Locally Related Stories

Another media fight that could impact Green Bay:

Time Warner might be losing Viacom cable channels (Comedy Central, CMT: Pure Country, Logo, Palladia, MTV, MTV 2, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, MTV Tr3s, Nickelodeon, Noggin, Nick 2, Nicktoons, Spike, The N, TV Land, VH1, VH1 Classic, and VH1 Soul) because of a disagreement over fees.

Time Warner will respond to Viacom’s advertisement, Mr. Dudley said, by highlighting the availability of television content on the Internet. “We will be telling our customers exactly where they can go to see these programs online,” Mr. Dudley said. “We’ll also be telling them how they can hook up their PCs to a television set.”

On a totally unrelated note, I'm not sure what to make of, this:

"Divine Temple, 425 Cherry St., is hosting an adult spelling bee at 2 p.m. Saturday.The fee to watch the spelling bee is $5 for per adult and $1 per school-age child. Call (920) 436-9740 for information."

HUGE SUPER SECRET WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR CREDIT!

The attitude conveyed in the first bullet of this release drives me nuts.

You want to know how to improve your credit? Spend only what you can afford and pay your bills on time. It's that simple: if you don't have the money, don't spend it. If you use credit cards, then pay them off in full every single month. Each penny of interest you give to a lender is money you could have kept and spent or invested. 20% on a thousand dollar balance over a year is enough for a new HDTV. You want that HDTV, right? Then spend what you have to spend and then STOP SPENDING. Put together a budget with cash in envelopes and stop using credit cards altogether if you have to. Once you have a proven track record of keeping your word by paying your bills on time, your credit score will recover. I promise.

Consider something for a moment... If you have to work to improve your credit rating, do you have the bill paying track record and fiscal judgment to buy a house? If you have to play games to get a bank to give you money at a reasonable rate, shouldn't that send up some warning flags? Why not see if you can't get your financial house in order before piling on the additional stresses and expenses of owning a house?

Don't get me wrong. I believe home ownership strengthens neighborhoods and is usually a great investment. But when someone with minimal financial discipline and resources buys a home, that home will likely be foreclosed or resold in short order. That's not good for neighborhoods or families. Nor is a family giving away a huge chunk of their spending on sub-prime loan interest when they could be investing that money in their family. If all someone can get is a variable rate or sub prime loan, then they shouldn't buy the house.

I don't know this dude out of Michigan. But I do know and trust some folks at NeighborWorks. If you are at risk of losing your home or interested in getting your first give them a call. Either way, the sooner the better. They can't help you until you call. If your fiscal house is in order, there are some OUTSTANDING deals out there right now. If not, they will help you get there.

Medical Ethical Gray Areas

Biohackers are customizing DNA in their kitchens.

The CIA has found an interesting use for Viagra.

Much risk taken in both situations-- what if the old guy has a heart condition and dies or that new gene sequence wipes out the planet? OTOH, both situations have (massive?) potential upside too.

Midnight Rule Changes

Outgoing presidential administrations apparently make all kinds of rule changes at the last minute. Once in place, they can be difficult for the successor to undo. From what I've read, this has been the case since at least the Carter administration.

So I don't get something. Why does a rule change trump state law?

Here's one example where folks where medical folks won't have to offer the morning after pill.

Another one where the outgoing EPA administrator forbids regulating carbon dioxide emissions.

The Homeland Security angle.

There is other coverage out there.

It's one thing when congress passes a law, it's a whole different thing for some outgoing political appointee to invalidate state laws by sending out a memo... Perhaps these things should be somehow restricted in the window between the election and the inauguration when there is zero political pressure restraining the lame duck.

Snipers

This article has it about right, I think. Snipers save lives, especially innocent lives.

Green Bay and NE Wisconsin has an indirect tie to these folks in that American Snipers seems to be based here. If you would like to help, they take donations and are holding a charity drawing with various prizes.

It seems criminal to me that these guys don't seem to be getting what they need and a civilian organization is required to try and fill that gap. Many, many letters mention the lack of proper equipment.

Preventing the accidental deaths of innocents while dealing with the bad guys can only help hasten the end of these wars. Almighty willing, our troops will return home soon.

Time to pay your house off?

Ouch. Owing more than we're worth is pretty painful if it's true.

Give someone else...

...a speeding ticket!

I don't know what to think about private firms issuing them. That's seems like it should be a function of government.

IT unions and programmng language comedy

I'm not sure what I think of a petition to start a union. Telecommuting IT workers aside, what's wrong with an election? The cynic in me wonders if this another form of the organizer working to open the ballots. How about an open vote on how which mechanism to decide organize where they choose between open ballot, closed ballot, and signed cards/petitions for a subsequent organization vote. Make the closed ballot not require this step. Is this a doable compromise?

Here's a pretty darn funny (to a geek) take on the "religious wars" on programming languages.

Check...

...and balance.

Score one for constitutional free speech. Law enforcement again has to get a court order before telling you that you can't talk about something. It's like we're becoming a democracy again or something.

More Foreclosures Coming

"Stockton median prices, says O'Toole, have dropped even further relative to income. 'At this point, I don't think you'll see more price declines in Stockton.'"

Hopefully Stockton doesn't have any of the next generation of home mortgages that are going to start blowing up over the next few years. According to this report, we're only half way through this housing mess.

Let me say again that we must be ruthless about keeping people in their homes. Why not a 1% per year cap on the increase on notes for primary homes? Why isn't this plan already in progress? Even though the financial professionals should have known better we bailed them out. Now, they continue to throw people out.

Unacceptable.

