Vote Democrat!

My brother Mark explains why he's going to vote Democrat:

WHY I AM VOTING “DEMOCRAT”

I'm voting Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.

I'm voting Democrat because freedom of speech is fine as long as NOBODY (not a soul) is offended by it.

I'm voting Democrat because when we pull out of Iraq I trust that the bad guys will stop what they're doing because they will NOW just begin to think we're good people.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday CAN tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as THEY see fit.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe three or four pointy headed elitist liberals need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would NEVER get their agendas past the voters.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe that when the terrorists don't have to hide from us over there, when they come over here I don't want to have any guns in the house to fight them off with..

I'm voting Democrat because I love the fact that I can now marry whomever or whatever I want. I've decided to marry my horse.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.

I’m voting Democrat because Nancy Pelosi knows that we don’t need to drill for oil, and won’t allow a true vote in Congress to permit drilling in our own Country. I think sending $700 Billion per year to the Middle East, is good for my future.

I’m voting Democrat, because “we need change”, and I don’t have the time to listen, pay attention, and research what that means to MY future.

Makes ya wonder how anyone would EVER vote Republican now doesn't it?

Mark lives in New Jersey, which means that I can't really tell if he's serious about supporting the Democrats, or if this is a sarcastic rant. If you're not familiar with the general political climate in New Jersey, here's a calibration: I'm pretty sure that if Lenin were running in an election there, he would be the right-wing candidate...

Your Monday Morning Quotes...

A different kind of wisdom, from some of the usual – and not-so-usual – suspects:

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson

If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
- Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man; a debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G. Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-Douglas Casey, (Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University)

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases:
If it moves, tax it;
If it keeps moving, regulate it...
and if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-Ronald Reagan (1986)

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
-Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!
-P.J. O'Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-Voltaire (1764)

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!
-Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
-Mark Twain (1866 )

Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.
-Unknown

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
-Ronald Reagan

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

The Wisdom of Wizards...

How Government Works...

You can read this as a pure joke, but there's enough truth in it to sting:

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House in
D.C.; one from New Jersey, another from Tennessee and the third, from
Florida. They go with a White House official to examine the fence.

The Florida contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring,
then works some figures with a pencil. 'Well', he says, 'I figure the job
will run about $900; $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit
for me.'

The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says,
'I can do this job for $700; $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100
profit for me.'

The New Jersey contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the
White House official and whispers, '$2,700.'

The official, incredulous, says, 'You didn't even measure like the other
guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?'
The New Jersey contractor whispers back, '$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and
we hire the guy from Tennessee to fix the fence.'

'Done!' replies the government official.

And that, is how it all works!

The New Jersey contractor in the joke is exactly what a real New Jersey contractor would be like!

Tip of the hat to Jim M. for sending this along.

And speaking of New Jersey…for the past couple of days I've been enjoying New Jersey tomatoes, courtesy of my parents. I think they send me these boxes of tomatoes so that I'll have something good to say about the place. I've been eating them in one of my favorite dishes: garbanzos, tomatoes, raw sweet corn, a little summer savory, and a teaspoon or two of mayonaisse. Yum!

We Are All Georgians...

John McCain has a commentary piece in today's WSJ titled We Are All Georgians. Here's the conclusion:

The world has learned at great cost the price of allowing aggression against free nations to go unchecked. A cease-fire that holds is a vital first step, but only one. With our allies, we now must stand in united purpose to persuade the Russian government to end violence permanently and withdraw its troops from Georgia. International monitors must gain immediate access to war-torn areas in order to avert an even greater humanitarian disaster, and we should ensure that emergency aid lifted by air and sea is delivered.

We should work toward the establishment of an independent, international peacekeeping force in the separatist regions, and stand ready to help our Georgian partners put their country back together. This will entail reviewing anew our relations with both Georgia and Russia. As the NATO secretary general has said, Georgia remains in line for alliance membership, and I hope NATO will move ahead with a membership track for both Georgia and Ukraine.

At the same time, we must make clear to Russia's leaders that the benefits they enjoy from being part of the civilized world require their respect for the values, stability and peace of that world. The U.S. has cancelled a planned joint military exercise with Russia, an important step in this direction.

The Georgian people have suffered before, and they suffer today. We must help them through this tragedy, and they should know that the thoughts, prayers and support of the American people are with them. This small democracy, far away from our shores, is an inspiration to all those who cherish our deepest ideals. As I told President Saakashvili on the day the cease-fire was declared, today we are all Georgians. We mustn't forget it.

