Ron Down Under

The US Electorial College - Explained for Dummies

2007-04-07T13:11:00.000+08:00

Here in Australia, and I suspect all over Europe too, they don't understand the US system of presidential elections. They don't understand how someone who doesn't win the popular vote can win the presidency. They think that it is some sort of evil mechanism designed to disenfranchise minorities and and to thwart the will of the people.

Since the overseas media tends to hate George Bush, they are told that they too must hate Bush. Thus, they can't imagine anyone in the US voting for Bush. Thus, the fact that he won the 2000 and 2004 elections, must mean that the election was rigged. The fault, therefore, must be this mysterious "Electoral College.

Today I read a column in Newsweek by George F. Will that does an excellent job of explaining exactly what the benefit of our system is. He explains how the system is designed to prevent the tyranny of the majority. It is designed to bust up power blocks in order to represent all Americans.

It has been my observation that many people in the world think a democracy is a system of government where everyone gets to vote for their leaders. Once the votes are counted and winners installed in office, then democracy will be achieved and everything will be great.

But they are wrong. That is only the start. This power must be counterbalanced by a respect for the rights and the opinions of the minority. There must be limits on the power granted. Otherwise, such a democracy is simply a tyranny of the majority.

The founding fathers of the US recognized this. That is why they added the Bill of Rights to the constitution. They drew "Do not cross!!!" lines around the the government precisely to prevent this trampling of minority beliefs. The electoral college is another system they implement to prevent the excessive accumulation of power.

Years ago, that late 80's I think, I watched a TV series on PBS that analyzed democratic countries around the world. One episode looked at Ireland. It demonstrated that a flaw in their implementation of democracy was a large contributer to the problems in Northern Ireland. The Protestant citizens of Northern Ireland simple do not want to become a powerless minority within greater Ireland. They felt that the Irish government could not protect them, and would instead subject them to the rules of the majority.

Their fears were well founded. The Catholic church held great influence over Irish law, such making abortions and birth control illegal in Ireland. The Irish government, rather than restricting itself to matters that all Irish could agree on, allowed a majority opinion to intrude on beliefs of a minority.

Any nation that systematically tramples the deeply held beliefs of the minority simply because it conflicts with the majority will find themselves in a civil war. The solution is to respect rights, and to not allow one part of the nation to tell another part how to live their lives.

This exact problem is wrecking Iraq now. The Iraqis expect that a democratically elected Iraqi government will simply implement the will of the majority at the expense of the minority. Those in power will use their votes to encode their religious beliefs as law. For example, right after their elections, some of their elected leaders where trying to implement into the constitution a rules that gives daughters only half the inheritance of their brothers, which is the practice within their faith.

That example demonstrates how the elected majority is overstepping their bounds and intruding into matters they should not. They do not consider that others may not wish to have this as a law, or that they have no business even putting such matters into the constitution. Hence, their current bloody civil war is the result.

Feb 2009 - TV is going dark

2007-03-25T15:55:00.000+08:00

For those back in the US who don't know by now, on 17-Feb-2009, less than two years from now, over-the-air analog TV in the US is going dark. That means that your old TV's and VCR's will no longer have a TV signal to pickup.

What is Digital TV?
All over-the-air TV broadcasts after that date will be exclusively digital. The larger broadcasters have already invested in the digital transmission equipment and are already broadcasting in digital. Not only are they broadcasting the same programming that is being sent over the classic analog transmission, they are broadcasting extra channels on the digital side. Often they broadcast a high-def (HDTV) version of the same content, and in some cities, entire new channels with different content.

The smaller broadcasters, especially the UHF stations, are still broadcasting analog. They don't have the money to switch. So they are either going to close. Or they will require a grant from the government to switch. As of today, the future of these stations is still not resolved.

Does This Mean I'm Hosed?
Now this doesn't mean that your old TV's and VCR's are not going to work any more. It simply means that the receiver built inside will not find any content from an aerial antenna. You can still feed your TV and VCR content from other sources. Most people in the US no longer get their content from an Over-The-Air antenna anyhow. They get it from cable or satellite TV. So for those people, they won't even notice.

Digital Converter Boxes:
For those left, you can either replace your TV with a newer model that have a digital receiver built in. Or you can get an external digital-to-analog receiver. That is a little box that will take a digital signal and convert to a analog signal that is feed into the TV's antenna input port.

The problem with converter is that they usually only convert one channel at a time. And you have to tell the converter what digital channel you want to watch. That means you have to change channels on the converted box instead of the TV. Most converter boxes also have volume control. So at least you can control both the channel and volume from the same remote control.

In the US, the NTIA will be proving two $40 coupons per household for converter boxes. Read about it here. This program will start in 2008. So you have all of 2008 to get over to digital before the old system goes dark in 2009.

I already have a converter box that I bought at Radio Shack (Tandy here in Australia) that I use for my old analog TV at home. It was their cheapest model, costing me around $80 AUD, which is around $60 USD. It works great. I get all the channels crystal clear, plus two extra digital only channels, plus some nice digital music channels. All are free.

I predict that the $40 coupons will cover 100% of the costs of the low-end model boxes that will be sold in the US in 2008. Considering that they cost almost that now, $40 will be the magic number the retailers will shoot for.

Even if you don't need a converted box because you only watch cable TV, I would recommend that you still go ahead and get the coupon and get a converter box for your old TV. Even of you don't use it, you will still need it should you sell the TV, or decide to cut off your cable. Also, if your cable gets cut off, then at least you can get some programming.

Aren't My Taxes Buying The Boxes?
Yes and no. Your taxes are buying the boxes initially. But once the old analog TV frequencies are shut off, then the FCC can auction them off to other wireless companies after March 2009. The income from the new leases on those frequencies will more than pay for all the boxes sold.

Your Old VCR:
If you have an analog VCR, then things get complicated. You can't watch one channel while recording a second. You can't program the VCR to record from different channels at different times. What you have to do is stick a converter between your antenna and the VCR. Then you have to program the converter to tune the desired station at the desired time. You have to synchronize the two devices.

Personally I don't think it would be worth investing in a converter for a VCR. It is just too much of a pain in the ass to sync the two to make sure you get your program recorded. It would be cheaper and easier to invest in a digital recorder. Or if you can even find one, a digital VCR.

Do I need an HDTV?
Not at all. DTV means "Digital Television". HDTV means "High Definition Television". All HDTV is digital. But not all digital is HDTV. Make sense?

The "D" stands for definition, not digital. It simply refers to the density of the image that is being displayed. There is Standard Definition Television, often called SDTV. HDTV has more pixels (dots) for the image. It also has a different aspect ratio.

Your old analog TV sets can only display standard definition images. Over the air digital TV will be broadcast as SDTV. It may also be simultaneously broadcast on another channel as HDTV. So you aren't going to miss any content. It only means that you won't get the visually stunning version of it.

F.U.D. Scams
I suspect that in 2008 we are going to see a lot of FUD scams as a result of this switch over. FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. If you don't already know this, FUD is the greatest sales tool ever created in the history of mankind. It is the opposite of greed, and often more effective.

There is already a lot of FUD out there regarding the switch over. In particular, the scammers are going to target the elderly and non-English speakers by confusing them with acronyms and half truths. So it is emparative the we keep an eye on our family and friends to make sure they they do not fall for scam. Inform them that before they buy anything, they talk to you.

Antennas
One thing scammers are already doing is selling people new antennas that they don't need. They will convince someone that their current antennae won't work with digital TV and that they will need to buy a new one and pay to have it installed.

There is a kernel of truth to this. Digital TV, unlike analog TV, is either on or off. You won't get a bad picture. You either get a perfect picture, or non at all. So if get poor analog reception, there is a chance that you won't get a strong enough digital signal to view channels.

But remember that The broadcasters have know about this switchover for a long time. The digital transmitters they have installed and are installing are new. So they have not sunk any money into maintaining their old analog broadcasting equipment. So the digital replacement may actually be better because they have upgraded the location and strength

So your analog reception experience has no bearing on your digital reception experience. You simply need to install your digital receiver and see what you get. You might need to turn your antenna a little to optimize your signal. There are websites dedicated to telling you what the best antenna and direction to use for your home's location. But don't pay for anything until you know for sure that you need it.

High Def Receivers:
The second scam will occur within the stores. The sales people would love to sell you a high-def digital receiver instead of a standard-def receiver. They cost more, often 5X as much. If your TV can't display a high-def picture (the analog one's can't), then spending money on a high-def receiver is a waste of money.

