Last night I heard an opposition view of the Estate/Death Tax on Marketplace. It struck me as being outright wrong in some places, and I had to respond on here.

• "For 90 years now, the death tax has never prevented billionaires from passing on their wealth to children and grand children. These families have legions of tax accountants and lawyers help find clever loopholes around the estate tax." - So because there are loopholes, you throw away the tax? Why not just close the loopholes? Bizarre logic.
• "Most Americans oppose it because they believe it is fundamentally unfair to tax people twice on income that was already taxed when it was earned." - Maybe most Americans oppose it (which should be logic enough to get rid of it... we are in a Democracy). But I'd like to see that study... "Do you dislike every tax the government takes from you?" is very different than "Would you prefer to get taxed now or taxed after you die?" and very different from "Would you prefer to go without taxes or without social security?"
• Then he goes on to mention Russia and Sweden's policies about repeal of the tax. Remind me when we started taking direction from them? If we did, wouldn't we have avoided invading Iraq? Then he goes on to mention about Karl Marx (!) and the Communist Manifesto (!!). I believe it's Godwin's law that as discussion time increases, the likelihood of someone mentioning Nazi's (as a counterargument) increases to 100%. I wonder if there's a corollary for communists.
• “One recent study suggests that the tax discourages investments in small businesses” – Um, what?? ‘I’m sorry, I’d like to start this new business, but I’m worried about the taxes my kids will pay when I’m dead and they’re inheriting it from me.’ You’ve got to be kidding me.
• “It encourages older Americans to spend down their assets before they die.” – Again, I’m not sure what the source is that says that people with $1.5 Million are racing to spend it all before they die. Besides, even if they WERE spending it wouldn’t that be a BOON to the economy? How does someone inheriting millions of dollars help the economy?
• Finally, “the death tax causes all this economic damage but only raises 1.5% of all federal tax revenues.” –According to this, the revenues total $123 Billion (at its peak in 2001). This would cover the nearly the entire budgets of NASA, Education and Transportation combined. Are you really ready to throw all that out? And remind me again what the economic damage is?

On the other side of the coin is Daily Kos who goes into some choice comments about the hyper-rich. I am not opposed in the least to someone being hyper-rich… I want to be one of them! On the other hand, I certainly do not have any problem with the rich paying their fair share. But that’s what it should be… a fair share. No one who makes more money than me in a given year should pay less in taxes, and vice versa. Kos points out that someone making $100 million pays as much in percentage as someone making $50k. I don’t have any problem with that… if the $50k person pays 25%, they’re paying $12.5k. If the $100 million person pays 25% they’re paying $25 million. I think I can live with that. It’s the concept that someone is able to weasel out of the system where it becomes galling. Just make it nice and progressive… that’s the only fair way.

D

MouthSounds

Too funny. A couple of really cool things about this:

1) It's on a site about "Cool Tools". As though the mouth is a tool.
2) Anything that will help me do that whistle thing with your tongue which is orders of magnitude louder than a regular whistle is cool.
3) Great use of frequencies!

"Talk under the din." If you are at a loud party and find yourself shouting louder and louder just to talk to people, begin speaking "under the noise." What is happening is that the voices in the room are competing in the same frequency range - so that people raise their volume and their pitch when they feel they can't be heard. They shout in high voices. All you have to do is not compete. Talk in a quieter, deeper voice, and you will be heard easily. Try it. You will be shocked at how easy it is to talk under the din.

I can't believe anyone needs to know how to do the "Screech 'N' Skid"? Or the "Gummy Cheeks"? Maybe they need a mouth sounds for experts!

D

VII Pillars of Productivity

Interesting as well, but I wonder how well it translates to real world implementation? I love the first one... analog to digital. The more digital you get the more likely you spend less time wandering around like an idiot.