The piece is interesting on its face (RTWT), but perhaps even more so for the leadership it demonstrates – in stark contrast with Obama sounding like a Putin lackey and Bush (until yesterday, at least) emulating a doormat. There's plenty I don't like about McCain, but on national security issues he really does stand out from Obama.

What a mess the situation in Georgia is. The news this morning is full of stories of Russia's many violations of the “ceasefire” they have so publicly agreed to. Putin's calculated maneuver's are frighteningly reminiscent of Hitler's first testings of Europe's will. But at least there's no Chamberlain at large on the world's stage...

EPA Eviscerated?

This morning I received this email from Kristin Johnson at the National Wildlife Foundation:

Dear Friend of Wildlife,

According to leaked documents obtained by the National Wildlife Federation, the Bush Administration is planning to rollback protections for America's imperiled wildlife by re-writing the regulations of the Endangered Species Act.

If adopted, these changes would seriously weaken the safety net of habitat protections that we have relied upon to protect and recover endangered fish, wildlife and plants for the past 35 years.

We need your help to make sure this attack on the Endangered Species Act is met with a huge public outcry!

"Do not be fooled when the Administration claims it is merely tweaking the law," said NWF's John Kostyack, Executive Director of Wildlife Conservation and Global Warming.

"The cumulative impact of these changes equals a full blown attack on America's premier conservation law. We owe it to future generations to stop this attack and continue our legacy of protecting wildlife on the brink of extinction."

Please email Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and make sure he knows that the American people will not stand for any attempts to weaken the Endangered Species Act.

And please forward this email to any friend or family member who might speak up for wildlife too!

Thank you so much,
Kristin Johnson
Grassroots Mobilization Coordinator
National Wildlife Federation

Here's the AP's report on the reason for the preceding email:

The new regulations follow a pattern by the Bush administration not to seek input from its scientists. The regulations were drafted by attorneys at both the Interior and Commerce Departments. Scientists with both agencies were first briefed on the proposal last week during a conference call, according to an official who asked not to be identified.

Last month, in similar fashion, the Environmental Protection Agency surprised its scientific experts when it decided it did not want to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

The rule changes unveiled Monday would apply to any project a federal agency would fund, build or authorize that the agency itself determines is unlikely to harm endangered wildlife and their habitat. Government wildlife experts currently participate in tens of thousands of such reviews each year.

The revisions also would limit which effects can be considered harmful and set a 60-day deadline for wildlife experts to evaluate a project when they are asked to become involved. If no decision is made within 60 days, the project can move ahead.

"If adopted, these changes would seriously weaken the safety net of habitat protections that we have relied upon to protect and recover endangered fish, wildlife and plants for the past 35 years," said John Kostyack, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation's Wildlife Conservation and Global Warming initiative.

Under current law, federal agencies must consult with experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service to determine whether a project is likely to jeopardize any endangered species or to damage habitat, even if no harm seems likely. This initial review usually results in accommodations that better protect the 1,353 animals and plants in the U.S. listed as threatened or endangered and determines whether a more formal analysis is warranted.

The EPA is beloved by radical environmentalists and many scientists because it has real teeth – exactly the kind of teeth that I and many others object to: the EPA permits (nay, mandates) the government to stop any use of private property that it deems is dangerous to endangered wildlife. The property owner is not compensated at all – his property (or the use of it) is simply taken from him. I object to this kind of government power on principle, no matter how worthy the cause. For this reason, I would like to see the EPA removed from law, or modified to include fair market value compensation for the affected property owners.

The EPA has another problem, and this is the one that the Bush administration is addressing: the government scientists currently charged with making the EPA reviews are themselves predominantly radical environmentalists. The inmates are in charge of the asylum. The decisions coming out of the EPA reviews have been tainted time and time again by deceptive “science” and even outright fraud (for example, the completely manufactured data that underlaid many of the decisions about spotted owl habitat, now freely admitted by the government scientists involved). Bush's proposed actions would take the review power away from that group and hand it to many other groups of bureaucrats. I suppose that may be a good idea, but I'm having trouble getting excited about the notion – I'd much rather see the underlying problems with the EPA addressed.