The high def receivers will support standard def. So the salesman won't be lying when they tell you that it will work. It will. But you will be paying for extra capability that you can't do anything with.

If you wait to 2008, and use you $40 coupon, then all you will be able to afford is a basic standard def receiver. That will be more more than enough for your needs. Until you decided to plunk down the money to get a high-def display, then you don't need a high-def source to feed it.

Summary:

Wait until 2008 and get your coupons for every analog TV and VCR you own.
Exchange the coupons for converter boxes. Do not buy anything extra.
Hook the box to your antenna and see what digital stations it finds.
If you can not get any stations, go to the internet and see what antenna recommendations are there for your location.
If you can't figure this out, get your boxes and bribe your local teenage geek to hook it up for you.

Speaking of Teenagers...
I was thinking that this switchover in 2008 would be a perfect merit badge project for boy-scouts and girl-scouts. Anyone who finds themselves overwhelmed by all of this could ask their local troop for on-site assistance. Or perhaps high-school band camps could use ask for donations for helping people.

What was I drinking???

2007-03-25T13:02:00.000+08:00

I went to a birthday party last night. Got pretty buzzed on some good vodka. When I woke up this morning, I found this video sitting in my RSS feed. I watched it thought I was still drunk and experiencing some twisted nightmare. My review in one word: Craptacular!

This is a a clip from an Indian Bollywood movie staring Supermand and Spiderwoman (there was spider woman???). Spiderwoman sounds like her singing is really nothing but stomping on squirrels. The fight scene where they rescue an old woman from nasty muggers is a riot. The choreography is a riot. What moves!

The special effects are hilarious. Notice how they always fly over the same small landscape everytime?

Well enjoy, and be mortified.

Bush Announces Iraq Exit Strategy

2007-03-20T11:07:00.000+09:00

Bush Announces Iraq Exit Strategy: 'We'll Go Through Iran'

I love The Onion. It is up there with The Daily Show for intelligent humor based on current events. This article today just cracked me up. Brilliant!

Restaurant Owner

2007-03-18T15:37:00.000+09:00

The Department of Labour contacts a restaurant owner and claims he was not paying proper wages to his help. They sent an agent out to interview him.

"I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them," demanded the agent.

"Well," replied the owner, "There's my chef who's been with me for 3 years. I pay him $800 a week plus free meals.

The waitress has been here for 18 months, and I pay her $500 per week plus free meals.

Then there's the half-wit who works about 18 hours every day and does about 90% of all the work around here. He makes about $10 per week, pays his own meals, and I buy him a bottle of bourbon every Saturday night."

That's the guy I want to talk to, the half-wit," says the agent.

"That would be me," replied the owner.

Funny stuff

2007-03-16T22:39:00.000+09:00

I saw this product display at a local mobile phone store. Made me laugh.

Aussie SuperAnnuation Taxes

2007-03-16T16:49:00.000+09:00

I read an article in today's paper about the how Australia's Labour Party wants to boost the Superannuation contribution from 9 percent to 15 percent. What made me upset is how they want to find this extra money. They want the workers to boots their contribution from 9% to 12%, the for the government to kick in the remaining 3%.

It blows my mind. Where do these idiots think the government gets its money from? From taxes! They treat government money as a bottomless pit of funding. So basically, they want to boost the already high taxes another 6 percent.

For those who don't know, a superannuation is a mandatory retirement account, similar to an IRA in the US, but worse. Your employer is required to contribute 9% of your pay to this account. So if you earn $50,000 a year, your employer should also pay an additional $4500 to your superannuation account. Then of course you have to pay all your income tax and other taxes.

Here is where superannuation accounts suck compared to IRA's and 401ks in the US. They tax and fee the shit out of so it doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of growing.

Contributions: The government takes 15% of your 9 percent contribution right off the top. Then the account holder helps themselves to contribution fees ranging from 1 to 2 percent. So by the time your money gets invested, a good chuck of it has already disappeared.

In the US, the accounts are not taxed. All of your contribution starts working for you. They are, instead, tax deferred.

Growth: The government takes 15% of all capital gains from your investments every year. They do not offer any tax breaks for capital losses. So basically, your investment has to carry the burden of taxes on its back. That reduces your return on investment enough to make a huge difference over your working lifetime.

In addition, the account holder also gets to help themselves to some more of your money in both annual and monthly fees that vary. Some ding a fixed percentage. Some have a fixed amount. Some are both with caps after your balance gets large. Still, you have to pay them out of your earnings. Another monkey on the back.

In the US, there are no taxes on the earnings. All of your earnings go right back to work earning more money for you. Just like with the contributions, all taxes are deferred.

Distributions: This is when you finally get to take your money out of your retirement account after a lifetime of working. Guess what? After taxing the shit out of your contributions and your earnings, they hit your one more time for another 15%. And some of the fund managers also get to charge and "exit" fee. They get to charge you money for giving you your own money. Nice?

In the US, they tax the distributions too. It can even be higher than 15%. But keep in mind that those tax dollars you are paying at distribution were working for you for all those years. When you do that math, it makes an enormous difference over the average working lifetime.

Insurance Premiums: This is Australia's dirty little secret, and one that boils my blood. Somehow the insurance industry got their fingers into the retirement investment business and convinced the government that it would be a good idea to allow people to pay their life and disability insurance premiums from their superannuation contributions.

This is a terrible idea for so many reasons. First off, some younger people are paying for life insurance they they don't need, and don't even know they have. What happens is that an insurance company will talk a company into "opt-out" insurance coverage for their employees. So unless you tell your employer not to, they will give part of your 9% contribution to an insurance company. In some cases, the premium takes 100% of their money. There is no choice, needs assessment, or anything. So rather than making their money work for their retirement, it is wasted on insurance that they don't need. A 21 year old person with no dependents doesn't need life insurance. What they need is to have every dollar working for their retirement. But it gets wasted on insurance. I suspect that the employer gets a nice kickback from the insurance salesman for this scheme since they have to work together to legally loot their employees pensions.

The most important reason this is a bad idea, even if some one needs insurance, it that it reduces the amount of money working for them. A superannuation is a bet that you will live to retirement. Life insurance is a bet that you won't.

The Problem: The reason for the discussion of boosting the contribution from 9 to 15 percent is because most Australians won't have enough money in their accounts to retire on. But, that is based on current rules.

The Wrong Solution: The knee-jerk solution proposed to this problem from the Labour party is to crank the contribution up to 15%. Can you imagine if 15% of every dollar you earned over your working lifetime was invested for retirement? That would be a huge amount of money, of properly done.

The Right Solution: Labour is so wrong about their idea. The solution is not to pour more money in, but to make the current money harder and more efficient. The most effective way to do this is to simply convert the contribution and growth taxes to deferred taxes. That small change, plus time, thanks to the magic of compounding, will grow far more than pouring 15% into the current system.

The second thing that must be done is to get the insurance companies out of people's retirement accounts. The bottom line is simple. EVERY DOLLAR SET ASIDE FOR RETIREMENT MUST WORK EXCLUSIVELY FOR LONG TERM GROWTH AND NOTHING ELSE.

If the government demands that we must wait until we are 60+ to get to our retirement money, then they can also wait to get their taxes from that money.

The Sad Part: The sad thing is that I do not even see my idea being offered as a solution by any politicians of letters to the papers. It is almost like the concept of deferring taxes is insane. But we do it in the US. They do it in the UK. Why not here?

Amnesty International - how far they have sunk

2007-03-14T14:41:00.000+09:00

I used to have a lot of respect for this organzation. Not any more. They have totally lost the plot. I had always assumed that they spoke for prisoners of conscious, such as Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar. That is people like her who are imprisoned for their thoughts of freedom. Freedom to speak, worship, gather, travel, learn, and other freedoms we take for granted in the west.

But nooooo... They have decided to elevate David Hicks to sainthood status. They have a "Bring David Home" campaign. I see them on the corner with nice childhood pictures of David looking harmless wearing a sweater screaming that Australia owes it to him as an Aussie to come home. Why don't they use this photo of him with an RPG launcher and his fellow terrorist?

David Hicks is in a mess of his own making. For those who don't know, Hicks is a white kid who was caught fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan after 9/11. He has been held in Gitmo Cuba along for 5 years now.

Now Hicks is just a looser with a gun fetish who converted to radical Islam and then left Australia to join Islamic militants in battles through out Asia. He is reported to have fought for Islamic militants in Kashmir and Afghanistan. He is no saint. He is a violet thug who wanted a license to kill and found one in violet jihad. God knows how many people he as killed.

