arbalest

Message to Trump

2011-12-09T14:24:00.001-06:00

Mr. Trump,

Please don't give up on the idea of having your very own debate among the potential GOP presidential nominees. You are so close to achieving your goal of turning the election into your very own reality TeeVee Show that it would be a shame to stop now -- even if there are only two nominees willing to participate.

I was so looking forward to this first step being followed up with other "debates" around the board-room table where you systematically eliminate a nominee each week thereby sparing us all of that tedious primary election and convention stuff.

Donald, be assured that we all eagerly wait the day when the president of the USA is selected by being the last person standing on an island after proving that he, or she, can walk more rope-bridges and eat more worms than anyone else.

Fashion Trend - Bicycling

2011-09-16T09:57:00.000-05:00

Finally, a bicycling helmet with style!

Not really, this is just an adverstising for Electra brand bikes. Maybe it's not too late to start marketing my own line of bike helmets I've been designing. So far I have prototypes of yarmulke and beret helmets.

I'm still looking for crash test volunteers.

Extremely Seedy

2011-06-09T14:56:00.000-05:00

For all of you who might see this potentially scary name on your caller ID unit -- I just received a call where the caller ID says VISA LOST-STOLEN. When I picked up the phone it was just a recording (not from my bank either) blindly offering lower interest rates.

Cha-Ching -- Palin Style!

2011-05-13T12:50:00.002-05:00

Cashing in like a pro, Bristol Palin joined a teen pregnancy prevention nonprofit foundation in 2009. Via Think Progress I read that the AP has found and published the foundation's 2009 tax information. Here is a quick break down:

$35,000: grants to teen pregnancy health and counseling clinics (the purpose of the "non-profit"?)
$165,000: TV advertising
$262,500: 18 year old Bristol Palin's salary

Wow. Just wow.

Trump Candidacy

2011-04-23T15:53:00.005-05:00

I'm no fortune teller but I have a vision and I want to go on record now (before it becomes all too obvious).

Here's the spoiler -- he won't run. Not now, not ever. But I think he pull this shtick every 4 years for the rest of his life.

Here is how I think it will play out:

He'll hint at it more and more as the season of Celebrity Apprentice winds down. Then he'll announce that he is about to announce. In fact, it will turn out that he will announce his decision during the last 10 minutes of the season finale of Celebrity Apprentice. Between now and that day he will call into radio and TV shows and he will grant exclusive and long interviews. He will speak at special events and he might put out a book about something or other. As the big day approaches teasers and promos will remind viewers to tune in to the season finale.

At long last the finale will arrive... and the viewership will be huge. In the end Trump will say that he loves what he does too much, and like Sister Sarah he can do more the save the world from outside the system. The next day we'll hear how big the viewership actually was, but from Trump you'll hear that his show was the most watched show of all time -- regardless of what the truth is. He will say it is because of him and he will be right. Then the next day he and his team will start negotiating his fee for the next season. Based on the huge ratings increase it will be a lot more than this years take. And it will all be thanks to the airtime given to him by Fox and other outlets that certainly know that Trump wouldn't stand a chance in hell in the face of the scrutiny that comes with a real candidacy.

Update: Well, it's two months later and this, from today's NY Post:

...sources said he will personally pocket $65 million a year,

a substantial increase on his previous deal...

Even Later Update: It's about eight months after this post was written and sure enough, Trump's new book is out. The man who was born rich, and still managed to have two bankruptcies all by himself, lays out his plan for making America great again.

Anthony Milano, on keyboard...

2011-01-31T10:28:00.000-06:00

Me and the squeeze went out for our Jazz fix last night at a local place that features a Django-esque trio on Sundays. The trio has one consistent member who goes by the moniker Chico Malo and each week he brings two others along to join in. Last night I noticed that the keyboard player looked a bit young. For that matter there seemed to be a lot of young people in the place last night. I found out later that the keyboard player is 14 years old! I commented to the waitress that he'll be famous some day and she assured me that he already is.

Here is an older video of him playing some Honky Tonk, when he was 11 years old.

What's in a name? Sync vs. Sink

2011-01-05T14:43:00.002-06:00

When Xmarks announced that they were closing shop a few months ago I decided to use a different utility to keep my Firefox browser bookmarks in sync across the multiple machines that I use. Man, am I glad that they merged with whoever it is, and decided to stay around for a while.

In the interim I was using the Firefox Sync plug-in. It worked OK for the most part but yesterday it behaved more like Firefox SINK, if not Firefox STINK. After spending lots of time cleaning up bookmarks on my desktop machine I instructed it to ~~stink up~~ sync up my bookmarks to their server. Then I went over to my laptop and deleted all bookmarks so that it did not attempt to merge the sloppy collection of bookmarks over there with the clean collection. Then I told the browser on the laptop to sync up with the server. The intent here would have been obvious to Xmarks but what do you think SINK decided to do? Yes, it synced the empty list of bookmarks to the server then synced the empty list on the server to my desktop!

It was then that I realized that in addition to this poor interpretation of what the user (that's me) was trying to do there was no recovery features and no support at all! It seemed that all of my bookmarks on both machines were gone. How's that for automation?!

Thank goodness that my, long unused, account on Xmarks was still active. I reinstalled the client on my browser and logged in. They first thing Xmarks did was issue a warning that basically said: "Hey, there is a lot less data on your machine than there is on the server. Do you want to proceed or restore?" It didn't say it in those words but when I clicked the appropriate options to restore my bookmarks it actually gave me a choice of restore points to go back to. A few clicks more and I was restored to the state I was in when I last used Xmarks.

Even though it is a free service I will sign up for a "premium" account as a thank you.

Left hand doesn't know from the Right

2010-12-24T11:30:00.000-06:00

This blog is hosted by blogger.com which is a Google entity.

Just now blogger sent me an email describing new features, etc. As it
turns out I received this email via another Google service -- Gmail.
And wouldn't you know it... Gmail marked it as spam and moved
it to the spam folder!