Election Integrity

Humboldt County CA has found a way to double-check their proprietary voting system results.

The first step is to scan all the ballots in a secure, controlled environment. The second step is to feed those images in to an open source program to perform a count. Guess what they found? The Diebold software somehow failed to count 216 ballots. Here is the calm, factual blow by blow from a volunteer developer on the project.

The most interesting part to me is that the scanned ballots are digitally signed and available for all to review. Now that's transparent. Unlimited recounts by whomever wishes to put forth the effort. You don't think the media outlets might want to get their hands on the ballots during a controversial recount? This is the future of elections. Congratulations to all who were a part of making this happen!

The Response

So I sent a friend with a gaming teenager this link. It worked.

They sent this link back in response. I laughed out loud then but now I find myself wondering if there isn't a message in there for me!

Open Source Options List

I recognize and very much like some of these.

Privacy and Politics

Privacy it tough enough for a private citizen. Get in to politics and you'll learn they aren't really compatible. If information is stored somewhere, someone can abuse their knowledge or authority to get at it.

SOE Game Economies

It's interesting how many things that used to be against the EQ terms of service have since been implemented as features. Maps in ShowEQ, EQWindows, and now items for real world cash. How long until they "legalize" the account sales already going on? I suppose the final step is for the game companies to sell experience, skills and other things normally earned by playing the game. But then, what would be the point of playing the game if a rich dude can just train up a character by pulling out plastic?

Outside money influences game economies in a huge way, no doubt about it. I expect Sony's bottom line will go up by offering in game items for sale. The pharmers' bottom lines will, no doubt, go down. It almost feels anti-competitive to me for Sony to move in to this market when they own the game universe.

Real world money often corrupts and compromises the initially planned game universe processes. So it's good to see that Sony is trying to figure out another model. Maybe they can figure out a way to ride or even harness the wave of real world money instead of fighting it.

Last I heard Blizzard is killing anything Sony Online Entertainment offers with World of Warcraft. Could these new in game economics be a result of that?

Illinois Governers

Really Rod?!

Of course, the previous guy is still in jail.

gender-benders and herpes

Males of all species are feminizing due to pollutants? I've heard this multiple places now and would like to see the data, especially around which pollutants are suspect.

On a totally unrelated note, Alzheimer's disease and cold sores may both be caused by the herpes virus.

Secret republican strategists?

Who are they? What they say makes sense.

The Stadium in the Land of Cows...

...is rated #5 for vegetarians!

New Adds in School Twist

On tests and quizzes!

Virtual Heroes

First this excellent software shop makes, America's Army to help train and recruit for the, umm, US Army.

Then they make Virtual Peace which is a somewhat less violent game having more to do with State Dept functions.

And now they're working on the best game ever. I can't wait until it comes out!

Where Have All the Acorns Gone?

Odd. I'm going to check on this where I live.

Terrorists in the Worlds Largest Democracy

This is about 100 miles from many of my coworkers.

Gene mixing

What are the ethics of mixing human genes in with animals? What about when you talk about doing it to bring extinct genes back to life and one of those patterns is our closest genetic relative?

Copernicus grave found, sun blows off solar system for universe

The findings could put an end to centuries of speculation about the exact resting spot of Copernicus, a priest and astronomer whose theories identified the Sun, not the Earth, as the center of the universe.

Please let me be the first to congratulate Sol on it's recent promotion.

Madlebrot TSQL Implementation

Really!

Totyota- no layoffs yet

I wonder if the quarterly wringing every last penny of profit out of the US car companies has really led so such a corporate culture difference as this.

Alternate Paths

It's an interesting exercise to think about what could have happened to me had I been born a bit earlier, slightly more skilled, or just (un)lucky enough to score a real penetration. I am probably lucky that my pre-teen ego let me think I was a great hacker when, in fact, I could barely pass for a script kiddie by stealing other folks hacks. I hung out on the edges of real hackerdom-- I met all sorts through friends of friends-- a guy who got a millon plus dollar phone bill and was hauled out of high school in cuffs. Another time, one of the most famous C64 developers actually came to my house and gave me a copy of Fast Hacke'em.

Later on I got to meet a white-hat hero too. I chose to work at NAI in part because Phil worked there and I believe that privacy is a right. Too bad management was more about making money by any means instead of investing in and building useful and desirable product.

When my childhood morals allowed for this sort of thing all they could bust you for was electricity theft. There were no laws covering unauthorized access to a computer system back then. Even if I had been successful and copied some data, the legal consequences would have been nothing compared to today.

HIV curable?

The treatment kills 30% but apparently a bone marrow transplant from a person with a genetic mutation that causes immunity to most strains of HIV has cured at least one person.

The accidental discovery has been replicated in the lab.

There are also some Chinese women with a different (?) genetic mutation that prevents AIDS.

Marriage Joke

I made up a joke a while after the majority of Wisconsinite voters chose to codify bigotry in the state constitution...

Me: We should just outlaw marriage. All marriages. When folks want to get together from now on they can go to the courthouse and get a civil union license.

Other: Huh?

Me: If it were available in the county where my wife and I got married, I would have chosen a civil union license instead of a marriage license.

Other: Really, why?

Me: What's the difference? Religions can still do a ceremony in a church, it could still be legal to allow church officials to sign civil union certificates. The state can accommodate all religions equally that way.

Other: What about all the people who are already married?

Me: Yeah, all the married people, just commute their sentences from marriage to civil union.

About half the people actually get the punchline right away-- if you missed it go reread the last line. It's difficult joke to tell sometimes because you have to improvise based on responses. But it's my joke, and it's clever, so I'm publishing it.