It's interesting to observe how organized science is subject to the same forces that affect the rest of humanity. Different branches of science get their funding in different ways, and this means that their incentives derive from different sources. The resulting behaviors are then (surprise!) much different. For example, materials scientists are mainly funded by companies or governmental organizations who are interested in specific results. An aircraft company might want a lighter window material; an electronics company purer silicon; an oil company cheaper refinery processes. Those scientists who can consistently produce more useful materials are rewarded – and guess what? We get more materials scientists who develop the miraculous materials we now use every day. How do environmental biologists get funded? The rock stars of that world are those who have succeeded in “proving” that species are endangered – even if in order to do that the scientist had to invent a new species (think of the Florida Panther) or invent his data (like the spotted owl) or selectively ignore populations (wolves are scare in the U.S., but common in Canada). We have a culture that encourages environmental biologists to “discover” endangered species, and to support protection for them whatever the cost to humans. Some balance would be very welcome here.

I could get very excited about a piece of government that combined compensated takings (along the lines of eminent domain before Kelo), science review (with emphasis on ecological impact rather than species impact), and economic review (to allow judgments about where mitigation dollars might best be spent). Then we Americans could collectively decide how important we thought this effort was, as measured directly by how much of our hard-earned treasure we're willing to spend on it.

But this is not what we have. Instead, we have uncompensated takings, highly biased “science”, and no consideration of the economics at all. We can hardly be surprised at the result. I'm not optimistic about any near-term reform, as this is not an issue that voters (a) understand, or (b) passionately care about in any interesting numbers...

Cassini Lives!

Great news – Cassini survived the Enceladus fly-by, and is currently transmitting data gathered during the fly-by to Earth. The science team, as you might guess, is jubilant. No pictures posted yet.

I'm looking forward to some great photos!

Weekend Activities...

I spent this weekend engaged in three very different activities: programming, gardening, and our ongoing war against ants. Somehow these three things blended and meshed in a way that was quite...comfortable.

At my job recently I've been working on making our SNMP-based discovery more efficient and much smarter. This weekend I implemented a kind of filtering that can reduce the amount of data we gather, transmit, and process by a factor of hundreds. The idea is simple: only gather the stuff we actually need. Implementing it was considerably more challenging, as it required making our “probe” (the piece of software that actually does the SNMP querying) much smarter than it has ever been before. I got it all working, and tested at home – a very satisfying accomplishment...

On Saturday afternoon, Debbie gave me a ride down to Rancho Jamul Auto Care to pick up my truck (we'd left it there Friday afternoon for routine maintenance). Dave took my $48 (about a fifth of what Toyota of El Cajon charges for the same maintenance) and returned my truck in tip-top shape. Then Debbie and I stopped at Simpson's nursery and picked up some supplies, a couple small pots of blue fescue (very decorative in pots on our patio) – and a couple five-gallon potted Cape Honeysuckles. We were looking for some handsome plants, something on the order of five feet tall and about the same width, to place in pots along our home's north-facing wall bordering our patio. We looked in the tree section in vain, and were about to give up when we spotted these Cape Honeysuckles growing in pots right by the trunk of an enormous old pepper tree (and therefore mostly shaded). These things had obviously been there a while, as they had huge roots growing out of the pots into the sandy soil beneath. They were very reasonably priced, so we bought two of them. I covered the exposed roots with wet newspaper and headed home with four-way flashers going, never going more than 25 MPH...

On Sunday morning, bright and early, Debbie and I went to work on the patio. It was already looking very nice, but now it is working on fabulous! First we potted our new Cape Honeysuckles, replacing one dead and one ailing lilac. We trimmed them up, wove a few of the branches into different directions, and voila! – two beautiful (and big!) additions to the patio. Then we went a little crazy, repotting somethings in bigger pots, raising a lot of pots up on log segments (these look really nice, adding some needed three-dimensionality to the plantings), rearranged a lot of things, added soil and mulch to many of the plants, and fertilized some of the wan-looking plants. When we were finished, I could hardly move – I pulled and stretched and over-extended just about every muscle and tendon in my body. But oh, what a nice-looking result! I'll post some pictures during the week...