I'll "give it a try"

2010-11-30T13:28:00.003-06:00

No! Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try. -Yoda

World's Sexiest Radiators

2010-09-12T16:16:00.001-05:00

Painted a few radiators with Hammerite "Rust Cap". It's expensive stuff but I'm really happy with the results.

Google Maps does Bicycling Directions!

2010-07-08T19:43:00.001-05:00

I don't know how long this "beta" feature has been available but I just noticed it. I was using the usual "driving directions" feature to get an idea for a bike route between Chicago and Kenosha Wisconsin. I hadn't noticed this before but there are now four icons above the area where you enter your starting and ending points. The icons correspond to: driving, public transport, walking and bicycling. This is brilliant!

Why Kenosha? Well, there is a commuter train stop near where I live and the end of the line is Kenosha. Since Metra allows bikes on trains I think it would be cool to take the train to the end of the line and bicycle back. As most of you know -- it is much harder to get lost when heading towards home. Anyway, the route Google gives me includes bike paths were they are available. This is such a great idea.

Green - Cargo via Bicycle

2010-06-28T17:23:00.003-05:00

A small effort to get a little "greener" has lead to a short-term OCD-type thought-binge on the best way to carry cargo on a bicycle. The effort started with attaching a grocery pannier to the rear rack of my bike. As I headed out to the store each pedal rotation had my heel bumping against the pannier. Once I got up a little speed my heel launched the pannier right off the bike.

At first I thought about different bikes and different racks and so on. I decided that if I was going to start buying things I better figure out exactly what I want in terms of where I ought to carry a load on a bike. A small series of experiments was in order.

For the first test, the panniers had to be either be moved back somehow or replaced by a way to carry a load on the top of the rack. I found these collapsible steel rear baskets (made by Wald) on Craigslist. Being steel, I was able to mount them about 6 inches back on the rack. That gives me the heel clearance that I need.

For "cargo" I used two empty cat litter containers and filled them with water. The containers were about 2 gallons each so they each made up a 16 pound simulated load. The ride was not bad and handling was hardly affected. It did take a little extra distance to stop after braking with the 32 lb. load.

I used I used an old milk crate attached to a front mounted "porteur" style rack to test out the potential of a front delivery basket. This might not have been a good test as the load is so far forward. As I started to ride it was reminiscent of first learning to ride a bike. The front wheel wiggled a bit until I got up some speed then it settled down. The handling of the bike felt strange but I got somewhat used to it after a while. When stopping, planting a foot solidly on the ground right away was more important than usual. Riding this way would require extra diligence.

I thought part of the problem was that the load and the handlebars were both forward of the head tube of the bike, basically, ahead of the steering fulcrum. I turned my "bull horn" style handle bars around to simulate a set of touring handlebars. Unfortunately, the short "horns" and the long extension of the stem did not move my hand position to the other side of the fulcrum. The ride seemed better but maybe I was getting more used to the load. Something I did during all test drives was jiggle the the handlebars left and right to get a sense of the bike's handling. In these configurations doing so caused a noticeable torsion in the stem itself!

I went back to testing the load at the rear of the bike, now with it on top of the rack. I expected bike handling to be just like with the panniers. However, this configuration had some of the uneasy handling as was the case with the front load. Not bad, but noticeable.

Front and rear crates where attached to the racks using plastic tie-wraps.

For now I will probably go with some compromise. Heavy loads will go low, on the rear on the bike. I like the convenience of carrying some things on the front but that will have to limited to lighter loads. Maybe I'll get a small wire basket or a handlebar bag, perhaps with some upright touring handlebars.

Meet the Fawcetts

2010-06-24T18:27:00.000-05:00

Our neighbors had their basement laundry room remodeled recently. When they put these faucets out in the alley they still had the plumbing attached to them. But still -- they spoke to me.

I happened to have a few pickets left over from a fence I built a long while ago...

Bikin' in the Rain

2010-06-08T13:44:00.000-05:00

Today was the first time I can recall -- in a long time -- that I started out to run errands by bicycle when it was already raining. I've been caught in the rain before but I don't know if/when I ever started out when it was already raining. I know this is no big deal to hard-core cyclists, but I am just getting back into it and using the car as a last resort rather than the other way around.

The interesting thing is that... it was fun. Sort of like being in on some silly secret.

Derby Day

2010-05-01T18:28:00.000-05:00

Friend and neighbor checks in from the Derby via the miracle that is modern cell phone technology.

The Cat-Lady Makes Breakfast

2010-03-21T18:36:00.003-05:00

This "Apple Pancake" was just a few raisins short of being Apple Strudel -- but I'm not complaining. The photo was taken before the powdered sugar was applied.

Happy Birthday, Jack

2010-03-16T19:16:00.000-05:00

Last week would have been Jack Kerouac's birthday. I read "On The Road" many years ago and was a bit disappointed. I just didn't see what the big deal was. After listening to a radio program over the weekend I realized what the big deal was -- or more accurately -- why I didn't see the what the big deal was before.

The book "On The Road" was published before I was born, and it chronicled his doings from years before that -- life and road trips starting in the late 1940s and extending into the 1950s. By the time I read this book much of that radicalism had been main-streamed into our lives. Reading about Kerouac "living" the 1960's just didn't seem so cool when I read about it in the 1980's. That is until I looked at it from the perspective of post-war America in the 1940's and 50's, which is when he was actually doing it.

No MSG for me...

2010-03-16T18:43:00.000-05:00

There is a very interesting article on MSG over at the Huffington Post.

Cold-Brew Coffee

2010-03-04T19:41:00.001-06:00

Of course I was intrigued when my local bashful-beatnik sent over a link for a new device that claims to: 1) make the best coffee, 2) make coffee with 70% less acid and 3) work without power.

The device doesn't brew in the true sense of the word. You actually steep the (coarse ground) beans in water for 24 hours to make a high octane "extract" that can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. To make hot coffee you mix some of the extract with hot water and there you go -- the best, lowest acid coffee ever. Right?