He did not commit these crimes in Australia. So why do so many people think that he deserves Australian justice? He Australian passport does not guarantee that. If you don't want to risk getting caught up in some seriously bad shit, then don't go around shooting people in other countries.

And now he is sitting in a jail cell getting feed 3 square meals a day thanks to the US tax payers. The bottom line is that he was a combatant in a war who has been caught. The war is still going on. He deserves nothing. He is getting far more now from the US that any other government would give him in the places where he ran around killing people.

Yet Amnesty International makes him their poster child. Aren't there people out there being persecuted that are far more deserving of our attention?

West Bank Bozos

2007-03-14T14:12:00.000+09:00

NPR Radio had this story on their "All Things Considered" podcast about the latest group of people are moving into new houses in the Israel occupied West Bank. It just pissed me off to no end.

The article, which you can read, talks about the ultra-orthodox Jewish families that are moving in mass into the area because it offers inexpensive housing. I don't have any issue with their faith. I don't have any issue with people deciding where they want to live.

What pisses me off are two things. First, these people move there and then expect the Israeli taxpayers to protect the and provide them with services. Second, the fact that the government lets them get away with it.

It is with morbid fascination the I read that these men who head these household neither work, or serve in the military. The consider the tasks to be distractions from their most important duty, which it is to sit around and study the Torah.

Again, that is fine. If that is what you want to do with you life, then find a way to do it. But to expect others to pay for your food, educate your children, provide you with food, water, electricity, medical care, and everything else is too much. Get a religious scholarship or sponsorship. But to consider that you are too important to work for a living, pay taxes, or even serve in the military to help protect your country.

The article mentions that they move there for economic reasons. But what I can't figure out for the life of me is how they get away with it. Does that mean I can just walk into the Angeles National Forest behind Pasadena and build myself a house? And then demand government services and protection. And then to add insult to injury, refuse to contribute money or labor to society. Please!

If I were in the IDF, I'd be pissed off to no end that I have to put my ass on the line to protect these bozos from outraged locals. I'd be pissed off that my government didn't have the balls to stop these bozos when they started pouring the foundations to the house.

If I were an Israeli citizen I'd be pissed off that my taxes are going to subsidies the lifestyle of these religious slackers. If they want to go live in the bad lands, then go ahead. But don't go crying to me when things go tits-up in your neighborhood. That is the risk you took when you decided to build where you were not supposed to.

I also don't get how these people get title to these properties? Who gives them the money? Do they get mortgages? Who is dumb enough to issue a mortgage on a piece of land that has such a convoluted title?

These guys remind me of the people that buy houses cheap and the end of an airport runway. Then they complain to no end about the noise and demand the airport close. Well No shit Sherlock... the fact that the house was under the flight path is why it was so cheap.

And for these guys.... the reason the house was so cheap is because you built it on land you don't own, in an area that does not fall under the jurisdiction of government protection, and the locals want to kill you. Perhaps you failed to look around when you moved in? The guys shooting at you should have been a clue that all was not good there.

As a US citizen, I wish our government would demand that the Israeli government put an end to this nonsense. Either take the damn land or don't. This half-ass acre-by-acre sneaky theft is just making them, and us, look dishonest.

More on Mrs. Friedlander

2007-03-05T13:35:00.000+09:00

Elva sent me an email with a link to Mrs. Friendlander's obituary in the San Diego Union-Tribune. From Elva...

I sent you the obit for Mrs. Friedlander a while ago. So sorry that I didn't have a chance to include words or anything else. I had just a few minutes and I wanted to send it to you asap.I didn't know if you two even remembered her. Since you do, then I know that you two must feel sad. She was a good person and she cared very much for you two.

Here is the obit:

FRIEDLANDER, CORINNE FRANCES 1931 to 2007 Corinne died peacefully in her sleep on January 4th after a courageous four year battle with Lou Gehrigs Disease. She was born in Ray, North Dakota on December 22, 1931, shortly later moved with her family to Kalispell, Montana, and in 1941 moved to San Diego where she spent many years; graduated from Hoover High School in 1950, married, raised her family and was foster mother to many children. She married her loving husband Kenneth in 1953 and spent 51 years together until he went to Heaven in October of 2004. She is survived by her two daughters Sally and Susan, her sons- in-law, Craig and Craig, Foster daughter and son, Kristina and Nicholas, his wife Laurel, grandchildren, Duane, his wife Erika, Devin, Darin, Teresa, Dilan and Chloe, great-grandchildren, Yazmine and Kenneth, her sister Jeanne, nieces and nephews and many friends in San Diego and New Mexico. She had a wonderful excitement for life and was filled with great love and devotion to her family and friends. She had sparkling blue eyes and unbelievable courageous and dignity. Our dear Mom, Granny and friend will be missed so very much. A celebration of her Life will be held today, February 8th, at 2:00 p.m. at First Lutheran Church, 867 S. Lincoln Avenue, El Cajon, Ca 92020. In lieu of Flowers family requests contributions in Memory of Corinne to the ALS Association, www.alsa.org.

I learned a few things today.

First, I've always misspelled her last name. That is strange because I distinctly remember being taught by her how to spell it when I went to school. Even though we were foster children, we were told to use their last name as ours. I remember being told to spell it "Free...", as in "Freed Men". I can't figure out why I would so clearly remember being taught by her to spell it that way since it is now clear to me that was wrong.

Perhaps she told me NOT to spell it "Free..." and got it all backwards. Wouldn't be the first time in life. Dyslexia strikes again!

I see Susie is now called Susan. We used to call her Susie. Perhaps that was her nickname and I just never knew better.

I noticed that her service was held at a Lutheran church. I didn't know she was Lutheran. Perhaps her's is a more fundamental version of Lutheranism than I experienced going to Grace Lutheran in Santa Barbara with the Larsons. I sure remember the hellfire and brimstone at the Friedlander's church. When I got older and reflected on that that church, I had guessed it was Pentecostal, Evangelical, or Baptist. I knew they weren't Jehovah Witnesses because they celebrated birthdays and Christmas... but I knew they weren't too far from that sect.

I always thought she was from Tennessee because that is where her sister was from. It also meshed with my theory that she was from a strick Pentecostal upbringing. Guess I was wrong.

Funny the obit mentions her blue eyes. I remember them well.

Elva. I'm sorry to have to tell you that neither Janice or I feel sad. We feel nothing. As I said in my previous post, I'm glad that she can't screw up any more kids. I will concur that she did care for us. She did the best she could considering how her much own fears and religious convictions dictated her life.

It strikes me as hypocritical that she was not above lying to the authorities about you, claiming you would show up drunk to visit your kids, when in fact you never drink. Perhaps in her mind she felt that she was protecting us from you. Perhaps she felt you were not good enough, or righteous enough. Who knows? But being a hypocrite is what she was about.

I hope Corrinne will make peace with herself and remove the shackles of shame, guilt, and fear that so defined her.

So all is well that ends well, eh? I for one wouldn't change a thing if it meant that I would not have ended up being adopted by Roger and Toni Larson. Sometimes you have to go through hell to get to heaven.

Corrine Freedlander

2007-03-04T14:45:00.000+09:00

Hmmmm...

My bio-mom Elva sent me an email last week letting me know she saw in the San Diego newspaper that Corrine Friedlander died a couple of weeks ago. Interesting. I was thinking about this last night and wondering if I should say anything.

Mrs. Frielander was my last foster-mother before I got adopted. I don't have fond memories of her. She had, in my opinion, lots of "issues".

Corrine and her husband fostered a lot of children that ended up in the custody of San Diego County, like my sister and I were. They did provide a roof over our heads, and meals. We went to school. They even threw birthday parties for us. That was nice. But I can never forgive her for some of the things she did, especially to my sister.

Thanks to her I have a healthy dislike or organized religion. And I am extremely skeptical and wary of those who claim to be religious and pious. Too many people use that as a cover to mask deep sins and weaknesses. To the authorities, she seemed perfect. A god fearing Christian woman who wanted to take care of little children. Too bad they didn't know what she was really like.

Her and her husband had two children of their own. Two girls, Sally and Susie, who were teenagers when I lived at their house. There is one thing I remember most the morning the CPS van pulled up to take me out of there. As I said my goodbyes I remember feeling sorry for Sally and Susie. I knew I was getting out of there, and they were stuck with her for life. I often wonder how they turned out. Poor girls. I remember some of the hell they went through with her.

Corinne's specialty was shame, sex, sin, hellfire, and punishment. Even as a kid I used to be amazed that her husband was so whipped that he would not stand up to her and some of things she would do. To be honest, she had so many issues with human sexuality that I don't understand how she even managed to get pregnant twice.

