Doing More With Less Since 1972

Category: Reading (Page 11 of 35)

I’m reading– December 15th through December 17th

8 Tools For Easily Creating a Mobile Version of Your Website – Yet another reason I'm such a huge WordPress fan. With WordPress, you can do it with just a plugin. I've been doing it at www.scottadcox.com for a while now.

DSO Nano V2.0 – Pocket Sized Digital Storage Oscilloscope – Back in my day, we had to record the cable signal on a vcr tape and bring it to the oscilloscope in the electronics lab to figure out how to steal cable.

Time Investment Tips for the Offseason – Didn't see anything here about eating lots of bagels and watching documentaries. Going to have to re-evaluate my training plan.

Inflation Calculator | Find US Dollar’s Value from 1913-2010 – 90s to now isn't bad. Afraid to look at the 70 and 80s for fear of what is coming.

Yahoo! Killing Del.icio.us

Flabbergasted.

Del.icio.us ranks 255th in traffic on the web right now according to Alexa, and they are just going to ax it? Not even shopping it around to potential buyers? I don’t have the numbers, but I’d guess Del.icio.us is the leader in the social  bookmarking market.

Sure, Yahoo! hasn’t done as much with it as it should have. They’ve pretty much done nothing with it. So why not at least continue that and just give it away.

Killing this service is a real shame.

Stuff You Should See– December 9th through December 15th

How to Use Gmail as Your Central, Universal Communications Hub – One of these days, one of these days…I'm going to implement these suggestions. At least the ones I haven't already implemented.

End of the Culture Wars? – Really interesting take on the widening gap between the moderately educated and the highly educated. The numbers on divorce rates alone are pretty staggering.

Toasted Coconut Cake with Coconut Filling and Coconut Buttercream – I'm thinking of throwing down again.

The Crisis of the Middle – hmmm….interesting.

Montessori at Home? – We're working up a Montessori area right now. The materials are the catch for us, but you can build as you go.

Clinton Taking Over For Obama At Presser

I guess I’m supposed to feel outraged. Oddly, “relief” is the word I would choose to describe it. Finally, someone with experience and ability seems to be in control. Added bonus–Bill Clinton actually wants to be President. Notice how he immediately leans on the podium and starts fielding questions.

Obama no longer wants this job. Maybe he never wanted it in the first place. It seems like he’s doing everything he can to work his way out of it.

This brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, “promoted to the level of your incompetency.”

Can you imagine a tee-ball coach handing off a post-game talk with parents to one of his assistants because his wife is waiting in the car? Me either.

Stuff You Should See– November 18th through December 6th

Death Taxes and Life Insurance – A principled argument against the death tax.

Delaying Tax Vote Could Crash Stock Market – No duh. Can’t believe someone was able to write an entire article on this obvious conclusion. Though it was nice to get a firm date on it. Don’t see a logical reason it would drop below 5%, but markets aren’t logical in the short term.

Higher IQ Scores Found in Cold Weather States – Thems can have smarts. Me takes heat.

Teva Stiletto Heels – Technology FTW!

Fixing the US Housing Finance System

NASA Goes Badly Off Course, Needs a New Commander – Hmmm. Interesting.

Sanford Airport Opting Out of TSA

I love using small airports, and Sanford is pretty close to where I live. It’s much more convenient than MCO, especially when flying to Knoxville on Allegiant. Now, it could be even more convenient to fly out of there, since they are asking TSA to “go back“!

Orlando’s Sanford International Airport believes they will offer passengers “better service at a better price and more accountability and better customer service” by doing away with TSA screenings.

I predict a movement is beginning here. Not surprising, considering the professionalism I’ve noted by the TSA in the past.

Some Linkage for Lookage

Ironman – The Inner Revolt and Busting Out – I think there’s even more to this. Part of it is convincing yourself that you are as tough as you’ve convinced everyone else you are.

An Even Tougher Deficit Plan – Sounds good to me, except for the VAT

Dr. Drew on Obamacare: ‘You will see a massive flight of physicians from the field’ – But he only plays a doctor on TV, right?

Stay Worried – “One way or another, it was worth having Microsoft Word with the expectation that the zillionaire Bill Gates’ shower is still no hotter than ours, and his private jet goes not much faster than our own cut-rate Southwest Airlines flights. All that seems simple enough — until now.”

The Parallels between Today and the Great Depression – To quote the great Jackie Martin Jr., “You all know the rules, they’re very much like Pyramid, but different.”

Jailhouse Movies Are Torture?

This poor Brevard County inmate thinks so.

“Like the old Chinese water torture, the inescapable sounds of these movies over and over works on nerves and psyche.”

I’ve watched Smoky and the Bandit and Swingers too many times to count, so I can say from experience that kicking back on the couch memorizing dialog isn’t exactly the toughest thing someone can force you into. Maybe this guy should become more familiar with the business end of a shovel to help ease his nerves and psyche. You know…when the body suffers the spirit flowers.

Of course, this has nothing to do with torture or legitimate complaints. It’s really just an attempt by this guy to further extend his stay at Hotel Taxpayer.

Poulin was arrested by Palm Bay police in January 2007 for allegedly driving and crashing his car while intoxicated, an accident that killed his female passenger.

There have been 14 motions for continuances in his case and six federal lawsuits against the jail, all of which have been dismissed

Great. Just great.