I took a look at the pictures of the $80 contraption and immediately saw about 3 or 4 other ways you could steep the beans with equipment you already have. I chose one method and 24 hours later tested some of the extract. Man, if I had spent $80 I would have been ~~pissed~~ disappointed. At least it doesn't require power -- (except to make the hot water you could have used to make drip coffee in the first place).

I may repeat the experiment one more time using beans coarse ground at the store (which uses a burr grinder) rather than use my home grinder (which uses a spinning blade). But the results will have to be much better just to equal the coffee I make the usual way.

An ounce of prevention

2010-03-02T21:56:00.000-06:00

In our rather large home-office network I have been using an old PC running IPCOP (Linux-based firewall distribution) as a firewall. And by "old" I really mean OLD. Since it had been running 24x7 for many years I decided to build up (add 3 network cards, etc) a "newer" old PC as a replacement. The plan also called for refurbishing the old firewall as a back-up to the new firewall.

It all went according to plan but, about a week after the new firewall was in place it experienced a memory error -- which results in a kernel panic and a system halt. If I didn't have the old firewall still sitting nearby this would have meant a day or more of no internet access, several websites unavailable to the outside world and probably other network problems as well, since the firewall is also a DHCP server.

For sure I will be building up back-up machines for the web-server, the file-server and might even pick-up some other spare network components as well.

Quoting John Kerry

2010-03-02T12:11:00.001-06:00

About two years ago I removed every "political" post from my blog thinking that commentary just didn't belong here. A few years before that, the Democrats held the minority position in both houses. At that time, the main stream media were calling out every parliamentary maneuver as "obstruction" and actually using the word "filibuster". On the other hand, yesterday the media reported Senator Bunning's outlandish obstructionism only as "Senate Gridlock". The following is a snippet of a post by Senator Kerry in the blog Talking Points Memo:

In the last Congress, the Republican minority more than doubled the previous record for filibusters, and they are on a pace to challenge or surpass that "accomplishment" this Congress as well. And filibusters are only the most obvious part of it.

On issue after issue, votes large and small, the strategy from the GOP at the highest levels has been the same: exploiting every Senate rule, playing every trick to try to slow things down. They put holds on bills that later pass by 90 votes, filibuster things they later vote for, block things they previously proposed. They used the filibuster to shoot down a debt commission that they themselves called on President Obama to implement! They block completely uncontroversial nominees and cause days of delays on the most critical of legislation. They even stalled on money for our troops last year, just to try to delay debate on health care reform.

2010 - A Year of Living...

2009-12-31T16:12:00.000-06:00

Intensely... Intently... Intentionally?

The confluence of 4 things brings me to this post, and my plan for 2010.

1) A while back I read Bill McKibben's book: Long Distance. In it, McKibben documents how he spent a year of his life dedicated to a training regimen similar to that of a world-class competitive cross country skier. It gave me insight into the general differences between amateurs and professionals in sports.

2) Later, I read: Angry White Pyjamas by Robert Twigger. The author was working in Tokyo when he decided to enroll in a "special" martial arts class. I say "special" with tongue in cheek since what this class amounted to was a year of more than full time training in Aikido. I'm talking about all-day Monday through Friday and a half day on Saturday. That is more training than some regular person taking two typical one-hour classes per week for 10 years! This was a fascinating read on many levels.

3) More recently, I read what I thought was just a book about competitive scrabble playing. I read it mainly for the amusement value since I have only ever played scrabble as a way to pass time and I have never cared about winning. The book is Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis and, as it turns out, the author took a leave of absence from work to not only write about this world I knew nothing about, but also had a goal of raising his own skill level enough to compete in the "Expert" division of tournament play. At first I thought this would be a hard book to finish but I found that it was actually hard to put down.

4) About a week later, we happened to see the movie Julie and Julia. I had an idea about the movie beforehand but I didn't know that an underlying facet was that a person, Julie Powell, decided to cook every recipe in Julie Child's first book (all 524 of them) in one year. For some perspective, it took Julie and two other authors 7 years to write the book which is somewhat of an encyclopedia of French cooking.

This brings me to myself and 2010. I have decided to live the year dedicated to something. What exactly I will be dedicated to I don't really know. What I do know is that I have more than 52 ideas for projects related to software development. I certainly have more than 52 books on my "must read" list. I have been talking about getting in the best shape of my life -- for most of my life. And so on with many other possible endeavors.

But it in the end it has boiled down to this. I will create a DEEP queue of tasks/activities in each category of my life where I have goals and work on those more intently, intentionally and intensely than I have in the past. That's it. If I start out doing this I could, at any time, change my mind and work on any one category or any one project. But the goal is the same, to be more intent, intentional and intense than ever before. Don't look for the book or movie though -- I can't imagine anything more boring to anyone else. What I will do is write about the results of some of the projects and the process.

Whether I post any of it here is a different story.

Interesting Quote

2009-12-03T11:20:00.002-06:00

I just saw this in a book review on Amazon:

"It's a sign of maturity when you begin to fall out of love with your own drama."

Cash for clunkers

2009-08-09T09:43:00.004-05:00

Just poking around the government web site to see if my car qualifies as a clunker. In most peoples mind's my car is definitely old enough and rough enough to be called a clunker. Unfortunately, the gas mileage of this car is high enough such that it does not qualify.

On the other hand, for the same model year various Rolls Royce*, Porsche, Mercedes and even Lamborghini* models do qualify as clunkers.

*If you are about to turn in your Rolls or Lamborghini please email me. I can give you a little more than the $4500 the dealer would.

A Nickle's Worth of Karma

2009-03-02T10:29:00.006-06:00

When I was a little boy, a very long time ago, I had a very brief experience that still surprises me when I think of the imprint it has left on me.

I was standing at the counter in a neighborhood grocery/deli and I was just about to pay for a candy bar. Back then most candy bars were 5 cents, and only a few were 10 cents. Anyway, as I was about to pay for the candy an older gentleman who was behind me in line reached over and gave the clerk a nickle and said he was paying for the candy.