I believe that we all end up in a hell or heaven of our own making. If you believe in a hell, then that is where you will go, until get you tired of it and let it go. So for Corrine, I can't help but wonder what kind of hell you built for yourself. Perhaps you will judge yourself for the lies and sick tortures you devised. Perhaps that is why you claimed to be so religious? So you could live with yourself?

I know that no one is perfect. I know that you were a deeply flawed person. I think you were a product of a seriously dysfunctional upbringing back in the hills of Tennessee. Your parents obviously stuffed you full of guilt and shame and convinced you that you were a sinner. They convinced you that Satan was real, that he was in your head, and that you were going to burn in hell for the thoughts that you allowed him to put in there.

Perhaps I am being to hard on you. Even though I can't forgive you for what you did to Janice. I am grateful that we were spared a worse fate. Considering the options, things would have probably been worse. There was a reason were were there. I don't forget that. At least you didn't break our bones, put your cigarettes out on our flesh, drug us, or let others sexually abuse us.

I remember so many of the other kids that came through your house when I lived there. They were always so scared when they arrived. I would have to care of them and make them feel safe. I would take their hands and tell them that they were going to be ok. The first night back in the bunks they always cried. We would lay in our bunks n the dark and they would tell me about the tortures that got them there. Pretty strange stuff for a six-year old kid to listen to, eh?

Well.... part of me is grateful for taking me in during my time of need. And part of me is glad to know that you can no longer screw up another kid's head with your twisted crap.

They are all sheep here!

2007-02-20T16:19:00.000+09:00

Here in Perth the public transportation system is in the process of converting to a new ticketing system. The old system used credit-card size paper ticket that you could buy from a merchant which gave you 10, 20, or 40 rides, depending on which one you bought. Then when you boarded a bus or train, you stick the paper ticket into the ticket machine and it would stamp it with the date and time, thus voiding one of your rides.

Now they are switching to a "smarter" system. This new system uses plastic cards with RFID chips embedded. Rather than buy paper tickets, you simple charge up your card with credit, like a calling card. You can do this through their website, or at a train station. When you board and exit a train or bus, you simply swipe your "smart" card over the scanner to debit it for your ride.

I'm not even going to go into the problems with this new system! That is for another post and has nothing to do with one. Sufficient to say, there is a new electronic ticketing system being implemented here.

Last week they announced that they are going to be switching to the new system and that people who use the trains or buses need to get the new smart card by Monday. No problem. Loretta use the train. She was confused about the new system and asked me to go with her to get a smart card and show her how to use it.

So at lunch we walked over the public transport office where they sell tickets. There was a long queue of people waiting to get their new cards. They were all holding applications that they had filled out. Loretta obligingly grabbed a blank application form and starting to fill out it while standing in line.

It took the form out of her hands and looked at it. I was shocked. It demanded to know your full name, home address, phone numbers, emails addresses, mother's maiden name, date of birth, driver's license number, bank details, etc.

The clincher was on the bottom. It was an oath and a signature line stating the "I understand and will comply with all aspects of the so-and-so transport act".

"This is total bullshit!" I told her. "Do not give them this information."

Loretta protested that they must require it. That got my blood boiling. "The do not need to know this information in order to allow you to ride a train!", I said as loud as I could. All the others in the queue starting looking at me. Loretta squirmed uncomfortably.

"Fill in your name as Micky Mouse.", I told her. "And enter a fake address and details. Are they going to cross check it?" Again, I said this as loud as I could, getting more stares from the queue.

Loretta, now clearly embarrassed by my outbursts, protested. "I have to fill it out.", she explained. "I think it is the law."

"Bullshit again!", I answered. "This is a LEGAL document they want you to sign. Why are you just going to give them all your personal information, and sign a legal document, without having a lawyer look it over? You work at a law firm. You should know better than to go around signing anything you do not understand."

I could tell that the people in the queue were getting interested. They starting looking carefully at the forms in their hands. The clerk behind the counter overheard me and gave me a dirty look.

After arguing back and forth while standing in line, Loretta ran out of time and had to get back to work. She grudgingly relented to my insistence that she not give them her information. So she gave me enough cash to buy her tickets and I continued to wait in line. I stood there and watched idiot after idiot hand the clerk their form without any protest.

When my turn came I stepped up and told the clerk "I have some questions about this new ticketing system." I handed her a blank application and pointed to it.

"Tell me.", I asked loudly. "Is this form required in order to purchase a ticket to ride a train?"

She glared at me. "No. It is not", she admitted.

"So then... what is this for?" I asked her. "What are you going to do with all this information?"

"It goes into the computer.", she told me.

"And then what?", I asked. Are you going to sell it to marketers. Are you going to have telemarketers call me on the phone numbers you are asking for?

"No.", she explained. "We are not allowed to do that. Trust me on that!"

"Trust you? You are just a clerk selling tickets. What if TransPerth changes their mind? What if someone steals all this data? How are you going to assure me that this data is safe? Will you share this information with the police?"

She glared at me. "I don't know."

"And another thing", I asked. "What is this on the bottom here where you want a signature. Isn't this form a legal document?"

"Yes.", she answered. "It is".

"And you just except people to sign it?"

"Yes. It is perfectly safe to sign."

"Are you a lawyer?", I asked her. "Do you know exactly what you are signing up for?"

"I think so", she said. "They wouldn't put it on if it was bad."

Riiiiiiight.

"So if I don't HAVE to give you this, then what is the benefit to me of giving you all this personal information then?", I asked her.

"Well...", she stumbled around. "It lets you cancel your smart card if you loose it. You can call us up and we will cancel it for you."

"So...", I finished while turning around to face the long line of people queued behind me. "We do not need to give you anything except money to buy a ticket. Right? And if we pay cash, and the card is lost, the worse case is that we might loose the remaining rides on the ticket. And I can charge up my ticket with cash at a vending machine if it runs low."

"So, wouldn't that seem a lot safer and faster for simply to pay cash rather than giving you information that might be abused and signing away legal rights? In that case, I'll buy one card with cash please."

When I left, the people standing in line just looked at me with dumb glazed look in their eyes. They continued to hand the clerk their little pieces of paper with they keys to their life on them without a second thought. What a bunch of pathetic sheep I thought to myself. They simply trust their government way too much in Australia.

Barack Obama for prez? No way

2007-02-20T15:41:00.000+09:00

I see that junior senator Barack Obama is being shoved into running for president in 2008. That is a real shame, for a lot of reasons.

I, for one, would not vote for him simply because I do not agree with his policies on too many important subjects. I base my decision on what Obama himself has said on his podcast. His policies are simple bad for business and bad, in the long run, for the US.

It also bothers me greatly that he has allowed the presidential race to interfere with his current job, which is being a senator from Illinois. I am not from that state. But if I were, I would be ticked that Obama was running around playing presidential footsies rather than doing what he was elected to do... represent Illinois in the US Senate.

He has not even finished his first term as a senator! Most senators have long careers in the house. Not Obama. He is already off grabbing for the brass ring before the paint on his senate office sign is dry.

Now, I would also like to go on the record as saying that I find myself highly respecting Obama for his clarity on issues. It is such refreshing change from the flip-flopping and ambiguous positions that other candidates take. I subscribed to his podcast to learn more about him. I highly recommend that you do the same. I am glad I did. Because it certainly lets you make a more informed decision.

I really wish he would stick it out in the Senate. That half the of the legislative branch of the government needs people like him to balance clueless senior senators like Ted "Its A Bunch Of Tubes" Stevens (Alaska) and Liz Dole (North Carolina).

It is a shame that so many on the left are pushing Obama to run. On paper, Hillary Clinton is much more qualified. She has more experience, and has more centrist policies than Obama. But she is very divisive. You either love her, or loath her. So much so that she will never get elected.

I feel like the Democrats know that Hillary can't win. So they want to throw out an untested candidate who they can create a buzz about. It is working. Obama's backers are treating him like the second coming of Christ.

So there is my prediction. If the Democrats select either Clinton or Obama, then they are only going to guarantee a Republican victory.

Overheard at the game store

2007-02-20T15:16:00.000+09:00

I stopped by the local video game store here in Perth during lunch the other day. It was during school holidays and the place was crawling with kids looking for new titles to play on their gaming boxes.

I was scanning through a bargain bin of Xbox games. A boy of about 10 was standing next to me also flipping through the boxes. He pulled up a copy of "Grand Theft Auto - San Andres" and excitingly showed it to his mother who was standing behind him.

"Can I get this one?" he asked her hopefully.

