Okay. So just because everyone in the known world seems to be doing one is not a good reason to start my own day-notes type diary. But then, WTF not?

Consequently, this will be an ongoing experiment. I may like doing this or just chuck it and do something more interesting with my (and your) time.

I don't pretend to be a professional writer. As such, expect to see all kinds of grammatical errors. If you let me know what they are, I will gladly throw your email into the circular file.

Everything set forth herein are my own Miscellaneous Ramblings (R&T or Car and Driver, I can never remember which).

And so, on with it then.

My wife and I (She Who Can Not Be Disobeyed - henceforth known as SWCNBD) returned from our two-week vacation in San Francisco and Las Vegas last week. The weather in EssEff was anything but an Indian Summer. Day temps. in the mid 60s. Mostly clear in the city but sometimes light fog.

Stayed at the SF Hilton. Passable as a seminar barn ("Now you too can make big bucks by over charging companies like Sun to come to motivational meetings 99!"). But the darned noisy, vibrating A/C in the room would obviate the need for magic fingers in the bed if it were not for the fact that your back was sore due to sleeping on a lumpy mattress. Then there was the slight problem that the room was just down from the elevators...

We had dinner atop the main tower in a restaurant called CityScapes or some such. 46 floors above this city by the bay ("Live Nude Girls!"). Other than the fact that all of the food was sauted in wine (is there a winery near SF or something?) it was a pretty good place to eat. And the view wasn't bad either (did I mention "Live Nude Girls" already?).

Oh, I almost forgot. We flew United Airlines on all legs of our trip - HNL to SFO to LAS to LAX back to HNL (see here for those not in the know). And therein lies a story best told by others. Suffice it to say that United deserves everything that is signified by it's ranking (number 5 out of the worst 10) on the U.S. Dept. of Transportation Consumer Complaints listing. Hawaiian Airlines here we come.

Vegas was less than overwhelming. I had not been there in over 10 years and I guess the reality is much less than the hype. Yes, the Venetian, Bellagio, and Paris hotels show you where every one of the billions of dollars were spent in their construction. But still, it's Vegas. A one or two mile strip of sun baked dust in the middle of a desert. Here it is October and the temperatures were still in the mid-90s.

By the way. We stayed at the Luxor hotel. The East Wing. You know, take the underground service tunnel heading in a northerly direction to the hotel tower that looks like any other tinted glass building in Anytown, USA. I guess the rooms in the pyramid are for "high rollers" only. The rest of us hovel in rooms with a view of the next hotel down the road. Actually, all was not bad, the bathroom was very spacious. It had a separate shower big enough for two large sized Hawaiians (or five regular sized Egyptians). The tub, while large, loses marks for not having the equivalent of magic fingers. And polished brass everywhere...But the towels were thread-worn and had holes in them!

I was glad to get back home. Even if its now raining something awful (damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!)...

More when I feel like saying more...

I haven't checked yet, but I doubt that anyone has hit this page yet. And that is probably just as well as I get used to doing this and try to find what is sometimes referred to as a "voice." So far, of the people I read often, Brian comes closest to what I would want this place to be. So, if this looks reeeealy like one of Brian's pages, it's because it is! Thanks Brian. Hope it's OK with you.

On the other hand, I find that Bob's place becomes a bit too polemic for me. Talk about theological discussions. On the other hand, he has great experience in computers and therefore is definetly worth a look see. But you have been warned. [OK. I was wrong. He doesn't usually argue just to argue (usually). But sometimes he does. So be prepared. And I'll say it again, I was wrong - updated 12/20/99].

Of course, my hero is Dr. Jerry Pournelle. Chaos Manor indeed. He does all these strange and wonderful things so we won't have to. Recommended.

And then there is Dr. Keyboard. How does one describe the smell of freshly baked bread? Or the sound of paws impatiently scraping the door in the hopes of a walk through the vines? His diary is what writing is all about. Check it out not only for his knowledge of computers, but also of wine, automobiles, and food (not necessarily in that order).

Vacation Part II. While in SF, we visited the Exploratorium (is that how it's spelled?). I had been there once before at least 10 years ago when visiting a cousin of mine who works for, as the Register calls it, Chipzilla (aka Intel). I was not impressed with it (the Exploratorium, not Intel) then, and I'm not much impressed with it now. Maybe you have to be about 10 years old to appreciate what they have. But I think they need to update some of their exhibits and make sure all of the ones they have on display are working (many had signs saying they were in need of repairs). If you are ever in SF, and you have children, by all means go.

Otherwise, perhaps a trip to the SF Museum of Modern Art would be in order. I think the first Tuesday of each month is when they let everyone in for free and by chance, that was the day we visited. Its multi-leveled and full of the regular, and some not so regular artists that one expects to see in a museum of this size. The main exhibit while we were there was photographs from the NASA Apollo missions to the moon. Terrific stuff that. Makes you wonder why we haven't gone back to the moon since.

The bus can take you to most places in SF and I encourage you to use it. They have day passes that you can use to take any bus anywhere all day. Otherwise parking is expensive when you can find it. Recommended. 'nuf for now.

It's Aloha Friday and the weather is clearing. The roof of our garage, which also acts as a second floor deck, has been leaking for the last six months. I almost got up enough energy, not to mention money, to buy enough roofing sealers and deck top-coats to re-do the roof after getting back from vacation. I say almost because sanity prevailed and I figured the rain would stop. And sure 'nuf, it did!

Vacation Part III This is starting to look like a Bruce Willis series, "Vacation Part XVII, the Vengeance Returns!" See Bruce and his trusty aide Will Smith, kick the butts of Asians/Latinos/Germans/midgets who are bent on stealing all of the money held in the casinos. But I digress. The Las Vegas Hilton has an attraction called "Star Trek, The Experience." As far as I can see, its one of those flight simulators in which you don't actually go anywhere, but due to visual and other special effects, you think you are flying though space. On the advice of the cab driver that took us over there, I decided not to go on the ride but to only check out the "Star Trek, The Experience Shops." There you can purchase everything from communicators to leather jackets with the United Federation of Planets logos on them (I lusted after one of those but $270US was a bit much). I did get a polo shirt, three baseball caps, a key chain, and pin. All for the low, low price of $75US. Such a bargain.

Rumors of a shipping strike continue to circulate here. Voting by longshoremen (as opposed to shortshorewomen?) ends today. So at any point thereafter there could be a shortage of just about everything. There are disadvantages of living on an island two thousand miles from any large land mass. Namely, everything from toilet paper to building materials comes by ship. And since only union members can unload those ships, when they stop work, everyone else eventually stops working.

On the other hand, Hawaii was the first state to have a TV station broadcasting a digital signal. Part of this signal will soon be broadcasting directly to your PC. Welcome to the information age.

More on Monday. Aloha!

Top of the morning to you! Another lost weekend. I went to CompUSA to take a look at a 4X 4X 24X CD-RW drive advertised in the Sunday paper for $129US. Only thing is that by the time I got to the store (around 12:30pm) they were already out of the drive. In fact, the last one was held securely in the arms of a teenager still wearing braces just as I was getting to the empty shelf. Sigh. Well, I guess I'll just have to spend my money in some other meaningful way.

Vacation IV: The Ending OK, so you are probably sick of my ramblings about my vacation. Let it never be said that I don't listen to my tens of readers. End of vacation story.

I need to update some proposed legislation. It will probably be introduced in January when the next session of the Legislature convenes but it needs to be worked on now. It went all the way to conference committee last year but died there. Hence, things may be a bit sparse around these parts this week.

This just in. The shipping strike mentioned last week has been averted by the combined efforts of the longshoremen and the shipping companies (pay raises come easier when profits are up 30% over last year...). So I guess we didn't need those 50 roles of toilet paper after all.

Top of the morning to you! It's Monday. I picked up a Viking USB 56K modem last week to replace a Motorola 28.8 that was being used on Keiki (the PC SWCNBD uses). I think I'm going to like USB. A lot. Disconnect the serial cable for the old modem. Plug in the USB cable for the new. Win98 recognizes that the modem is now connected and asks for the drivers diskette. Pop the diskette in and press enter and Bob's your father's brother. The lights on the modem come on and it's ready to go. Way Cool. BTW, this Viking is the same company that makes memory chips. Recommended.

As soon as I find a good scanner with a USB interface I'll by one (anyone out there with any suggestions?). I don't know if all peripherals will work this well, but so far so good.

No sooner asked than answered! This in from Richard Jobity:

Hi. I got on to your page through a link on http://216.102.91.55/bpages/current.html (BPB Graffiti). Your site makes for great reading, along with the other tech journals, such as Dr. Pournelle's.

I haven't yet heard anyone say bad things about Acer USB scanners. HP, as always, are supposed to be quite reliable. Lot of complaints about Umax, though.
Just my $0.02.

Thanks to Mr. Jobity for the kind words (and to Brian for the mention on his site - hopefully he doesn't regret it!) and information. I've been looking (read that drooling) at HP . But PCMag.net recently did a review of scanners and chose the Visioneer OneTouch 760 and the Epson Perfection 636/636/U. I'll have to check out our local CompUSA and see what they look like. As an aside, it is an honor to be mentioned in the same sentence as Dr. Pournelle. That makes my day!

I figured I might get a response from somebody regarding my misadventures with Linux. And sure 'nuf, this in from my friend Brian. He says:

> So the moral of the story my children is that you can fool some
> of the people all of time, and all of the people some of the time,
> but Linux, as a replacement for Windows, has no clothes.

The faithful would have you drawn and quartered. The pragmatic would say, "OK, then don't use it. Stick with a system subject to viruses and the BSOD and the MS upgrade cycle." The strange (including myself) would stand at the podium at the UN, pounding my shoe on the desk and shouting odd and incoherent things :).

So you purchased and installed Caldera OL2.2, huh? Why back a revision level? The version that has a "good" installation rep is 2.3 (the current rev). I am running RH6.0 (haven't seen a need to upgrade to 6.1), X, KDE, Netscape 4.7, WordPerfect8.0, StarOffice5.1, Apache, Sendmail, etc. On a 233MHz PII, 128K ram, SoundBlaster, Creative Riva TNT 16M, tape backup, cdrom, floppy, 5G HD, of which 2.5 G is in use. It all worked (except for sound) on initial installation. Certainly Linux is not vying for king of the desktop, yet. Yet. But things are improving. I am quite happy with Linux as a desktop environment.

Clearly it is still a YMMV product. But I have not been fooled, and I am happy. --

regards,
Brian Bilbrey

Hey Brian! Lighten up a bit. All I was saying was that Linux, or perhaps more to the point, many applications that run on Linux, put forth as replacements for MS products, are not ready for prime time (not that Win apps are). I think Linux apps will eventually get there. And I hope they get there soon because it's better for everyone when there are two strong applications butting head-to-head. Or as they say; "Competition improves the breed."

But as you noted on your own site, applications such as Netscape lockup on a regular basis under Linux. That's not to say that applications for Windows such as Opera 3.60 (which is the browser I use the most) don't lock up on a regular basis because they do. But again, the point is that applications on Linux do that also. And to the extent that they do, the question becomes why change to something else when you have the same problems?

Is Linux better as a network operating system? I don't know for sure because that's not what I was using it for. People who know more than I on this point say that it is. If so, this is great because it gives competition to Windows NT. But I was looking at it from the standpoint of a desktop OS.

As far as installing 2.2 rather than 2.3. Well, at the time I got it, which is a couple of months ago, that's all there was. I would also note that at the time, it was hailed as the easiest install of all distributions. And after seeing a few other distributions I would agree that it is. Notwithstanding that, KDE, sound support, and kppp did not work out of the box.

Compare this with Win98, which out of the box, had all of those things identified, configured, and running without my having to do anything. Does that make Windows a huge program? Absolutely. Does that mean that Windows is therefore prone to bugs? Absolutely. But the chief alternatives - Linux and MacOS seem to be also.

And while I enjoyed working with Linux as an end in itself, at the end of the day, I still need to get my work done. And frankly, I don't care what operating system I am using to do that (heresy you say!). I just want to get my work done and get out the door at closing time...

So, the bottom line is, if you can get your work done better using Linux than you can using Windows, MacOS, BeOS, etc. then by all means continue to do so! I admire your pioneer attitude and your willingness to take on new challenges. As for me, I hate to have to learn a new operating system only to have similar problems to what I had before (sigh).

Thanks for your views and thanks for taking the time to check out my site. Aloha!

And now Tom weighs in with additional information and views about Linux (does it seem like I'm being daynotes ganged-up on? (grin)). First my email to him and then his response:

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Seto
Sent: Monday, November 01, 1999 4:31 PM
To: Tom
Subject: Linux and other Sharp Objects

Hey Tom!

I don't get a chance to check out all of the daynote pages so I'm sorry I didn't read your comments on my experiences with Linux until Brian emailed me about it. First, thanks for taking a look at my site. Someday, maybe I will attain the status of the august group known as daynoters. But for now, I just do the best that I can with the time that I have - shuffle shuffle (since I actually have a day job that pays the bills - well, mostly. Bills seem to breed at night faster than I can work...sigh).

And before I start, may I also offer my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Indy car driver Greg Moore. I watched with horror the replays of his shunt. One only hopes that an in-depth finite analysis of the crash will be done and perhaps, changes in the roll cage or other areas of the chassis can be made so that this does not occur again.

With that, I've sharpened my number two pencil and note the following: Linux 2.3 shipped on 9/13/99. I will plead guilty that I was and am not using the latest distribution. But I figured since I've been using 2.2 since at least June of this year (and perhaps earlier, the mind goes as one ages) I should report on that rather than something that just came out. Especially since during the intervening time, I downloaded and installed almost all of the approximately 39 bug fixes and security patches on the Caldera site which gets me at least 90% of the way to 2.3. But you are right, I did not use 2.3 and it could well fix all of the problems noted by me. The reason I haven't "upgraded" (in quotes because there isn't such a thing is there in Caldera Linux? You upgrade by copying your configuration files to another location and then delete everything - or at least that's what Caldera said to do...) is that 2.4 is rumored to be much better and here Real Soon Now. And since I didn't want to get locked in to an endless round of updates, each of which would require more downloading of fixes, I decided to pass on this one.

PR hype aside? Hmmm. I hope you are right when you say that the core Linux community views Linux as an alternative to Windows rather than a replacement. Given the flames coming my way, I'm not so sure that statement is accurate, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt (grin). OK, so if it is an alternative (which obviously it is), how good of an alternative is it? In my experience, not very. At least not yet. As I mentioned to Brian, I sincerely hope that it gets there, and soon. MS, and everyone who uses their products, needs the benefits that can accrue when there is true head-to-head competition. But it would have been a disservice to the tens of readers (you know who you are) of my site to say that StarOffice or WordPerfect 8 for Linux were ready for prime time when clearly they are not.

Finally, someone much wiser than I once said that users don't buy operating systems, they buy applications. In other words, they buy programs that will help them do their memos, spreadsheets, or business presentations. Most people don't give a rodent's derriere (forgive my French) about what OS is best. Just what helps them do their job. And that's all I've been trying to do since the first time I logged into a DEC PDP-11/45 in 1978 to use RunOff so I could write my terms papers...

Thanks again for the mention on your page and keep up the good work!

Greetings Dan, and thanks for the note.

On Greg Moore: I'm not sure the design of modern racing machines can be advanced much more safety wise than they already are. Roll cages are custom tailored to the individual driver, made of titanium, and assembled by the very best in the industry to incredibly exacting specifications and an amazing array of tests. On impact, the cage is designed to separate from the car itself and propel the driver away from the debris of an accident. A CART race has a team of some of the most highly trained physicians in the country seconds away and a helicopter on standby throughout the duration of a race. None of this, however, helped Greg one nit. Driving into a concrete barrier at 350 KM/HR is rarely survivable. Why the barrier was not protected by tires or another shock absorbing device remains to be seen and answered for.

And yes, I know all about bills too. They mutate in the night. I hate it when they do that, but rest assured, Saskatchewan is no different than Hawaii.

Sorry, my friend... I was looking for a topic of discussion and you just happened to be handy on Sunday (g).

Linux 2.3 is a vast improvement over 2.2 when it comes to installation and configuration. So is RH 6.1 compared to 6.0. I wasn't really trying to make excuses for Linux; merely to point out some of the cautions and caveats involved when one elects to go experimenting. Whether kernel 2.4 is "better" or not remains to be seen. Expect it before year's end.

mmm. Core Linux Community. Maybe I overstated my case. The core Linux community tends to be a bit overzealous about their passions. Let me rephrase that: Many of the people I work and communicate with every day who have deep roots in the MS way of thinking and wait eagerly for the day when a true replacement for Windows is here and we once again have a choice. Mmmm. Now I remember why I just said Core Linux Community. It was simpler.

And you are absolutely correct when you mention that people use applications, not operating systems. As a writer I sometime get lost in the underlying structures and loose sight of land. On the other hand, the stability (or lack thereof) of an operating system directly impacts my experience of the applications I'm using. And in the case of Windows 2000, the line between applications and operating system is no longer clear and concise. Which is one reason I have an avid interest in working more with Linux -- the barrier here is still sharp and focused. Which is one of the primary reasons why Linux remains the stable platform it is.

Finally, you are quit right -- WordPerfect for Linux and StarOffice for Linux are NOT ready for prime time. Close, I think, but not there yet. But as I said yesterday, perhaps this is not the best way to use Linux at this stage of it's evolution... And until both the OS and the applications it spawns mature, if you're going to play with Linux, you have to belly up to the bar with a bit of forethought to what you want to drink. How do you get this knowledge? Well, you can spend countless days reading and researching other people's experiences, OR... you can do just what you did -- open the box and find out for yourself. You'll find that most members of the daynotes gang use a mix of both approaches, seasoned to suit individual taste buds.

I could prattle on and on, but I have this screaming baby my wife just thrust in my face, and...

/tom

Quick Notes:
I see that Dr. Pournelle is still working on getting his mailing list sorted out (pun intended). Here's to hoping it works out and he writes a good column about it...

The Jennicam site has some updated photos of their namesake. Be warned that there is some nudity there so don't blame me if you get all bent out of shape (as it were). I can hear the hot headed herds heading her way now...

Other than a couple of charts I need to update, I'm done working on the proposed legislation for next year so I guess I'll see what this week brings.

See you tomorrow!

A bright Hawai'ian morning to you all! It's Tuesday. There's a couple of long discussions about Linux that came in yesterday. They are located above in Monday's notes. If you have the time, check them out.

Of course, a cloud just came over the system and if and when I can get this to the server is in question (sigh). It seems the IT boys are experimenting with adding an Ethernet segment to the WAN. This would be the first such segment since up until lately, this has been a true blue IBM shop. That translates into being a token-ring network topology. Leaving aside debates as to which is the "better" technology, I think its safe to say that the world does seem to be heading in a different direction (read that ethernet). Even IBM seems to have bitten the bullet (just TRY to find a Linux driver for an IBM token ring card).

All during the time I was experimenting with Linux, IBM would refer all inquiries about such a driver to private parties saying that traditionally, in the Linux world, private groups wrote the drivers, not manufacturers. This while IBM flacks were trumpeting to the world that IBM "supported" Linux (big sigh).

A lot of bad things seem to be happening in the world recently. Yesterday was the untimely death of Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton. My condolences to his friends and family. Farewell Sweetness.

On a lighter sports note, the National Basketball Association season begins today with 13 games. Having gone to college in California, I'm always pulling for the Los Angeles Lakers to win another championship. Whether Phil Jackson, formerly of the Chicago Bulls can help them to do that remains to be seen. The glory days of Magic Johnson seem so long ago.

For those who are subscribers to Dr. Jerry Pournelle's site, didn't you think his pictures of his trip to Japan were great? Not in the technical sense, but in giving us a glimpse of what he experienced while there. Worth every penny of the $36US/year to be a subscriber. For those who are not subscribers and have not visited his free site yet, please do so. The more people that go there increases the chances that he will be able to continue to do all those wacky and wonderful things with cutting edge computers and software.

A roller coaster of a morning. But if you are a reader of my page, you heard it here first, seven people killed at 8:08am (HST) in the Xerox building in Honolulu. The gunman was later surrounded by the police several miles from shooting site. ...Very Big Sigh. Welcome to the 20th century.

May they rest in peace. This is indeed a very dark day.

PM Update This very dark day has just gotten darker. We just learned that the husband of one of our employees was one of the seven killed. She is very young and had much to look forward too. While I was merely very sad before, now I am full of sorrow (and anger too).

The events of yesterday are still fresh in the minds of all who work here. And even though I am still sad and angry at the person who did this, I fear that the calls for additional gun control laws will be heard. This, in the state with some of the most onerous (and ludicrous) gun laws in all 50 states. And yet, all the laws man has passed can not stop someone determined to cause harm to others. If it wasn't a gun it would have been a bomb made of diesel oil and fertilizer. Still, it was a very painful and sad day.

Much will be written about this incident. But I will say no more for now other than what an obviously distraught father of the gunman said; "I am gonna bring him another gun so he can shoot himself. I would tell him to shoot himself."

For those who want to read more you can follow this link here. Note that since the link is to the main page, it will probably not be there after today.

On a technical note, I've converted all .gif graphics files on my index page to .jpg, .png, or .mng files. Note that some browsers may not have native support for .png and, as far as I know, absolutely none have support for .mng. So, you will most likely see a lot of empty boxes or broken graphics. If anyone has any better ideas I'm open to suggestions but right now, I can't think of any. Also, if anyone knows of any browser plug-ins that display .mng files that would be of enormous help. Right now, MSIE 5.0 looks like the best browser for viewing my home page (hack, spit, snort) even if it doesn't display .mng files either.

There's a long reply to a short email I sent to Brian yesterday regarding the use of taxes to help those who are less fortunate ("there but for the grace of God..."). Take a few minutes and see what you think (as always, remember the link is correct only for this week). I admire Brian a lot, so pay attention to what he has to say. On the other hand, I respectfully disagree with him.

Below is my email to him. That is followed by my response and then his response back. Interesting stuff, albeit perhaps lengthy. But if anything seems like I'm preaching to anyone, please feel free to checkout the Quick Notes at the bottom of today's diary for other interesting, and less religious things.

Hey Brian!

Just two quick notes. And you don't need to publish this email if you don't want to.

1. The link to Habitat for Humanity came out reading as:

http://216.102.91.55/bpages/www.habitat.org

It should probably be just the www.habitat.org part?

2. Speaking just for myself, and not making any kind of value judgment against anyone, I would just note that I am a Christian. And that Genesis Chapter 4, verse 9 said; "Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" RSV.

While I totally agree with you that we should not be taxed just so that everyone has internet access (which is pure nonsense). I would respectfully disagree with anyone who says that we should not be taxed to feed the starving, or clothe the naked...Because as a Christian, yes, I am my brother's keeper.

In a perfect world, everyone would do what is right on their own and government would not need to get involved (because when it does it screws things up royally). But this is hardly a perfect world...

Aloha

My response was done on this page and then I emailed Brian with a link to it. You can read my response below:

And perhaps this is a good time, to define what I think, a Christian is (exeunt omnes stage left, all those who would be offended). Please note, gentle reader, that many people may call themselves Christians, but just because a pig may call itself United Airlines, doesn't mean he will be making the 7:45 run to Newark anytime soon. Rather, each of us is what we do. Not what we say we do or are.

And in today's time, it always seems to come down to money (I think it was Mr. Gecko that said; "Greed, for want of a better word, is good"). And yet, the more someone loves money, the harder it is to be a Christian (1st Timothy, chapter 6, verse 10: "For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs."-RSV). Note that it says the love of money, not money itself. Money is a piece of paper that two parties agree has some worth to them.

But rather it is the love of money, over anything else, that makes it "...easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Luke 18:25 RSV). Does that mean all Christians must give away all of their money? No, just the ones that love it more than anything else. All God asked of us is to "...render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." (Luke 20:25). So pay your taxes to Caesar, and return a portion of what God has helped you to earn to Him as a tithe. Other than that, you are free to do what you wish with your money.

So, do you need to stand on the street corner preaching the gospel to be a Christian? Hardly. Preaching is a calling that few should attempt. Especially those charlatans on TV whose main function in life is to extract as much money (there's that word again) from you as possible.

Well, what about giving the beggar $5US so they can go and buy more drugs? Absolutely not. That is not taking care of your brother. But paying your taxes so a well run, effective, anti-drug program can help get him on his feet (and reduce the possibility that he will break into your car and steal your cell phone)? Absolutely.

Notice, dear friends (ramp up the sound of the organ here) that you do not need to be a Christian to do these things. Enlightened self-interest should be enough (if the drug addict is "cured", then he probably won't steal from you). But to say I will not pay my taxes become some people will misuse or waste it? No.

The "cure" for that is eternal vigilance of how your money is spent. And that means more that just voting no on everything. That's the easy way out. What it does mean is taking the time to evaluate the programs yourself. And then supporting the ones that work and not supporting the ones that don't.

I see so much hatred in the world. Because someone hated what he was doing he killed seven people. People with wives and children. People who tried to live a good life. And yet one person, filled with hate, ended all that. In the end, the most important lesson of Christianity is that we should love others as much as we love ourselves...

OK. Enough of this stuff. While the title of this diary is Misc. Ramblings, sometimes I think I ramble too far.

Peace and love to you.

Brian came back with the following email:

Dan - A couple of points

1. It is polite to respond directly, and perhaps also publish. If I am in a rush, I am not going to the site, I read my email and move on.

2. I don't see where fundamentally (pun not intended) we actually disagree. But, you do lose me if you quote bible at me. By that, I mean lose me. I don't visit sites that preach, and quoting bible is preaching (by my lights). I don't think you have done any wrong - I just choose not to listen to that mode.

It is your site and you should do what you want - but what you write defines your audience.

Interesting blend, though, references to the Bible, and to Jennicam, all on the same page. Best wishes.

brian.

To which I responded with:

Brian,

1. Thanks for the instructions on netiquette. I thought it was impolite to send huge files back and forth so I figured it would be better to just link to it and give you a heads up that it was there. My error. I will not do it again.

2. I'm sorry you think what I put up is preaching because by your definition, everything that you wrote about Linux is preaching (smile). I am not trying to preach to anyone. I am just trying to express my opinions on the subject. How to do that without quoting the Bible is beyond me. If there is a way to do that, please let me know. It's sort of like trying to explain Zen flower arranging without quoting the Buddha. And I am truly sorry I lost you by quoting the Bible. Some of the wisest sayings in all of history, regardless of your religiosity are there...

3. I agree that what you write defines your audience. What I want is an audience wider than just computer enthusiasts. Not that computer enthusiasts, whether Linux, Unix (which the is the first operating system I used in 1978), etc. aren't interesting people. Put there's more to life than just computers (I will be adding a link to a LA Times article on education and one to Minnesota Governor Ventura's State of the State speech).

Maybe this is just a reaction to what happened in the Xerox building a mile away...It tends to make you think about the big questions in life...sigh

But thanks for your comments. They are appreciated.

Aloha

Quick Notes
Interesting article in the Los Angeles Times regarding what is being described as the most dysfunctional school system in America. No wonder Johnny can't read.

Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura's State of the State speech is found here. I urge you to read it for the sense of optimism he portrays because he knows that if people get involved, we will not fail to make things better.

Dan,

Don't worry about using 2.2. I have that same version, for the same reason, I got it when it was hot, and I am struggling with it as well.

When every thing in your box is recognized it is plain sailing. If however the installation stumbles over something you end up in ( endproduct of digestion ). This is no different in Windows, I have at least two boxes here where I cannot get Win9x installed because the installation just crashes (95) or hangs (98).

If you have unsupported hardware Windows is very likely to have a working default for it, for example standard 16 colour VGA. Which works but is not satisfactory and you cannot go in and tweak settings, you have to get the correct driver somehow.

With Linux things are a bit different. Linux itself (the kernel) is almost surely to work but maybe you don't get X windows running using the defaults. This can 'easily' be corrected from a command-line so even if the silly X-manager is too dumb to present some workable default you can pull one yourself. Of course if a stupid installation program insists on starting some X stuff at boot up even when X is not configured you have a problem. Back in (biowaste).

I installed Linux (first 1.3 and later 2.2 from Caldera) on Hinja without problem, well almost. Now with Aria I have a problem. The difference : Hinja has a well known graphic card (Matrox) while Aria has a nameless S3 based cheapskate board.

Don't give up easy is all I can say. And of course don't experiment on a production machine.

Regards,
Svenson

My response back to him is below:

Sjon,

Thanks for the email and stopping by the site. Your email list many good points.

But I haven't given up on Linux. I truly believe that Windows needs competition because it will force both Windows and Linux to improve. I just don't have a machine I can use it on right now. Kane, my production PC is hands off. And even though I talked about installing Win2000 on it on Feb 17, I probably won't actually do that ("Never be the first in something new nor the last in something old...").

Keiki, my wife's (She Who Cannot Be Denied) PC had Linux, but she wanted it back. This after only using it for about six months. Some people just are not grateful for what I do (grin).

And finally, Mo'opuna, is kind of in limbo right now. I could use it I guess as a Linux box, but I think the parts that are in it would probably cause all kinds of problems. So maybe I should buy new parts and build a new one! Yes, that sound like fun. Now if only I can find some money to do that. Any ideas? Other than robbing a bank of course...

But I do plan, when Linux 2.4 with USB (way cool) support comes out I will get a copy and try again. Now if StarOffice or WordPerfect for Linux can get their acts together...

Aloha,

And now back to an earlier topic. John has some thoughts on "helping your fellow man". He writes:

Hi Dan

Use what ever reference material you want to aid in you discussion of your topics of choice. I find it just adds to the character of the page as well as tells me a bit about yourself.

As for the "helping your fellow man" bit I have the following to add. In some other countries the people we are trying to help are in the situation they are because the industrialized nations either took over their countries economy or their government wants to be more powerful in the world so forces the western economic model upon the country ( I realize this does not explain all circumstances, but it sets things up for the point I want to make). This has caused peoples that where once nomads etc. into what is a foreign lifestyle for them. This change in social structure is not easy to take and the social structure they are used to does not mix well with what is being forced upon them. Take for instance a once nomadic people who are forced into farming. As nomads it did not matter where they chose to defecate as they were not in the same place for long. Now they still defecate 20 feet from what once was a camp but is now a permanent home. The water gets fowled, and they do not understand what the big deal is when the aid workers tell them that they must go some distance form their home, dig a hole and only defecate in the hole.

What this all boils down to is that my point is that many peoples will never move beyond their current situation ( which may not be of their choosing ) till they can learn to adapt to the new situation which is very difficult to do. It may not be these people fault the they are in the position they are in, but until they can start to help themselves, all the help we can give them does very little for them. This I realize is very harsh, but it is a part of the reality of the world we live in.

Old world ways rarely work in an modern world, the old must make way for the new. Thus merely feeding the starving is not enough. More weight must be put on helping the people adapt to new ways of life and supporting themselves. I try to support education in all forms, but do not support feeding a starving man without providing a way for him help himself from starving or poisoning his own fresh water supply.

I probably have opened a dozen more points of debate trying to express a point of view.

Now that I think for a moment I believe my point follows in line with the point that you and Brian both made that you do not give $5 to a beggar who says he wants to buy food when you know full well that he will buy booze or drugs. Oh well this has been burning in the back of my mind all day and I had to get it out. If it does if nothing else it shows a view of what is happening in countries other than out own.

Regards
John

To which I replied:

John,

Thanks for the email. But I'm in what Dr. Pournelle calls "short shrift" mode right now. And in either case, I'm not sure I'm the most qualified person to respond. But I will note a few things below because you make some very important points.

I will echo what you say about the effects one culture can have on another when that culture is imposed on another. As always, there are both good and bad effects when that happens. And sometimes, the culture imposing the change does not even realize it is doing so. OTOH, many times it does and it is doing so on purpose. Leaving aside the debate on whether this is moral or not, everyone at least needs to be aware of the effects.

When these effects are made apparent, then as you state, the culture has some decisions to make. Do they try to adapt or do they try to resist, or do they try to flee, or do they just try to ignore the changes? The answer to that question varies as to the particular circumstances that the culture is in at the time. For example, these are the choices that faced the Hawai'ian nation when certain US businessmen decided that, with the force of US Marines, they would annex the islands and depose the sovereign queen. Some Hawai'ians advocated armed resistance. But in the end, the queen chose non-violent resistance and requested that the Congress and the President of the United States restore her kingdom. While there was some support by the President to do this, Congress did not. The rest, as they say is history.

The effects of that culture change is that we Hawai'ians have the worst health, are over represented in prisons, and under represented in the University of Hawai'i. OTOH, we are in the midst of a cultural revival which, if unchecked, will have far reaching effects of its own. But that is a story best left for another time.

Thanks again for your thoughts and understanding. You make some good points to ponder on.

Aloha

Isn't it great to live in a country in which the exchange of ideas is free and open? I am so impressed by the level of discourse that has occurred so far and am looking forward to more in the future. I hope it has been of some interest to my gentle readers. But, as is the case with some, you have thoughts on how to improve or correct my feeble attempt at writing, please feel free to let me know! As promised at the beginning of this quest, all emails will be responded to. And the check is in the mail. Objects are bigger than they appear. Your mileage may vary. The dog ate my diskette.

Have a Good Weekend

Monday Sports Update: The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warrior Football team won their game this weekend against San Jose State 62 to 41. The score looks more lopsided than it was. Going into the third quarter it was something like 34 to 7. Obviously, a lot of scoring took place in the last quarter. On both sides. The next game, against Fresno State could determine who is the WAC champion. Stay tuned.

Not doing as well is the Hawaii America's Cup Team Abracadabra2000. In the second round, they are 9th out of 11 teams with a 4 and 8 record overall. Prada is still number 1 with a perfect 12 and zero record.

So the Judge has spoken. And while I can hear the Libertarians out there (you know who you are, all ten of you) saying; "Woe is me, woe is me. The government has gotten it wrong again." I would respectfully disagree. The Judge got it exactly right.

The problem, as I see, it is that once a company gets into a monopoly position it's too late to do anything constructive. It's hard to see how the breakup of the telephone, oil, or transportation companies helped consumers. Service is lower while costs are higher. Benefit analysis would call that a losing position.

One can only hope that there will be a last ditch effort to settle (not a high probability) out of court. If that fails, then it comes down to what "remedy" the court comes up with. I'm not going to try to predict what that would be, but whatever it is, it will probably result in higher prices (sigh).

As background, monopolies are a natural progression for companies because it maximizes profits. That is, if you control the supply, you can charge whatever you want. Hence, we should not get all evangelical about it when it happens. It happened in this case, and it will happen in others (e.g. cable companies). The question is, what role, if anything, does government have in these situations?

As a Democrat, I would say the role is to maximize competition where it makes sense. Obviously, there are some advantages to an environment dominated by one company. There tends to be stability since everyone knows what standard to write programs to. Conversely, a dynamic environment in which things are constantly changing tends to create outcomes that are creative and more in tune with what people want.

So, where is that line between stability and change as it relates to Microsoft? Well, as I said above, it probably too late to do something constructive that will foster true competition while as the same time not destroy a company that has created some programs that are good enough for the rest of us. So I would say, separate IE5.0 from Windows. Separate Windows from DOS. And we would be close to where we were before Win95 came out.

The question is, is that better than where we are now? That, you'll have to decide.

This email is dated Thursday, but I didn't get it until today (really, I'm not kidding. Maybe not enough postage or something).

Dan:

I've enjoyed reading your "Misc. Ramblings" for some time and enjoy your style but had not chosen to send you any comments until now. I very much enjoyed reading your thoughts on what a Christian is and find myself agreeing with you. I thought it was a well written description with appropriate bible verses. I'm sorry Brian was put off by the quotes from the Bible but how can you describe what Christians are without quoting from the Bible? I found your site through Brian's and enjoy reading his site but don't agree with his opinion here. Of course that is what makes this interesting, the free exchange of ideas which you don't have to agree with.

It does make for some variety.

Keep up the good work, I'll keep checking in. May God bless you richly.

Jim Crider
www.docjim.com

My response back was:

Thanks Jim. All words of encouragement are gratefully accepted. All others are sent to the appropriate garbage can (grin). But seriously, I'm just doing the best that I can and I am sorry if I offend anyone. But I do have certain beliefs, and I will not hide those beliefs. That does not mean I will hit people over the head and try to convert everyone. On the other hand, I'm not going to hide who I am either.

Thanks again for the kind words.

Aloha

I think that pretty much says it all so I will probably not bring this subject up again. At least in the near future anyway.

I wrote my thoughts above on the Microsoft findings of fact before going over to Byte to read Dr. Pournelle's and Byte Editor Paul Schindler's comments on the decision. After which, I re-read my thoughts and decided to leave them as is. I would note that both commentators seem to begrudgingly admit that, yes Virginia, Microsoft is a monopoly. I guess their concern is how the Judge came to that conclusion and what that means in the future. In that, I share their concern.

Have a good Monday!

All systems are go. Err. Almost. Our IT Division still has to bring up Internet connectivity. So, if this doesn't hit the wires at the appointed time it's not MY fault. Really. It's not. <g>.

So Charles Schultz is hanging up his pen today. And while others lament how he is no longer relevant to the present day, I say that to the extent that is true is the extent of our own loss. His character Charlie Brown had a quiet determination that we should all emulate. I can't speak for others, but as for myself, I think a giant has fallen. Good Grief. Long live "Peanuts"!

Hmmm. Connectivity is back and a check of my email finds *nothing*. Hmmm. Me thinks things are still not right in emailsville. Oh well, stiff upper lip old chum. Matt! Matt!

BlackICE detected a failed TCP/IP scan of my ports at home. I sent off the logs to abuse@rr.com. Actually, I first sent it to support@kc.rr.com since since that's were the attack originated but KC responded and said to send it to the other address. I wonder if rr.com is trying to overtake AOL as the home of the lame (and I say this as a new user of rr.hawaii.com or is it hawaii.rr.com)? Soon after that attack, BlackICE erroneously, as it turned out, logged several attacks it called something like failure to set filter error. A quick check with BlackICE found that this was a false positive and that the latest version, 1.9.4 corrected this. So remember, keep your software updated.

***** Noon Update *****

A quick check of the other Daynoters finds that they are indeed in a philosophical mood. If you are offended by such discussions, do not go there and do not read what is below. If not, check out Dr. Pournelle (see it here now or here later) and [Sorry. Dr. Keyboard has moved his site and this page is missing in action - Ed.] Dr. Keyboard. Not being an Intellectual Giant® like these two, I can only say that Dr. Pournelle appears to be saying, if there is no God, then what is the meaning of life? And Dr. Keyboard seems to say there may not be any. If Dr. Keyboard is right, then the concept of purpose becomes a very slippery thing.

No one, except God, can peer into the souls of humankind and see what lives there. And I won't even try. But I think each of us, who has a sense of right or wrong, came by that sense by being taught it. That is, I don't think there is a genetic coding for knowing right from wrong. We have to learn it and we have do right (if for no other reason other than in the long run, it is in our own best self-interest).

What does seem to be hard coded is a need for direction or meaning and stability in our lives. The noted psychologist, Maslow seems to indicate that before we could move up the ladder to self-actualization, we had to build a stable base that first satisfied the more immediate needs.

But to get back to the original premise, if we need to be taught right from wrong, who is qualified to do that and what is it should we be taught? I will leave for another time who is qualified to teach and concentrate on the what should be taught.

While acknowledging the work of anthropology in our understanding of cultural bias, Christianity seems to say that there are certain self-evident truths. And that these truths span boundaries and cultures. The basis of which is a love and respect for God and our fellow human beings.

If one does not believe in God and the basis for His commandments, then what does one believe in? It seems to me that without the unifying force of Christianity, one can believe in anything they want without anyone having any authority to say otherwise. This path is indeed a very steep, slippery slope. There is no right or wrong without some authority to make it so.

However, does that mean a non-Christian can not lead a moral life? No. One can indeed lead a moral life, by any definition, and not be a Christian. But what if we Christians are right? That there is God in heaven and that He did tell us what is right and wrong and that further; He gave us the option to choose which to follow? And that to make up for our failed attempts at being moral, He sent His Son to die for our transgressions?

The power of Christianity lays in its truth. Whether others acknowledge that truth does not make it less powerful and just because others would believe otherwise does not make it so.

I have great respect and aloha for Dr. Keyboard, but I respectfully disagree with his saying that God does not exist and is instead a construct dreamt up by superstitious fuzzy thinking dweebs. On the other hand, even if Dr. Keyboard were right, even he admits that the world would be a better place for people who follow God's commandments.

Sheesh. Enough of this. You decide who/what is right and follow that.

Oh. By the way. All of our drives spun up fine from their short sleep over the weekend. No reports of bad things happening anywhere on our network. No stiction here. Phantom Menace indeed.

Aloha!

History. This is Black History Month. And on this day, in 1960, four Black students sat down at a Greensboro, N. Carolina lunch counter for a cup of coffee. It is a sad commentary that, that event was worthy of a making the news. See the New York Times (you have to register first) article about that day here.

ET, Call Home. Well, you didn't think I was going to ignore this story did you? Evidence is growing that the Mars lander is at least alive, if not well. Stanford University announced picking up a very faint signal last week. This week, observatories in England, Italy, and the Netherlands join the hunt. However, NASA is saying that even if contact is made, it is doubtful that any meaningful experiments could be conducted at this point. See the story here (this is also from the NY Times so you need to register).

Hollywood Buzz II. First it was the movie "Pearl Harbor" coming in April to spend $130 million USD to film. Next up is "Windtalkers." This one stars Nicolas Cage and is about the how the US, in WWII, used Navajo Indians to send messages coded in their language. A language, that they say, was known only by the Navajo and a handful of others. The locations here will be used to stand in for Saipan. It is amazing that Hawai'i has enough different environments to stand in for everything from Africa (see "Mighty Joe Young") to South America (see "Raiders of the Lost Ark") to Jurassic Park.

Emergency Yikes! All systems stop! Full emergency reverse! What a way to wake up in the morning! My friend Bo Leuf got my heart jump started this morning with his comments about my note on the Illinois moratorium on executions yesterday (see above). Let me clarify by copying my email to him this morning:

From: Dan Seto
To: Bo Leuf
Subject: Illinois
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 08:01:18 -1000

"Yes indeed, when a state executes 25 convicts and later finds 13 of these executions "in error", some form of Quality Control in the judicial process seems highly overdue."

Yikes! Actually, what I was saying (I think) was that of the last 25 people sentenced to die, over half had their convictions overturned before the sentence was carried out. Slightly different meaning from having them dead, then finding out, oops, sorry - made a slight mistake. So sorry. Carry on then.

Sorry for any confusion on my part!

***** Noon Update *****

Back-Channel Backed-Up. I think I need to get some industrial strength drain cleaner and apply it liberally to both the Daynotes mail server and my host site. I tried sending an email this morning to the gang and had it bounced back:

Return-Path: [postmaster@itool.com]
Delivered-To: pop1642544@mail-10
Received: from 207.113.118.44 (mail.itool.com [207.113.118.44])
by mail.9netave.com (8.9.3/8.8.8) with SMTP id NAA00140
for [Dan]; Tue, 1 Feb 2000 13:34:37 -0500 (EST)
From: postmaster at someplace called itool.com
Message-Id: [200002011834.NAA00140@mail.9netave.com]
Received: by mx1.itool.com
for [Dan]
id msg_7c71334d-d8cd-11d3-80a8-0090274ea2ee; Tue, 01 Feb 2000 11:29:06 -0700
Received: by mx1.itool.com
for Dan id msg_7c713343-d8cd-11d3-80a8-0090274ea2ee; Tue, 01 Feb 2000 11:28:42 -0700
X-Sender: postmaster at someplace called itool.com
X-Mailer: APPS IToolMail Version 2.0
To: Dan
Subject: Undeliverable Mail Error
Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2000 11:28:42 -0700

Sometimes things work, and sometimes they don't. As I don't have control over either mail server I can say it wasn't me that done it. But then, I can't fix it either. To Tom/Matt: That's why we cc: people. We know the list fails sometimes and sometimes it's probably our own mail servers. Either way, the mail must go through.

Aloha!

Over the Hump. OK, my PC is about 90% back to what it was before. I do not know why Windows blew up. It had been acting strangely for about a week or two. By that I mean disk I/O slowed to a crawl. Strange error messages about insufficient SPs. Random GPFs of kernel32. And, when I went to reload Win98SE, it said that there appeared to be a disk compression program installed and therefore it would not install.

I assume this last error is related to my earlier experiments with PhatLinux. To recap, PhatLinux appears to use a system similar to what disk compression programs use to create a virtual drive that lives in one huge file. As far as DOS is concerned, it's just another file. But within that file, PhatLinux lives in its own partition. I tried deleting the directory and then re-installing Win98 but it still gave the same error. The last thing I tried was doing a fdisk /mbr. But that didn't work either. So, I ended up formating my C: drive. Fortunately, all of my data resides on D: and, as a backup, on one of our Novell network volumes. Still, I had to reload all of my current applications. Which, for the most part, I've done.