He then turned to me and said: "Do you know how you can repay me? When you grow up you have to do something for somebody else." I have no idea who this person was -- I had never seen him before nor have I seen him since. But, I wish I could tell him that since that day when I do a favor for someone, or give something away, I often think of that encounter. His brilliance, intended or not, is that I have never considered the debt repaid. I have never felt that I have lived up to the promise I made with my timid "okay" in response to the gentleman's request.

He needs more "proof"

2009-02-08T13:44:00.009-06:00

While I believe that one shouldn't expend too much energy in responding to nutty and controversial claims in general, but this one has me intrigued.

Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson doesn't believe the Nazi Holocaust took place, and has said, "I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against...". The bishop goes on to say "If I find this proof, then I will correct myself".

One wonders what proof he will need to see, and where he has been looking for it.

There are eyewitnesses alive today -- who have been either guards or inmates at concentration camps -- who attest to the facts. Some of the camps still exist, preserved as memorials. Also, both American and Russian armies were firsthand witness to the atrocities when they arrived to liberate the survivors. Photos and film footage exist from before, during, and after the liberation. Nazi records also exist -- which document actions and logistics that took place. At numerous trials since then, enablers at all levels have used the "just following orders" defense.

Bishop Richard Williamson still needs more proof. The irony, of course, is that Bishop Williamson apparently does not require proof of the existence of god, that Jesus walked on water or that the virgin Mary has appeared to the faithful as an image on a tortilla. Actually, rather than being an irony, it is the "tell" that belies the Bishop's agenda. Here is a person who's "being" is based on wholesale acceptance of articles of faith, and yet he is denying overwhelmingly well documented fact as "insufficient proof".

Stimulus plan - perspective

2009-01-08T08:45:00.003-06:00

Although I think a stimulus plan (and a big one) is the right thing to do I am stuck by the numbers being thrown around. Yesterday I heard that the total package could amount to as much as $1.3 Trillion.

A quick search of the net (only looking at a few results) indicates that in recent years there are about 130 million individual tax returns filed annually. That divides into the other figure nicely -- $10,000 per tax return (tax payer/family). Implementation of such a plan is a complex process involving art, science and politics but I can't help thinking about this in terms of sending every tax return filer a $10,000 rebate check!

Adventures in Loan Sharking

2009-01-06T15:30:00.010-06:00

More junk mail from the banks this week. With rates at all time lows, a letter from Bank of America says we're pre-qualified for some huge loan amount. The reality is probably that this is boiler-plate text and if one were to apply they would get a much lower limit.

Anyway, the fun part is that the initial interest rate is 7% (sneaky, they call it 6.99%) but the fine print says that if you miss a payment they can adjust the rate up to 28% (sneaky, they call it 27.99%).

Obviously, if you can't make your payments QUADRUPLING the interest rate will only make it harder, if not impossible. Seems more like the financial equivalent of a mob enforcer breaking your legs if you can't pay up.

Comments On

2008-12-04T21:06:00.005-06:00

I just turned on this blog's comment feature and will see how that goes for a while. It is set such that I get to moderate them for now but that could change.

Another bail-out idea

2008-12-04T15:40:00.003-06:00

Unfortunately, I have thought about this one even less than the other. But, what if instead of giving the big three cash to tide them over we treat it as a pre-payment on the design and delivery of massive amounts of mass transit projects?

Theoretically at least, this seems to address the automakers short term economic problem, the putting-people-to-work problem, the general economic stimulus problem and the fuel/global warming problem at the same time. I think that a key part of a fuel/global warming solution would not be hybrid or other cars getting 50 mile per gallon. That only delays the inevitable. Rather, a solution would include mass transit in urban areas that would allow you to go anywhere with the same comfort as, and more convenience than, a car.

Certainly it does not address the fact that the "big 3" need immediate operating capital and the fact that this money will be spent long before any such design could begin.

Bailout idea

2008-11-22T13:15:00.007-06:00

I haven't seen supporting data on this one way or another but I don't see much of downside to this idea.

What if the US instituted a policy that waived the 10% penalty of IRA withdrawal? Currently those funds in IRAs are fulfilling some role in the economy but to the owners of those funds they are not directly stimulating the economy. It seems to me that if people could draw on those funds now it would:

help many with urgent needs
stimulate production
put money into circulation
boost tax revenue as those withdrawals would be treated as income

In terms of retirement, a great many people are now experiencing a negative return on their IRA investments anyway, so that purpose is not being fulfilled (at the moment). My thought is that waiving the penalty would be a temporary measure.

Update: Yes - I know that the fund holders who might do this will not be able to participate in the recovery, when it happens. This is an idea for a quick shot in the arm for the economy while helping people access their own money, in time of need, without an additional 10% penalty.

Peak Everything

2008-11-20T09:06:00.010-06:00

Earlier this week we went to a lecture* by Richard Heinberg, the author of Peak Everything.

From what he says you might say that we (civilization) will either have to drastically change soon or we're in big trouble. We are running out of a lot more than oil and water and historically we have just used new sources of energy to increase the pace at which we extract other resources from the earth -- and use even more resources doing it.

So the sudden invention of abundant, cheap and clean energy (say, fusion) would likely increase the pace of other environmental catastrophes. Furthermore, the economics are such that in good times it is not cost effective to develop alternatives and in times like these alternatives may not be able to be developed timely enough for them to help. Another interesting point is that even if there were a sudden shift to an all out effort to develop solar energy, we would run out of essential raw materials (such as gallium) long before photovoltaic sources of energy met our needs.

His point is that the only solution is to replace the growth model of economics with a sustainable steady state model (if maybe even after some scaling back from where we are). That's not something that any population is likely to accept willingly**.

I haven't yet found anything which strongly disagrees with what he says either. Sounds like civilization's response this problem is like the classic case of boiling a frog. Throw him in hot water and he jumps out. But, put him in warm water and slowly increase the heat and he just relaxes...