His mother took the game and studied the cover. She noticed the warning label, "MA15+Animated Violence, Medium Level Coarse Language".

"No you may not", she answered. "See here...", she said while pointing to the warning label. "It says language and violence."

Stumped for a minute, the boy pondered her refusal, then came up with a solution...

"I'll play it without sound then! I promise!".

Mom wasn't sold on that little idea. Clever kid though! I had to laugh.

NASA Astronaut Screening Test

2007-02-16T09:46:00.000+09:00

Slate has gotten it's hands on the new "NASA Astronaut Screening Test". Very interesting!

Annual Neologism Content

2007-02-02T15:04:00.000+09:00

My bud Dave sent to this me today. I love it. I think I found myself a new religion!

ANNUAL NEOLOGISM CONTEST

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.
The winners are:
Coffee (n.): the person upon whom one coughs.
Flabbergasted (adj.) :appalled over how much weight you have gained.
Abdicate (v.): to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
Esplanade (v.): to attempt an explanation while drunk.
Willy-nilly (adj.): impotent.
Negligent (adj.): describes a cndition in which you absent-mindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
Lymph (v.): to walk with a lisp.
Gargoyle (n.): olive-flavoured mouthwash.
Flatulence (n.): emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
Balderdash (n.): a rapidly receding hairline.
Testicle (n.): a humorous question on an exam.
Rectitude (n.): the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
Pokemon (n.): a Rastafarian proctologist.
Oyster (n.): a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
Frisbeetarianism (n.): (back by popular demand). The belief that, when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
Circumvent (n.): an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.
The Washington Post's Style Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners:
Bozone (n.) :The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
Cashtration (n.) :The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
Giraffiti (n.): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
Sarchasm (n.): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
Inoculatte (v.): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
Hipatitis (n.): Terminal coolness.
Osteopornosis (n.): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
Karmageddon (n.): It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
Glibido (v.): All talk and no action.
Dopeler Effect (n.): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Arachnoleptic Fit (n.) :The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.
And the pick of the literature:
Ignoranus (n.): A person who's both stupid and an a**hole.

Don't be un-Australian

2007-01-15T13:34:00.000+09:00

You gotta watch this brilliant rant by Sam Kekovich for Australia Day.

Sam is a retired Aussie Rules football player who is a pitchman for the Australian lamb industry. This ad is brilliant! I can't help but want to go out and buy a rack of lamb and BBQ it on January 26, Australia Day. The Vote Lamb web site they made to go with this TV ad is great too.

I was rolling on the floor laughing by the time he started ripping into Ian Thorpe for living in Los Angeles. He rips into immigration testing, terrorism, bling, tree-huggers, everything. I love it.

This is not the first time he has done this. He has done similar rants, all equally as funny, in 2005 and 2006. Click on the links to watch them.

Stupid Aussie TV media news

2007-01-15T11:15:00.000+09:00

Arrrgh! I can't believe some of the crap the editors of the Aussie TV news allow to get on the screen. I normally don't watch TV news because it is so self serving and bad. But it was on the background last week when they were covering a story about a guy who was arrested for selling stolen army rocket launchers to some local wanna-be Islamic terrorist.

What happened was that Taha Abdul Rahma of Sydney, who is unemployed, brokered the sale of a dozen rocket launchers that had been stolen from the Australian Army. He sold them to an Islamic terrorist cell that was busted in 2005 planning a series of huge attacks in Australia.

Last week he was arrested. He was denied bail. So what story gets reported in the TV news? His wife gets on TV and starts bawling about how it is unfair that he doesn't get to go home. She claims that their children are crying and upset because daddy isn't there to tuck them in at night.

I was stunned. What about all the children who would have lost one or both parents if the terrorist had not been caught? Did it cross this idiot's mind that perhaps dealing in stolen military grade weapons might involve some risk, such as being being thrown in prison? Did it occur to him that these weapons in the hands of his terrorist buddies in Melbourne might be used to actually kill a lot of people? What did he think they wanted them for? Props?

And this guy sold them for a lot of money.... like $60k each. So one has to ask where did these buyers get that much cash. What was he planning to do with all that money? While the hardworking tax payers of Australia were supporting him and his family with generous welfare checks. He spends his time dealing in stolen military weapons to be sold to Islamic nutters for a huge profit. Wow! Why work a real job?

I can't believe that the news allowed their bleeding-heart commie reporter to focus on how the children of this criminal were upset that daddy might not be coming home. Perhaps they should focus on the children of the brave servicemen who have died and who risk their lives fighting Islamic terrorist and fanatics from blowing up skyscrapers and nuclear plants.

I'm and so sick and saddened by the news reporters here. Perhaps his wife and children should go visit the surviving members of the victims of terrorism and find out what their daddy really did when he was not home reading them bedtime stories. Yup, daddy was getting rich by given terrorists weapons to kill innocent people, and children, in the name of Islam. What a great guy! Why don't you nominate him for father and citizen of the year while you are at it?

Velux 5 Oceans Solo Challenge

2007-01-15T11:04:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I went down to Fremantle harbor to watch the start of the second leg of the 2007 Velux 5 Oceans Solo Challenge. This is a round-the-world race starting and ending in Spain featuring solo sailors. There is only two stops on the race, Fremantle Australia and Norfolk, Virgina. The sailed non-stop from Spain to Australia. And yesterday they left for a non-stop sail across the Pacific, around Cape Horn, and up the Atlantic Ocean to Virgina.

The boats were amazing. They are very large for a single person boat. The living space is actually small, with most of the space being used to hold sails. We were not allowed on board the boats. But each racer was introduced, gave a little speech, and then left the dock for the starting line offshore.

One of the racers is from Japan. He was pretty cool. His English is poor, and he needed a translator. But he had the largest fan base there. There was a large number of supporters waving Japanese flags as he left. They said that he has become a celebrity and a bit of a hero in Japan for doing this race. Here is his profile on the race site.

The best way to see the boats and understand what these guys are doing is to go their website here. Looks like a lot of fun! Wish I was going!

Western Australia CUBs

2007-01-15T10:57:00.000+09:00

At a wedding I attended this weekend I met a Qantas flight attendant who works the flights out of Perth that service the small airfields in the vast Western Australia outback and Kimberly areas north of here. Most of the passengers are men who work in the mineral, gas, and oil fields.

These guys make a lot of money. They fly to work and work on site for 3 to 4 weeks. They are usually out in the middle of nowhere. So when they come back to Perth for their 1 to 2 weeks off, they have a few thousand dollars in the pocket. Most are young, in their 20's or 30's, and raking in over $100k AUD a year. All of their expenses (food and lodging) are covered by their employer at the work site. So there is literally nothing to spend money on while they are working.

The flight attendant is single, in her early 30's. I was joking with here about how she must find it dealing with airplanes full of single men who are earning a lot of money. She looked at me horrified. She called them "CUB's", which is a slang acronym for "Cashed Up Bogans". A bogan is Aussie slang for someone who unsophisticated and lower class. She said that most of them spend their free time and money on their utes (Aussie pickup trucks) and getting drunk with their mates.

She was telling me about how they all dress in flannel shirts, boots, and dirty jeans, and scraggly beards. She said that they look like they are with the band ZZ Top.

The Mac OSX Experience - Day 4

2007-01-03T11:30:00.000+09:00

Optical Media Problem:
I ran into a "gotcha!" with Apple's elegant designs. I can't eject a bad DVD disk.

Macs, unlike PCs, do not have a CD/DVD tray that comes out. Instead, they have a slot that you stick the disk in to. Sort of liking sticking a piece of bread into a toaster. To eject the CD or DVD that is in the optical drive, you have to drag the icon representing the disk to the trash can. That tells the computer to eject the disk.

So what do I do when there is a disk in the drive and the OSX doesn't see it? Because it doesn't see it, there is no icon on the desktop to represent it. Because there is no icon, I have nothing to drag to the trash can to ask the computer to eject it.

I have no idea why it can't see the disk. I inserted a blank DVD-R disk that I planned to burn some files to. I suppose that I will have to reboot the computer in WinXP and hope that XP can see the disk. It should at least see the drive, which means I could ask XP to issue an eject command.

There is no manual override button to force eject a disk. What does Apple expect people who aren't computer gurus to do when it eats a disk and refusing to "see" it? Most people aren't going to install two OS's, like I did, to see if the other can fix the problem.

MacBook & OSX Help System:
While trying to solve the above problem, I discovered another problem. There is no comprehensive help system on the HDD. I had to go the Apple web site. What would I do if I was not connected to the internet? What if the problem that I was seeking help on was getting the computer to hook up to the internet? The OSX comes with a search utility called "Spotlight". But that did not find any sort of help data.