On the other hand, IV: "Use merit-based incentives."... jeez, that never works right, unless you're a sales person and then you just give a percentage of what a person brings in. Take this entry ("Why salary bonus and other incentives fail to meet their objectives"). Would you ever want anyone in your org who DIDN'T feel they busted their ass or worked hard enough to get the top bonus? And anyone who doesn't get the top bonus is going to be pissed. As always, there is the insightful Joel to reference. I'm all for measuring people to make sure they're working right... but tying that to incentives is a disaster.

D

Sometimes I come upon posts or reviews that really need nothing from me. However, I'd like to remember them and pass them on, so I think I'll just start blogging the link and very little else. If I was really cool, I'd tag these so you could go through and look for just the category you were interested in. Someday.

Anyhow, great essay:

The list of reasons ease of use doesn't happen in engineering projects

You could probably apply this to just about any subtle goal in a complex project (and why it does not get met).

D

Thanks to my friend and the Seattle P-I on this one...

Check out this WSJ story on Costco

Apparently, this guy has listed a Picasso piece at Costco (among plenty of other one of a kind art) and sells it at 14% markup what would normally be something on the order of 100% markup. I had no idea that Costco was trying to branch out, but I should have known. They always seemed to be stretching their sales, from diamonds to enormous plasma TVs to fairly decent furniture. It does seem odd that you could return a $130,000 painting at "any of our more than 400 Costco warehouses worldwide."

D

SF Gate Piece on Spitzer

I'm posting this as I think it has a pretty good sum up of the (not illegal) market-timing problems.

While there is nothing illegal about market-timing itself, fund industry experts
say such activity by a small group of people hurt the vast majority of ordinary investors by increasing the funds' trading costs. It also often forces fund managers to buy or sell securities against their will by suddenly pouring large sums of money into funds only to withdraw them soon after.

[...]

Many mutual fund investors have assumed that everybody -- whether a hedge fund or an individual -- has been on a level playing field. Spitzer's announcement showed it may have been otherwise.

Any time you have a situation where an investor feels that someone can do something that she cannot, you're going to have an unstable marketplace. That investor will lose faith and withdraw her money. I don't care if she lost $5 or $500,000, the average person knows what is unfair and will react accordingly.

D

Spy Numbers website

Here's an NPR story about them

Man, these are so creepy. Lots of people assume they are encoded messages. My guess is that they are actually indexes into one-time pads that people could carry around, or they could be random seeds for random number generators that people would carry. Any way about it, it's like one has visibility into a world that you have no right to see into. Part of me would love to become head of the US Senate Committee on Intelligence to find out the truth about this and other great mysteries (such as there have never been any aliens, there was no conspiracy with Kennedy, etc) ... the other half of me would hate to lose the feeling of wonder I carry around by not knowing. Would you want to know if you could tell no one?

D

My girlfriend's sister correctly mentioned that I was going to blog about this.

There have been a few articles about Deep Throat recently that have just been mind-bogglingly one sided. Here's a good example from Ben Stein.

A counter point is here.

Maybe I'm horribly naive, but unless I'm mistaken here are the facts:

• Burglers broke into the Democratic Nation Comittee Head Quarters - this is illegal


• Individuals in the Nixon administration funded this break in - this is illegal


• Nixon participated in the conspiracy that supported these break-ins - this is illegal

How do people now come out and say that Mark Felt aka Deep Throat was anything but honorable in helping reveal this illegal behavior? I don't care if his motives were that he was pissed that he got passed over, or if he was worried that the vast army controlled by Sonny and Cher were amassing to take over the world, he did what should have been done in the situation and made sure the law was enforced (no matter how round-about his methods).

Yesterday, I got into a fairly heated discussion about Elliot Spitzer and the mutual fund late trading/market timing issue. For the interested, this is a fairly decent NPR round up of market timing.

