Technorati Profile
The President made a lot of interesting statements, many of them sweeping generalities, but many of them easily subject to fact checking. I'd like to see a website where each line of the President's speech would be backed up by annotations. Of course there are many, many different points of view. The two major parties would obviously want to have an official say. The Executive Office would want its own spin. And then we have the great unwahed masses, splintered in thousands of ways. Somehow the site should allow for other group statements, and even individual statements:
For example, the President boasted that he was spending more on VA benefits than the previous 8 years under Clinton. Of course President Bush didn't bring attention to the fact that we have far more people to deal with, thanks to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also mentions a bunch of new hospitals. To back this up, his office might publish where they are and details about each one. The opponents might then point out the connections between the locations and Republican officeholders. And so on. It would make for lively discussions.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
ReThinking Iraq, ReThinking Family Values
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It costs me $90 a trip now to visit my grandchildren. It used to cost $40 4 years ago. If we had a national policy which made solar power a priority the way we made the nuclear bomb and the moon shots priorities, it would probably cost $20. I still maintain this point.
As near as I can tell, GE and other oil based megacorps want to maintain control of energy, even at the cost of American lives, the quality of life in this country, and the American image abroad. If a patent for cheap power from the sun was public domain, they would lose that control. It's the same old story, those at the top do not care what the moral and social costs are, associated with them keeping their position.
Americans with less stress to earn money for their gastanks might have more time to make wiser decisions about other areas of their lives. MegaCorps love fear and anxiety, they are the twin whips driving the economy down their chutes....
It costs me $90 a trip now to visit my grandchildren. It used to cost $40 4 years ago. If we had a national policy which made solar power a priority the way we made the nuclear bomb and the moon shots priorities, it would probably cost $20. I still maintain this point.
As near as I can tell, GE and other oil based megacorps want to maintain control of energy, even at the cost of American lives, the quality of life in this country, and the American image abroad. If a patent for cheap power from the sun was public domain, they would lose that control. It's the same old story, those at the top do not care what the moral and social costs are, associated with them keeping their position.
Americans with less stress to earn money for their gastanks might have more time to make wiser decisions about other areas of their lives. MegaCorps love fear and anxiety, they are the twin whips driving the economy down their chutes....
Monday, August 28, 2006
My Family, The Simpsons
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My wife says that my side of the family is like that episode of the Simpsons in which they are wired up so that they can shock one another, and they just all go bananas doing it ! The cartoon is very funny. My wife does not want to be associated with that negativity, however, and so discourages me, as best she can, from carrying on my side of the fracas. "You're all a bunch of six year old morons ! Get over it !" Too much pain brings out the sense of humor, as that's the only way to get relief.
My wife says that my side of the family is like that episode of the Simpsons in which they are wired up so that they can shock one another, and they just all go bananas doing it ! The cartoon is very funny. My wife does not want to be associated with that negativity, however, and so discourages me, as best she can, from carrying on my side of the fracas. "You're all a bunch of six year old morons ! Get over it !" Too much pain brings out the sense of humor, as that's the only way to get relief.
Austrian Oslo Syndrome, Tags are Us
Technorati Profile
I now realize that technorati gives you one chance to get indexed, and that changing your post, without adding a new post, does not index anything further, regardless of how many times you ping them. Accordingly the first part of this post is a set of tags, updated, that actually go with the previous post. So here you go, now skip back one post, read the runway safety suggestions, and then return here for the Oslo syndrome stuff.
"Tags: Lexington, Kentucky Blue Grass Airport, Conair, Comair, CRJ-100 jet, Flight 5191, National Transportation Safety Board, FAA, NTSB, Federal Aviation Administration, crash, disaster, Conan O'Brian, awards, NBC, miStAKE, SKETCH, SKIT, SAFETY SUGGESTIONS, runway improvements, tarmack, lights"
*******************************************************************************
New tags for Austrian girl who was imprisoned: Oslo syndrome, denial, trapped, fell in love with captor, mourned captor's death, didn't think she missed much. What can I say other than that I watched this happen to a near relative, who STILL, seven years after the death of the captor, hasn't learned/appreciated/understood what was done to her, or why, and she continues to make bad choices based on an Oslo syndrome background. She denies herself her true father and her children their natural and loving grandfather, who has always been there for her and them.
I will say that a series of Marin / Sonoma evangelical "Christian" churches helped the captor, and continue the tragedy onto the next generation even as I write, "saving souls" is more important than family relationships to them...an error that will pain even Jesus to forgive. The captor has taught intolerance well, and, from the depths of an inkwell my relative can only dimly grasp what she's lost. Within Intellectualle there doth dwell a soul unusualle and fine, but star-crossed by the times and Ronald Howard Lewin's crimes...
BTW, is the Flying Clipper (Think Pan American Airways) Hawaaian continuing Ronald's legacy, and the control......break free and dare to be thee !
further tags: psychology, Esalen, therapy, encounter groups, healers, Dr. Freeman
I now realize that technorati gives you one chance to get indexed, and that changing your post, without adding a new post, does not index anything further, regardless of how many times you ping them. Accordingly the first part of this post is a set of tags, updated, that actually go with the previous post. So here you go, now skip back one post, read the runway safety suggestions, and then return here for the Oslo syndrome stuff.
"Tags: Lexington, Kentucky Blue Grass Airport, Conair, Comair, CRJ-100 jet, Flight 5191, National Transportation Safety Board, FAA, NTSB, Federal Aviation Administration, crash, disaster, Conan O'Brian, awards, NBC, miStAKE, SKETCH, SKIT, SAFETY SUGGESTIONS, runway improvements, tarmack, lights"
*******************************************************************************
New tags for Austrian girl who was imprisoned: Oslo syndrome, denial, trapped, fell in love with captor, mourned captor's death, didn't think she missed much. What can I say other than that I watched this happen to a near relative, who STILL, seven years after the death of the captor, hasn't learned/appreciated/understood what was done to her, or why, and she continues to make bad choices based on an Oslo syndrome background. She denies herself her true father and her children their natural and loving grandfather, who has always been there for her and them.
I will say that a series of Marin / Sonoma evangelical "Christian" churches helped the captor, and continue the tragedy onto the next generation even as I write, "saving souls" is more important than family relationships to them...an error that will pain even Jesus to forgive. The captor has taught intolerance well, and, from the depths of an inkwell my relative can only dimly grasp what she's lost. Within Intellectualle there doth dwell a soul unusualle and fine, but star-crossed by the times and Ronald Howard Lewin's crimes...
BTW, is the Flying Clipper (Think Pan American Airways) Hawaaian continuing Ronald's legacy, and the control......break free and dare to be thee !
further tags: psychology, Esalen, therapy, encounter groups, healers, Dr. Freeman
Commuter Plane Safety Ideas, Avoiding Short Runways
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Tags: Lexington, Kentucky Blue Grass Airport, Conair, Comair, CRJ-100 jet, Flight 5191, National Transportation Safety Board, FAA, NTSB, Federal Aviation Administration
I guess this is too obvious, so nobody's done it.