I did find a small Macbook user guide PDF. But it was very high-level and brief overview of how to do basic things. It was not comprehensive at all.

Strange... I would think that Apple would be sure to include a good help system. Perhaps they are so confident that their hardware and software are so perfect and easy to use that a help system is not needed. Well, they are wrong!

Bluetooth Mouse:
Yesterday I bought a small bluetooth optical mouse. The Macbook comes with a built in Bluetooth transmitter/receiver. This works great! And it works under both OSX and WindowsXP. So I now have a small little wireless mouse that I can use without tying up a USB port. I didn't buy the Apple mouse. They are over priced and do not have a right click. I'm not a Mac purist, so I refuse to give up my right click button. Personally, I find OSX easier to use with the right click.

How To Make A Woman Happy

2007-01-03T11:25:00.000+09:00

Robin sent me this cheat sheet on how to make a woman happy. Thanks!

How to Make a Woman Happy
It's not difficult to make a woman happy. A man only needs to be:

1. a friend
2. a companion
3. a lover
4. a brother
5. a father
6. a master
7. a chef
8. an electrician
9. a carpenter
10. a plumber
11. a mechanic
12. a decorator
13. a stylist
14. a sexologist
15. a gynecologist
16. a psychologist
17. a pest exterminator
18. a psychiatrist
19. a healer
20. a good listener
21. an organizer
22. a good father
23. very clean
24. sympathetic
25. athletic
26. warm
27. attentive
28. gallant
29. intelligent
30. funny
31. creative
32. tender
33. strong
34. understanding
35. tolerant
36. prudent
37. ambitious
38. capable
39. courageous
40. determined
41. true
42. dependable
43. passionate
44. compassionate

WITHOUT FORGETTING TO:
45. give her compliments regularly
46. love shopping
47. be honest
48. be very rich
49. not stress her out
50. not look at other girls

AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST ALSO:
51. give her lots of attention, but expect little yourself
52. give her lots of time, especially time for herself
53. give her lots of space, never worrying about where she goes

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT:
54. Never to forget birthdays, anniversaries, arrangements she makes

HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY
1. Show up naked
2. Bring beer

When one door closes, another opens

2006-12-31T16:20:00.000+09:00

I see that Saddam Hussein was finally executed. I feel that is good thing and needed to be done. As long as he was alive, then there was the possibility that he might be restored to power. Too many people have died and too much as been sacrificed to date. His execution closes that option. It will force those who want to return to the days of his dictatorship to instead look ahead towards other options.

There are many who feel that his execution was wrong. I don't. I feel it came 15 years, and thousands of deaths too late. Many claim that removing Saddam created more problems that it solved. The claim that because more people have died since he was toppled that when he was the one doing the killing, keeping him in power would have been better.

That opinion is wrong on so many levels. It assumes that things in Iraq and M.E. would have remained static. Who is to say that is true? Why are body counts the only metric? With that logic, then all people should live under oppressive dictatorships in the name of public safety.

Most of the people killed in Iraq since Saddam fell have been murdered at the hands of fellow Iraqis. Not American troops. Not British troops. The government of Iraq, that was elected by the Iraqis themselves has failed to provide any security. That is their fault, not Bush's.

Now that Saddam is gone, there is one more Iraqi that must be brought to justice and executed. That is Sadar, the "cleric" in charge of the Shi'ites of Baghdad. He is a Saddam in the making. He has blood on his hands. He runs his own militia. The Iraqi government needs to take him on and remove him, now. And he needs to be executed. He has no sons to continue his sick monarchy.

But, I don't think they have the guts to do what needs to be done. So the killing will continue until they get tired of it. Pathetic.

The Mac OSX Experience - Day 3

2006-12-31T16:15:00.000+09:00

Well. I've run into what I consider some serious problems. I don't feel confident enough to migrate any data over to the new laptop until these are resolved. I've found that files are disappearing and being corrupted.

I copied over a folder containing about 600 pieces of artwork that I wanted to use as my wallpaper. When I checked them today, about 50 of them, all GIF's, were corrupted and could no longer be opened. I have not figured out what happened. I suspect that it might have to do with some subtle differences between how a Mac and a PC process GIF files. I'm not sure, so I will have to do some research into this later, when I get some more time.

Another odd thing is dissapearing files. Some have vanished, and I have no idea where or why. For example, my system Janice had left a video she made on the desktop before she mailed me my machine. That video is gone. I didn't delete it, move it, or anything. I can't find it anywhere. Thankfully, I had backup it up to an external HDD, so I still have a copy.

Usually in Windows, and in MacOSX, you can drag a file into an application to have that application open that file. I found that when I drag an image file into Apple's preview, it (1) corrupts the image that is currently previewed, and (2) deletes the original file. And to make matters worse, there is no "undo" command. I can't reverse the process. So the file I dragged is gone and no where to be found. It is not in the application to be saved. Instead it is imbedded somewhere in the original file, and seems to not be able to undo. What a pain in the neck.

I've decided to not spend any more time on the MacOSX side for now. In order to migrate to this new laptop, I need to establish a replica of the environment I have on my old laptop. So in that regard, I have spent the last day installing applications under WindowsXP on the Mac. So far, not too bad. Since I do a lot of development work, I have some pretty massive applications to install. These massive apps also have massive amounts of patches and updates that I need to download too.

I've installed OfficeXP Pro, my Macromedia/Adobe Studio 8, Cold Fusion Server, SQL Server 2000, Java Netbeans IDE, IIS, and a million smaller apps that I use. Since I'm running servers for development, there is a lot of configuring and security issues to iron out. It just very tedious.

For fun, I also installed a couple of demanding PC games that I own.. Doom3 and Counter Strike Condition Zero. These are both very demanding FPS (First Person Shooter) games that my old laptop could not handle. The video demands were simply too much and I would constantly end up dead simply because I could not react to threats quick enough. By the time the graphics engine would catch up with the action, I would have been shot or ripped to shreds by a monster. So I had ended up removing these games and setting them aside.

I tried them out last night. I cranked the video setting to max, the most punishing on the graphics card. The results were impressive. The game play was smooth, even will full texture rendering, shadows, high FPS rate, and large resolution. I could tell the Macbook was working hard because I heard and felt a fan kick in that I have no heard before.

I discovered something else that irritates me, but it is not deadly critical. I found that MaxOSX can't seem to figure out what time it is. Even though I have it configured to get the time against a time server, AND it knows what time zone I am in, it seems to always be off by 5 to 6 hours. I can only correct it by switching to a manual time setting. Windows doesn't seem to have a problem. It always comes up with the correct time. Logically, this means that Apple's time server is off. That would make every Mac on the planet off too. So it must be something is wrong with the time zone database on my machine. Weird.

Another thing that bugs me. I found that if I hibernate WinXP, when I wake it, the touchpad no longer works. So that means I have to reboot WinXP, or plug in a mouse. Like the time issue, what a pain. I prefer hibernate since I run server services. It just makes Windows come up so much quicker for me.

Next week, once Adobe's tech support opens, I can call them and straighten out some licensing issues with moving my Macromedia and Adobe products over to the new machine. So far I'm running on trial versions.

Well.... I'm gonna lock up the computer for a couple of days and celebrate the New Years.

The Mac OSX Experience - Day 2

2006-12-29T16:24:00.000+09:00

I installed WindowsXP on my Macbook Pro today using Bootcamp. Sweet! It runs smooth and fast. Now I just have a shit load of work to do to install all the security and applications that I need. So that will pretty much waste my New Years Weekend.

The Mac OSX Experience - Day 1

2006-12-29T16:23:00.000+09:00

Since I've opened up the new MacBook Pro and started getting it working right. I have a lot of work to do on it.

Now I want to state for the record that I hate Mac bigots. These are the Mac people who are always slamming Windows, telling everyone how perfect Macs are, and looking down at us non-Mac people with distain. I've been working on computers for almost 30 years now. I know that non are perfect. I feel sorry for these Mac bigots. They remind me of cult members who simply can't open their minds up enough to see the real world.

So it has been a day of working on the Mac. For those who claims that Mac's work perfectly out of the box, well they are lying. I've run into a lot of problems. It appears that I am really going to have to roll up my sleeves and dig deep into the OSX to figure out how to do what I need.

USB Thumb Drive Lock Up: My Macbook Pro locked up tighter than a drum when I plugged in one of my USB keys. I had to reboot. No error messages or anything. It just froze and stopped working. I took the key over to my WinXP laptop and reformatted it as FAT. Now the Mac will read it and not lock up.