Here is a round up of a sample story (not prosecuted by Eliot Spitzer but by the U.S. Attorney Carlos Castillo)

In count 28 of the Second Superseding Indictment, Sharma, Wadhwa, Geek Securities, and Geek Advisors are alleged to have conspired in a mutual fund trading scheme to make money by engaging in mutual fund "market timing" and "late trading" from 2001 until late 2003, in violation of Title 15, United States Code, Sections 78j(b) and 78ff(a), Title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 240.10b-5, and Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. These defendants are alleged to have conspired to make money trading shares of various mutual funds by [...] circumventing mutual fund rules in order to engage in prohibited mutual fund "market timing" and "late trading." [...] "Late trading" refers to the practice of placing orders to buy or sell mutual fund shares after the close of the market at 4:00 p.m. EST, but paying the price as of the 4:00 p.m. EST close. "Late trading" typically enables the trader to gain an advantage by capitalizing on news and information that occurs after 4:00 p.m. Otherwise put, the late trader profits from market events that occur after the 4:00 p.m. EST market close, but that are not reflected in that day's closing price.

According to the NPR story, the average household has $75,000 in mutual funds and lost about $40 a year to this scam. 95 million households own mutual funds, I don't know what percentage of them specifically ran into this problem. All in all, a total of $4-5 billion a year lost to "late trading" and "market timing".

Again, I hate to be glib, but the facts seem pretty straight forward:

• Average citizen is restricted to trading based on published prices and during open hours


• The mutual fund advisors permitted a limited group of people to trade in ways that broke these rules


• The people who allowed this should go to jail.

My girlfriend's brother in law says that confidence was lost in the market (by the average investor) as well as the amount of damage to an average investor was so small that it did not deserve the publicity that this received. I'll cede BOTH those points, but that doesn't make Eliot Spitzer wrong. People broke the law, they stole money by breaking the rules and they should pay the penalty and go to jail. I don't care if Eliot Spitzer's motives were that he wanted to run for president or see how many times his name could get mentioned on the radio. He enforced the law to create a fair and balanced marketplace. I'm not sure how there's another side to this discussion.

While on my recent trip, I got in a cab in downtown Atlanta. Interestingly, they have a flat fare rate for everything inside a certain distance of $6. Given how big that downtown is (not very), it doesn't seem like that good a deal to me, but there you go. Outside of that, it's a standard base ($2) plus a set amount per mile. Anyhow, the second I get in, I tell the guy where I'm going and we're off. Because I was traveling downtown to downtown, the guy knows exactly how much it's going to cost ($6). Two-thirds of the way through the ride, the guy turns around to me and says: "I hope you have singles, cause I don't have any." I had a ten and a twenty.

So i tell him that I only have a ten and a twenty and he says nothing. 5-10 minutes later we pull up in front of the place, and I offer to walk over to some other cabs who were nearby and get change. He pulls out a bunch of singles from his pocket and gives me change. What an ass.

The worst isn't even the lying... I wonder what the law says on payment with correct change. Could I have just walked away? I'll tell you one thing of which I'm sure; you know who's responsibility it is to have change? Not fucking mine.

I suppose it's silly of me to get so irritated about this, but it sure seems like he was trying to violate the most basic of business contracts. I don't want to have to think about that when I'm sitting in a cab... if I have enough fare, I've done my part of the bargain. The thought of asking a cab driver if he has enough change every time I get in is beyond annoying to me.

Scoble Under Attack

It looks like it's Scoble vs. the rest of the world... well, the rest of the Mac world anyway. He seems to be holding his own... good for him. I used to be over there, yelling about how MS was the downfall of mankind and ultimately would doom us (IT Pros/americans/humanity/whoever) to a life where mediocrity would be accepted and true creativity would die, blah blah blah. Needless to say I used to be fairly passionate about this stuff (or insane... po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe).

But the fact is I'm not sure either side has really nailed the crux of the situation accurately. Scoble says that MS is innovating... I agree. The tablet _is_ cool... so is the media center, Windows mobile, MS IPTV, and many other things that no _one_ company is doing. And because MS is doing them all, I can check my hotmail through my Windows Mobile phone, and extend my media center through my xbox and so on. On the other side, Mac _has_ done some cool UI stuff. They've done plenty to annoy the shit out of me, but mostly they get it very right. Expose? Awesome! The dock? Fucking worthless! Old Apple menu? Fantastic! New Apple menu? Terrible! Spotlight? Great! Spotlight in the control panels? Neat effect, but doesn't really tell you every thing you need to know (I want to change the resolution, so I type in resolution and it very elegantly highlights what I need, but just the icons... after that, I'm not sure what to do). And so on. Both sides have their points... but both sides are missing big ones as well.

