Iconic & Ironic Philosophy and History

Presidential Power and By-Passing Congress - A long Tradition

2012-02-01T18:42:00.000-08:00

When President Bush did not re-hire some Attorney Generals after asking all of them to tender their resignations the national press was up in arms about him misusing his stated and authorized powers. Yet when President Obama did the same thing the current press did not even cover this same quadrennial process. This double standard is actually quite normal in American politics - but it misses the

Dumb users or Dump Computers Design?

2011-11-02T16:41:00.001-07:00

Tech Republic had a "great debate" article (http://www.zdnet.com/debate/great-debate-securitys-greatest-threat-dumb-users-vs-dumb-design/6316982?tag=mantle_skin;content) about users vs design. I think it is a feedback loop of both. Dumb users exist. Designs are written to account for them as the lowest common denominator to accomplish a given task. The more you hide complexity of any

Global Warming - It's all about Statistics

2011-10-24T12:40:00.001-07:00

A new UC Berkley study reports (October 2011) that the Earth is getting warmer. The study has not been “peer reviewed” yet but since they are ALL using the same data as other research people it would not be surprising that they all come to the same conclusion! A good scientific blind study requires using the

IPhone 4Gs and The English Language

2011-10-20T10:10:00.001-07:00

An article about the iPhone talked about how 38 million people who DO NOT SPEAK English, who live in the USA, is at a disadvantage in using them since the voice app is ONLY in English for people living in English speaking USA. If you are here on a "Green Card" it means you are here legally AND your skills are needed and most often that means that you have learned workable English to do

How Greece Can Become Part of Germany

2011-10-03T12:56:00.001-07:00

The debt crisis in Greece has implications around the world if they default, but then, what is the NORMAL things that happen when a company, or a person, defaults? The creditors now OWN what was put up as collateral. Where Greece only put up its name as an asset, and like any business it has lots of things "off the books" that it owns - in the case of Greece it's its sovereignty. If

How to Solve The Debt Ceiling Problem Easily

2011-09-14T14:14:00.001-07:00

Greg: Rounded corners. Jared, I mean, once we have rounded corners it's utopia, right? Jared: It absolutely is. I think the whole reason for the debt ceiling problem is because every chart that they show us has square corners. Stephanie: Oh my gosh. We could solve so much. Jared: Exactly. http://www.uie.com/articles/snapshot_css3_html5

A sales Tax Nightmare - for Consumers - a Fantasy Come True for States

2011-07-12T12:52:00.001-07:00

Some people are missing the overall point of the sales tax problem being highlighted by Amazon's fight.You live in Texas.You are surfing the web and find a site that sells a "widget" and it solves a problem for you so you click on the Amazon link to get it and NOW you find out that the person lives in California and you HAVE to pay sales tax - even though you live in Texas. Because the

Amazon Associates and California Tax Law Signed in 2011

2011-06-30T15:20:00.001-07:00

This is a classic example of "free" money that Governments love to levy on people - tax those who NEVER will get any "benefit" of the tax. Some guesses & some facts:1. People who live in California must pay use tax (sales) on things THEY buy over the Internet - that has not changed (lots of states had these laws long before the Internet was even invented. They just enforce them more now.)2

Too many Safety features can lead to disaster

2011-06-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

Too many "aids" will clutter a person's ability to pay attention and make decisions. If you have to act on each "aid" to decide if it is really important to you right at that point in time - and recognizing the one important item out of a flood of aids warning you of multiple issues - it then becomes distracting and people will learn to ignore them or usually just turn them off. Like the UAC

A Conversation Spock should have had in a Star Trek Movie

2011-06-21T12:29:00.001-07:00

Kirk: Spock, how did you come up with such an illogical solution to the problem? Spock: After being around humans all these years, the illogical solution seemed like the logical answer.

DRM Issues Never Asked by Congress

2011-06-07T12:49:00.001-07:00

Stop and ask "Why does CRM exist?" - Because governments - people whom we elected - can EASILY hold COMPANIES who publish works electronically responsible for violation of copyrights. Thus DRM was created so that the COMPANIES cannot be held responsible for someone re-publishing copyrighted works. Businesses impose DRM to avoid liability and the consumers - who elected these people who we

The $250,000 magic number and small businesses - what is NEVER explained in Sound Bites

2011-04-15T16:14:00.001-07:00

Unless you have moved up from a 20K a year job and now have $250,000 "income" the REAL implications of a tax hike for those making above $250,000 a year is going to be lost on 85%+ of all people in the USA. A LOT of the tax code is based on GROSS INCOME you have - NOT your net or adjusted gross income. You own a small business and you kid is 19 and in college and you make over 170K a