No TrueCrypt: Damn! This is very disappointing. I love TrueCrypt. It use it to secure my USB keys incase I loose them. It turns out that there is no version of TrueCrypt that runs on a Mac. That means I can't use my TrueCrypt secured USB keys on the Mac.

I prefer TrueCrypt because it is open source public project with the best security and encryption methods. It is the only one that I ultimately trust. What is going on?

No Western Australia Daylight Savings Time Support: Hello Apple! What the hell is going on? Microsoft got right on the new DST for Western Australia. I noticed that Apple doesn't have it. Their advice? Tell your Mac that you are in Japan, or manually change your machine twice a year. Nice. How hard is it to update your clock files to support DST here?

No SpinRite: Another Damn! SpinRite is a critical program for the prevention of hard drive failures. It actually runs under FreeDOS. You have to boot a diskette, CD-ROM, or Thumbdrive with FreeDOS and SpinRite to get it started. I am seriously worried now. Running SpinRite on my drives allows me to sleep better knowing that the best program in the world has been watching them for problems.

No Java IDE: Hells Bells. It turns out that Sun doesn't make a Java compiler that runs under Mac OSX. They have them for most other OS's. Just not Mac. Why? Java is supposed to be a Write-Once, Run-Anywhere language. I use Sun's NetBeans IDE for Java development on my WinXP machine. But I can't use it on the Mac. I now have to learn a new IDE, Apples.

I blame this one on Sun, not Apple.

Firefox Profile Manager: Boy, Apple doesn't make it easy to customize the way programs start. I don't feel like learning a new browser. So I installed Firefox on the Mac. However, in order to start the Firefox Profile Manager, I have to drop into to Unix shell under MacOSX and manually enter the start line.

That is not that big of a deal. But what I can't do is then create a quick start icon under OSX that will fire off the Profile Manager for me. I can do this easily in Windows by editing the properties of a shortcut. No such animal on OSX that I can see. It tooks like I will need to spend a lot of time figuring out how I can tweak that command line parms that OSX passes to the underlying Unix system.

So in the meantime, I have to go through the profile manager everytime I start Firefox. I prefer to have it set up like I have on my WinXP box, when I go into the profile manager only when I need to.

Bootcamp: I downloaded and installed BootCamp from Apple in order to prepare my Macbook for dual boot. But after I run the install program, Bootcamp just goes away. It doesn't issue any messages that it is done. I finally figured out what it had done when I ran into Bootcamp hidden in the Utilities folder under the Applications folder.

Jeeze... you would like that the install program would at least tell you that it finished and to go find the app in that folder. Instead, it just disappears.

Quicktime Can't Play AVI files: This made me laugh. Mac bigots often speak of how Mac's run perfectly out of the box. Well, Apple's Quicktime video player can't play my AVI files. I had to go install the 3rd party player, VLC, which plays them fine. What is the computer idiot who bough a Mac cause they don't know computers supposed to do with stuff like this?

Adobe Bridge Tryout: Thanks Adobe! I downloaded and installed the Mac version of Photoshop CS2 Tryout version. It comes with Bridge, their image browsing product. But it won't run because of licensing restrictions. How in the hell am I supposed to "tryout" your product when your trial version won't let me?

This is stupid Adobe's fault, not Apple's.

Adobe Photoshop Tryout: Thanks again Adobe! The CS2 version of photoshop can't read Canon RAW files from my 30D. According to your website, CS2 has the Canon RAW support built in. But no..... it won't work. Nor can I find the RAW plug in to download and install after the fact. I want Photoshop CS2 software for RAW processing. That is what it is supposed to be able to do.

Grrrrr.

Font Problems: Oh man. This one sucks. I noticed that when I browse web sites with a lot of text (such as news sites), the top of some sentences get shaved off here and there. This is not good. I am going to have to do some testing and call Apple to solve this problem.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2006-12-28T15:06:00.000+09:00

Greetings Friends and Family. I have been neglecting my blog lately. Just been too distracted by other things since I got back from Vanuatu.

I meant to post this yesterday. But the earthquake that hit Taiwan yesterday did a number on the trans-Pacific Internet traffic. In case you did not year, a major quake damaged some of the fiberoptic cables that carry most of the Internet traffic across the Pacific to places like Australia, where I am. So I have had a hard time getting to Google and Blogger.

An update on my health. All good news. I was given a clean bill of health by the doctor when I got back. No cancer. He suspected some kidney damage. But an MRI scan showed them to be in good shape. And I feel good. So all is well.

The main reason I have neglected my blog is because of a new mistress in my life.... my digital SLR camera. I've been spending a lot of time teaching myself how to use it. And how to use Photoshop for post-processing. There is a lot to learn. I've been enjoying it tremendously.

So for Christmas, I bought myself two things. First, I bought a good lens for my camera. I found a company in Hong Kong that can sell me the lens I want for about half of what it goes for here in Australia. I got myself the Canon 18-35mm f/2.8L lens. That won't mean much to those of you who don't know much about cameras. But in English, it is a lens with Canon's best optics, and it is very fast and accurate.

It turns out there are a handful of photography nuts at work who have been working for years in their hobby. They have managed to acquire a lot of good equipment over the years. And they have been nice enough to let me borrow some too. A friend had the lens that I just bought. I was so impressed with that it could do that I decided it was worth it for myself.

I've been checking out the pawn shops too, looking for gear that people are dumping cheap. So far, no luck. Almost all of the gear is for older film cameras. However, I did score one day and found a top-quality Manfrotto tripod for about a third of the normal price. So I grabbed it. It works very, very well.

On the post-processing side, I've been teaching myself Photoshop CS2. But it turns out that my old laptop just can't keep up with the new demands I've placed on it. I was planning to upgrade this year anyways, so I just went ahead and did that.

But rather than get another true and trusted Dell Latitude, I decided to take the plunge and go with an Apple Mac. I bought a MacBook Pro laptop with the new Intel Core 2 DUO processor. What convinced me to switch was the fact that I can boot WindowsXP on the Mac now that they went to Intel in late 2006. So all of my software and expertise will not go to waste.

I plan to use the Apple OS-X for photo-processing and use the WindowsXP for my professional work, such as application development. Plus, I have a steep learning curve for me since I've never touched a Mac before.

I've decided that I will write up a log of my experience as a Windows guru learning my Mac. I've had it for 24 hours now. To be honest, I've found it to be frustrating to get things done that I consider to be simple (on Windows). I won't bore you with the technical details on this post. But I've decided to plow ahead and learn how to get around this obstacles.

IBM has renewed my contract for 2007. So no big changes to report. All is well. I'm just trying to perfect my new hobby. Man, I am such a geek.

I've cut back on reading news. I find it all just so depressing. All of the news from the Middle East is bad, and getting worse. The people there seem to hellbent on dragging themselves into a 15th century dark ages of ignorance, intolerance, and violence. I'm sick of them all. Any sympathy and compassion I had for their suffering has gone. They can all go around killing each other for all I care anymore. So until they actually do something postive for mankind, then screw them. I ain't giving them any more of my precious time.

I hope you all have a great New Years! I will!

Love
Ron

Port-to-Port Rally on the Sandpiper

2006-11-14T09:25:00.000+08:00

Greetings all. I am back in Perth. I got home late last week and have been trying to catch up on work and personal issues every since.

I have to say that I really enjoyed crewing on the Sandpiper on the Port-to-Port Rally across the Coral Sea. It brought back a lot of memories of living on the Halcyon as a kid. Except, the Sandpiper is sooo much more luxurious than the Halcyon was. The crossing was fantastic. It took 9 days, most of which were perfect sailing conditions. The trade winds pushed us along from the east at a comfortable 6 knots. There was no rain, and a steady swell.

I must thank Tom, and especially Amy, for putting up with me for 3 weeks on board. The Sandpiper is only 38 feet long. And I am a big guy. So I am sure there were moments when poor Amy wished that her and Tom had the boat all to themselves again. I tried to pull my weight on board.

It was certainly nice to get away from phones, emails, news, and work for a while. I feel very refreshed. I should crew more often to clear my head.

I've posted 3 photo galleries of pictures I took on board. Go to my online photos here. I've put captions and descriptions on most photos. Enjoy!

Tomorrow?

2006-10-27T06:46:00.000+08:00

Well it looks like things are improving and that we will leave tomorrow, Saturday morning, for Australia. We are seeing the sky through the rain clouds once in a while. But it is still pretty much raining non-stop.