In any case, someone is apparently actually proposing the idea as a compromise in California.

Two Interesting (to me) ones today

Genes aren't the only genetics?

The sounds of failure. Hard drive failure, that is.

From tehkillya to diamonds

"There is no doubt; tequila has the exact proportion of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms necessary to form diamonds."

Front Page Obama

Very simple, but clever enough I wish I thought of it.

Biodiesel

There is a fungus in nature that creates biodiesle by consuming cellulose. Fuel purely from surface carbon anyone? Let's hope it can be industrialized!

Politics, Policy, or Ineptitude

By all accounts I've seen, Iraq is settling down. Why would we stir up Syria when, again by all accounts I've seen, it's past time to start transition at least some forces to Afghanistan?

Also of note: we're not the only NATO country not committing the needed resources.

New Newspapers

I'm glad the CSMonitor is on the leading edge of the paper newspaper to data newspaper transition. I think it makes the survival of a newspaper I like more likely.

If only the Press Gannett would figure out a way for me to give them money for a web subscription. I would love to support the local reporters and editors by paying for electronic access without all the baggage. Oh, yeah, and while I'm at it, your RSS feeds could use some better sorting and your CMS & page code could be better. I get that this is probably all according to Gannett dictates but I'd still like to see fast, lean, add-free web pages with simple, thoughtful URLs on well organized RSS feeds and section web pages. Seriously, what the hell good is http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20081029/GPG03/81029104/1978 and all the bandwidth it soaks up? Why not http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/20081029/headlines/1 for headline #1 on 10/29? Don't even get me started on the cost of your archives...

It's too bad the News Chronicle didn't hang on for just a few more years. They understood and embraced the web and might just be growing now as the Press Gazette fades away while clinging to an obsolete business model.

Perhaps I've said too much, perhaps not enough.

The De Pere Dozen

Tony Walter column: Dirty dozen voters spoiled De Pere's batch

October 26, 2008 - They were never identified, so we'll just call them the De Pere Dozen.
Advertisement

On a breezy Tuesday almost 56 years ago, 12 city residents committed what, at the time, was the cardinal sin of constitutional neglect. They didn't vote in the presidential election.

Every other registered voter in De Pere voted.

It was the election between Republican Dwight Eisenhower and Democrat Adlai Stevenson. A group of civic leaders, led by WJPG radio station newswriter Jack Yuenger, launched an effort to get a 100 percent voter turnout, a goal that probably seemed unreachable.

They almost reached it.

When all the ballots were counted, 4,193 of the 4,205 registered voters in the city cast a ballot. It translated to 99.68 percent and received national attention.

The city then had four wards, two on each side of the river.

Larry Carney, an east-side barber, was ward captain for the 1st Ward and had just two nonvoters. Ray Van Dyke, who worked at John Baeten & Sons and marshaled voters from the 2nd Ward on the east side, also had two nonvoters. Ray Gevers, a west-side barber, got all but three of his voters from the 3rd Ward, and west side restaurant-bar owner Art Beecher had five who failed to vote in the 4th Ward.

The organization was impressive. Every ward captain had block captains, and several organizations pitched in. They included young people from the Youth Service and Recreation Association, and volunteers from the Women's Club of De Pere, the Catholic Women's Club, the Legion Auxiliary, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs, the American Legion and VFW.

Bette Hayes headed a program committee that organized pre-election, nonpartisan rallies, and several St. Norbert College students assisted her. More than 200 absentee ballots were collected in advance and about 100 ballots were mailed in from De Pere voters in the military. Auto dealers in the city provided free transportation. Baby-sitting was provided at Legion Hall on North Michigan Street.

Austin Wilber, an 84-year-old retired sociology and economics professor, left New York City early after visiting his daughter so he could get home in time to vote. A very pregnant woman stopped to vote before her husband rushed her off to Bellin Hospital.

Interestingly, there was a high school football game on election night. West De Pere and De Pere played at Minahan Stadium before 2,300 fans, their first meeting in almost 40 years, and voting totals were announced during the game, won by West De Pere 26-21.

Of course, De Pere has never again come close to matching that voter percentage. Four years ago, 78 percent of the registered voters in De Pere voted. Charlene Peterson, city clerk and treasurer, is predicting an 80 percent to 85 percent turnout this year, well above the state average.

But you'd like to know who those 12 people were.

Tony Walter is a columnist for the Press-Gazette. He can be reached at (920) 431-8360.


Wow. I wonder how turnout will be this year? Good on the donky side certainly but the elephants have gotten their fear vote on.

Sim Country anyone?

Looks interesting.

Bailout Sleuth

Cuban's got an interesting idea that he managed to get implemented. I'll be keeping an eye on this RSS feed. Will you?

Afghanistan

If the Afghan government have failed, is there a point in continuing the NATO mission? If so, what's it going to take to bring these shadow governments in to the fold? Can this set back for females be fixed or at least mitigated somehow?

I heard once that the CSMonitor is the paper of choice at the CIA. I don't know about that but I sure do like the international coverage.

Republican Attacks

Aside from county clerk, this pretty much covers how I feel about how every Republican on my ballot this year conducted their campaign. Negative on the opponent and not a word about what they'll try to get done.

Candidate Histories and Network Security

This feels contrived to me. Is it AstroTurf, someone aggregating, or is there some valid criticism in there?

At least three of McCain's GOP colleagues have gone on record to say that they consider him temperamentally unsuited to be commander in chief. Smith, the former senator from New Hampshire, has said that McCain's "temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him." Sen. Domenici of New Mexico has said he doesn't "want this guy anywhere near a trigger." And Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi weighed in that "the thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded."