Voice of Reason: Specializing or Generalizing: What Works

2011-04-15T15:46:00.001-07:00

" I think that multifunction devices are useful as long as all those functions are the ones [people] want and they're easy to use. I have a basic principle that a universal device that does all things for all people probably doesn't do any of them very well. Is the Smartphone a replacement for serious people, people who want to take serious films? I don't think so. I think that serious

High Speed Rail in the US - $53 Billion? HA! More like 200 Billion

2011-02-09T15:47:00.001-08:00

The US lead the rail revolution long before Europe - the first use of military trains was in the US Civil War - by the South.Rails went EVERYWHERE because it was cheaper to get goods to people - even small towns - than by wagon.The railway barons were consider "robber barons" that since they built the rails and locked down all the people to using just their system (especially out west, in

Commerce Clause Justification for "Obamacare" - Miss-used since 1942

2011-02-02T15:46:00.001-08:00

Not EVERYONE is required to pay into Social Security - which is really an INSURANCE plan - Railroad workers, original Federal employees under the Civil Service Retirement Plan, original Unionized workers, were all exempt originally. As those people die off the people coming in after are automatically enrolled - except for some people who are STILL exempt - thus not EVERYONE is mandated to be

The Amazon Kindle numbering Scheme

2011-01-31T12:34:00.001-08:00

Tricky.You can't use percentages - 1 % of a 1000 page book covers 10 pages - and you cannot use the PHYSICAL book paging scheme since it still could be spread over 5 screen views or more based on font and size of the font picked by the user (thought if going to page 50 would always mean going to the 1st item on page 50 of the printed book and then scrolling to find the actual point) but then

Why do people protest loss of rights?

2010-11-03T15:14:00.001-07:00

From an article on User interfaces and selling: "Another explanation of why scarcity works has to do with freedom—or rather loss of freedom. If something is scarce, it may be unavailable in the near future. And that idea doesn't sit too well with people—it violates our sense of control over a situation: "If I don't act today, I won't be able to. . . " Psychologist Jack Brehm writes about

NPR Believes in Free Speech - But it is not appropriate for their Employees to have this right

2010-10-28T14:47:00.001-07:00

The firing of Juan Williams from NPR over his voicing of his personal option when asked about it on a Fox TV talk show means that NPR will just now put in place more definitive rules on why they will fire people. New rules (they will call them "guidelines" to have the appearance it is not really a rule) that all writers to their web sites, on air radio shows, on TV personalities and other

Elect "Governor Mulligan" for Oregon!

2010-10-26T16:12:00.001-07:00

Oregon is known for it lush green Willamette Valley and the golf courses that dot the state (well, the western part of the state, not too many on the east side) and Oregon has its own "Governor Mulligan" in the race this year. He spent 8 years setting up the current mess Oregon is in, and the follow-on Governor who is leaving largely followed the same policies "Mulligan" did, and now "

Common Sense

2010-10-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

Geoffrey James, Sales Machine "...my favorite boss of all time said: 'Common sense isn't common -- it's special.' "

Mass transit Studies, The Netherlands and the Individual

2010-10-07T11:03:00.001-07:00

Every commute is unique for that person; when looking at aggregate population "studies" transit studies usually only study the most highly traveled route - thus making them totally valid and totally meaningless for anyone who does not travel the route studied. Also, given that they only have 30 minutes commute time in the Netherlands - which means people often live quite close to where they

A modern version of Joseph Heller's "Catch 22"

2010-10-06T14:41:00.001-07:00

"I want to protect my privacy by using a password to protect a file.""Ah, but by using a password you must be hiding something.""But if I don't it is not private!""Ah true, but now you are guilty of not revealing your privacy so therefore you are guilty of protecting your privacy."

Phone to PC file transfer - Calling and no Answer

2010-09-13T15:34:00.001-07:00

It seems that the phone manufactures all want people to e-mail every picture they take - and make it darn near impossible to connect up a PC to a phone to allow file transfer to and from the PC. I have three different phones in the household (each for a different purpose and people) and each one of them do not allow use the standard USB cable for anything other than charging the phone.

Florida Vacation - I spent more time than President Obama

2010-08-31T08:17:00.000-07:00

I just finished spending two weeks down in the Orlando / Treasure Island area of Florida (1 week in each area) and unlike the President who is WELL choreographed in where he goes, what he does, so that the sound bites and visuals will present him well without him really seeing anything, we went around the various tourist and regular places and got a feel of how central Florida is doing.