Even though PhatLinux probably didn't cause the root problem (pun intended), it made it more difficult to recover. So, I don't think I'll play with it anymore.

Onward and Upward. Mililani Trask, Office of Hawai'ian Affairs Trustee, is calling for acts of civil disobedience in the form of sit-ins/marches to close down the airports and harbors. I should note that Trask is perhaps the most, how should I put it, outspoken, of the trustees. I doubt most people will listen to her but I thought it would be interesting to note what she is saying. But then again, maybe not.

Merge This. Cap Gemini SA announced agreement to acquire Ernst & Young's consulting business for a reported $11.1 billion USD in cash and stock. Cap Gemini is Europe's biggest computer services company.

Over and Almost Out. Race four of the best of nine America's Cup yachting race ended the same way the first three did. New Zealand comfortably ahead. Today's race (HST) could close the series out if the Kiwi's Black Magic wins.

Oh. By the way. The Lakers beat the Trail Blazers, 90-87 to take sole possession of first place in the National Basketball League. Sorry Doc.

Aloha!

73 seconds to the end. At 0.678 seconds into the flight a puff of smoke is recorded jetting from the aft field joint of the right solid rocket booster.

71 seconds to the end. Cameras record eight more puffs of smoke emanating from the joint. The color of the smoke suggests the grease, joint insulation, and rubber O-rings are being burned and eroded by the intense heat of the burning propellant.

36 seconds to the end. The craft encounters the first of several high altitude wind shears. The wind shears cause relatively large deflections of the vehicle. These deflections are automatically countered by the guidance, navigation, and control systems of the engines. The number and intensity of the corrections recorded set new records for flights to that time.

15 seconds to the end. The main engines throttle up to 104 percent of their rated capacity. At this time, the first flickering flames coming from the solid rocket booster joint can be seen.

14 seconds to the end. The flame becomes a defined plume and the pressure sensors in the booster now detect a differential between the left and right booster. This is the first telemetry data confirming a leak is occurring.

9 seconds to the end. The flames suddenly change in shape and color as they breach the external fuel tank and begin burning the hydrogen therein. Telemetry from the fuel tank confirms a leak.

1 second to the end. The lower strut linking the Solid Rocket Booster and the External Tank is severed or pulled away from the weakened hydrogen tank permitting the right Solid Rocket Booster to rotate around the upper attachment strut. This rotation is indicated by divergent yaw and pitch rates between the left and right Solid Rocket Boosters.

0.88 seconds to the end. A circumferential white vapor pattern is observed blooming from the side of the External Tank bottom dome. This is the beginning of the structural failure of hydrogen tank that culminated in the entire aft dome dropping away. This releases massive amounts of liquid hydrogen from the tank and creates a sudden forward thrust of about 2.8 million pounds, pushing the hydrogen tank upward into the intertank structure. At about the same time, the rotating right Solid Rocket Booster impacts the intertank structure and the lower part of the liquid oxygen tank.

0.86 seconds to the end. White vapors appear in the intertank region. Within milliseconds there is a massive, almost explosive, burning of the hydrogen streaming from the failed tank bottom and liquid oxygen breach in the area of the intertank. At this point in its trajectory, while traveling at a Mach number of 1.92 at an altitude of 46,000 feet, the vehicle is totally enveloped in the explosive burn.

The end. The reaction control system ruptures and a hypergolic burn of its propellants occurs as it exits the oxygen-hydrogen flames. The reddish brown colors of the hypergolic fuel burn are visible on the edge of the main fireball. The vehicle, under severe aerodynamic loads, breaks into several large sections which emerge from the fireball. Separate sections that can be identified on film include the main engine/tail section with the engines still burning, one wing of the vehicle, and the forward fuselage trailing a mass of umbilical lines pulled loose from the payload bay.

NASA Space Shuttle Challenger Crew on January 28, 1986

• Francis R. Scobee, Commander
• Michael J. Smith, Pilot
• Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist 1
• Ellison S. Onizuka, Mission Specialist 2
• Ronald E. McNair, Mission Specialist 3
• Gregory B. Jarvis, Payload Specialist 1
• Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist 2

May they rest in peace. Aloha!

Actually, now that fellow Daynoter Phil does occasional longer posts, I don't know if he has relinquished his title of Man of Few Words. But not much of interest is going on over here in the Seto Shack.

However, there are a couple of sports events in town this weekend. First up is the American style football Hula Bowl (see the site here) on Saturday on the island of Mau'i. It will be broadcast on ESPN at 9:00 p.m. (EST).

The second is the National Football League Pro Bowl (see their site here) on Sunday, ABC 5:30 p.m. EST.

On the other hand, school work has heated up a bit as we try to gather information about how other states handle their retirement systems. My eleven loyal readers know that I am in my last semester working on a Masters in Public Administration. Our final paper is a group effort to help the Hawai'i Employees Retirement System increase operational efficiency.

Right now, we're contacting other state systems as well as starting to contact local state agencies that have dealings with the system.

Speaking of graduating, it's amazing how much it costs. You pay $15USD for a diploma, $55 for a cap and gown, $25 for a hood (that colorful piece of material that hangs around the neck and kind of reminds me of a woolen muffler). Then there's the announcements ($1.35 a piece) and thank you cards ($7.50 per 10). And for the high rollers, a custom matted frame for the diploma starting at $105 and going up over $200. Now if I can only graduate.

Speaking of working in groups, it's interesting they work, or don't work as the case may be. In my first year, we had a class in which we were given a test. The test was a list of about 10 questions dealing with surviving in a mountainous region during the Winter. After answering the questions on paper, we broke into groups and tried to combine the expertise of each group member to come up with a list of answers to the same questions.

The point of the exercise was to show that by pooling the experience/education/knowledge of the group, you would come up with more right answers than you did by taking the test relying only on your own knowledge. Well, you can probably guess the outcome of my group. I scored significantly higher on my individual test than our group did collectively. Now, perhaps this is an indication that I was not very persuasive in getting my group members to believe I had the right answers.

Or perhaps there are situations in which the expected synergy does not occur (see just about any of the current NASA projects). But in any case, all that I learned from that experience was that I should probably rely more on myself than others.

Such seems to be the case in the group I am in now. To me, our task is well defined and doable. If I were assigned to do this at work, I would be able to complete it, by myself, in about three months. But with this group, we will be lucky if it's done in six. And when it is done, the quality will be much lower than if I did it myself. Now, I realize this may sound arrogant and self-centered, but it also happens to be the objective truth.

If it is the reality, I am not encouraged by this because committees are how everyone in large agencies seem to organize themselves to solve problems. While I understand and support the assertion that problem solving should include the stakeholders involved, I'm not so sure relying solely on their input and judgment will result in the optimal solution.

In fact, I wonder if it almost guarantees it won't. It seems to me committees, more often than not, end up being a waste of time and resources. But perhaps I am being too harsh. Perhaps the problem is most committees are not led by people trained in facilitating meetings so the meetings do not stay focussed or disciplined. Or perhaps its something else.

Whichever the case, the next few months will be very frustrating for me. But regardless of how others seem to have problems figuring out what to do, I know what my tasks are and I will remain focused on accomplishing those tasks.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

As I got home this morning my wife was watching something on TV. It looked like a shot of a meteor streaking across the sky. I didn't think much of it until she told me it was a NASA shuttle breaking up.

To say I was stunned would be the understatment of the year. All I can say is our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the crew and I hope they understand that their loss was not in vain. That the struggle to explore and work in space is frought with danger. That the only way to pave smooth that road is to boldly go forward to overcome the challenges that lay there.

To close, I heard the words of the old Simon and Garfunkle song "Homeward Bound" echoing in my head while I watched the news conference from NASA. To have gove so far. To have "touched the face of God." And then to perish while so close to home. Homeward bound.

Tonight I'll sing my songs again,
I'll play the game and pretend.
But all my words come back to me in shades of mediocrity
Like emptiness in harmony I need someone to comfort me.
Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.
Silently for me.

Aloha

Catastrophic engineering failures tend to follow certain critical paths. One path is multiple failures, which each alone would not cause the catastrophe, but in combination, in a specific sequence, under specific conditions can lead to the failure. This is sometimes known as the cascade effect.

While it is certainly too early to speculate on what caused the Columbia failure, I would not be surprised if it isn't a series of events that may have occurred before, but not in the sequence, or to the extent, required for the failure.

I would not be surprised that the failure began earlier than NASA thinks it may have.

I would also not be surprised if some of it is related to the low level of funding NASA has endured over the last 20 years or so.

Whichever the case, the investigations will begin, reams of reports will be made, and I hope, the shuttle or its replacements will fly again.

Aloha!

I took the day off yesterday to complete some additional medical tests. This after spending some time at the clinic being poked, prodded and x-rayed on Saturday. I've seen the blood suckers so many times I'm almost beginning to know them by first name. Even the CAT scan guy already knows my face and recognizes me every time I come in.

I'm not sure if this is a Good Thing or not but I guess it beats the alternative.

Otherwise, I'm still recovering from the cold that will not die and still working on contacting the various people I need to talk to about my capstone project relating to the employees retirement system.

Aloha!

Not much new going on around here today so why not a short rant? Are you able to increase your salary in anticipation of being busy? Do you raise your price when you think your time will be in short supply? I guess you could if you owned your own business or their wasn't any competition.

So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a gallon of "supreme" gasoline is just under $2.00USD. This, in anticipation of short supplies. Don't you just love monopolies?

In other local news, our governor went out on a limb this weekend and refused to increase the threat level indicator. Even though the federal government went from "yellow" to "orange" (the second highest level), the governor felt it would be counter productive since no specific threat is known, or at least publicly released. Hence, the state, unlike the feds, will not run in circles trying to catch its own tail.

On the labor front, our union is officially at impasse with the state. If nothing is settled by the end of June, we will need to take a strike vote and see where that may lead. While I am not looking forward to it, I think it may be necessary to strike. Just in case, I'm now beginning to save, rather than spend so no new toys for me until after June. I guess the economy will just have to struggle on without me spending my copious amounts of cash.

And finally, I'm almost to where I want to be with the look of this page. I still want to tweak the CSS in a couple of places and I want to research if there is a way of having replies to comments, via email, be automatically entered into the system. Right now, the system notifies me vie email when a comment is left by someone, but if I reply to the email, my reply, as far as I know, has to be copied and pasted into the comments. Surely there must be a better way of doing this?

Aloha!

Move over Dirty Harry, there's a new big gun in town. Smith & Wesson unveiled their 0.50-caliber magnum revolver recently (see it here). Billed as the most powerful production revolver in the world (there are various other makes that chamber rifle rounds, or cut down versions of rifle rounds) it has 2,600 ft/lbs of muzzle energy. So, do you feel lucky? Well, do ya?

The posts for today will have something in common - they will all be obvious to everyone except, it seems, to those involved.

First Saddam, then France. The morning papers says the European Union (EU) is giving Saddam Hussein al-Majd al-Tikriti "one last chance." Until, of course, the next time. Then they'll really, really mean it.

As British Prime Minister Tony Blair put it:

If Iraq is not cooperating fully and everyone accepts they are not cooperating, why is Iraq not then in material breach?

Almost anything, taken to extremes is not a Good Thing. For example, some people refuse to think of themselves as being part of a community because it may imply taking responsibility for more than just yourself ("Am I my brother's keeper?").

So it should not be surprising that the Catherine "Kitty" Genovese syndrome (see one account here) should be repeated, over and over again.

The most recent incident made the headlines over the weekend. A man was shot at a Washington, D.C, area gas station. Sadly, this is not the part that has thoughtful people in a rage. There's more (see the story here).

After the shooting, one witness -- who was just feet away from the gunman -- looked for a moment at Price's body and then turned away. Not only did he finish pumping his kerosene, but the man paid for the purchase and drove off...

For the next few minutes, the [video security] camera records a series of cars pulling away from the station, with at least one new car pulling up to the kerosene pump where Price lay. But it is not until about 9:13, more than three minutes after the shooting, that the gas station's manager is seen approaching the body.

It seem obvious that when someone is shot, and you are in a position to at least notify the police or call an ambulance, that you would do so. But I guess that's not obvious to the people there.

Small things are important. Sometimes they're critical - especially if you are getting an organ transplant. Ask the teenager from Mexico who came to Duke University Hospital to be healed through a heart and lung transplant. Only, people weren't paying attention to the small things - like matching the blood type from the donor to the teenager. After waiting three years for the life saving operation, she is now is near death due to the obvious error. Obvious, that is, except to everyone there.

If we've learned nothing else over the years, know this: Just because something is obvious does not mean people will perceive it, acknowledge it, and then appropriately attend to it. If anything, they will do just the opposite. So it's up to us to point out the obvious, get people to acknowledge it, and then act on it. Because if we don't, it is obvious that no one will.

Aloha!

The home court advantage is more than just an idle phrase. While I can't say it applies to every sport in the world, it does seem to fit most. So when the home team doesn't win you have to wonder if they are up to the challenge. So far, for a series in which it appears the boats are even in speed, we have seen what I can only describe as extreme sailing.

Due to the long weekend in the US, I was able to watch live the second and third races of the America's Cup yacht race (and parts of the first race on tape) being held in the beautiful waters of New Zealand. As of this writing, with the fourth race scheduled for this afternoon, Hawai'i time, the Swiss Alinghi (see their site here) team is leading three to zero, needing to win only two of the last six races to win the series. Or to put it another way, Team New Zealand (see their site here) needs to win five of the next six to win - something no team in the history of the cup has done.

The first twelve minutes of race one looked like it was the start of an exciting series. Neither boat appeared to have a commanding speed difference which means tactics, experience, readiness, and a bit of luck could decide the series.

Unfortunately for the NZ boat, they seemed to be in short supply of all of the above. For some strange reason, they ran their boat heeled so far over that water constantly entered the boat. So much so that they could not pump it out as fast as it was coming in. Why they felt they should angle their deck so much is unanswered, but the result was several tons of water acting as dead weight.

This extra weight, in combination with stiff 20kt winds caused the high-tech carbon fiber boom (the horizontal spar that holds the bottom of the mainsail) to exceed its design specifications and snap like a toothpick. Four minutes later, at sixteen minutes into the race, with the mainsail now dangerously full of air and straining under the force, the titanium tack ring that holds the bottom forward corner of the genoa (a large sail, overlapping the mast) to the deck exploded into pieces. The Kiwi crew tried valiantly to rig up something to keep the boat in the game but it was for naught. Nine minutes later, at 25 minutes into race one, despite the courageous efforts of the crew, the Kiwis retired, something not done in an America's Cup race since 1920.

Race two was fought in much different conditions. The race was postponed seven times, waiting for the wind to pick up. Once under way, the light 10-kt winds seemed to favor the home team, especially on the first downwind leg where they powered back from being 4-boat lengths behind to three ahead. In sailing this is just not done and could only reflect a wind shift that favored the Kiwis. The question is was this luck or superior strategy and seamenship?

Nothing much happened until the final beat where Alinghi decided to force the issue and begin a tacking duel unequaled in the series. A total of 66 tacks were performed by the boats, a new record. But through it all, New Zealand not only held off the Swiss, but increased their lead. This clearly showed the superior boat speed, handling, and seamenship that the Kiwis are justly proud of.

And yet. And yet in the final leg to the finish, after rounding the final mark, Alinghi's decision to jibe set around the windward mark, versus Team New Zealand's bear away and then jibe, may have been the difference. Their respective decisions allowed Alinghi to get inside to the right where the wind was stronger. Even though the Swiss were behind at this point, they ever so slowly moved closer and closer to the Kiwis and eventually blocked the wind from their sails. The New Zealanders then slowed and were not able to catch up in time to get past to retake the lead.

Race three proved the old adage that it is possible to catch up with the leading boat, but getting past them is another thing. From the start, where Alinghi's afterguard was able to position their boat to the right side of the course, where the wind was forecasted to be stronger, the Swiss led the race. While New Zealand was able to nibble away at that lead over the length of the race, things only got interesting near the last mark.

At that point, there was about one boat-length between the two. But after rounding the mark, the Kiwis made a mental mistake and showed their apparent lack of experience. The crew was set for one type of jibe set, but their skipper called for a switch to another very late in the turn. This caught the crew unprepared and resulted in them having trouble getting the spinnaker pole hooked up once on the run. With the finish line a mere three miles (~4.8km) away, the Kiwis were not able to recover sufficiently and Swiss won pulling away.

I don't know how the series will end but I wonder if the Kiwis have the faster boat, while the Swiss have the more experienced skipper, tactician, and crew.

Aloha!

That sound you hear is the seventh seal of the apocalypse being ripped open. National Geographic (see their site here). The phrase brings back memories of the staid magazine with the yellow border that everyone seems to collect years worth of. As a youngster, I can remember that every time I went over to a certain relative's house I would spend hours going through their old copies. If it wasn't the pull out maps, interesting articles, or fantastic photography, it was the hope that a glimpse of a third world bare breast might be seen (I kept wondering why they didn't go to St. Tropez sometime. In fact, I wondered if there wasn't a kind of racism taking place. Namely, it was OK to show non-Caucasian breasts, but not the reverse. But I digress, or maybe not).

Hitting news stands this month is the National Geographic swimsuit issue. I kid you not. The issue takes a look at swimsuits over the last 100 years. I haven't seen the issue myself but the cover shows a fetching female clothed in three sea shells. No, I don't know if they went to St. Tropez or not. You'll have to buy the issue to find out.

Aloha!

Duck Taped

Aloha!

Sigh. I have more medical tests to do. I've already taken all kinds of tests. Blood tests. Urine tests. CAT scans. MRI scans. X-rays. I've been poked and prodded. And now, an MIBG (iodine-131-meta-iodobenzylguanidine) scan. This one features the injection of a radioisotope. Then, I get scanned on three separate days for about one-and-a-half hours per scan. At the end of this procedure, I will be glowing like a candle. At least I will be able to see the clock at night without having to turn on a light.

I start the testing next week.

Aloha!

They're back. The termites that is. Those wood eating monsters that will not die. After more than a year of peace, we found over 10 new mud tunnels. Subterranean termites, as the name suggests, live underground but create tunnels into your house where they invite themselves for dinner. And lunch. And breakfast.

They are fast. They can go through several board feet of wood in a matter of days. They spread out and cover the house in a matter of weeks. In a few months, they can eat through beams a foot thick.

They are smart. The common approach of tenting houses and filling them with poisonous gas does not work with these things. All they do is cap the ends of the tunnels and wait underground until the coast is clear. Then they open the ends and go back to work.

They are persistent. Even flooding the ground with poison only means they look for another way to get in. And take my word, they will get in.

They can be controlled, but they can not be eradicated. The current state of the art is to leave baits out that include a slow acting poison. So slow that they don't raise an alarm to it. Tomorrow, the termite company will be coming out to install some of these baits. It will then take a month or more until the current colony is reduced in size or they move on to another house.

All that is old is new. Steam powered ships. Nothing new you say. Well, what about a steam powered jet boat (see the story here)? It seems an Australian inventor sold the design of such an engine to a British company who is trying to make a commercial product out of it. I don't know whether this thing actually works but it is an interesting twist on an old power source. The article says it works like this:

A separate boiler heats water to generate steam, which is pushed at about four times normal atmospheric pressure through a hollow tube submerged in the water.

When the steam hits the water, it immediately condenses to 1,600th of its previous volume. The resulting effect is a dramatic drop in pressure, essentially a vacuum, that sucks water from the front to the back of the tube and thus produces thrust to move.

Speaking of old modes of power. How about paper airplanes? No, they haven't discovered a way to build 747s out of paper. I'm talking about the kind you make out of folded paper and toss over to the cubicle across the aisle. Follow this link here to the WRPA Fliers Club and learn how to fold'em and how to hold'em. Included at the site is the 1994 record holding plane that stayed aloft for 18.8 seconds.

Aloha!

Good advertising may not be art, but sometimes it can delight, make a point, or evoke feelings we may not remember we even had. Herewith are a few examples found at the Advertising Educational Foundation site (see it here):

Aloha!

Just an update on a couple of things I'm working on. My experiments with anti-spam software is at a standstill. It seems all of the *nix programs generally available assume you have root access to the server. For me, this is not true. So I'm kind of at a standstill while I try to figure out a way of installing these things. In the meantime, my web host, pair.com, is testing SpamAssassin so all is not lost. MWIKM (more when I know more).

I also have a review copy of CrossOver Office (see it here). They claim the ability to run MS Office under Linux. I don't particularly care if it does or not. What I want to test is whether Lotus Notes does. This is the mail system we use and so far, the only thing I don't have a Linux-based substitute for.

The first of three days of tests starts this afternoon. As noted earlier, it's called an MIBG scan. I started taking an oral solution of potassium iodide yesterday. The potassium is to prevent the accumulation of the radioisotope they will inject today from accumulating in my thyroid. This is so I won't get thyroid cancer from the radiation. Sigh. MWIKM.

Aloha!

I spent my time this morning editing a letter our graduate school group is sending to the head of the Employees' Retirement System so I am out of time. Here are a few Fark links:

Hooter's Air May Go Bust

Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of 2002

BMW: New and Improved, Now Grenade Proof

And this last link here from jwz leading to all kinds of case mods. Enjoy!

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

I'm at home today doing some work around the house. I have to trim one of the closet sliding doors, paint the front house steps, and watch while a couple of workman move one of our air conditioners from the front house to the back.

I'll be back tomorrow.

Aloha!

I have lots to do, both at work and for class so I gotta' go. [MOFW - Men Of Few Words]

Aloha!

I understand that fellow Daynoter Doctor Keyboard's site and email are down. I don't know when they will be operational again but if you have an urgent need to get ahold of him, you can do so at chriswj at tiscali dot fr

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Communications is a tricky process, I'm talking here about the interpersonal kind. Many of you have been part of school exercises in which students are lined up and then the person at the start of the line reads a short message to the next person in line. This next person then, without the aid of having the message written down, orally repeats the message to the next person in line. And so on down the line until the last person has heard the message. At that point, everyone gathers together and the last person tells the group the message he or she heard.

Everyone has a good laugh when what the last person says has very little relation to what the first person in line said. If you've been part of this exercise you know that I'm not kidding when I say the last message has very little in common with the original.

Likewise, one of the tricks in managing organizations is getting your message out to those who have to implement it. If it helps, think of it as the captain of a ship navigating though shallow waters and having to relay messages to a helmsman situated at the opposite end of the ship. If the captain says to turn in one direction, but the message relayed to the helmsman is to go full speed ahead, there will be problems. Such is the challenge to managers in organizations.

There are a couple of ways of communicating well. One way is to call a meeting of everyone who would need to hear the message and tell them all at once. Hence, there is no repeated tellings and no immediate way that your message could be altered. That does not mean different people will interpret what you said in different ways but it does mean everyone starts with the same message. The problem with this is it is very inefficient to gather your workforce every time you want to say something because the work comes to a stop while everyone gathers.

Another way is to use written communications. The written word does not change. You can copy it a hundred times and the last copy will be the same as the first. As above, how it is interpreted, if it is read at all, is greatly dependent on the reader. The problem is, many people won't even read it, much less remember what it said. And even if read, many people have problems interpreting and understanding written communications.

The bottom line is different people learn differently. So if you want to communicate effectively, you have to use multiple vectors to that end. Which vector to use will depend on what needs to be said and who it needs to be said to. Only you, as a good manager, can decide the best way to communicate what you need done. But you must remember to provide multiple opportunities for your message to get out and depending on how large an organization you have, you may have to repeat the message multiple times.

But don't be surprised if what you said and what is heard are two very different things!

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Sorry for the late post but Internet access was down again. It's probably just as well as I don't have much to say this morning.

However, I have decided to create redundant access to the Internet by signing up for DSL in addition to the Road Runner cable modem that I have. That way, even if one goes down, I'll have the other to fall back to.

Yes, it will be expendisve but I think access to the Internet has gotten to the point where I am much less productive without it.

So, I'll give DSL a trial and see how well that works.

Aloha!

Dog Bites Shark. If sharks could read, they would know it is not a good idea to attack an Australian dog. At least, not when there's another Australian dog ready to dive in and attack. It seems a man was walking with his dogs along a beach when a shark attacked and dragged one of the dogs under the water.

The second dog, seeing the attack from the beach, came running into the water and attacked the shark. Both dogs emerged from the surf unharmed. See the story here. No word on the shark's condition.

Speed Saves. This is hardly definitive, although I have seen similar reports, but raising the speed limits along certain Norwegian highways has resulted in fewer accidents.

"We think drivers drive better and more steadily at limits they themselves are more satisfied with," Finn Harald Amundsen of the state highway department told newspaper Aftenposten.

See the story here.

Dick Tracy. Yes, it's a watch with a built in cell phone and a 96 X 64 pixel 256 color screen. Electronics giant Samsung announced the watch at CEBIT 2003. See it here. Not to be out-done, Seiko also announced their own wrist-based cell phone. See it here.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Loof Lirpa roundup of tasteless drivel during this time of war.

• Squirrels take over campus. Vow world domination. See it here and here.

• Nudists take over campus. Vow world domination. See it here.

• Brush monkeys invade Michigan. Vow world, ah heck, you know the drill. See it here.

• Windows98 running on PalmOS. Bill Gates surrenders. See it here.

And finally:

Late Update I see that the Loof Lirpa Lite Army has taken a hostage (see picture below). From what I understand, they want [insert the voice of Dr. Evil] one million dollars, or the bird gets it. Updates as they become available (as opposed to when they are just imagined - ed.).

Aloha!

Since it's inception, that cold December day in 1861, the Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor any U.S. military member can earn. And make no mistake, it is indeed earned - many times paid with the ultimate currency, their lives.

It is interesting to note that the original bill, creating the version for the Army (the Navy version came first, and of course, the Air Force much later in the 1950s) stated that it was for "non--commissioned officers and privates..."

I don't know what the process is to nominate someone for this medal. But if the press reports are correct, and in the fog of war things can become very unclear, there is a 19-year-old Army Pfc. supply clerk that may have earned this honor. This soldier, part of the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company, serving in Iraq, came under withering ambush fire. The Pfc. returned fire, fighting ferociously against the numerically greater forces firing on the unit. And even though gravely wounded by enemy fire, sustaining two broken arms and a broken leg, the Pfc. continued effective suppressing fire against formidable resistance until ammunition ran out. Even then, this soldier bravely fought on, hand-to-hand, until being stabbed multiple times.

Army Private First Class Jessica Lynch's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on her, her unit, and the United States Army. If these first reports are true, then she is deserving of being the second woman in the history of the medal to be so honored.

Late Update: This report here says she has no gunshot or knife wounds but does have two broken arms, a broken leg, and broken vertebrae. As they say, it is unclear how she sustained these wounds.

Aloha!

Most people have seen pictures of nuclear reactors. At least, fission ones. The picture below is from Sandia Labs and is of one of a fusion reactor, or I should say one that could one day lead to a controlled fusion reactor.

To tell you the truth, just looking at a regular reactor gives me the heebeejeebies. But to see a fusion one, makes me think of Dr. Frankenstein's lab. At one time it is strangely beautiful and a fearsome sight. I wonder if we really understand the possible effects of the technology we are so diligently trying to produce?

Read the complete story here. Thanks to JWZ for the link.

Aloha!

Another busy day and nothing much interesting in my morning searches so see you tomorrow.

Aloha!

For those of you who appreciate Rube Goldberg-type devices, you'll love this Honda UK ad (requires Macromedia Flash) here. It is amazing in its inventive use of physics from start to end.

Speaking of Rube Goldberg, anyone who knows their way through a governmental budget knows the devil is in the details (talk about tortured metaphors - ed.). I haven't been over to Jennifer Balderama's site for awhile but today's post (see it here) talks about how President Bush's budget would give billions for defense, but then turn around and cut spending $150 million US for the Veterans' Administration and aide to schools attended by military dependents.

Of course this is the way to honor and reward our military. Make sure they don't have social/medical benefits and make sure the schools their children attend are poor and run down. Of course this makes sense. Not.

Speaking of outrages, the Republicans are trying to make permanent the onerous surveillance safety intrusions laws put into effect post September 11th. Dan Bricklin meditates on what the big picture is and how this war against the forces of safety versus liberty are winning and you are losing. See the column here.

Try to have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Here's a different way of looking at the looting in Iraq (see it here). The main premise is that the real looting ended when the statue of Saddam was pulled down. For two decades, the real looters wore suits and uniforms, not robes or blue jeans. I don't know that I agree with everything the author has to say, but it's not a long column so take a look at the Big Picture.

Aloha!

It must be me. But I can't understand why I have so many problems with shippers. It's not like I have a lot of things ordered from the mainland. But am I asking too much when I pay for 2nd day air service I get something in two days?

The last time I had problems, it was with UPS (see the post here). Now it's FedEx. The package was picked up from Amazon.com on Monday, April 14th at 2:13 p.m. According to the FedEx tracking system, almost exactly 24 hours later, it made it to Honolulu on Tuesday at 2:19 p.m. I reckoned they would deliver the package the next day, Wednesday, April 16th but Wednesday came and went with no package.

I checked the tracking this morning and it says a package, with this same tracking number was logged in again in Honolulu yesterday (Wednesday) at 4:55 p.m. Hmmm. Why is it being logged in twice, on different days?

All I know is it's now Thursday, four days after package pick-up and I still don't have my package. You better believe I filed a complaint with FedEx and will also do so with Amazon. The email response back from from FedEx was a canned reply that did not even come close to answering the issues I asked (why is it taking four days to deliver and why is the tracking system showing double entries).

So I called FedEx and spoke to "Debra". Debra must be having a long day and is tired of answering questions because her voice was full of sarcasm. Of course FedEx does not have a two-day service to Hawai'i or Alaska. Yes, it's called 2nd-day air, but that's not what it is for these two states. Well, why don't they say that anywhere? She had no answer to that. Further, she had no answer as to why the tracking system was showing multiple arrivals in Honolulu, other than to say it is a computer glitch. Sigh. I know when I'm being brushed off and I know when I'm wasting my time talking with someone. My next step is send a snail mail complaint to the CEO of FedEx.

People talk about gummint workers being rude and not caring about their customers, well take a look at private shipping companies because they are 10 times worse.

I hate this. I don't want to fight with shipping companies. I just want them to do what I paid them to. No excuses, no weaseling about computer glitches. Just deliver the darned box on time. Sigh.

Tomorrow is a state holiday, if my router gets delivered today I'll be setting that up tomorrow. If not, I got a copy of Red Hat 9 so I may install that and see what wonders Linux has to display. In either case, there won't be a post here.

Aloha!

Our graduate school group is heads down as we finish our thesis paper. We hope to have it done by Thursday but it will be a stretch to do so. For example, yesterday I took off early from work and our group met from 2:00 p.m. (14:00) to 8:00 p.m. (20:00).

Anyway, there is much more to do and not much time to do it.

"Something you just don't want to touch." That, from a Charleston Police Major when asked to enforce the city's indecent exposure law in relation to women sunbathing in a city park. It seems some people are offended by women wearing bikinis (well, I agree, they shouldn't be wearing anything [whack!], ummm, sorry about that dear. - ed). It seems the city has been transported through a time warp back to the Victorian era where women must be clothed from head to foot and their faces covered in veils. Wait. Isn't that a description of Iran? See the story here. Oh, by the way, the Major is speaking only for himself [Whack!].

Aloha!

Sorry, no post today. I'm trying to get some sleep to recover from finishing the first draft of our 143 page paper.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

I'm still very tired, and a little worse for wear (I'm getting too old to pull these all-nighters like a college freshman cramming for finals). But here I am.

Speak softly and carry a sawed-off shotgun. One of the interesting tid-bits that came out of the recent Russian Soyuz spacecraft landing is the news that the capsule is armed. It seems an earlier off-target capsule landed among a pack of hungry wolves, so, from that point forward, all Soyuz spacecraft came armed with a shotgun. What was that about the right to arm [Russian] bears? See the story, via Fark here.

"They took everything, even the silverware." Looting broke out in the city. Mobs of crazed, greedy people took anything that wasn't welded down. Nothing was safe. It was as if the thin veil of civilization was torn into shreds by the animalistic rampage. Iraq? Nope. Try the United Nations - in New York City. It seems the food workers went on strike, leaving thousands of the world's elite, peace-loving diplomats without food. So what did they do? They acted like the blood-thirsty sycophantic sybarites that they are and looted the restaurants taking everything with them. See the full story here.

Top 75 Network Security Tools For those of you who need to know such things, here's a list of security tools that you may, or may not, be aware of. Most of the well known ones are there but a few news ones are among the old. So take a quick look here for the list. Now if they would just write more tools for token-ring networks I would be extremely happy.

Aloha!

REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS VIRTUE OF IT'S NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND TOP SECRET.

MY NAME IS SADDAM AND I AM A TOP OFFICIALS OF THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT [NOW IN TEMPORARY EXILE]. SOMEONE RECENTLY LEFT A BILLION U.S. DOLLARS (1,000,000,000) ON MY DOORSTEP DURING THE NIGHT HOURS AND WISH TO MOVE THE LOOT FULLY LEGAL FUNDS.

IN ORDER TO COMMENCE THIS TRANSACTION I SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE TO ENABLE US RECEIVE THE SAID TRAPPED FUNDS ABROAD, FOR THE SUBSEQUENT PURCHASE AND INVENTORY OF THE GOODS TO BE IMPORTED AND THE INVESTMENT IN EUROPE (FRANCE AND GERMANY).

I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU SOONEST.

[SIGNED]SADDAM HUSSEIN al-MAJD al-TIKRITI

PS: I ALSO HAVE SOME WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION THAT YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN.

Aloha!

Living out in the middle of the Pacific has some downsides. One of those is getting things delivered on time. I've already chronicled the trials and tribulations I've had with overnight delivery services. The last installment was with FedEx and the time before that was UPS. Well, it's back to UPS again.

I paid $25 for overnight shipping from Colorado to here. $25. US. Hard currency. The product of the sweat of my brow (do brows sweat? - ed.).

So I start tracking the package. It's picked up on Tuesday, May 6th at about 4:50 p.m.. It then makes its way to the Ontario, California hub by 11:00 p.m. that night. Six hours later, at 5:00 a.m., it is on its way to Honolulu. Due to the wonders of time zones, it arrives in Honolulu 7:45 a.m. (a flight from California takes about 5 hours).

Up to this time, the scheduled delivery date was Wednesday, May 7th. This is as it should be when you pay for overnight delivery service. But. The delivery date has been pushed back to Thursday, May 8th.

What was that about one-day service? But lo, wait! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the package being delivered even as I write this! Oh well, never mind.

In a related vein, why does it cost more to air ship something from California to Hawai'i then it does to fly the same item from California to Florida? Let's take a look: San Francisco to Miami is about 2,600 miles (~4,200km) but San Francisco to Honolulu is only 2,400 (~3,900km)(follow this link here to get the distance between various cities). Now, let's look at the cost of sending a one-pound UPS Pak via next day air: SF to Miami: $29.58 and SF to Honolulu: $31.11 - shorter distance, higher price.

Yes, UPS might be able to use a cheaper, smaller jet between San Francisco and Miami, but the cost per pound per mile would probably still be higher if they did multiple stops along the way and had less capacity to carry cargo. I dunno, maybe jet fuel costs less to burn over land than water?

What, me worry? Aloha!

It becomes clear to me why we in Hawai'i have so many problems with the "Lower 48." This story here says the town of Glassport, Pennsylvania did not recognize Alaska or Hawai'i as being part of the US. At least, as far as the flag they were flying was concerned. It seems no one got around to changing the flag hanging in the city counsel room since at least 1959. So, of course, the flag had only 48 stars.

Oh well, maybe sometime they'll get around to spelling the name of our state correctly. Hawai'i. That's an okina between the two "i"s in Hawai'i. Actually, I use the apostrophe because it's as close to the okina that I can find in the default character sets. If I could only figure out how to use the UTF characters there maybe something closer. Maybe someday when I have more time.

In any case, what's the fuss? No, this is not a case of being politically correct. The okina is a glottal stop used to show the proper pronunciation, and therefore the proper meaning of a word. You literally are misspelling a word if the punctuation marks are left out and if you misspell something (he says, while madly grabbing for the dictionary), you are not communicating effectively.

Will the world come to an end if you don't use an okina or apostrophe? No, but if you want to communicate well, you need to know how to spell.

Aloha!

[EFX - background sound of voices singing]

I'd like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love,
Grow apple trees and honey bees, and snow white turtle doves.
I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony,
I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.
[Repeat the last two lines, and in the background:]
It's the real thing, Coke is what the world wants today.

Yes, boys and girls. You can now watch 50 years of Coke commercials via the Library of Congress (LOC) site here. No, I'm not going to take any cheap shots about the waste of tax dollars [since when? - ed.] but the LOC has a retrospective collection of Coke commercials available in (hawk, spit) RealG2 format. From the Hilltop to Mean Joe Greene to the polar bears, they are all there (well, almost all). Drink up. Thanks to Fark for the link.

With the success of the re-make movie Charlies Angels, we should not be surprised that other 80's era TV shows are in development. For example: Starsky & Hutch, Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-O, The A-Team, Knight Rider, MacGyver and The Six Million Dollar Man. See the story here. Thanks to Fark for the link.

Bear Bites Sub. Follow this link here to the story of the hungry polar bear that decided the tail fin of a nuclear sub looked like lunch. Thanks for Don Armstrong for the link.

Star Trek Bites. Or I should say this guy has issues with Star Trek and lists the top ten things he doesn't like about it. A sample of his list: Noisy doors (think WD-40). The holodeck being used for everything except what it probably would be used for (think latex). And the Prime Directive (think mutual suicide pact). See the list here.

Dog is caddy. No, I didn't say dog bites caddy. I said dog is caddy. See the story here abut the dog that pulls a special built cart that hauls his masters balls around. And club(s).

--------------------

I have the third, and I hope last, draft of our paper. There are a few more things to check before I turn it in after work today but it looks pretty good. Our professor says he is pleased with the quality of the paper so we are happy. Now we need to graduate on Sunday.

Next up is working on creating a presentation before the retirement system Board of Trustees. Once that is done, we will be done.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Today is my semi-annual PC deep cleaning so I will be off-line for awhile. In addition, I will be taking the day off tomorrow to make it a long weekend. So, there probably won't be any post.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Even though I was supposed to relax and recover from the rigors of finishing our final paper, I ended up doing all kinds of stuff around the house that had been put off while doing other things.

On the other hand, I did get some much needed sleep so it wasn't all work.

As to computer related things, we got approval at work to purchase some new PCs. We have a bunch of Dell OptiPlex GX1s with Pentium II 350MHz CPUs and 64MB of RAM. Needless to say, they have served us well but need to be replaced. So we will be getting Dell GX260Ds with 2.66 GHz Pentium 4s, 512MB of RAM, DVD burners, and ATI Radeon video cards. In addition, we will get Dell 17-inch flat panel LCD monitors. The total cost per PC is about $1,800, including monitors, tax, and shipping. If all goes well (inset sound of person knocking on wood), we should get the PCs in a about a month.

Aloha!

Sorry. No post today. I'm up to my ears in work, both from my day job and finishing the PowerPoint presentation for my Masters. The presentation is next week Wednesday so no time for the wicked.

Aloha!

Getting my work done is my bottom line. So I'm not into religious wars. At least, not when they are about technology. When it comes to that, I'm a pragmatist. That is, whatever works best is what I use. Whether "best" is an operating system or browser or music compression algorithm.

While I don't profess to be an engineer or scientist, I like to think I try to choose what I use in a rational way. I especially admire the process of problem solving that educator John Dewey came up with in the early 1900s.

1. Operationally define the problem.
2. Generate alternative solutions.
3. Establish objective criteria to rate the alternatives.
4. Decide on a solution that best fits each criterion.
5. Implement the solution.
6. Evaluate how well the solution met the criteria.

In the end, following a process that is rational is, I think, the most efficient use of my time. Others like to base decisions on values which, in many cases, is a Good Thing. But not always.

For example, the wars between what is called OpenSource and commercial software. Many, but not all, OpenSoftware proponents strongly feel that regardless of how well OpenSource software works, it should be chosen over commercial software because of, among other things, the values of open standards, freedom to choose, and team building embodied in the OpenSource movement.

Proponents of commercial software note that the competitive environment keeps companies focused on building robust products that serve a purpose people are willing to pay money for.

Yes, my characterization of things can be viewed as a simplification of a complex phenomenon. But what's important in this discussion is to understand that each has its niche in the marketplace of ideas and what I like to do is to take what is best from each so that I can get my work done.

Aloha!

I forgot to mention thatWil Wheaton was interviewed on a local TV station over the weekend. As you may know, Wheaton and the gang are in Hawai'i for one for one of the CruiseTrek "expeditions" (see it here). They are scheduled to cruise between the islands (and Fanning Island, Republic of Kiribati, thanks to US laws concerning non-US flag ships sailing between US ports) of O'ahu, the Big Island, Maui, and Kaua'i.

The interview wasn't very long but Wheaton came across pretty much like his website: sincere, funny, and an all-round likable guy next door (if you lived next door to a starship ensign).

I surfed over the the StarWars.com site yesterday and found, to my knowledge, the first pay site for a movie. That is, if you want to view any of the "premium" content on the official George Lucas Star Wars movie site you have to pay. Yes, there is some stuff available for free (after you register). But if you want the good stuff that used to be free, you gots to pay.

I guess it had to happen but paying to learn about a movie? I dunno about that. Given the disappointing Episodes I and II, I'm not sure I'm going to pay anyone to learn about a movie that won't be out until the summer of 2005 (Episode III). Further, it seems to me, the point of most movie sites is to get people to know about the movie and then want to go see it. To do that, most sites do their best to make it easy for people to come in and be persuaded. Putting up a door and charging an entrance fee sure seems like a strange way of welcoming your prospective guests. But then, they're rolling in dough and I'm just a poor <oxymoron>government servant</oxymoron>.

As to the site, the only thing I want to know is when will Episode IV: A New Hope, the original Star Wars come out on DVD? As far as I'm concerned, everything went down hill from there anyway so who cares about Episode III?

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Another busy, if short week. I have a meeting tomorrow to get ready for. Wednesday is a state holiday ( Kamehameha Day. As a side note, the building in back of the statue is where I work). And Thursday I have an appointment with my doctor for an annual physical. In between all of that I start painting the interior of our front house. We tried to get the painters who did the upstairs interior but they gave us three different start dates and never showed up for any of them so we'll save $2,000US by doing it ourselves.

Is that a terahertz in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? There's a write-up here that says the next time you get x-rayed, you might actually be t-rayed. T-rays, as in terahertz rays, is being touted as the next big thing in imaging technology. Like x-rays, t-rays can pass through many substances, thus giving you a look at the insides of things. But, according to the article, they are less dangerous to us than x-rays. thanks to BoingBoing for the link.

Public Service Announcement. This one (see it here from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin) made it national so I guess I'll mention it also. Do not buy food from road side vendors who do not have health department permits. This seems kind of obvious but I guess not to everyone. It seems enterprising people are selling fish, pork, and other perishable foods from their vehicles parked along side the road. What is interesting is that people are buying these foods either not caring or not knowing that the food requires proper preparation and storage to be safely edible.

Aloha!

Sorry but no post today. I've been busy from the time I got up until now. I'm putting some workload numbers together at work and it is the kind of stuff that you have to get right. Otherwise, people can loose their jobs for nothing. So, I have to get it right the first time because that's the only chance you get.

As noted earlier, tomorrow is a state holiday so probably no post.

Aloha!

I don't know what to make of this number one: The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting (see it here) that

Emperor Hirohito considered making an astonishing personal apology for the Second World War in which he was to express "deep shame at my immorality," according to a newly discovered document.

I really don't know what all this means, especially since the apology was never made. While it might be interesting to know such a document was drafted, assuming here that is is valid, I don't know that it's more than a contingency plan that was never executed. I guess the historians will have some writing to do to explain this one.

I don't know what to make of this number two: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin is reporting (see it here) of an airlines that wasn't. An airlines, that is. Even though it alleged it could fly you from Los Angeles to Honolulu for $89, it appears this was a deal that was too good to be true.

The airlines, excuse me, the "tour operator", an 18-year-old student in Massachusetts offered flights, excuse me, "seats" at fares lower than anywhere else. Hundreds of people flocked to his website and paid money for tickets, excuse me, "vouchers" that could be exchanged for flights starting next month. The problem is the student had no agreements with any charters, no agreements or permits with the FAA, airports, baggage handlers, ticket agents, or any of the other groups you have to work with if you actually want to provide this service.

Hence, both the Hawai'i and Massachusetts courts have gotten involved issuing restraining orders against this operation. Now, I don't know if this is just a business college case study that got out of hand or if criminal intent was involved here. But in either case, the student is in a world of trouble right now.