Wireless router security has been breached for a long time. But now someone put together an off the shelf key cracking software package. Personally? I use wires because they are more secure. Unless you have a reason to be wireless, don't. Hot spots are nice and convenient but don't push anything through them you wouldn't want a newspaper to publish or your worst enemy to know. Besides, wired networking is faster than wireless.

Peaceful Criticism IS NOT Terrorism

Hopefully the Maryland State Police have figured that out now.

Fixing the Electoral College

I've long thought that low population density encourages a more conservative, black afnd white view of life in individuals and high density populations result in folks who have a more progressive, accepting outlook. Given the way the electoral college works, this favors electing a president who is leans more conservative than the US population. Before this president, that made some sense to me. A conservative would only attack other countries as a last resort right?

Here's an idea to fix the electoral college that I have not heard before.

AHHHH!

No, no, no copyright czar.

Green Bay in the Presidential News

Salon seems to think the Dems are ahead.

Kimberly Paper Mill Closure

I'm new to all of this but, if there really are buyers, why doesn't Kimberly condemn the mill and contents and sell it to a buyer (at a profit and/or with jobs guarantees) to save their local economy?

Is it really possible there is nothing to be done by local government? I see this as a "for the good of the community" issue similar to taking private property to build a street.

Google Post Old Web Archive

Google posts their oldest index from January 2001.

It's so entrenched in our culture now, it's hard to remember the web before the 9/11 attacks. I wonder what else there is not to be found...

Debt Crunch

No bank to bank lending means many fewer mortgages. Less buying power in the market will lead to lower prices. It's that whole supply and demand thing.

I can't recall the last time I saw four homes for sale for under $30,000 in Green Bay.

Dives all, perhaps. But $22,000 is in the range where a family bringing in a living wage who also has one handy adult can save up and buy a place for cash and then fix it up as they live there. It's hard to cut spending or take on a second job but if you do the rewards of living in a paid-for home are worth it. If you are any good, $30,000 is less than 400 nights delivering pizza. Fewer if you only work the busy nights. Is giving up your evenings in the short term worth it if you end up owning your own place free and clear? Imagine, no more rent or house payments-- just keep the place up and pay the taxes.

Someone reminded me the other day of something I've heard many times before, that the Chinese language uses the same written symbol to mean both "crisis" and "opportunity". In some ways I hope I'm wrong but I don't see this housing "opportunity" ending tomorrow. If you are renting, I hope YOU will get started today figuring out how to pay off your debts, save a down payment, and give this crisis a silver lining!

It's getting warmer

Beyond a tipping point?

Seven...Hundred...Billion

I heard two practical numbers that are easier to wrap ones head around than 700B. Apparently, it breaks down to about $10000 per family or, put another way, $2000 per person. We USians already owe $32000 each in future revenue. Do we really want to pile on another $2000?

I believe debt is indentured servitude. When you go in to debt, you are promising away part of your future earnings which means you are also promising away future freedoms. Just work through a few compound interest scenarios. For example, compare a 15 year mortgage with %20 down against a 30 year mortgage with nothing down. Then compare saving up including interest on those saving for 20 years to buy a house with cash even after figuring in a modest rent. Do it for any price house. It's amazingly sad how people, organizations, and governments are willing to voluntarily surrender their financial liberty for years to come simply for a quick financial fix today. Suze Orman's personality annoys me a little but, in my view, her financial message is pretty good. Dave Ramsey's is even better.

Joe Heller is so good at his job. Here's his excellent commentary on the president's speech pushing for the $700B bailout. I don't know much about this Paulson guy except that he is Secretary of the Treasury, a Scientologist, and used he used to run Goldman Sachs which Warren Buffet just bailed out. Even if Secretary Paulson is the right guy to fix the current situation, I don't particularly like handing him a blank check for $700B with next to no guidelines and oversight. On the other hand, I don't want to see financial disaster any more than anyone else. So what can we do?

Mark Cuban is a guy who struck it big in tech. He has an idea too. I gather he's saying we should repackage this housing debt and it's revenues for individual investors to buy chunks of at a part of something called an exchange-traded fund. He's willing to buy $50M worth. Interesting idea.

I have a few thoughts too:

* ARMs and balloon mortgages are STILL driving people out of their homes. We need to cap interest rate increases on loans on a primary residence at 1% a year. Don't let the lenders replace them with fees. Make it retroactive for anyone still in their home-- retroactive for, say, three years-- and discount future payments by half until the retroactive portion is paid off. Many more details would have to be worked out, but you can't go wrong with ruthlessly supporting folks trying to stay in their homes. These loans were irresponsibly made and the investors who purchased them did not do their due diligence. I'm OK with them losing out on profits. Let's remember, they're still looking for the principal back too and no one pays on a home they give back.

* Loan the fat cats enough cash to tide them over temporarily but do it in such a way that the taxpayers will almost certainly get their money back. These business who dug themselves in to a hole deserve to dig their own way out or go under. Isn't this situation exactly why we have laws covering companies reorganizing and restructuring and/or being disassembled and sold off through bankruptcy?

* Mitigate the harm of anyone who does go under by giving local banks and credit unions access to this money to lend. They actually get to KNOW their clients and have relationships with them. Give these local establishments a commission on loans as they are repaid and a penalty (against that commission) on loans that aren't. The local establishment services the loan and no reselling because Uncle Sam holds the note. The upsides to families, neighborhoods and local economies of this system seem obvious to me. I wonder if this is what Fannie and Freddie were supposed to be?