Rani Rhodes and the 2nd Amendment and National Guard

2010-04-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

On one of her past shows within the last 10 days, Randi mentioned that – to her – the “original” meaning of the 2nd Amendment was so that the Federal Government would talk to the states and nationalize them into the Federal government – but that ONLY was authorized in 1903 AFTER the Spanish American war. The war saw that Federal standing Army was so small – and NO equipment standards were in

Solving Social Security Funding

2010-02-24T15:34:00.000-08:00

The easiest way to solve this, and to educate both the current and future recipients that you MUST pay for something NOW to get something later, is easy. Freeze the amount spent for Social Security at the same amount paid out in 2009. As more and more people get into it then the amount paid PER PERSON just goes down. If there are 60 million people being paid now, and 3 more million join in,

When you see the word "reform" in any Congressional bill . . .

2010-02-07T13:32:00.001-08:00

You must be VERY wary since almost all of these “reform” bills passed created one of these. Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table, At which he's fed. Tax his tractor, Tax his mule, Teach him taxes Are the rule. Tax his work, Tax his pay, He works for peanuts Anyway! Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants, Tax his coat. Tax his ties, Tax his

E-Waste recycling idea for states to implement

2010-01-19T13:31:00.000-08:00

If you REALLY want people to recycle e-waste then the NY GOVERNMENT (or ANY) should pass a very simple law: every item purchased you must pay $100 recycling fee (PC, monitor, Scanner, printer etc, anything over $100 in value) and be given a certificate of recycling at point of purchase with their name, date, point of purchase info SN of item etc on the certificate and the company passes that

A visual Representation of how a reorganization changes processes

2009-11-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

This is a visual representation of a business process - inbox and the steps it takes to accomplish it when a person knows it and they have finally optimized the process to get the job done as long as any management level does not dictate a "one size fits all" approach to every problem.And the 2nd image is the after the new efficient organization has been implemented.Here is the same process after

Evolution of CS, CIS, MIS, & IT

2009-10-09T10:10:00.001-07:00

Medieval Remedial Reboot = IT CS = Computer Science CIS = Computer Information Systems MIS = Management Information Systems IT = Information Technology

Follow the Money

2009-09-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

What I find real annoying about all the town hall / radio talks that went on about paying for health care is that the real question comes down to a very simple fundamental point: How much taxes do we extract from the 70 million people who actually PAY SOME taxes in order to support the 40 million NEW people that the President wants to cover with (free) health benefits to them and to support

Why Open Source is not in Government more than it is

2009-07-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

Business systems are built around ensuring that people pay for what they use - and if something fails to perform they can be taken to court and made to pay for that failure. With Open Source there IS NO WAY TO enforce payment for failure to live up to promises since NO ONE person or firm owns the code - no one to sue. Imagine a group of people all getting together and building a car then

Publish Or Perish! - Google Book Scanning - A solution

2009-07-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

If the rights holders are so loath to let Google scan and then publish the books for searching - and displaying partial results or giving the people an opportunity to purchase and download it - then the universal copyright laws that ALL nations have signed (The Berne Commission) should have a new clause inserted that Google (or any other company that intends to do the same) will notify the

The Smart Grid- A better way to charge you more for the same service

2009-07-10T12:24:00.000-07:00

Think of the smart grid like the highway system - there are peak times (traffic jams) and times when it seems the highways are deserted (2 AM till 5 AM). And the smart grid is going the way LOTS of cities want to regulate your travel: you go to work during peak traffic times we will charge you more to get there - the implied idea is that you will go to work when it is convenient for THEM to

National Health Care Ideas - A Financial perspective

2009-06-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

At lunch today we talked about the ideas being floated around about universal heath coverage being talked about by President Obama - and others. Now all of them are talking about "reform" - which from what I have experienced usually means more expenses for most tax payers. Let's run some numbers: There are roughly 315 million people in the USA. At any given time 50% of the

Think Before You Join a Social Site

2009-06-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

The most important thing is never mentioned - never start a NEW method of communication, new features, new expanded ANYTHING unless you have already allocated TIME to MAINTAIN them. Using Twitter? You BETTER ensure that you have 10 minutes a day to post something - AND - allocate time to READ what comes to you and stay involved - or else people will ignore your tweets. You join into 4 or 5

Taxes, Income, and President Obama's Socialist State

2009-05-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

The press corps always has a love / hate relationship with any politician. The press does not care about policy - its main mission is to sell news to remain in business. How objective, and how much they care, is always governed by the questions asked - or not asked. The tax pledge that President Obama made that no one who makes less than $250,000 is going to be affected sounds VERY good -

Best Project Planning Method

2009-05-13T09:30:00.001-07:00

Who?, what?, when?, where?, why, and how? - the way to do any project. If you start out assigning who - you can forget about having to work on the other five questions yourself.