Finally, the ongoing ant wars. Last weekend I sealed up all the places I could find where ants were sneaking into the kitchen and livingroom. I used nearly an entire tube of silicone caulking, and it was very effective. However, in the kitchen we were still finding ants somehow getting in. We tracked them down to the area of the dishwasher – somewhere behind there they were getting in. So Sunday afternoon I pulled the dishwasher out, and discovered several cracks between the countertop and the cabinets that the ants were using. I also spotted a crude hole in the wallboard, through which the electrical cable for the dishwasher was protruding. A few more cubic inches of silicone, and the ants will use this no more! This morning we found just a few ants in the kitchen, and Debbie spotted their entry point: a teensy little crack in the frame of our bay window. We're taking that as in indication of antly desperation – and I will pop a little silicone on that tonight.

Just another weekend in Jamul!

Cassini's Calculatedly Risky Move...

The Cassini mission to Saturn has been spectacularly successful – thanks to its work, mankind has gained more understanding of Saturn and its moons in the past few years than in all of previous human history. It's been – and continues to be – a great example of the effective scientific work that NASA and its associated teams can do when they aren't distracted (and de-funded) by the relatively useless manned space “exploration” projects such as the International Space Station (ISS).

Cassini finished its prime mission this past June, but its mission has been extended because the spacecraft is still functioning at 100%, and still has fuel. The project team has done a fantastic job of navigating Cassini through the Saturnian system, making dozens of passes by satellites and to interesting perspectives (especially of Saturn's rings). With all the mission's initial objectives behind them, the team can now consider some riskier moves – and that's exactly what they're doing.

The photo above shows one of the most intriguing of Cassini's many discoveries: the “jets” on the Saturnian moon Enceladus – you can see the backlit vapor shooting out roughly roughly the 8 o'clock position. On previous passes by Enceladus (some of them quite close), scientists have learned a great deal about these jets. They appear to emanate from deep cracks in the surface of the moon, and they are primarily comprised of tiny particles of water ice. Now the Cassini team is preparing to make the closest – and riskiest – pass yet: on Monday, August 11th, Cassini will pass a mere 30 miles (50 km) above Enceladus' surface, right through the jets. The main objective for this pass is imagery: all of Cassini's imaging systems will be used to get more information about those deep cracks – hopefully peering down right inside one of them.

On this NASA blog there's a marvelous little video (scroll down toward the bottom) that shows the amazingly complex dance that Cassini will do as it approaches, passes, and flys away from Enceladus. You can see the many maneuvers the spacecraft will be making during this pass, to aim various instruments at the desired targets. All of this will be done autonomously by Cassini – it will all happen so quickly that Cassini will be past and far away from Enceladus by the time the first data arrives back at Earth.

There is lots more good information available at the main Cassini site and on this NASA blog where some Cassini team members are writing about this pass.

Service-now.com On YouTube!

I work for Service-now.com, primarily developing software that does “discovery” – finding out about the existence of any sort of equipment plugged into the network, and then finds out all about it. This software will discover workstations, servers, routers, switches, printers and just about any other kind of device you can imagine.

We're a small company – less than 100 employees worldwide – but we're making a big impact in our world of IT management. One of the ways we're reaching out to prospective customers is in the “new media”, such as YouTube. Here's one of our first YouTube offerings:


YouTube is owned by Google – and Google's technologies are one of the sources of inspiration for our software.

I can't help but think back to the days when I was involved in starting up a company. For example, back in the early '80s, a partner and I founded a company to sell practice management software to optometrists. In those days before YouTube, web sites, or even email, it was very expensive to simply get a message in front of our prospects. Primarily we used direct mail and trade shows. What a difference today's technologies make!

Quote of the Day...

As you may know, not long ago a couple hundred thousand Berliners made a lot of noise for my opponent. I'll take the roar of 50,000 Harleys any day.

John McCain, speaking at a campaign rally today.

RIP, Aleksander Solzhenitsyn...

Aleksander Solzhenitsyn's writings – especially The Gulag Archipelago – played a large part in my personal political awakening. Until reading his books in the early '70s, I hadn't really spent much time thinking about political structures and governments. Solzhenitzyn's works brought home the evils of Soviet-style Communism in particular, and liberalism in general, in a manner that I found very persuasive. I re-read The Gulag Archipelago just a few years ago, and found it just as shocking now as it was then.

RIP, Aleksander. The world is a better place for your years here...

Beware Charismatic Politicians...

The indispensable Snopes has verified that this was published as a letter to the editor in the Richmond, Virginia Times-Dispatch, on July 7, 2008:

Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach 'Change'

Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate my independence day and on July 4 I celebrate America's. This year is special, because it marks the 40th anniversary of my independence.