First, even if Longhorn^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Vista copies EVERY aspect of OS X, why is that a bad thing for the average user? As long as MS respects the IP (and licenses or avoids stuff that has been patented), computer users will rejoice. The fact that Apple had it first? Who cares... That, and $3.50, will get you a double tall breve mochachino.

Second, and more importantly, there's an elephant in the room that people cannot seem to grasp. The person who seems to have gotten closest to the mark is this fellow:

I think the easiest response to Scoble's challenge is, "Does Apple make an operating system and applications that aren't the targets of every malware author in the world, malware so burdensome and odious that people will toss their old machines and buy new ones rather than try to fix them?"

It's not good that MS attracts so many malware writers, but the fact that SO many people are developing for it is the power of Windows. Let's say that Vista DOES copy everything about OS X. If you put them side by side, it's not the OS's that will sell the products. The ecosystem of hardware, software and service people make the system work, not the underlying OS or quality thereof. I used to say that a strong ecosystem was unnecessary, that you could browse, use email, write a word document on any platform and that was all you needed. But that kind of stuff only covers about 70% of what people use computers for. The second a user runs into something that she wants to do but cannot because it sits squarely in the 30% realm that is not available on their computer, she is going to be pissed. It's not the OS that makes the difference, it's everything that surrounds the OS that makes it viable.

Further, when you have hundreds and thousands of companies developing hardware and software for your platform, they become your advocates... every sale of their products support your platform even more. Every sale of your OS gives them a bigger market to play in. When you are developing a product, there's just no way that you will ignore 95% of the people out there and remain successful.

Suffice it to say that Apple does good work and, of all their innovations, I think they succeed the most when it comes to hardware (barring the iPod, I've never really understood why it's been so successful... the Rio Carbon seems much more user/human hand friendly to me). But until a dramatic change in the market place occurs, it's MS's true innovations, around making the life of developers and partners as easy as possible, that will carry the day.

D

Sorry, I'm in Atlanta right now, and I'm definitely not getting as good network connectivity as I would like. I'll try to post more when I get some decent connectivity. I haven't disappeared... don't leave me!

D

This is one of the best sets of new blogs I've seen in a while:

Waiter Rant from a real waiter

Cook Rant from a real cook

Clublife from a real bouncer

This is so much better than individual bloggers, like myself, who randomly comment on topics with no more knowledge than anyone else. The nice part about these blogs is that these viewpoints are the inside view, with knowledge that can only be acquired and passed on BY DOING THE JOB. I love it (needless to say subscribed^3).

I'm not sure I could ever replicate this in my current job. I'd love to blog about meetings I have, work I do and other job related "goodness", but it's very difficult to imagine how this won't get me in some sort of trouble, either formally or informally (because people will start hating me). Maybe I'll start up an anonymous blog and go nuts.

[Update] Changed bad grammar and improved clarity of language... bad Dave!

No I'm not going to come out against the Atkins Diet. But I love bread. I mean I LOOOOOOOOOVVE bread. I'd walk around in a bread suit if I could. It's how I judge whether or not a restaurant is any good... the first thing I always try is the bread.

I heard this story on NPR about this most incredible bread maker. It makes me want to buy the hell out of this book (Cherchez le Pain -- the 100 Best Bakeries in Paris). It's such a subtle art... I don't know why more people in America don't get it. The most disgusting bread? The white, super dense, soft crust crap they serve and call it a "baguette". The best? HARD crust, chewy, sour, moist to the point you think it's been sprinkled with water. Oh man, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

D

Post Mortems (in IT)

Man am I a huge fan of the post mortem. How the hell do you attempt to avoid making the same mistake twice if you don't identify it the first time? I know why people are reluctant to do them... it's very tough to avoid blaming people, but trust me, you and your org are better for it.