I don't know what to make of this three: What's with these people who love Ghambian rats or prairie rodents as pets? Is there something wrong with a dog? Why do people think it is a good idea to buy rodents, regardless of where they come from? Do these people have brains? Do they not understand disease vectors? Do they not understand dying from leaking lesions full of puss covering your body? By the way, there is no cure. If you are infected, you have a one-in-ten chance of dying. See the Centers for Disease Control site here. Oh, and have a nice day.

Aloha!

Not much going on over in the Seto Shack lately. I'm still in the front house doing some prep work before I actually start painting. I have to take down the blinds, mask the windows, patch the holes from where we hung our artwork, and replace molding that were removed during the renovations.

I probably won't get to painting until later this week. In the meantime, in our back house, I have to hang the artwork that we took down. SWMBO and I went through our stuff last night and decided where everything would go. Now I have to get a bunch of picture hanging nails and get to it.

Aloha!

As with many questions, the answer is it depends. See the numbers from the (US) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Center for Statistics and Analysis here.

Physics can be your friend or your enemy. Compared to passenger cars, light trucks (which include SUVs) were 11.5 percent less likely to be involved in a fatality (47.4 percent versus 35.8). On the other hand, fatalities due to roll-overs were 15.7 percent for passenger cars vs. an average of 23.3 percent for light trucks. Thus, being in a light truck lowers the probability of fatality overall but dramatically increases the probability of fatality due to rollover.

In addition, light trucks are involved in injury crashes an average of 6.35 percent of the time versus 3.4 percent for passenger cars. Further, light trucks are involved in property damage only crashes on average of 1.65 percent of the time versus 0.9 percent for passenger cars.

But looking at the rates based on vehicle miles driven (which is one way of normalizing the data), fatalities in passenger cars are 1.73 versus 2.13 for light trucks (as compared to motorcycles are at 34.1). For the rate per 100,000 registered vehicles (another way of normalizing the data), the numbers are 21.31 for passenger cars and 26.23 for light trucks.

So, while overall there are fewer fatalities in light trucks, when you normalize the data, being in a light truck appears to be more dangerous. Some have theorized that this is caused by the higher rollover rates, which if true, indicates drivers of light trucks need to understand their vehicles have higher centers of gravity and therefore must be driven differently from passenger vehicles.

In either case, these are the numbers and I'm no expert so you decide. YMMV.

Sorry for the late posting yesterday but our Internet access was down. Really. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Aloha!

You don't have to work in government to know medical costs are rising. Hence, it was not unreasonable that the Hawai'i legislature, looking for a way to cuts costs (since it didn't want to raise taxes), recently eliminated one of two medical plans available to state employees.

Up until now, the state had one health plan and the public employee unions had another. It was up to public employees to choose which they wanted but the cost to the employee was the same whichever plan they chose. The unions, having an incentive to provide the best plan for their members as possible, negotiated with providers to do just that. Conversely, the state, not concerned with anything other than cost, negotiated one low on cost and therefore low on benefits.

Not surprisingly, those employees who belonged to unions tended to choose the union plan. But as the cost of health care skyrocketed over the last few years, the state decided it had to do something. That something was to eliminate the union plan.

Whether this was fair or moral or right is not the focus of this essay. Those values would be Good Things to have in government but in these tough economic times perhaps it is too much to expect of our elected officials.

But having made the decision to eliminate the union plan, the department responsible for transferring something like 90,000 people from one plan to another got into gear. Unfortunately, it appears it was "reverse" gear instead of forward.

It appears the planning for the transfer was not up to the task. The period of employees to make the choice (state plan or nothing) was one month long. After that, the department had one month to key-in all the changes before the July 1st deadline. The changes were submitted on a four page form full of data items.

It does not take a psychic to guess that 90,000 such forms would take time to input. It turns out it will take more than one month. It may take as long as two or three. If this occurs, all of the people whose forms have not yet been inputed will, for purpose of eligibility and billing, be shown as not having any medical/dental/optical coverage at all.

This means if I go to the doctor, dentist, or optician they have a choice to make: turn me away or take the chance that I have coverage even though the computer system will say I don't. This is a difficult position to put a provider. Not only because of the immediate economic liability, but even if I do have coverage, government systems being what they are, who is to say the current computer system can handle back-dated invoices? I can imagine all kinds of technical problems that will keep providers from getting paid. Should this happen, my guess is I will end up paying the provider directly and it will be up to me to try to get reimbursement from the state.

Having worked for the state for almost 20 years, the probability of getting reimbursement is about equal to a frozen di-hydrogen monoxide sphere in Hades.

Aloha!

California Legislative Assembly Votes Down Privacy Bill. Group legally releases the Social Security Numbers of those who voted against the bill. Hilarity ensues. See the story here. Thanks to Fark for the link.

Mobs Take Manhattan. Please. Feeling left out? Felling the need to congregate with a mass of people? Well, ever wanted to be in a mob? Nows your chance. Join the mob movement. See the story here.

[T]he Mob Project, an e-mail-driven experiment in organizing groups of people who suddenly materialize in public places, interact with others according to a loose script and then dissipate just as suddenly as they appeared.

The GIF is Dead, Long Live the GIF.

On Friday, 20th June 2003, the death knell sounds for US patent number 4,558,302. Having benefitted its owner, the Unisys Corporation for 20 years, the contents of the patent are entered into the Public Domain and may be used absolutely freely by anyone.

Officially titled "High speed data compression and decompression apparatus and method", it is more commonly known as the LZW patent or Unisys's GIF tax.

Thanks to Kuro5hin for the link.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Wow Wie! There's an old golf saying about "You drive for show but you putt for dough." Well, if 13-year-old amateur Michelle Wie were a pro, she would be rolling in dough right now. The ninth-grader-to-be won the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links in Florida yesterday (see the story here).

Wie, the youngest to ever win the title is known for her 300 yard (~275m) plus drives. Her weakness, if there is one, was her putting. But she seemed to have nerves of steel yesterday as she rammed home putts from every direction and distance.

Congratulations to the Punahou Putter.

Turkeys, white elephants and dodos. That's how some are describing the equipment the British military are forced to use. The article here tells especially of the problems with their Phoenix drone which wags have nicknamed the "Bugger Off" because it never seems to come back (or perhaps they don't want it to).

The Smell of Napalm in the Morning In something out of the movie Apocalypse Now, US forces attacked Iraqi strong holds yesterday to the sound of Wagner's Die Walküre. No word yet when the special edition DVD will be released.

Aloha!

Fed Up with FedEx. Readers of this site will remember my ongoing problems with UPS and FedEx. While one must but marvel at companies that can move hundreds of thousands of packages from point A to point B in such a short time, for which they are to be applauded, there is a problem.

My problem is their business model that seems to artificially place Hawai'i at a disadvantage. On the mainland, shippers have several different ways of conveying your packages: long-haul jet, short-haul jet, train, truck, and vans. Hence, a business model can be rationalized that charges more for the faster modes of transportation versus the slower ones.

But, there is only one way to the islands and that is via long-haul jet. Hence, no matter which level of service you pay for, all packages will be arriving via the same mode and at the same time. This poses a problem to these businesses because how can you charge more to one customer when lower paying customers would otherwise get their package at the same time?

The answer is to hold packages at their warehouse. This artificially creates a multi-tier system in which some packages will be delivered before others, even though all arrive in Hawai'i at the same time.

Such is the case with the first of six Dell computers we ordered last month. Below is the tracking information from FedEx:

Scan Activity                   Date/Time        Scan Exceptions
-------------                 ----------------   ---------------
Package status HONOLULU HI    06/20/2003 11:32 Package in FedEx location
Package status HONOLULU HI    06/20/2003 11:32 Package not due for delivery
On FedEx vehicle for delivery 06/20/2003 11:05 
On FedEx vehicle for delivery 06/20/2003 10:58 
Arr at FedEx Dest HNL HI      06/20/2003 09:23 
Package status HONOLULU HI    06/20/2003 07:04 Package in FedEx location
Arrived at FedEx Ramp HNL     06/20/2003 07:04 
Left FedEx Sort Fac MEMPHIS   06/20/2003 03:31 
Held at Sort Facility MEMPHIS 06/19/2003 14:50 
Held at Sort Facility MEMPHIS 06/19/2003 14:45 
Arrived at Sort Fac MEMPHIS   06/19/2003 13:29 
Left FedEx Ramp AUSTIN TX     06/19/2003 07:02

Notice the top four lines. The package was put on the truck for delivery last Friday at about 11:00am. It was then pulled off the truck at 11:30 because "Package not due for delivery". This is not the first time this has happened. But usually, they catch the error before they load the truck and all I see is a notation that the package is held at their warehouse for later delivery.

I guess this system is better than charging everyone the highest price but I have to wonder if there isn't a better way?

Ring My Dell. So the first of six Dell OptiPlex 260D PCs arrived yesterday afternoon. It has a Pentium IV 2.66GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, 40GB hard drive, DVD/CDROM burner, and a lovely 17-inch flat panel LCD monitor. I think I like it. ;=>

Riding Wide. See this site here to see what it would like to run a flight simulator in front of 12 monitors.

Aloha!

LRP is Dead. Long live the LRP. Anyone who has gone over to the Linux Router Project site in the last six months could have told you it was dead or at least dying. But it is with a heavy heart that I point to the official announcement of its demise here. For a long time I used an LRP-based firewall/router and never had a problem with it. I am sorry there will be no further development of this worthy project.

I note that many people talk about the OpenSource movement and how it is done without commercial inducement. But in the end, if any non-trivial project is to mature and prosper, money will have to come from somewhere. You can't eat code. You can't pay the rent with it. So if you can't find a way of getting people to give you money for it, you will stop working on it and instead work on something that does pay the bills (unless you are already independently wealthy).

This is reality. I'm not saying it's good or bad. It just is. If you want to start an OpenSource project as a hobby, be my guest. Otherwise, think long and hard about what your priorities are and what you want to get out of it.

Another One Bites the Dust. When it comes to politicians, it is always wise to watch what they do, not what they say. For example, our Republican governor, when campaigning for office, praised the work of the Legislative Auditor for rooting out waste and pointing an accusing finger at public programs that were not running well. In fact, one of the Governor's main blanks while running for governor was restoring trust in government. Now that she is in office, and is the target of these very same audits, the Governor wants to weaken the Auditor's Office and vetoed two bills designed to give the Auditor more funding authority and flexibility.

Ever the master of spin, our Governor said cutting the funding for the Auditor's Office would strengthen the office by reducing "waste." I am willing to give the Governor the benefit of the doubt, but I must ask Governor Lingle, how does this restore trust in government by reducing the number of audits?

Aloha!

As you might expect, the new US Federal Trade Commission site (see it here) for creating a list of people who don't want to be called by telemarketers is overwhelmed by the thundering herds trying to get on the list. Telemarketers are then supposed to check the list before they call and if they find your number, they are prohibited from calling you.

Of course, no federal law would be complete without loopholes:

1. The list is for home phone numbers only, not businesses. It's okay to spam you at work.

2. The registration lasts for five years, after that you have to reregister. It's assumed you want to get back on the list so they give you the opportunity for that to happen every five years.

3. If, for whatever reason, you temporarily disconnect your phone service, then reconnect, you must reregister. It's assumed that you want to receive spam so they want to make it as easy as possible for that to happen.

4. The prohibition against calls does not include "political organizations, charities, telephone surveyors, the business of insurance (to the extent that it is regulated by state law), or companies with which you have an existing business relationship." It's assumed that you want to hear from these organizations. Even if you don't, they don't care because they have a strong lobby in Congress. The way these things work, expect more and more organizations to be added to the list as they pay-off urge Congress to remove this onerous intrusion on business rights (as usual, no one cares about your rights - ed.).

For more information, check out the FTC here. This being a government agency, some of the links on their page do not work (like their employees - ed.)

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Cat's Meow. Having problems with the cats jumping on your computer keyboard? Worse yet, are the cats really into instant messaging? Well, have I got the program for you. Pawsense (see the site here) is designed to "quickly detect and block cat typing..." I kid you not. It monitors and analyzes "keypress timings and combinations to distinguish cat typing from human typing. PawSense normally recognizes a cat on the keyboard within one or two pawsteps."

Acme Engineering. Now, in one place, see all of the engineering feats of this premiere engineering firm (see it here). All have been tested in the desert southwest heat (PETA warning, one animal was repeatedly, over and over, harmed). From adding machines to X-rays, it's all there.

Trying Times. The Army Times, not exactly a bastion of liberal thought, blasts Republican President Bush and Republican controlled Congress for talking about supporting our troops but not backing it up with action (see the story here).

Taken piecemeal, all these corner-cutting moves might be viewed as mere flesh wounds. But even flesh wounds are fatal if you suffer enough of them. It adds up to a troubling pattern that eventually will hurt morale — especially if the current breakneck operations tempo also rolls on unchecked and the tense situations in Iraq and Afghanistan do not ease.

Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, who notes that the House passed a resolution in March pledging “unequivocal support” to service members and their families, puts it this way: “American military men and women don’t deserve to be saluted with our words and insulted by our actions.”

Translation: Money talks — and we all know what walks.

Much A Do About Much A Do. There has been a simmering revolt against Really Simple Syndication (RSS) (if you don't know or care what RSS is join the club. Otherwise, follow this link here for the explanation). But it apparently erupted into public view like the puss from a pimple (eeeewww - ed.). InfoWorld's columnist Jon Udell has probably as good as commentary on what it's about as any (see it here). Sometimes, out of chaos and pain comes order and lightness. But most times, it's just more chaos and pain.

Aloha!

The PCs are here! The PCs are here! The five additional PCs we ordered came in late yesterday so I will be spending time installing our software. So I gotta go (I think he means he has to install the software - ed.).

Aloha!

Going Gold. Mozilla 1.4 and Netscape Navigator 7.1 recently went on the wire. Check them out here. Firebird is still holding at 0.6 and appears to be delayed, as compared to their road map but it is still my choice of browser right now.

Gold Plated. The US Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA)FALCON program (see it here) is designed to "develop technologies and demonstrate capabilities that will enable transformational changes in global, time critical strike missions." Translated into hardware it would be a "...Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV). This autonomous aircraft would be capable of taking off from a conventional military runway and striking targets 9,000 nautical miles distant in less than two hours. It could carry a 12,000-pound payload consisting of Common Aero Vehicles (CAVs), cruise missiles, small diameter bombs or other munitions."

The BBC has nice rendering of the vehicle here.

I wonder how much a thermo-nuclear device (TND) would weigh and whether Superior Hyper-Intelligence Technology would be incorporated into the design?

Gold Mine. Ever buy something from an Internet site and read the privacy statement saying how they will never sell or give away your private information for any purpose? If so, read this story here here about how that does not mean they can't rent or lease the information to others. Don't you just love these businesses that are in the business of getting your private information? Actually selling something is not where they make their money. It's in creating a list of people who are willing to buy stuff over the 'Net. There's big bucks in that business and some are trying to cash in.

I don't know what the solution is but the first step in solving it is in realizing that there is a problem.

Aloha!

Step into IT. Microsoft has a DVD with a series of demos for Windows XP (see it here). Included is a movie that Dr. Pournelle talks about in his column. The title of the movie is "Step Into Liquid" and is a step above your usual surf movie. You can download the trailer, among others including a clip from "Terminator 2", directly from MS (see it here) or order the DVD (although it doesn't include the Terminator clip) for the cost of shipping charges (sorry, North America only).

Note these clips are in high definition and require 2.5 to 3.0 GHz processors and 4X AGP video cards to display their content (or just play them on your 60-inch HD plasma screen TV).

A wise huckster public relations person once said "Control how a situation is defined and you have won more than half the battle." Such is the case when the media bought into the use of the word "piracy" when it comes to possible copyright infringement.

Once the problem is framed as such, it is but one short step to a solution: online activation. Microsoft was the first major player to require this and now comes Adobe. Information Week (see the article here) is reporting Adobe is testing activation for Photoshop 7 in Australia. The article goes on to say Adobe, barring a revolt from their pirates honest customers, will roll out the requirement next in the US.

While you still have a choice, you may want to start looking for alternatives that don't treat you as a criminal.

Turnabout is Fair Play. A couple of people at MIT have put together a website (see it here) designed to gather as much information as possible about government organizations/corporations/individuals. They figure if the government has the right to spy on its own citizens, it should be okay for those same citizens to spy on their government.

There are some deep questions that are being asked and I'm a little uncomfortable about anyone collecting unedited, unchecked information but I guess what's good for the goose should be good for the gander. Only, if it isn't good for the goose, should the gander do it anyway? You decide.

Aloha!

Aloha, Earthlings. NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu is aboard the International Space Station and blogging his experiences here. There's also a link to a photo gallery here which is where the image below comes from. The pic shows what appears to be an IBM laptop running Windows and Godzilla about to eat Asia. Wait! Godzilla? Asia? Run! Run for your lives!

Earth to Lingle. The governor of Hawai'i, Linda Lingle released a press statement yesterday saying she won't be vetoing part of the Judiciary's budget after all. The reason? Because her Attorney General let her know that the Hawai'i Constitution embodies the concept of separation of powers.

As such, the Governor does not run the Judiciary. Neither does she control the Judiciary's budget. Obviously, this was news to her. One can but only wonder at what else she is unaware of. What else doesn't she know about the very basic foundations of our constitution? The mind boggles. Is this the type of change she said she was bringing to government?

FR24 Update. I forgot to mention I had additional problems with the Hawking Technology FR24 Dual WAN Router I've been using. I thought all my problems were solved by disabling their DHCP and using static internal IP addresses. But no. There's more. Even with that change, the router got into a fault state that even unplugging it did not help. I don't know what happened as all was going well until the WAN1 input, the RoadRunner modem went down (this is not unusual, which is why I have the backup, but slower Verizon ADSL). Instead of automatically switching to WAN2, the status light glowed red. I was not able to reset the router because it would not respond to any input while in this state.

The problem persisted until WAN1 came back up. All I can say is when it works, it works well. But when it doesn't, it doesn't at all. Still Not Recommended. I guess I'll have to save my pennies and buy the Nexland.

Step Into Liquid Update. I forgot to mention one of the comments of an interviewee in the surfing movie clip mentioned yesterday. Paraphrasing from memory: "Hang out with old guys and you are going to look good [in comparison to them]." ;) In addition, fellow Daynoter Phil Hough mentioned MS wasn't kidding when they said what the minimum system requirements were for viewing the clips. And finally, I noticed on the DVD sampler I got from MS that the content expires in 60 days. Sigh. I assume MS Mediaplayer will enforce the digital rights of the content. I'll let you know in 59 days.

Aloha!

FR24 Update Part Deux. Fellow Daynoter Dave Markowitz (see his site here) commented yesterday on my trouble with the Hawking Tech FR24 about a Linux-based solution found here. As with many Linux solutions, it does require getting your hands dirty and recompiling the kernel, editing configuration files, and creating scripts but hey, that's half the fun right? [It must be time to readjust Dan's meds again - ed.].

In either case, when I can get the needed hardware together and do a RedHat minimum developmental install I see if I can get this thing running. Be aware, however, it may be awhile as I still have a bunch of things to do, like finish painting our front house, changing the shower head and vanity faucet in the back house guest bathroom, refinish the coffee table and end tables, and finding a good over-under to fling some shot at the proverbial partridge in a pear tree.

A big mahalo to Dave for the link!

Wall-to-Wall. With a new, larger flat-panel LCD monitor at work, I need to get higher resolution wallpapers. One of my favorite spots is the Hubble telescope gallery (see it here). They have wallpapers to 1280X1024 (which is what I'm running). If you're interested in astronomy, or awesome images of the universe, and haven't been there before take a look. If you have your own sites that have great wallpapers let me know and I'll try to make a list.

Aloha!

Search Me? Our new Dell PCs came with Windows XP Pro. While XP is very similar to Windows 2000 Pro, there are differences.

One of those differences is how long it takes to access other servers via Network Places. Clicking on "Add a network place" in "My Network Places" starts up a wizard that eventually asks for the Internet or network address of the server. If you use the browse button to search for the server, the Novell Netware servers pop up almost instantly. But to browse the list of Microsoft servers takes over 20 seconds just for the list to appear. Then you wait another 20 seconds while you select a particular server. And then another 20 seconds while you wait to log in. You probably spent less time reading this then it would take to get to the server and login.

Some solutions can be found at the Practically Networked site here. As with all changes to the registry, if you don't know what you are doing, don't do it. If you do, make a backup of everything before you attempt to edit the registry. You have been warned. I've tried only one of the suggestion (disabling the search for scheduled tasks) but that doesn't seem to have solved my problem. At some point, I assume MS will get around to fixing this, but until then, XP Pro really sucks pregnant dust bunnies through a collapsed straw when it comes to discovering MS servers on the network.

Does Size Matter? Awhile back there was a TV commercial in which a man is seen driving home from the electronics store with the newest Whizbang 6 computer in the backseat. The man is proudly looking around showing off his new purchase when he sees a billboard advertising the newer Whizbang 7.

So imagine the chagrin of someone who just installed the megabucks 60-inch (~1.52m) plasma display TV from LG Electronics when s/he finds out LG has released a 71-inch (~1.8m) model (see it here). Of course, if you have the money to buy a 60-incher you probably can afford the 71. By the way, it may not be a coincidence that the 71 is one inch larger than the 70-inch model rival Samsung recently announced.

Aloha!

I've used most of the time I have to write this post searching the Internet for MovableType templates I might want switch to. Unfortunately, I can find a lot of examples for other content managers but not so much for MT. If anyone knows of any repositories of MT templates please leave a comment. Thanks in advance.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

The first law of bureaucracies is never, ever, voluntarily downsize. Indeed, some would say the primary mission of bureaucracies is to grow larger, regardless of the why the bureaucracy was created and regardless of whether growing larger would have any positive effect.

Thus, when victory against Cold War communism was declared and you had a bunch of billion dollar Trident submarines with no mission the question was never how to decommission the subs. Rather, the military (which may be the most expensive government bureaucracy of all) went looking for a mission the submarines could do, regardless of whether it made economic sense to do it.

While the missions found for these subs (covert insertion of forces, intelligence gathering, and Tomahawk missile platform) may be critical to the safety of the nation, one must wonder if the Trident-class submarine is the most efficient way of doing it?

In either case, see this glowing article here about the conversion of four Trident submarines to the above missions.

While I was working on my Masters, access to the Internet was not just a Good Thing, it was critical to our success. If it weren't for e-mail, we would not have been able to shuttle drafts for our paper back and forth as easily. If it wasn't for the sources on the Internet, it wouldn't have been possible to do research as efficiently.

Hence, I was willing to pay for redundant broadband sources - one being the Road Runner cable modem from our cable TV provider and the other being ADSL from Verizon, our phone service provider. I did this so that if one went down, I had access through the other. And I'm glad I did because several times during the last six months having that backup saved me from a lot of extra work.

However, now that I've graduated, the need for redundant Internet access is decreased. While access is still important, it does not rise to being critical to my professional success. So this past weekend I decided to terminate one of the services.

Which to terminate was a difficult choice. Road Runner was clearly faster than ADSL. Using real world download speeds, the cable modem would typically clock 1.5MB/sec while the ADSL would strain to reach 700K/sec. On the other hand, Road Runner at about $45USD/month was about $10 more (now that Verizon has dropped their rates to about $35/month).

But in the end, the paramount criterion was reliability. For it matters not how fast a theoretical connection is if it's not working at all. Therefore, I terminated the Road Runner because it had service outages on a daily basis. Sometimes, more than once a day. Further, when I would call support to get help, it would take two weeks before someone could be scheduled to come out and check the connection.

So, I reluctantly traded speed for reliability. I am hopeful that someday Road Runner will become more reliable or that Verizon will provide faster speed, but I guess I'm not holding my breath.

Aloha!

Competition is Good. If readers of this site remember nothing else, remember this: Competition is Good. Alternatives that are different are good. Big Business hates competition and loves monopolies because they can maximize profits where there is no competition.

Consider then this site here that notes that we live within a window of opportunity [no pun intended]. Browser Wars I may have been won by Microsoft's Internet Explorer but that doesn't mean there aren't worthy competitors out there. And if history is any indicator, the dominant application today can easily turn into tomorrow's has been.

So, consider the alternatives and determine whether Mozilla, Opera, Apple's Safari, or one of the other alternatives here are better for your use than IE. Consider whether the alternatives provide a competitive advantage to you and your business. If they do, switch to them. If not, don't.

But I think if you do, you'll be better off in the long run.

Making the Leap. A lot of people talk about trust but few actually do. This site here tells the story of Ralph. Ralph sells coffee and donuts in New York city. He has one of those little carts the city that never sleeps is known for. But he operates it a little differently from his competitors. He trusts his customers. Read the story and you'll understand how by doing so, he makes more money than the other guys.

I will be busy through the end of the week so things will be a bit spotty around here. While I think I'll have time to do a post tomorrow and maybe Thursday and Friday, I can't say for sure. I also won't have the time to read e-mail so don't expect timely replies. Check in when you can and see if there's anything to see. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Aloha!

Sorry, nothing here to see. Move along folks, move along.

It's Friday! And the living is easy. Spent the last four days on vacation at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Ali'i Tower in Waikiki. Nice ocean view room, king sized bed, nice sized bathroom with double sinks, big shower, and separate room for the toilet.

I'll have a little more complete post on Monday and hopefully some pics. See you then.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

SWMBO and I went on a short vacation last week. From Monday through Friday morning we were at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Ali'i Tower. Ali'i Tower, one of several hotels on the property, is on the beach facing Diamond Head. The Tower features it's own pool/sun deck, whirlpool, and business center. Each room includes a direct telephone line and dedicated fax line. The fax line is hooked up to an HP all-in-one fax/scanner/printer. Unfortunately, Internet access is either through your laptop hooked into the phone line or via their TV. Not exactly business friendly but at least there are ports on the side of the two phones in the bedroom (the phone in the bathroom does not have a port).

Diamond Head, or Leahi as it is known in Hawai'ian, can barely be seen in the distance. During the building boom of the 1960s to 70s, the state bird was (facetiously) the construction crane - being that so many hotels were built to accommodate the increased number of visitors with the coming of cheaper jet aircraft service. Fortunately, there is still some open areas - including this park in front of the Hale Koa Hotel (for the military) next door to the Hilton. Also nice is the wide white-sand beach fronting this part of the village. This is in contrast to those hotels in the heart of Waikiki which are almost right up to the water's edge - leaving precious little beach to walk on.

This is another shot of the park and gives a better sense of depth. With hotels being built so close to each other it is rare in Waikiki to have open space. It is one of the reasons we chose this hotel over some of the more luxurious ones. The park itself has shaded picnic benches and barbecues so anyone can spend a nice day at the beach without being run over by thousands of pink skinned visitors. Speaking of the beach, we were unfortunately there during the time of the month in which the box jelly fish come in (see one account of what happens each month here). So we were unable/unwilling to set foot in the water, at least, not until later in the week when the warning signs were taken down. By that time, we were at our next hotel, but I will save that for tomorrow's post.

One of the things we did while at the Hilton was take a submarine ride. The picture on the left is of the good ship "Discovery" as it docked in front of our hotel (as seen from our room on the 13th floor). The Discovery takes you out about a mile off Waikiki to one of three Atlantis submarines. The larger sub holds 64 and the smaller two, one of which we were on, holds 48. The Discovery pulls up next to the subs and transfers the passengers over in the open ocean. Needless to say, if there are big waves or high winds, this is not a Good Thing. Even on the day we went, with waves in the one to four foot range, it is not something you want to do unless you've taken sea sickness pills and you are sure of foot. In either case, once on board and the sub and has reached at least 20-feet below the surface things settle down nicely (at one point you reach about 120-ft. down).

This is looking forward, towards the captain, and out the huge 4-inch thick plexi-glass dome. There are ports along the side of the sub for each passenger to look out but since I was sitting directly behind the captain I spent as much time looking forward as to the side. Due to the last hurricane that came near the islands (about 10 years ago), the near-shore bottom was pretty much scraped clean of marine growth/coral. As a result, Atlantis spent a fair amount of time and money creating artificial reefs so as to attract fish and coral growth.

The first of the reefs is called "Pyramids" because of the shape of the concrete blocks. This is a Japanese design that creates a series of floors and ceilings that the smaller fish can hide in. Hiding is something smaller fish need to do to keep from getting eaten by larger predatory fish. Hence, if the bottom is clean of hiding spaces, you won't find many fish hanging around. Conversely, creating a multitude of spaces for small fish will result in fish congregating there. In addition, coral and other marine organisms will soon build their homes, thus creating even more places for small fish. And where there are small fish, the larger fish are soon to come. And where there are sea life to look at, people will follow.

This next artificial reef is a section of an airplane. Pictured is part of the fuselage but the entire plane was sunk. Over time, and with strong currents and storms, the plane has broken apart and is scattered in several places. The plane was from an inter-island airline that went bankrupt. Atlantis bought the plane, and after removing toxic materials, sank the plane to create a home for fish. The plane hasn't been underwater for that long so you don't see much marine growth, however, the fish do seem to like it.

This third reef is an old fishing boat that was no longer being used. As with the plane, it needed to be cleansed of all hazardous materials, including its fuel oil and reportedly took much time and effort to do so. The object in the center is a large turtle that has made the ship its temporary home. Be aware that the Hawai'ian green sea turtle is a protected species under state and federal law. Unfortunately, this has not stopped people from hunting these creatures almost to extinction. You can also see the beginning of coral heads, which is an indication that the ship has been there for at least 10 years.

I thought this was an interesting shot of a couple of dragon boats tied up along side the dock. We saw tourists going out in them but decided we would rather have an engine push us along rather than have to paddle this heavy thing! For those interested, you can follow the link above to the history of dragon boat racing and how it has become an international festival. As with many ancient rites, it is based on superstition but has become secularized into what it is today. In any case, the boats are colorful and are something to see when they are moving along at a fast clip. We've seen the races at Ala Moana park in which a rider sits on the head of the dragon and reaches for the flag at the finish line. Even if you cross the finish line first, you must still have the flag grasped in your hands. So it is possible for a slower boat to win if the flag-person is not good with their hands.

From dragons to birds. In this case, some flamingoes and a lone black swan. Long-time readers of this column will remember my run-in with a black swan last year on Maui. It seems the swans are rather territorial and will charge towards you if they think you are encroaching on their turf (or water, as the case may be). However, this particular one seemed tamer and would let people touch it. Being that as it may, the village grounds had water fowl of various kinds populating the many artificial lagoons and rivers. But, they are not pets. Hence, do not think you can treat them as such unless you want to be called "Lefty."

Most people think of penguins in cold climates. But from what I understand, there are more warm weather species than cold. I don't know the particular species these are from but they have a little habitat on the grounds of the village and draw quite a crowd during the twice-daily feeding times (8:00am and 3:00pm). It is during these times that the penguins are most active so if you want to see them doing something other than sleeping, those two times are when you want to be there. It is kind of cute how then line up during feeding and wait their turns to get their daily fish. I didn't have my camera with me but they all line up and are fed one-by-one. Although, there was one penguin that got tired of waiting and cut in to the front of the line. But as far as I could see, there was no retaliation by any of the others waiting. [G]

I'm out of time and this will have to be posted later than normal because I have to get to work. Tomorrow I will have a short post on the hotel we went to on Friday.

Aloha!

The First Lady of Waikiki. The Sheraton Moana Surfrider was the first hotel in Waikiki (circa 1901). As such, it is unique in many ways. I'm talking about being the location from which the original radio show "Hawaii Calls" came from in the 1930's. I'm talking about the old world little things that separate the great hotels from the also rans like changing the floor mats in the elevators, each with a greeting for good morning, afternoon, and evening. I'm talking about having high tea on the veranda in the afternoon. I'm talking about a grand piano in the lounge and an opera trained singer to go with it. I'm talking about a host giving you a lei as you check in.

The Moana is where we stayed last Friday. It was a gift to celebrate our wedding anniversary from my step-daughter. But be aware that since the hotel is old, and if you stay in the original Banyan Tower as we did, you have to understand what that means. It means the rooms, while larger than a standard hotel room, were not designed for modern conveniences like electricity. So don't be surprised to see electrical conduit running along the baseboards. And don't be surprised to smell a certain mustiness in a room older than some countries. And don't be surprised if the wooden floors of the lanai creak a little when you walk on them.

Still, if you want to experience things from a bygone era, this is the place to stay.

Danger Will Robinson. Feel to skip this as it will be your standard rant about ThePhoneCompany. In this case, it's Verizon. Both in its incarnation as a wireless and also as an Internet provider.

First the wireless. I've had problems using their on-line automatic bill paying from the start. It took them months and numerous phone calls before they got their act together and started automatic payments from my credit card. But eventually things settled down and all was well.

That is, until they decided to switch their billing company. That's when things went down hill again. Out-of-the blue, I get a notice that I've not paid my wireless bill. Hmmm. That should be impossible being that I have automatic payment of the bill. But leave it to the phone company to get that wrong.

So I call the number on the bill for these types of questions and speak to someone who says they have no information regarding any automatic payments for my account. Hmmmm. Since I've been doing this for over a year, that seems improbable, if not impossible. So he transfer's me to Finance and someone named "Crystal".

Crystal tells me about a recent change in billing company and how a mere handful of customers had problems - me being one of them. But don't worry, all I have to do is make the June payment and the July one will be automatically deducted as before. She suggests I go to their website and make the payment via credit card. Which I do. At least, I go to their website and try to find a way of paying a single payment via credit card as I am already signed-up for automatic monthly payments. I seem to find a way of doing so but decided to check back the next day to make sure the payment was made.

The next day I check, and sure enough, no payment. Sigh. In addition, my automatic payment plan has now been deleted and no payments are being made. Further, there does not appear to be a way of reinstating the automatic payments. The only options available are "On Demand" payments, which means I have to log-in each month and go through this system that is not working. Sigh.

I wait one more day and sure enough, all the options are back. So I change my "no payments" to automatic payment via charge card. This morning, I get an email from Verizon saying I can not change to automatic payments because I already have another type of payment plan in place. It does not say what type of plan in place, only that I can't change it. But as far as I can see, the plan I have is no payments at all as none are occurring.

I should mention that all during this time I'm getting bills in the mail saying I am past due and they will terminate service. If these cell phones weren't for my mother and wife I would terminate their f*#king service and switch to someone else (which I may do anyway). As it is, my own service is through AT&T. Say what you will about them, but at least they get the billing right.

And now for the land-line side of the story. I get Internet access through Verizon ADSL. The posted speed is 768 down/128 up, or at least, that's what used to be posted. Verizon recently made some changes and their website no longer indicates what the residential speed is. All they say is they are much faster than dial-up. They also used to say how they were faster than cable modems but they no longer say that either (which is a good thing because 768 down is about half of what I got via RoadRunner cable service. In fact, at times, I got between 2 and 3mb/sec. Once you've experienced that kind of speed, dropping down to 768 seems like running in molasses).

In any case, Verizon recently lowered the price of this service, and according to the Verizon person I talked to on the phone, they also increased the speed to 1.5mb/sec. Hmmm. I know that's what they said, but I'm still barely getting 700kb/sec. So the person checks to see if my line is qualified for 1.5/sec and after a short delay, the answer is yes, it is. So why aren't I getting 1.5 or something close to it? They can't tell me, but will gladly transfer me to customer service so I can find out.

As many of you know, customer service is seen as a cost center and thus, something that must be minimized. Hence, while I got a sales representative in under three rings, I am put on hold when I need to speak to customer service. And hold I am for five minutes before I give up.

When will a company realize that I would be willing to pay a little more if they acted as if the money I pay to them runs their business? That I would loyally stick with a company that acts as if the customer is not a disruption to their business plan, but rather is the most important piece?

I am sick and tired of being treated like rubbish. I am the customer. My money pays their inflated salaries. I refuse to bend over and say thank you to service that isn't even of minimal quality.

Aloha!

iPronto. Which TV remote weighs two pounds and costs $1,700USD? The Philips iPronto Wireless Home Control Center (see it here). It has an electronic TV program guide that downloads from the Internet via Wi-Fi connection (PCMCIA slot with removable IEEE 802.11b wireless network adapter included), large LCD touch screen display, and pre-programmed codes for probably most of the A/V gear you may have.

I gotta run.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Verizon Horizon. As most readers of this site know, I began using two different broadband connections over six months ago to have redundant access to the Internet. This was because, inter alia, I was nearing the completion of my Masters thesis and access was critical to my completing it.

Once I graduated, I re-evaluated the need to have two connections, one through RoadRunner cable modem and the other through Verizon ADSL modem. I eventually decided to terminate the RoadRunner service, even though RoadRunner was at least twice as fast, and sometimes three times faster than ADSL.

I did this because RoadRunner was so unreliable, at least in my area. The connection would go down almost every day, sometimes more than once in that day. When I would call for technical support, the earliest a technician could come out was in two weeks. So, for the past month or two I've been living with a "slow" 768kb/s ADSL connection that has gone done only once since I started service (although there has been intermittent problems with DNS).

Recently, Verizon lowered the cost of the service and, this is the important part, increased the speed to 1.5Mb/s! The trick is, you have to call Verizon tech support to request the service and, of course, your line has to be qualified to run at that speed. Otherwise, the cost is the same so it seems a no brainer to request the higher speed.

Having no brain, I called Verizon on Saturday and they say the upgrade will occur within five working days. I hope to report in a week or so that the change has occurred, but who knows?

In either case, if you are a Verizon ADSL residential user at 768k, you may want to look into this as I don't know of any downsides. YMMV.

Cleaning Windows or How to set-up Windows XP in 147 steps or less. DiveIntoMark decided to document some of the steps he takes when WindowsRot(tm) sets in and it's time to reinstall Windows (see the post here). Having said all of what he says, in my opinion, it's still easier and faster than doing the same in Linux due to the installation programs that work in Windows. Upgrading or installing a non-trivial application in Linux is a walk through a mine field. Not impossible, mind you, but make one mistake and it will ruin your whole day.

I'm still optimistic that Linux on the desktop will become a reality someday, it's just not today.

Common Market. I guess it was only a matter of time but here comes the American Action Market (see it here). The first parody of the ill-fated Policy Analysis Market mentioned here earlier this week. Some of what is on the site:

Some of the contracts traded on AAM will be based on objective data and observable events, as on a horse track, e.g.

• the next White House lie to break into the news
• the next country to which the White House will issue an ultimatum, and when
• the next foreign leader to move from the CIA payroll to White House "most wanted" list
• the lifespan of various DARPA projects, such as Total Information Awareness [site] and Babylon [site]
• the first White House staffer to resign in disgrace, and when
• the President's approval rating on the day before Saddam is captured or killed

Aloha!

Where Do You Really Want to Go Today? BusinessWeek is making the case that Apple should, and is, becoming more than a PC manufacturer (see the story here). Indeed, the model being followed looks more like Sony than IBM.

Tim O'Reilly, founder and president of O'Reilly & Associates, says the push into services [by Apple] is a step in the right direction....As software and services become more important -- both to consumers and to generate revenue -- Apple's moves to capitalize on its brand and bring simple, elegant software and services to the Windows world makes sense...

O'Reilly likens it to the same strategic decision Sony made when it abandoned its Betamax video-recording technology in favor of the more popular but inferior VHS: "At some point Sony decided to compete on brand, software, design, and quality. That's what Apple has to do."

Perhaps Apple isn't dead yet.

Going Ape. In the spirit of yesterday's parody site, I bring today's candidate - Primate Programming Inc: The Evolution of Java and .NET Training.

So you want to keep programming jobs from going offshore to India but don't want to pay good salaries to do it? Is that sucking sound you hear the sound of highly skilled programmers in Pakistan taking the bacon from your plate? Well then, switch to Primate Programming at 69 cents an hour.

An Infinitive Number of Monkeys. Let's face it, some people are anal. You know them, the knitpickers. The guys and gals that just have to point out the cliche we just used. But even as a broken clock is right twice a day, and even as area residents clash with police amid the backdrop of pedestrians plunging to their deaths, I guess they have a point.

So I shouldn't be surprised that someone put up a list of what they call "100 Groaners" - words or phrases used in print/TV that does not belong in conversations (see the site here. But don't blame me if officials say the mastermind behind the scenes is creating a firestorm of controversy in a teapot).

Aloha!

Ahh, this is the life. The wind in your hair, the bugs in your teeth. Yes, the life of a dog with his/her head out the car window. But as any well dressed dog knows, you have to have the shades. Indeed, no fashion forward dog would be caught without them. In this case, they are called Doggles (see their site here).

Not only do they look cool, but they were used post September 11th to protect the eyes of search dogs from dust and debris. The site says the lenses are anti-UV coated, made of tough polycarbonate so they are shatter resistant, anti-fog, and foam padded to provide a good fit.

Speaking of Cool. Foreign Policy has an article (see it here) about "Japan's Gross National Cool." The main point is that Japan is in the process of reinventing itself. By moving from the economic powerhouse of the 1980s, that everyone was trying to emulate, to the globalization of its "pop music to consumer electronics, architecture to fashion, and food to art, Japan has far greater cultural influence now than it did in the 1980s, when it was an economic superpower."

Whether this is a Good Thing I can't say...Thanks to Joi Ito for the link.

Turn Your Head and Cough Robo Doc has come to town, or at least to Johns Hopkins Hospital (see the story here).

Billed as the world's first remote-presence robot by its manufacturer, InTouch Health Inc, the robotic system works something like an ultrarealistic video game, complete with a joystick for moving it about. Looking at a computer terminal, the doctor directing the robot sees what the robot sees and hears what the robot hears. At the other end, patients can see and talk to the doctor's face displayed on a flat screen that sits on the robot's "shoulders." All of this is connected to the Internet via broadband and a wireless network. "Many health care facilities and long-term care communities lack the resources to maintain a staff of all the medial specialists needed," says Kavoussi. "The robot has the potential to fill this vacuum by enabling remote medical experts to ‘virtually' consult with caregivers, patients, residents and family members at the point of care, whenever and wherever they are needed."

Somehow, I don't thing the developers of tele-medicine had this in mind...Thanks to BoingBoing for the link.

Aloha!

I see fellow Daynoter Mike Barkman is reporting he has a tumour located "at the opening of the oesophagus into the stomach, and it does extend back up the pipeline for 8 cm or so" (see his post here). Sorry to hear of your medical problems Mike. I hope all goes well regarding your treatment. Know we are all pulling for you.

On related note, Robert Bruce Thompson's mother is not doing all that well.

If could spare come good thoughts/prayers for the two of them it would be appreciated.

Double Secret Probation. Or what should the creator of this toy get? I mean reeeeeaaaally, "Elite Force Aviator" action figure my foot. If he's an elite anything (other than just plain elitist), then an actor will win the governorship of California. Oh, wait.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

I had hoped that I could report that Verizon had increased the download speed of my ADSL service from 768 to 1.5mb/sec, as they had said they would in five days. But I can't. I called Verizon on Saturday, seven days after making the original request and Tech. Support (sounded like someone from India) said it was scheduled for today. Oh well, I guess it's okay to tell customers that a service will start in five days when you actually mean nine (if then).

I'll check on the speed when I get home this afternoon and let you know tomorrow.

Speaking of Inferior Support. For at least five years, I've had pager service through a local company that provide superior service. Pages reached me within 10 to 15 seconds of being sent. Sometimes, just to test the service, I would send myself a page and almost as soon as I hung up the phone the page would come in.

But, came the day when the local company was bought up by a national one. And little by little, the local company no longer was. First, they closed all of the local retail stores, laying off all of the workers, so you could no longer buy the pagers locally. Then they closed all of the service centers, laying of all of the workers, so that if you needed service on your pager you had to mail it to the mainland.

Now, the once responsive local company is nothing but a data center in a warehouse in a seedy part of town.

So when I needed a replacement for my pager, I had to talk to someone on the mainland. They sent me a cheap Chinese made replacement for my original Motorola. But only, it didn't work. Of course, this being a Friday afternoon local time, their technical support had long since closed for the weekend.

So I called them this morning and their first line technical support could not find anything wrong. So it is being escalated to their second tier. If only they had a local office I could just walk in, show them the problem, and get another. But no, I can't do that.

Except, I've decided if they can't fix things on their end, and I have to mail the pager back to them, I will terminate service with them and find a local company that has their own retail stores and technical support here. If I can't find such a company, I will simply not use a pager anymore and switch to my cell phone.

Aloha!

Geek Alert! For you non-geeks out there, you may want to skip on down to the next item. For everyone else, here's the story of what may be the longest flight of a civilian radio controlled model airplane so far (see it here and here. Note both sites, but especially the second will probably expire the announcements so get'um while their hot).

The TAM 5 took off from Cape Spear, New Foundland, Canada and landed 38 hours and 1,888 miles (~3,040km) later in Mannin Beach, County Galway, Ireland. Of course, the craft was controlled by humans only at launch and landing as it would have been very difficult to have someone follow the slow moving model plane (cruising at about 45mph). Otherwise, the plane was controlled by an onboard micro-processor autopilot that took its position from GPS satellites and followed a pre-programmed route.