Color code the runways by length.
At either end of the runways, right in front of the takeoff apron prep area, 3 foot wide painted bars, 10 of them, 50 feet apart. At least do this for the shorter runways. You could list the actual length, to be fancy, but color would be best. Apparently runways are already marked with distance warnings, big black "3" for three thousand feet left, etc, at various points down the runway.
Or:
RFID chip like device on plane, which identifies the plane by make and model.
If such a plane reaches a takeoff apron prep area of a runway too short, alarms go off in the cockpit and the tower.
Third possibility:
Radio with tight directional beam broadcasting straight down the runway, broadcasting the runway length. Receiver in plane connected to safety interlock that at least sounds an alarm, and perhaps locks up the engines, unless an override is depressed.
Tags: Lexington, Kentucky Blue Grass Airport, Conair, Comair, CRJ-100 jet, Flight 5191, National Transportation Safety Board, FAA, NTSB, Federal Aviation Administration
I guess this is too obvious, so nobody's done it.
Color code the runways by length.
At either end of the runways, right in front of the takeoff apron prep area, 3 foot wide painted bars, 10 of them, 50 feet apart. At least do this for the shorter runways. You could list the actual length, to be fancy, but color would be best. Apparently runways are already marked with distance warnings, big black "3" for three thousand feet left, etc, at various points down the runway.
Or:
RFID chip like device on plane, which identifies the plane by make and model.
If such a plane reaches a takeoff apron prep area of a runway too short, alarms go off in the cockpit and the tower.
Third possibility:
Radio with tight directional beam broadcasting straight down the runway, broadcasting the runway length. Receiver in plane connected to safety interlock that at least sounds an alarm, and perhaps locks up the engines, unless an override is depressed.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Susan M. Bycroft, U.S. Patent 6922137
Technorati Profile
Turns out the concept I outlined in my LAURIE system, has, to quite an extent, already been patented, but her patent does not go the extra mile in adding a warning light bar in all surrounding vehicles, and instead depends on a strobe popping up and a call to an OnStar like group when an airbag goes off. This does not prevent cars coming around blind curves from piling into the mess. It seems more aimed at anti threft, than accident warning.
BTW, I should also credit Laurie Glass with the last name of Samudio, she had been married to Joseph Samudio, and is the mother of Justin Samudio, and daughter of Bruce Haig, sister of Arlie, Tammy, PJ, and her brother, whose name escapes me. I extend an open invitation to all to come visit us, we're just north of Nevada City, CA.
Turns out the concept I outlined in my LAURIE system, has, to quite an extent, already been patented, but her patent does not go the extra mile in adding a warning light bar in all surrounding vehicles, and instead depends on a strobe popping up and a call to an OnStar like group when an airbag goes off. This does not prevent cars coming around blind curves from piling into the mess. It seems more aimed at anti threft, than accident warning.
BTW, I should also credit Laurie Glass with the last name of Samudio, she had been married to Joseph Samudio, and is the mother of Justin Samudio, and daughter of Bruce Haig, sister of Arlie, Tammy, PJ, and her brother, whose name escapes me. I extend an open invitation to all to come visit us, we're just north of Nevada City, CA.
Getting Suggestions Noticed, Universal New Ideas Bank
Technorati Profile
In my previous post I discussed an idea for traffic safety. I sent it as a letter to the editor of the local paper. I also posted it at a government site called safercars.gov. but I wonder if it will get noticed.
Wikipedia is all fine and good if you topic has been published already somewhere, and you are just rephrasing it, but it is no good for little guys with brand new ideas.
We need a Clearing House for Brand New Ideas. We need a space where anybody can post after registering. yes, there will be a lot of crank stuff. It can be tagged as such, along with the type of crank. What is cranky to the right may be brillant to the left, and vice versa.
We also need a system where a group of members can stop postings by universal idiots.
Person A posts idea #1 with a suggested classification or set of tags (technorati/html). If 5 other persons all trash the content as nothing new or rediculous, then the concept goes to the warning bin. Anything in the warning bin can be filtered out in a search for ideas. Items in the warning bin can be permanently deleted by 25 more members in good standing voting them off. Members in good standing must be contributing members or commenting members, who don't spend all day deleting anything and everything.
Assuming Idea #1 stays legitimately posted, others may make comments, just like any blog. variations on idea #1 can be maintained in a family tree for examination. Retagging or tag modification should also be possible. This is just a very rough sketch of the concept, so please bear with me.
Eventually it would be obvious which ideas are attracting the most attention, and like TTLB they could be ranked. All in all, and EBay of new ideas, it is.
Yoda's Codas are like Holly's Tomales
In my previous post I discussed an idea for traffic safety. I sent it as a letter to the editor of the local paper. I also posted it at a government site called safercars.gov. but I wonder if it will get noticed.
Wikipedia is all fine and good if you topic has been published already somewhere, and you are just rephrasing it, but it is no good for little guys with brand new ideas.
We need a Clearing House for Brand New Ideas. We need a space where anybody can post after registering. yes, there will be a lot of crank stuff. It can be tagged as such, along with the type of crank. What is cranky to the right may be brillant to the left, and vice versa.
We also need a system where a group of members can stop postings by universal idiots.
Person A posts idea #1 with a suggested classification or set of tags (technorati/html). If 5 other persons all trash the content as nothing new or rediculous, then the concept goes to the warning bin. Anything in the warning bin can be filtered out in a search for ideas. Items in the warning bin can be permanently deleted by 25 more members in good standing voting them off. Members in good standing must be contributing members or commenting members, who don't spend all day deleting anything and everything.
Assuming Idea #1 stays legitimately posted, others may make comments, just like any blog. variations on idea #1 can be maintained in a family tree for examination. Retagging or tag modification should also be possible. This is just a very rough sketch of the concept, so please bear with me.
Eventually it would be obvious which ideas are attracting the most attention, and like TTLB they could be ranked. All in all, and EBay of new ideas, it is.
Yoda's Codas are like Holly's Tomales
L.A.U.R.I.E, EveryPerson's Indy 500 Yellow Flag
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Here is my best idea ever.
When there is an accident at the Indianapolis 500 race, they bring out the yellow flag and so, even though other drivers cannot see the problem, they all slow down.
In the USA over 100 people a day (that's a 9/11 every ten days) are killed in car and truck accidents.
My concept will not stop most first accidents, but it will go a long way to reducing secondary accidents.
In a nutshell, when an airbag goes off, a radio signal carrying the GPS location of the airbagged car is sent out instantly. All new cars would be equipped to send out the signal.
All new cars would also be equipped to receive such signals. Depending on the distance to the bag deployed, and whether the receiving vehicle was approaching it or going away from it, a set of lights (coded like 9/11, with an audible for the more dangerous warnings)would be activated.
So, if you were on a 2 lane country road with blind curves everywhere, and an accident occurred just around the next bend, you would have time to slow down so as to avoid becoming part of the action.