Ideas and Code

2009-05-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

Software is nothing more than an sequence of human ideas in a physical form. Unlike ideas which can change in a person's mind and be assimilated in an instant, software changes can take years for the code to match the idea.

Predicting Success

2009-05-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

The ability to predict success is based on the previous inabilities to predict failures.

Sen Specter Switching Sides - How Medieval!

2009-04-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

The onetime Democrat Senator Specter went to the Republican side in the 1980s when President Regan was on the upswing, now in 2009 when the Democrats are on the upswing he switches sides to go back to the Democrats to be on the "winning" side again. During the Middle Ages mercenary troops were routinely hired to supplement the King's forces and often in the middle of a battle they would

Tax Tea parties - Think about the Visible and Hidden Taxes

2009-04-16T14:11:00.001-07:00

The Tax Tea parties that went on around the whole USA on April 15, 2009, but our President, talking through a spokesman, was totally unaware that they were happening at all till asked on April 15 in the morning, the protests were not about "just taxes", but about the amount and the purpose that the money taxed against the people and how it is put to use for by our elected - and in reality

Are you smarter than a Crosswalk signal?

2009-03-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

If you are a "liberal" i.e.: Government oriented that it always know best and that other people are always smarter than you, then you are not smarter than a crosswalk signal. If you are a "conservative" i.e.: You can recognize and can decide using your own mental abilities and experience when generic rules do not apply, then you are smarter than a crosswalk signal. The liberal side of

Europe Leads the Way in Digital TV! ????

2009-02-19T15:11:00.000-08:00

Stephanie Condon in an article at CNet http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10167007-38.html?tag=nl.e703 saw a press release where European Union touted that it was leading the way in worldwide digital conversion - again this is a sample of how Europe plays fast and loose by redefining what it means to go digital. Luxembourg switched! Yea, a nation that is 31 x 51 miles in length where a

Local School Policies Trump any State Law in Oregon

2009-02-11T17:32:00.000-08:00

The local news today in Oregon was awash about a story that took place at Western Oregon University with student who was cited by Campus Police for carrying a concealed hand gun that HE HAD A VALID LICENSE for. It seems that the schools believe that the Oregon legislature granted any school the right to rewrite any law about carrying of weapons that is in the Oregon Constitution and in

Who causes more trash to be created?

2009-01-28T14:57:00.000-08:00

The past decade has been one where governments within the USA has started to force people to recycle. There have been countless expensive studies reporting the amount of trash being thrown away - generated - per person in the USA and how we far and away exceed the same studies in foreign lands. This figure is usually expressed in pounds per day produced by the "average" household person. But

Economy Down? Not in the Ammo and Weapons Departments

2008-12-07T18:28:00.000-08:00

With the election of Senator Barack Obama to President of the United States the past remarks and positions that he has taken against the ownership of any firearms has spured the sales of all types of weapons and ammo since the election.This is not hysteria, it is see what history has befallen before, after President Clinton was elected and his wasteful and feel good legislation of banning "

Medical (Health) benefit is a RIGHT that all must have - according to Senator Barak Obama

2008-10-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

During the October 7, 2008 debate between Senator Barak Obama and Senator John McCain one of the most glaring differences - and about the only time Senator Obama actually made a concise statement - was when he declared that any American MUST / SHALL / IS ENTITLED / REQUIRED to get is any and all medical care (subtext: all for "free"). Under Sen. Obama's concept, all Americans are entitled to

A Tale of Two Bracelets

2008-10-01T09:53:00.001-07:00

Two bracelets - two VERY different reasons for wearing them. During the first Presidential debate on September 25, both Senator John McCain and Senator Barak Obama stated - and explained - why they were wearing bracelets with the name of a soldier killed in Iraq - but not a SINGLE commentator picked up on the vastly different reasons they were wearing it. After Senator McCain stated that he

Data Mining Sarah Palin's info

2008-09-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

Most of the people making comments (everywhere) about Mrs Palin's use of Yahoo for her PERSONAL stuff also have no clue how it is to live in Alaska. Imagine that your state Capital is at Key West Florida and your 1st major city is at Washington DC - that is the distance between Juneau and Anchorage - oh yea, you can only FLY between the two - no driving. Now are you going to go to DC and

McCain's Acceptance Speech Quote

2008-09-19T22:15:00.000-07:00

Senator John McCain's final few sentences from his 2008 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention September 4, 2008 is quite good. It is on par with lots of other famous speeches - the first one that sprung to my mind was Prime Minister Winston Churchill's speech to Parliament after the Dunkirk evacuation (and around 5 others) were completed where he used emotion and