While this is not the first unmanned Atlantic crossing, it is reportedly the first that meets the definition of a "genuine model airplane." Model airplane being defined as, among other things, weighing less than 11 pounds (~4.9kg) and an engine cylinder displacement of less than 10cc.

In either case, this is an amazing accomplishment and all should be proud of their work.

I've always said less, is more. That is, I tend to write short posts, when I write something at all, because I don't believe filling a screen full of words necessarily helps to convey a point. Doing so may not hurt, but it rarely helps.

Some long-winded people can write essays pages long that say the same thing I say in a couple of paragraphs. Does that make them "smarter" or their post "better" because they can write so much? I don't think so, although many do, perhaps impressed by the length of the posts.

But now comes usability guru Jakob Nielsen's recent posting on the subject (see it here). Now, I'm the first to say I don't always agree with Mr. Nielsen, but in this case I do. In summary, he's saying:

Excessive word count and worthless details are making it harder for people to extract useful information. The more you say, the more people tune out your message.

I think as the amount of data we encounter each second increases, we either have to become more selective in what we read or become overwhelmed and tune everything out.

That's not to say long-form essays should always be avoided. But if you want to convey an idea, keep is simple. If you can't do that, then perhaps you don't know the subject as well as you should.

Aloha!

Tomorrow is a state holiday (Admissions Day) so I won't have a post up. In fact, there won't be much of a post today, even though I scoured the 'Net trying to find interesting tidbits to report or comment on. I guess it's just one of those days.

For those who enjoy photography, you might find something interesting at this photoblog site here. If you don't like that one, perhaps you might like PhotoFriday, the weekly photography challenge. And if that doesn't get your limp Leica crying Mamiya!, then try the Theme Thursday site. Similar theme, different day.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Gee, I take a one-day holiday and the world goes to you know where, without the aide of a handbasket.

Speaking of which, fellow Daynoter Mike Barkman got the good news/bad news last week (see it here). You can follow the link to see the verdict so I won't repeat it here, but I am reminded of an old joke:

A secretary walked into her boss's office and said, "I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you."

"Why do you always have to give me bad news?" he complained. "Tell me some good news for once."

"All right, here's some good news," said the secretary. "You're not sterile."

I know, some of you out there are saying how can I be so crass at a time like this? But I think that misses the point.

Mike is still with us. He hasn't gone anywhere, although many people may start referring to him as if he has. While he's here, he's still the same person he was week ago. The same man with the positive attitude that has weathered the storms that life has sent his way. Just because he has a time frame to deal with (as we all do, whether we realize it or not) doesn't mean he's lost his sense of humor.

So lighten up a bit and celebrate a life well lived.

My Wallpapper for the week is from NASA's Earth Observatory page here. The image was taken aboard the International Space Station by astronaut Ed Lu using the now discontinued Kodak DCS760 six-megapixel digital camera (based on the Nikon F5 body) with a 400mm lens. The image is of "The sliver of the setting moon and clouds that shine at night - noctilucent clouds...Noctilucent clouds are very high clouds that look like cirrus clouds, but are much higher (75-90 km above the Earth’s surface) than clouds that we observe every day. They are optically thin and can only be observed during twilight hours, when the sun is just below the horizon and only shines on the uppermost atmosphere."

Aloha!

[rant_power="giga-watts"] Is there a role for government in monopoly industries such as power generation? You're damned f@#$ing right there is. I'm sick and tired of being reasonable in the face of people who hide behind "deregulation" when all they want is the unfettered right to rip people off.

I am fed up with leaches who slide behind the banner of deregulation.

I am fed up with industry attorneys and lobbyists wearing the cloak of "free enterprise" when what they want is neither free nor enterprise.

And finally, I am fed up with investors that make life more dangerous for me and my family because they don't care how they make their money as long as they make as much as possible. If you won't take responsibility for your actions, then I guess someone else will (see here how one company is behaving differently, and making money doing it).

See how FirstEnergy of Ohio, and its predecessors have put profit before public interest because it made them more money (in the short run) by reading US presidential candidate Dennis J. Kucinich on Larry Lessig's blog here.

What happened there has happened all around the country. Are you better off now then you were before deregulation? Is your phone service better? Is your bank better? Is there more quality TV programs to watch or better radio stations to listen to?

The open market economy may be the most efficient way of setting a fair price. But efficiency is the enemy of reliability and in certain industries, like power generation or banks, reliability is the critical need.

There is a small difference between spinning the truth and lying. I'll leave it up to you to decide which is which when you read this US House of Representatives site that lists various public policy issues that the current US President has tried to affect by, shall we say, means other than the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth (see it here). Thanks to the Doc for the link.

License to Steal Most software purchased by you isn't really yours. By that I mean you purchase a license to use the software under certain conditions. You literally do not own the software. Go ahead, you can stop reading this post and go and read the small print license on almost any commercial software you purchased. Come back when you're done.

Okay, now that you're back, many of the newer licenses are now time limited. You know the kind where you purchase a license to use the software for a period of time. In many cases, the period of time is until the next version comes out. Then, the license (and the software) would expire and you could no longer use the program unless you paid for a new license.

In other cases, the period of time is set. That is, you can use it for one or two years after which you must buy another license, even if there have been no changes to the program. In most cases, the company will probably do a token update to give their marks customers the impression that they are getting something new for their money but not necessarily so.

This model essentially locks you into paying for the same service for the rest of your natural life. Contrast this with, for example, your buying a car or home. In these instances, when you finish paying off the loan, the car or home is yours. You own it and can do what you will with it. Under the license model, you never own the product. To continue the analogy, this would be a lease on a property or auto. You pay and pay, but never own.

As you would imagine, most people prefer to own what they pay for rather than leasing. And within the bounds of what you can afford, you have the choice. But what happens if you could no longer have that choice? What would you do if you could no longer own your home or car? How would things be if you were forced to lease them for ever and you could never own either?

Well, that's where we seem to be heading with software. As the industry matures and the growth potential curve levels off, companies are looking for ways to keep the money rolling in. Hence, many software companies are now switching to licenses that expire and force you to continuously pay them money, even if there have been no updates/upgrades.

I realize that if a commercial company doesn't make a profit it can not exist. But I also know when I'm being ripped off, and licensing positively reeks of this.

So, while you still have a choice, take a look around and see if you can't find alternatives to companies that see you not as a customer but instead as an open wallet to be plundered.

[rant=off]

Aloha!

There's a brief article from the UK Independent (see it here) that says the speed of modern communications is reducing the take Hollywood makes on its looser movies. In this case, they're talking about instant messaging and teenagers linked by cellphones.

In years past, it would take a day or two before the smell of a stinker would spread. Now, while the first viewers are still in the theater they are messaging their friends with a thumbs down. Obviously, if Hollywood would produce better movies the instant word of mouth could work to help them but this seems to have escaped the brains of the moguls.

In local news, some who feel it is legal to discriminate against others based on race went into hyperdrive yesterday when a federal judge ordered the private Christian Kamehameha Schools (founded in 1887) to enroll a non-Hawaiian student.

The case is a very complex one and this is just a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. Yet to be decided is the underlying constitutional question of the school's controversial admissions policy that gives preference to students of Hawaiian ancestry based on the will of the late Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop.

One point of view is that since this is a private school, and accepts no federal funding, they should be able to have whatever admissions policy they wish to.

But the counter view is that constitutional protections do not end at the school gate. Hence, if there is illegal discrimination the long arm of the law could and should intrude into the operations of the school.

Whether this case will be the one to break the will of the princess I don't know. But if it isn't, there will be other test cases and I think eventually one will do so.

In my opinion, the trustees of the school should be preparing for that day rather than being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Disclosure: I attended the Kamehameha Schools for a short time but did not graduate from there.

Aloha!

Disclaimer: Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. (Insert my disclaimer here and the standard one here)

One blogger seems to be saying people are just people and you can't expect them to learn how to do everything themselves. His examples include how most people would call a plumber when they had a plumbing problem rather than, I suppose, try to fix it themselves.

I agree there is a time to do that, but I think each of us needs to have a minimum amount of understanding of how things work. So, to a certain degree, yes you must learn how to do everything. At least, everything you need to get what you want.

Let me give you a purely hypothetical analogy that is not based on any person, living or dead, in the past, present, or future. Suppose someone buys a shiny new Mercedes S600. While they may be rich, that doesn't mean they know anything about how cars operate. But the salesperson shows how to do the basics like opening the door, starting the car, and putting it in gear. In other words, the bare minimum that anyone needs to know how to get the car ready to go.

But, for whatever reason, the new owner can't seem to understand the part about opening the door. I mean, why does she have to use a key, especially one made specifically for this lock? Why can't all locks be the same so that all keys would open them? That would make life much simpler for the owner as she wouldn't need to remember where she put her keys. Better yet, have no locks at all! Why do we need locks anyway, all they do is slow her down from getting in. Clearly, locks do not facilitate her desire critical need to drive the car.

But, with the help of the salesperson she drives off the lot and takes her car home. The next day, she wants to go shopping but can't seem to figure out how to open the door. Clearly, the problem is with the door since she is rich and, by her definition, she can never be the problem in any situation. She demands that the car dealer install a new lock - which, the dealer wanting to please their rich customer, does.

Of course, this doesn't solve the problem because she still can't open the door. Well, clearly the problem must be in the poor workmanship of the dealer when they installed the new lock. Surely the problem is not with the owner so she has her lawyer write a demand letter stating the entire door must be replaced. Again, the dealership wanting to keep their rich customer, does so.

But heck if she still can't open the door. Clearly she must have a "lemon". So she fires her original lawyer because clearly he is incompetent, bad mouths him to all her rich friends, and has a new law firm sue the dealership.

So what's my point? Think about PC security. If you don't know what a network is, if you don't know why passwords are required, if you don't even understand what the fuss is about security - YOU WILL NEVER FEEL THE NEED TO LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT IT. And as long as you feel that way, you will make life less bearable for the others that do understand.

Well, you say, so what? What does it matter to me? It matters to me because I'm the guy that has to figure out what is going wrong and fix it. Even as the the person who is having problems is giving me information that has nothing to do with what is wrong. No, the network does not have to be reinstalled. No, Lotus Notes does not need to be reinstalled. No, Windows is working as designed. No, I installed all of the above in working order before I set the PC on your desk.

What you have to do is reset an expired password.

If you don't understand, at least at a functioning level, how things work, please realize the problem lies within you, not everyone else. Any resemblance to someone with brains, living or dead is purely coincidental.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

The specific image is of Mr. Tom Kobayashi, an internee at Manzanar.

Many of the images are available as medium resolution jpegs and/or high resolution tiff files for free download. Note that the tiff files can be as large as almost 20MBs so pause and reflect on this before clicking on one of them. Note also that you can purchase 8 X 10 inch or 11 X 14 inch archival quality prints from the negatives directly from the Library of Congress for something like $60US. This is a bargain seeing that Adams prints regularly sell for $175 and originals, printed by Adams, run as high as $40,000.

Another source of Adams's prints is the University of California Fiat Lux collection here. The collection includes 1,761 images from a book commissioned by the University of California to commemorate its centennial celebration. From start to finish Adams took four years to complete the task of photographing the various campuses.

Photo Credit: 87.27.6.UCSD.11.10 - Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, long wharf, sculpture of native american plaque. Contemporary Image from Original Negative by Ansel Adams, UCR/California Museum of Photography, Sweeney/Rubin Ansel Adams Fiat Lux Collection, University of California, Riverside.

And finally, over 200 images from an effort for the US Department of the Interior to document the western national parks see it here. The title for this one is: Erupting, against dark sky, "Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone National Park," Wyoming. (vertical orientation).

You can directly search the US National Archives & Records Administration here for this and other items.

I don't know if I've mentioned it here or not but Adam's images of the national parks, especialy Yosemite and Yellowstone are my favorites. I bought a print from the Adams Gallery called "Moon and Half Dome" (see it here) a couple of years ago. If I had the money, I'd get a bunch more.

Fair and Balanced. Not. I'm heartened to see that comedian Al Franken's new book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" has its sales boosted by the misguided lawsuit filed by Fox News (see the story here).

This story is filled with irony. Who would of thought a news organization, protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution, would try to institute prior restraint on a work like Franken's? And Hollywood could not have written a character more full of himself than one of their spokesman who said; "the network was 'considering its options' on whether to pursue the case. 'We don't care if it's Al Franken, Al Lewis or "'Weird Al'" Yankovic,' he said. 'We're here to protect our trademark and our talent.'"

Talent. Is that how they view their reporters?

Aloha!

Striking Out. The morning commute today is more of an adventure then most days due to a bus drivers strike (see one short account here). Traffic, which is usually very heavy because of our overloaded highways, began slowing down even earlier than normal. Of course, it is purely coincidental that the strike was set to start on the first day of public school getting back in session. See some of the traffic cams here to see how things are going, or not, as the case may be.

Apply Yourself. Follow this link here to a paper on applied learning. That is, a paper that tries to make a link between a theory of learning and how to apply what it infers.

The human mind evolves by arranging perceptions by means of connections. Applied to learning, this means that it is important to understand how the mind makes connections, at different moments in time, and to develop tasks and learning experiences that complement the connection patterns and preferences. This paper outlines some of the categories around which adults perceive and to develop connections, and offers practical applications for online learning within the framework of those categories.

Aloha!

Is that an Antares in your pocket or do you just have perfect pitch? Since before music went digital, singers have tried to make their voices sound better than they were. Whether it was using their own voices to sing harmony with to creating huge rooms to act as echo chambers, singers and their record producers have tried to make the proverbial silk purse out of a sows sighs.

Comes now the latest in computer digital magic, the autotuner (see the story here)

With musicians on the road touring for weeks on end, the autotuner has become a safety net that catches the occasional clinker on days when their voices may be off. (In a nutshell, the autotuner is told what key the vocal is in and analyzes the wave form in real time. If the singer is off-key, it will adjust the pitch to the closest note in that key.)

I'm not sure which would be worse, having a singer lip-synching to a perfect recording or having them singe live but through so much digital processing that they might as well be lip-synching. I guess the question becomes at what point does a live performance cross-over?

Global Warming: Superstition or Science? See this review of the book Taken by Storm:

One errant public metaphor discussed in Taken by Storm describes the earth's climate as a greenhouse. The air's content of carbon dioxide, methane and other infrared-absorbing gases emitted by human activities has increased, especially in the last 50 years. The increase in the amount of gases in the air acts to keep a fraction of energy in the climate system that would have otherwise escaped to space. In the simplified scientific starting point, that added energy should result in some global warming.

But the climate system does not act like a greenhouse, which mechanically blocks the flow of air, and thus keeps the enclosed air warm.

Climate is not that simple. It is a rich, nonlinear system where small changes in one of its many elements or variables may cascade to greatly affect others. Compound that with millions of variables, many interacting significantly with each other as one, two, then more, respond. Intricate computer simulations try to incorporate what is known in order to get to the important point: how the climate responds to the relatively small amount of energy added by the air's increased carbon dioxide content. But the climate system is not yet sufficiently known, and therefore, the simulations include uncertainties and their consequences as they cascade through the equations. [emphasis in the original]

Aloha!

A Jedi Knight would you be? Careful be you what you seek. See the clone tapes of the guy who was just goofing off playing Jedi knight but was unfortunate enough to have taped what he was doing and had some "friends" who uploaded it to the Internet. See the "Star Wars Kid" and the Clone Tapes here. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Speaking of Physics. Stupid movie physics that is, or as Hollywood producers would call it, enhanced effects. This site here debunks a lot of the special effects you see in movies. From guns that fire thousands of rounds without having to reload their 30-round magazines to people running through plate glass windows without getting cut to shreds, this site has it all.

Aloha!

I'm at home today making this a long US Labor Day holiday. But there is no rest for the weary as I am still painting the interior of our front house. I hope to be done within a week but that depends on how tired I get.

In the mean time, check out any of the other Daynoters and perhaps Doc Searls.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha

You Have Spam. Silicon Valley columnist Dan Gillmor has set his sites on e-mail and finds it wanting (see it here). According to Gillmor, from spam to viruses, the vital role e-mail has served is rapidly coming to a close.

While there are solutions, the probability that any will be implemented is next to zero. The reasons for this are many. Some are economic. Some are social. All make easy solutions unlikely.

Hence, he seems to be abandoning e-mail as a failed experiment and is moving to instant messaging and RSS feads. I wish him luck because it is but a matter of time before both is co-opted by businesses just trying to make a buck.

Missed It By THAT Much. Hurricane Jimena brushed past the Big Island yesterday morning causing, thank God, only minimal damage. When you live on an island in the middle of the Pacific you take these threats seriously.

While I'm no weather forecaster, it appears there was a strong upper level high pressure region North of the islands that forced the hurricane South and eventually split the storm up into three cells. This avoided what could have been a Very Bad Thing - the direct impact of a Category 2 storm over a populated area. Had that occurred, power would have been out for months, thousands would have lost their homes, and many could have died.

Instead, surfers got a treat and farmers got some much needed rain.

Aloha!

I've never considered myself to have "Golden Ears." That is, people who say they can hear the difference between $30,000USD Class-A 10-watt audio amplifiers or who use green paint on the edges of music CDs because they say it keeps the laser light from bouncing through the edge and creating spurious signals or who place their CD players on top of granite slabs suspended on bladders so as to reduce the vibrations that "color" the music.

But I don't recall ever seeing one of these people do any double-blind tests and reliably pick which is which. They may be able to tell a difference between test subjects, but not which is which nor which is "better" (Deciding what is better would be a whole section of study. Indeed, I seem to recall a study that tested a system that was very flat across the spectrum versus one that had deliberate emphasis in the low and high ends. Guess which one was considered to be the better of the two by subjects? Yup, the non-linear one.).

So it was with great amusement I read a test report (see it here) on one-metre audio cables costing between $200 to $400 per cable. Yes, that's right. For what you or I would pay for a pretty good receiver, these people pay for a single audio cable.

Yes, the cable may be made of pure silver with gold plated tips. Yes, the cables are marked for direction (I didn't know wires needed to have the direction of flow labeled, figuring electrons would flow from the source regardless which end of the cable you used, much less causing a change in timbre because of it). Yes, they are sheathed in the finest designer woven jackets.

But again, where are the double-blind tests to determine if a statistically valid difference can be reliably perceived, and if so, what objective criteria are used to determine which is "better"?

If you are interested in audio equipment, take a look at this site here that lists links that debunk the "snake oil" audio claims that these high-end manufacturers make. The money you save may be your own.

Aloha!

The evening news last night was a twitter with the Aquada amphibious car (see the story here or the Flash enabled corporate site here). At a projected price of over $200,000USD, I don't think they'll be able to sell the projected 100 cars per year they say they will be building. But then, what do I know?

In any case, I'm sure it will show up in the next James Bond film with Q demonstrating how the hub caps conceal spinning knife blades and the head lights are actually lasers. But I think Miss Moneypenny will have problems demurely entering the vehicle since there are no doors so you have to climb over the side to get in.

But small quibbles aside, how fast will she go? About 100 mph on land and about 30 mph in the water according to the press reports. For $200,000 you would think it would hold the land speed record but I guess not.

The ice cream is in the refrigerator, but there is no joy in Hanapepe as word of the demise of Walter Lappert spread. Lappert's ice cream is world renown for its rich, creamy textures from 16 to 18 percent butterfat compared to the usual 10 percent in other brands. Lappert, who came to Kaua'i in the early 1980s to "retire", started an ice cream business to keep him busy.

Little did he know the business would grow to have stores not only on all of the main Hawaiian islands but also in California, Nevada, and Arizona. SWMBO and I were fortunate enough to have some of his ice cream this past July when we were staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki. There may be others that are as good, but there is none better.

We will miss him.

Aloha!

Life is but an illusion. Go to this page here to see some unreal optical illusions. The page is kind of big and the bits are coming from Japan so be patient and all will be revealed. Although, not all of the illusions work for me, the first "Rotating Snakes" is pretty cool.

Otter: I think this situation absolutely requires that a really futile, stupid gesture be done on somebody's part!
Bluto: And we're just the guys to do it.

The above quote has nothing to do with anything other than I was over at Amazon.com getting something for SWMBO (shh, it's a secret) when I accidentally added the item to my wish list instead of the shopping cart. I did not realize this until I went to checkout and couldn't find one of the items I thought I had ordered.

By applying my superior powers of intellect (i.e., pure luck - ed.) I deduced what I had done and deleted the item from aforementioned wish list. Unfortunately, I didn't want to have a wish list account but I guess the fact I had added the item to it will forever more mean I have one. No, there's nothing in it nor will you find any other information there.

But this got me to thinking (a novel experience, to be sure - ed.) and I decided to checkout what the other Daynoters may have on their lists.

John Doucette's name came up for five lists but none were in Canada. I bet John didn't know there were so many of him running around.

Chris Ward-Johnson, of St Felix de Pallieres, France wants a copy of "Desserts from Your Bread Machine: Perfect Every Time: Cakes, Cookies, Pastries, Doughnuts, Sticky Buns, and Other Recipes You Never Thought You Could." Yup, I'd guess that'd be our Good Doctor K. Although I wonder where he's been since he hasn't posted for awhile.

Brian Bilbrey's name came up once but was listed in Kentucky. I don't think our Brian has moved that far south but who knows? If so, someone should tell Sally before she starts wondering what happened to her human tennis ball chaser.

Steve Tucker must be a popular name because 25 of them have wish lists. I don't know if any of these are Daynoter Steve's though.

One Dan Bowman of Modesto, California is wishing for "Embracing the Fear: Learning to Manage Anxiety and Panic Attacks". Things must be a bit tense over in the Central Valley.

Ben Ator has a passel of paperbacks too many to list.

There are four Moshe Bar's out there wishing you would buy them stuff and four Frank McPherson's.

There are three John Dominik lists, two of which are located in Minneapolis, MN. Each of the two in Minnesota (The Cadillac Engine State) have geek enriched stuff like "Teach Yourself MS SQL Server 2000 in 21 Days" and "Mac OS 9: The Missing Manual" so this indeed could be our man in Minnesota, don'tcha think?

The thing about wish lists though, if people don't know you have one, they probably won't buy anything from it. In addition, some of the lists are quite old, and if anyone actually wants any of the stuff on their list, they should update it.

Correction to yesterday's post. I have to plead massive stupidity for calling Jasc Paint Shop Pro, Photo Shop instead. I don't know why I did that, other than as a test for reader Jon Barrett (which he passed with flying colors). In addition, Aussie Don Armstrong (G'day mate) reminded me of another program that I should have considered: IrfanView. I'll try to take a quick look at it when I find the time but what I like about Paint Shop Pro is its one button "Enhance Photo" that runs a macro script which automagically adjusts the color balance, contrast, saturation, smoothes, sharpens, and clarifies the image. All I had to do was some minor adjustments here and there. This saved me a lot of time. Speaking of which, I'm out of time so I gotta go.

Aloha!

MacGyver would be proud of Daryl Seaton. It seems Seaton and his wife were caught in a early season snow storm in Colorado. Stranded for two days in their SUV, they waited for help. While he had a cell phone, the battery was dead, and so would he if they didn't get word to authorities. So he took the battery from his camera and a band aid and made the call that brought the helicopter to their rescue.

Back in the day of VDTs, where monitors didn't display any graphics, much less ultra wide XVGA in 16 million colors, there was ASCII art (and yes, there was p0rn even back then). Check out this site here that goes one step farther: ASCII movies. Note that they require Javascript to be enabled.

Wallpaper for the Week. The Hubble telescope does it again in this series of images of Saturn. Taken in March and April of this year, the images show Saturn's rings at their maximum tilt of 27 degrees. The maximum occurs approximately once every 30 years and gives astronomers the best view of the planet's southern pole.

The images were taken in visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light to allow researchers the opportunity to study different characteristics of Saturn's atmosphere.

Read the full story here.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

I'm at home while the plumbers/carpenters work on replacing the upstairs shower so there will not be any updates for today.

Aloha!

I'm at home waiting for the tile guy to show up. I wonder if he won't and I'm afraid he will.

Here's why. When the old tub/shower was removed and the new one installed, a gap appeared between the where the floor tile ended and the new tub began. It's about a strip two or three inches wide and runs the width of the bathroom.

So I asked the tile guy yesterday about this and was not encouraged by his answer. He would be willing to re-tile the whole floor for us without, of course, telling the general contractor about it as long as we paid him (the tile guy) cash.

First, you have to remember that the floor was re-tiled around November of last year when we did the house renovations. So I don't take it kindly when someone offers to re-do the entire floor as a "favor" to us.

Secondly, what kind of workman tries to cheat his employer out of money? Let me give you a hint, a person that you don't want in your house doing any kind of work, much less tiling the entire floor.

So it's almost 9:00am HST and no one is here. In a few minutes I will be calling the general contrator and asking him where his tile buy his and when will this supposed three-day project actually going to end. Sigh.

I get the feeling this won't be done for at least a couple of weeks and may require the filing of a law suit. Big sigh.

See this article here from Joel on Software on his version of the perfect office design.

Most software managers know what good office space would be like, and they know they don't have it, and can't have it. Office space seems to be the one thing that nobody can get right and nobody can do anything about. There's a ten year lease, and whenever the company moves the last person anybody asks about how to design the space is the manager of the software team, who finds out what his new veal-fattening pens, uh, cubicle farm is going to be like for the first time on the Monday after the move-in.

Well, it's my own damn company and I can do something about it, so I did.

Speaking of Design. The difference between a professional craftsman or woman and someone who thinks they are, but is not, is in the details. I have learned this both from our renovations of last year and from the recent bathroom repairs.

A professional, like a doctor, seeks to do no harm. That is, he or she protects the existing structure from any damage caused by their doing their work. For example, the first thing Bret Hill Construction folks did last year was lay down protective plastic on the floors and created a contained plastic lined wall surrounding the area they were currently working. On the counter tops, they laid down veneer board to protect the surfaces from damage.

Contrast this with the plumbers and tile guy from Creative Plumbing who did nothing to protect the floors and walls from damage. Thus, it is not surprising that we will need to paint the walls and scrub our less than one year old floors to correct the damage they caused. In addition, the tile guy gouged the brand new tub in two places. Even worse, he dumped his left over grout down our toilet, but did not flush it. Hence, the grout began to harden. If we hadn't noticed what he had done, the toilet could very well have been ruined.

As it is, I'm not sure how much of the grout went down into our sewer pipes and are even now clogging things up.

Secondly, a professional expects the unexpected. Anyone who has worked on existing structures knows that, over time, houses settle on their foundations. This means walls and floors are no longer even. So you have to expect to work a little harder to get things back to being plumb and true. This is to be expected and planned for. On the other hand, the tile guy swore up a storm when he found the wall studs a little out of kilter.

Which leads me to my last indicator. A professional respects the owners of the house as they, if for no other reason, are the people paying his salary. So, swearing like a sailor on shore leave after six months at sea is not professional conduct. Tracking dirt, gravel, and water into the house and on our wall-to-wall carpets does not reflect professionalism. Not having a project manager to check on the work of your sub-contractors is not professional because you will not know how well they do their job until you are served with the legal papers bringing suit against you. And finally, having a plumber drop off the bill before all of the work is completed does not engender trust as it appears you are interested more in money than ensuring the work is completed in a proper manner (which is probably the truth).

It is not difficult to see who are the professionals and who are not. The problem is, you can't tell the difference until after they start work. Sigh.

Aloha!

The spammers have finally figured out how to send their drek through the comments section of MovableType. Hence, I have reluctantly decided to close all comments (as soon as I figure out how) so my system won't be overwhelmed under an avalanche of their bovine excrement.

If MovableType can figure out a way of filtering spam so it never gets posted in the first place I will re-open the comments. But I reckon that will not be possible.

You can continue to contact me via e-mail (see the "Links" section on the right) as usual.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Another of the downsides of living on an island in the middle of the ocean is the vulnerability to tsunami. Tsunami (pronounced sue-nah-me), from the Japanese tsu for harbor and nami for wave, are the waves generated by "earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, explosions, and even the impact of cosmic bodies, such as meteorites..." Note that some in the west sometimes substitute the phrase "tidal wave" for tsunami but unless the waves were caused by the tides, this is incorrect.

Hawai'i was under a tsunami watch last week Thursday due to a magnitude 8.0 (on the Moment scale, 7.9 on the Richter - see this site here that explains the different scales) earthquake near Japan. The earthquake, centered near the island of Hokkaido, caused one death and 388 injuries (see this article here for more details).

It also created a small (3ft/0.9m) tsunami that did only local damage.

However, there have been tsunami that have killed hundreds (see the list here) including 146 on April 1, 1946 on the Big Island of Hawai'i and 61 in 1960, also on the Big Island.

Tsunami are more common that most people realize. During the period from 1900 to 2001, there were almost 800 tsunami observed or recorded in the Pacific region. Of these, over 100 caused casualties and damage near the source and nine caused widespread damage throughout the Pacific. Without exception, during every year of this period, at least one tsunami was generated.

So when the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cranks into action (see it here), we listen.

10:09 HST The center issues the first of what will be four bulletins. Bulletin 001 is an advisory that indicates a magnitude 8.1 earthquake occurred near Japan 19 minutes earlier. In the rush to get information out to the Civil Defense authorities, an incorrect estimated time of arrival (ETA) of 6:01pm ( HST) is given. In the open ocean, tsunami travel at about 500 mph (805km/hr). An ETA of 6:00pm would give us about eight hours to evacuate thousands of people living near the shore.

Based on this bulletin, all court administrators were notified of the possible arrival and perhaps the need to execute pre-arranged emergency evacuation plans.

10:27 HST Bulletin 002 corrects the ETA to 5:01pm HST. If a Pacific-wide tsunami was generated, we now have six-and-a-half hours to evacuate all near shore areas. Instituting such an evacuation is not taken lightly as the last time it was done, traffic grid lock occurred. Hence, authorities wait for confirmation of a tsunami approaching before issuing such an order. Unfortunately, as noted above, the longer you wait the less time you have to try to get people out of harms way.

11:11 HST The third bulletin raises the level of alert from an "advisory" to a "watch" as "BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA A TSUNAMI MAY HAVE BEEN GENERATED BY THIS EARTHQUAKE THAT COULD BE DESTRUCTIVE ON COASTAL AREAS EVEN FAR FROM THE EPICENTER." The next step after watch (which is instituted after all 7.5 magnitude earthquakes) is warning. A warning means a tsunami has been generated and may impact an area within the hour.

12:14 HST The final bulletin canceled the watch as "THERE IS NO DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THREAT TO THE STATE OF HAWAII." Had there been such a threat, authorities would have had four hours and forty-five minutes to get every man, woman, and child near the shore of every island to higher ground. Part of the evacuation plans for O'ahu County is the use of the public bus system. Unfortunately, said bus system was on strike at the time. Even if all of the bus drivers and mechanics had been able to get to their buses, many of the vehicles would not have been usable due to dead batteries or flat tires.

There are many lessons to be learned. The main one is we need to be able to move thousands of people out of the way in a relatively short period of time. How to do that remains unresolved. However, if we don't come up with a solution, hundreds more may die one day as it is a matter of when, not if, a Pacific-wide tsunami will come our way.

For more information on tsunami check out these sites here or here.

Aloha!

The rememberences of Walter Ozawa, Deputy Administrator, The Judiciary, State of Hawai'i:

On the evening of December 7, 1941, my father was arrested in the little plantation camp of Wahiawa, Kauai. He was separated from his wife and their family of three sons and one daughter. Later, in 1942, my mother and her children were moved to Oahu and then shortly thereafter transported to Jerome, Arkansas. Then, as the war gradually came to an end, my mother and her family were moved to Tule Lake in California. Eventually, in 1945, the family was able to return to Hawai`i.

In 1989, President George Bush signed a bill authorizing payments to be paid out for a period of eight years. Along with the monetary compensation, surviving internees were also sent a letter of apology.

My mother received such a letter. Because she still primarily speaks Japanese, I sat her down, along with my wife and our youngest son at her side, and translated the letter into Japanese:

A monetary sum and words alone cannot restore lost years or erase painful memories; neither can they fully convey our Nation's resolve to recitify injustice and to uphold the rights of wrongs of the past. But we can take a clear stand for justice and recognize that serious injustices were done to Japanese Americans during World War II.

In enacting a law calling for restitution and offering a sincere apology, your fellow Americans have, in a real sense, renewed their traditional commitment to the ideals of freedom, equality, and justice. You and your family have our best wishes for the future.

Sincerely,

George Bush

As I read the letter, my mother sat quietly, hands folded in her lap, and silently cried, tears falling from her face and onto her hands. When I finished, she sat quietly for a long while, and I was worried that the letter had brought back bitter memories of pain and fear. Then, she spoke in a small voice, "Yappari...Yappari...after all, America is a great country. That the most powerful country and the most powerful person would write such a letter to a nobody like me. This is a great country after all..."

And so, my dear friends, thank you, for you honor her, and our nation, by helping Americans to remember what America should be, and can be. The Nisei Project touched many people in many ways. You now know how you touched me.

See one article here and the Nisei Project site here.

Aloha!

Awe and Shock. This report here says a company has come up with a math processor that does 25 gigaflops. They go on to say if you stuffed a PC with 24 of these things (pretty hard to do in many PCs since you would reportedly need six PCI slots, something rather rare), at a cost of $25,000USD, you would have a desktop computer equal in power to one of the top 500 in the world. Or not. Depends on whether they actually produce any silicon.

Excess and Stupidity. If four is okay, six is good, eight better, and 12 the best, then what do you call a car with 16 cylinders displacing 13.6 litres? Call it a Cadillac. That last bastion of incredibly bad taste has a concept car (see it here) that puts out 1,000 hp/745 kW. I am at a loss of words for describing how ugly this car looks so I will say no more.

Speaking of Retro. Ford is creating a replica of their storied Le Mans winning GT40 and calling it the Ford GT. This one has half the cylinders and half the horse power of the Cadillac but will probably run rings around the Caddy due to its lighter weight and much better handling. See the Ford here.

AWGTHTGTATA. Not if you know what that means you don't. If you don't, feel free to check out yet another listing of Internet acronyms here. B4N.

Aloha!

Bidirectional, multiplexed backplane exhaustion. Yet another IT excuse generator can be found here. I was going to make a snide remark about our IT people being too dumb overworked to use one of these things but that would be mean. So I won't.

Not much going on in the Seto Shack today. We're still waiting for the plumbing contractor to finish the replacement of our shower/tub that started on the 17th of last month. I knew it would take longer than the contractor said it would but its been one month and it's still not finished. Sigh.

By the way, note to fellow Daynoter Brian Bilbrey, I keep forgetting to tell you that, if you haven't already, to evaluate your car insurance now that you are getting a house. I know it sounds strange to say you need to take a look at your car insurance but when you think about how a home is probably the most expensive asset most people will have and therefore want to protect from people going after in a law suit, it becomes clear that you want enough coverage on your car should you ever be, God forbid, in a collision. Otherwise, the asset that people may go after is your home. Not a Good Thing.

So, word to all new home buyers, if you haven't already, make sure you have enough insurance on the car.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Ian Lind is a former big-J journalist here in Hawai'i. He was part of a dying breed - the afternoon newspaper. While the newspaper he worked for is still around (in name if not spirit), they cut him loose for reasons perhaps only they will ever know or admit.

While we may mourn the loss of his voice in print, he rose again in the form of a blog (see it here). Not surprisingly, he comments mostly on things journalistic but there is more to the man than that.

For instance, check out his galleries of photos here, here, and here.

But before you think Lind has gone soft in his old age, follow this link here to more muck raking e-journalism than you can shake a stick at.

While I get the impression that Lind would like to be part of big-J journalism again someday, I think he is nonetheless savoring the twists and turns that life has placed in his way. May your path have as many turns.

Aloha!

The second annual Dilbert weasel awards are out (see them here). The usual suspects "win" so maybe it's not as interesting as it could be but I did download a couple of kewl wallpapers so maybe all is not lost.

Speaking of which, the President of the United States is arriving in our town tomorrow. Due to security concerns, his itinerary is not being released by the Secret Service. However, yesterday's TV newscast had a programming note saying they would go live at 8:00am tomorrow to show the arrival of an un-named personage. Said personage would then be viewed at the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor around mid-morning and later in the afternoon, be seen at a $1,000 to $2,000 a plate Republican political fund raiser at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The personage would then be leaving for the mainland, in his custom painted Boeing 747, around 7:00 or 8:00 pm that night.

Of course, due to security concerns, it would be inappropriate to release his name or itinerary.

My back has been acting up lately and kicked into full gear last night. It started with a muscle spasm and next thing I knew I could barely walk.

I think it even affected my sleep as I had the Student's Nightmare. You know the one where you forget about your final test in a class until it's already started so you come tearing into the classroom totally unprepared. Well, mine had a slight twist to it, not only did I come in late, but because I did, I didn't get the professor's instructions. Said instructions were that each person had been assigned a different topic to write on. Not knowing that, I did not write on the correct topic.

Speaking of school remembrances, I may have talked about this one before but it seems kind of appropriate so bare with me while I whip it out again. In undergrad school I had to take an introductory class in history. Since it was a introductory level class, and the professor understood it was required of all students, the difficultly meter was set more to the left than the right. In fact, tests were simple regurgitations of as much stuff that you could remember. No analysis. No showing you understood the underlying concepts. Just straight, wrote writing of what you had memorized. The more stuff you wrote, the higher the grade. You didn't even need to write in sentences and paragraphs - bullets or outlines were okay.

As it so happened, I had something like three or four finals in one day and, since I was not the best of undergraduate students, there was no way I could cram for that many classes in such a short time. I mean, there just wasn't enough room in short term memory for that much information so it would just sort of drain out before the end of the day. Fortunately, the history professor had given us a list of five topics that would be covered on the test. Three of the five would actually be chosen by the professor but he would not tell us which five until we were in class. Since I was trying to minimize studying working on assignments that did not return high value for my investment of time, I looked at the list of five, chose the three I thought were the ones the professor would choose, and studied those three. Fortunately for me and my future career, such that it is, I guessed right because if I hadn't, I would not have been prepared to answer any of the others. [Kids, don't do this at home. Go to your friends house instead - Ed.]

I'll be at work today but who knows if I'll make it in tomorrow. If I don't, I probably won't post as I'll be flat on my back in bed.

Aloha!

Read My Lips, No New Tuxes. Ummm, or is it no new Texas? Nope, maybe no new toxins? Nah, it's actually the rallying call of all true Republicans trying to unseat Democrats: "No new taxes." It's what our Republican Governor said just over a year ago when she was running for office. No * new * taxes. Period. End of discussion you money grubbing Democrats who just want to grab money out of our pocket for fuzzy headed social programs.

So how does Our Governor propose to pay for her proposed transit system? Yup. Raise the excise tax (not exactly but equivalent to a sales tax in other states). But that wouldn't be enough to pay for the multi-billion dollar project. So she also wants to raise the vehicle registration tax. But that wouldn't be enough either, so she wants to raise the vehicle weight tax. And the gas tax. And car rental tax. And other taxes to be named later (after, one might speculate, the approval of the project has been slipped pass the voters).

There is no magic bullet. This is exactly what I predicted would happen no matter who won the election. The budget, over the long run, can be viewed as a zero sum game. That is, if you want to spend money on a project, you have only three options: take money from existing projects, increase taxes, or do a combination of both.

If this very expensive boondogle should go forward, I will predict now she will do option three because she will have no other choice. The magnitude of the cost (once you figure in the inevitable cost overruns/graft) is just too large for it to be otherwise.

As an aside, the scope of the project includes the hated, view stealing double decked highway now PR spun as a "fly over." Fly over, I like that. It's what airplanes, miles up in the air do. Fly over. It has such a beautiful ring to it. Fly. As in soaring in the sky or as in free as a bird. This is so much better than double decked concrete freeway. Oh yes, this is so much better. Not.

I hate to blow my own horn but...I told you so. The question now is whether any Democrat is smart enough to realize there is an opportunity here? I will make another prediction - the answer will be no. Why? Because never assume any politician will forgo immediate economic gain (think of the money being transferred from everyone's pockets to a few contractors. Who then recycle those funds to the sitting politicians). This will be a cash cow with enough slop to gorge on for everyone, including Democrats. Even as each of them is slowly, one by one, picked off by Republicans talking out one side of their mouth about not raising taxes while out of the other side saying it is necessary and prudent.

Speaking of Traffic. Our City has those new fangled traffic lights that have sensors built in to detect the imminent arrival of emergency vehicles. Said traffic lights then change green so that the emergency vehicle may quickly, and hopefully safely, pass through the intersection. The traffic light sensors detect a pattern of flashes produced by special lights installed on emergency vehicles.

You can now buy such lights for your own car/SUV/truck/dilapidated run-down piece of rust. Imagine that, never having to stop for a red light again! Clear sailing through town! Never a traffic jam to slow your progress! All for only $300USD.

But wait, there's more! The devices, called mobile infrared transmitters (or MIRT for short), are apparently legal (insert disclaimer here) in at least some, if not many, states. See the story here and hope it doesn't get too wide spread where you live.

Speaking of Being Blissed Out. Neowin has screen shots of Microsoft's 4051 build of Longhorn here. Obviously, screen shots can't tell you everything about an OS but it is interesting to look at. Be aware that most of the screen shots are very large (>300KB) so don't do this without a broadband connection.

MT Feeling. MT-Blacklist anti-comment spam version 1.5 for MovableType hit the wire yesterday. Get it here from Jay Allen's site.

Sorry this posting is so late but I tried to get a section on Apple's iTunes up but just ran out of time. Maybe tomorrow. In other news, Dr. K posted. That's the good news. The bad news is the reason he hasn't doesn't so for awhile is he is getting a divorce. Sigh. This appears to be the second Daynoter to do so. Big Sigh.

Aloha!

The Great Shower Renovation is now over. After more than a month of having to use the shower in our front house, I am happy to say we can now use our own shower. The tile guy came back to re-grout the areas that were cracking this past weekend. We then had to wait 72-hours for it to dry before sealing it. A few hours after than and our new shower was ready.

It is so nice to be back to normal again (remember, there's no place like 127.0.0.1). Of course, we will need to do the same thing to our downstairs shower but I think we will wait until after the holidays for that.

Speaking of holidays, you have 56 days until Christmas. Breaking with tradition, I've already sent my first Christmas present to the mainland so I'm pretty much set. ;=}

Lastly, sorry for the late posting yesterday. I actually had it ready but did not have the time to publish it as I was working on finishing up the cleaning of our front house so we can get it rented out. If you haven't read it yet, give it a look.

Aloha!

The guy who took the photo on the left used to work for Microsoft. I say used to because he was fired. He was fired, according to his post, for publishing the picture on his blog and describing the fact that he worked in the printshop which is in the same building that MS has their receiving dock. His post, found here, recounts how his supervisor said the post had violated security by describing where he worked (the printshop) and that it was in the same building as receiving.

No, you can't know what specific building that is from what he said nor can you get that information from the photo. So it is not a giant leap of faith to reckon that he was fired for something else other than saying where he worked. One could speculate that MS does not want the world to know that they use computers with operating systems other than their own. I know it would be incredibly petty of MS to fire someone because they have evidence to the contrary, but I have no better explanation.

At this point, nothing can be done for this guy. But think about what kind of company you are supporting when you buy your next PC or piece of software. No, I'm not saying your buying decision should be based solely on politics, but perhaps the day is soon coming that making the right decision and the "politically correct" decision may be the same.

As for me, this is the needle that broke the camel's back (insert disclaimer here). I had been thinking about buying the latest version of Microsoft Office for our office. I am no longer thinking that. We can't yet convert over to OpenOffice, because it is still not ready for our needs, but if this is what happened, and there's nothing from MS saying otherwise, I will not buy another Microsoft product. Ever.

Skype's the Limit. If you are into voice-over IP, and liked KaZaA, you may want to check into Skype (see their site here). Their latest beta (version 0.94) came out yesterday and the best part is that it's free. I haven't tried it myself but it sounds interesting.

Press Zero to Exit. CNN Money has a list of 12 companies and the telephone escape codes needed to reach a person, rather than navigating through a maze of directories to reach the person you need to talk to. I hope someone will expand on this effort and let people know how to get around the various automated systems. In any case, see the post here to view the 12 they have.

Mail

To: Mike Hunt
From: Dewey, Cheetum & Howe
Subject: FW: Danger FYI "Warning. Terrorist plot on 28th."

Don't go to the bathroom on October 31st.

CIA intelligence reports that a major plot is planned for that day. Anyone who takes a poop on the 31st will be bitten on the rear by an alligator. Reports indicate that organized groups of al-Quida alligators are planning to rise up into unsuspecting American's toilet bowls and bite them when they are doing their dirty business.

I usually don't send emails like this, but I got this information from a reliable source. It came from a friend of a friend whose cousin is dating this girl whose brother knows this guy whose wife knows this lady whose husband buys hotdogs from this guy who knows a shoeshine guy who shines the shoes of a mailroom worker who has a friend who's drug dealer sells drugs to another mailroom worker who works in the CIA building next to the brother of the guy who cleans the toilets.