In urban areas you would want to have the ability to limit the range to much less than you would want in the country.
A secondary code light could be used to let you know if emergency vehicles were approaching your area, activated by those vehicles. This would allow cars to get out of the way for ambulances and police vehicles, even if their drivers had MP3's blasting in their ears on their IPods.
In areas of high risk you might want to put repeater stations, so that if the originating car was destroyed, the signal would still get out, even if the original signal only lasted for a fraction of a second.
A secondary benefit of this would be to heighten awareness of the need to pay attention to the road. Drivers would all perk up even if the accident occurred slightly off their path and out of their normal awareness. Annoying ? Maybe so. I find 100 deaths/day a lot more annoying.
For those who say, "well, that will take at least x number of years to have any effect," I can only ask, "Will life be any less precious 20 years from now ? Do you see anybody making any other changes that will substantially affect the accident rate at so little cost ? If all the new cars start slowing down, don't you think those in older cars will take that as a warning ???"
Maybe you would prefer we return to cars with no seatbelts and no airbags, that would be so retro and cool......
Douglas Keachie, B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1969
So, what does the acronym L.A.U.R.I.E. stand for ?
Local Airbag Universal Radio Information Explosion
I have named this in honor of Laurie H. Glass, originally Laurie Haig, who died when her car came around a flyover curve at night in the MacArthur Maze in Oakland Calfornia, and blinded by the lights from the on-coming traffic from the Bay Bridge, she plowed straight into a darkened mass of debris, what was left of a van driven by a drunk/stoned driver, who walked away from the wreck. If this system were in place, she might be alive today, brightening the world, her son's life especially, with her laughter, art, love and joy. We miss you, Laurie !
Here is my best idea ever.
When there is an accident at the Indianapolis 500 race, they bring out the yellow flag and so, even though other drivers cannot see the problem, they all slow down.
In the USA over 100 people a day (that's a 9/11 every ten days) are killed in car and truck accidents.
My concept will not stop most first accidents, but it will go a long way to reducing secondary accidents.
In a nutshell, when an airbag goes off, a radio signal carrying the GPS location of the airbagged car is sent out instantly. All new cars would be equipped to send out the signal.
All new cars would also be equipped to receive such signals. Depending on the distance to the bag deployed, and whether the receiving vehicle was approaching it or going away from it, a set of lights (coded like 9/11, with an audible for the more dangerous warnings)would be activated.
So, if you were on a 2 lane country road with blind curves everywhere, and an accident occurred just around the next bend, you would have time to slow down so as to avoid becoming part of the action.
In urban areas you would want to have the ability to limit the range to much less than you would want in the country.
A secondary code light could be used to let you know if emergency vehicles were approaching your area, activated by those vehicles. This would allow cars to get out of the way for ambulances and police vehicles, even if their drivers had MP3's blasting in their ears on their IPods.
In areas of high risk you might want to put repeater stations, so that if the originating car was destroyed, the signal would still get out, even if the original signal only lasted for a fraction of a second.
A secondary benefit of this would be to heighten awareness of the need to pay attention to the road. Drivers would all perk up even if the accident occurred slightly off their path and out of their normal awareness. Annoying ? Maybe so. I find 100 deaths/day a lot more annoying.
For those who say, "well, that will take at least x number of years to have any effect," I can only ask, "Will life be any less precious 20 years from now ? Do you see anybody making any other changes that will substantially affect the accident rate at so little cost ? If all the new cars start slowing down, don't you think those in older cars will take that as a warning ???"
Maybe you would prefer we return to cars with no seatbelts and no airbags, that would be so retro and cool......
Douglas Keachie, B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1969
So, what does the acronym L.A.U.R.I.E. stand for ?
Local Airbag Universal Radio Information Explosion
I have named this in honor of Laurie H. Glass, originally Laurie Haig, who died when her car came around a flyover curve at night in the MacArthur Maze in Oakland Calfornia, and blinded by the lights from the on-coming traffic from the Bay Bridge, she plowed straight into a darkened mass of debris, what was left of a van driven by a drunk/stoned driver, who walked away from the wreck. If this system were in place, she might be alive today, brightening the world, her son's life especially, with her laughter, art, love and joy. We miss you, Laurie !
Friday, August 18, 2006
Worst Experience Ever with BestBuy Online
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Was poking about BestBuy online and wanted more info before making a purchase, was promised chance to get more info, and then boomo, you've bought a computer under terms you don't want. I believe this is illegal in California. The dude in India who said there would be no restocking fee for returning it to a store (70 miles away) refused to send a confirming email. He said he was doing it, he had the email addy on his screen, the same one they used send me the order confirmation, but nothing came from him. I sent that addy several emails and they came through just fine. He was lying, or they have a wierd delay. I asked for his email as an agent of BestBuy. He refused to give it, or a name, or even and employee numbers. Worst online buying experience EVER !
I sent the following on to BestBuy, but only after having several emails containing the word "cancel" mysteriously crash my machine.
"I have spent over three hours attemting to reach someone on the phone to s t o p an order that I inadvertantly would up placing after being promised a chance to check everything out. I had several unanswered questions, and had no intention of completing the transactions without getting answers to those questions. I would up talking to somebody in India through a bad connection who was no help at all, who claimed to have sent me an email when he hadn't, who refused to indetify himself by either name or employee number, who refused to even give me an email address to communictae with him on that level. No wonder this country's got problems. Bring the jobs home please. If you cannot find an American human who can talk deals, understands both your retail and credit sides, then please d e l e t e, c*a*nc*e*l the order immediately. My cell phone is....
I wonder if the script running this email input form doesn't just cause my computer to freeze. I am making copies of this before I hit transmit (submit) I guess I'm going to need a lawyer the way things are going. I will also send a copy via certified mail to the physical addy on the website."
Was poking about BestBuy online and wanted more info before making a purchase, was promised chance to get more info, and then boomo, you've bought a computer under terms you don't want. I believe this is illegal in California. The dude in India who said there would be no restocking fee for returning it to a store (70 miles away) refused to send a confirming email. He said he was doing it, he had the email addy on his screen, the same one they used send me the order confirmation, but nothing came from him. I sent that addy several emails and they came through just fine. He was lying, or they have a wierd delay. I asked for his email as an agent of BestBuy. He refused to give it, or a name, or even and employee numbers. Worst online buying experience EVER !
I sent the following on to BestBuy, but only after having several emails containing the word "cancel" mysteriously crash my machine.
"I have spent over three hours attemting to reach someone on the phone to s t o p an order that I inadvertantly would up placing after being promised a chance to check everything out. I had several unanswered questions, and had no intention of completing the transactions without getting answers to those questions. I would up talking to somebody in India through a bad connection who was no help at all, who claimed to have sent me an email when he hadn't, who refused to indetify himself by either name or employee number, who refused to even give me an email address to communictae with him on that level. No wonder this country's got problems. Bring the jobs home please. If you cannot find an American human who can talk deals, understands both your retail and credit sides, then please d e l e t e, c*a*nc*e*l the order immediately. My cell phone is....