D

Slo-mo in Software

This is pretty cool... i love the idea of using software to fill in (extrapolate) data where there is less than perfect sampling. But all the same, I'd also love it if they came out with a super hi-speed and/or super zoom camera for cheap. Back in my short experience with professional camera and/or astronomy equipment, I became enamoured of the incredibly cool feeling of slow motion and long distance zoom, especially for star gazing. It's just one of those things you have to see to really grasp... like how cool it looks when you can zoom in on the rings of Saturn, or watch a sugar cube disolve in 20x magnification. The problem, of course, is that it all costs so much money... I wish there was a way to cheapen that stuff up.

D

Everytime I'm in Vegas, I walk down the street and see hundreds of hooker pamphlets covering the street. The thing that I'm always surprised about is how really really good looking the women in the shots are. I know there's a lot one can do with the air brushing and what not but some of them just look too, what's the word, non-selling-their-sex-for-money-ish. But check this (via Defamer)...

Vegas Handbill...


Picture of Elisha Cuthbert from who-knows-where...


Too funny. I don't know why I'm surprised in the least that a pictures in the handbill would have nothing to do with those that work there. As to Ms. Cuthbert, in her defense, I'm sure she would never reduce herself to hooking on the street [well, 90% sure anyway].

I'm not sure who dressed her for that photo shoot but one look at those pictures and you knew something like this was going to happen. Here's a little bit nicer one of her (for no particular reason).

Caesar Quote:

Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.

I heard this today on NPR on the Poet Minute (or some such). It KIND of sounds true... but Google (or to a lesser extent, MSN) people, Google!

It's a total fabrication. My question is where did Garrison Keillor get the quote? Did he really get it in email and decide to read it on the air? Jeez.

On Spot

Does this really work? They are chains that kind of auto-deploy for cars on snowy roads. I can't believe this works, but it is neat. Watch the video.

Heh... want to see how fake magazine covers get made?

Life & Style's fake cover via Gawker

There's a very popular opinion out there that real leaders make a decision and run with it, despite the calls from the penny-stinkers.

A couple of sites popped up recently that have personal (and professional) interest for me:

Longhorn Screenshots

IE7 Screenshots

Ok, lots of people have weighed in... some hate, some like, some really hate, etc. Now, my question is, if you're a "leader" what do you do with that information? Do you take it all in and change your product as a response to the community? Do you get the product out, knowing that you've done research on your own that says x, y or z? It's a fine line between ignoring public opinion and executing based on a vision.

On the media on Wikipedia

Wikipedia's London Bombings Entry

I have been really impressed with Wikipedia. There have been a lot of very spotting stories, especially as it relates to non-technical, non-recent events, but it is a great resource for the items which have a lot of coverage. Really astounding.

The nice part about this interview is that it answers a lot of questions that people have generally such as:

Why don't you get biased reporting?
What happens with vandals?
Etc.

I'll update this and post those questions when the transcript gets posted (tomorrow).

I almost finished watching I, Robot last night. Movie? Not so good. But I'll tell you, it really made me want to read the books. Anyone have any recommendations for the first book to start with in the series?

One thing that I realized about the formulaic Hollywood action movie is there are basically three characters. There's the street-smart/common sense always do the right thing guy. There's the brainy, local source of wisdom and absolutely no sense of humor who probably starts out somewhere in between good and evil and ends up being good (and developing a sense of humor). And then there's the evil incarnate thatalways does evil. I remember people talking about Ocean's 11 as having very quick dialog reminiscent of 50's movies where there were great back and forth conversations. It almost reminded one of a sword duel. Today, we have dialog that resembles a shotgun blast where there is a clear winner, and the contest is over in about 2 seconds.