On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba and a few months later I was in the United States to stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress.

I've thought a lot about the anniversary this year. The election-year rhetoric has made me think a lot about Cuba and what transpired there. In the late 1950s, most Cubans thought Cuba needed a change, and they were right. So when a young leader came along, every Cuban was at least receptive.

When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said "Praise the Lord." And when the young leader said, "I will be for change and I'll bring you change," everyone yelled, "Viva Fidel!"

But nobody asked about the change, so by the time the executioner's guns went silent the people's guns had been taken away. By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education it was worth nothing. By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him. By the time the change was finally implemented Cuba had been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status. By the time the change was over more than a million people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes. You can call those who made it ashore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. And now I'm back to the beginning of my story.

Luckily, we would never fall in America for a young leader who promised change without asking, what change? How will you carry it out? What will it cost America?

Would we?

Manuel Alvarez Jr.
Sandy Hook

Snopes goes on to cite some ways in which Fidel Castro's rise to power didn't resemble Barack Obama's march. But there's enough truth in Mr. Alvarez's observations to give one pause. I'll also add that part of the “game” of politics is candidates without any particular ideology other than to win – and Obama, with all his flip-flopping, certainly seems to be a member of that species of political animal. His positions seem to depend entirely on the latest poll, and not at all on his core ideology (which I suspect he has not a whit of). McCain, on the other hand, seems to be something like a 80/20 mix of ideology and bending in the wind...

Wealth of Nations...

Megan McArdle posted the map at right (along with two other related and equally interesting maps) a couple days ago. Her post is mainly concerned with the indisputable fact that the wealthiest countries are all either part of the English-speaking world (the “Anglosphere”) or are near them.

First a word about this map (which you can click to enlarge): the darker the shade on the map, the more GDP per capita. The latter is a simple calculation: take the total value of all goods and services produced in a country (the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP) and divide it by the number of people who live in that country. The scale is not linear – look carefully at the numbers on the legend.

Something else jumped out at me from this map: many of the “high-tension” parts of the world are around places where there are large disparities in GDP per capita: U.S. and Mexico, Israel and its neighbors, Europe and the Balkans, Nepal and China, etc. Is all conflict essentially economic? Or is economic disparity a prerequisite for violent conflict? Or is it just coincidence?

Solar Power Breakthrough?

Just a couple of days ago, MIT released a rather breathlessly worded press release proclaiming a new breakthrough technology their scientists had discovered – promising cheap, efficient solar power for everyone within 10 years. It's as bad a distortion of the scientists' accomplishments as you might see from a technology company self-adoring their latest product.

The MIT press release is very misleading – the new technology actually has nothing whatsoever to do with solar power, though it could certainly be used in solar power systems. And the new technology isn't ready to go to market; it's only been shown in a lab, and the vast majority of such “lab-ware” fails somewhere along the line between the lab and production. Nonetheless, there are some good reasons to be optimistic about this particular technology – from the descriptions released it seems quite simple and inherently cheap. But I wouldn't place any bets on it quite yet – many risks loom between here and your Solapower 2G5 on the shelves at Walmart…

What does their new technology actually do? Well, at the simplest level it provides an easy and efficient way to split ordinary water into hydrogen and oxygen gas (remember H2O – two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom in every water molecule). Once you have separate supplies of hydrogen and oxygen gas, you can recombine them into water, generating electricity in the process. With a system including the new water-splitter, some tanks, and a fuel cell (along with a few technical details I'm ignoring), you can put electricity into it now, and take electricity out of it later. That's the same thing a battery does – but this system is far more scalable (meaning that it can store much more power) and potentially far less expensive. Not to mention that it should be much more reliable.

So what does that have to do with solar power? Well, the dirty little secret of the solar power industry is that they have no reasonable way to power your house at night. Actually, it's far worse than that: even in the land of the sun where I live (Southern California), on a summer day we'd only get 8 - 10 hours of power, and only 6 - 8 in the winter. You can add batteries to your system, and more solar panels, to get 24x7 power – but only at huge costs, both initially and ongoing, as batteries only last 3 - 5 years.

Just last summer I calculated what it would cost for me to take my home completely off the electrical grid, relying only on solar power. The answer: approximately $220,000 initial investment, and about $35,000 per year in battery replacement costs. Of that cost, only $42,000 was the solar panels themselves (and their associated cleaning and pointing systems).