I wonder if the script running this email input form doesn't just cause my computer to freeze. I am making copies of this before I hit transmit (submit) I guess I'm going to need a lawyer the way things are going. I will also send a copy via certified mail to the physical addy on the website."
Stereotyping: Simple Answers for Simple Minds
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Stereotyping: Simple Answers for Simple Minds....in a very complex universe.
If one example of A does B, then all examples of A do B.
This is especially true if I already like A and B, and even more so true if I dislike A and B.
This kind of thinking allows people who don't like school teachers to now conclude that all school teachers molest children, a la JonBenet Ramsey.
A more honest depiction would be, "Karr, who occasionally made money teaching school, did blah-blah-blah."
When we go for the shortcuts of stereotyping, our view of reality winds up a bloody mess.
Occupations, religions, political view points, actions, evaluations of those around us, all go into giving the complex definition of who we are, but no one of them by itself rules the roost. They have to be looked at as a constellation, a being made up of many (hopefully) bright points, which are only whole when taken in together.
Stereotyping: Simple Answers for Simple Minds....in a very complex universe.
If one example of A does B, then all examples of A do B.
This is especially true if I already like A and B, and even more so true if I dislike A and B.
This kind of thinking allows people who don't like school teachers to now conclude that all school teachers molest children, a la JonBenet Ramsey.
A more honest depiction would be, "Karr, who occasionally made money teaching school, did blah-blah-blah."
When we go for the shortcuts of stereotyping, our view of reality winds up a bloody mess.
Occupations, religions, political view points, actions, evaluations of those around us, all go into giving the complex definition of who we are, but no one of them by itself rules the roost. They have to be looked at as a constellation, a being made up of many (hopefully) bright points, which are only whole when taken in together.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Coffee Filter Folderover Solution + Bad Pun
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We've owned a very nice Italian Delonghi coffee maker for years. For years, on an intermittent basis, the coffee filter would fold over, the grounds would, in a minor case get into the pot, with weaker coffee, or in a major case, all over the kitchen counter. About two years ago I discovered that cutting off a thin edge from the top of the paper filter solved a lot of these problems. But occasionally, the grounds would still go on the warpath.
Now I've hit upon an even simpler solution. Wet the filter and conform it to the coffee filter holder before adding the grounds. A simple thing, and a switch from my save the world solutions, but it works.
What do angry intersteller space craft equipped AmerIndians do ???
They go on the Warp Path !
Another bad pun from the warp-ped mind of Douglas Keachie
Der Tag of the day: StarTrek
We've owned a very nice Italian Delonghi coffee maker for years. For years, on an intermittent basis, the coffee filter would fold over, the grounds would, in a minor case get into the pot, with weaker coffee, or in a major case, all over the kitchen counter. About two years ago I discovered that cutting off a thin edge from the top of the paper filter solved a lot of these problems. But occasionally, the grounds would still go on the warpath.
Now I've hit upon an even simpler solution. Wet the filter and conform it to the coffee filter holder before adding the grounds. A simple thing, and a switch from my save the world solutions, but it works.
What do angry intersteller space craft equipped AmerIndians do ???
They go on the Warp Path !
Another bad pun from the warp-ped mind of Douglas Keachie
Der Tag of the day: StarTrek
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Frustration with Blogger and Pinging to Technorati
Technorati Profile
I don't seem to be able to get listed in Technorati any more recently than 42 days ago. I followed all of the instructions at Technorati.
One last try. I will put the following in this post, post it, and then click on it. this is therefore a wasted post for everybody else.
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
Keachie
I don't seem to be able to get listed in Technorati any more recently than 42 days ago. I followed all of the instructions at Technorati.
One last try. I will put the following in this post, post it, and then click on it. this is therefore a wasted post for everybody else.
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
Keachie
The Strength of the USA
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The Strength of the USA is lies our abilities to live and let live, to learn that their are areas where we we never agree, but that those areas do not preclude us from cooperating and enjoying one another's company in areas where we do agree. Again, "Why can't we just all get along ?" This is probably nearly as profound as Martin Luther King's, "I Have a Dream," speech.
Unfortunately, we don't always practise this philosophy the way we profess. We have wasted 1/3 rd of $1,000,000,000 (that's one billion dollars) on military personnel fired because they prefer the same sex for partnering. We lost 55 good translators of Arabic this way, according to CNN today.
But, in general, this ability to tolerate diversity, plus adequate lebensraum (quality land on which to live and grow food, and plenty of wild open wilderness spaces, for mental/physical relaxation/spiritual explorations), allows us to get along most of the time.
Contrast this with Ahmadinemed, the president of Iran, who seems to be following in Hitler's footsteps, promising economic growth to the poor, and saber rattling in the international scene. I would like to know where the factory is that makes the Katyuska rockets, and I would like it bombed to extinction. Now he even has a blog, I may have spelled his name wrong in the last part.
I expect that rockets will again fall on Israel, as the Arabs have no clue, insisting that the Lebanese and U.N. forces "not look for rockets and weapons caches." I'm suprised the Israel hasn't at least bombed Syia and Iran, let alone nuked them. I don't like nukes, but if it's going to be brought to, "us or them," I vote for nuking them first.
Tags bomb
The Strength of the USA is lies our abilities to live and let live, to learn that their are areas where we we never agree, but that those areas do not preclude us from cooperating and enjoying one another's company in areas where we do agree. Again, "Why can't we just all get along ?" This is probably nearly as profound as Martin Luther King's, "I Have a Dream," speech.
Unfortunately, we don't always practise this philosophy the way we profess. We have wasted 1/3 rd of $1,000,000,000 (that's one billion dollars) on military personnel fired because they prefer the same sex for partnering. We lost 55 good translators of Arabic this way, according to CNN today.
But, in general, this ability to tolerate diversity, plus adequate lebensraum (quality land on which to live and grow food, and plenty of wild open wilderness spaces, for mental/physical relaxation/spiritual explorations), allows us to get along most of the time.
Contrast this with Ahmadinemed, the president of Iran, who seems to be following in Hitler's footsteps, promising economic growth to the poor, and saber rattling in the international scene. I would like to know where the factory is that makes the Katyuska rockets, and I would like it bombed to extinction. Now he even has a blog, I may have spelled his name wrong in the last part.
I expect that rockets will again fall on Israel, as the Arabs have no clue, insisting that the Lebanese and U.N. forces "not look for rockets and weapons caches." I'm suprised the Israel hasn't at least bombed Syia and Iran, let alone nuked them. I don't like nukes, but if it's going to be brought to, "us or them," I vote for nuking them first.
Tags bomb
"It's all about ME ! (and maybe You too)
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Loony Tunes ! They don't hate us. They love Tom and Jerry. Hollywood is safe.
"Look at me," is a very basic human need.
The Islamo Fascists (Hamas, Hezbollah, Wahabi's, and Al'Kaieda) all have a remarkable serious case of this need. Almost as bad as the various religious groups in the USA who are forever trying to get people to convert to whatever their "One True Faith in this Universe and all Universes Beyond," happens to be.