This whole mess occurred because the risk of lending was totally detached from the rewards of lending. When you put multiple layers of financial devices between the folks loaning and the folks borrowing, you are going to make more bad loans. When you add ratings companies giving bogus ratings to win business in to the mix, the investor has absolutely no idea what risk they are taking on. The people working for S&P and Moody are as responsible for this mess as anyone. Heads should roll there, big time.

Speaking of consequences, I'm a big fan of feedback loops in organizations. For example, when an insurance agent writes a policy on a house and that house that later burns down, that agent loses some or all of their quarterly or monthly bonus. If I were running an insurance agency, the goal would never be to write the most coverage. The goal would be to write good coverage. Personally, I don't want my insurance company insuring some dude with a box of rags next to the hot water heater when the agent walks through because that agent can earn a commission today. I want to incentivize (I hate buzzwords, but there you go) agents to skip writing that policy because it will cost all stakeholders over the long term.

Sorry this turned in to an essay instead of just one link. That seems to be occurring more and more. This current mess, the lack of grown up behavior that caused it, just kept rattling around in my head and I had some time between working with a customer. Forgive the bad writing and thanks for reading if you made it this far. We must legislate responsible behavior when gross irresponsibility hurts other people trying to do the right thing.

When you hold an event, plan to pay for the coffee!

Apparently these Obama guys weren't aware of that. I would like to hear they offered the 10 bucks or promised to come back or something...

I'd also like to hear their side of it.

Family in Boot Camp

I think of him often.

Presidential Candidate Tax Plans

Which bracket are you in?

Now competing in 49 states!

I can understand why Obama wouldn't bother, but you would think McCain and campaign might bother to jump through the requisite hoops for 34 reliably republican electors.

Bob Barr of the Libertarian party has filed suit to have both major party candidates thrown of the TX ballot. No idea on the actual merit of Mr Barr's case but his press release feels compelling and fact based. Taking 34 votes away from McCain would effectively hand the election to Obama. I wonder how many Obama supporters are sending checks to the TX libertarian party to support this lawsuit?

Economy Issue

Is it possible to execute Mark Cuban's suggestion in soundbites that will penetrate the media enough to get through to the voters? He does point out something obvious. Any detailed economic plan presented today will probably be totally outdated in January. Guests on MTP this morning suggested it's time for the candidates to link themselves to economic experts. Mr Warren Buffet and NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg were mentioned. I'd look at dragging a Vanguard alumnus with decent speaking skill out of retirement. Vanguard group has a prudent, workmanlike financial philosophy and still retain their solid reputation. From what I gather, they've been among the grownups while the teenagers have gleefully clogged the financial system with bad debt.

We're printing money to finance at least some of these bailouts. Isn't the U.S. devaluing it's currency by doing this? As these new dollars work their way in to the economy they will make the dollar buy less. The part I don't know is how much money got printed compared to how much is out there and what inflationary impact that will/should cause. Anyone seen reputable reporting on this angle anywhere? If so, can you shoot me a link?

While I'm talking about the media, has anyone out there seen *any* coverage on the fact that low end rents are going up because low end rental supply is going down? You see, banks don't rent out properties after gaining ownership of them with the high bid on court house steps after a foreclosure. The cause of the real estate crisis comes down to a disconnection of short term incentives and long term risk. If you have cash to invest there are some outstanding bargains out there on real things like real estate. Now's the time. You'll take that defaulted loan off of some banks books and get that unit back in to circulation. Unemployment, while not great, is still in reasonable shape. I believe there are opportunities to be had in this environment. There are opportunities in any market, especially in turbulent markets.

Government is now attempting to mitigate a huge financial set-back in the midst of presidential election crunch time. No doubt we'll dig out of all this bad debt eventually but it's going to take years, not months. Since the problem was caused by the insane unlinking of profits and consequences, perhaps the presidential candidates could talk about how we can all work to shelter our own neighborhoods by investing one rental and/or flip at a time. Since credit is at a stand still perhaps it's time for individual investors to offer land contracts to buyers who would normally get a loan for a house. Local banks, credit unions and savings and loans with assets could be having a field day by selling reliable mortgages in this market while the big banks are too chicken. I'd wager that the folks offering land contract or mortgages these days might bother to ensure that there's a good chance that they'll get their money back before making the deal.

125 down, 75 to go

This fat guy is posting again.

Better somewhere, worse elsewhere

Congratulations to Habitat for Humanity International, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and most especially the Torres/Avila family!
Wish I could come to the presentation.

Sending toxic waste to other countries who cannot or will not perform proper cleanup is unacceptable.

gov.palin@yahoo.com

Cracked. Apparently there is enough there to raise questions about doing public work through a private email account. This is what is in the commons so far. Is it wrong of me to hope the white hatter who locked the account down didn't do it until after someone got a copy of everything? I'll keep an eye out on the nether regions of cyberspace to see if anyone posts any significantly more content.


Which is worse? Being so out of touch with the American public that you never bothered to learn to use email or having a running-mate who uses it recklessly?


From my perspective both are big negatives to me.

Bureaucratic incompetence or persecution?

I'm sure there are mid-wives and parteras both around who have lied about birthing paperwork at various times. Fine. Then investigate and review them. It doesn't make sense to effectively retroactively invalidate citizenship of folks born in the United States as this article indicates is going on.


For example, David Hernandez joined up, served in Germany, and now can't get a passport because a mid-wife filled out his birth certificate. That's an outrage.

US DHS Database Prowess

I feel safe now.


While a new wrinkle, the total bogosity of the terrorist watch list isn't news. There have been copious valid criticisms in the past.

Minimalist Traffic Control

Just get rid of everything.