 

My Next Great Idea – The USPS Stimulus Package

After reading this article on the USPS losing $8.5 B (yes, that’s $500 million AFTER THE DECIMAL PLACE!). With all the hyperbole over evil corporations, at least their management has to answer to shareholders…at least they have to answer to someone. I was talking about it with a couple of people on Twitter:

[blackbirdpie id=”3124711739363328″]

[blackbirdpie id=”3116082235711488″]

 

Obviously, they aren’t huge fans. Come on…what’s a few billion amongst friends? But then I saw these articles about the Swedes storing emails and texts and our own government  getting ready to grace us with an Internet Czar and a light bulb went off…

USPS Stimulus package!

Just set up (yet another) federal agency to track and log every single piece of electronic communication. This will have the (un)intended consequence of forcing…err…encouraging people to go back to sending coded messages through the USPS and hoping they are delivered within a few days. Think of how many USPS jobs this could save or create!

Pillar Of A 3rd Party Platform?

Just go back to the tried and true playbook and start calling federal employees “Fat Cats”.

The number of federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has soared tenfold in the past five years and doubled since President Obama took office, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Since 2000, federal pay and benefits have increased 3% annually above inflation compared with 0.8% for private workers, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis

Maybe the Wall Street Fat Cats, Healthcare Fat Cats, Big Oil and Energy Fat Cats, Big Media Fat Cats, Legal Fat Cats, Agriculture Fat Cats, Literary Fat Cats, Landscaping Fat Cats, DotCom Fat Cats and all the other Fat Cats (did you ever notice the Fat Cats usually have some occupation other than the one of the person calling them “Fat Cats”?) can band together to fight this scurge. We just don’t have room for any new groups of Fat Cats.

Of course, someone *cough*Republicans*cough* will surely try to co-opt any such message as their own.

Oh, and here are the Deficit Commission recommendations released today. I’ll believe it when I see it.

IKEA Homemade is Best Cookbook

What does IKEA mean to you? To me, it means flat packaging, easy to follow assembly instructions with pictures instead of words, and stuff that is so cool and affordable that I usually end up buying something I hadn’t planned on.

Check out IKEA’s “Homemade is Best” baking book.

  • Flat? check
  • Easy instructions with no words, with beautiful photos by Carl Kleiner? Check
  • So cool and (presumably) affordable that I’ll definitely be buying one on my next trip to IKEA, even though I hadn’t planned on buying a cookbook for the rest of my life? Check

Mexican Standoff In Congress?

There’s a possibility we could be looking at two years scripted by Quentin Tarantino. Maybe the standard finger pointing that we’re used to seeing is about to be replaced by something far more complicated.

Democrats have lost a lot of their Blue Dog numbers. I’ve actually read some people spinning this as the people in their districts were frustrated that they weren’t taking a “progressive enough” stance. If you really believe that, go pop some popcorn and enjoy what’s about to happen amongst Democrats as their leadership tries to pull them even further to the left. That would be disastrous for the Left and good for the country, so I’m not going to discourage it at all.

And, unless they get co-opted by the “Trent-Lott-Carl-Rove” Republicans, we’re probably going to see some infighting on that side of the aisle too. Again, probably bad for Republicans, but good for the country. Marco Rubio’s speech was dead on–last night wasn’t an embrace of the Republican Party, just a second chance.

If things don’t change, we could *gulp* be looking at a serious third party next time around. And if the establishment Democrats and Republicans aren’t careful, they may actually be that third party–on the outside looking in.

I’m generally happiest with a federal government that’s not doing much of anything. The less they try to create jobs (that’s a function of government?), bail people out, spend our money on our behalf, impose morality (love the irony), prop up favored industries, etc. the better off we all are. This usually happens when we are lucky enough to have opposing parties in the executive and legislative branches. Maybe now we’ll have so much debate of ideas going on that only the really good ones that have been properly vetted can float to the top.

“Yolanda, it’s cool baby. It’s cool! We’re still just talkin’. Come on point the gun at me. Point the gun at me.”

Stuff You Should See– October 13th through October 28th

‘Stranger Danger’ and the Decline of Halloween – "We can kill off Halloween, or we can accept that it isn't dangerous and give it back to the kids. Then maybe we can start giving them back the rest of their childhoods, too."

Amazing Beans: Black Lentils/Kidney/Garbanzo – Giving this a shot soon.

YOU are Superman – Mamapedia™ Voices – “If eight park moms and one visionary principal could pull our little neighborhood school out of its twenty-five year nose-dive, surely others could do the same thing. If Waiting for Superman could spark a national grassroots school reform movement that would pull us all out of the giant mess we’re in, now wouldn’t that be something?”

A ‘Do-Over’ on the Mortgage Market? Project Mayhem Fallout – I won't even entertain the idea, but it's an entertaining read.

If Every Website Got A Dramatic Movie Adaptation – Damned clever.

3 Simple Ways You’re Missing Out On Mobile – Great post by my buddy Gavin!

Hell In A Cell – A Mick Foley Parenting Tip

Mick Foley penned a great guest post for GeekDad on “The Talk”:

Have a talk with your kids. Tell them about some of the unfortunate realities of life, and assure them that you’ll be there for them in good times and in bad, in sickness in health. Let them know that a parent’s love is indeed unconditional and that they can turn to you in any situation. Just don’t let them know that you’re taking parental advice from a pro-wrestler

While my M.O. up until now has been based on the question “WWDLRD?”, I think it may be time to reconsider and change strategies to “WWMFD?”. DLR isn’t quite as literate as Foley.

Have A Nice Day!

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