"Look at my rockets!" is more of the same. I once heard that the goal of the terrorists is not to be as "happy" as we, but rather to make sure we are as unhappy as they. Since the Iranians are not stupid nor ill equipped, they will soon have the Bomb. We will live in interesting times, and having a supply of iodine on hand would be a good idea. Small doses will prevent the body from absorbing a radioactive relative of iodine.
The Xerox machine and the VCR brought the communist system to its knees, but then most of the people in Russia (CCCP) were not communists in their hearts at all. With the indoctrination of kids so young that 5 year olds want to blow themselves up in their "Holy" war, we are looking at an entirely different critter. However, more free tv beamed down might help, as well as as much connection to the net as is possible. We should all know how to aim and peak a two way Internet satellite dish, even here, and maybe especially here, in the USA. It's amazing what comes from the Wild Blue Yonder !
Frankly, I'd go for tons of LSD in the water and air and a complete disarmarment of the Middle East as soon as possible. It's very hard to plant and set off an IED if you are stoned like a Berkeley hippy. Your timing is shot and you get distracted by spinning hubcaps. Doing it sector by sector (one mile square or so in rural areas, about one quarter that in town) would reduce the loss of life, and greatly reduce the loss of life which will happen without a doubt if they get nukes from anywhere.
WildBlue
Happy Birthday coming up soon !
You are smart enough to know this, and glad you are following through.
Loony Tunes ! They don't hate us. They love Tom and Jerry. Hollywood is safe.
"Look at me," is a very basic human need.
The Islamo Fascists (Hamas, Hezbollah, Wahabi's, and Al'Kaieda) all have a remarkable serious case of this need. Almost as bad as the various religious groups in the USA who are forever trying to get people to convert to whatever their "One True Faith in this Universe and all Universes Beyond," happens to be.
"Look at my rockets!" is more of the same. I once heard that the goal of the terrorists is not to be as "happy" as we, but rather to make sure we are as unhappy as they. Since the Iranians are not stupid nor ill equipped, they will soon have the Bomb. We will live in interesting times, and having a supply of iodine on hand would be a good idea. Small doses will prevent the body from absorbing a radioactive relative of iodine.
The Xerox machine and the VCR brought the communist system to its knees, but then most of the people in Russia (CCCP) were not communists in their hearts at all. With the indoctrination of kids so young that 5 year olds want to blow themselves up in their "Holy" war, we are looking at an entirely different critter. However, more free tv beamed down might help, as well as as much connection to the net as is possible. We should all know how to aim and peak a two way Internet satellite dish, even here, and maybe especially here, in the USA. It's amazing what comes from the Wild Blue Yonder !
Frankly, I'd go for tons of LSD in the water and air and a complete disarmarment of the Middle East as soon as possible. It's very hard to plant and set off an IED if you are stoned like a Berkeley hippy. Your timing is shot and you get distracted by spinning hubcaps. Doing it sector by sector (one mile square or so in rural areas, about one quarter that in town) would reduce the loss of life, and greatly reduce the loss of life which will happen without a doubt if they get nukes from anywhere.
WildBlue
Happy Birthday coming up soon !
You are smart enough to know this, and glad you are following through.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Gates and Clinton and the Unknown Muslim Informant
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Gates and Clinton and the Unknown Muslim Informant.
These are my selections so ar this year for Person of the Year or the Nobel Peace Prize. The first two for their efforts to fight AIDS and other diseases, the latter for saving at least two thousand lives and the general emotional tone of the world. Without the Unknown Muslim Informant, the Brits wouldn't have had a clue.
Tags: Heathrow, terrorists, airlines, airplanes, liquid bombs, Great Britain, England, Pakistan, Hezbollah
Gates and Clinton and the Unknown Muslim Informant.
These are my selections so ar this year for Person of the Year or the Nobel Peace Prize. The first two for their efforts to fight AIDS and other diseases, the latter for saving at least two thousand lives and the general emotional tone of the world. Without the Unknown Muslim Informant, the Brits wouldn't have had a clue.
Tags: Heathrow, terrorists, airlines, airplanes, liquid bombs, Great Britain, England, Pakistan, Hezbollah
Voye Yes on 87
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It's funny how opportunity comes your way.
The oil companies don't want to pay a tax for drilling for California's oil.
They sell gasoline by the octane rating. According to Dr. Bill Wattenburg (Wattenberg?) a talk show host of radio station KGO, a double PhD, there is no reason to burn any higher octane gas than 87.
Thus at the gas pumps there sits a wonderful opportunity for a bit of sticky label tagging, just above where it states the octane rating for proposition 87.
For example:
Tired of getting ripped off ?
Vote Yes On
and then of course the number 87 is already there. If every voter does this just once, even if they are picked up on video, it will make a marvelous mocery of 30 million dollars the oil companies have already spent to defeat prop 87. If everyone does it to the tune of the number of labels on one sheet of Avery labels, we will have the vox populi heard again over the roar of insane oil profits...
It's funny how opportunity comes your way.
The oil companies don't want to pay a tax for drilling for California's oil.
They sell gasoline by the octane rating. According to Dr. Bill Wattenburg (Wattenberg?) a talk show host of radio station KGO, a double PhD, there is no reason to burn any higher octane gas than 87.
Thus at the gas pumps there sits a wonderful opportunity for a bit of sticky label tagging, just above where it states the octane rating for proposition 87.
For example:
Tired of getting ripped off ?
Vote Yes On
and then of course the number 87 is already there. If every voter does this just once, even if they are picked up on video, it will make a marvelous mocery of 30 million dollars the oil companies have already spent to defeat prop 87. If everyone does it to the tune of the number of labels on one sheet of Avery labels, we will have the vox populi heard again over the roar of insane oil profits...
Fear and Its Offspring
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philosophy
religion
prostitution
Winston Churchill said, "the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."
I beg to differ.
Most people have concerns about what happens after ones molecules refuse to cooperate with one another, which usually happens by age 110 or sooner.
Most people are afraid of other people who behave differently than they do.
Consequently a great many religions have sprung up to make sure various groups feel that they have "The Handle on Truth." It usually includes some notion of an afterlife, or at least a reason for no afterlife.
Unfortunately too often an opinion about something we really have no clear handle on, say, the way we are familar with water makes us wet, is used as an excuse to destroy or shun those who happen to have a differing opinion. Those that are gone (dead)or pretend gone (shunned) cannot interfere with your particular prejudices about post body experiences, which is often used as a foundation for general social behavior.
I guess that it is reassuring to believe that you've got the one and only answer, and all who don't think your way, are just a source of fear that You May Not Have The Right Answer. You simply cannot cope with ambiguity, so hi ho, off to church, temple, mosque you go. And some use such religious centers to launch rockets at pregnant women and small children. All in the name of a diety who is probably not very impressed.