He apparently overheard two guys talking in the bathroom about alligators and came to the conclusion that we are going to be attacked. SO IT MUST BE TRUE!

Have a Safe Halloween and a Great Weekend - Aloha!

As you might expect, my wallpaper for the week is from the dslreports site that I mentioned yesterday. This one is a shot of one of those plasma thingies. There are a bunch of others so if you have a broadband connection I encourage everyone to take a look at what they have.

Just when you thought it was safe, the money grubbers have gotten to the US Senate and the likelihood that Internet access will now be taxed grows each day. In fact, as of this past weekend, when the current moratorium expired, the way is clear for each state to immediately impose an Internet access tax.

From what was first seen as a slam dunk, a bill that would permanently exempt access to the Internet from taxes is now in deep jeopardy as special interest groups, like the National Governor's Association, lobby hard against the prohibition.

What it comes down to is these groups see nothing but the dollars they can take from your pocket if they could only tax you for accessing the Internet. This includes nascent technologies like WiFi and Voice over IP. If you don't want to pay yet another tax, contact your Senator and let them know how you feel. Do it right now because it may already be later than you think.

As most of my 11 long-term readers know, I work as a Program Evaluation Analyst for the State of Hawai'i Judiciary. Some of you probably wonder what such an analyst does so I've put together a few short paragraphs, based on what I think are some good definitions from various sources and meshed it with what I think is important.

What is program evaluation?

Evaluation pertains to the systematic examination of events or conditions that have (or are presumed to have) occurred at an earlier time or that are unfolding as the evaluation takes place. But to be examined, these events or conditions must exist, must be objectively describable, and must have occurred or be occurring. Evaluation is, thus, retrospective in that the emphasis is on what has been or is being observed, not on what is likely to happen (as would be the case in forecasting).

Why do program evaluations?

From a global perspective, the ultimate goal of scientific research is finding relations between variables. The philosophy of science teaches us that there is no other way of representing "meaning" except in terms of relations between some quantities or qualities. So on this level, evaluation provides a structure in which understanding can take place.

From a more concrete perspective, program evaluation provides some of the data that decision makers can use when determining what programs to continue at its present level of support, those that need to be modified, and those that should be terminated. They can do this because, if done well, the data can be relied upon to be objective, accurate, and relevant. The data will indicate whether a program is effective in meeting its objectives and if not, suggest where it can be improved.

Such a review needs to be done, if for no other reason, because resources are finite and therefore need to be prioritized. While the effectiveness of a program is surely not the only criteria to be used in apportioning our limited resources, it is a very important one.

But beyond determining if the program objectives are being met, an evaluation should answer the question of whether the results are producing the desired changes (sometimes referred to as outcomes)? That is, are the program objectives relevant indicators of the goal of the program?

Even though the program may be meeting its objectives, that does not mean it is meeting its goal. Hence, a large part of program evaluation includes clarifying goals and objectives. For example, if the goal is to reduce the recidivism rate of illegal drug users, then having an objective that merely lists how many pages have been photo-copied and distributed to users probably will not be sufficient, in and of itself, to determine effectiveness in reducing long-term illegal drug use.

In the end, program evaluation is critical because it gives decision makers the information they need to make rational, informed decisions regarding the status of all programs and a framework within which to prioritize what should be funded and at what level of support.

Aloha!

I'm beginning to become somewhat of a media junky. By that I mean I've added a couple of journalism related blogs to my morning journey through cyberspace. Yesterday I came across the blog of Terry Heaton, He has a series of essays about postmodern journalism and what are the implications for change.

Here's just one snippet:

Postmodernism doesn't make sense. Its roots are buried in chaos and chance. Taking a page from MTV's playbook and inserting it into CNN's is like trying to mate a lion with a sheep in order to produce a more gentle lion. Excitement and anticipation? Oh sure, but ultimately the lion just ends up with a tasty meal.

Thanks to Ian Lind for the link.

Busy day today so I gotta go. Have a good one.

Aloha!

"War is a horrible, horrible, horrible thing. There is nothing good about it. But it is sometimes necessary. And so somebody better be good at it." An excerpt from a speech at the US Air Force Academy in 1999 by an Air Force veteran of Gulf War I. He recounts the things that he remembers most about operation Desert Storm. Some are sights, some like the sample paragraph below, are sounds. All are about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. If you have the time, follow the link and read the whole thing. Thanks to Dr. Pournelle for the link.

The other unforgettable thing I heard came after the ground war had started. An F-16 was shot down in the middle of the retreating Republican Guard, and I mean right in the middle of them. A call went out from AWACS for any aircraft with ordnance remaining and the fuel to get to where the pilot was down, in case they needed 'em for SARCAP. A lot of people responded, but the first one I really paid attention to was an Army Chinook helicopter pilot, who came on the radio and said, "Look, I've got this much gas, here's my location, I can be there in that many minutes, give me his coordinates-I can pick him up." Now, everybody knew where the Republican Guard was, and everybody knew the downed pilot was right in the middle of them. You gotta remember a Chinook is about the size of a double-decker London bus with props on it. And it doesn't have guns! We kid around a lot about interservice rivalries, but I guarantee you I would follow that Army helicopter pilot into combat...and I'll never forget her voice...

And now for some humor:

An Army General, a Marine General and a Navy Admiral are all sitting around discussing whose's service is better and whose troops are the bravest?

The Admiral (well into his second or third ice tea) announces to the group, " My SEALS are the BEST in the world and to prove it I'll have one do the impossible" as he reaches for the phone.

Well the other two commanders are in an uproar and each one promptly calls for his best soldier.

When all three representatives have arrived, the Admiral states "Since it was my idea, I'm first" and turning to the SEAL, he says " I want you to go down that cliff, swim across those 10 miles of shark infested waters, climb up that shear cliff and return with with 2 bird eggs... unbroken of course.".

The SEAL (being the highly trained soldier that he is) turned running towards the cliff. After performing a triple-somersault into the water, the SEAL swam across the 10 miles (all the while beating off sharks with his bare hands) and reaching the far cliff, he began climbing. Near the top of the cliff, he grabs the two eggs and starts back down (all the time, fighting off mean birds). Upon reaching the sea he swims back across (once again fighting off sharks) and climbs back up the first cliff. He then runs back over to the Admiral and hands him the 2 unbroken eggs.

The Marine General says "that wasn't nothing," and turning to the Force Recon Marine he says " I want you to go down that cliff, swim across those waters, climb that other cliff,then move across the 4 miles of unmapped jungle and bring me back 2 eggs from the mountain on the other side of the jungle."

And with that the Force Recon moved-out. Traveling down the cliff, swimming across the sea, climbing the far cliff, moving through the jungle and upon reaching the 2 eggs, he heads back (all the while fighting off lions, tigers, bears, sharks, and mean birds). Finally reaching the General, the Marine hands him the eggs.

The Army General then says "Very nice gentlemen, but heres true bravery" and turning towards his BEST (an Airborne Infantryman), he says "I want you to go down that cliff, across that sea, up the far cliff, through the 4 miles of unmapped jungle, over the mountain and bring me back 2 eggs from the forest on the other side."

The Paratrooper looks at the General, then the cliff, and again back to the General, where he says "SCREW YOU SIR!", renders a proper hand salute and walks away.

The General turn towards the other two (both with their jaws on the table) and says "Now gentlemen, thats BRAVERY."

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

As is usual around this time of year, things are getting a little busy. Most of this is tied to the legislature starting up in a few months. So in order to be ready for that, we have to start now. Right now I'm working on some salary projections based on various scenarios using escalators such as the Consumer Price Index, what other jurisdictions pay, and what local employers are paying. Setting salaries is a touchy subject so I will say no more.

In addition, tomorrow is a US holiday (Veteran's Day) so no post for tomorrow.

Aloha!

Speaking of Salaries (as I was in Monday's post). CBS MarketWatch has the Top 10 Most Overpaid Jobs. From wedding photographer to mutual-fund managers. From airport skycaps to real estate agents.

Jakob Nielsen, Mr. Usability himself, has his own top 10 list. Ten Most Violated Homepage Design Guidelines (the first should have been to keep headlines to fewer words - Ed.). From frozen design layouts using tiny type sizes to meaningless graphics to having a link to the home page on the home page.

RU Tuned In? Over at Time, they have their Invention of the Year. I guess, not so strangely, the invention is not really a thing, but a service. As in Apple's iTunes. Runner ups include camera phones, Dean Kaman designed water distiller, Robo-Lobster and Robo-Cat (I'm not making this up).

Another busy day working on spread sheets with various salary projection scenarios so I gotta go.

Aloha!

The New Despotism. Read this interview with author Gore Vidal on Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Adams, and do I dare use his name in the same company as these giants of U.S. history, George Bush.

In this context, would any of the Founding Fathers find themselves comfortable in the current political system of the United States? Certainly Jefferson wouldn't. But what about the radical centralizers, or those like John Adams, who had a sneaking sympathy for the monarchy?

Adams thought monarchy, as tamed and balanced by the parliament, could offer democracy. But he was no totalitarian, not by any means. Hamilton, on the other hand, might have very well gone along with the Bush people, because he believed there was an elite who should govern. He nevertheless was a bastard born in the West Indies, and he was always a little nervous about his own social station. He, of course, married into wealth and became an aristo. And it is he who argues that we must have a government made up of the very best people, meaning the rich.

So you'd find Hamilton pretty much on the Bush side. But I can't think of any other Founders who would. Adams would surely disapprove of Bush. He was highly moral, and I don’t think he could endure the current dishonestly. Already they were pretty bugged by a bunch of journalists who came over from Ireland and such places and were telling Americans how to do things. You know, like Andrew Sullivan today telling us how to be. I think you would find a sort of union of discontent with Bush among the Founders. The sort of despotism that overcomes us now is precisely what Franklin predicted.

But Gore, you have lived through a number of inglorious administrations in your lifetime, from Truman's founding of the national-security state, to LBJ’s debacle in Vietnam, to Nixon and Watergate, and yet here you are to tell the tale. So when it comes to this Bush administration, are you really talking about despots per se? Or is this really just one more rather corrupt and foolish Republican administration?

No. We are talking about despotism. I have read not only the first PATRIOT Act but also the second one, which has not yet been totally made public nor approved by Congress and to which there is already great resistance. An American citizen can be fingered as a terrorist, and with what proof? No proof. All you need is the word of the attorney general or maybe the president himself. You can then be locked up without access to a lawyer, and then tried by military tribunal and even executed. Or, in a brand-new wrinkle, you can be exiled, stripped of your citizenship and packed off to another place not even organized as a country — like Tierra del Fuego or some rock in the Pacific. All of this is in the USA PATRIOT Act. The Founding Fathers would have found this to be despotism in spades. And they would have hanged anybody who tried to get this through the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Hanged.

Seti call home. Those of you using seti@home may want to update your software to version 3.08. It seems there is a buffer overflow condition that could be exploited by an attacker. Said attacker would then be able to execute arbitrary code on your PC. In other words, the l33t hax0rs would ownz U.

ZDNet has a story on subpoenas filed in U.S. District Court in Utah against Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, The Open Source Development Labs, and others. The subpoenas are part of SCO's suit filed in March alleging that IBM illegally incorporated trade secrets from UNIX into Linux. IBM responded with its own set of subpoenas in October and now SCO is responding with more legal filings.

In my opinion, it is difficult to see the good that will come of this. SCO insists they are merely protecting their intellectual property rights, as well they should. However, there appears room for interpretation as to what rights SCO may have as it pertains to UnixWare and Linux. One must also remember that SCO views Linux as a competitor to UnixWare, and as such, these legal moves appear more as a business strategy to remove such competition than protecting their rights. YMMV.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

For you gardeners out there, and you know who you are, comes the latest from that Tasmanian devil Jonathan Sturm. His The Pompous Git's Guide to Gardening, the Universe and Everything! can be read by following the link. "WARNING! This book contains graphic and explicit descriptions of traditional agricultural and horticultural practices, including seed sowing, harvesting, cultivation of the soil and weed control!" You have been warned so don't come crying to me if hair starts to grow on your hands after reading this. ;>

The Houston Chronicle says NASA is finally getting around to creating a long-term plan that would return astronauts to the moon and then on to Mars. The first order of business is to get the shuttle flying again. Next is a replacement for the shuttle called the Orbital Space Plane and the completion of the International Space Station.

According to a TechCentral column, MP3.com is soon to be dead. MP3, the premier site for discovering music from independent bands, created a marketplace where everyone could listen to and legally download music. It was sort of the Internet equivalent of the small college radio station that played anything and everything. It was a place to discover music that you would not otherwise have heard anywhere else, much less the homogenized mega-commercial mega-radio stations of today.

Perhaps it was ahead of it's time, with a business plan that rode the wave of the dot com debauchery, but it will be missed because what is replacing it will not have the same feeling.

Paging AirIndia passenger Arheddis Varkenjaab, that's passenger Arheddis Varkenjaab, please pickup the white courtesy phone. The Sunday Mirror has a story about practical jokers tricking Heathrow airport officials into paging for passengers whose names, when pronounced sound like something other than how they are spelled.

Aloha!

Today is the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. Thanksgiving can have many meanings. For some, it is the calm before the storm of Christmas shopping. For others, it is a gathering of the clan where the generations come together to share in the bounty of this great land. And for the newest citizens, it is part of becoming whatever it is that makes our nation great.

But for me, 30 years ago today, I was an undergraduate student in southern California. My school was only about six hours by plane from home but it might as well as been a 100 as I could not afford to fly there for such a short time (the school break was typically about half-a-week). So I was looking forward to staying in the empty dorm and eating whatever I could heat up in my rice cooker.

Actually, no I wasn't. There are times when life can get awfully lonely. The holidays are one of those times. At least for me, anyway. Fortunately, a guy I knew from our floor in the dorm lived in town and invited me to his family's home for the holiday. To say I was thankful would be an understatement.

Through the kindness of a relative stranger, I got to enjoy a home cooked meal in an environment that is slowly dying in America: an intact family. A family made up of both parents and their son. Living in single-family dwelling. Where each is loved and cared for and values are more than what Wal*Mart is discounting on sale.

After stuffing ourselves on a great meal, we gathered in their living room and went through an album of old photographs. The pictures were black-and-white and were very old. Some of them were of a time when the parents were themselves in college. The conversation then got around to memories of their days at Loma Linda University (or what was then known as La Sierra College) and how they were friends with some people from Hawai'i.

While I realize this is indeed a small world, sometimes I'm surprised by just how small it is. First they talked about Ross and Ree Hiatt. Mr. Hiatt (even after all these years I still call him Mr. Hiatt), was to become my 7th and 8th grade teacher in elementary school. He and Mrs. Hiatt were married for 52-years before cancer suddenly took her life this year.

They then talked about a girl that they were all friends with. As they slowly turned the pages of the album, I was taken aback when I saw her picture. Her raven hair shining in the hot California sun. The smile, a little timid, perhaps from being so far away from home herself. Her eyes looking so much like my own. The girl who would one day become my mother.

There are lots of things to be thankful for today. I am thankful for a time in which families stayed together, 'til death do us part. I am thankful for Daryl Luthas' (now pastor Luthas, who would have thunk it, rascal that he was?) parents who taught their child to be an open, caring individual. I am thankful to my own parents for making the sacrifices they made so that I could attend a quality private college and be where I am today.

Thanks be to God from whom all blessings flow. And thanks mom and dad, I couldn't have made it without you.

Aloha!

I've been so busy working on the Judicial Salary Commission work that I worked straight through with no breaks or lunch hour yesterday. Even so, its been slow going putting together some salary scenarios in Excel. I can't go into the details but the formulas to determine what a person would make are getting really complex as I nest IF and AND statements. While I think I am good at doing detailed work, this is the kind of stuff where an error can sneak in and ruin you whole day. Sigh. I guess it's better than the alternative...

You can never have too much money or too many pixels. As in 1.09 giga-pixel image made by stitching 196 6-megapixel photos into one 40,784 by 26,800 mega-picture. The level of detail far surpasses anything readily available to the general public. Of course, stitching together 196 images is not my idea of a fun afternoon but I guess it shows what can be done if you are determined enough.

In a related note, there is a new book out called Medal of Honor. The book highlights the actions of most of the living recipients of America's hightest medal for valor against an enemy, the Congressional Medal of Honor. It includes 116 recipeints, each with a two-page spread that includes photos, a brief biography, and an essay on the deeds that earned them the medal. Every U.S. citizen should read this book and reflect on the courage of these individuals. This is courage. This is honor. This is integrity.

Have a Great Weekended Everyone - Aloha!

The soon to be enemy launched his planes in three waves from their carriers 200 miles north of their target. In all, the aircraft participating in the operation included 81 fighters, 135 dive bombers, 104 horizontal bombers, and 40 torpedo bombers. The plan to hit the target was divided into five distinct phases:

Phase I: Combined torpedo plane and dive bomber attacks lasting from 7:55 a. m. to 8:25 a. m.

Phase II: Lull in attacks lasting from 8:25 a. m. to 8:40 a. m.

Phase III: Horizontal bomber attacks extending from 8:40 a. m. to 9:15a. m.

Phase IV: Dive bomber attacks between 9:15 a. m. and 9:45 a. m.

Phase V. Warning of attacks and completion of raid after 9:45 a. m.

By the end of the attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, O'ahu, Hawai'i on December 7th, 1941, the U.S. had paid a fearful price:

Twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged: the battleships USS Arizona (BB-39), USS California (BB-44), USS Maryland (BB-46), USS Nevada (BB-36), USS Oklahoma (BB-37), USS Pennsylvania (BB-38), USS Tennessee (BB-43) and USS West Virginia (BB-48); cruisers USS Helena (CL-50), USS Honolulu (CL-48) and USS Raleigh (CL-7); the destroyers USS Cassin (DD-372), USS Downes (DD-375), USS Helm (DD-388) and USS Shaw (DD-373); seaplane tender USS Curtiss (AV-4); target ship (ex-battleship) USS Utah (AG-16); repair ship USS Vestal (AR-4); minelayer USS Oglala (CM-4); tug USS Sotoyomo (YT-9); and Floating Drydock Number 2. Aircraft losses were 188 destroyed and 159 damaged, the majority hit before the had a chance to take off. American dead numbered 2,403. That figure included 68 civilians, most of them killed by improperly fused anti-aircraft shells landing in Honolulu. There were 1,178 military and civilian wounded.

Japanese losses were comparatively light. Twenty-nine planes, less than 10 percent of the attacking force, failed to return to their carriers.

The Japanese success was overwhelming, but it was not complete. They failed to damage any American aircraft carriers, which by a stroke of luck, had been absent from the harbor. They neglected to damage the shoreside facilities at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base, which played an important role in the Allied victory in World War II. American technological skill raised and repaired all but three of the ships sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor (the USS Arizona (BB-39) considered too badly damaged to be salvaged, the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) raised and considered too old to be worth repairing, and the obsolete USS Utah (AG-16) considered not worth the effort). Most importantly, the shock and anger caused by the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor united a divided nation and was translated into a wholehearted commitment to victory in World War II.

I was working on this post when WindowsXP died in a blue screen of death. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think this is the first one I've seen since I installed XP. The error report said the ATI Radeon video driver is the problem so I will take a look at that (he naively said - ed). Unfortunately, the lockup took with it some of my post so I don't have the time to re-type it. So if you are interested in 360-degree QuickTime VR panorama images, go to this site here.

If you are interested in the old scifi series Babylon 5, check out this short snippet that says a follow-on is coming.

Boeing aircraft had a reputation for building robust products. Indeed, more than one has flown with parts of the wing missing or with the top peeled off. But the one thing Boeing may not survive is bad management. This Slate article lays out the dirty details on how management worked using two driving values: greed and hubris. It is indeed a sad tale to see Boeing spiraling down to 40 percent of market share. It is even more frightening to read that it could be out of the commercial market within 10 years.

Things at work are, as fellow Daynoter Sjon put it "normal." As in situation normal, all fouled up. So I gotta go. But before I go, congratulations to Daynoter John Doucette in his recent marriage. Congratulations and best wishes to John and Emma.

Aloha!

I have to get a bunch of stuff mailed out to the Salary Commission members this morning so I gotta go.

Aloha!

"The Far Side" by Gary Larson is on my top 10 ten cartoonists list so it should not be a surprise that I got the two-volume, 18-pound (~8kg), 1,250-page hardcover " Complete Far Side" last month. I've been slowly going through the pages looking for my favorite panel. If and when I find it, I'll post it. While the book does not have every panel penned by Larson, it has nearly every one of the weird and wonderful creatures that populate Larson's mind.

On a housekeeping note, thank you (I think ;=}) to fellow Daynoter Brian Bilbrey for reviving the broken BackChannel communications. If you are a Daynoter and haven't received the test message you should contact Brian to get this going.

Aloha!

Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, John Cleese and Terry Jones. Monty Python's Flying Circus is the subject of a new autobiography entitled " The Pythons" (St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne Books). One of my top 10 comedy movies of all time is the Python's "Life of Brian" so you know I'll be taking a look at this book.

This article describes a vaccination strategy that targets the so called super-spreaders. This is especially relevant this year due to the great demand for vaccines due to flu outbreaks in the western U.S. but can be used in any population where disease is spreading but there is a lack of vaccine sufficient to inoculate the entire population. The study concludes that innoculating about 20 percent of a population is sufficient to stop a disease if you can get to the right people.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

The State of Virginia Attorney General announced its first felony indictment of a man accused of sending spam. While I think this is a Good Thing, the article alleges the spammer sent [placing pinkie finger next to side of mouth] at least 10,000 emails a day. 10,000? Is that all? With spam filling up my email accounts I figured it was a few people sending a lot of spam. But if it's true that this guy is number 8 on the top 10 list of spammers, where is all the spam coming from?

The first steel beam was put in place in the effort to rebuild 7 World Trade Center in New York. The 52-story building is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2005. Using lessons learned from problems identified in the Twin Towers, emergency exit stairwells will be twice as wide as required under the code so that people can exit going down while fire fighters have room to go up. In addition, in order to keep the stairwells clear of smoke, they will be pressurized.

A 17-year-old New Zealand student recently won the Institution of Professional Engineers award for building his own remote-operated vessel. The 1.5m long submersible has an onboard color camera and external water pumps acting as directional thrusters. The young man already has a couple of businesses interested in his design as well as the NZ Navy. Well done young Steven McCabe. Now get back to your studies and quit cutting classes.

I have a meeting of the Judicial Salary Commission to be held today in the State Capitol building so I gotta go.

Aloha!

A wooden Ferrari? I don't know. To me it looks like a wood veneer but I guess it could be for real. But in the water?

Aloha!

Chevrolet is trying to come up with its own FordGT by pumping up the power in a Corvette code named Blue Devil. The article on the new Corvette goes on to say the answer to all is more cubic inches. In this case, 427 cubic inches (~7 litres) of supercharged power (625hp). The conept car, if it ever goes into production would be out in 2006 and cost about $100,000USD.

Aloha!

For you Lego lovers out there comes this site that shows what the little plastic building blocks can do when you have 10,000 of them and two weeks on your hands. So what did he build? The scultpture of Homer Simpson stands four feet tall (~1.2m), that's what.

My wallpaper this week is from the Cal Tech/NASA/Jet Propulsion Lab Spitzer Space Telescope.

Launched Aug. 25 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., the Spitzer Space Telescope is the fourth of NASA's Great Observatories, a program designed to paint a more comprehensive picture of the cosmos using different wavelengths of light.

While the other Great Observatories have probed the universe with visible light (Hubble Space Telescope), gamma rays (Compton Gamma Ray Observatory) and X-rays (Chandra X-ray Observatory), the Spitzer Space Telescope observes the cosmos in the infrared.

See the full article from RedNova here.

My wallpaper for this week is from the European Southern Observatory. They did three images of the spiral galaxies NGC 613, 1792, and 3627. The images come in three resolutions (up to a whopping 2702 X 2301, 3.4MB full resolution) and were produced by the EOS Very Large Telescope array consisting of four 8.2m reflectors.

One of SWMBO's favorite TV sitcoms from the 1980s was ALF. So I'm sure she will be pleased that there will be a new show starring the hairy one on cable TV. "ALF's Hit Talk Show" will start airing early next year on the Nickelodeon cable network.

Why are there so many variations of the Nigerian 419 email scam? The answer is because so many people fall for it. No doubt millions of these emails flood the globe with its false promise of getting rich quick by laundering money though your bank account. And even if only a fraction of one percent of the population falls for the scam, the senders stand to make millions.

The latest documented case is this Florida retiree who sold his stock, got a second mortgage on his home, and hocked his two cars. For more than a year, he gave virtual strangers $300,000. In essence, every dollar he had or could borrow. He even bought them gold pens, cell phones and a laptop computer.

The saddest thing about this episode is that to this day, this guy does not think he was scammed. He ignored police warnings that the deal was bogus and instead blames his losses on corrupt foreign governments. He has not filed a complaint with authorities. He is well and truly blinded by greed. A greed so strong that if he could, he would give them more money.

If only the right official were paid off. If only he didn't have to pay so many fees. If only he didn't have to hire an "attorney" in West Africa to help grease the deal. If only he had not fallen for one of the oldest scams out there.

shopping-mode=on; with_SWMBO: yes; traffic-heavy: you_bet

No post today.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Sorry, today is a normal(tm) day so I gotta go.

Aloha!

A belated Happy New Year to y'all.

I'm back at work and there is still much to do so I gotta go.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Job Interviews. Two words that send shivers through otherwise strong people. There are few situations more fraught with possibilities and dangers. But being prepared can make the difference between being hired and being among all those still looking for a job.

Part of the preparation process is being ready for the questions that you will be asked. Unless you are applying at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory the questions won't require you to be a rocket scientist to answer. But you if you don't anticipate the questions, it is difficult to answer them well. So herewith are the top 10 questions asked by employers during job interviews (with hints as to what is a good answer):

1. Why are you seeking new employment?

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 (or 10) years?

3. Why should we hire you?

4. What are your weaknesses?

5. What are your salary expectations?

6. How did you get along with your last boss?

7. Why do you want this job?

8. What are your strengths?

9. Tell me something about yourself.

10. Do you have any questions?

A couple of good links from Ian Lind's site. The first is breaking news from the Onion about porpoises evolving opposable thumbs (in the same vein as the FOO BAR RFC).

HONOLULU-In an announcement with grave implications for the primacy of the species of man, marine biologists at the Hawaii Oceanographic Institute reported Monday that dolphins, or family Delphinidae, have evolved opposable thumbs on their pectoral fins.

"I believe I speak for the entire human race when I say, 'Holy f*ck,'" said Oceanographic Institute director Dr. James Aoki, noting that the dolphin has a cranial capacity 40 percent greater than that of humans. "That's it for us monkeys."

Thus far, all the opposable digits encountered appear to be fully functional, making it possible for dolphins-believed to be capable of faster and more complex cogitation than man-to manipulate objects, fashion tools, and construct rudimentary pulley and lever systems.

"They really seem to be making up for lost time with this thumb thing," said Dr. Jim Kuczaj, a University of California-San Diego biologist who has studied the seasonal behavior of dolphins for more than 30 years. "Last Friday, a crude seaweed-and-shell abacus washed up on the beach near Hilo, Hawaii. The next day, a far more sophisticated abacus, fashioned from some unknown material and capable of calculating equations involving numbers of up to 16 digits, washed up on the same beach. The day after that, the beach was littered with thousands of what turned out to be coral-silicate and kelp-based biomicrocircuitry."

The second is to the Spin of the Day site. Spin does its best to tell the story behind the story. For instance, a beef industry association hiring a PR firm to spin the news to say it was only one cow, the inspection system worked, and that we have a "firewall" against mad cow disease or the US Environmental Protection Agency insisting that toxic sludge is good for you.

Aloha!

From ski wax to sun glasses coatings to digital displays to tennis racquet that are five times more rigid than current graphite racquets, nanotechnology is already here. Forbes magazine has a list of products that incorporate the technology.

I've got another Salary Commission meeting on Monday and I'm having another normal day getting ready for it so I gotta go.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Kirk: (Closeup, sweat forming on brow.)Scotty, we need those engines back on line!

Wide-shot of engine room where sparks are flying.

Scott: Aye Captain, but the di-lithium crystals are failing and I canna' do anything about it!

There was a transformer failure in one of the high rise buildings downtown this weekend. In order to remove the transformer, electricity to much of downtown, including our building, was cut off. This caused all kinds of problems with our mechanical systems (no a/c) and computer systems (no voice mail or email).

Perhaps coincidentally, I'm having problems with my PC. My scanner has quite working although unplugging it and then plugging it back in has turned the scanning light on, it isn't scanning so I think I need to reinstall the drivers. In addition, I had to reinstall the PoPMail email filter to get it to start up. Who knows what else is not working. Oh well, just another normal day.

Aloha!

In the long tradition of public service announcements, the Seto Shack brings you this article on how to prevent Internet electrocution. Hats off to the folks at the Toque for sparking the debate on electrical security. YMMV, insert disclaimer here.

Aloha!

For about half-an-hour yesterday we experienced some of the strongest winds since Hurricane Iniki came through a decade ago. Gusts up to 80mph were reported in some areas as a cold front moved across the state. Fortunately, as quickly as it came it went although there are still areas without electricity and many homes sustained damage to their roofs.

Aloha!

I don't think this guy has it right yet, but it's as good a start as I've seen on converting your car into the feel, if not exactly the look of a Star Wars A-Wing fighter. So far, he's just done some paint and a few add-ons. But I'm still waiting for someone who does the "Monster Garage" treatment the way it should be.

I wonder why so many people are deluded into thinking they can sing? Forget about singing well, in my experience, most people can't sing. At all. Period. In fact, most people will never be able to earn a penny singing. And yet. And yet many people truly feel that they have talent. In fact, they have so much self-esteem that if anyone tells them that they don't sing well, then clearly the other person just doesn't appreciate their great gift.

Don't get me wrong, self-esteem is good. That is, self-esteem is good if it is based on overcoming difficult obstacles through hard work and thereby becoming excellent at what you do. For example, someone who has spent years honing their woodworking skills or needle point techniques or differentiating equations, and thereby becoming adept at these skills can take pride in doing their work well.

Of course, it's not only would be singers that are afflicted by this. One need only look at any college football team to find hundreds of people who think they have what it takes to be a professional. Or take a look at the Democratic Party presidential candidate hopefuls. Only one of them will win. Yet there they are, trying to get people to vote for them. But I digress.

On the other hand, someone who thinks they can be a professional singer, without spending any time learning how to do it well, may have a lot of self-esteem, but not be a good singer. Thus, I should not be surprised that tens of thousands of people will wait in line to be told they have no talent and should be doing something else instead of trying to be the next American Idol.

Perhaps we can blame it on some of our school systems that confuse self-esteem with mastery of a difficult subject. Where teachers somehow teach "self-esteem" for doing nothing worthy of self-esteem. Where rigorous testing is deleted and replaced with feel good group sessions where everyone bleats like sheep, while sitting on the floor, in a circle, trying to sing kumbaya.

Perhaps people don't understand, or are too lazy to care, that self-esteem should come as a result of mastering something difficult. That self-esteem should be based on reality, not delusions of grandeur. That in fact there are criteria to determine whether you can sing well and that if you don't meet those criteria you should not be surprised to be told you have no singing talent.

I have six words for people who don't have any talent, or have some ability but don't want to spend the time and effort to become good: Deal with it and move on.

Comments are temporarily closed while MovableType comes up with something more effective in combating comment spam. If you need to contact me, feel free to email me using the link in the column on the right.

Aloha!

Buying a new car ranks right up there with pulling teeth when it comes to ranking what people like to do. But at some point, most do (buy a new car, that is).

One of the reasons people don't like buying a new car is the confrontational atmosphere that pervades the experience. It's you against the dealer: you are trying to get the lowest price and they are trying the opposite.

As a response to this, some dealers have converted over to what is called "no hassle" pricing. That is, the price listed by the dealer, usually less than "list" price, is the price of the car. You don't need to haggle and, indeed, it wouldn't make any difference if you did. Thus, confrontation is eliminated and the customer should feel more comfortable about coming in and buying a car.

The problem is, at least here, it isn't working (we'll see later that a variation on this may, but I'm getting ahead of myself). A couple of local dealers have tried no hassle pricing. One got all kinds of government and consumer awards. It's now out of business for lack of customers. The other is barely hanging on while the high pressure dealers are raking in the money.

Why is this? Don't people want to buy a car without spending hours hassling with a salesman or saleswoman? Don't people feel demeaned by the whole process and do their best to avoid talking with sales personnel?

I was reflecting on this situation after having read "Confessions of a Car Salesman" from Edmunds.com and decided maybe it's because we feel lucky.

Think of it this way - many people like to gamble, or at least many people like to win. Yet many people will gamble knowing that the "house" has the advantage and that if they gamble long enough they will lose. But people still gamble, perhaps because they feel lucky. Or they feel they have a sure fire system that can beat the odds. Or that they are just so much smarter than the dealer and will trick him or her.

But, they are wrong. Most people (something like 99.99 percent) who gamble will not win. In fact, gamble long enough and you will not only lose, but you will lose a lot (hundreds, if not thousands of dollars).

I think such is the case with buying a car. Most people would rather gamble by trying to haggle with a professional who is much better prepared than you and maybe get a lower price than the no haggle lot. But you are wrong and you will pay thousands of dollars more because of it. You will not "get lucky" and win a lower price than the no haggle price. You will not outsmart the dealer. But there may be a system that can help raise the odds.

The system is called the Internet. People can now shop for the car of their dreams while sitting at home. While the laws in Hawai'i don't let you actually buy the car over the Internet (although your state may), you can nonetheless find the make and model you want displayed with its price. In addition, you can check places like Edmunds.com and get the "invoice" price of most makes and models. This gives you important information. Information you can use, should you feel lucky and decide to go head-to-head with a sales professional rather than buying via the Internet. YMMV. Insert disclaimer here.

Aloha!

I see that a new Federal Trade Commission regulation goes into effect today requiring telemarketers to display their company name and phone number on Caller ID devices. Up to now, telemarketers would block the display of their names so you would not know who was calling.

Like spam, expect the company names to change to something you would normally want to answer rather than their real name. In addition, I guess the new rule is why I got three telemarketing calls over the last week when I haven't had any for months.

They too slipped the the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God...

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

For you chem or physics majors out there, herewith is the "Table of Condiments that Periodically Go Bad."

Aloha!

Business 2.0 has a list of what they call "101 Dumbest Moments in Business." I didn't read the whole list but I wanted to add one to it anyway.

During the 1980's, toursits from Japan flooded Hawai'i. They came with their pockets full of yen and spent librerally. Some businesses, focusing on short-term profits, decided to take advantage of the Japanese by over charging them. Sometimes, these businesses marked up items several thousand percent. While it may be a coincidence, most of these businesses were multinational corporations, not local companies.

For awhile, these managers were thought to be geniuses because their profits far outshone their competitors. Indeed, institutional investment managers fell over themselves trying to buy stocks in these companies. Money was to be made and seemingly everyone wanted their share.

But eventually the Japanese realized, not being as stupid as the managers thought they were, that they were being overcharged and took their business elsewhere. The economic bubble burst and these high flying managers went down in flames while the local business, that had always sought to give long-term value to their customers in the hope of earning their repeat business are doing just fine, thank you very much.

While there are no guarantees in business, those that focus on building long-term relationships through dealing in a fair manner with their customers will probably still be around 10 years from now. Learn well this lesson and you won't end up on any Business 2.0 dumbest list.

I'm down with the flu this week. I'm coughing, I have a sore throat, my nose is running, and all my joints and muscles ache. Other than that, I'm feeling fine. 8=}

If its wasn't for the report I'm working on I would be at home resting. Back to work I go...Oh, by the way, good luck to the three people from Hawai'i who made it through to the final 32 of American Idol. They are Camile Velasco (ahem, very easy on the eyes), Jasmine Trias (word is, this is the one to watch, even though she hasn't had any "face time" yet), and that whale of a man - Jonah Moananu (just kidding Jonah!).

Aloha!

I hate to point fingers, but the MorningPaper leaves itself open to such criticism when it reports, as front page news, that police shot a woman driving a stolen car saying the women was trying to give up, by raising her hands, when she was fatally shot in the head. At least, that's what was reported for days after the incident. Interspersed with these reports were interviews with the woman's relatives saying how good a person she was and how unfair and unjust it was that the police shot her.

Comes now the coroner's report which indicates, using forensic science, that in fact at the time of the shooting, one hand was on the wheel and the other was on the shifter. So much for trying to give up. She was actually doing what the officers said she was doing, trying to kill them and thereby escape taking responsibility for her life. Of course, this story is buried inside on page "B-3". Oh, she was also on crystal methamphetamine (sp?), commonly known as "ice", at the the time.

Leaving aside the tragedy that was her life, and I don't wish to cause yet more pain for her family and friends, this is why people loose respect and trust not only for the newspapers, but also the police as well (since not as many people will read page B-3 as opposed to the front page). This is a huge disservice to the community. If the apparently mistaken accusation deserves the front page, then so does the truth. YMMV. Insert my disclaimer here.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

You know, sometimes I just have to be amazed by the inventiveness of some people. Like the guy who decided it was a GoodThing(tm) to make an Mp3 player in the form of an AK-47 ammo magazine. That way, I guess, you can listen to the Grammy winners while you bust a few caps</gangsta_rap>

Sorry, no post today. I'm working on my report and need to do a bunch of stuff...

Aloha!

September 21, 2004. Mark that date on your calendar right now. Okay, finished marking it? Right, that's the date that the original Star Wars trilogy will be made available on DVD! Its been what, 25 years since the first Star Wars movie hit the screens of movie theaters but no DVD. Until September 21 (did you mark your calendar as I asked you?)

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi will be available in a four-disc set that includes a bonus disc filled with all-new special features -- including the most comprehensive feature-length documentary ever produced about the Star Wars saga and never-before-seen footage from the making of all three films. Each of the three films in the Star Wars Trilogy has been digitally restored and re-mastered by THX for superior sound and picture quality.

Aloha!

Ever since I first saw the grandfather of all dog shows, the Westminster, I've wanted to go to New York and see it. Alas, I probably will never do so but I do get to watch it on TV each year.

Of course, I had lost hope that any manly dog would ever win in my lifetime. I mean, I saw poodles and pekinese but no Labrador or German shepard. Indeed, I've seen rats larger than some of the winners (and they probably had more courage than the winners. Heck, some of those dogs pee on themselves when they see their face in the mirror). Indeed, most winners easily fit into the silver bowl trophy and many have jumped in and done just that.

So you can imagine my joy this morning when I woke up to find that a Newfoundland had won the 128th annual Westminster! Yes! All 150lbs (~68kg) of him. Now, that's a dog. Oh, he doesn't fit in the silver bowl so I guess he'll just have to use it as his water dish...

Sorry, no post today. I have a legislative hearing tomorrow morning so things will be sparse around here today and perhaps tomorrow. I'll try to have something worthwhile tomorrow but no guarantees (or your money back - ed.).

Aloha!

Over at Larry Lessig's site he has a copy of a letter to the editor by Christine Bolzan talking about the whole CBS Super Bowl debacle. It's a short letter and starts thusly:

We Americans need to rethink whether CBS and its parent company Viacom should continue to be trusted to broadcast on our publicly owned airwaves.

That pretty much sums up my thinking about CBS right now. The heads of this company have shown that they are unfit to be entrusted with the public's airwaves and should be removed immediately.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

No post today as this is a U.S. holiday.

Encouraging news to hear that progress is being made on developing a vaccine against one type of lung cancer. The article states non-small cell lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. with more than 150,000 people dying from the disease each year. But preliminary results, of a very small sample, indicates some success. Of the 43 patients in the study, three had full remission and seven had the disease stabilize and not increase in size.

The Salary Commission meeting is this morning so I gotta go.

Aloha!

Polaroid announced the June availability of the new x530 digital camera using the Foveon X3 direct image sensor. See the camera here at the Foveon site.

The X3 technology reportedly mimics how images are captured on film by using three layers, one for each of the primary colors rather than one layer with specific colors captured at specific sites. Thus, the X3 technology is apparently "the first and only image sensor that captures full color at every point in the captured image." The results of which can be seen in this gallery of photos. Of course, the proof would be to directly compare images taken with a film camera vs. the X3 technology vs. other digital cameras. Perhaps someone will do this, if it hasn't been done already.

In either case, the photos look very good.

NPR has an interesting audio story on coin tossing. Many statistics textbooks use the coin toss to illustrate random chance. As it usually goes, the books talk about how if you toss a coin enough times, you will get heads 50 percent of the time and tails 50 percent of the time. But NPR says in reality, things are not so neat. They say the randomness, if there is any, seems to be introduced by the person tossing the coin. If the coin is mechanically tossed, that is if it is tossed the same way every time, it will land the same way every time. Thus, they are saying coin tossing may not be a random event. Extrapolating from this, you could say if a person could master tossing the coin in a particular way, they could bias the outcome.

I'm working on the draft report of the salary commission (about 75 pages, single-spaced) and hope to have it done for their review tomorrow or Monday. So I gotta go.

Aloha!

Since sometime last week, I've been unable to reach the Daynotes.org site, Dr. Pournelle's site (Chaos Mannor), Brian Birlbrey's Orb Designs, or Robert Bruce Thompson's site. I did an IP address lookup and found all are using 64.246.16.16. I know some changes have been made to the firewall at work so I reckoned it was too much of a coincidence to be a conincence - if you get my drift.

On a hunch, I decided to check the major spam blacklists and found a site that did a meta-search of several such lists. Iplugged in the IP address and came back with a hit at a place called Blars.org. I have never heard of this site but if he lists you on his black list you have to pay him to have your IP researched and perhaps removed. If it turns out he was mistaken he will refund you money but you have to pay upfront first.

I have no idead if this is why our firewall is blocking access to 64.246.16.16 or if there is another reason (I'm getting a time out error).

Until this is figured out, all I can do is telnet to my Unix account on the mainland and use Lynx to view the text of their sites or view them from my connection at home. Sigh.

Aloha!

I've talked about the problems with shipping items to Hawai'i before. But recently, things have gotten even worse. Many Internet businesses no longer ship to Hawai'i. This is because their automagic order systems only have look-up tables for the 48 contiguous states. What you have to do is call or fax your order in if you want to ship to Hawai'i or Alaska.

Obviously, this should cut down on customers from here, although I'm not sure why they would want to decrease their sales. I can only blame the shippers like UPS and FedEx for these problems as they, as far as I know, provide the data in the first place.

All I can say is the U.S. Postal Service provides more reliable, fast, and cheaper service than either of the two above. The problem is, most businesses don't like to use the postal service. I have no idea why, other than the postman comes only once a day.

In either case, two recent orders from Amazon both came via the postal service and each arrived within two to three days. Not bad considering its price is about half the cost of the other two.

I still have to wonder though, why companies write off customers from two states?

So, there are now two singers from Hawai'i in the American Idol TV show contest. The first was Maui's sultry Camile Velasco and now comes young Jasmine Trias. Both have amazing voices but the question is whether they have that "star" quality that the producers are looking for. So far, they haven't shown their best but if they want to get into the finals that is what they must do. Good luck to all but especially these two. All Hawai'i is proud of their accomplishments.

Oh, by the way. For those of you calling in to vote for your favorite singer, here's a free secret tip that will increase the chances of getting in. After you finish dialing, if you hear a ring tone, hang up. The American Idol phone system is setup such that if you reach their number, it picks up immediately, without a ring. So if you hear a ring, what you are hearing is the phone system queuing you up to hear a recording telling you all circuits are busy. So remember, if you hear a ring, hang up and dial again. Really.

Camile Velasco and Jasmine Trias

Aloha!

Monday is the last scheduled meeting of the commission. The report, including about 50 pages of appendices, is 77 pages long.

The problems with these types of reports are at least two-fold: (1) No one reads past the executive summary, and (2) No matter how rational and well written it is, the question is political.

First, people are busy. Legislators are even more so. Each year, thousands of bills are introduced (Bill SB2763 meet Bill HB2264). No one has the time to read each one, much less understand the complex issues involved.

Hence, when a 77 page report hits legislator's desks they have to rely on others to read, understand, and report to them. Sometimes these others are his or her own staff. Sometimes it is the committee report from the committee the bill is assigned. Sometimes it's from interested members of the public who give testimony before the committee. And sometimes it's from lobbyists paid to put forth a particular point of view.

Second, in the Legislature, all issues are political. This is not a Bad Thing. Politics has been described as the art of the good deal. If a deal is good, then by definition all parties can live with the consequences of a bill. In order for that to happen, everyone must be listened to and accommodated. This is a cornerstone of a democracy, not a barrier to it.

Having said that, deciding who gets helped and who gets hurt is not an easy task because no matter what you do, you will be making someone angry at you. Perhaps angry enough to vote against you and perhaps angry enough to persuade others to follow their lead.