Problems and solution for US Congressional campaign funding

2008-09-18T19:13:00.001-07:00

The problem is that by trying to limit funds, and then at the same time creating 527, and I am sure lots of other government sanctioned legal ways to advertise (like "issue ads", educational ads and the vast pool of others can can be thrown into there) it actually has made it worse than before McCain-Feingold, and countless other rules set up to make all this money "transparent". If

Running Near Empty in a Business

2008-08-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed that the most every business is now cutting inventory downto meet the bare minimum weekly (or even daily) demand that historical datasuggests they need to have on hand?Going to Rite-AidR, Albertsons, or my recent ongoing experience Rick'sFencing, you walk into a store and want 3 or 4 of item x and they do nothave it on the shelf. They stock 1 or 2 items and if two people come in

Running Near Empty in a Business

2008-08-25T11:32:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed that the most every business is now cutting inventory down to meet the bare minimum weekly (or even daily) demand that historical data suggests they need to have on hand? Going to Rite-Aid®, Albertson, or my recent ongoing experience Rick's Fencing, you walk into a store and want 3 or 4 of item x and they do not have it on the shelf. They stock 3 or 4 items and if two

What if Environmentalist get what they wish for

2008-08-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

In the Pacific Northwest - Idaho, Montana, Washington and in my state of Oregon, there has been a long movement to get rid of dams to "free the salmon" to run wild back in their rivers. And this really is ALL the dams on all the rivers. Around 37 major ones. What the electric industry really should do to show the people who wish to free the rivers from dams from their misguided fantasy

The newlywed wife cook story -- and change

2008-08-18T09:41:00.001-07:00

This parable is a good example of why the reason how a solution is created to fit a specific problem is NOT passed along to others - but taken as gospel and must be adhered to. Government, any many private organizations, also follow this rational. Not good, but that's the way things are. The newlywed bought a roast home and when preparing it cut off 1/4 of an inch on both sides of the

Wasting Time in Lines

2008-08-05T09:29:00.001-07:00

I spent a few weeks down in Orlando at Disneyland and Universal Studios - and about 20% of my time in the parks I must have I stood in lines. In our society you always stand in lines: food, movie, toll booth, on the road going to work (in Portland Oregon a person driving on a road spends around 45 minutes no matter from what direction to drive the 12 miles to get into town - and that is BY

Riff-Raff are now Off the Road!

2008-06-11T07:42:00.001-07:00

One of the best aspects of the high gasoline (petrol, fuel, gas) prices is that it forces people off the road. This aspect of price creep has always been known and is a POLICY in some nations - and REALLY wanted by some politicians in the US. The idea is really simple: price fuel up so high that people feel pain and then seek alternative transportation - which just happens to be conveniently

Portland the Social Utopia of Free Wireless Goes Lenin

2008-05-27T13:25:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago it was announced that the free Wi-Fi network that was being deployed in Portland was being scrapped. Buried above ground by its own arrogance and stupidity. (Think Lenin.) The idea: get a company to come into Portland, build up a free network for people to use - as long as they endured ads on 1/3 of the screen which would pay for it and make that company a profit - in order

Sen Obama and the Pack Mentality

2008-05-22T13:59:00.001-07:00

Senator Barack Obama came through Portland on Sunday May 18 and created an "official" count of 60,000 inside the gates of Waterfront Park with another 15,000 estimated outside on the roads and on the water or bridges bordering on the rally. Some people came since they really support him, some came to be part of the event, some came since standing in line for three hours to pass through

Federal Gas Tax and the 2008 Candidates Senators Obama, Clinton and McCain

2008-05-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

For each individual suspending the FEDERAL tax of 18/cents a gallon is shrugable - roughly $6 a month for those who average 1000 miles a month in their car. I latte at coffee shop.To the US Highway trust fund - a BIG deal since they deal in pay as you go - thus all road projects are stopped - no money (they have NEVER managed finances well). If the tax was 18 cents per dollar of retail -

Senator Barack Obama and the "Never Heard" preachings - A New Historical Excuse is now Available for Germans

2008-04-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

Senator Barack Obama has repeatedly stated that out of the 22 years going to his local church he has never heard any types of talking and messages in the sermons of Pastor Wright that were filmed and posted on the Internet - nor was he aware of any of those thoughts and feelings expressed within those sermons by Mr. Wright in the 22+ years of attending church. Being both a Illinois and

Taxes - Write-offs, depreciation, and cost shifting

2008-04-16T16:47:00.001-07:00

Tax day - April 15 2008 - has come and gone in the USA - whoo hoo! But, as people filled out all the forms and tried to find the most "deductions" do they actually realize what they - and the Government - is really doing? Anytime you can claim a deduction you are in essence shifting taxes to others. You are being subsidized. Sometimes to everyone else, sometimes it is only those who make

Marie Antoinette Making a Comeback?