On a lighter note, maybe we should pay Nevada's best to go put on their finest performances as virgins and keep the Arab males a wee bit less warlike. If the government were to put billions into sexual substitute bots, it just might defuse some of the tensions around the planet. Or maybe the government should offer training to young males in what they can do to be more attractive to the opposite sex, actually a much better route to a more humane world.
philosophy
religion
prostitution
Winston Churchill said, "the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."
I beg to differ.
Most people have concerns about what happens after ones molecules refuse to cooperate with one another, which usually happens by age 110 or sooner.
Most people are afraid of other people who behave differently than they do.
Consequently a great many religions have sprung up to make sure various groups feel that they have "The Handle on Truth." It usually includes some notion of an afterlife, or at least a reason for no afterlife.
Unfortunately too often an opinion about something we really have no clear handle on, say, the way we are familar with water makes us wet, is used as an excuse to destroy or shun those who happen to have a differing opinion. Those that are gone (dead)or pretend gone (shunned) cannot interfere with your particular prejudices about post body experiences, which is often used as a foundation for general social behavior.
I guess that it is reassuring to believe that you've got the one and only answer, and all who don't think your way, are just a source of fear that You May Not Have The Right Answer. You simply cannot cope with ambiguity, so hi ho, off to church, temple, mosque you go. And some use such religious centers to launch rockets at pregnant women and small children. All in the name of a diety who is probably not very impressed.
On a lighter note, maybe we should pay Nevada's best to go put on their finest performances as virgins and keep the Arab males a wee bit less warlike. If the government were to put billions into sexual substitute bots, it just might defuse some of the tensions around the planet. Or maybe the government should offer training to young males in what they can do to be more attractive to the opposite sex, actually a much better route to a more humane world.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
"The Needs of the Many......."
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If it hasn't happened already, a secret excutive order will be out soon. The U.S. should not offer an easy shot at another 9/11 (September 11, 2001) Operation Broken Wing sounds about right.
Since most aircraft can fly themselves pretty well once they are upstairs, and usually have good fuel reserves, it makes perfect sense to have a "bail out" button. The pilot presses the heavily fortified button, and the plane takes over the controls, until it receives an over-ride from a nearby fighter jet, which can either control the passenger jet, or return control to the pilot.
It is true that the terrorists could kill everyone on board, or even blow the plane up in mid air, but they would no longer have control of a flying bomb of hundreds of thousands of pounds moving at 500 mph and under their control. They would be flown to a remote air force base and the plane landed.
Yes, the passengers and crew are expendible in this scenerio, but it also means that they have the right to pig pile the terrorists much as appears to have happened on Flight 93, with "let's roll." Beamer and your fellow passengers, we all salute you one more time. Next time, knowing how Fight 93 worked, the passengers might win, and this would be one more reason for the terrorists not to try it. Terrorists are basically cowards.
Of course, for this autopilot bailout button to work as a deterrent, the terrorists need to know about it ahead of time. Of course, that will not meet the needs of money losing airline corporate America, so I guess it will have to happen at least once before we all find out about this, if we ever do.
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few..."
Spock of StarTrek
If there is enough fuel on board, and the terrorist have already killed the pasengers and crew, perhaps sending the plane in the direction of the Middle East would be a fitting solution, aim it at a Wahabi Mosque somewhere. Preferably one with Osama Bin Ladin in it.
If it hasn't happened already, a secret excutive order will be out soon. The U.S. should not offer an easy shot at another 9/11 (September 11, 2001) Operation Broken Wing sounds about right.
Since most aircraft can fly themselves pretty well once they are upstairs, and usually have good fuel reserves, it makes perfect sense to have a "bail out" button. The pilot presses the heavily fortified button, and the plane takes over the controls, until it receives an over-ride from a nearby fighter jet, which can either control the passenger jet, or return control to the pilot.
It is true that the terrorists could kill everyone on board, or even blow the plane up in mid air, but they would no longer have control of a flying bomb of hundreds of thousands of pounds moving at 500 mph and under their control. They would be flown to a remote air force base and the plane landed.
Yes, the passengers and crew are expendible in this scenerio, but it also means that they have the right to pig pile the terrorists much as appears to have happened on Flight 93, with "let's roll." Beamer and your fellow passengers, we all salute you one more time. Next time, knowing how Fight 93 worked, the passengers might win, and this would be one more reason for the terrorists not to try it. Terrorists are basically cowards.
Of course, for this autopilot bailout button to work as a deterrent, the terrorists need to know about it ahead of time. Of course, that will not meet the needs of money losing airline corporate America, so I guess it will have to happen at least once before we all find out about this, if we ever do.
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few..."
Spock of StarTrek
If there is enough fuel on board, and the terrorist have already killed the pasengers and crew, perhaps sending the plane in the direction of the Middle East would be a fitting solution, aim it at a Wahabi Mosque somewhere. Preferably one with Osama Bin Ladin in it.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Privacy and the Shotgun Approach to Databases
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About a week ago I got a letter addressed to me, from some distant purveyor of goodness knows what. The odd thing was that my current addy was correct, but it had the addition of Apt 4. This used to be the case when I lived in San Francisco, but out in the foothills of the old west, I am located on a ranch I own, no apartments here at all, just a ranch house.
Today I got a letter addressed to;
Alicia Freeman Lewin
(my rural address)
It was for a high school reunion, at a high school I'd never heard of in Southern California.
Now my ex wife of 32 years (Alicia Freeman), who's charming second husband Ronald Lewin died about six years ago, does exist, but never at this address.
Somewhere along the line some programmer rigged the system to find the faintest sort of connection possible, and then issued a letter. For all I know all her ex byfriends and goodness knows who else got invites as well. I would say that this kind of data mining as gone a bit too far...
About a week ago I got a letter addressed to me, from some distant purveyor of goodness knows what. The odd thing was that my current addy was correct, but it had the addition of Apt 4. This used to be the case when I lived in San Francisco, but out in the foothills of the old west, I am located on a ranch I own, no apartments here at all, just a ranch house.
Today I got a letter addressed to;
Alicia Freeman Lewin
(my rural address)
It was for a high school reunion, at a high school I'd never heard of in Southern California.
Now my ex wife of 32 years (Alicia Freeman), who's charming second husband Ronald Lewin died about six years ago, does exist, but never at this address.
Somewhere along the line some programmer rigged the system to find the faintest sort of connection possible, and then issued a letter. For all I know all her ex byfriends and goodness knows who else got invites as well. I would say that this kind of data mining as gone a bit too far...
Plantronics Solar Photovoltaic Installation
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Hmmmn, this one is hard to publish. Is there some secret code that says I cut and pasted a big chunnk ?
The largest solar power system in Santa Cruz County sits atop the roof of Plantronics Inc., the headset company based in Santa Cruz.
The 262 kilowatt system is four and a half times larger than the previous largest, a 57 kilowatt system installed by West Marine in 2003. Construction finished last week on the massive Plantronics project and the system will start capturing the sun’s rays June 5….