Electoral College Guesses

No idea who's guesses are best but I find them all interesting.


http://www.electoral-vote.com/


AbuWiki


Rasmussen Reports


270towin.com

"Illtyperacy is the bastard incest child hiding in the [I.T.] industry's basement." - Steve Yegge

I took keyboarding in college because it seemed a logical skill for a programmer to have and I admired one of my instructors who typed like a whirlwind. Over the years my skill has increased. I type fast. So fast that I was recently jotting down a note while on the phone and the person on the other end accused me of just banging my hands against the keyboard. They actually thought I was play typing. Doing my day job right requires my thoughts and ideas go through a keyboard far more often than any other communication channel. So of course I'm going to master that skill.

Steve Yegge does a rant on how programmers should know how to type. Most folks may not realize it, but he's right. There are programmers out there who cannot touch type and they are almost always held back by this. (Note to rookies from a dot bomb guy who kept his job: Hunt and peck programmers are often laid off first when that reorg comes around.)

It seems to me this lesson is more broadly applicable. I am an expert at many parts of my computer job. It's my other job, voters willing, where I will continue to identify, improve and/or master the needed and useful skills for years to come. Whatever it takes to serve my district, this city, the larger community and the world. No illtyperacy allowed, especially in this endeavor.

Hypocrisy

Both parties position and posture themselves in to rhetorical corners. The Daily Show and Colbert Report are national treasures because they do a fantastic job pointing this phenomenon out.

Dissing Community Organizers

I guess that about covers it.

On Change

This video can't lay out the whole story in a few minutes but the broad strokes it does show tug at the heartstrings. The Smithsonian can't find 3M in it's budget to buy this guys 50M collection?! I wonder if he has some additional conditions that aren't mentioned... It would be a horrible historical loss to not losslessly digitize this stuff for future generations.

No One Withdraws from Our Checking Account but Me and My SO

Authorizing any institution to pull cash out of your account is insane.

Most folks should probably be keeping track of and managing your revenues and expenses, it's just too dangerous for someone to have access to your account. What if they make a mistake? What if they overcharge you and you don't notice until the bank statement comes after the 15 day deadline for appealing? That money is GONE. You might get it back, eventually...

What if a pipe in that cottage up north and you have an unexpected $3000.00 water bill? I know I'd rather call them up and talk about how to pay the bill than already have the money gone from my account.

Interesting and Sad

http://www.google.com/explanation.html

Basic Science Isn't Profitable...

...when you are stuck under quarterly earnings calls, apparently. I'm saddened and surprised it lasted this long.

I wonder if this comment on slashdot could be true. Maybe given India and China's standard high school education superiority.

Diebold's Voting Machine Update

Security idol Bruce Schneier posts about voting machine maker Diebold. Glad to see someone is trying to get their money back.

Voting Machines

http://xkcd.com/463/


This is the sort of thing you end up with when you hire unqualified people to build something because it's "simple". The security on these things is frighteningly lame. Voting without a paper-trail is INSANE because, without physical ballots, there CAN BE NO RECOUNT of any vote.


I've had one professional interaction with Diebold. They sucked as much as you might expect. They believe in security through obscurity. Presumably-- and the many voting machine stories out there support this-- to the in place of ACTUAL security.


Diebold isn't the only vendor selling crap as voting machines either. Google it to learn more.

Voting Machine Sanity...

...is finally setting in. Scrapping these useless machine is probably the way to go. I guess that would represent the final stage of grief, acceptance.


I wish the officials who wrongfully threw 3B at the corporate world to solve the problem without any sane guidance would now legislate refunds of that money.

XP still selling

Despite it's EOL announcement, Windows XP is still in pretty dang high demand. Looks like Microsoft's policy of selling a license for the newest version and letting the customer use an older version might bite them this time.

Cyber Warfare

"It costs about 4 cents per machine," Mr. Woodcock said. "You could fund an entire cyberwarfare campaign for the cost of replacing a tank tread, so you would be foolish not to."


That's why folks MUST keep their software patched and anti-virus programs current!

Sad

This graffiti makes me sad.

"If voting changed anything they'd make it illegal"

Foreclosures Continue

MADISON — Foreclosure filings in Wisconsin continued at a record pace in July. ... Statewide, there were 1,762 foreclosure filings in July — or nearly 77 filings each business day. — The Associated Press

If you are falling behind, please get help NOW TODAY before it's too late.

Non-Emergency Calls to 999 Emergency Centre

This will shame some folks in to stopping. I suspect it'll also generate copycat calls. I wonder if putting them up will make things better or worse?

Perspective

Mr. Wesley Emch contrasts the current Favre shambles with the example of his son, Hospitalman Lucas Emch. Thank you for taking the time to remind us about what is important.

Contrasting Ends of Life

Randy Pausch, famous for his Last Lecture, has left us.

Edward "Eddie" Davidson, the spam king who just escaped from prison, apparently did the unthinkable before checking out.

The immense difference between how these men lived their lives-- all the way to the end-- struck me when both stories landed in my reader a few minutes apart.

Wecome Home

Froggie.

Spam King Jail Break

Watch your inboxes.

Everyone knows someone...

...who drags every 10 second phone call out to 10 minutes. Even folks who don't do it regularly can still end up gabbing. SlyDial offers an interesting workaround if you are calling a mobile number.

How bad can you dance?

Hopefully not this bad...

New fees, less bars.

Possible new fees for adult entertainers, less bars downtown in Green Bay.

Rehabilitation by fire

No money for a dangerous, hellish job but the pride and self esteem might go further than any other program the state can offer. I'd love to recidivism see stats on these folks.

Cattle prods for plane passengers.