MIT's new technology has the potential to reduce that storage problem to something much more manageable. It seems at least possible that a storage system based on this new technology, large enough to power my home for a few days, might be built for $10,000 to $20,000 in the not-too-distant future. In that sense, this technology is indeed a potential breakthrough for practicable solar power.

It's also useful for a myriad of other purposes, including large-scale commercial power storage to smooth out power demands – something that we have no practicable way to do today. In the area where I live, daytime demand for power (because of air conditioning) can be over 50% higher than nighttime demand. Right now, with no storage capability, we have to have power plants capable of supplying the peak power demand. If you added large scale power storage to the grid, then excess power generated at night (when demand is low) can be stored for use the next day (when demand is high). The net result is that a given set of power plants can handle higher peak power loads.

There's a decent technical description at Popular Mechanics.

Quake!

I'm sure you've heard the news about the earthquake near Los Angeles yesterday – a 5.4 temblor (the big blue square on the map at right). This is a sort of medium-sized earthquake, but the most powerful one we've had since the Northridge quake in the early '90s.

At the time it struck, I was working in my company's offices in Solana Beach, in the building the employees affectionately call the “wooden spaceship” (for its slight resemblence to the disk of Star Trek's Starship Enterprise). From our perspective there were two phases: first a kind of exaggerated rumbling that many of us thought was caused by heavy footsteps, followed in a few seconds by distinct transverse waves (side-to-side motion) large enough to move the building an inch or two. Wooden buildings have a bit of “give” to them, so they move a little more than a steel or concrete building of the same size would. Nobody panicked, or was even truly frightened, but everybody was on alert to see if the quake would get any worse...

We had no damage of any kind in our building, but at that moment we had no idea where the quake's epicenter was. Several of us are very familiar with the USGS earthquake web site for California and Nevada (the source for the picture above). Moments after the shock wave hit us, several people had this site up on their screens. Within a minute or two of the shock hitting us, the initial reports for the quake came in, and the site showed the location and preliminary intensity – quite impressive. Not so many years ago, we'd have had to wait days to get this information, and it wouldn't have been nearly as accurate. For me personally, the news was very comforting: the quake's epicenter was far away from my home. I found out later that Debbie (who was within a few miles of our house when the quake hit) never felt a thing...

Short Takes...

Good for some chuckles and ponders... Sent along by Simon M.:

• Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

• One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor...

• Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

• If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?

• The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.

• I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

• What if there were no hypothetical questions?

• If a deaf person swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?

• Why do they put braille on the drive-through bank machines?

• If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?

• Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?

• If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?

• Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?

• Would a fly without wings be called a walk?

• If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?

• What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?

• Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all"?

• Is there another word for synonym?

• If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?

• Lenin's tomb is a communist plot.

• If you don't pay your exorcist will you be repossessed?

• Can an atheist get insurance against acts of god?

• If you spin an oriental man in a circle three times, does he become disoriented?

• Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?

• Why is it called tourist season if we can't shoot at them?

• Why are hemorrhoids called "hemorrhoids" instead of "assteroids"?

• Whose cruel idea was it for the word "lisp" to have an "s" in it?

• If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

• If you ate both pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?

• If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest drown too?

• How is it possible to have a "civil" war?

• Does the little mermaid wear an algebra?

• One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people.

• What was the best thing before sliced bread?

• How do they get deer to cross the road only at those yellow road signs?

Professional Bull Riders Are Insane...

Last night, I proved this beyond any reasonable doubt. Debbie (my wife) and I traveled to a distant place – the Del Mar race track – to watch a Professional Bull Riders (PBR) competition. After watching forty or fifty of these men attempt to ride a pissed-off bull for eight seconds, I feel completely qualified to render judgment upon their sanity. Conclusion: they have none.

The goal of these bull riders (as best I understand it) is simply to stay on the bull for eight seconds without violating any of the rules. The riders are not allowed to slap the bull with their free hand, and I think there are some other rules as well. They are just sitting on the bull's back, holding onto a rope tied around the bull's chest, just behind its front legs. There's also another rope tied around the bull's body, just in front of its rear legs – I think that rope is there to piss the bull off (that's not hard to do!), encouraging it to spin and buck. If they qualify (by staying on for eight seconds), the riders get up to 50 points for the quality and style of their riding, and up to an additional 50 points for the challenge presented by the bull.