2008-03-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

One of the most famous quotes attributed to this last Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, is "Let them eat cake." Most scholars have come to the conclusion she never really said that phrase but it was pure "PR Spin" by the Revolutionaries of France telling people she did. And telling the poor to "Let them eat cake" - which was a luxury to bake a cake instead of bread which they already could

The Miracle of two day delivery - NOT

2008-02-27T12:39:00.001-08:00

When Congress removed the restriction that only the Federal Government could deliver mail within the US and the UPS, FedEx, Emery, DHL and others came into existence they initially only served businesses in the cities and close in environs. Things were good. They then expanded to cover people at home, and marketed to shippers to use them. Things were good. Two day delivery arrived. Things

VITSA SP1 is Here - Ho Hum, Just like VISTA

2008-02-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

I do not use VISTA daily - only in a test lab. However with identical hardware VISTA just runs slower - by design. It is trying to do SO much more in the security area, plus all the integration of other "features" that it has to constantly check on them for no matter if there or not, so it just will run slower

Academics for the Second Amendment

2008-01-16T23:06:00.001-08:00

The United States is very unique in that one of the basic laws of the land is the individual right to "keep and bear arms." This was done to ensure that the new government being installed would not be able to persecute and subjugate the citizens by being the only entity who has weapons in which to use against the people. After all, the only reason there IS a United States of America is the

Flat File Foes - Relational Database Management Systems

2007-12-14T16:06:00.000-08:00

Flat Files are Dead - Long live RDMS! This has been the battle cry of SQL, Oracle, SAP and other database admins - and almost every consultant - for many years. Since the first publication of the idea of using a Relational Database came about in the late 70s, people have touted the benefits of them: less storage space, more efficient (less data moved internally) and centralized look at the

Teaching the Basics

2007-12-05T12:59:00.001-08:00

Watching the flooding within Oregon and Washington - and watching the people going through high water and then having to be rescued (a few did not get rescued) - shows that what is taught in schools is NOT what is needed to survive - but what is politically correct to be taught. Why? Because the Government (all levels) has been gradually been teaching everyone that you NEVER do anything

Risk Management =/ Productivity

2007-12-04T08:12:00.001-08:00

I was trying to find the Australian / New Zealand standard document ANZ 4360 - Risk Management Standards - and I found out everyone talks about it - but no one actually publishes the standards at all - can't be found. I did find http://www.pc.gov.au/ - which is the Australian Government Productivity Commission - and found out that Risk Management is also no where to be found. Which means

Mis-used Slogans

2007-11-20T13:22:00.001-08:00

Seen on a Bulletin Board: "We Dig Older Workers." should have been next to a flyer one with a phrase: "We Never Put You Down While You are Still Up - American Undertakers Society."

Reason Why Guys should Stand

2007-11-14T10:46:00.001-08:00

Do you want to know the REAL reason a guy should stand when a young pretty woman comes to a table and having her sit first? Since a guy is usually taller than a woman by standing he ensures that she cannot see any bald spot on his head and thus she has no way to for sure know his age and dismiss him as being not worthy - primarily young enough - for her.

Dvorak's Article on Website Entropy

2007-11-05T11:02:00.000-08:00

John C Dvorak's article about how web sites seem to becoming more and more "Web 2.0" and losing all functionality which he calls "Web Site Entropy", http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2209042,00.asp , should sound familiar - we've been though this before circa 1998 through 2001 when graphics became all the rage (along with lots of new JavaScript functionality) and all the "in" designers

Which is Easier? Swords into Plowshares or Plowshares into Swords?

2007-10-09T16:19:00.001-07:00

This old saying may have new meaning for the US. As more and more heavy industry - and technology companies - go offshore to other nations for economic profit reasons - it will become a problem of how to produce items necessary for the survival of the NATION. Globalists argue that if everyone is dependant upon everyone then no one will dare disrupt the status quo due to the harm that will

What Can't Be Measured Can't Be Managed

2007-09-19T14:19:00.001-07:00

Is one of the guiding principals of Government - which is why they want EVERYTHING to be measured so that somewhere along the line some section of Government can manage - tax - it. Requiring reports to be sent to government is a subtle form of a tax - the business has to spend money to create something that is of no value to it at all and is often never looked at by government - it is just

Do Digital Cameras Make Better Photographers?