*Update: The lecture was conducted interview-style and taped presumably for an upcoming episode of Chicago Public Radio's Eight Forty-Eight.

** Update: Professor, author and retired army colonel Andrew J. Bacevich (in spite of being a conservative) said something similar recently during an interview with Charley Rose. The caveat was that -- although true, any president to say this to the public would be voted out of office. He says this was the case with Carter.

Chicago Handyman

2008-10-05T19:04:00.008-05:00

I'm so pleased with the last few repair/remodeling jobs done by this crew, I've added a link to their site in my link area (linkage, on the right).

Anyway, if any of you have had repair and remodeling jobs done you know the typical problems. But now after at least a half a dozen jobs using www.MasterHandyMen.com I'm am pleased that:

They always show up at the agreed upon time for an estimate.
They always give me a reasonable estimate.
They always do the job right.
They can handle large jobs.
They are willing to take on small jobs.

This is what you would expect but, after years and years of projects, I find that this is a rare thing with contractors.

Wise Words

2008-09-25T15:09:00.000-05:00

Your beliefs become your thoughts.
Your thoughts become your words.
Your words become your actions.
Your actions become your habits.
Your habits become your values.
Your values become your destiny.

-- Mahatma Gandhi

Image uploading test

2008-09-20T16:18:00.002-05:00

This image is uploaded to blogger versus the previous test which just linked to an image hosted elsewhere.

Other Side of the Coin

2008-09-14T09:10:00.005-05:00

From Reuters.com --

Fashion Yachts, maker of luxury vessels... is seeing no let up in demand... [says] Fabrizio Politi, the founder and chief executive...

..."in the luxury sector, there's very strong growth in the high end,"

..."the most luxurious, the most costly product in the world ... are going pretty strongly."

...distinguished from their other sleek competitors by the use of unusual materials inside, such as gold leaf and crocodile skin...

Chase SUCKS!

2008-08-06T22:43:00.010-05:00

I just received another of the many Privacy Policy statements I get regularly. This one from Chase (JP Morgan Chase, previously Bank One). The cover letter includes these choice lines:

We want you to know what we're doing to protect your privacy.
Your privacy is important to us and,
protecting your personal information is one of our top priorities.

I decided to thoroughly read the enclosed privacy policy. Here are some highlights.

Information they collect includes:

All details we enter on any form for them,
Account transactions and balances,
for good measure, they get additional information from credit bureaus.

What they do with this information:

They share it within their "family of companies"
They share it with their "service providers"
They share it with companies which have "joint marketing agreements"
They share it with "non-financial companies" including auto dealers, auto makers, direct marketers, membership clubs and publishers.

What are my options regarding this sharing:

Nothing. Actually, they state that I can fill out some forms but that they might still share my information "as permitted by law" anyway!

Again, from the cover letter they claim that this communication is to tell me:

We want you to know what we're doing to protect your privacy.
Your privacy is important to us and,
protecting your personal information is one of our top priorities

At no point do they mention ANY INFORMATION they they will NOT give out to ANY ORGANIZATION willing to pay them for it.

An Observation

2008-08-06T13:37:00.005-05:00

Living here in Chicago my whole life I would say that I have noticed media people, by chance, within a few feet of me at least 15 times. Mostly these are people in the news media and in one case a rather famous talk show host (her name starts with O).

Anyway, in nearly every single case where I noticed one of these people they were already looking directly at me when I first noticed them. For a weird split second I'm starring eye to eye with someone I'm used to seeing on television -- and nobody else is noticing. I tend to think that most other people wouldn't notice me even if I were wearing an ostrich plume hat.

I think this must be a characteristic of journalists (and I'm including one sportscaster). They have their eyes open and are looking at what's going on around them. They are looking at everyone, and my "encounters" occur only when I happen to notice them.

"Final Solution" for wax figure

2008-07-05T13:29:00.006-05:00

Today was opening day of the new branch of Madame Tussauds* wax museum, in Berlin . Leading up to this day there had been a growing controversy over the fact that the museum was to contain a wax figure of Hitler.

It looks like one of the first people through the door already had a solution to the problem in mind. A final solution you might say.

When the museum opened this person went directly to the Hitler statue, pushed the guard out of the way... then ripped the figure's head off it's body.

* It goes against my grain to write it that way but neither their own website or the Wikipedia article use the possessive apostrophe-s here. There was a person named Tussaud so the apostrophe is called for. I cannot find a reason why but I can find many references to the fact that there is no apostrophe.

Grant Park - It gets better and better

2008-06-20T17:28:00.004-05:00

An excellent blog post over here points out the following facts:

Mayor Daley and the City Council recently approved a $277 million increase in property taxes and fees. Meanwhile, taxpayer subsidies for Children’s Museum at Allstate Place include:

$51 Million – Value of the 1.75 acres of parkland the museum will control
$99 Million – Taxpayer subsidies from the Museums in the Park Fund
$36 Million – Replacement cost of 400 demolished parking garage spaces
$353 Million – Value of free rent in Grant Park

It gets MUCH better:

The museum’s agreement with the park district allows them to transfer their 99-year lease to another private corporation without any oversight from the City Council. What does that mean?

“The inclusion of a liquor license in their zoning application means that this could be a 100,000 square foot restaurant and mini-mall just in time for the 2016 Olympics.”

Grant Park

2008-06-18T12:56:00.005-05:00

"Power is not sufficient evidence of truth".

--Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Mr. Johnson knew something about the abuse of power.

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Time, per the Subdudes

2008-06-18T12:49:00.004-05:00

I want some fast food,
and eat it slow.

I'm gonna have some high times
and live 'em low.

--The Subdudes, From: All The Time In The World

Land Grab - Additional Focus

2008-06-17T11:38:00.006-05:00

The more I hear about this the more clearly I can see the disgusting ulterior motives that are involved.

This project calls for the REZONING of Grant Park. This rezoning will allow for multiple restaurants and a LIQUOR LICENSE WITHOUT LIMITATION.