Above right you see the most common outcome: the bull wins, pitching the would-be rider off into the dirt.

The evening started with some patriotic words, a skydiver landing in the ring with a giant American flag streaming behind him, and the singing of our national anthem. There was a lot more patriotic fervor in that stadium than you normally see in people on the street – I suspect this sort of event is most frequently attended by those people who tend to be fervent patriots. It was heart-warming to see this. George Bush and John McCain would have been right at home here; Barack Obama, I'm sure, would have been very uncomfortable...

First we saw the flag, then as the skydiver got closer we could see him as well (and you can see his feet in the photo at right). It was a perfectly still night – great conditions for a stunt like this – and the skydiver was very skilled. He landed smack in the middle of the ring, flag trailing behind him.

As he landed (see photo at left), other people on the field came running to grab the flag before it hit the ground. Seconds after he landed, there were about 15 people surrounding the big flag, stretching it out horizontally at waist height while the national anthem was sung. Then they rolled it up carefully and took it off the field.

I'm sure some people would think this overt display of patriotism rather corny – but I liked it; it reminded me of earlier days when most people thought overt patriotism was normal, and admirable…

My lovely bride naturally had to get properly outfitted before we left for the show. I perched her on my truck's tailgate for this photo (at right) – Debbie in her natural element!

When we first arrived at the race track, Debbie was drawn (of course!) to the vendor's booths. Various sorts of items were for sale, things that either were really directly related to bull riding, or which some folks might imagine are. Debbie went straight to the PBR booth; she wanted some official PBR T-shirts.

But the booth operator could only take cash, so we had to go to a portable ATM and withdraw some money. There was a short line there, and immediately in front of us was someone that Debbie recognized immediately: a bull rider named Tony Mendes (see photo at left). We had a silly, brief conversation with him about the probability of the ATM running out of cash, and then a bit about him riding in the competition. At the end of the night, Tony was the winner!

A little later, when we were sitting in the stands waiting for the show to begin, we could see the bull riders off to our left, getting ready for the show. At one point Debbie got quite excited: one of the bull riders took off his shirt briefly, before donning another one. Debbie made me take this photo, which is allegedly for her girlfriend Marsha. I know better!

A woman sitting to our left was even more enthralled with the shirtless bull rider than Debbie was. She was still talking about it when we left...

The actual bull riding events surprised me in one regard: they pay a lot of attention to safety. If you watch them carefully, you can see that there are eight or ten men, each with a particular job, all watching to make sure the bull rider has the best possible chance of emerging from his trial uninjured. There are mounted cowboys with ropes, ready to snag the bull and wrestle him away from the rider. There are people whose entire job is to distract the bull, by throwing hats, waving their arms, and so on. There are three men tending the gate – one to pull it open with a rope, one that acts as a lookout, and one that makes sure the rider isn't crushed between the bull and the gate. Quite elaborate, and, so far as I can tell, quite effective.

During one of the breaks in the bull riding, there was another little piece of entertainment that was, if anything, even crazier than the bull riding! This is something they called “cowboy poker” – wherein four bull riders go sit at a small table in the middle of the ring and pretend they're playing poker. While they're sitting there, an enraged bull is turned loose in the ring. Within a few seconds, the bull is attacking the poker players, with obvious intent to kill.

The objective of this “game” is to be the last man sitting. There was a $500 prize for the winner. You'd have to offer me a lot more than $500 for that to tempt me!

The guy on the ground was uninjured, despite appearances. The table and chairs were completely destroyed. The safety men had quite a time trying to round that bull up and get him off the ring.

I mentioned earlier that Tony Mendes was the champion for the night. He rode twice, qualified both times, and had the highest total score of all the riders. In fact, he was the only bull rider who qualified on both rides. Here he's taking a victory lap around the ring, riding in the saddle but without using the stirrups...

And finally, I'll leave you with a collection of photos capturing the moment that a bull won the contest. Ouch!

Heart-Stopping Geek Experience...

