regulatory agency was created in reaction to abusive practices by business.
It will be interesting to see how this case plays out. Given that freight railroads run on diesel, I suspect that fuel prices have played a lot in the price increases over the years. Nevertheless, even when I worked for the railroad (and I loved working there–all railroaders love the railroad, even though they may hate their employer), I never saw a railroader with angel wings.
I’m betting that this is as much as negotiating tactic as anything else and that the case never goes to trial.