Meanwhile, the mayor and alderman are beating their collective chests over how they are doing this for the children. In actuality, they are EXPLOITING children to satisfy their own GREED. For good measure, the mayor is calling opponents racists.

I'm so glad that there is organized resistance to this.

Grant Park Land Grab

2008-06-16T21:17:00.006-05:00

If the assault on Grant Park concerns you at all, you might want to check out SaveGrantPark.org

The neighborhood site for the area Grant Park is in is NewEastSide.org

Both sites have additional links to more information.

Politics - Chicago Style

2008-06-16T20:11:00.004-05:00

Grant park is a large bock of undeveloped land in downtown Chicago - situated in a fantastic spot between the hustle and bustle of the city and Chicago's famously beautiful lake front. This is not by accident. In 1839, the plat of the area east of Michigan Avenue south of Randolph was marked "Public Ground—A Common to Remain Forever Open, Clear and Free of any Buildings, or other Obstruction Whatsoever" The temptation to develop the spot began immediately thereafter.

In the 1800s, as various civic buildings were sited there but Chicago businessman Aaron Montgomery Ward ultimately fought four court battles to prevent the development. Grant Park's protections were enshrined by Illinois Supreme Court justices of the 19th and 20th Centuries.

Now, fast forward to the 21st Century where an incredibly brazen and disgusting assault is taking place to reverse this legacy of stewardship. The Chicago Children's Museum is currently located on Chicago's Navy Pier -- less than a mile and half from Grant Park. The museum says it needs more space and that space has been made available to it at the current location. Apparently, that's not good enough. The mayor and the museum feel that the only solution to it's space problem is to build a new museum in Grant Park.

Although the museum claims that it studied other locations it has been unable to produce a list of those other locations. Although the park has been designated a "Public Ground—A Common to Remain Forever Open, Clear and Free of any Buildings, or other Obstruction Whatsoever" the museum's plan for the spot includes construction of (what on one plan shows as) a structure 51 feet above grade. Although the there is overwhelming opposition to the plan by the citizens of Chicago, and although the plan is clearly illegal, and although it is public land and the museum is not a public space (they charge admission), the museum is so sure of their plans they have apparently already sold the naming rights to Allstate -- for $15 million.

Two of Mayor Daley's most interesting statements on all of this:

why he wants the museum in this location and no other location:

"I have fought for children my entire life, and I will continue to fight for children"

what he says of people defending the legacy of Grant Park:

"Racists"

Dream Interpretation

2007-03-13T20:26:00.003-05:00

I've heard many theories about "meaning" within dreams. Some will say "water stands for knowledge" and so on. That's somewhat like saying your subconscious mind is a like an author following a formal code to create a private screen-play you view in your mind at night.

Without thinking about it too much, for the longest time I have felt that there is really a more plausible explanation for it all. It's this: your subconscious is just creating imagery that is consistent with the emotions you are already dealing with.

So, say you feel threatened in a work situation -- you may dream of being robbed (both are threatening). A dream involves some physical limitation (running? talking?) -- but lately you've been thinking that some external factor is causing you to miss out on an opportunity (emotionally both are frustrating). Financial worries plus dreams of being chased (too obvious). It works just as well for happy dreams too.

I can't recall a dream in years (mine or one described to me) in which I could not fairly easily match up the action with a prominent day-time emotion.

Sony -- never again

2007-01-18T12:00:00.005-06:00

Hmmm.... a blog is good as any place to relate ones experiences with consumer products. Especially complaints that might provide useful insight for others out there. So, here it goes.

Sony does not stand behind their products and they do it in a way that shows contempt for their customers when it comes to parts/repair service. Two cases in point:

1) Years ago I decided to take an extended road trip through out the West and South West of the USA, so I had a Sony 10 disc CD changer installed in my car and off I went. The unit worked well enough although it didn't do a great job in terms of fidelity. But the point is that a few years later it malfunctioned. Sony has a service drop-off point in my area and for each product category they have a fixed price for repair. In the case of CD players like mine the fixed price was $125 -- which I thought was high but the unit cost me $400 and they were selling their current line of similar products for about $250 so it seemed like a worthwhile repair considering that the mounting in the trunk and the wiring from the trunk to the car stereo wouldn't have to change.

Well, Sony decided that my unit was "too old" for the (promised) fixed price repair to be honored. They offered instead to repair it for $300! Remember that the new and improved units were now selling for $250? You have to wonder why a company would even make an offer like this? And who would ever accept an offer like that?

2) Again a CD player, but this time a super duper portable with radio and other nice features. Not something anyone would buy today (this was the pre-iPod era) but it was their top of the line model back then and was $125. The thing was meant for active use (shock and skip protection) but one short drop to the ground and it was toast. From my previous experience I knew that this unit's cost was right at the fixed price repair cost. They had cheapened their newer units so the current top-of-the-line unit was more like $89 and it looked cheap and lacked features I wanted, so that wasn't an option. I figured that I'm pretty handy and that if it was a mechanical problem I could get a replacement part. I opened it up and sure enough the broken piece was obvious. It was a sled that carried the optical unit of the device. The sled had a tab on each side that kept it firmly in a track as a lead-screw device moved it back and forth. One of the tabs was broken but it was too small to provide a good bearing surface for being glued back in place. No problem - what could a new sled cost from their parts department? Go ahead and guess. Now double it and double it again and again. They wanted $65 for this piece of plastic! Most of their CD Walkman models cost less than that. You have to wonder why they do things like that.

So Sony, if there are car or home stereos in my future, camcorders or laptops, flat panel TVs or DVD players I can assure you they won't be Sony's.

Roasting Coffee

2006-12-22T18:32:00.001-06:00

I just read an article in Make Magazine (issue #8) on how to make your own coffee roaster. The project involves a small propane tank and an electric screwdriver and some other parts. I read the instructions thoroughly and then went out and got an iRoast Electric Coffee Roaster which is made by a company called Hearthware.