So, even though I think the Commission has done an excellent job of discussing the issue of judicial salaries and even though I think I've written a report, based on objective data and criteria that reflects that discussion, I'm not entirely sure what will happen at the Legislature.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

It seems Jennifer Balderama will be moving on to another venue, so until she shows up again I'm reading Margaret Cho. Know that Cho uses strong language and is passionate about causes that you may disagree. Having said that, her blog is a series of short essays about things. All kinds of things. Some funny but most are serious and insightful into the feelings of this Korean-American stand-up comedy queen.

Aloha!

If you're like me, you probably don't know your bosons from your femions. For those few of you out there that do, here's an article that talks about what may be the first observation of the Higgs boson, sometimes called the "God Particle." In related news, I hear Sophia Coppola and Mel Gibson are in talks with the researchers for the film rights. No word yet whether Marlon Brando will be cast but Al Pacino says he definitely wants in. [g]

Aloha!

Prayers and Thoughts to our friends in Spain - Aloha!

Whether this story about a robotic, very large scale XY-plotter that can print your house using concrete squirted out of a tube is a hoax is anyone's guess. But the closer we get to April 1st the higher the probability any story is.

Speaking of hoaxes, the one about a woman killing her boyfriend with an iPod is a hoax. The mast head is HeadLined News.com. First, this is a parody of CNN's Head Lines News. Second, the URL for the site is liquidgeneration.com, not HeadLinedNews.com. Clicking on their terms of service or contact us takes you to their home page, including an animated intro featuring "I'm too sexy for my shirt" background music.

I'm over due to implment my semi-annual deep cleaning of my c: drive. I had to wait until my salary report was done before blowing everything away. But now that I'm done, my drive has been wiped clean. Hence, it will be a day or two before I can do any surfing for your viewing pleasure.

Hopefully, by tomorrow I will have things back to near normal and I can do a regular posting.

Aloha!

Like for example, this story here about the poor folks in Aliso Viejo, California (I've never heard of such a place) who were set to ban di-hydrogen monoxide from their fair city. H2O, sometimes known as water, is used in the manufacturing of many products so this would not have been an easy thing to do.

I don't make these stories up folks, I just report them. Well, okay, on April 1st I have been known to make up a few but only on the 1st. Really.

Aloha!

Speaking of the need for cunning linguists, the yourDictionary.com site has a list of what they say is the top 100 most mispronounced words. From Arctic to zoology, get the right stuff there.

Fellow Daynoter John Dominik has started up a side business of making pens out of various kinds of wood. From the pictures, they look beautiful. I've asked him to make a rollerball in burl. When the particulars are worked out and he sends me one I'll try to post a picture of it here. But knowing John, I'm sure it will be beautiful and worth the price (he has introductory pricing so put your orders in soon!).

Things are getting busy around here again. We may need to amend the Salary Commission Report. It would be inappropriate to say more so I gotta go.

Aloha!

I'm now in a holding pattern as the powers-that-be decide whether we need to amend the salary recommendations sent to the Legislature earlier this month. However, the time available for these changes are rapidly running out. I hope to know for sure what will be happening by the end of the day.

I'm having some medical tests done so I'm off today.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

If you are in business, and most of us are in one way or another, you have to focus your efforts. But sometimes its possible to focus on the wrong thing. Like profit, for example. As a business person, if all you focus on is profit, you may get some, for awhile. But in the long run, you will go out of business because business is not about profit, it's about serving customers.

It's about finding a customer need and fulfilling that need in a way that customers are willing to pay you money. Out of those individual decisions comes your profit.

Most business people intuitively know this because, at one time or another, we are all customers. We all know how we want to be treated so it is not a huge leap to understand how to treat your own customers.

But as businesses grow and mature, it is easy for the CEO to lose his or her focus on the customer. Life becomes an endless round of meetings. Mergers. Proxy fights. In other words, the customer is no longer the focus.

But it doesn't have to be that way. For example, this article from Inc. on an airline called JetBlue. The CEO, David Neeleman, regularly flies his airline not as a passenger in first class but as a flight attendant. He goes row by row personally meeting the needs of his customers.

By doing so, he stays in direct contact with who his customers are and what they need. When was the last time Bill Gates was at your local CompUSA getting your feedback on MS WindowsXP? Or when was the last time Scott McNealy sat down with you to discuss how Sun Microsystems could better meet your needs? Never?

Guess which company provides better customer service? I'll wait while you think that over. In the mean time, the profits are rolling in for JetBlue.

Does all this mean JetBlue is infallible? Not in your life. This is the same company that released

the names, addresses and phone numbers of its customers in September 2002 in response to an "exceptional request from the Department of Defense to assist their contractor, Torch Concepts, with a project regarding military base security." [See the full article here]

JetBlue have much to explain for that misstep, but they understand it was a mistake and will pay for it.

It is one of the paradoxes of life that the more you focus on profit, the less profit you will get. You decide where your focus should be.

Aloha!

This picture of US troops trying out a new game for physical training. It's called mortarball. They use a reduced charge to propel the ball at a low enough speed so as to be able to hit it with the bat. An earlier try came to an unfortunate end when a full charge was used. However, the trooper, now called "Lefty" is doing well in a hospital in Germany and should be able to return to duty in a week.

Aloha!

Speaking of religion, this just in from the looF lirpA news network:

From: looF lirpA News
Subject: MICROSOFT: Bids to Acquire Catholic Church
Date: Thursday, April 1, 2004 7:16AM

MICROSOFT Bids to Acquire Catholic Church

By Hank Vorjes

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- In a joint press conference in St. Peter's Square this morning, MICROSOFT Corp. and the Vatican announced that the Redmond software giant will acquire the Roman Catholic Church in exchange for an unspecified number of shares of MICROSOFT common stock. If the deal goes through, it will be the first time a computer software company has acquired a major world religion.

With the acquisition, the Pope will become the senior vice-president of the combined company's new Religious Software Division, while MICROSOFT Chairman Raymond V. Gilmartin and CEO Steven A. Ballmer will be invested in the College of Cardinals, said MICROSOFT Chairman and Chief Software Architect William H. Gates III (or Sir William of Redmond as he now prefers to be called).

"We expect a lot of growth in the religious market in the next five to ten years," said Sir William. "The combined resources of MICROSOFT and the Catholic Church will allow us to make religion easier and more fun for a broader range of people."

Through the MICROSOFT Network, the company's on-line service, "we will make the sacraments available on-line for the first time" and revive the popular pre-Counter-Reformation practice of selling indulgences, said Gates. "You can get Communion, confess your sins, receive absolution, keep Windows from Blue Screening -- even reduce your time in Purgatory -- all without leaving your home."

A new software application, MICROSOFT Church 2004 (code name Third Horn), will include a macro language which you can program to download heavenly graces automatically while you are away from your computer.

An estimated 17,000 people attended the announcement in St Peter's Square, watching on a 60-foot screen as comedian Don Novello -- in character as Father Guido Sarducci -- hosted the event, which was broadcast by satellite to 700 sites worldwide and via the Internet using Media Player 666 technology.

The Pope said little during the announcement. When Novello chided Gates, "Now I guess you get to wear one of these pointy hats," the crowd roared, but the pontiff's smile seemed strained.

The deal grants MICROSOFT exclusive electronic rights to the Bible and the Vatican's prized art collection, which includes works by such masters as Michelangelo and Da Vinci. But critics say MICROSOFT will face stiff challenges if it attempts to limit competitors' access to these key intellectual properties.

"The Jewish people invented the look and feel of the holy scriptures," said Rabbi David Gottschalk of Philadelphia. "You take the parting of the Red Sea -- we had that thousands of years before the Catholics came on the scene."

Stung by the criticism, MS "Evangelist" Robert Scoble said "Wait until Third Horn ships and you run it on a TabletPC."

But others argue that the Catholic and Jewish faiths both draw on a common Abrahamic heritage. "The Catholic Church has just been more successful in marketing it to a larger audience," notes Notre Dame theologian Father Kenneth Madigan. Over the last 2,000 years, the Catholic Church's market share has increased dramatically, while Judaism, which was the first to offer many of the concepts now touted by Christianity, lags behind.

Historically, the Church has a reputation as an aggressive competitor, leading crusades to pressure people to upgrade to Catholicism, and entering into exclusive licensing arrangements in various kingdoms whereby all subjects were instilled with Catholicism, whether or not they planned to use it. Today Christianity is available from several denominations, but the Catholic version is still the most widely used. The Church's mission is to reach "the four corners of the earth," echoing MICROSOFT's vision of "a computer on every desktop and in every home".

Gates described MICROSOFT's long-term strategy to develop a scalable religious architecture that will support all religions through emulation. A single core religion will be offered with a choice of interfaces according to the religion desired -- "One religion, a couple of different implementations," said Gates.

The MICROSOFT move could spark a wave of mergers and acquisitions, according to Herb Peters, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern Baptist Conference, as other churches scramble to strengthen their position in the increasingly competitive religious market. Messages left on Linus Torvalds answering machine asking for comments were not returned by press time.

KBviaNewsEDGE

Copyright (c) 2004 Night-Rider / Tribone Business News Received via NewsLEDGE from Desktop Dodo, Inc. and Parody Communications: 03/25/04 19:20

Today is a state holiday commemorating the birth of Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole.

This article here from Israel is a proof of concept that pigeon enabled internet is faster than ADSL. The birds, using TCP (transmission by carrier pigeon), transmitted 4GB of data faster than an ADSL could have in the given time.

In the News

Date: Thursday, 1 Apr 2004 00:00:00 +0100
From: Petri Ojala
Subject: Press Release: McDonalds and EUnet join to offer Global "Internet in a Lunchbox"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

McDonalds and EUnet join to offer Global "Internet in a Lunchbox"

Amsterdam, The Netherlands -- April 1, 2004 -- McDonalds, Inc. and EUnet, Ltd. today announced an agreement which will allow people to access the Internet in virtually everywhere. Access to the Internet is fast becoming a requirement for leading businesses who wish to communicate globally at any place, any time.

"Our restaurants offer the market's most cost-effective solution for daily food substance requirements and together with EUnet we take this small step for our businesses but a great leap to the mankind", says Kechap Mustard, senior vice president for marketing at McDonalds restaurants. "The Information Superhighway will be a significant part of our future and we want to participate in building it. Every highway needs restaurants and together with EUnet we will meet the great demands of the new information society", he adds.

EUnet, the largest commercial Internet service provider in Europe, will together with McDonalds install wireless Internet connectivity via WiFi to every McDonalds restaurant. A revolutionary CRC-free product, McEUnet, will be used to provide access to the Internet for everyone, from small children to senior citizens. "Later we will offer our customers a complete McEUnet-meal with a png of the month. Together with the planned McEUnet birthday party service we will provide a full range of solutions to our customers who need wireless access to the Internet", said Mustard.

"Way to mans heart goes through his stomach and together with McDonalds we can get there. EUnet's goal is to bring the Internet to every dining table and now it's finally for real. McDonalds restaurants are also children's favorite and now we make it possible for children to learn the Internet before they can even read or write", says Glenn Kowack, EUnet CEO. "We haven't accomplished Internet to the belly button yet, but we are very near a breakthrough. Our research staff is already working hard to create recyclable access to the Internet to save the nature. CRC-free McEUnet IP addresses are already recycled", Kowack describes the new service.

###

All brands, products and service names mentioned are trademarks or registered service marks of their respective owners.

.

In other news, software giant Microsoft Corporation (MS) announced today that the Windows GUI (code name Foghorn Leghorn) has been ported to Unix and will be on sale next week Thursday, April 1st. Noting that MS had already ported Office to run on Apple's OS X, based on a variation of Unix, MS founder William Gates III (hereinafter SRW: Sir William of Redmond) said it wasn't that difficult to do. SRW went on to say he was sure that MS would soon dominate the market for GUIs running under various versions of Unix and Linux and that both KDE and Gnome would soon be a thing of the past.

Whether you are in the public or private sector, each of us has many bosses. Each of these bosses have different wants but in some ways they are alike: they want to be paid first and they want to be paid now.

For the private sector, the question is how to balance the business versus the stock holders. That is, there is an ongoing tension between investing in your business/employees and paying out dividends to stock holders. As a large business owner, if you get the balance wrong, you go out of business. So it is important to get it right.

But sometimes, the stockholders forget that the money is generated by a well run business. Indeed, if the business is not running well, there will be no stock dividends. Nonetheless, the stock holders want money and if they don't get it from business X, they will get it from business Y.

One interesting comparison is this article from the Wall Street Journal comparing warehouse giants Costco and Sams/Wall*Mart. The first pays their employees a living wage and good medical benefits (as a government worker, I pay three times more in medical costs then Costco employees) but doesn't pay that much in dividends to investors. The other, pays as little as possible to its workers but keeps its investors happy by paying steady dividends.

This is not an easy question to answer and I can't say one way will always work over the other. But in my opinion, if you have good employees, the long term prospects are better for them then the one that squeezes the life out their workers.

Speaking of hell, here is a site that says she rides through the Chernobyl area. On her motorcycle. More than once. And lives to tell about it. With pictures. Why. Am. I. Writing. Like this [watched too much of William Shatner - ed.]?

Most of the pictures appear to be hers although some look like she copied them from other sources and one wonders how she got photos of herself if she was the only one riding [tripod and self-timer? - ed]. In any case, it's interesting to look at. In a creepy sort of way. Enjoy.

Aloha!

Sorry, no post today. I'm drafting some testimony in support of the Salary Commission's recommendations so I have zero time to post anything. Come back tomorrow. Thanks.

Aloha!

says Google is launching an e-mail service called "Gmail."

UK motorists "squawked with rage last night as police revealed plans to fit speed cameras on HAWKS." That's right, "specially-trained birds in the new flying squad will prey on speeding drivers spotted by their cop handlers." See the story here.

"A woman in central China who paid for breast enlargement surgery ended up with an unwanted bonus - two extra breasts." See the story here.

In an effort to help the national debt, Taco Bell is pleased to announce that we have agreed to purchase the Liberty Bell, one of our country's most historic treasures. It will now be called the "Taco Liberty Bell" and will still be accessible to the American public for viewing. While some may find this controversial, we hope our move will prompt other corporations to take similar action to do their part to reduce the country's debt.

Japanese engineers are reporting sporadic bouts of electrical interference which may be caused by a simple mistake. Apparently the support wire in certain women's underwire bras have been made out of a kind of copper originally designed for use in fire alarms. When this copper comes into contact with nylon and body heat, it produces static electricity which, in turn, is interfering with local television and radio broadcasts. Government officials will be releasing a announcement that all women must immediately remove their bras and to stop wearing them until further notice.

Happy looF lirpA Day - Aloha!

I have a legislative hearing to go to this morning so I gotta go. Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Some people describe life as being a journey rather than a destination. To the extent that is true, I think American Idol contestant Camile Velasco has had an interesting journey. The gentle soul from Maui made it past the tens of thousands of people who thought they had talent but didn't and made it down to the final nine.

In my heart, I knew she would not make it much farther because she didn't (yet) have the confidence in her self that is needed to be a good performer. From what I've read in the local papers, last week was the 10th time in her life that she had performed before an audience. It is no wonder then that her nerves betrayed her.

Having said that, I don't think a pop idol is where her path lays. She appears to be most comfortable in singing hip hop and perhaps if she concentrates on recording rather than singing live she can grow into herself and find the confidence she needs. Whichever path she takes, she has made Hawaii proud of her and I wish her the best in her future endeavors.

As to the others who remain in the show, I have to wonder how some of them are still around. Could it be, as two of the three judges said last night that voting is based on personality, or something as simple as where you are from rather than how well you sang the night before?

Given some of the remaining people I would say yes.

In any case, tomorrow is a state holiday (Good Friday) so I will be off. Have a Great Weekend Everyone and I'll see you, God willing and the 'crick don't rise, back here on Monday - Aloha!

Speaking of Hollywood, it was like something out of a Hollywood movie. According to the story here, famed California Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger was swimming off of Maui last week when he came upon a man on a Body Board who seemed to be in trouble. When the Governor asked the man if he needed assistance the man said yes as he had muscle cramps and could not swim in on his own. The Governor then towed the man in to shore perhaps saving his life.

The Governor's only comment was "I'll be bock", to Maui, that is.

For all you budding Steven Speilbergs out there take a look at this guy's instructions on how to build the equivalent (he says) of a $1,500 SteadiCam_® for $15. As you videophiles out there already know, the SteadiCam_® rig is a portable stabilization platform used to hold movie/video cameras while moving. The rig smoothes out the natural up and down motion that occurs when walking. But as the sample videos show, it doesn't seem to do anything for left and right motion. In any case, if you want that smooth motion unedited tracking shot like the opening sequence to Robert Altman's "The Player", but don't have the moola, check it out.

Speaking of fellow Daynoters, a new one has joined these hallowed ivy covered walls. Check out Rick Hellewell. According to his site, Mr. Hellewell "work[s] for a governmental agency in Sacramento as the Senior Information Security Officer." Hmmm, Sacramento, the capitol of California (or as Ahhnuld says, Kah-lee-for-nee-ah). A governmental agency? Which could it be? Read his site and find out, if you can.[g]

I have a 10:00 a.m. hearing at the Legislature, in the capitol city of Honolulu, Hawaii so I gotta go.

Aloha!

Our office is in an uproar as as we get re-wired for CAT6 cables. Presently, I think, we have old CAT3 wires which worked fine for our 16MB token-ring network. Now that we are finally moving into the 20th century (yes, I know, we're in the 21st century) and Ethernet 100MB, we need better wiring. So I gotta go as the cable guys are here and are about to cover my desk and computer in plastic.

Aloha!

Anzac Day in New Zealand is held on 25 April each year to commemorate New Zealanders killed in war and to honour returned servicemen and women. The day has similar importance in Australia, New Zealand's partner in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli. The ceremony itself has been continually adapted to the times, but has also steadily acquired extra layers of symbolism and meaning.

Anzac day is also commemorated here in Hawai'i through a solemn ceremony at the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. Hundreds attend the ceremony, including the press, which televised the ceremony on the news yesterday.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them. - Laurence Binyon's 'For the Fallen'

Aloha!

As noted yesterday, things have kind of slowed down around here. I'm still waiting for the Legislature to drop the axe on the Judicial Salary Commission recommendations but other than that, nothing of importance is going on.

Aloha!

When I was in high school, as was the custom then, the MorningNewspaper would list notable accomplishments of young people around the state. Mostly, it was listings of students who had gotten scholarships or won awards for various skills such as speech or math. But one day, I read the name of a fellow student who was in the Boy Scouts. It seems he had attained the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest advancement rank in Scouting. This is indeed a high accomplishment as only about four percent of all Scouts ever reach this level and something, I would think, to be proud.

But, I guess, each person deals with life in different ways. Let me explain. I saw the student the day after his name was published in the paper and congratulated him on his attaining Eagle Scout status. His response sadden me. What he did was threaten me saying he did not want his friends to know that he was an Eagle Scout. I can only speculate as to why he would not want his friends to know what he had accomplished. Was he fearful that his friends would think less of him? I don't know but, if so, one wonders what kind of friends he had.

I was reminded of him in relation to the recent national controversy over whether photos of flag draped caskets of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq should be published. It seems the current administration, for whatever reason, feels that no one should see such photos. In fact, someone who published some photos was fired from her job.

I think I can understand how the grieving family of some soldiers may not want any publicity about their son or daughter's casket coming home and I'm certainly not going to stand in judgment of them. But I think these people could perhaps take some comfort if they understood the depth of caring and grieving we all feel when one of our young men and women falls in battle. I wish they could understand that the these mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters do not stand alone. That a country proudly stands beside them, whether they support the war or not, and that the healing process can be easier when they can accept the love of others.

There is a posting from U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Strobl that is an account of escorting home the remains of one Lance Corporal Chance Phelps who died in Iraq recently. I don't know if the post is apocryphal or not, but even if it is, it doesn't matter. What matters is it tells the powerful truth of who we are. If you can read that post and not have a tear come to your eye then something is wrong with you.

I know the story is true, even if the details may not, because I have seen the respect and reverence paid to the returning remains of soldiers who died in the Vietnam War. To this day, when the unidentified remains, in those same flag draped caskets are brought to Hawai'i for identification at the Army Lab, there is a solemn ceremony, usually televised on local TV news.

I know the story is true because when my father-in-law was laid to rest, the Honolulu Police force turned out by the hundreds to honor him. They even shut down the main highway through town to give a clear road to his motorcade to the cemetery. Once at the grave site, a U.S. Marine Corps detachment provided full military honors to their fallen comrade.

I want every grieving parent to know that they don't stand alone in their sorrow. That "from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Aloha!

Most new ideas aren't new. So when I heard someone was coming out with a six-wheeled car my thoughts went back to the 1970s and the Tyrrell P34 Formula 1 car. But as this site notes, there were others before that.

My back is bothering me again so I'm at home.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Even as we seem to have reached a tipping point in our voluntary adherence to the rule of law, it's heartening to find a story like this one. It seems a father and son where out for a Saturday morning motorcycle ride (they refer to the bike as a Kawasaki quad. I think people here in the US call it an ATV. See some examples here).

Apparently, the pair hit a wedge of wood, suddenly halting the bike and throwing them over the handle bars. The bike followed and ended up on the father, pinning him in place. With his father unable to move and in critical condition, the son, with every rib in his seven year-old body broken, hiked 2km (~1.25 miles) through the brush to tell his mother and get help.

Upon reaching the house and relating the location of his father, the boy collapsed from his injuries.

Sorry. No post today. I had to hit the ground running this morning to do some stuff at work. I hope to have something worth your while tomorrow (Lord willing and the crick don't rise).

Aloha!

Speaking of planning for the worst, while I have supported Jasmine Trias, the sole remaining American Idol contestant from Hawaii, and one of the final four left in the TV show contest, I think her time to leave has come. Clearly, she needed to do very well last night but I don't think that happened.

If she has a problem, it's that she doesn't seem to have a very powerful voice. I don't know if it's because she gets nervous and runs out of breath or if she hasn't learned how to, as they say, sing from the diaphragm. This has caused her no end of problems as the other three contestants either already knew how, or learned very quickly.

I now wonder why she never did. Did her coaches think she didn't need to? Did she think she didn't need? I don't know. All I know is she is the now the weakest singer of the four and will probably have the fewest number of votes and therefore be off the show tonight.

If there is anything that could save her, it is indignation on the part of her fans over the way she was treated by the judges last night. I know the judges are there to stir things up but, for goodness sakes, she's only a teenager and you don't have to be mean about it. And mean they were. So I voted early and often just because I was so pissed off irate at them for making her cry.

Whatever happens tonight, I'm sure all of Hawaii supports her and I hope that brings some comfort to her. Seto out.

Aloha!

So the votes are in and . . . Jasmine is safe. In fact, I hear on the radio that so many people voted for her that she came in number 1. All I can say to Simon, Paula, and Randy is "Yo, eat 'dis." Aloooooha.

Now to be serious for a moment. Jasmine will probably be voted off next week and all of the people who hate her because their favorite lost this week will be happy. Or not.

But remember this: Hawai'i is a small state with about a million people. Tuesday night, Hawai'i generated about a million or two votes for Jasmine. At this point, it takes over six million to be safe. Obviously, a lot of other people other than just those in Hawai'i voted for her so don't blame Jasmine or Hawai'i for your loss.

Second, American Idol has always been about popularity. Was Kelly the best singer in year one? Was Reuben in year two? So don't be surprised if year three is won by Diana (who I think is a very good singer but not the best of the final 12).

And lastly, don't ever challenge the people of Hawaii. Even today, we are made up of many immigrant people. Said people have the guts to leave their homelands to better themselves in a foreign land. This type of people can not be described as wall flowers like Simon may think. Rather than shrinking and running when challenged, they will get in your face and punch you in the nose. So back off.

Aloha!

On a lighter note, this PhD candidate was interested in "fundamental models of robot, animal, and human locomotion and manipulation." So he built a robot that could do origami, the oriental art of paper folding.

Aloha!

From: sjon
Subject: MT Promises
Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 02:56:59 -0700 (PDT)

{quote}If anything, the history of software indicates just the opposite. I mean, most programs OpenSource or not, aren't around very long. {/quote} For a few programs that are crucial to business I agree with you. For others I agree more with Mark. These days -almost- no business survives without spreadsheet. So for spreadsheets there will always customers ready and able to pay. Same goes for text processing, web serving, fire walling etc.

Blogging software -for example- is not a crucial tool. I bet you can go back to notepad/vi if everybody puts a $500+ price tag on their software.) As you mention most programs aren't around very long (except some bug ridden DLLs in Windows of course -EvilGrin-) so when a free program comes along for a noncrucial task all the non-free programs get priced out of the market, not overnight but after a time. At the same time the market grows enormously because lots of new users jump in, free is a good introduction price. When the free program disappears most people either switch to another free program or just stop the activity -blogging- and move on to other things. The result is that very few people use the commercial program which means it either has to raise it's price to survive -downward spiral- or drop the price to -almost- free. Neither strategy will pay the bills. Thing is once people get used to having something free it's difficult to make them pay for the same thing again.

Aloha!

When you decide to steal fuel out of a camper by siphoning it out of the tank, be sure you choose the gas tank rather than the sewage holding tank. See the story here. Eeeeeuuuuuuwwwww.

Not much going on in the Seto Shack today so I'll leave you with this:

He who fights against monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process. And when you stare persistently into an abyss, the abyss also stares into you. - Friedrich Nietzsche

Aloha!

Vehicle size can help in some situations and hurt in others. Take a look at when size hurts here where you'll see what a MiniCooper looks like after a crash into a barrier at 40 mph versus what a Ford 150 full-sized truck looks like. Draw your own conclusions. YMMV.

The sweet smell of plumeria will always be associated, in my mind, with the month of May. I can remember, when I was in elementary school, stringing lei made out of the beautiful flowers. At that time, almost every yard had a tree laden with the white, yellow, pink, and red blossoms. So near the end of the month, the call would go out to all the homes to bring as many flowers as possible to the schools.

We would then string the flowers together so to make lei each about two feet (~0.6m) end-to-end. While this is usually too short to give to someone, it's not too short for the purpose we were using it for.

Monday is the Memorial Day holiday in the US. A day set aside to honor our nation's sons and daughters who have died while serving their country in the armed forces during times of war.

Each and every one of the tens of thousands of graves in the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu will have a plumeria lei laid around their gravestones. It is but a small way to to honor those who gave their last full measure of devotion to our country and a way to teach children that freedom is not free.

I'll be taking the day off and will be back here on Tuesday (Lord willing and the 'crick don't rise) but give a good thought for those who have died for the very freedoms we seem so intent on giving away. We can hope that their deaths will not have been in vain.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

This past weekend SWMBO and I went into Waikiki for an early anniversary vacation. We usually take off during the July 4th weekend but due to her job obligations, it doesn't look like we will be able to do that.

So we stayed at the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki. The hotel is in Waikiki but is not on the beach as it fronts the yacht harbor. Nonetheless it is a very nice hotel. We had a room on the 29th of 33 floors with a view extending from the the Hilton Hawaiian Village (where we stayed last year) to the Magic Island end of Ala Moana Park.

The room was recently renovated and includes high speed Ethernet access to the Internet ($8.95 USD per day extra). We had a nice time playing tourist and laying out at the pool. So much so we'll probably come back some time.

I'll try to get some pictures up as soon as I can but it may be awhile.

Aloha!

A slow day here at the Seto Shack. I think I'll be able to have the vacation pictures (Run! Run for your lives - ed) up tomorrow. Until then, remember that "ignorance may be bliss, but it isn't a virtue." - Bob Lewis (1999)

Aloha!

The latest rage locally are these magnets shaped in the form of a yellow ribbon (available here for $5.25 USD). I see them on cars and trucks all over town and have apparently even become valuable to thieves. Get yours now before everyone else has one. YMMV.

I know all eleven of you have been anxiously waiting for my vacation pics so here they are. I have to say that they aren't my best work but I was more into relaxing then trying to do anything artistic. Still, you can't go too far wrong taking pictures of the sunset in Hawai'i ;).

As usual, clicking on an image will link you to a full-sized version. Note that some of the images are about one MB in size so let discretion rule your decision...

By the way, there is a lot of "pixelization" in most of the images due to the imaging software (Paint Shop Pro 8) that I used to correct some of the colors. I didn't notice the problem until I had worked on most of the images. I found that the automatic contrast enhancement function does bad things and needs to be used with care, if at all.

Left, looking towards the Hilton Hawaiian Village lagoon in the middle distance and the yacht harbor in the foreground (That big blue thing farther out is the Pacific Ocean. Just trying to be helpful - ed.).

Center, straight out to sea.

Right, towards Magic Island of Ala Moana Park.

In-room computer workstation with my Dell laptop connected via Fast Ethernet. You can also see the all-in-one fax/printer to the right. They even provided a ream of paper in the desk drawer.

These are some of the sailboats coming in from the usual Friday evening race held off of Waikiki and Ala Moana.

This is a shot pointing straight down towards the pool on the fifth floor deck.

A shot of the yacht harbor taken from the pool deck.

Obligatory sunset shot number one.

Obligatory sunset shot number two.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

I forgot to mention that tomorrow is a state holiday (King Kamehameha Day), not to mention a federal holiday in memory of President Reagan, so I'll be off and no post for tomorrow.

Have a Great, Long Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

I guess I've been in a reflective mood lately remembering the past Los Angeles Lakers greats. And a big part of my time in Los Angeles (1976-1980) was associated with listening to music. I had a Marantz AM/FM receiver (see a picture of, I think, the model I had then here) with Altec Lansing speakers.

Most of the stations I listened to have long since either gone under or changed formats so many times no one can remember what they started with.

But along with the music were the DJs who spun those platters. I can remember the authoritative voices of Jim Ladd, Pat "Paraquat" Kelley, Mary "The Burner" Turner, Jeff Gonzer, Ace "The Space" Young, and B. Mitchell Reed of KMET and I think Brother Bob Cole from KKGO Jazz (I could be wrong on the last one, its been a long time).

This was a time in which "free-form" album oriented rock still had a chance. In fact, for awhile, KMET was number one in LA based on their focus on playing good, but not necessarily commercial music. So instead of the three minute song followed by commercials, they might play a Led Zeppelin opus like "Kashmir" or "Stair Way to Heaven" while other stations played "Mandy" by Barry Manilow.

It was that kind of era. But as in all things, its time came and went.

Also out of the UK is this BBC report that says the Swedish Navy will be the first to deploy a so-called stealth ship. The new class of ship has a hull made of carbon fiber and above water surfaces angled so as to deflect radar waves rather than reflecting them back to the sender. The sum total of the changes reportedly reduces the radar "signature" by 99 percent.

Aloha!

You know, sometimes I read this stuff and wonder if these people are for real. I mean, there is enough strange things in the world without having to make things up. And yet, people do.

Whether this item is one of them I'll let you decide. TheRegister is reporting that the British Ministry of Defense has developed an anti-grenade vaporizing force field. I kid you not. According to the article here:

The new electric armour is based on a highly charged capacitor connected to two separate metal plates on the tank's exterior. The outer (armour-plated) plate is earthed while the insulated inner plate is live.

Speaking of even more important stuff, I would appreciate it if you could send a few good thoughts to Fellow Daynoter John Dominik's family as his elderly mother apparently fell down the stairs and his not doing well. Also, if you have the time and are so inclined, send Fellow Daynoter Mike Barkman a few good thoughts as he continues his fight with his own health problems.

Aloha!

If anything, my back is worse today than it was yesterday. Since sitting puts more pressure on my back than standing, and since I write this while sitting, there won't be much of a post. Sorry about that.

If you think Hawai'i has some big waves, check out this one that hit Japan recently. Where's Mothra when you need him/her/it?

Aloha!

I'm at home again today. If all goes well, I'll be back at work tomorrow.

Speaking of doctors. Acknowledging that they spend more care hitting golf balls then attending to their patients, surgeons in the US will begin new procedures to ensure that the foot they amputate is the one that is supposed to be cut off.

Beginning July 1st, surgeons are supposed to take a "time out" to confirm they are operating on the right patient, that they have correctly identified the body part to be worked on, and if there is more than one part, that they have the correct one. You would think surgeons would already be doing this but I guess in the factory like atmosphere that operating rooms have become it is not. See the full story here.

Aloha!

I'm back at work today. But my back, if anything is a lot worse than it was yesterday. I don't know why, but it started getting worse last night. This morning, just sitting here for a few minutes and I'm in pain. I've even changed chairs trying to find something that will support my back and not hurt so much.

Oh well, I guess I'll take a couple of aspirin and wait until I leave at 11:00am for my CAT scan (see How It Works here).

Aloha!

Legislatures are frequently taken to task for creating stealth tax increases through the use of "fees." By upping fees, they can go back to their home states and trumpet how they held the line on taxes while at the same time increasing revenues to pay for more government programs.

Well, legislatures aren't the only ones. Take a look at your cell phone bill and you'll see all kinds of add-on fees that you aren't told about when you sign up. This article from MSNBC (see it here) seems to be saying many of those fees are either mislabeled, vague, or downright lies. In other words, these private companies raise the cost of using their services by creating fees out of thin air (car dealers also do this by adding fees for "license processing" or just calling it ADM for Additional Dealer Markup - i.e., profit) and since all of them are doing it, you have no choice.

I can still remember certain people saying deregulation was supposed to bring lower prices and more choices. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it depends on whether there is competition or not. It may be too early for a good determination, but this grand experiment in reforming government doesn't seem to be meeting the stated objectives.

According to this story from CNN here. The state of Utah and the US government are suing the Boy Scouts of America for almost $14 million USD to recover the costs of fighting a fire allegedly started by unattended camp fires built by a group of Boy Scouts.

Not much going on right now other than listening to some patriotic songs from iTunes (Independence Day here in the US is July 4th) while I work on correcting the problems with the PERL scripts. The webmaster got around to changing the permissions on one PERL script yesterday so I was able to change the path therein, thus fixing the problem with our voting page in about 10 minutes.

Now I need to persuade him to do the same to the search engine script so I can change the path there. By the way, yes the problem was the paths. My best guess is the directory where our intraweb site was stored was sym-linked to another directory. By deleting the link and creating a new directory the absolute path, of course, changed. Hence, the scripts which use absolute paths all failed.

I know where the changes need to be made, the problem is getting the webmaster to alter the permissions on the files so that I can make those updates.

Baby steps. That's how government works. Baby steps.

Monday is a holiday so I will see you folks back here on Tuesday.

Have a Great (Long) Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. --

I had a couple of posts ready for uploading this morning when I found out the Administrator of our Policy and Planning Division (which our office comes under) passed away of leukemia yesterday.

I worked closely with Larry Coldiron during this past legislative session on the Judicial Salary Commission and got to know him pretty well.

Larry was the kind of Administrator who trusted the people who worked under him. He would hand assignments to me and would let me do them the way I felt was best. That's not to say he wouldn't check on how things were going or always have a back-up plan ready to go, but in the end, when reviewing what you had done, he would very rarely make changes to your recommendations because he felt you were now the expert on the subject and knew best what to recommend.

Larry was a retired officer from, I believe, the Air Force. He never discussed his military service but I believe it shaped who he became. Organization, a clear chain of command, and responsibility for your actions were the watch words of his life. Conversely, he would give credit to those under him before allowing anyone to give him any praise for the good work of his division.

Larry was also a Christian. When I went to visit him in the hospital during his first bout with leukemia he had a Bible by his side and a framed picture of the Lord on the counter of his room. But what was most important, he had the love of Christ in his heart.

Larry had been fighting his cancer for several years. At first, it appeared the treatments had worked but the disease came back stronger than the first time. Larry fought as hard as he could but in the end, he didn't make it.

A better, braver person person you could not find. He will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

Farewell, good friend.

Speaking of bums. Some people say life is a journey, not a destination. Well, here's a couple of guys who are doing both. They quit their day jobs and began a bicycle journey across the U.S. They have a blog here where you can follow their adventures.

Aloha!

I've ranted before about the poor service Hawaii gets from the two major parcel delivery companies. Either they get things here faster than the two-day service (so they take boxes off the truck and hold them in their warehouse until later) or they do what FederalExcrement did last week.

Before we get to that, let me give you a time line of events. At a little before 11:30 am HST, on Tuesday, June 29th, I ordered some software from Amazon. I paid additional for second-day air shipping in the hope of getting the package by Friday, July 2nd. According to the Amazon processing screen, with 2nd-day air the package was in fact scheduled to be delivered on Friday.

On Wednesday, June 30th, the package was picked up by the shipper at about 3:30pm Mountain Time Zone, in Texas. From there it went to Memphis, Tennessee. For those of you without a GPS plugged into your brain, the package went from West to East. I guess the shipper uses their hubs even if it means it's farther away and even if it means they won't deliver in two days. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The package arrived in Memphis on Thursday, July 1 at about 2:20 pm (Central Time Zone). It was held there all day and into Friday and then into Saturday. I don't know why it was held in Memphis when if it had been put on a plane to the west coast and then on to Hawaii it could have been here on Friday. But it wasn't. Instead, it stayed in Memphis until late Saturday when it was finally put on a plane heading West. I don't know how many stops it made on its way here but it finally arrived in Honolulu Sunday evening, July 4th. Since they don't deliver on weekends or holidays, it stayed in the warehouse until Tuesday, July 6th, SEVEN DAYS after I ordered the software. Sigh.

And people complain about slow government service. Well, if it positively has to be there by a certain date, don't use these guys. Use the U.S. Postal Service instead. At least they deliver on Saturdays.

So, we liked staying at the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki so much we decided to come back for the July 4th holiday and watch the fireworks from the room. The view from our 30th floor room was terrific. We actually looked down at some of the fireworks and we were so close that the windows rattled every time one of the bigger ones went off.

Unfortunately, I guess a lot of other people decided to to stay here so it was a lot more crowded than the last time we were here. In fact, the pool was so busy we spent most of our time out shopping [g]. I got a silk aloha shirt from Avanti and a couple of golf/polo shirts from NikeTown. SWMBO also bought a pair of shoes from Nike. We also went to the DFS Galleria Hawaii with its huge one story high aquarium and got a few trinkets to mark our stay in Waikiki.

Busy day today so no time for a post. Sorry.

One of the classes I took while working on my Masters in Public Administration was taught by a futurist by the name of Dr. Jim Dator. One of the tools he uses is called alternative futures.

While no one, including futurists, can predict the future, the process of creating and then temporarily "living" in alternative futures (plural) opens the mind to the possibilities available therein.

However, not all scenarios lead to what I would define as beneficial outcomes. In fact, some scenarios are down right frightening.

Such is the case with a dream (nightmare?) I had last night. I awoke at about 3:00 am with a vivid recollection of the dream. Usually, I have problems even remembering I dreamt at all much less remembering the subject of the dream but this one was so disturbing that I can remember the details even now.

In this future, the U.S. military has decided that they have had enough of a president who had misled the people. A president (and vice president) who had a hidden agenda. An agenda that led to the killing of thousands of military personnel in a war that was not justified. A war that was run from Washington that tied the hands of commanders even to the extent of telling them how many troops they would need.

In this future, the military decided that things had gone too far and so they (the military) took over the government and instituted martial law. Security, which had been high before under civilian control became a heavy blanket covering all aspects of American life. One could not travel freely without approval of the local military provost marshal. Citizens were subject to strip searches at the whim of roving bands of military personnel. And all elections were "postponed" until the threat from external forces were countered.

As I said, it was a bad dream...

Aloha!

The July 12, 2004 column from Bob Lewis talks about making business decisions (The column will disappear behind his lead curtain at the end of the week. You have to give his company permission to spam you to retrieve it later.).

Specifically, do you compete on features or price. Smart companies realize they have to chose one or the other, not both. I am reminded of my time at the local bank while working on my Masters. The bank had a rule that all customer calls had to be answered by a person, not a phone mail system. Thus, it seems, the choice was to compete on features. But, unfortunately, the bank also cut the number of people available to answers these calls by, if I remember right, more than half.

Imagine, if you will, working at this bank. Your management tells you they value what you do. They also say they value their customers. But what management does is drastically cut the staff available to answer calls from these customers. What message is management sending to staff and how much trust do you think employees have in what management tells them?

Now, imagine you are a customer of this bank. You need to talk to someone about your bank statement (which seems to be off by a couple of thousand dollars, perhaps because the bank outsourced some of their back room offices). So you call and hear either a busy signal or the sound of the phone ringing. And ringing. And ringing. What message has management sent to this customer and how much trust and loyalty will this customer have?

Even smarter companies realize they have to be consistent in their choices. That is, they can't say they will make their decision on a case by case basis so that sometimes they choose features and sometimes price. If your business is to prosper, you have to choose one or the other and then consistency apply that choice to all situations. Choose unwisely and your business eventually may go under. Don't choose at all (or choose both) and your business will definitely go under (or be bought by someone else).

So, as in many things, it's about the choices you make. Choose wisely.

When I was much younger, I loved building plastic models. Most of them were cars but I also built planes, rockets, and even a ship or two. But what I did cannot be compared to those master modelers that build stuff for movies or TV.

One of those masters is Martin Bowers. He has all kinds of scratch built models including ones from Space 1999 here.

This link here is to a five-foot long model of the Star Trek Enterprise 1401-D. It includes a full lighting package using neon lights!

It is too bad that with the coming of computer generated images, the need for miniature models is on the decline. That being said, feel free to spend some time taking a look at some really amazing work.

Aloha!

In other unrelated news, foreign female workers in Saudi Arabia are sometimes sexually abused by their employers. When the women become pregnant, they (the women) are then charged with "illegal pregnancies" and thrown in jail where they are further abused and tortured. No word yet if the US House of Representatives will reduce the foreign aid to Saudi Arabia by an additional 10 cents.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

This article from the NewScientitst website says noted physicists Stephen Hawking has changed his mind about black holes. Up to recently, he postulated that everything that fell into a black hole was destroyed. But according to the article, Hawking will recant this belief at the 17th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation in Dublin, Ireland next week. Of course, we will have to wait for the conference to see what he actually has to say but if true, this could radically change our understanding of black holes.

My hosting service, pair.com, is having problems again with their mail server so I can't send any mail. The problem was reported yesterday morning (HST) but as of this writing, they are still working on it and have no estimated time for completion of repairs. Sometimes mail will get through and sometimes it won't so, I guess, you'll just have to wait for my words of wisdom to reach your email box [g].

Aloha!

Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's fame has now made it to Wired (see the story here). The short article notes the continuing popularity of Bruddah Iz's version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" on the iTunes site as well as making it to number one on Microsoft employee buying list on Amazon (Microsoft? - ed.).

Obviously, his type of music is not for everyone but many people, having heard this song, can't keep it out of their head (and hearts) and so are buying it from iTunes and Amazon.

Starting yesterday afternoon, things got very hectic around here because the servers (and/or the switches/routers/DHCP/Notes servers) that the token-ring users (I think the majority of people in the Judiciary are still on token-ring) use went down. I don't know what the problem is or when it will be corrected. In the mean time, since I'm on Ethernet, I can access everything except our internal Intranet web sites and so I emailed our Information Technology people to get the rest of our office switched over.

So, while I work on that, there's no time for a post. Sorry about that.

Aloha!

Day One of the meetings that will not die actually ended early yesterday when the Adobe file the speaker was looking for couldn't be found. This probably wasn't related to the fact there were over 20 files in the directory with descriptive names like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

I've talked about meetings and how if you don't use tools such as written agendas and facilitation you end up wasting a lot of people's time. Such is the case, so far, in the three day marathon of meetings I'm attending this week. The meetings focus on deciding which legal forms to use in the Judiciary's new court information system. Each island uses different forms and the intent is, where possible, to consolidate on one version. Remarkably, progress is being made but is awfully slow going because of the lack of focus that naturally occurs when you bring over 25 people together to discuss anything.

Oh well, if you ever have to lead a meeting, make sure you know how to use facilitation because, if you do, you can make things flow much faster and end up with a product that is better than if you didn't use facilitation.

Speaking of which, I gotta' go.

Aloha!

One of the images from NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn and Titan (see it here) looks an awful lot like the "Death Star" a certain space movie. One hopes that the menacing image is just a trick the mind sometimes plays.

For you l33t h4x0rs out there comes a translation project worthy of your talents. The NHV (New Hacker Version) Bible from the folks over at the ChristianHacker site here appears to be an effort to translate the Bible into hackerspeak. Whether this is for real or just a parody I don't know. But for what it's worth, they provide a sample of what John 3:16 would look like:

F0r G0d $0 l0v3d th3 w0rld, th@t h3 g@v3 hi$ 0nly b3g0tt3n $0n, th@t wh0$03v3r b3li3v3th in hi|v| $h0uld n0t p3ri$h, but h@v3 3v3rl@$ting lif3.

At the height that the lonely plane was flying at, the weather was extremely cold but clear. So clear that the intense morning sun glinting off of the windows as the plane made its final turn towards its destination would have temporarily blinded anyone seeing the reflection. Still, the aircraft successfully aligned with the city far below as the bomb bay doors trundled open exposing the lone bomb tucked within.