And getting a hold of that many solar, or photovoltaic, panels was not easy, he said. Solar Technologies bought the panels from Schott Solar, a German company with offices in Rockland.”There’s a worldwide shortage of photovoltaic products,” Denault (the designer) said. “It was like a major international intrigue to get all the panels together for this project.”
As big as it is, the system will only provide about 20 percent of Plantronics’ energy needs….
The project cost more than $2 million, but with all the rebates available from the state, the company only had to pay about 25 percent of that, Denault said. And with the money it will save in PG&E bills, Plantronics will pay off the system in about five years, Denault said….
Ron Swenson, owner of ElectroRoof, said “Plantronics was very visionary to do a project like this, and we were glad to provide a solution.”
This article tells us a number of interesting things about the alternative energy market:
1. Even with today’s oil prices, unsubsidized solar would take 20 years to pay off - not yet a rational business move.
2. And this is in sunny Santa Cruz, California - where the economics of solar power should be at their strongest.
3. However, interest is strong enough to make it difficult to obtain enough panels for a large project.
4. Still, today’s adopters are “visionaries.”
We can then extrapolate a few other nuggets:
1. Given that solar power is a silicon technology, it will get cheaper in future iterations.
2. The strong demand is likely to result in new investments, which will increase capacity and also lower prices.
3. Oil prices are likely to continue rising for several years if only because it takes that long to develop alternate technologies.
If oil rises to $100 (42 percent from current levels) and solar power costs are cut in half over the next five years (both of which seem to us to be within the range of reasonable expectations) the payback on solar power systems will be 7 years without subsidies. At least in places like Santa Cruz. And that kind of potential is what keeps venture capital dollars flowing.
I am still working on finding the base numbers to truly understand the economics of solar power, but this analysis is interesting. You non-believers, nuke choir members, have to ask yourselves, "Why are the otherwise intelligent folk at Plantronics wasting their money on this non nuke boondoogle ?"
Now I'm supposed to remember the whole html phrase for inserting a tag, bother! back in a minute....
Hmmmn, this one is hard to publish. Is there some secret code that says I cut and pasted a big chunnk ?
The largest solar power system in Santa Cruz County sits atop the roof of Plantronics Inc., the headset company based in Santa Cruz.
The 262 kilowatt system is four and a half times larger than the previous largest, a 57 kilowatt system installed by West Marine in 2003. Construction finished last week on the massive Plantronics project and the system will start capturing the sun’s rays June 5….
And getting a hold of that many solar, or photovoltaic, panels was not easy, he said. Solar Technologies bought the panels from Schott Solar, a German company with offices in Rockland.”There’s a worldwide shortage of photovoltaic products,” Denault (the designer) said. “It was like a major international intrigue to get all the panels together for this project.”
As big as it is, the system will only provide about 20 percent of Plantronics’ energy needs….
The project cost more than $2 million, but with all the rebates available from the state, the company only had to pay about 25 percent of that, Denault said. And with the money it will save in PG&E bills, Plantronics will pay off the system in about five years, Denault said….
Ron Swenson, owner of ElectroRoof, said “Plantronics was very visionary to do a project like this, and we were glad to provide a solution.”
This article tells us a number of interesting things about the alternative energy market:
1. Even with today’s oil prices, unsubsidized solar would take 20 years to pay off - not yet a rational business move.
2. And this is in sunny Santa Cruz, California - where the economics of solar power should be at their strongest.
3. However, interest is strong enough to make it difficult to obtain enough panels for a large project.
4. Still, today’s adopters are “visionaries.”
We can then extrapolate a few other nuggets:
1. Given that solar power is a silicon technology, it will get cheaper in future iterations.
2. The strong demand is likely to result in new investments, which will increase capacity and also lower prices.
3. Oil prices are likely to continue rising for several years if only because it takes that long to develop alternate technologies.
If oil rises to $100 (42 percent from current levels) and solar power costs are cut in half over the next five years (both of which seem to us to be within the range of reasonable expectations) the payback on solar power systems will be 7 years without subsidies. At least in places like Santa Cruz. And that kind of potential is what keeps venture capital dollars flowing.
I am still working on finding the base numbers to truly understand the economics of solar power, but this analysis is interesting. You non-believers, nuke choir members, have to ask yourselves, "Why are the otherwise intelligent folk at Plantronics wasting their money on this non nuke boondoogle ?"
Now I'm supposed to remember the whole html phrase for inserting a tag, bother! back in a minute....
Tagging for Dummies
Technorati Profile
It used to be that simply blogging something got all the words in each blog piece indexed in technorati. A brief experiement seems to indicate that now to ever get listed you have to use "tags."
A long time ago, in 1973 to be exact, I came into contact with this process at ERIC, the Educational Research Information Center, an off-shoot of the moon shot's technology. They indexed all the technical articles for the moon shot and made it possible to search by "key words" (tags). As a proof of benefit of the space program to the earth bound, they applied the same technique to everything in written in the field of education. I used it to generate instant bibliographies for each of my college students at SFSU, crossing their individual area of specialty with technology and education. I have to wait a week for the stack of printouts, which were about 4 inches thick. My students and myself were blown away by the process, now taken for granted as a Google type search.
helicopter
Back to the future:
Keachie
this is the current model for do it yourself indexing. It is not clear to me just what to put where, so I shall experiment. For my first experiment, I have replaced tagname with the word "helicopter," dumping the brackets. This will probably fail, but the technorati instruction were not step by step.
Actually, the instructions are there:
"The [tagname] can be anything, but it should be descriptive. Please only use tags that are relevant to the post. You do not need to include the brackets, just the descriptive keyword for your post. Just make sure to include rel="tag"."
This last I read to mean, "Your religion is 'tag'."
It used to be that simply blogging something got all the words in each blog piece indexed in technorati. A brief experiement seems to indicate that now to ever get listed you have to use "tags."
A long time ago, in 1973 to be exact, I came into contact with this process at ERIC, the Educational Research Information Center, an off-shoot of the moon shot's technology. They indexed all the technical articles for the moon shot and made it possible to search by "key words" (tags). As a proof of benefit of the space program to the earth bound, they applied the same technique to everything in written in the field of education. I used it to generate instant bibliographies for each of my college students at SFSU, crossing their individual area of specialty with technology and education. I have to wait a week for the stack of printouts, which were about 4 inches thick. My students and myself were blown away by the process, now taken for granted as a Google type search.
helicopter
Back to the future:
Keachie
this is the current model for do it yourself indexing. It is not clear to me just what to put where, so I shall experiment. For my first experiment, I have replaced tagname with the word "helicopter," dumping the brackets. This will probably fail, but the technorati instruction were not step by step.
Actually, the instructions are there:
"The [tagname] can be anything, but it should be descriptive. Please only use tags that are relevant to the post. You do not need to include the brackets, just the descriptive keyword for your post. Just make sure to include rel="tag"."
This last I read to mean, "Your religion is 'tag'."
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
A Tea Cozy for the Space Shuttle
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Maybe a two part foam cover for the shuttle would increase the safety of the space shuttle launchings.