Example good dialog:
Danny: Tess, you're doing a great job curating the museum, the Vermeer is quite good, simple, vibrant, but his work definitely fell off as he got older.
Tess: Remind you of anyone?
Danny: And I always confuse Monet and Manet. Now which one married his mistress?
Tess: Monet.
Danny: Right, and then Manet had syphilis.
Tess: They also painted occasionally.

Nice. Good back and forth. Nobody's a moron.

Example bad dialog:
Detective Del Spooner: How long is this going to take?
Susan Calvin: Six minutes.
Detective Del Spooner: What if we didn't have six minutes?
Susan Calvin: Then we'd have to find a way to climb down thirty stories and inject the nannites into VIKI. Why?
Detective Del Spooner: Because I seriously doubt we have six minutes.

A little bit of context. Susan Calvin is working very hard staring at a computer... Spooner is looking up at the atrium seeing thousands of robots scaling the walls. No sense of humor, no quick back and forth. It's like playing tennis against a solid wall... sure the ball comes back, but it doesn't really do anything interesting.

I think a lot of this derives from having a powerful actor playing opposite a weak actor. The powerful actor wants all the zingers and totally tilts the script out of control. It's very depressing.

Oh, I saw the Station Agent over the weekend as well. I can see why everyone liked it. The character of Fin is especially good. I'm constantly amazed at how actors (and people for that matter) do not realize the value of not talking. It adds so much to the perceived complexity of a character (or person). This comes, of course, from the guy who can't go two minutes without spilling his entire stream of consciousness into a monologue with strangers.

Channel 9 Video with Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer is not only the head of a $300 billion organization, but is personally worth >$10 billion. Yet he really looks very passionate about what he's doing and the company. Maybe it's just his personality, but I'm astounded. He sits down and talks to the video camera just like any other guy. This is what transparency looks like, and is enabled by the Internet and, to a lesser extent, blogging more than ever before.

Girlfriend Fight Simulator

Sometimes I just want a blog with all the info in one spot. Here's my contribution to that:

Map According to the Subways (via Gizmodo):


BBC Map with times of attacks (via the BBC):


Time of attacks in the London: 8:51 -> 9:47 AM
Times of attacks on East Coast (US): 3:51 AM -> 4:47 AM
Times of attacks on West Coast (US): 12:51 AM -> 1:47 AM

BBC page on attacks

Translation for the web page of those claiming attacks

Boing Boing's on-going coverage

Today's schpiel comes on the news of the horrible bombings in London. The most frustrating thing is because all these things happen anonymously;you really have no idea what they people want, or what you COULD do to lower the risk (other than locking down everything). You, of course, should never DO anything because you cannot negotiate with terrorists. Ever. You find them and you kill them. Period. But to the extent you can attempt to reduce the next terrorist attack by working to solve the social ills that convert of a perfectly normal individual into a terrorist... I'm all for that.

The thing that I find the most disgusting is that these individuals who engage in this stuff do it out of a sense of entitlement. "My belief system is being infringed upon by this outside source and no one is paying attention to me, I think I'm going to gokill hundreds of innocent people to bring some attention to my cause." You know what? Fuck you. So what, you aren't getting what you want... do you think that any of those people on the subway or bus are getting what they want by being blown to pieces? The world does not revolve around you; so, either get your issues known through perfectly normal, non-violent means, or I will hunt you down and kill you. The worst out of all of this is the total feeling of helplessness... I stupidly write this out on a blog because I have no idea to whom to direct my anger. Sometimes I wish they had a PO Box or something so that I could at least get the sense that my words weren't just falling deaf into the ether.

Suffice it to say that I encourage any one reading this to look around your lives for where you expect anything. From the government? From your partners? From your siblings? From society? You know what? Other than being generally free to do what you want, you dont deserve it. Its great if you get it, but expecting something from someone is a recipe for disaster, both for you and for them.