2007-09-18T11:06:00.001-07:00

A CNet story by one of the editors mentioned that the advent of inexpensive digital cameras has created better photographers - I think not. The author, Michael Kanellos, stated "By contrast, digital cameras changed how people take pictures. " Nope, they can just take bad pictures faster and can see that they are bad faster - and try again- and again - and again. They don't have to THINK to

New Net Taxes Possible in November

2007-09-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

Based upon the past legislative accomplishments of the current session of Congress's ability to get ANYTHING done - new taxes will come in November, 2007. The way Congress runs - usually by exempting themselves from ALL rules that apply to everyone else - and they feel no pain for the rules they invoke onto others - this best of breed "Do nothing Congress" of the last 40 years will quietly

A new marketing phrase for JAVA: Write Once Break Everywhere

2007-09-06T22:18:00.001-07:00

It is so nice knowing that a JAVA update can break everywhere at once. E-Bay started using more JAVA and FORCED me to update to latest release - and I can go to any web site and it works - EXCEPT EBay!

"Power of 10" TV Show Question - America Still Around in 100 years?

2007-09-06T16:25:00.001-07:00

I happened to come across the new TV show "Power of 10" being hosted by Drew Carey on Sept 4, 2007 (Tuesday) and this question struck me as quite worrisome. The question they asked Americans (now did they actually ask at the beginning of the phone poll to each person if they are a US citizen or not?) is if they thought that the US will still be around as a NATION in 100 years. Only 74% of

Copyright History and Logic of use

2007-08-27T13:21:00.001-07:00

The original function of "copyright" is literally giving exclusive RIGHT to reproduce work - copy - to a publisher - not to the author. It has since been extended to include authors as having rights on how their work is used. It was a commercial arbitrary restriction imposed on printers by printers so they would have a monopoly to sell and make a profit from what an author created.These same

Way of the World

2007-08-01T09:32:00.001-07:00

People are always trying to make things "idiot proof" (look at the weird warning labels on some items from this book http://www.amazon.com/Wearing-This-Garment-Does-Enable/dp/0743244753) however the world seems to be breeding "smarter idiots" at the same pace as product liability layer trolls.

The "Carl Rove" Defense for all future Investigations

2007-07-31T08:59:00.001-07:00

The main benefit that will derive from the conviction of Carl Rove is that all future people when being investigated and are asked about what happened when will always state " I cannot remember." Mr Rove was convicted due to his inability to remember what happened on a certain day three years prior to being questioned. Thus he stated one day, someone else came up with a written record

Sponsors -- Is the writing on the Vest?

2007-07-23T16:16:00.001-07:00

In a BLOG post from CNet (http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9748139-7.html?tag=bl) it was revealed that the latest contract REQUIRES all photographers to wear vests advertising Canon and Reebok. Why stop at the photographers? Make every reporter type person (even even radio announcers) wear them who are at the NFL game. If a Radio or TV wants to talk about it require them to mention Canon and

Erosion in Nature and of US Citizens Rights are really the Same

2007-07-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

The parable / story of the turtle and the hare is applicable to many situations - one reason that makes it an oft repeated example. Going fast as a jack-rabbit can cause you to lose while going slow and steady wins the long term race. Erosion is a matter of scale. On a small creek right after a flash flood you can see the effects immediately as the banks give way. On the bottom of a river

Open Formats, Archiving, and Retrievability in the Future of Electronic Documents

2007-07-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

ISO, ECMA, IEE, ITU, W3C et al are all "standards" organizations that exist solely to publish - and enforce - a set of agreed methods of communication in order to ensure what is sent by "A" is received by "B" the same every time. A defined translator for any given function. OpenXML, OpenDOC, ASCII, EBCDIC, Hollerith are all standards in that they tell others how to encode human speech and

Statistics and Polls - The numbers and assumptions they do not reveal

2007-07-17T14:05:00.001-07:00

Political campaign season is upon us - a year earlier than normal - and all sorts of polls will be published, brandished or banished for each and every possible person and topic. These are always treated and presented as "facts" with a margin of error attached of often 3%. Given that the vast majority of the US population (I'd say at least 70%) have never taken a college level statistics

Ongoing Copyright Changes - Real and Proposed

2007-07-02T10:52:00.001-07:00

As a photographer who posts pictures onto my web site I know that people will "lift" them and use them without asking first. If you post some people will just use them for making money regardless of what you want - there always will be some people who will do that. Others will use them due to lack of money to pay for them, philosophy (people oppressed me, I will steal to get back at them),