Not sane. Promotional video. (FF to 3:05.)

C in a browser

Quake in a browser.

The boundaries between script, tokenized, and fully precompiled languages are just going away. This is a good thing but it's a big change for old timers. Stevey talked about a similar topic the other day too.

"The man's attorney said there may be mental health issues involved in the case."

Ya think?

Green Burial

Hope I live long enough for this to be an option.

Ummm.

Please don't ever do this.

Wasted time on the council floor.

Great points. Thanks Joe.

It's a matter of courtesy and respect. Every minute someone talks they are using up a minute of time for every other person in the room. Often, some of those folks are hourly city employees. That's time that could be spent serving the public, hearing other points of view, or with families.

I'd also point out that when the rambling starts, I have to make an effort to keep an open mind. It's human nature to resent the rambler.

Study supports bad-boy reproductive strategy success.

"Bad guys really do get the most girls"

The Jerry Bader Show

WTAQ's Jerry Bader is back online.

FireFox 3 is here

IE team makes a nice gesture.

The way to win a debate...

...is to promise to obey the laws, not promise you'll break them.

Are you kidding me?!

California needs to update their laws regarding ordering DNA tests.

Politics

Tough time for team conservative.

Team Obama busts dust online.

Taxes: McCain -vs- Obama

I know I make less than 227K a year. I wonder how the USian population breaks down in that chart from the story.

There once was a lake called Delton

...not so much, anymore.

Gerrymandering!

How to in game form. Glad I'm an independent.

cellulosic ethanol

Someone please tell me we can do this profitably with Phragmites. There must be grant money available...

Quirky...

...but kinda cool.

Left behind...

This is ingenious and a horrible idea all at the same time. Please feel free to list me as your beneficiary.

Even more airline fees!

After much consternation and knashing by the County Board...

...the Oneidas step up and do the right thing and it's totally uncontroversial.

boo!

Unacceptable.

Has Memorial Day lost it's meaning?

I very much enjoy camping the camping trips we make this weekend. Even so, I'd like to see memorial day moved back to May 30th even more.

In Green Bay: Traditional Memorial Day services: 6:30 p.m. May 30. At 6 p.m. 20 plus veteran organizations line up colors at the Chamber of Commerce water front, 400 S. Washington St. Remarks made by Mayor Jim Schmitt. Guest speaker is Russel Buhr, Sons of American Revolutions. Chaplain is Pastor Paul Garrison of Spring Lake Church. The ship's bell of the 1903 USS Des Moines will toll once for each organization placing a wreath. Firing squad is VVA Chapter 224. Sponsored by the United Patriotic Society of Green Bay and hosted by the Daughters of American Revolution. I went to this solemn event last year and am glad I did.

Two unrelated code quality stories today

Cathedral meet bazaar.

If you don't get the reference and care to learn more, start here.

Bloviate - Word of the Day

Bloviate - to speak pompously and excessively

Honestly, most folks are guilty of this from time to time.

The thing that people who do it too often seem to miss is that bloviation hurts their case when trying to persuade toward valid positions on genuinely held beliefs. For example.

A la Jurassic Park

But the DNA is only 90 years old, not 6000.

RUN, RUN, RUN!

Great job Marci!

Freedom to oppose and critique...

...should be the norm. I'm very glad to have it.

Turnbow

You gotta feel for the guy.

Segregation...

...leads to rights for women? I can see that it probably is more comfortable and convenient in many ways.

Vah LAY Ho

Bankrupt!

Doom IV

Carmack's creation is coming back to life again. Id is hiring for Doom 4.

Warrants without judicial review...

are just WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

Global warming due to increased sun energy?

Mars is warming too.

Now the question is if the Earth is warming faster than Mars with the rates proportionally adjusted for distance from the sun and other variables, no? I wonder if current science good enough to get even a ballpark answer.

I still think that taking massive amounts of carbon out of the ground and releasing it in the atmosphere has to have some impact.

Radio personailities

The Internet Movie Database has long been one of the most useful sites on the interwebs.

I got to wondering about a radio personality John Heinritz this morning. Turns out that
440 International is the same sort of thing for radio personalities and stations. The code is old and slow but the content is good.

The trend of sites that describe people linking to places and things continues to expand. I wonder if this whole thing is just headed for one huge wiki?

Earth Day Idears

Huh. Reusable coffee filters, who knew?

Parial cloning...

...is reality in animals at least.

Aside: Why does war drive so many of our advancements? I hope we find another way to push scientific progress along.

There can be...

...only twelve.

Man that guy representing six is a handsome bugger.

Darwin's private papers...

...are now available.

Men having babies?

Wow. Nice for them they had the spare female parts between them. I don't see why men of legal standing shouldn't carry babies if they have the ability. It surprises me that you can legally be a male without changing the parts. Very sorry to read they got so much static.

One survivors story...

Derek O'Dell

No smoking laws lead to...

...more drunk driving!

File that one under the law of unintended consequences.

Protect your private numbers.

Private data theft is a serious issue that can land you in jail. Protect your credit card numbers, social security number, bank account numbers, date of birth, drivers license number, passport number, etc. If someone asks you for them, refuse. If they insist and you choose to proceed at least please raise hell about it. There is no reason that the cable company or utility needs your SSN or DOB. None. Give them a deposit in lieu of your credit report so that when they are cracked you aren't a victim.

This guy was doing everything right and he was arrested for pedophilia after someone stole his identity.

Homeland Insecurity

Cmon people.

Interesting idea...

if only to raise awareness.

Poor guy

Someone posted a false "everything here is free, come and get it" add on cragslist.