Within 10 minutes of having it home it had been rinsed, towel dried, set-up and loaded with green coffee beans. You then have to press a button to select one of the two preset roasting schedules but you can also make up your own roasting schedule (how many minutes at what temperature, then how many minutes at a different temperature and so on). I select preset #2 for dark roast and away it goes blowing heated air through the bottom center of the glass roasting container.

The heated air blows the beans up and away from the heating element to where they land at the outer edge of the glass container. The next coffee beans in line slide toward the center and over the heating element like so many amusement park goers getting their turn on the roller coaster. As the beans fly around inside the glass container the chaff from the roasting process is captured in a compartment above it. After about 1 minute the green coffee beans take on a tan color and by two minutes they are darker still as you remove the battery from your smoke detector. In five more minutes you'll notice they are quite dark as you open the back door to let some of the smoke out of your kitchen. After about 12 minutes the beans are dark brown just like you normally get them from the store.

The roasting container accommodates up to two scoops of beans using the scooper provided with the unit. This turns out to be 2 full loads for the hopper of my coffee grinder. Anyway, the freshly roasted, and still warm, beans smell great after they've been ground. I'm somewhat surprised that this turns out to be more than a gimmick as I sit here enjoying one of the very few cups of coffee that I've ever enjoyed -- with nothing added.

The Importance of Stories

2004-10-15T13:25:00.002-05:00

What is it about the human brain and stories? It seems that stories,
and I mean the concept of stories, is deeply interwoven in our
essential being...

The following are at some level, nothing more than stories:

Cave Paintings, Epic Poems, Novels, Plays, Operas, Songs, TV,
Movies and even Legends and Gossip -- all just story telling.

Organ Grinder Monkeys

2004-09-28T09:23:00.000-05:00

We knew they were smart - trained Capuchin monkeys are clever
assistants for Italian organ grinders. They are the same species that
have been trained as "helper monkeys" for quadriplegics. But even
though they have the highest brain-to-body size ratio of any primate
other than humans, how do they know this...

During the rainy season when mosquitoes bother them, Capuchins
rub their fur with crushed millipedes that produce a chemical insect
repellent!

Ad hominem

2004-06-21T14:35:00.000-05:00

From The Wikipedia

An ad hominem argument... is a logical fallacy that involves replying
to an argument or assertion by addressing the person presenting the
argument or assertion rather than the argument itself.

...

As a technique of rhetoric, it is powerful and used often, despite its
lack of subtlety.

The Pledge

2004-06-17T12:20:00.000-05:00

I just heard that the Pledge of Allegiance didn't have the words
"under god" until 1954. Eisenhower signed the change as
another means of differentiating the US from the (atheist) USSR.

Landmark Education (The Forum)

2004-04-20T10:36:00.000-05:00

Do you know people who have attended this seminar? I do
and have attended myself. It seems that so many "graduates"
cannot stop talking about the central themes of "integrity",
"being their word" and others. It's like they really cannot
stop talking about it.

But that's not the weird thing about it. What's really weird
is how impossible it seems to be for these people to actually
do what they say (be their word) or have integrity (which
I think of as actions consistent with their stated beliefs).
It's like a truly rare thing with these people.

Now, I'll admit that I may have meet people who have
integrity and have attended The Forum but who just don't
talk about it. But it is safe to say that the more
out-of-the-closet a Landmark graduate... the more vocal...
the more true this trend seems to be.

Spalding Gray

2004-03-09T23:08:00.000-06:00

I was very sorry to hear that they found his body today. I had
really hoped that he had found a way to cope and come out this
better for it.

Man, they don't make 'em like that anymore.

(update: since Spalding Gray's passing yet another stray cat
came into our lives. This one is completely gray in color so
he has been named... Spalding)

Latin Wisdom

2004-02-22T13:38:00.000-06:00

From Pubilius Syrus: Pecunia avarum irritat non satiat

translation: The greed of money excites but doesn't satisfy.

Bad Marketing

2004-02-19T10:06:00.001-06:00

It doesn't happen very often but every once in a
while I see a commercial that I find so dissonant...
so incredibly annoying... that I get a permanent
negative association with the product it's pitching.
This is the case with every single commercial made
for YELLOW BOOK.

The new copies of YELLOW BOOK that showed up
in my lobby (like so much other junk mail) just went
directly into the recycle bin!

Cost of Neutrality

2004-01-15T16:14:00.000-06:00

I was looking over some stats for the previous 3 presidential elections.

2000 (too close to list these as percentages)
------------------------
Gore 50,996,582
Bush 50,456,062 (540,520 less!)
Nader 2,858,843

1996
------------------------
Clinton 50%
Dole 42%
Perot 8%

1992
------------------------
Clinton 43%
Bush 37.7%
Perot 19%

From these figures alone you might argue that the independent
candidate in the last 3 elections probably affected the outcome.
Some might also argue that in all three elections the
independent candidate got votes that are likely to have been
cast for the loser among the two non-independent candidates.

But, take a look at these statistics. These are the numbers of
eligible votes who actually voted in each of those past elections:

Participation
-------------------------------
2000 (51.3% of eligible voters)
1996 (48.8% of eligible voters)
1992 (55.2% of eligible voters)

Clearly, if these voters showed up each race could have
been entirely different. Since many feel that we are
now in a time of crisis I leave this message to the
folks that didn't make it to the polls last time:

"The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who,
in times of great moral crisis, remain neutral."

-Dante

Neuromarketing

2004-01-11T18:01:00.001-06:00

A study done by a high school student (and his father) while
working in his father's MRI imaging lab amounts to a high
tech version of Pepsi challenge.

When subjects were given Coke or Pepsi (without knowing
which) the MRI scanner showed that Pepsi drinkers had
activity in areas of the brain associated with reward more
often than among those drinking Coke (i.e., Pepsi tastes
better).

However, when subjects knew what they were drinking the
Coke drinkers showed activity in the areas associated with
reward as well as the areas associated with motivation and
sense of self. The reaction was dramatic and there was no
such response among Pepsi drinkers. This is consistent with
the fact that Pepsi does win taste tests but Coke sells more
product.