At the appointed place and time, the bomb was released and quickly picked up speed as it fell towards its target. When it reached its designed altitude above the city a perfectly shaped spherical charge exploded compressing the radioactive material within causing it to reach critical mass. In that instant, at 8:15, on the morning of August 6, 1945, a burning flash of light filled the sky as the Japanese city of Hiroshima was engulfed in a pressure wave never before experienced by any city on this planet.

The pressure wave at ground zero moved at almost a 1,000 miles per hour. Even after it had traveled a mile away it was still moving at almost 200 miles per hour. What wasn't destroyed by the pressure wave was burned by the heat. At ground zero, the temperature rose to 7,000F. Stone melted and sand became glass. Within hours, gamma and neutron radiation killed those who survived the pressure and the heat.

Let us remember what happened that day, the lives that were ended, and pray that we never have to see such a flash of light again.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

What if Ludwig was alive today and decided to do a variation on the theme of Stairway to Heaven? If you're interested, click on the link and find out (note that some of the MP3 files on the site are about 300K).

Many people come to Hawai'i for the scenery. For those on the Big Island of Hawai'i, that scenery keeps getting bigger all the time. But not everyone comes just for the amazing views, the Honolulu Advertiser has an article on scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory that have been studying volcanos and the movement of molten rock for years.

They do important, perhaps someday life saving, work. Take a look at their site for live web cams of the source of the lava, Pu'u 'O'o, Kilauea vent. During the day, there isn't much to see, but I am told at night, you can see light from the glowing molten lava.

Note that the photo below was taken at a location down slope from Kilauea where the lava eventually enters the sea:

Aloha!

Sometimes, you don't know how good you have it until you are about to loose it.

ThePhoneCompany is always an easy institution to trash. I mean, for most folks, the phone company you have is not by choice. Rather, it's a regulated monopoly and the one you get is based on where you live. And for the most part, it's the least evil way of doing it (I could go into the economics of it but that's a post for another day).

But you know, for the most part, I've had excellent service from our phone company - Verizon Hawaii. Especially if you compare it to our CableProvider - TimeWarner Oceanic.

For example, you may remember my experiments in the past running dual Internet access via DSL from Verizon and cable modem from TimeWarner. The cable modem would loose its connection on a daily basis (and usually more than once a day) while the DSL would just keep working.

When I call TimeWarner service I would wait on hold for more than 30 minutes at a time only to be told a technician couldn't possibly come out to check things earlier than two weeks later. When they finally did arrive, of course, everything would be working.

On the other hand, in the last two years or so that I've had DSL, I've only had two outages. When I called (at around 10:00 am) I got a person on the second ring and he arranged for a technician to arrive that afternoon (he came around 2:30pm). The problem turned out to be a wiring issue across the street caused by some construction going on. Things were fixed by 3:30pm.

The second was over this past weekend and involved one of their routers, which they fixed about six hours later.

I even found out recently that Verizon is rolling out fiber to the door. Once that is completed, you can choose 15Mbps or 30Mbps. That's right, 15Mbps or 30Mpbs to your house. Unfortunately, Verizon Hawaii is being bought by another company, the Carlyle Group (see the story here). So my guess is fiber to the house won't happen for us.

I hope, should the sale go through, the Carlyle group will invest money into upgrading the systems, including fiber to the house. But given its business plan, I don't think that's going to happen (taking on 1.5 billion in debt, then promising not to increase rates for 10 years. Yeah right. Wanna' buy some beach front property on the Big Island?). My guess is (insert disclaimer here), even what we have now will deteriorate. But what can you do? It's ThePhoneCompany.

Aloha!

Tomorrow is a state holiday commemorating Hawai'i statehood. While this not considered a GoodThing by all people, I think the majority would not want to be citizens of any other nation (other than perhaps the Nation of Hawaii).

In addition, I need to do some house cleaning so I'm taking Monday off. So, no post for tomorrow and maybe Monday (although I may get around to doing one so feel to drop by to check).

Aloha!

I've talked before about this site here that has panorama views of all kinds of places. From the Moon to Easter Island they have 360° panoramas (Note that you need the QuickTimeTVR plugin and a compatible browser to view the images.).

I recently went back to the site to take a look around and found this panorama here of the statute of King Kamehameha that is in front of the building called Ali'iolani Hale. By turning in the opposite direction, you can also see across the street the only royal palace on US soil - 'Iolani Palace.

Ali'iolani Hale, was built in the 1870s to serve as residence for then King Kamehameha V. Tragically, the king died before moving in. Having no children, the Kamehameha dynasty came to a heart breaking end with his death in 1872.

Approximately 20 years later, in 1893, on the very steps of Ali'iolani Hale where I now work, American interests, with force of arms illegally overthrew the remaining monarchy and established one of their own as President of Hawai'i.

Sometimes, as I walk the halls that Hawaiian kings and queens have trod, I am filled with sadness over what once was, but will probably never be again.

Aloha!

TheForce.net published a rumor that employees at Industrial Light and Magic recently had to sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding episodes 7, 8 and 9 of the Star Wars saga.

As many of you know, George Lucas originally sketched out his space-based opera in three groups of three. The first two sets of three have been completed (or soon to be when episode 3 is released next year). But Lucas has been quoted as saying he would not do the last trilogy.

Who knows if the rumor is true and even if so, does that mean Lucas plans to do that last three?

"Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

Reich-Marshall Hermann Göring in G. M. Gilbert's Nuremberg Diary. New York: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1947 (pp. 278-279) as quoted in Snopes.com.

Aloha!

Somehow, I find it poetic justice that the company that sued JibJab, the site that used Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" in a satirical Flash animation, may not have the copyright after all. During research on the song, JibJab defense lawyers found that Ludlow Music was not the copyright holder and that, in fact, the song was in the public domain and had been so for some time.

Ludlow Music quickly dropped its suit but is still maintaining that it has the copyright. No word yet on when a Veterans for Truth, Justice, and Ludlow Music RIAA/DRM site will emerge from the slime.

Aloha!

Ukulele is just not one of those musical instruments that many people want to hear or play. I mean, when was the last time you saw an air ukulele contest? Or saw Eddie Van Halen burning the strings out of one with his fingers? Rather, you are more likely to see Bob Hope and Bing Crosby crooning with a uke than you are The Who. It's just considered to be too light weight for serious musicians.

But one man, by the name of Jake Shimabukuro is getting some good press (as is the instrument itself here) during his Summer tour across the US and Asia. Shimabukuro, who is from Hawai'i, has been putting on his dynamic shows for awhile now and if you've never seen someone who can play, really play, the ukulele, then go see him.

I say go see him for two reasons. The first is because I can't find samples of his music at the usual places so you can't otherwise hear his music. The second is because when you see him play live you see the energy that Shimabukuro exerts while using every last ounce of expression that the instrument can produce.

As always, his music isn't for everyone. But if you ever get a chance, spend a few minutes listening and see if you don't agree that there is no one better out there right now.

I had a link to Doc Searls site regarding a series of photos he took of the sunset near his home in California. I guess he noticed the link and he offered to make available the original 5MB versions of the images to anyone (the link back to here) interested. As soon as I can get them, I'll use them as wallpapers for my desktop.

As an aside, to show how classy Doc is, he didn't say anything about the three grammatical errors (now fixed!) that I had in the short post linking to his site. I guess it's just one more reason why he gets millions of visitors and I get eleven... ;=}

In any case, thanks Doc!

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

I see that Steven Den Beste is saying he has stopped writing essays for his site (at least for now). He lays out his reasons which, in large part, as I understand it, is based on being worn down by people who would email him with unwelcome comments.

If this is the case, the world is a lesser place because of it. That's not to say I agreed with everything he had to say nor the way he said it (not that I'm in a position to judge). But at least he laid out his thoughts in a rational manner paving a road through the wilderness that is the Internet.

I can only imagine the time and effort he must have put into his long essays as I find it sometimes difficult just to do the short links and occasional short essay I do (even taking the weekend and most holidays off as I do).

In any case, it's his life and if doing what he was doing wasn't rewarding to him, he has every right to go off and do something that is. But I get the feeling, to extend the metaphor quoted on his site: painters gotta paint, singers gotta sing, and writers gotta write. I figure he'll turn up somewhere, somehow.

Speaking of circles, one has to wonder about the management at Friendster. They recently fired an employee for, apparently, blogging (see this site for additional links) that they had switched from JSP to PHP. If this is true, and I don't have any reason to doubt it, you have to wonder what closet they keep their brains in because they surely aren't walking around with them.

Even if you take it at face value, it's not like you can't tell they've switched to PHP since the extensions on their pages changed. So if a cluefull person knows of the change, can you still claim it is a trade secret? I...don't...think...so.

In any case, if you are a member of Friendster, you may want to re-evaluate your use of that service and take a look at one of their competitors (see this site that lists a few alternatives).

</bush>

Aloha!

Not that I'm going to rush out and buy a high definition TV set but I've begun to research what's out there and what's around the corner. One of the things that I find interesting is the swing back to projection TVs.

I think it was the early 1970s or so when the first large screen consumer TVs came out (e.g., the Henry Kloss designed Advent VideoBeam TV) and all of them were projection models. At the time, these things were huge and most had three light sources (one each for red, green, and blue) that were carefully aimed and focused at special, highly reflective white screens.

So now comes electronics giant Sony to turn projection TV on its head with a black screen. The Sony screen supposedly adsorbs all light except pure red, green, or blue. The theory about this is to absorb the random ambient light that most rooms have, especially during a sunny day, and reflect back only the light from the projector. Hence, contrast should be improved giving deeper, richer colors even with high ambient light.

Whether this screen technology actually works I can't say. But if it does, it would bring us back full circle.

If the government comes to your house saying they want to borrow your land for military exercises and that they will clean up the land afterward - run, run for your life. The military needs to be ready for the missions set before them. One way towards that goal is to practice using “live” ammunition. The problem with using things that go boom is sometimes they don’t. That is, the artillery or mortar shells sometimes don’t explode and instead embed themselves in the ground. Hence, when it comes time to clean up the land and return it to the owner, well, all I can say is don’t tread too heavily upon the land.

For those two people out there who are interested in government accounting comes this article from the National Review that tries to explain why out national debt is actually tens of trillions of dollars more than the Administration is willing to say it is.

It's called cash accounting and massively distorts the true economic consequences of increasing spending while reducing revenues. Whichever accounting system is used, the debts will still come due. In fact, some of the debts are already here and is mounting.

But I guess it's not something that is important to most people (until your taxes go up).

Fellow Daynoter Dave Markowitz has a nice essay on the Assault Weapons Ban or go to this site here if you want more information.

Personally, I don't think taking away the freedom to own whichever firearm I want has made the world one bit safer so I don't care if this sunsets. In fact, I wouldn't loose any sleep if the Patriot Act also left the building.

I've also finally gotten around to remembering that Dr. Keyboard has put up a passel of posts for your dining enjoyment.

Fox's Bill O'Reilly responded to a letter from a person by the name of Jack Mehoffer. As Fark.com puts it, he'll soon be getting some letters from Mike Hunt and Heywood Jablowme.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

Talk like a pirate day is Sept 19 so mark it on your calendars. Now. Before you forget. I'll wait.

Arrr. Now that you're back you bilge rats, let me run you through with me trusty cutlass.

Speaking of volcanoes. Okay, so I wasn't talking about volcanoes but Mauna Loa on the Big Island is acting up again. But I can't get too excited about it, even if Mauna Loa is the largest volcano in the world, because its happened before and is a natural hazard of living next to a volcano.

The scientists there use very accurate GPS monitors to track the movement of the ground (because it's easier to track than magma underground) to infer what is happening below the surface.

In addition, seismic activity has recently picked up but it is too soon to say when there will be an eruption. Even when it does, and it will at some point, it typically takes about nine to 10 months for the lava to flow from the caldera down to inhabited areas (and it's been about 3,500 years since it reached the ocean).

Having said that, you probably don't want to be in the way of molten lava. And while there have been efforts to divert flows away from structures, the results have generally have been inconclusive at best (although there was some success in Iceland).

In any case, when it does start flowing, it is one of natures wonders to see. The glow from the lava can be seen for miles.

Aloha!

Speaking of things that aren't. A tip for a restaurant is not legally required. I know this seems obvious to most people, but one restaurant owner learned this when he had a customer arrested for not leaving a large enough tip. According to the story (see the follow-up here), this restaurant requires an 18 percent "gratuity" when serving large parties.

Said customer didn't feel the service received warranted such a large tip and left only 12 percent. The owner, enraged by the small tip, called the police and had the customer arrested.

Upon further reflection, the customer was released without charges as it is not a legal requirement to tip. In other news, restaurants start adding mandatory service charges for treating customers with disrespect.

Congratulations to fellow Daynoter Frank McPherson for being named by the Detroit Free Press as one of Michigan's best websites.

You can read his post announcing his achievement here.

I'll be in training learning how to access the Judiciary's new Information Management System (JIMS). Specifically, I'll be learning how to access the databases so I can do ad hoc queries. The training runs today through Friday so posting will be light.

Aloha!

It's not exactly my cup of tea, but about 19 million people in the US tuned in to watch this TV series called Lost. It's about stranded survivors of an airplane crash. I only watched the first 10 minutes of it (it is one of three TV series being filmed in Hawai'i) so I can't give much of a review but I don't think I'll be watching more of it.

I then switched channels to one of the other series filmed here called, now wait for it, Hawaii.

I like Hawaii's heart, it tries to capture what this place is about much as Hawaii Five-0 did in its day. But the writing needs to be better. Somebody needs to edit the story lines for common sense. For example, I'm tired of seeing the good guys busting down the front door but leaving the back door uncovered so the bad guys can use it for their escape. Phuuulease. Stop that. Right now.

Having said that, at least Hawaii has a sense of place. The third series filmed here, North Shore, could very well have been set in Orange County, California (where most of their writers must be from). If they don't integrate what this place represents into their stories I won't be watching it either.

Still, three series in town is good for the economy so keep watching America!

Who would have thought Santa Cruz would have a radio station that plays only Hawaiian music? Or hula studio, outrigger canoe club, ukulele club, or plate lunch stand? But according to this article from the Santa Cruz Sentinel here, things Hawaiian are going over swimmingly in far off California.

Aloha!

If the thought of loosing your bicycle because someone used a Bic pen to open your expensive bike lock was bad, think how'd you feel if your kids opened your gun cabinet using the same technique. See the story here.

Does economic status correlate with well being? How do you define well being? Interesting questions and someone at the American Psychological Society (sorry, I have no idea who they are) did a study (summary here) on just this subject:

Our thesis is that well-being should become a primary focus of policymakers, and that its rigorous measurement is a primary policy imperative. Well-being, which we define as peoples’ positive evaluations of their lives, includes positive emotion, engagement, satisfaction, and meaning (Seligman, 2002). Although economics currently plays a central role in policy decisions because it is assumed that money increases well-being, we propose that well-being needs to be assessed more directly, because there are distressingly large, measurable slippages between economic indicators and well-being.

I guess this site is for real but Virgin Galactic says they will be offering space flights to customers in two to three years. VG will be using three spacecraft built by the same company as Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne and will charge passengers (astronauts?) $170-200,00 USD.

Way, way back when I was in high school [wasn't that during the mesozoic era" -ed.] I was a fan of Maurits Cornelis Escher (better known as MC Escher, no relation to MC Hammer - ed.). But this site here has gone one better and actually built models of some of his objects.

The thing is, some of the models look like the originals only from certain angles, which is logical since many of Escher's object could not exist in our reality. Hence, I'm not sure what point is trying to be made. Is it to show that some of them can be made? If so, so what? I dunno.

Still, it is interesting to look at and you can probably guess where my wallpaper for the week comes from...

Today's post is devoted to the passing of fellow Daynoter Mike Barkman.

Each of us plays many roles in life. Michael John Barkman was a husband, father, retired pharmacist/entrepreneur, and member of the Daynotes Gang. But more importantly, Mike was a rich man.

No, not in the way you are probably thinking.

Mike was rich in the way Emerson described Thoreau as being rich: "He chose to be rich by making his wants few..."

Mike was rich in having found a soul mate not once, but twice in life.

Mike was rich in the love of his children: Sue, Ross, and step-daughter Joanna.

Mike was rich in his beloved home in Rotorua, New Zealand.

But what struck me about Mike was that he wast most rich in his positive attitude and outlook on life. I think this was reflected in the name of his site, Icarus Ascending. In the many email discussions I've had with Mike over these too short years, he has always been a gentle man with an ever positive disposition. Even when he announced his medical problems, he never let it get him down. He would even joke about it saying whatever pain he was enduring was better than the alternative.

When, one day not too long ago, he wrote about the new prescriptions he was given I did some checking on what they were. From that, it became clear to me that Mike probably didn't have a lot of time left as these powerful and very toxic drugs were given only as a last resort. But you would never have known it from his postings or emails. Indeed, his last post ended with this ever positive sentence: "So that's me up-to date; still in there swinging!"

In closing, I'd like to say thank you to Mike for making me richer because of his example on how to live one's life:

If you aim for the sun,
You'll get close
to the heat.
Better that your wings melt
Than never to have flown.

Aloha O'e.. /Dan

I'm at home today due to a cold. I've been having problems with an ear infection, sore throat, and now congested nose so I've decided to stay home today and get some rest. See you all back here on Monday (if the creek don't rise, etc...)

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

The state of Florida has been hit with one hurricane after another this year. While I'm sure there's no connection between these ActsOfGod and the stealing of the 2000 presidential election, I think it would be a good idea for Florida Governor Jeb Bush to resign and offer to sacrifice a fatted calf to atone for his sins. Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

In the mean time, there are a lot of fellow Americans in need of help in hurricane ravaged Florida. If you have the time/resources to lend a hand, you may want to donate to the relief agency of your choice. If you don't have a particular agency in mind, consider the American Red Cross.

In a similar vein, fellow Daynoter Mike Barkman appreciated the work of the Salvation Army. If you would like to make a donation in his memory feel free to do so.

Aloha!

First there was Pimp My Ride, now there's Trick Anything. Personally, I kind of like the lawn mower. But then, I've always been a sucker for a big pair of, ahem, hood scoops.

I'm calling this a win for the good guys because, I think, it points out the fact that commercial "speech" can be regulated. As a sidebar, it's amazing to me how people can spin unwanted commercials into something called "speech". Corporations don't speak, buildings don't speak, people do.

In any case, I am extremely happy that the US Supreme Court has let stand a lower court ruling that the "Do Not Call" list does not run afoul of the US Constitution.

Aloha!

Even though the book and movie The Right Stuff focused a lot on pilot Chuck Yeager (which is not a condemnation of the book, just an observation), one of the stand out characters was Gordon "Gordo" Cooper.

His optimism, humor, supreme coolness under stress, and yes, perhaps cockyness (when asked who was the greatest fighter pilot he ever saw he always replied, with a smile "You're looking at him") shined like the sun blazing into his Mercury capsule's window. Cooper, age 77, died yesterday at his home in California.

And finally, for those of you who need help pushing your shopping cart around the market, there's this guy in the UK who built a pulse jet engine to help speed things up. As in 50 mph (~80kph). The engine housing glows with the heat of 600°C (~1,000°F) but hey, at least you don't need help to get to your car...

Aloha!

When is Hawaii and Alaska not part of the 50 United States of America? When it comes to contests at O'Reilly and Associates. O'Reilly is running a contest to promote a new book from former Daynoter Robert Bruce Thompson (see the contest here). I offer for your review what some of the rules are and intersperse them with my comments.

From the "Official Sweepstakes Rules":

This promotion is intended for play and participation in the United States only and shall be construed and evaluated according to the laws of the United States. Please do not participate if you are not a legal resident of the United States and located in the United States at the time of entry...

Okay, if I read this correctly, you have to be legal resident of the United States at the time of entering the contest. I am a legal resident of the state of Hawai'i. Hawai'i is part of the United States and has been so since about 1959-60. Ipso facto, I am a legal resident of the Unites States.

SWEEPSTAKES OPEN ONLY TO LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE 50 UNITED STATES...

Yup, same as above. I qualify to enter.

7. Eligibility: Sweepstakes open to legal residents of the continental United States...

Oh oh. Are residents of Hawai'i legal residents of the United States? Yup. But Hawai'i (nor usually Alaska) is considered to be part of the continental Unites States. Sigh.

So yet another contest is closed to me because I live in Hawai'i. I don't want to leave the impression that it's only O'Reilly & Associates that do this. I've seen other contests that say they are open to all US citizens but then say they are actually only for the lower 48. I wonder why they choose to disenfranchise millions of people and create bad will towards their products?

Yes, I know, the two major parcel shipping companies (FedEx and UPS) have changed their shipping rates such that both imply they don't want business to or from Hawai'i. But that doesn't mean there aren't other shippers. There are DHL and the US Postal Service (USPS). Personally, I like the USPS. They are just as fast, to Hawai'i anyway, as the other shippers, but deliver on Saturdays and charge about 50 percent less than the others. I really don't understand why more people don't use the USPS.

Oh well, I guess I won't be buying this or any more of O'Reilly's books.

This article says the probability of Murphy's Law (What can go wrong, will) being exhibited can be calculated by the formula above. The variables are:

U = urgency
C = complexity
I = importance
S= skill
F = frequency
A = aggravation

Use a number between one-to-nine for all of the variables except "A" (which is set constant at 0.7). The interesting part is the assertion that you can control some of the variables and therefore affect the probability. YMMV.

When I used to work for the Hawaii Department of Budget and Finance, lo those many years ago, one of my major job functions was drafting responses for the Governor's signature. At the time, and I'm not sure if this is still true, all letters from the public got a response.

As a practical matter, no Governor can read and respond to all correspondence sent to him or her. So, if the subject matter and draft response are not politically sensitive, the Governor may never even see the original letter nor the response back. Usually, the Governor's staff will make a determination whether the Governor needs to read the original letter and response. If not, such mail is usually parceled out to the appropriate agency for review and drafting of an appropriate response.

If the response is going out over the Governor's signature, most, if not all states, have machines that can write the Governor's signature using a pen attached to said machine. The resulting signature is, for most purposes, indistinguishable from a "real" one.

Sometimes, if the subject matter of a response is particularly thorny, and the Governor (or his or her staff) wants to be insulated from having to give bad news to the respondent, the letter will go out over the subject matter department's signature rather than the Governor's.

But the absolute worst kind of response to draft is when the original letter writer refuses to accept the government's response. This occurred especially when a member of the public felt wronged by the "system" and wanted some decision reversed or other action taken.

Rightly or wrongly, these kinds of follow-up letters tended to get canned memos called "Thank you for your letter, please drop dead" responses. The drop dead memos were intended to get the person to stop writing to the Governor (and most times it worked) while politely acknowledging the sender. But at least the person writing in always got a response.

In my post on Friday criticizing O'Reilly for disenfranchising millions of US citizens by disallowing contest submissions from states outside the continental US, two Daynoters commented I should put the burden on myself and ask O'Reilly why they did this. Bowing to the greater wisdom of my fellow Daynoters, I sent the following to O'Reilly yesterday:

I was all set to enter the contest tied in to Robert Bruce Thompson's new book "Building the Perfect PC." But as is the case when I enter these things, I carefully read the contest rules. Imagine my dismay when I realized O'Reilly had [apparently] decided to disenfranchise millions of US citizens by saying only people living in the "continental" US could enter.

I realize the number of O'Reilly books sold in Alaska and Hawai'i may not count for much, but why go out of your way to create ill will?

People like to say the Internet is about conversations. Well, one way of killing a conversation is to tell people they don't count. Indeed, tell them you don't even want to hear from them is a good way of ending things real quick.

I hope, in the future, that your company will honor the fact that there are 50 states in the United States of America and that opening lines for conversations are better than saving a few bucks for shipping.

Aloha,

Dan

As of this writing, I haven't received a reply. If I do, I will post it on my site (even if it's a thank you for your letter, please drop dead response). But I'm not holding my breath because, unlike public agencies, private businesses aren't accountable to the public.

Aloha!

This being the silly season, it's nice to see news that doesn't involve lies, damned lies, or statistics. This story here tells of the bravery many people can exhibit, given the right circumstances.

According to the article, a Long Island, New York car dealership exploded and erupted in flames. But instead of people running away, people in the area ran directly into the burning building and pulled survivors out of the rubble. This, even as the second story of the two-story building threatened to collapse around them.

If only the two major party candidates could demonstrate even half the courage these people showed.

The first of three locally filmed TV shows went down the tubes yesterday. Hawaii, the one that I thought had the best understanding of the place its title names, fell, I think, to two problems.

The first is being against ABC's phenomenal show Lost (also filmed here). The second was story lines that were just not very believable nor interesting. That's not to say the acting (and the actors) were not good. They were. But the material they were given to work with just didn't cut it.

Aloha o'e to Hawaii, a noble effort that fell short of the mark.

Aloha!

From the way too much is better sector of digital cameras comes the Hasselblad H1D 22-megapixel camera. You read that right, 22MP. Each high resolution image takes up 132MB so Hasselblad includes a 40GB "Image Bank" external hard drive for image storage. Connection to a PC is via FireWire. The camera body accepts Hasselblad HC lens. Not that any of that matters since the price is so high ($21,995) you don't even need to ask.

I know this story is going to sound like the bad plot from a 1950s TV show but I'm not making this up.

Michelle Trainor took her two dogs, Grubby and Murdoch, for a walk last week. Nothing remarkable about that. But read on.

As they were walking along, Murdoch playfully nudged Grubby over a 50 metre high embankment. As Trainor looked over the bank to check on Grubby, the edge gave way and down Trainor went. She continued rolling down the bank until she impaled her chest on a tree branch. She lay there stunned for several hours before awakening. When she awoke, the pain from the tree branch was so bad she decided to pull the branch out with her bare hands.

Then, still in much pain, she heard her cell phone ringing. Unfortunately, she had dropped it half way up the bank as she fell and she was in no condition to climb up and get it. So what did she do? She told Murdoch to go get the phone. And...he...did. The dog rescued from the dog pound helped to rescue his master.

But there's more. Trainor called her husband who came looking for her. But due, by then, to the darkness, he could not find her. So Trainor sent Murdoch up the hill and the dog led Trainor's husband back to her.

All is well now but I guess you could say dogs are women's best friends too. See the story from New Zealand here.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

With all the things going on in the world I forgot my Daynotes anniversary date had come and gone. It was 20 October 1999 when I started this journal. It's interesting to see the arc of my writing. Some things have changed, others are the same. For all eleven of you who have stuck with me from the beginning - thanks.

I hope you've learned as much as I have over these few years.

Aloha!

There are differences in the types of rewards employees receive based on whether you work in the public or private sectors. In the private sector, if you do well, you may get a financial bonus, extra days off, stocks, or some other financial renumeration.

However, in the public sector, at least here anyway, the rewards are less tangible but no less appreciated. Most public employees, by law or tradition, don't get financial rewards. In fact, most public sector worker base salaries are substantially less than their private sector counterparts to begin with. We also pay substantial parts (40 percent) of our medical, dental, and optical plans.

So what do we get? Last Friday, I attended our Incentive and Service Awards ceremony. I was invited to come and celebrate my 20 years of public service and decided to do so. Along with the recognition, you get a pen and pencil set, a certificate, and picture with the Chief Justice and Administrative Director.

These small items are appreciated. But what makes the ceremony so moving and significant to those who attend is the recognition that these celebrants are more than just employees, they are public servants.

Few people in the private sector will ever understand the depth of commitment to serving the public that these people have. Yes, I know, just about everyone has or has heard of horror stories when dealing with public servants. But truth be told, those incidents are in the minority. In fact, from my own experience, I've had more problems with people in the private sector providing shoddy or nonexistent service than in the public sector (see my problems with the various private shipping services versus the exemplary service I get at the US post office). I also know that independent survey after independent survey of the public who have actually received services confirms the high level of service.

But back to the ceremony. Part of the ceremony is the recognition of individuals who have, over many years, excelled. These employees receive special recognition. In listening to why they were chosen, I am struck by the level of commitment and perseverance embodied in their stories.

These individuals struggle everyday working within a system designed to be inefficient (Why do you think we have three branches of government? If you want efficiency, check out any dictatorship). But the recognition is not for their struggle, laudatory as that is, rather it's for their reaching nearly impossible goals within the financial constraints forced upon them.

Many of the incentive awardees noted the countless hours of uncompensated overtime they put in. One recipient, heading up an information technology project, spends 80 hours per week working to make it succeed. The toll on her health and family is evident (I hadn't seen her for about a year and almost didn't recognize her due the changes reflected in her face) but she perseveres.

Another awardee, overcome with emotion from the recognition she received could barely speak. Tears flowed down her face as she haltingly, and with quiet dignity, tried to express her thankfulness for the support she received from her co-workers, supervisors, friends, and family and what an honor it was to serve others.

I know much of what I've said will probably fall on deaf ears. There are those out there that will judge all people by one or two bad experiences. Others, who haven't even had any contact with a public servant will adhere to a biased caricature of what we do and who we are. But you should thank God that there are people like these women working to serve the public. Because if they, and all of the other public servants, decided it wasn't worthwhile, things would truly go to hell in a hand basket.

Aloha!

My post yesterday got some push back comments on what is truth. While I agree that what is truth is a many sided jewel that must be examined within its context, that is not to say all we can ever do is sit in circles contemplating our navels and discussing the meaning of truth. If that's what we did we would never progress. The reality is we make determinations on what is truth all the time. How we reach our conclusions may differ, but determining the truth is a common thing to do.

Before I get any further, let's briefly review some of the basics. First, my definition of truth. Truth is an accurate description of reality.

Second, why is it important to find the truth? At the bottom line, get the description wrong and you may die. Hence, finding the truth is critical to our longevity.

Third, once the truth is determined, I believe it is universal. That is, it is the same for everyone, whether they believe the truth or not. Whether they are White, Black, Brown or Yellow. Republican or Democrat. The truth is the truth.

Fourth, my discussion will not end the debate on what is truth. That debate has raged for centuries and will probably do so for more to come. But I hope you can understand where I am coming from, even if you don't agree with me.

That said, to determine truth, people have used various tools. Some look to the great philosophers. Others look to religion. Others look to Nature to reveal her truths.

Science itself grew out of a need to create a tool to better determine the truth. Rather than sitting on the steps of the Parthenon discussing truth, people decided to create theories and then to test them (see the debate between inductive versus deductive logic). Does the Earth circle the Sun or is it the opposite? Is disease caused by spirits or bacteria?

Another tool for determine truth is the courts. Witnesses testify that what they say is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. What is decided may or may not be based on reality but we nonetheless must make the determination. We cannot do otherwise. Life itself would become a confused babel of conflicting stories if we didn't.

So what was I talking about yesterday? Let me explain what I mean by giving you a recent example. If people say they are concerned with traditional marriage and family values, do these people then do everything they can to enable everyone to have a decent place to live, food to eat, health care, and a good school to send their children to? Do these same people who so revere marriage also then want to make divorce illegal? That is, if marriage is something sanctified by God, who are they to thwart His will with a civil court proceeding to dissolve that marriage?

In conclusion, while finding the truth may be a slippery endeavor, not everyone has problems determining the truth. Our founding fathers knew what the truth was. In July of 1776 they wrote: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it..."

Truth that was self-evident. In other words, it was so obvious that only those who refused to acknowledge the truth could deny it.

We can, and must decide what is truth, test whether we are right, and move on. Thus, one of the paradoxes of life is that while we may never know the truth, we have to make assumptions as to what that is, determine if it conforms with reality, and then move on. The alternative is to have philosophical discussions that provide much heat, but no light and, more importantly, will surely lead to our destruction.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

The Internet rumor is that the Motorola Razr V3 (requires Flash to view the site) will apparently go on sale in the US through Cingular this coming Monday. Unfortunately, rather than have a price similar to the UK, where the V3 is already available for no cost with a new subscription , Cingular will price it at about $500USD with a two year minimum contract.

Sigh. I feared Cingular might do something like that. Although, I suppose, much of the blame should be pointed towards Motorola for having variable list prices based on what they think they can extort the market will bear.

But how does this build good will? How does this build the trust required to be willing to purchase a product? It appears Motorola isn't concerned that Samsung is eating its way towards second place (Nokia is number one and Moto number 2 according to this TheRegister article here) and will probably overtake them sometime early next year by selling exceptional phones at reasonable prices.

Motorola has been, for some time, trying to find its way back to the top of the field - a position it held since the beginning of the cell phone revolution. While technically speaking, the new V3 is a positive step in that direction, they may have more than neutralized that advantage by pricing the phone out of reach of 99 percent of the people Motorola hopes to sell to.

One can only hope that Motorola, and Cingular, see the competitive advantage to dropping the price, Real Soon Now. Otherwise, they will have wasted this opportunity and Motorola will continue the long, not so slow slide into oblivion.

Aloha!

Sorry, no post today. I'm on vacation and will be back on Monday.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

Speaking of Dark Ages, this ZDNet article says Lexmark printer software includes spyware that phones home when you use their printers. I don't know if it does but if so, you may want to remove their software, if you can.

Aloha!

As mentioned earlier, Cingular rolled out the Motorola Razr V3 [Note: the Cingular site doesn't seem to be compatible with Firefox. Using IE got me further along but I still got page display errors. Perhaps this is why, when I typed in my ZIP code, the site said I was located on Kaua'i. Which is not a bad place to be, but I am actually on O'ahu.] yesterday. But not only is it being sold at the ridiculous price of $499, the price is actually discounted by $100 from the even more ridiculous list price of $599!

But wait. There's more. From what I understand, the price is only good until the end of December. If true, what the price will be in January is unclear.

But wait. There's even more. If pricing at Motorola wasn't a bad enough problem, this article from Engadget says there may be problems with quality control in four other Motorola models. With that kind of record, one has to wonder what problems may be lurking in the V3.

High prices and reported low quality. Is it any wonder that Motorola is sliding down towards third place?

The US NASA folks over at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California successfully tested their third, and last, X43 scramjet yesterday (see the story from NASA here).

The unpilotted research aircraft reached almost 7,000 mph (~11,000 kph) during its 10-second run before gliding back to earth and splashing down into the Pacific. But data received during the brief flight will go a long way towards moving the state-of-the-art forward. It is extremely difficult to reproduce, on the ground, the kind of speed needed to operate scramjets. Hence, this real world test is helpful to gain the information needed to determine how well this type of air-breathing engine performs.

Warning! Religion discussion. Come back tomorrow if you are offended.

First, let me say I am a Christian and belong to what some may describe as a conservative Protestant sect. Further, I believe there are some things about God you simply have to accept on faith because there isn't any way to otherwise make a rational decision. The problem, to me then, is determining which situations to accept on faith and which to use rational thought.

That said, I like to think that God gave people a brain to think things through. That He gave people the ability to critically examine questions and come to rational conclusions. Indeed, that one of the ways He reveals the wonders of His creation is through science.

Unfortunately, many people seem to have problems dealing with complexity. That is, if they can't wrap their minds around a problem they automatically fall back to faith. This isn't necessarily a GoodThing.

Mankind came out of the Dark Ages by, among other things, questioning things based solely on faith and examining them using the scientific method. By throughly comparing the evidence to what appears to be reality, we may come to a better understanding of what is truth.

Still, having come this far, we are always dangerously close to reversing course and heading towards our own Dark Age. What we come to think as being normal society is but a thin veneer covering a multitude of irrational fears and very angry people. Get within range of these people and we could see the worst of McCarthyism and the Scopes trial return.

Evidence of this is this recent Gallop pole that says 45 percent of Americans believe God created humans about 10,000 years ago.

While I fully understand that Darwin's theory of evolution is just that, a theory, and while I fully understand polls can be very misleading - the theory of evolution sure seems to explain a lot of what we observe to be reality. In fact, it seems to explain more things than just relying on what I believe to be misguided faith.

And here we come to the crux of the matter - when is it appropriate to use faith and when is it appropriate to use our minds and the scientific method to reveal God's truth?

I can't give you that answer but I fear for all us when people apparently so easily disregard what science has revealed.

Aloha!

For those of you who work in offices and have too much free time on your hands, this link leads to some examples of what you could do to your cubicle mates abode while he or she is away. Insert standard disclaimer here. Do not attempt this at home. Professional driver on a closed course.

Reporter Kevin Sites has become well known recently due to the video he got of a US Marine shooting a man laying in a mosque in Iraq. I have not, until now, commented on this incident because finding the truth in wartime is a very difficult task.

This much I know: it is true, in this war and many others, that combatants have feigned death so as to either evade being killed or to lure his or her enemy closer so a killing blow could be delivered.

It is also true that, to put it plainly, the micro-objective in war is to kill your enemy before he can kill you.

But this objective is constrained by various international agreements that the US is a signatory to. In addition, the US military and federal government have rules and/or laws regarding the conduct of combatants and treatment of the enemy, wounded or not.

If we are to be a nation of laws rather than of men, if we are to behave as civilized people in an uncivilized world, we need to carefully investigate this incident and determine what is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Saying that no investigation should be done, without first knowing the truth of the situation is, to say the least, short sighted and, in the long run, just another nail in the coffin that is our "policy" in Iraq.

For one version of the truth, you can visit Mr. Site's own blog where he states what he says he saw and did here. Yet to be heard is the Marine that fired the shot nor the Iraqi survivor(s) mentioned in the post. But until all sides have been heard, I think it would be premature to comment further.

Tomorrow is a national holiday (Thanksgiving) so I will be off. In addition, I will be taking Friday off so there will not be any post until next week Monday.

Have a Great Thanksgiving, Everyone - Aloha!

Keeping in mind the sources for vnunet.com story, it says that in the weeks running up to Christmas, expect the percentage of spam emails to hit 90 percent of all email. If that weren't bad enough (if true - ed.), spammers have been working overtime with social engineers to find new ways to get you to click on their emails/links/fake e-card Christmas greetings/phishing attacks.

As they used to say on that old TV show, "Let's be careful out there."

Two weekends ago the city did some road work near our house. The work, which consisted of paving the an intersection about block away, required the temporary closing of the road. So, the workmen setup a five foot high by five foot wide sign saying, "Road Closed." You would think this would be enough for cluefull people to know that, you know, the road was closed and you should take an alternate route.

But no, at least 20 or 30 drivers, over a period of about three hours, drove around the sign. Of course, having driven around the barrier they found the road closed and impassable. But if that wasn't enough, one person, driving a Range Rover complained so loudly about not being able to drive on the road that I could hear her from about 75 feet away.

Clearly, these people have no business driving a two-ton projectile known as a motor vehicle. These kinds of people make me think that we need better licensing procedures. Presently, once you pass the drivers exam, you never again need to prove you know how to drive safely. Maybe making it tougher to keep a driver's license isn't the best solution but I don't know of any better way to keep these people off the road. If not for our safety, then for their's.

Aloha!

I have some more training on the new information management system that the Judiciary is working on. The training runs all day, every day next week so posts may be short, if not sweet. Thanks in advance for your understanding.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

Perfection is a difficult standard to live one's life. But, though incredible struggle, if reached, perhaps people don't have enough left to maintain that level for very long.

Iris Sun-Ru Chang, at one time or another, was a best selling author (three books), award winning writer (New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Newsweek), and reporter (Associated Press and Chicago Tribune).

From what I can find out about her, she was also a perfectionist. Perhaps this came from her parents, who were second-wave Chinese immigrants. Not to blame her parents but the Chinese revere perfection. This is reflected in, among other things, their art - including their writings.

As with many things, being a perfectionist, if that's what she was, has both good and bad points. One of the good points is that she wrote with a clarity polished so finely that it brought understanding to complex issues. For example, she talked about racism, its roots, and how it seems to occur in cycles. That is, racism, according to Chang, is not an issue that is dealt with and then is never again a problem. She talked about how it occurs in cycles, perhaps related to the economy, and that how, sometimes, things don't occur in a linear fashion. How sometimes, things don't get better. That's it's possible to regress and return to a lower state then society was before and to stay there.

The bad is that through her writings she uncovered the worst of who we are and it seemed to create a rage within her soul that burned like a meteor blazing across the night sky. Her books illuminated acts of unspeakable atrocities that can only be described as inhuman. And yet, they were done by humans against other humans.

Perhaps, as the fire within her consumed her will for life, her physical and mental health began to decline. Until one day last month, on a country road in California, she stopped trying to be perfect.

Aloha!

Remember Pearl Harbor. The lessons of this act of war are many. Know your enemy. Know his intentions and capabilities. Think through various scenarios and have plans to deal with the most likely. These lessons have relevance today. Unfortunately, they have yet to be learned by those in command.

Fast Company has an interesting article on creativity and six myths that have become associated with the topic. According to a study done at the Harvard Business School, the six myths are:

1. Creativity comes from Creative Types

2. Money is a Creativity Motivator

3. Time Pressure Fuels Creativity

4. Fear Forces Breakthroughs

5. Competition Beats Collaboration

6. A Streamlined Organization is a Creative Organization

I have a few comments that are perhaps addressed in the original study but isn't in the Fast Company article.

Creative Types. I agree that creativity isn't confined to only one type of person. So I think the lesson here is to be open to creative suggestions from whichever the source may be. That said, creativity, like many, if not all, other human traits is probably distributed on a normal bell curve. That is, some people have more of it than others. If true, it should follow that if you need creative types, you would want people with an abundance of that trait.

Practically speaking, that is easier said than done. Hence, the lesson truly is to be open to creative suggestions from all of your employees.

Money as Motivator. There's an old joke that says: "Money isn't everything, it's the only thing." But, I think, what the study is saying is while money certainly is a motivator, once a certain level of need is met, more money doesn't lead to more creativity. Rather, other higher needs ( as Maslow would say) come into play. Needs such as social, esteem, and self-actualization. The lesson for the good manager then is to match people up with what is motivating to them at the time, not just throwing money at people (feel free to send some my way though - ed.).

Time. Another human trait that seems to be described by the normal bell curve is productivity. While people in the study indicated they worked best when under time pressures, the study seems to indicate just the opposite. In other studies I've seen, productivity when plotted on the y-axis versus anxiety on the x-axis indicates if there is no anxiety, that is no pressure, there is no productivity. Conversely, where there is a lot of anxiety, there is also no productivity. The lesson here is that while there needs to be some anxiety to have productivity, too much anxiety will actually decrease productivity. Hence, if people really are under the gun, the trick is to remove as many other distractions as possible so that people can focus on the one most important task.

Fear. While there is a popular myth that creativity comes from the depths of depression, this study found that people are most creative when they are happy. The lesson is, fear is certainly a motivator, but the best motivator seems to be happiness.

Competition. There is a place for competition. But the article says internal competition stifles communication (since sharing information, without receiving something of value in return, is a competitive disadvantage). And since no one person can know everything, isolating that person will usually not lead to creative ideas. The lesson is internal collaboration can lead to synergistic effects. These effects can then lead to creativity.

Streamlined. If streamlining your organization is a euphemism for downsizing. And if downsizing is a result of bad management decisions, then creativity will suffer. The article indicates that creativity seemed to suffer the most prior to the announcement of the downsizing because people knew something was coming, but didn't know what. Hence, they felt helpless and spent more time preparing for the worst then being creative. The lesson is, if you will be firing people, give people accurate, timely information as soon as possible. Employees can see whether an organization is running well. If it isn't, they know people will be layed off. The lesson for management is to deal openly with the problem as soon as possible rather than draw it out and go into denial.

Aloha!

Sorry, no post today. Things are really busy as we get ready for the Legislature to startup (our first hearing is on December 22nd!).

Aloha!

"You go to war with the Army you have, not the one you might want..." - US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

This is the latest slap at the US Army by the Secretary of Defense. Does his statement provide aid and comfort to the enemy? Does this statement rise to the level of treason? Perhaps not, I'll leave that to others to decide. But I believe his statement is just one more indication of his war against the Army and his supreme arrogance.

Even some neo-cons are demanding his resignation. The story quotes a former Lt. Colonel as saying "He is an extremely talented man but he has the tragic flaw of hubris. His arrogance is unbearable." In a Salon article, retired Colonel David Hackworth describes Rumsfeld as "an arrogant assh*le" who went into Iraq thinking it would be "Mission Accomplished" in a few days and then the Iraqis would be throwing parades and showering our troops with flowers.

Leaving aside whether he is or is not arrogant, the more important question is whether Secretary Rumsfeld is a good leader. Do his actions aid the war effort or make it more dangerous for our troops on the ground? Do his policies facilitate the efforts of the troops or do they make it more difficult? Does the man understand, in the words of Ellen Glasgow, that "All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward."

In any case, with people like Secretary Rumsfeld in the Bush administration, who needs enemies?

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

It's that time of the year. What time is that? It's Christmas tree decorating hints with Iris and Fern. They're the Katz and they know how to setup a tree until it's purrrfect.