Well, I've spent the past few days on a search for new blog tools, and I think I've found them. Blogger's UI has just really gotten on my nerves. It's tough to post anything, change formats, post pictures etc. It's just not the right interface for posting a lot. w.bloggar is a great little tool for doing the editing on your desktop. Let's face it, a rich client is really the way to go on this stuff... it just allows so much more for dragging and dropping and editing on the fly. Huge fan of w.bloggar and it ties really well into Blogger's APIs, which means I don't have to do anything new to get it right.

On the aggregator front, I'm still stumped. Basically my blockers right now are:

1. I want to read everything on a single page, so that page down is all I have to do to move to the next story.


2. I want new stories to stream down to my desktop. I had too many problems with Bloglines, either not detected I had already read a story, or taking absolutely forever to open up a new page.


3. I want some way to keep what I've read in synch with multiple computers.


4. I want a way to read in the order and grouping that makes sense to me. Humor, tech, finance, etc... i want to read things as groups.

I'm messing around with Newsgator, and I think it might work (it'll use Outlook and their website to keep things in synch), but they don't yet support the .Net 2.0 framework. Any suggestions?

At the risk of being a complete suck up, I'm going to link, not once, not twice, not thrice, not four times (boy it's annoying there aren't more terms for measure numbers of times) but five times out of respect for Chooky's excellent coverage of the TDF.

Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5

It was a combination of Chooky's passion for the sport, detailed analysis and the broadcasts on OLN that have caused me to get really into it. It's just the most interesting and intricate sport... I'm not sure I know another one where there is quite as much strategy involved. Anyhow, you better believe I'll be watching his blog daily for the analysis.

I got this in the mail and I just had to comment on it...

WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT TO TURN ON THE TV AND HEAR ANY U.S. PRESIDENT, DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN GIVE THE FOLLOWING SPEECH?

My Fellow Americans: As you all know, the defeat of Iraq regime has been completed.

Since congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in Iraq is complete.

This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces from Iraq. This action will be complete within 30 days. It is now to begin the reckoning.

Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names of countries which have stood by our side during the Iraq conflict. This list is short. The United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria, Australia, and Poland are some of the countries listed there.

The other list contains everyone not on the first list. Most of the world's nations are on that list. My press secretary will be distributing copies of both lists later this
evening.

Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved during the first year alone will pretty much pay for the costs of the Iraqi war.

The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world Hell-holes and watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption.

Need help with a famine? Wrestling with an epidemic? Call France.

In the future, together with Congress, I will work to redirect this money toward solving the vexing social problems we still have at home. On that note, a word to terrorist organizations. Screw with us and we will hunt you down and eliminate you and all your friends from the face of the earth.

Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize? Try France, or maybe China. I am ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France, Germany, and Russia. Thanks for all your help, comrades. We are retiring from NATO as well. Bon chance, mes amis.

I have instructed the Mayor of New York City to begin towing the many UN diplomatic vehicles located in Manhattan with more than two unpaid parking tickets to sites where those vehicles will be stripped, shredded and crushed. I don't care about whatever treaty pertains to this. You creeps have tens of thousands of unpaid tickets. Pay those tickets tomorrow or watch your precious Benzes, Beamers and limos be turned over to some of the finest chop shops in the world. I love New York .

A special note to our neighbors. Canada is on List 2. Since we are likely to be seeing a lot more of each other, you folks might want to try not pissing us off for a change.

Mexico is also on List 2. President Fox and his entire corrupt government really need an attitude adjustment. I will have a couple extra tank and infantry divisions sitting around. Guess where I am going to put em? Yep, border security. So start doing something with your oil.

Oh, by the way, the United States is abrogating the NAFTA treaty - starting now.

We are tired of the one-way highway. Immediately, we'll be drilling for oil in Alaska - which will take care of this country's oil needs for decades to come. If you're an environmentalist who opposes this decision, I refer you to List 2 above: pick a country and move there. They care.

It is time for America to focus on its own welfare and its own citizens. Some will accuse us of isolationism. I answer them by saying, "darn tootin."

Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the world has only earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet. It is time to eliminate hunger in America. It is time to eliminate homelessness in America. It is time to eliminate World Cup Soccer from America. To the nations on List 1, a final thought. Thanks guys. We owe you and we won't forget.

To the nations on List 2, a final thought: You might want to learn to speak Arabic.

God bless America. Thank you and good night.

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a soldier.

At the very least, I'm not sure the person who wrote this has the facts on at least a few things… First, included on "list two" are the following countries (and GDPs(…

Poorest Countries in the World Rank Country GDP - per capita (in millions)


1 East Timor $ 500
2 Somalia $ 500
3 Sierra Leone $ 500
4 Malawi $ 600
5 Tanzania $ 600
6 Burundi $ 600
7 Congo, Republic of the $ 700
8 Congo, Democratic Republic of the $ 700
9 Comoros $ 700
10 Eritrea $ 700
11 Ethiopia $ 700
12 Afghanistan $ 700
13 Niger $ 800
14 Yemen $ 800
15 Madagascar $ 800
16 Guinea-Bissau $ 800
17 Zambia $ 800
18 Kiribati $ 800
19 Nigeria $ 900
20 Mali $ 900

East Timor (as an example) has a total GDP of about $339 million dollars (compared to the U.S’s $11 Trillion). In fact, no country outside of the top 45 or so has more than an $87 Billion dollar GDP... the same amount that congress requested as a supplemental spending. Exactly what do we expect any of these folks to do to “stand by” us?

Second…

We are tired of the one-way highway. Immediately, we'll be drilling for oil in
Alaska - which will take care of this country's oil needs for decades to come. If you're an environmentalist who opposes this decision, I refer you to List 2 above: pick a country and move there. They care.

According to this article, ANWR won’t be generating a substantial amount of oil until 2025 (substantial being about 1 million barrels a day). Even so, it only has about 10 billion barrels of oil. Because we use about 20 million barrels of oil a day, the total length of time our in the ground reserves would last before ANWR is producing a drop of oil, is 4 years and 3 months. If you magically get ANWR turn over all its oil immediately, rather than in 20 years, you extend that by about a year and change. I’m not quite sure how this “takes care of our energy needs for decades to come”.

I’m all for energy independence, but don’t we need a slightly more intricate solution than “fuck you rest of the world, let’s drill the shit out of everything we’ve got”? I’m not even necessarily opposed to this drilling; I’m just aware that it’s not really going to help us at all.

Why is everyone so focused on ANWR? let’s do some basic math. 10 billion barrels of oil x $60/barrel = $600 billion dollar treasure chest. That’s a great one time revenue influx for corporations that can get at it, but it doesn’t really do the rest of us any good towards energy independence.

There is a underlying sense of frustration here which really does need to be addressed. The people of the US have absolutely no idea what to do next. Taking over Iraq? Invade Afghanistan? Money to Africa? Etc etc. People here are just pissed that people all over seem to hate us. It's kind of like the company I work at or living in a blue state. People who hate us... just TELL us what you want! Then at least we'll know what we're doing that pisses you off so much.

Project Gotham Racing 3 Screenshots

Heh... You knew this had to be coming at some point. A game company got accused of putting real life pictures in the game when it was actually models. Can you believe that? They look SO good that people believed that they were real. So the company posted the wireframes to prove it. Pretty sick stuff.

Crack My Knuckles via Screenhead

I'd like to say I found this disturbing. But I can't. Because I love it.

http://www.phillipwarnell.com/host/index.html

Wow this is cool. I mean REALLY cool. A fellow swallowed a camera and it took pictures throughout his digestive tract. He did some work to mesh them together, but I don't even think that's necessary... you could just show the pictures one at a time. I guess he must have had a flash in there as well, considering inside a man, it's too dark to read. Anyhow, this seems super useful long term.

Button Maker

The other day I was donig a presentation on RSS and was searching all over the web for those buttons. You know what buttons I'm talking about.





And so on.

But now I can do them all my self, thanks to this excellent little app. I love it!





Heh. The possibilities are endless.