Recently I purchased a Mac “Mini” for my wife. In general I am very pleased with this purchase – the price was right ($800), it reuses components from her old Windows PC (screen, audio, keyboard, and mouse), and it was easier to move her data from her old Windows box to her new Mac Mini than it would have been to migrate to a new Windows computer. And then, of course, she's got OS/X (Leopard) – sleek, beautiful, and zippy – instead of some monstrosity of a Microsoft operating system. Best of all, Debbie (who previously expressed nothing but hatred for her computer) actually likes her new Mac Mini!

But early this morning, as I was attempting to enable file sharing on her new Mac Mini, with a single erroneous click I managed to (temporarily) completely kill it. The steps I took were these: in System Preferences I went to Sharing and added her Mac Mini's hard disk as a shared folder. That worked. Then I noticed that Administrators were granted read only access, and I wanted to limit access to my account – so I removed Administrators from those granted access. Sounds innocent enough, doesn't it?

Any Mac-heads reading this are probably laughing at my expense right now. What I know now, but didn't know then, is that enabling and disabling access to shared folders operates directly on the file system permissions for that folder. Since the “folder” in this case was the entire disk drive, what I did was to remove access permissions for all Administrators from that disk. And Debbie's account is in the Administrator's group. Oops. Suddenly her account had no access to the disk. Nothing worked. I rebooted the system, and all I got was an unadorned dark blue screen with a mouse pointer. I could do nothing whatsoever.

Of course, I figured all this out only later. At the moment it occurred, I didn't have the faintest idea what I'd done. And truth be told, it is kind of dumb for Apple to allow the Sharing settings to affect basic operations that have nothing to do with sharing...

So I started troubleshooting in the usual way. I Googled for information, and very quickly found out about booting from the installation CD and using Disk Utility to repair permissions on the disk. Whew! Sounded easy! So I grabbed the CD, inserted it, restarted the computer, held down the “C” key to force it to boot from the CD, and started it back up.

Nothing. Just the evil blue screen again.

Back to Google, where I discovered that it's common for wireless keyboards (which I was using) to be unable to use the pre-boot key combinations that allow OS/X to boot into troubleshooting, repair, and installation modes. Well, that's fine – I've got several wired keyboards lying about. So I went grubbing for one with a USB connector and dang it, I didn't even have one! All my wired keyboards use the old-fashioned PS2 connector. I really had no choice – I drove 20 miles into town to go buy a new keyboard. At 7:30 in the morning on Sunday, there isn't much choice about where to go. First I tried Target, but all they had was wireless keyboards. Next I drove another 10 miles to Wally-World (Wal-Mart), and they had several to choose from – all much fancier than I actually needed, so I just picked up the cheapest one they had and hurried home...

When I got home, I plugged in the new keyboard and rebooted, holding down the “C” key, and voila! – it booted from the CD. I was saved!

Well, not quite so fast. First I ran Disk Utility, and used it to first repair the disk drive, then to repair permissions. Both of those completed successfully, pronouncing the disk to be in fine fettle. So I rebooted with the hard disk, and … nothing but the blue screen of horribleness...

Back to Google, where after a frustrating marathon session of searching I found nothing but an obscure reference to permissions on mounted volumes. This gave me the clue that finally saved the day. It turns out that for the purposes of sharing, finder, and some other things, mounted disk volumes are exposed to the file system in the /Volumes directory. When I looked in there, I found this:

/Volumes/Macintosh HD

and that object turned out to have no read or execute permissions for the group. This is the sort of thing only someone familiar with Unix command line operation would be comfortable fixing. Just FYI, here's what did the trick:

chmod go+rx /Volumes/Macintosh HD

Just that little magic incantation, and my wife's Mac Mini came back to life.

Whew!

One little side note… If I had failed in my efforts to fix it myself, I'd have been forced to take the busted-ass Mac Mini into the local Apple store. There, I'd have had to sidle up to the “Genius Bar” to have one of the Apple “Geniuses” (generally pimply kids with baggy, falling down trousers and metal studs and rings penetrating various parts of their bodies). The humiliation of this possibility was a far better motivator for me than the thought of the Wrath of Debbie (my wife). It would be like a Toyota engineer being unable to figure out how to change his car's spark plugs, so he pays the neighbor's 14 year old daughter to do it for him. Oh, the humiliation!

I'm so glad I avoided that!

10 Worst Insurance Companies?

The American Association for Justice (formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association) has published a list of the 10 worst insurance companies (in terms of customer abuse). Given the source, this needs to be taken with a big grain of salt. But still, it makes one nervous to see one's insurance company near the top of this particular list...