Okay, so it's not a deep political examination of the underlying problems of the Bush administration and how they thought once Saddam was captured all hostilities would cease since the Iraqi resistance was clearly so hierarchical and unable to act as autonomous units, unlike ours which were so well equipped and trained (is that a run-on sentence or what? -ed.). In fact, more U.S. soldiers have died in the year since the capture of Saddam then the year before. In fact fighting has intensified in the year since Saddam has been captured than the year before. In fact, all the Neocon *pundits were wrong. They were wrong about the weapons of mass destruction (remember those?). They were wrong about "Mission Accomplished." They were were wrong about how to conduct the war. They are wrong about how to end the war. They are wrong about Abu Ghurayb prison. They were wrong about the break down in society that occurs when a political power vacuum exists. Dead wrong.

And yet, he got re-elected. Well, all I can say is don't blame me, I voted for Kerry.

Posting will, through the end of the year, remain light and spotty. Some of this is because things are so busy at work and partly it's I will be on vacation later this month.

Aloha!

Sorry, no post today. Things to do, places to go..., wash, rinse, repeat.

Okay, so I lied. Here's something for fellow Daynoter John Dominik and family:

Aloha!

What if you had your own atomic clock? How big would it be and what would you do with it? According to this article here, atomic clocks the size of a grain of rice are coming, if not in your cell phone tower or GPS already.

The clocks are still in development but are accurate to within one second every 300 HUNDRED YEARS. If they can be made reliable enough and cheaply enough you could find one in your alarm clock in a couple of years. Or not. Depending on if you want to sleep in another 15.00000000000000000001 minutes.

Aloha!

Here's another idea that perhaps should have been re-thought (or at least moved to a different part of the store). Gillette is announcing a new shaver for women. A vibrating shaver. Now, if you think about it, this could have several problems (and at least one unintended use...). Since this is a family friendly site, I'll only talk about the problem of trying to shave sensitive areas while the sharp implement you are using is vibrating. Is this a good thing? Does this make sense to anyone? I dunno.

Aloha!

Here's another idea that perhaps should have been re-thought (or at least moved to a different part of the store). Gillette is announcing a new shaver for women. A vibrating shaver. Now, if you think about it, this could have several problems (and at least one unintended use...). Since this is a family friendly site, I'll only talk about the problem of trying to shave sensitive areas while the sharp implement you are using is vibrating. Is this a good thing? Does this make sense to anyone? I dunno.

Aloha!

C|Net is reporting that Wal*Mart stores are selling a house brand of electronics called, *cough*, iLo. I'm not making this up. iLo. As in iLo quality. I'm no marketing maven but is this really the best brand name? In Hawai'i, the word for someone who is crazy is lolo. Perhaps they should have called it uLoLo.

I've been out of school for a year or so but I could have used this catapult watch. That's right, a small catapult is attached to the watch and reportedly has a range of about eight feet (~2.4m). Professional drivers on a closed course. Don't try this at home (go to school and do it there). YMMV.

I'll be doing my semi-annual computer deep cleaning today and Monday. This entails reformatting the drive and reloading the applications. During this time, I will be off-line until I can get the security updates re-installed.

On Tuesday, December 21, I start my Christmas vacation and will not return until the New Year. Hence, posting will be light and late. That is, there may be a day or two (or three) with no post and when there is one, it will later in the day (I usually get up at 4:45 in the morning during the week but when I go on vacation I like to sleep in until 6:00.).

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

Well, I couldn't let this go by without linking to it. Hint: The author calls herself the "Cat Pee Vigilante." No, she does not go around squirting cat urine on deserving bad guys. Follow the link to Amazon to see what she is up to.

Okay, so it's not the greatest. But hey, I'm doing the best I can while on vacation...

The reports of death in Asia are truly horrifying. But some early reports of the damage caused by the tsunami indicated that there was no warning. I think this will turn out to be untrue.

First, if you are near bodies of water and feel an earthquake, immediately move to higher ground. The earthquake that created the waves was of such magnitude that everyone would have felt it and the waves created would take several minutes to arrive.

Second, if you are near a body of water and the water rapidly drains from the shore, run immediately to higher ground as the waves will be arriving in a matter of seconds to a few minutes. Note that a tsunami is typically a series of waves and the first may not be the largest. Further, there may be gaps of several minutes or even hours between the waves.

Unfortunately, this part of Asia is not covered by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) located in Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawaii.

The PTWC, using a series of water-level gauges placed around the Pacific Basin can track and predict the path of a Pacific-wide tsunami minutes after it is generated. Even though there were no such sensors in the part of Asia hit by the recent tsunami, the PTWC sent warnings, based on the magnitude of the earthquake, to Asian countries telling them of the possibility of immediate tsunami damage. Apparently, the warnings were not heeded.

For more information, see this site here.

And now, the 2004 Office Attachments Awards.

Aloha!

As the year comes to a close, it is sometimes instructive to reflect back on where we've been, where we are, and where we may be going.

The New Yorker magazine has a book review of Pulitzer Prize winning author Jared Diamond's "Collapse".

The old saying that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it seems to be the basis for this book. Diamond analyzes how cultures fail. That is, looking back at the Vikings in Greenland, Easter Islanders, the Anasazi of the American Southwest, the Mayans, and the modern-day Rwandans, Diamond finds some similarities. Namely: soil, trees, and water.

According to the review, Diamond seems to be saying societies fail when they mismanage these specific environmental factors.

Diamond indicates the Norse settlers in Greenland practised a Northern European brand of dealing with the environment. While this may have worked in Europe (and there is a debate about that), it was, according to the review, a disaster to the ecology of Greenland that eventually led to death by starvation.

Likewise, Easter Island is now completely devoid of trees where forrests once stood. Each of those trees was felled by a human. Without trees, the land died and when the land died, so did the inhabitants (Someting similar may have occured on the Hawaiian island of Ni'ihau. Archeological finds have discoverd what once was a thriving culture. Now, the island is essentially devoid of trees and ground cover leaving a wind swept, barren landscape used only, up until a few years ago, for target bombing by the military).

The review is rather lengthly but if you have the time, it may be helpful in understanding some of the lessons from the past.

Speaking of lessons from the past, the U.K. Guardian Unlimited has an article looing back at empires from Constantine to Bush.

In this time of Christmas, the article goes back to when the Church first celebrated Christmas. How the date of December 25th was chosen and how the Church focuses on Christ's birth and death but shies away from many of his teachings. Teachings that upset people and if followed, would mean having to change behaviors that people don't want to change.

Both articles, whether right or wrong, should lead you to thinking about who we are and what roles we play in life because if we don't, there may not be a role to play.

Aloha!

It's doubtful I will be doing a post tomorrow (New Year's Eve). Not only because I'm too lazy, but also because a big storm is coming and the forecast is for winds of 60 mph (about 97 km/h, 52 knots, or 27 metres/sec). What with our electrical grid going down with seemingly the softest whisper of wind, it is likely we will be without power for awhile. Already there have been scattered reports of power outages and this is just the beginning of a long, windy weekend. Sigh.

So, from the Seto Shack here in the Pacific Ocean, we wish you and yours a Happy New Year!

Aloha!

Part of what I do at work is answering questions. Sometimes that's easy to do and sometimes it's not. But one of the hardest things to do is to do a comparison of U.S. state courts statistics.

Each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico has its own court system. Each, as it should, is tailored to the special needs of its area. New York, being one of the older systems around, has town and village justice courts, city courts, district courts, surrogates' court (no, I don't know what types of cases it hears), county courts, and several other types of courts. And unlike any another state that I know of, New York calls it courts of general jurisdiction its Supreme Court (which is why, when you watch "Law and Order" on TV, most cases are tried in that court) and what everyone else calls their Supreme Court, New York calls Courts of Appeal.

As you get to newer states, like Alaska or Hawai'i, you see much more streamlined court structures. Both have only four (courts of limited, general, intermediate appeal, and last resort) levels.

Within each court, are judges. But when is a judge not a judge? When you have chancellors, commissioners, domestic relations commissioners, domestic court commissioners, magistrates, masters, marital masters, masters-in-equity, or referees.

So when I am asked a seemingly straight forward question like "What is the average caseload of a judge of general jurisdiction across America?" I quake in fear and loathing knowing I will be treading across dangerous ground. In order to answer such a question, I need to know the total caseload and the total number of judges.

The first problem is defining what is caseload? Do you want the number of cases filed, terminated, or pending? Or do you want the number pending plus the number filed, minus the terminated? Or do you want just filed minus terminated? Once you decide that, you have to define what you mean by terminated. Does that mean a case has come to verdict? Or do you include those who have pled guilty before or during a trial? What happens if the case is appealed? Is the original case terminated but a new case is opened?

But wait, as they say on late night TV commercials, there's more. What is a judge? As noted earlier, not all cases are heard by what is termed a judge. Do you include cases heard by chancellors but not masters? Or magistrates but not referees? All? None?

Very quickly, trying to answer the simple question posed earlier becomes a nightmare of footnotes because each state does its job in a different way so trying to compare statistics across states can become almost meaningless.

And yet. Comparisons to other states, or in this case national statistics, are potentially powerful tools for, among other things, managing a courts system, for determining and justifying the need for additional resources, and for planning. So, we do such comparisons. Just remember, when you do it, that you are treading on shaky ground. And include a lot of footnotes.

Aloha!

Are you stuck in a job where no one knows who you are or what you do? Do you want to move up in the corporate world? If you answered yes to both of these questions its time to get moving.

First, you need to get out more. By that I mean you need to take on assignments that will take you into other peoples' spheres of influence. For instance, some people hate PC support or being on special cross-department projects or committees. But if you think about it, each situation brings you into contact with other people, especially higher management, and gives you the chance to help them do something they want done. This is a recipe for getting your name out there where it might help when promotions come along.

You can probably think of other situations that at first glance look like something to avoid, but if looked at as an opportunity, can be turned to your advantage. The main point is, you want to plant that seed in management's mind that you are someone who has expertise and can get things done because in the end, it's who knows you and what you know that could get you that promotion.

Aloha!

I'm back. But I don't have much to say nor much time to say it. The Legislature opens tomorrow but we've already had two or three "informational" hearings. There's another one this afternoon that I have to go to (and help write testimony for).

Speaking of a house of cards, this guy has taken things a bit far.

Aloha!

I'm at home today fighting the flu. If that wasn't bad enough, when I started up the Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail program this morning, it asked me to create an account as there were none.

As you might imagine, this is not good news because Thunderbird is saying there isn't any mail since there isn't any account.

After backing up the profile folder, which has all the mail sitting right there, I tried re-installing Thunderbird.

No luck. I just can't seem to get Thunderbird to use the default profile with all my mail in it. Sigh.

I'll check out the Thunderbird forums to seem if others have reported this problem before and if there is a work around. If not, I guess I can always swich the some other program.

Aloha!

I'm still at home today but am feeling better than I was yesterday. Unfortunately, that's not saying much as all of my joints are still sore, I didn't get much sleep because of the caughing, and nothing I eat has any taste.

Speaking of feeling better, thank you to all of you who sent suggestions and/or links to possible solutions to my Thunderbird e-mail program problem yesterday. It is heartening to have so many people willing to help.

I read some of the support forum messages and determined that my prefs.js file had become corrupted. This probably occured the night before when I shut down and Windows did a blue screen dance of death.

Since I didn't have a backup of the prefs.js file (I know, my bad), I had to create a new profile and then copy the mail from the old profile into the new. This solved the problem and I am backup and running.

Again, a big mahalo to all of you who sent in suggestions.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

I'm still at home trying to recover from the flu that will not die. I couldn't get to sleep last night until after midnight and got up four hours later coughing.

Hence, there isn't much of interest going on here at the Seto Shack today. Hopefully, I'll be back at work tomorrow and there will more interesting things to talk about. Or not. Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Aloha!

Fellow Daynoter Rick Hellewell sent along this link to an interesting NASA photo of the Big Island of Hawai'i. The two big white spots are the snow-covered tops of the volcanoes Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.

Many people do not realize that we do get snow in Hawaii. At least, that is, on these two volcanoes. While it's not usually the kind of snow good for skiing, many people do enjoy snow boarding down the slopes. However, as there are no ski lifts, you have to walk or drive back up.

By the way, Mr. Hellewell is a computer security expert so you would do well to peruse his site. Highly recommended.

Aloha!

Go Lava Dogs

Our thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of the Marines killed in the helicopter crash in Iraq. Twenty-seven of the killed were home-based at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, located in Kane'ohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i.

I had intended to write this post yesterday but was derailed by the tragic crash of a US Marine helicopter in Iraq. All aboard were killed, including 26 soldiers home-stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii and one US Navy medical corpsman from Pearl Harbor. Their stories are just starting to be told.

But the story I'm about to tell today is the story of 1st Lt. Nainoa Hoe. Lt. Hoe was not part of the helicopter incident but rather died a few days earlier. In reading fellow Daynoter Brian Bilbrey's post on Wednesday, Brian listed the names of three soldiers killed in Iraq, one of which was Hoe.

Brian's post got me to thinking that I should tell you folks a little more about who Lt. Hoe was.

It is sometimes easy to forget that each of these soldiers has their own story. Each has families, parents, and other relatives that care for them. Each had dreams of what they wanted to do with their lives once they got back to the Real World.

Lt. Hoe was no different. Hoe was a native Hawaiian and graduated in 1995 from the Kamehameha Schools, a school founded by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop in 1887. From there he went to the University of Hawai'i (UH) where he graduated with an undergraduate degree in Management Information Systems and then on to a Masters in Business Administration. While at UH, Hoe enrolled in the ROTC program, rising to Brigade Commander in his last year (the highest leadership position possible). He graduated tops in his ROTC class and fourth nationwide (out of about 4,500).

In further recognition of his leadership qualities, Nainoa was named U.S. Army Pacific Reserve soldier of the year in 1998.

But besides the obvious leader he was, what kind of person was Lt. Hoe? People have described Nainoa as charismatic, serious, precise, well-mannered, and unassuming. But, at the same time, he loved to sing karaoke and be with his friends.

Perhaps it was some of these qualities that attracted the young woman who would soon become his wife. Emily (I love that name) said they met through the Internet in November 2003, exchanging photos and information in an online match-making service. At the time, he was stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., going through Ranger school with a goal of eventually working for the FBI as a special agent. She was a student attending a college in Oregon.

"When I saw his picture and saw his smile, there was something about it that really drew me in," Emily said. They arranged a meeting in Oregon, "and it was one of those love-at-first-sight kind of things."

They were married, in a simple ceremony, about six month later. On the beach in Hawaii Kai. At sunset. With just their parents attending. Just before being sent for additional training and then on to Iraq in October.

On Saturday, January 22, 2005, Lt. Hoe sent an e-mail to his wife telling her that he had just found out he would get a two-week leave in February. He was excited that he would get the opportunity to see her and that he wanted them to spend their time in Hawaii. The e-mail went on to say that "he was going to love me forever and how he couldn't wait to see me," Emily said.

Two hours later, while on foot patrol in Mosul, Iraq, where U.S. forces have been mounting stepped-up raids and patrols ahead of national elections scheduled for this Sunday, shots rang out. As if in slow motion, a spray of bullets came flying his way. And even though he had body armor on to protect his chest and back, a bullet struck him from the side, passing through a gap in the protective vest and into his chest.

He is survived by his heartbroken parents (Allen, a Vietnam veteran, and Adele), a younger brother (Nakoa, also in the military and being deployed to Iraq) and his loving 21-year-old wife - Emily.

Whether you support the war in Iraq or not, remember that there is a story behind each and every name on the list of soldiers. Remember that there is a price to pay for being in Iraq. And remember that, sometimes, that price is paid in the blood of soldiers like 1st. Lt. Nainoa Hoe. May he rest in peace and may his death not have been in vain.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

I'm at home again today because of the flu that will not die.

In the mean time, I know many of you have a need to build a rotary dial cellphone. So, here it is.

I realize that the local TV news business is a very competitive one but I wonder why they do some of the things they do. For example, this concentration on going "live" to report a story. One local TV station (KHNL) sets up their camera just outside their front door and then trumpets the fact that they are live on Nimitz Highway. Said highway runs past their front door so I guess they aren't lying about the location but it's not exactly the truth either.

Then they will cut away from that shot and go "live" from "Kalihi". While the station is in the Kalihi area, where they are actually broadcasting live from is just outside their back door. From there they sometimes cut back to their "Weather Center." Said weather center is a chair inside their studio.

Even when some of these stations go live at a location other than their studios it doesn't make any sense. I saw one live shot (KITV) done after 22:00 at the state Capitol. The only thing is the Capitol was closed, the lights were out, and nobody was there. Except the reporter. The station could just as easily have done this story in the studio with a picture of the Capitol building in the background. But, for whatever reason, they were "live."

All I can say is, "So what?" What does going live to a location have to do with a story that is not occurring at the time the station goes live? Do stations get rated by the FCC on how often they go live? Do stations get higher advertising revenues by the number of live stories they do? Does going live prove anything?

All I can say is there seems to be a inverse relationship between the number of times a station goes live and how well and how in depth that station does the news. Perhaps, this is not a coincidence.

Aloha!

And then there's the high speed photos of bullets going through crayons, light bulbs, soda cans, etc. See more here.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

Speaking of which. Ahhh the pleasures of modding your hearse with two machine guns and a flame thrower. What could go wrong? See more here. YMMV. Use at your own risk. Don't do this at home.

According to the Chinese calendar on the wall today is the first day of the new year, 4702 - the year of the rooster.

There is an update for yesterday's instructions on the Firefox work around. I did not know that you also need to change the Firefox configuration by typing, in the window where you usually type in the URL for a site, the following:

about:config

This should bring up the configuration file and display line after line of configuration strings. Use the filter to find the lone instance of "idn." Once found, double-click on that line and change the default from true to false.

NB: Doing this may make it impossible to access certain sites. If you need to access such a site, you may want to use another method of avoiding the vulnerability.

It's going to be a really busy day today so I gotta go.

Aloha

It's going to be one of those days today. I have hundreds of pages of reports to read and much research to do so I gotta go. Sorry for the short shrift.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

So the Grammy music awards were handed out yesterday and for the first time, there was one for Hawaiian music. The newly created Category 69, which comes under Field 14 - Folk, included five nominated Hawaiian music albums: "Some Call It Aloha Don't Tell" by the Brothers Cazimero, "Amy & Willie Live" by Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom & Willie K, "Cool Elevation" by Ho'okena, "Ke'alaokamaile" by Keali'i Reichel, and "Slack Key Guitar, Volume 2," an instrumental compilation.

I really appreciate the coverage both the Los Angeles (front page) and New York Times gave to the category. But Hawaiian music is such a diverse category that having but one award to give was bound to cause some bit of controversy.

The first controversy is defining Best Hawaiian music album as being 51 percent Hawaiian. I guess that means that if you sing anything on the album, 51 percent of it must be in Hawaiian. For some, this was too little. These purist wanted 100 percent Hawaiian language and nothing else. Others, thought that any percentage was too high because Hawaiian music can be sung in English and be just as rich, they say, in meaning as 100 percent Hawaiian.

The second controversy is combining instrumental and vocal music into one category. Four of the five nominees were vocal, or mostly vocal. The lone instrumental was a compilation of several solo musicians playing what is known as ki ho'alu (slack-key tuned guitar).

The third controversy, and perhaps the biggest in the short-term, is Grammy members from across the nation being eligible to vote for the best Hawaiian album. Open voting for all members tends to skew things towards the middle of the road. That is, if you aren't familiar with a type of music, but you have to vote on one as being the best, people tend to choose the one that is the most familiar to them or, at least, least foreign to them.

I can imagine a voter in Massachusetts hearing, for the first time, a Hawaiian chant by Keali'i Reichel and wondering what the heck is going on and why does he sound the way he does (his voice would not be considered very musical by western standards). This is indeed unfortunate as Mr. Reichel is considered by many Hawaiian people to be a living treasure. An embodiment of hundreds of years of Hawaiian chant. Perhaps his soul doesn't translate very well across the miles.

My personal favorite, Ho'okena is a good example of contemporary Hawaiian music. By contemporary I mean the use of western music theory in the creation of new music as well as modernization of old Hawaiian chants.

The Brothers Cazimero were in the forefront of what is now called the Hawaiian renaissance. This period, centering on the 1970s, found Hawaiians gaining an appreciation of the many great accomplishments of their ancestors. This resulted in a renewed interest in canoe building and racing, hula dance, Hawaiian language (the idea of Hawaiian language only schools got their start during this period), and Hawaiian music.

But, in fact, none of the four albums with any Hawaiian words won. Instead, the instrumental compilation won the first Grammy for Hawaiian music. This is not to take anything away from the great solo musicians who played on this quiet and reflective album but what is Hawaiian music without the power of the Hawaiian language?

I can only hope that having a Hawaiian album category Grammy will open the world to the best of Hawaiian music, both the instrumental as well as language and that, in the future, there will be two Hawaiian music categories.

Aloha!

Speaking of jokes, here's GQ magazines top 100 jokes of all time. Since this is a family friendly site I can't repeat my favorite but this one will do:

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said. "Well, there's so much to live for!" "Like what?" "Well... are you religious?" He said yes. I said, "Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?" "Christian." "Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant ? "Protestant." "Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?" "Baptist" "Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?" "Baptist Church of God!" "Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed Baptist Church of God?" "Reformed Baptist Church of God!" "Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!" I said, "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off. (Emo Philips)

Aloha!

Kudos to little Maui based Letarte Swimwear for making the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition (and here). While I can't see too many women spending $150 USD for a very tiny bikini (not to mention having a wardrobe malfunction), I guess they must be doing OK.

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me. - Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005)

The great, the one, the only, the father of Gonzo Journalism, Hunter S. Thompson took his life over the weekend. His path was never one that would end quietly, in a rocking chair. So, I guess it is a fitting end to a life lived on the edge.

So long and mahalo.

PS: See his last ESPN column here and the wikipedia bio here.

Aloha!

Speaking of cute, getting your morning coffee from Starbucks (a coffee company, for those who have been living in the Sudan for the last 10 years - Ed.) is sometimes made easier by using a gift card. You know, those little plastic debit card things that people give to each other as gifts when they can't think of anything else to give and don't want to give cash.

Well, it seems Starbucks has designed a special one for sale only in Hawai'i (see image below and story from the Honolulu Advertiser here). Apparently, some enterprising people are auctioning them on E-bay and making a pretty good living at it.

While I am certainly no expert in collecting gift cards, this one does look pretty nice. Maybe I'll go and get one the next time I'm in the area (how can you miss running into a Starbucks, they're everywhere - Ed.).

Aloha!

I've got a meeting to go to first thing this morning so I gotta go.

In the mean time, what with the Oscars coming up this weekend, all you wanna be sci-fi film makers may want to check out this how-to rotoscope site.

It gives you the step by step process to create a light saber-type effect for all you Star Wars fans.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

Most of you are too young to remember musician Martin Denny. He passed away recently at the age of 94. But in the late 1950s and into the early 60s, he was at the forefront of a style of music that is described as a "fusion of Asian, South Pacific, American jazz, Latin American and classical."

I can still remember listening to my dad's copy of "Exotica" and the top five hit on the national charts " Quiet Village".

Even today, there are those, like The Forbidden Sounds of Don Tiki that carry on the tradition.

I think Denny and band mate Arthur Lyman were regulars at the Honolulu Elks Club (BPOE 616, where I was also a member), and from what I understand, he was a true gentleman and was always willing to help others. Indeed, while he was recently in declining health, he still performed at a February 13th fund raiser for the victims of the Asian tsunami.

You can read more about this pioneer of music from a Honolulu Star-Bulletin article here or the wikipedia link above.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

Few people feel the need to travel four miles in four or five seconds. On the ground. In a vehicle. But some do. This article tells us about the latest attempt on the land speed record (the current record holder is held by the British ThrustSSC Team at about 763 mph).

I think I've talked about the North American Eagle team before (or maybe not) but their attempt deserves whatever publicity they can get. To a great extent, this is a backyard DIY effort. They've had to beg, borrow, or buy really cheap whatever they could get towards this effort to reach 800 mph on land. Some would say this is a foolhardy way of making an attempt. And they may be right. But then, if you look at the first aircraft built by the Wright brothers, you could probably make the same assertion.

The question though, has to be why do this? Only these guys can answer that but in the words of former US President Theodore Roosevelt, as quoted on the ThrustSSC site:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out where the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with dust and sweat and blood. At best, he knows the triumph of high achievement; if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Aloha!

The world is full of dichotomies. And sometimes, people are required to reconcile differences that may not be reconcilable. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is tasked with regulating civil aviation to promote safety while at the same time promoting civil aviation (see the FAA summary of activities here).

Another recent example is the fight between using fear as a motivator in the US elections versus freedom. In this context, the choice is between the fear of loosing a single cent through someone illegally copying something versus the millions that could come in through the freedom to innovate.

So it is interesting to see technology giant Sony hire, as their CEO, Howard Stringer, the head of their entertainment division in the US ( see the story here).

Sony, for some time, has been walking a fine line between trying to protect its entertainment content with DRM while at the same time promoting hardware that works best without such DRM.

The dichotomy, to a great extent, has resulted in customers avoiding Sony DRM locked hardware. For example, many of their early Apple iPod clones required you to convert to Sony's proprietary ATRAC format while refusing to support the more open MP3 format. But Ken Kutaragi, head of Sony's video game unit and father of the PlayStation hit the nail on the head when he said Sony lost its lead in electronics when it (Sony) became timid when concerns over content rights trumped technological innovation ( see the article here).

Interestingly, if rumors are correct, the race for CEO came down to Kutaragi and Stringer. Time will tell whether choosing gaijin Stringer was wise but I don't think an emphasis on DRM, over innovation, will win Sony any new customers.

Aloha!

Sorry, no post today. I have to prepare for a meeting this morning. See you all here tomorrow.

Aloha!

I, like a lot of people, buy stuff via the Internet as well as from local stores. When I'm shopping online, weighing on my decision as to what site to buy from includes, but is not necessarily limited to, availability of what I want, at a price I am willing to pay, from a place that I trust.

The first factor is easy. Either they have what I want or they don't. If they have it, they pass the first hurdle.

The second test is a little harder. Usually, I'm shopping for the lowest price. But not always. If the lowest price is from a place I don't trust, I'll start going up in price until I find a place that I do trust.

The third factor, trust, is where things can get dicey. Why? Because I have to give my name, address, phone number, and credit card information to an entity that, in many cases, exists only online (i.e., they don't have a retail store where you can go to buy the item). For all I know, the website could be a front for the Russian mafia and they are just collecting this information so they can steal my identity.

In economic terms, there exists the problem of asymmetric information. I would be giving much information to them but I don't have any information about them. Typically, when this occurs, the trade (i.e., the sale) does not happen.

Internet sales are not unique in this situation. For example, most of us don't know how to grade beef. I mean, one cut of steak looks pretty much like the next one. As one way of solving the information problem, we have a government agency (in the US it's called the USDA) to create and enforce safety and quality standards. So, the theory goes, if I walk into a Alpha Beta grocery market and see a USDA grade "prime" beef steak, I should have a reasonable expectation that it meets certain minimum standards. If I then decide to go next door to Ralph's Market, and see another steak, also graded USDA prime, but costing five percent less per pound, I would have a reasonable expectation that the two steaks would have similar characteristics and that I can then buy based on price (If I didn't have a trusted third-party to consult, what I was willing to pay would probably do down, perhaps to not buying at all, and would lead to economic inefficiencies.).

The main point of this is we need a way to get information that can be used by us to determine whether to trade and, if so, at what price. If we don't get the information, the tendency is either not to trade or to lower the price we are willing to pay (to allow for the possibility that what we are getting is worth less than what the seller is saying it is). Asymmetrical information is also at work when you buy a car, get a bank loan, or buy a house.

Hence, the use of a trusted third-party, whether public or private, who has information that I need, is one way of creating a situation where a trade can occur. For me, that trusted third-party is usually the Better Business Bureau. While the BBB is funded through business membership dues, it functions, if it functions at all, only when it remains neutral in disputes between businesses and customers. If that neutrality is ever brought into question, the BBB could lose it most valuable asset, the trust of customers. Without this trust, many trades would not otherwise occur or occur only at much lower rates.

So, it's surprising to me just how many Internet-based companies either aren't members of the BBB or refuse to work with the them when disputes with customers arise. Note here that the mere fact that there are business/customer disputes is not necessarily an indicator of a bad business. Especially if they resolve all of these disputes to the satisfaction of the customer/BBB. But I digress.

Back to a current example. I've been thinking about replacing the stock Intel supplied CPU cooling fan on SWMBO's PC (Prescott, 2.8E). This fan is way too small for the heat that is coming off the CPU and Intel should be ashamed to have mis-designed it. I've already added two 80mm case fans in addition to the existing 120mm and power supply fans but it's just not enough to keep the CPU fan from spinning at its highest speed as it vainly tries to cool the over heating core. The sound of that fan is truly irritating, even though she has the case under the desk she uses.

Recently, I decided enough was enough and it was time to find a solution. My search narrowed down to the Zalman CNP S7700-AlCu and the Thermalright XP-120. I chose the Thermalright based on its lower weight (the Zalman exceeds the Intel motherboard limit of 450 grams by weighing 600 grams) and reviews. But when I started looking for sites where I could buy one, I was stymied by either it not being in stock, the business had an unsatisfactory rating from the BBB, or they had it in stock and had a satisfactory BBB rating but were selling for $20 more than other sites (about $67 USD vs. $47).

I am in a quandary. Do I pay the $20 premium, keep looking, go with the Zalman instead, or just forget about it and don't buy anything? I haven't decided yet. How you decide to buy stuff may be different from me. But if you can't trust the business to adhere to simple business ethics and sell at a fair price, would you (should you?) give your financial information to them? You decide. YMMV.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

RetroCrush has a cool set of of web pages with what they call the Top 100 Greatest TV music themes. Included is one of the better ones (see number 13 here). Although, I guess, I could be a little biased. ;>

My back is hurting again so I'm at home trying to recover. See you all here tomorrow. Sorry.

Aloha!

I recently talked about how I try to solve the asymmetrical information problem by using a third-party expert called the Better Business Bureau. Today I want to talk about mail-in rebates.

A lot of businesses use mail-in rebates as a way of getting you to buy stuff you wouldn't otherwise. The way it's supposed to work is you buy the stuff at full price with the business's promise that when you mail in the verification you will in turn get a check equal to the amount promised by the seller.

When it works, the seller makes money because they traded an item they wouldn't otherwise have sold and the buyer eventually gets a check in the mail that reduces the cost.

The problem seems to be that it usually doesn't work that way and that's because it appears it's not designed to. For example, about 40 percent of the buyers never send in the forms in the first place. The reasons vary but the point is businesses know there is a good chance the buyer will never even try to get the rebate.

Clearly, if the business wanted to sell something at a lower price it could just put the item on sale. Why make the customer go through a delayed process with all kinds of onerous requirements? A cynical person would say because the harder the business makes the process the fewer people will request rebates and, here's the payoff, the less costly it will be to the business.

In addition, even if the customer sends in the properly filled-in rebate forms and all required verifications, there is a short-term economic incentive to delay or even ignore the process. By that I mean if you delay sending out a rebate for say, three months, that is a free three-month loan to the business. Score one for the business.

If the business (or third-party rebate company) conveniently loses or says they never received the forms/verification it gets even better. Many customers, after waiting patiently for their rebates, but not having received them, follow-up with the business only to be told nothing was ever received and that they should submit the forms and verification again. The problem is most businesses require the original forms and verifications (usually sales slips and UPC codes cut from the box). If you've already sent those in, there is no way you can send them in again. If you send in copies, the companies, if they respond at all, will say the customer failed to send in the required original documents. Score another one for the business.

So it is interesting to see the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), for the first time, has entered into consent agreements with computer superstore CompUSA and their third-party processor Q.P.S., Inc. The agreement, based on allegations that CompUSA failed to pay, "in a timely manner, thousands of rebates for products sold under the CompUSA and QPS brands. Under the terms of the settlement with the superstore, CompUSA will pay consumers who purchased QPS products at CompUSA their due or past-due rebates, which ranged from $15 to $100 each." One hopes you don't have to send in original sales receipts to get the rebates.

The bottom line is mail-in rebates are scams that work. One way to stop it is to stop buying stuff with rebates. If you refuse to do that, at least require some kind of delivery confirmation when you mail your rebates in. That way, you have a legal confirmation that the envelope was delivered to their address, who signed for it, and when. If they still refuse to pay, immediately file a complaint with the FTC and the Better Business Bureau. But don't come crying to me about rebates because I never buy anything with a mail-in rebate. YMMV. Insert disclaimer here.

Aloha!

A memorial service was held over the weekend at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. It was part of the 62nd anniversary reunion of the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up of Americans of Japanese ancestry (some of whom where "interned" when World War II began). "Pierre Moulin and his 6-year-old son, Martin, paid their respects after laying a wreath during the ceremony. Moulin is from Bruyeres, France, a town that was liberated by the 442nd during World War II."

Read more from the Honolulu Star Bulletin here.

Or this article from the Honolulu Advertiser. The photo below, taken at another location, is of "Former Sgt. Seikatsu Kikuyama, left, and former Pfc. Robert Ito."

This local story about the finding of a WWII-era sunken Japanese submarine off the coast of O'ahu is starting to get national attention so maybe it will be of some interest to you. It seems that near the end of World War II, the Japanese built three huge submarines capable of carrying, launching, and recovering aircraft.

By huge I mean about 400 ft. long (about 122m). By comparison, a present day Virginia class attack submarine such as the USS Springfield SSN 774, is only 377 ft. (about 114m) long. While it is true that the current Ohio class ballistic missile submarines, at 560 ft. (about 171m), are longer, you have to remember we are talking about 1940s technology here. Fully loaded with fuel, these "Sensuikan Toku" class of diesel/electric submarines could sail one-and-a-half times around the world without refueling.

Each of these submarines held three torpedo-bomber aircraft with enough parts to build a fourth. The aircraft were hangered in a water tight compartment until made ready for flight. Within seven minutes, the planes wings could be unfolded, float pontoons attached as landing gear, and the plane launched, via catapult (see the illustration below).

The original mission was to fly over the west coast of the US and drop rats/insects infected with bubonic plague, cholera, dengue fever, and typhus. This mission was changed to a secondary target of the Panama Canal. This, in turn, was changed to a third target closer to the Home Islands.

Two of these submarines were captured at sea, a week after the Japanese surrender in 1945. These two, along with some other captured Japanese submarines were sent to Pearl Harbor for evaluation. While there, our allies the Soviet Union decided they also wanted to study these subs. Things being what they were at that time, the US decided to sink the subs off the coast rather than let the Russians have a look.

There they rested until a University of Hawai'i research submarine, Pices, came upon the monster submarine last week Thursday (see the photo below).

For more information on these leviathans follow this link here.

Aloha!

So enough with the boring stuff. How about a few happy links?

This guy likes origami. But not just any origami (the Japanese art of paper folding). He likes doing stuff like rhombitruncated cuboctahedrons, truncated icosahedrons, and greater stellated dodecahedrons. One example of his work is below:

This guy likes his Mac Mini. He likes it so much he decided to hide it in an old Dell case so that no one would know he was using one and steal his.

Then there's these guys who like high powered projectors. They have a series of photos created by projecting images on to the side of what looks like a cooling tower of some sort (much like the ones for nuclear reactors). Once at their site, click on the link at the top corner of the photo and it will take you to the next image (the site is not in English but I think "weiter" essentially has you go forward one image).

For you guys who are into robotics, Radio Shack is launching a robotics kit called the Vex Robotic Design System for $299 that will give you the parts needed to contend in the FIRST competition.

Aloha!

In its April 1st issue, the respected American Scientific magazine editorializes by admitting that they were wrong on "creationism, missile defense and global warming."

In retrospect, this mag-azine's coverage of so-called evolution has been hideously one-sided. For decades, we published articles in every issue that endorsed the ideas of Charles Darwin and his cronies. True, the theory of common descent through natural selection has been called the unifying concept for all of biology and one of the greatest scientific ideas of all time, but that was no excuse to be fanatics about it. Where were the answering articles presenting the powerful case for scientific creationism? Why were we so unwilling to suggest that dinosaurs lived 6,000 years ago or that a cataclysmic flood carved the Grand Canyon? Blame the scientists. They dazzled us with their fancy fossils, their radiocarbon dating and their tens of thousands of peer-reviewed journal articles. As editors, we had no business being persuaded by mountains of evidence....

Good journalism values balance above all else. We owe it to our readers to present everybody's ideas equally and not to ignore or discredit theories simply because they lack scientifically credible arguments or facts. Nor should we succumb to the easy mistake of thinking that scientists understand their fields better than, say, U.S. senators or best-selling novelists do. Indeed, if politicians or special-interest groups say things that seem untrue or misleading, our duty as journalists is to quote them without comment or contradiction. To do otherwise would be elitist and therefore wrong. In that spirit, we will end the practice of expressing our own views in this space: an editorial page is no place for opinions.

Having read that, I too must confess that I've been wrong. After long discounting the right-wing wackos deeply conservative who are against everything from fluoridation of drinking water (which they recently persuaded the local county council to make it illegal to fluoridate water in the city of Honolulu) to death with dignity (not to be confused with sticking electrodes into prisoners and running 120volts through them until their brains and internal organs fry), I must admit I was wrong.

How could I have been so fooled by human-based science? Doesn't faith-based science explain everything? Who needs scientifically controlled studies? Doesn't the universe revolve around the Earth?

Doesn't faith-based education teach everything anyone should know? Who needs pedagogic theory?

Why shouldn't the President use faith-based criteria to determine how to spend billions of tax payer dollars?

Doesn't faith-based medicine heal all (who needs doctors, hospitals, and medicine anyway)?

And finally, recent events suggest the need for a faith-based judicial system. Surely that would better than an independent judiciary, right? Who needs the Constitution and the rule of law when you can proudly carry the Bible into the courtroom and rule directly and solely from that?

Yup, how could I have been so wrong? I guess you just have to believe and ignore reality.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

The MosNews.com site has an article about a man who may have saved the world. According to the report, on September 26, 1983, Lieutenant Colonel Petrov was in charge (a Lt. Colonel, in charge?) of the Soviet Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. He was the man who was responsible for pressing the button that would launch the Soviet missiles in retaliation to a US first strike.

At about half-past midnight, Lt. Colonel Petrov's monitoring systems indicated that the US had in fact launched a single missile towards the USSR. A few seconds later, two, then three, four, and finally five in bound missiles were supposedly detected.

Petrov was dumb founded. None of the launch scenarios he had been trained for covered this contingency. Why launch only five when the US had thousands of missiles? What to do? He had but minutes to decide whether to irrevocably launch the Soviet Union's missiles against the US.

Fortunately, for everyone, he had the courage to make the decision that this was a false alarm. Which indeed it was. A "bug" in the warning system had created the false report.

Now, I don't know if Petrov knew before hand the system was riddled with problems but, in any case, having a human being in the loop is what may have saved mankind from a nuclear winter.

Aloha!

Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith United States Army

Spouse: Birgit Smith
Children: David A. Smith, Jessica M. Smith
Parents: Donald and Janice Pvirre
Hometown: Tampa, Florida Graduated Tampa Bay Technical High School

Enlisted: October 1989 Completed Basic and Advanced Individual Training at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO

Assignments: 82nd Engineer Battalion (Bamberg, Germany), 1st Engineer Battalion (Fort Riley, Kansas), 317th Engineer Battalion (Fort Benning, Georgia), 9th Engineer Battalion (Schweinfurt, Germany), 11th Engineer Battalion (Fort Stewart, Georgia)

Deployments: Persian Gulf War, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Operation Iraqi Freedom

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:

Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with an armed enemy near Baghdad International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq on 4 April 2003. On that day, Sergeant First Class Smith was engaged in the construction of a prisoner of war holding area when his Task Force was violently attacked by a company-sized enemy force. Realizing the vulnerability of over 100 fellow soldiers, Sergeant First Class Smith quickly organized a hasty defense consisting of two platoons of soldiers, one Bradley Fighting Vehicle and three armored personnel carriers. As the fight developed, Sergeant First Class Smith braved hostile enemy fire to personally engage the enemy with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons, and organized the evacuation of three wounded soldiers from an armored personnel carrier struck by a rocket propelled grenade and a 60mm mortar round. Fearing the enemy would overrun their defenses, Sergeant First Class Smith moved under withering enemy fire to man a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a damaged armored personnel carrier. In total disregard for his own life, he maintained his exposed position in order to engage the attacking enemy force. During this action, he was mortally wounded. His courageous actions helped defeat the enemy attack, and resulted in as many as 50 enemy soldiers killed, while allowing the safe withdrawal of numerous wounded soldiers. Sergeant First Class Smith’s extraordinary heroism and uncommon valor are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Third Infantry Division “Rock of the Marne,” and the United States Army.

Aloha!

Sorry, I have a meeting first thing this morning that I have to prepare for so I gotta go.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

Some students over at Purdue University, with way too much time on their hands, three-peated by winning the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. The contraption, in 125 steps, removed the batteries from a flashlight, replaced them with new ones, and turned the flashlight on. There is a link on their page to a 3.4MB QuickTime(r) 61-second video of the machine in action. Unfortunately, the video doesn't do a very good job of following the action so you may want to forgo the download.

Speaking of Rube Goldberg, this story from Wisconsin chronicles the sad tale of one Tim Bender. It seems Tim was cleaning up the garage in preparation for moving to another house. While doing so, he accidentally knocked over a can of spray paint. Said can landed square on a hammer. Said hammer punctured the can, which sprayed paint into the air. Said paint fumes spread to the gas fired water heater. Said water heater had a pilot light. Said light ignite the paint fumes. Said fire burned the apartment and most of the contents. Rube would be proud, even if Tim isn't.

Speaking of things that may not be wise, check out the Hoverwing. For a mere $8,000 you too can go hovering across the lake at break-neck speeds.

And then. There's this...

Aloha!

There are many books and movies based on the premise commonly referred to as a "fish out of water." That is, you take a person of one culture/race/age/gender and place them in a different culture/race/age/gender. You then step back and watch the hilarity ensue as each learns about the other.

This web page chronicles the travails of an American in Japan. In this case, a Black-American teaching English to Japanese students in what we call junior high school (children around the age of 10 to 12 years old). We see, through his humorous writings, a culture, at times, very different from ours.

Now, the Japanese culture has been around for a long time. Over that time, it has evolved into being a very complex, and to a certain extent, caste oriented system. One of the ways of describing a complex system is to note it's paradoxes. These tend to illustrate not only the tension within any system, but also the range of behaviors exhibited within that system.

This American teacher, using the lens of his own culture to examine his surroundings finds startling, and many times humorous, insights. I can't quote anything here because he has copyrighted his site (Bad JuJu) but believe me when I say you will probably want more after reading everything there.

Warning: There is strong language in his writings. If that offends you, do not go there.

Aloha!

There be wholphins aplenty at Sea Life Park on the island of O'ahu, Hawaii. The cross between a whale and dolphin, while rare, is not unknown. The mother of the new wholphin is herself a wholphin. Mother and calf both seem to be doing fine. Read more here from the Honolulu Advertiser.

Happy Tax Day and Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

Some of you may have noticed that the Daynotes.org site went away last week. It seems the Registrar did not notify the domain owner that the registration was about to lapse, so the registration did lapse. The Daynotes Gang decided it wasn't worth the cost and trouble to get the domain back (the registrar wanted $75!) and have therefore decided to just go let it go and stay with the Daynotes.com and Daynotes.net sites. Your understanding in this matter is appreciated.

Today marks the 35th anniversary of the near fatal explosion on NASA's Apollo 13 mission to the moon. At the same time it was NASA's worst and finest moments. The story behind the story is that Apollo 13 made it home, due in large part, to a simulation done a year before the explosion for Apollo 10.

As part of training, the flight teams go through various scenarios. Each scenario is carefully scripted and is intended to prepare everyone for possible problems. The fear is that if you come across something you haven't prepared for, you may perish because you don't have the time or you do something that irreversibly leads to your death.

Such was the case in a simulation for Apollo 10 much like what eventually happened. A flight simulation in which the fuel cells failed, at about the same point in the mission as actually occurred, resulted in the simulated deaths of the astronauts because they didn't have procedures required to power the various systems (and didn't have the time to come up with them in real time before running out of oxygen).

However, even though the simulation indicated developing such procedures were critical to the crews survival, NASA decided the possibility of losing the fuel cells was unrealistic and therefore did not order such procedures to be developed.

Fortunately, for the Apollo 13 crew, James Hannigan, the Lunar Module branch chief felt otherwise. He ordered his deputy, Donald Puddy, to form a team to come up with a set of procedures that would work. Just in case. Critical to the procedure, that the team came up with was the idea of reversing the power flow, via umbilical cables, from the Lunar Module back into the Command Module to provide the current required to re-start all the systems.

It is doubtful that the crew would have survived the actual emergency had not these procedures been developed before hand and solutions found for problems that just could not be solved in real time.

You can read the fascinating account of human systems dealing with mechanical and electrical systems from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers article, here. It was indeed, their finest hour.