It turns out that there are marketing firms that already
specialize in this type of work.

Bush's Proposals on Immigration and Manned Exploration of Mars

2004-01-11T17:01:00.001-06:00

President Bush has recently offered up proposals on both immigration-law reform and on
manned exploration of Mars.

Let's expose this for what it really is. First off, my sources indicate that Halliburton already has a lock on the contracts to build oil pipelines back from both Mars and the moon!

And you can pretty much bet that Bush's proposal for an over haul of immigration laws is going to include verbiage that lets Martians work here for less than the minimum wage!

Levitra. As in levitate...

2004-01-07T20:37:00.002-06:00

These days many commercials for pharmaceuticals don't really even say what they are for. I guess if they're for you then you just know it. I have seen this a few times now and still didn't get it. There is a picture of a 40ish guy and the voice over says "some times you need a little help getting back in the game" as this guy throws a football at a tire hanging on a rope. He misses.

The music picks up to a chipper beat and he throws the ball through the tire several... I mean multiple times. The woman in his life see this and apparently, it's good. She smiles. They embrace as he deftly flings the ball over his shoulder and it accurately penetrates the opening in the woodshed and lands right in...the box.

Since I'm not a sports fan I assumed this guy was a recognized quarterback who had a shoulder injury or something... maybe arthritis and this medicine helped his throwing arm. Until I came across this on the NPR site I didn't know this medicine is a new competitor to Viagra!

NPR : Slate's Ad Report Card: Levitra's Tire Swing

Sport Homelessness

2003-12-30T11:16:00.000-06:00

I've been looking at catalogs of camping gear lately. I got the
idea that I would look for the minimum set of equipment and
supplies that would allow one to be comfortable. Of course,
you don't want to be out there and have your equipment fail
so you would want to select the best-of-breed for each item.
Of course.

So let's see... you would want the Gortex Jacket, the titanium
cookware, the polycarbonate water bottle (all the space age
materials!). Then there is the tent, sleeping bag, pad, boots,
microfiber underwear, moisture wicking socks, pack, camp
stove, head light, multi tool, lantern, etc etc...

I started to add up the prices and determined that you would
have to be rich to go out in the woods and be homeless!

That obervation aside I don't want to leave this entry on that
note. Winter is upon us here in Chicago and this time of year
I always wonder how they do it. They being the countless
homeless in the parks and under the viaducts. And they do it
on a long-term basis without any of this equipement.

The Days are Getting Longer

2003-12-26T17:58:00.000-06:00

Earlier cultures were very aware of the passing of the seasons,
the phases of the moon and the angle of the sun in the sky.

They noticed that the sun (which they thought of as a god)
appeared lower in the sky each day as December 21st
approached and they thought of it as "dying". On the 21st
the sun was at it lowest point in the sky and day to day
changes in the sun's position of was barely noticeable.

They thought of the sun as dead.

But after about 3 days or so a small increase in the sun's height
above the horizon was noticeable and the sun, they thought,
was reborn.

Such an interesting story those poor uninformed ancient pagans
had. That is, the idea that their god had died only to rise from
the dead three days later on about December 24th. Yeah, born
again around Christmas. Perhaps parts of the story were
compelling enough to be incorporated in to more "modern"
belief systems?

More about Wal-Mart

2003-12-09T12:11:00.001-06:00

There is so much information on WalMart's bad behavior
that one can really spend a lot of time taking it in. Turns
out there there is more than one web site devoted to this
sort of thing. Here are just a few:

www.walmartwatch.com
www.walmartclass.com

Here is just one little snippet (and this is far from the worst):

In Bloomington, Ill. some 20 Wal-Mart workers, in their
trademark blue vests, invaded a local Kmart store, handing out
leaflets that advertised job openings at a Wal-Mart across town—
including the benefits of working at Wal-Mart. Caught in the act,
Wal-Mart manager Jerry Herrin, who was present during the raid
but claimed to be unaware of the leafleting going on, said that
the visit was a 'routine price check.'

Wal-Mart prohibits competitors from checking prices in its stores.

Nice job whoring for WalMart - Jerry.

Wal-Mart (including Sam's Club)

2003-12-08T20:11:00.001-06:00

A recent Fast Company (magazine) article about WalMart
closes with a mention of the difference between "price"
and "cost". The article is largely about how brutal WalMart
is in forcing their suppliers to deliver product at an ever
lower price. The result is that the supplier often winds
up having the product made overseas - that is if Walmart
doesn't dump the supplier and go overseas for the product
themselves.

They quote the head of a thread making company who says
of Americans:

We want clean air, clear water, good living conditions, the
best health care in the world - yet we aren't willing to pay
for anything manufactured under those conditions.

I can agree with that but for the most part we Americans, once
lead to the trough, are just unlikely to say no to anything. And,
by far, most Americans are unable to equate the slightly higher
price to a cleaner environment or anything else. They can't be
bothered to think about it. Among those who can, even fewer
act on that knowledge.

I'm amazed at how many people justify owning an SUV by
explaining that it saves them money -- being able to buy that
life-time supply of toilet paper from Sam's Club at "fantastic
savings".

Riddle of Epicurus

2003-11-06T17:09:00.000-06:00

The Riddle of Epicurus (c. 341-271 BCE).

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?

see: www.positiveatheism.org

etc. vs. et al

2003-11-06T17:05:00.000-06:00

et cetera - and the rest

et al - and others

How long it should take?

2003-09-05T14:25:00.000-05:00

How come if your boss has no idea what he wants, or
how to do it, he still thinks he "knows" exactly how
long it should take?

Artificially Flavored

2003-08-12T13:55:00.001-05:00

I was just sitting around the office lunch room and noticed a co-worker munching on a bag of Jay's Vinegar and Salt flavored potato chips. Then I noticed the big letters...

"Artificially Flavored".

So, they're not even using real salt or vinegar anymore?

Hello, World!

2003-02-03T13:26:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the arbalest blog/blog site/web log.