If you made a heavy outer foam dome, and whisk it away at the last minute via helicopter, you would reduce the weight of the remaining foam, thus lessening the potential for accidents, and you would increase the payload of the shuttle by a few pounds. My understanding a while back was that it cost about 1 million dollars for each usable pound thrown into either earth orbit or landed on the moon, I don't remember which, but in any event it would certainly allow for one more high school science experiment to go into space.
The only design problem would be the two layers sticking together, and I would solve that with a radial array of compressed air tubes that could be expanded with a blast of compressed air, provided by the helicopter.
Dear NASA, sorry to be so late in offering a solution, but you've got 16 more flights to go, so maybe it can be used for them.
sincerely,
Doug Keachie
Maybe a two part foam cover for the shuttle would increase the safety of the space shuttle launchings.
If you made a heavy outer foam dome, and whisk it away at the last minute via helicopter, you would reduce the weight of the remaining foam, thus lessening the potential for accidents, and you would increase the payload of the shuttle by a few pounds. My understanding a while back was that it cost about 1 million dollars for each usable pound thrown into either earth orbit or landed on the moon, I don't remember which, but in any event it would certainly allow for one more high school science experiment to go into space.
The only design problem would be the two layers sticking together, and I would solve that with a radial array of compressed air tubes that could be expanded with a blast of compressed air, provided by the helicopter.
Dear NASA, sorry to be so late in offering a solution, but you've got 16 more flights to go, so maybe it can be used for them.
sincerely,
Doug Keachie
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Papparazzi, Movie Stars, and Cameras
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It amuses me to no end to watch Bruce Willis or Britney Spears gripe about papparazzi photographing them inside their cars.
It amuses me to no end to watch Bruce Willis or Britney Spears gripe about papparazzi photographing them inside their cars.
If the celebs were serious, they'd simple rim the roof line of their cars with fast recycling strobe lights, which would trigger and fire during the same instant a papparazzi's camera fires. The resultant flash would wash out the photos the papparazzis' are trying to get. The technology's been around for 40 years, so the stars really do want their pictures taken, despite their protests to the contrary.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
The Economics of Electric Cars & Solar Power
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The Economics of Electric Cars & Solar Power
One might think that there qould be 1,000's of listings for each of these. There are eight for one and ten for the other.
I was curious to find out the answer to the following question:
If the government were to 100% subsidise the installation of solar panels on houses with the primary purpose of charging a set of batteries for an electric car purchased by the home owner, how much of a reduction in dependence on foriegn oil would this buy, given today's prices for solar panels and today's efficiencies for electric cars? I am assuming that the car is designed for two sets of batteries, one to stay at home charging, while the other is out driving, which strikes me as the only sane way to go about this situation. The panels would hav e to be cabable of fully recharging the batteries for 120 miles of travel in one moderately sunny day.
This turns out to be information which is hard to find, but I will work on it.
technorati tags: solar electric cars government subsidy economics panels
The Economics of Electric Cars & Solar Power
One might think that there qould be 1,000's of listings for each of these. There are eight for one and ten for the other.
I was curious to find out the answer to the following question:
If the government were to 100% subsidise the installation of solar panels on houses with the primary purpose of charging a set of batteries for an electric car purchased by the home owner, how much of a reduction in dependence on foriegn oil would this buy, given today's prices for solar panels and today's efficiencies for electric cars? I am assuming that the car is designed for two sets of batteries, one to stay at home charging, while the other is out driving, which strikes me as the only sane way to go about this situation. The panels would hav e to be cabable of fully recharging the batteries for 120 miles of travel in one moderately sunny day.
This turns out to be information which is hard to find, but I will work on it.
technorati tags: solar electric cars government subsidy economics panels
Sunday, June 11, 2006
A CongressPerson's Time is Valuable, Let's Share !
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It's no secret that money talks and BS doesn't make it into the parking lot, when it comes to the time of your CongressPersons. The House of Representatives and the Senate are the true capitalists' marketplace, with admission by campaign donations, or private wealth, and often both.
Now I think that 1/2 of the time a CongressPerson spends should be with people of "their own choosing.," i.e., the campaign donors.
The other half of available time should be up for auction, on a site like Ebay. What's more, the initial ownership of a month's worth of available time (remember, 1/2 of the time the CongressPerson spends with people beyond their staff and other members of Congress), should be split up among all registered voters by lottery. The units could be as small as 1/1000th of a month, and scheduling would be lots of fun, with watchdogs and rules to make sure the CongressPerson didn't try "ditching" a legitimate owner of time. Our lobbiests deserve what they pay for, we deserve to know about our lobbiests' activities in detail.
The initial owner of a given CongressPerson's time would probably reap at least $100,000 for the month, and the options could be tracked just like the stock market, giving a simple number or two showing who really has the power in Congress, just like the stock market. Congress minute ? Nah, too short a time. I think 20 minutes would be a minimum, and this would vary, depending on how available a CongressPerson was (some make more time available than others). It would make for 1/2 hour appointments, with 10 minutes of review, relax, and prepare time.
The owners and eventual users of all units of time would be public record, as would the names of all the rest of the people a CongressPerson sees (of their own choice, times), other than directly related family members. All of this data comes with complete with names, times and dates, and is posted on the web within a week of completion.
Just a little accountability, some spreading of the wealth (since we've given up on democracy as a marketplace of ideas), that's all I ask. As usual, much more thought and discussion is needed to work out the fine points.
It's no secret that money talks and BS doesn't make it into the parking lot, when it comes to the time of your CongressPersons. The House of Representatives and the Senate are the true capitalists' marketplace, with admission by campaign donations, or private wealth, and often both.
Now I think that 1/2 of the time a CongressPerson spends should be with people of "their own choosing.," i.e., the campaign donors.
The other half of available time should be up for auction, on a site like Ebay. What's more, the initial ownership of a month's worth of available time (remember, 1/2 of the time the CongressPerson spends with people beyond their staff and other members of Congress), should be split up among all registered voters by lottery. The units could be as small as 1/1000th of a month, and scheduling would be lots of fun, with watchdogs and rules to make sure the CongressPerson didn't try "ditching" a legitimate owner of time. Our lobbiests deserve what they pay for, we deserve to know about our lobbiests' activities in detail.
The initial owner of a given CongressPerson's time would probably reap at least $100,000 for the month, and the options could be tracked just like the stock market, giving a simple number or two showing who really has the power in Congress, just like the stock market. Congress minute ? Nah, too short a time. I think 20 minutes would be a minimum, and this would vary, depending on how available a CongressPerson was (some make more time available than others). It would make for 1/2 hour appointments, with 10 minutes of review, relax, and prepare time.
The owners and eventual users of all units of time would be public record, as would the names of all the rest of the people a CongressPerson sees (of their own choice, times), other than directly related family members. All of this data comes with complete with names, times and dates, and is posted on the web within a week of completion.
Just a little accountability, some spreading of the wealth (since we've given up on democracy as a marketplace of ideas), that's all I ask. As usual, much more thought and discussion is needed to work out the fine points.
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