Microsoft wants YOU!

To buy Vista.

Free knowledge

It's good to see that the open course ware model that I first heard about at MIT seems to be growing an ecosystem.

Connexions is an environment for collaboratively developing, freely sharing, and rapidly publishing scholarly content on the Web. Our Content Commons contains educational materials for everyone — from children to college students to professionals — organized in small modules that are easily connected into larger collections or courses. All content is free to use and reuse under the Creative Commons "attribution" license.

Anonymous leaks...

...can be a good thing.

Lots of free music released at SXSW conference

http://hewgill.com/sxsw/

Competent government.

If this is true, it makes me both sad and angry.

TV content showing up online

Not exactly downloadable or a full library but there are actually some valuable "properties" out at http://www.hulu.com/.

The resolution isn't fantastic and you can't fast forward through commercials. But the shows are good, the resolution bearable, and usability very good. It seems that the line has moved.

Book underground

Reminds me of a "stealing is bad karma" sign I once saw at an independent book store.

Rate My Whatever

I've long used http://ratemyprofessors.com/ to avoid bad professors. Cool to see independent tracking on Law Enforcement Officers at http://ratemycop.com/. It might be more polite to call it RateMyLEO instead though.

Where's that firetruck? Where are those terrace tree trimmers?

In one town you can just go look.

Is There Really an IT Labor Shortage?

Apparently not.

The shape of the universe?

We now know that the universe is flat with only a 2% margin of error.

Warrantless

Wiretapping?

MAFIAA

No one has the right to a given business model. Consumers are lazy. If bootleg is more convenient and free then of course bootleg distribution will own market share. Steve Jobs won't do it all for you but at least iTunes has demonstrated it is possible. Fire your lawyers and COMPETE ALREADY YOU DAMN FOOLS! Suing your product consumers is alienating droves of customers.

Oh, and if you do take folks to court, at least be willing to present the evidence in that court.

Glad you made it to the 20th century...

hopefully you'll join us in the 21st soon.

Prison time for...

SPAM!

A national ID card is...

...one way to go.

Comcast fighting net netrality.

And making stupid PR mistakes in the process.

Catchup

Monday

Yesterday

Vaporized Earth

Religious Government

Who woulda thunk it?

Like one of those weight driven clocks.

Brilliant!

Reverse discrimination?

Only vegetarians need apply.

The optical media battle is...

over.

Cell phone cancer?

Maybe.

Five days...

...in a homeless shelter.

Anything can be a competition.

Speedcabling!

Privacy should be the default.

And the path back to privacy should be the least resistant. Facebook's path is apparently overgrown and requires prolonged machete use.

Green Bay needs a fun center!

Please take a moment and vote for St. Vincent's here. (It's in Wisconsin.)

Renegade fanboy?

Andrew Malcolm of The L.A. Times seems to think Ron Paul is winning.

Money and presidential candidates

Obama is winning the fundraising battle on one side while Romney spent $654,000 per delegate, compared to Huckaby's $45,000 on the other. Wonder how much McCain spent to be in first?

Denial of service?

Too frequent to be coincidence. I recall hearing about cables failing from time to time but never at this rate. Something must be going on.

Privacy.

Gone?

Obviously, the identifiers (DNA profiles, fingerprints, modern biometrics like facial shape and retina layout) of past convicted criminals have to be saved.

But what about people that are acquitted? Should they be permanently tracked? Maybe there is a lower bar for this that the prosecutor can jump over even when they fail to convict?

What about people who just need a background check for one reason or another? Do teachers, child care workers, folks applying for security clearance, etc really belong in a database whose purpose is to track criminals?

Should every identifying characteristic searched end up added to the database if it's not there already?

End of the warchest?

This article suggests that Microsoft may have to go in to debt to buy Yahoo. Here's another. I know I'm zealous in my debt dislike, but MSFT has always operated out of the buckets of cash they have laying around. You put a suit in charge last year and all of a sudden they are considering taking on debt?! I wonder if this is another crack in their dominance?

Disparate coalescence.

Ingenious.

How much something does something have to contain before you can call it what it is?

"We think customers understand that it isn't made from avocado..." - Claire Regan, vice president of corporate affairs at Kraft Foods on Kraft Dips Guacamole Flavor.

I guess the "Flavor" part is supposed to clue the consumer in?

Thanks to Raymond Chen and his home paper The Seattle Times.

Sim City set Free

To avoid Maxis' trademark, renamed Micropolis.

Marketing-speak

This guy just Daily Show'd MSFT.

Privacy and Security

Anyone who says both aren't possible is full of it. Bruce Scheier explains.

Hyper productivity requires focus.

Yup.

Inevitable

A company that makes decisions primarily based on wealth extraction rather than the long term good of all parties cannot remain dominant.

The law figures it out, eventually.

The MAFIAA continues to try and abuse the courts and colleges to protect their disrupted business models. If they don't compete on quality and features against unauthorized copying, they will lose.

A little after my time, but...

go Bears!

Seriously?

What? No GPS?

Even on a bad day...

we all can make a small difference.

The world was in color before color.

Thanks Wil.


Library of Congress pics

True

Linked in rocks.

Heh.

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Leaning-Towards-A.aspx

Finally.

http://danpiton.com

Hah!

Escape Pod 140: Astromonkeys!

Overdue

Whitehouse goes green: Federal 2009 Budget to be delivered online

Sad

Watchdog FEC sidelined as elections roll

Can you say "Market Disruption?"

Pixel QI

Dateline is about emotion, not news.

You Don't Understand Our Audience

Some cool, some not.

The Five Coolest Hacks of 2007