Oregon Legislative Sessions - Reason to go to an Annual Session

2007-06-22T10:32:00.001-07:00

The Oregon Legislature is about to end its bi-annual session - with no real (apparent) legislation actually being passed of any value. A lot of fluff stuff was passed - and other bills that were likely passed but never reported on by the newspapers; like the law they did in 2002 for school zones speed limits that once people found out about it - and pointed out the stupidity of the law -

"Human Capital" - A New Phrase for Workers

2007-06-01T17:05:00.001-07:00

What's in a name? Considering the number of lawsuits over people using words it means a lot. It also tells upon the person using the name - or company - as to what they think of the people being referred to. The latest name fashion to hit is renaming "Personnel", or "Human Resources" , to "Human Capital" - making it sound like an investment term. However, one aspect of "Capital" is that you

Excessive Profits: Oil Companies or Disney?

2007-05-30T12:34:00.001-07:00

Many of the US Senators and House of Representatives are "up in arms" about the profits that oil companies are making. Makings profits is what any company does - but with oil you start to get into the "big numbers" due to VERY simple math. If a company makes just 7% profit on a barrel of oil (55 gallons in a barrel) that means $4.20 out of $60 cost. But when you deal with MILLIONS of barrels

Metro Regional Government of Oregon - Oblivious to the Obvious

2007-05-16T16:39:00.001-07:00

I read an article in the Portland (Oregon) Tribune that METRO - a self contained overlay government entity that was created to "manage" growth due to the inability of the three counties in northern Oregon would not talk with each other to coordinate planning - came to the conclusion after 15 years that new roads were not being built nor the old ones were being maintained. This is not

Appleseed - Yakima April 2007

2007-05-07T22:50:00.001-07:00

For the first time in years I attended an organized rifle training course since I was in the military. This was an "Appleseed" - organized by the Revolutionary War Veterans Association http://www.rwva.org - who are working to restore the basic military rifle marksmanship that people of the United States were taught starting starting with the initial settlers through to about mid 1960s

Techies in with the Workers?

2007-04-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

One of the big problems facing any high tech work environment is the decision to either place the support people - the techies - in the same area as the workers or do you put them all in one area where the manager can watch over them? By scattering people around the org you lose - on paper - the efficiency of a central dispatch to keep the people busy you have busy all the time. This

Why Business Sites Should NEVER Consolidate all their Webs into a single domain

2007-03-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

The trend in web sites by big companies to combine all sites into one single domain and have the people who are looking for manuals, a problem solution to be magically and transparently moved from the tech resource site onto the selling site without telling people. They only know it when a shopping cart shows up asking them to buy something when they were looking for an answer to a technical

A reason to NEVER have a unified single web style for all aspects of a business

2007-03-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

One of my long time reasons / complaints to firms about trying to have a SINGLE look and feel for all different aspects of their web sites is exemplified by what has happened / been caused by Best Buy as shown in this eWEEK quote (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2100885,00.asp) "As it tries to navigate the minefield that today's multichannel retail strategies have become, Best Buy

How OnPoint Credit Union - and soon others -- will earn money automatically

2007-03-07T16:07:00.000-08:00

OnPoint Credit Union (Portland Oregon) has a new policy in place - if they send you a statement after you have moved, and you have NOT yet gotten around to tell them your new address - they charge you $3.00. Each and every statement they send. This is done since they have their statements set up to NEVER be forwarded by the post office and have it set up to always be returned to them - so

Personal Responsibility in the Modern USA

2007-03-05T22:11:00.000-08:00

I definitely think that if the Federal Government - and States - REALLY wanted people to take personal responsibility for their actions then all laws that hold secondary people / firms responsible would never have been created. We have changed the liability of personal mistakes away from an individual person and have gone with the popular mental and emotional reassignment of blame to

The Democratic Party Progressive Tax System

2007-03-02T15:05:00.000-08:00

The Democratic Party likes the "progressive" tax system. Their definition is of course they keep progressively taxing your income until you have no more money left to send in. Once at that point, it has at last "progressed" enough.

How to Succeed In a Career

2007-02-28T10:57:00.000-08:00

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, "Certainly Ican!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. - Theodore Roosevelt (1859-1919)

Mountain Locator Beacons - why not everywhere and for anything else too?

2007-02-20T12:33:00.000-08:00

Mountain Locator Beacons are devices that can be taken by climbers to locate them - when manually activated - using radio triangulation so rescuers can go directly to them. Same function as an ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) installed on all commercially aircraft. With the high profile rescues in the news over the past three months on Mount Hood it has been noticed by a few in the