Yesteray was a bust. The World Series games was cancelled due to rain in St. Louis. All the boaters here are getting itchy and wanting to leave. I spend most of the day working on Tom's computers getting the last bugs ironed out. He and Amy are totally stoked now. Their iPod now works and is full of new music. The computers now boot almost instantly and run much faster and smoother. I got their preferred chart system working... so Tom is thrilled to death.

Tom and Amy want to pimp me out to the other boats here. They keep asking me questions on how to get things working. Naw... I'm not here to work.

We have to go grocery shopping today to replace all the food stock we ate this week. Plus we need to do laundry, top off the tanks, scrub the dingy, and prepare the Sandpiper for sea. I probably won't be able to post again until Australia in a couple of weeks. But I will be posting daily noon reports to the Sandpiper's blog using the sideband shortwave email system. So please jump over there to keep up.

Groundhog Day.... Vanuatu Style

2006-10-26T08:54:00.000+08:00

Today is a repeat of yesterday, which is a repeat of the day before, and what tomorrow will be. Wake up at 6. Wander into town around 8 and take a cold shower at the yatch club guest showers. Then go down to Jill's for a breakfast buritto and a coffee. Wander back over to the Sandpiper and do some chores. Then back to town around noon and head to the bar for baseball and beer. Wander home drunk around dark and sleep off the buzz.

The cyclone has missed us. But the weather still sucks. So it looks like are might jump off on Saturday when the seas have calmed down a bit. We will see. There is another low developing that looks like it too will become a cyclone.

Not much to report. Just lots of rain, and lots of waiting, and lots of beer.

Last night we ended up at another pub that has a beautiful black cat with white paws named "Boots". Boots hangs out at the bar and jumps up on the bar top and rings a brass bell there. It is amazing to watch. Boots has no fear. The bar is named after him... "Boots Bar", and they even brew their own beer "Boots Brew" which features the cat on the label.

I will post again tomorrow. I'm off to the other other pub for World Series Games 4. The Poms here are giving us Yanks shit about the "World" series that only has one team from outside the US. We invited some Frenchies from another yatch to join us yesterday. But we heard that they didn't want to bother to learn anything about baseball in order to watch one game.

Stuck in Vanuatu in a hurricane

2006-10-25T06:45:00.000+08:00

Greetings all. It is Wednesday morning and I am sitting in a little Internet Cafe in Port Vila, Vanuatu, waiting for tropical cyclone Xavier to hit. Worse case senario, it is going to hit right here on Friday with 100mph winds. So we will see later today what the forcasts say.

It has been raining the last 24 hours, getting stronger and more steady. The winds have been fine. Some gusts. Nothing too bad. We are in a good anchorage. The only problem is that it is crowded. The locals have beached all the inter-island cargo ships on the beach behind us. They do this by running them straight into the island at high speed, and they go skidding up the beach and into a cliff. Then they tie them off to trees.

I really like Vanuatu. The people here are awesome. So friendly and nice. Sunday night I hooked up with some locals who took me to the real kava bars out in the jungles. I drank 3 large shells (cups) worth. I didn't loose sensation in my mouth, but I was really drunk. It works like a strong vodka, but taste like muddy water.

The kava bars are nothing but little grass shacks out in the jungle. There is a colored lamp out off the dirt road that lets you know where it is. Each bar has a designated color. We started at the green lamp kava bar, then went bar hopping to a bunch of other colors. The bar is nothinh but a plank of wood with a large garbage can of kava water behind it. They dip plastic bowls into the kava and serve it. The customers then take their bowl of kava and go off into he dark and sip it. There is no noise except the sound of men spitting, gurgleing, and clearing their throats. They wash the kava down with a swig of water that they spit out.

Nearby is a little food bar run by the local women. There they serve the local delicaies cheap and served on banana leaves. I had dinner there for about 40 US cents. The hygine leaves something to be desired... reminded me of the some of the local food servers in Haiti. Amy is too afraid to try them. The kava bars remind me of a backs woods moonshine distillery.

We were gonna leave here on Sunday AM. Now it looks like we may not be able to leave until this weekend. I don't know if that will allow me to go with Tom and Amy. I will have to call my boss back in Perth and see if I can get another week off.

One boat did leave port, one day early. The Sandpiper UK is now about half way to Australia. They are getting pretty beat up by the waves generated by Xavier. But they are out of harms way because they are putting more and more distance between them and the cyclone.

Tom and Amy are thinking about renting a hotel room if the cycle hit here. There really is not much you can do in the middle of a hurricane. So there is no point to staying on board and risk getting killed. All you can do it battan down everything as much a possible and cross your fingers. I still want to stay on board to run any pumps should we get a leak. But I think Capt. Tom is going to order me off.

So in the meantime we wait for the weather to clear by going to the bar and getting drunk while watching the World Series and Monday Night Football on satellite TV. That was a treat. Today we are heading for a noon drinking feast for game 3 of the world series. I talked to Jill, of Jill's American Cafe here in Port Vila. She is going to deliver us a big box of nachos for the game. Cool!

BTW... Jill's makes good mexican food. I've had her breakfast burittos everyday since I got here. Yum!

Nothing else exciting to report. I've been working on the Sandpiper's computers, getting them all up to snuff. I've brought a shit-load of new music and podcasts and other media with me. So all the other yatchies are coming over with their computers to get a copy. Most of the have been stuck with the same small music collection for months now. So they are realy craving some new stuff.

We bought Nacho Libre on DVD yesterday and watched it on board. I love that movie. It is very funny in it's own subtle way. Life is good... yes indeed.

More later.. check the Sandpiper's blog for more updates.

Women - Know your limits!

2006-10-20T15:21:00.000+08:00

Hey.. I'm gotta run off to catch my flight to Vanuatu. I'll be posting updates on the Sandpiper's Blog. In the meantime, I think you will really enjoy this public service film called "Women - Know Your Limits!".

And oh yea... for Chris. I feel fine. I'm super confident all will be fine. I will know for sure in later November when I go back in for follow up tests. Ya'll have a happy Holloween.

Ron

Mid October Update

2006-10-18T09:41:00.000+08:00

Greetings...

Sorry for the long absense. I haven't updated since mid August, for multiple reasons. And, I won't be able to post again until the middle of November.

Since mid August, I've been away on a couple of trips. I went home to Santa Barbara to help out on the Santa Barbara Triathlons. I also took a road trip out the Kalgoorlie in the Western Australia Gold Fields for the Kalgoorlie Cup, a horse race out there.

Right now I am getting ready to leave to join my brother on his sailboat, the S/V Sandpiper, in Vanuatu in the South Pacific. I am going to crew with him and his wife on a voyage across the Coral Sea to Queensland Australia. So, I won't be around any Internet access for a few weeks.

Before I left for California, I broke down and bought myself something that I've wanted for years and year. A good camera. I've never taken a lot of photos in the past because I do not like the images produces with your average point-n-shoot camera. I've been lusting over the new generation of Digital SLR's from Canon and Nikon since they first hit the market in the late 1990's.

So I bought myself a Canon 30D... a semi-professional 8MP Digital SLR. What a sweet camera. It takes amazing pictures. So I have been spending a lot of my free time learning how to use it. I created an online photo gallery at Fotki. Click here to go to my new photo gallery. I'm really happy with this purchase. I know that it will last me for years and allow me to take good photos for the rest of my life.

I also had a cancer scare. I was very sick in September and was diagnosed with a strong possiblity of prostate cancer. I've been getting treatment for the last few weeks with some powerful meds, which have left me very tired. So I have not had a lot of energy at the end of the day. The good news that the it looks like it won't be cancer, but instead a serious infection of the urinary tract system. Same symptoms. I will know for sure when I get back after the boat trip and get some more tests done. But after three weeks of treatments I feel a lot better, stopped bleeding, and the pain has dropped significantly.

I've also been super busy getting ready for this sailing trip, trying to get some work projects put to bed. I've been collecting, organizing, and burning hundreds of gigabytyes digital media for Tom and Amy to enjoy while on the boat. That has taken more time than I anticipated. It should keep them entertained for a good six months at sea!

So until I get back from my voyage, please check out my photo gallaries. I posted photos from the trip to Santa Barbara, the trip out to Kalgoorlie, my trip out to Uluru earlier this year, and some other misc. albums.

Major update to Recommend Software List

2006-09-13T12:58:00.000+08:00

I've made a lot of changes to my Recommened Software for Windows List. I've added some new tools and utilities that have come to my attention in the last year.

Things can change for the better!

2006-08-18T15:39:00.000+08:00

Despite all the bad crap happening in the Middle East, don't forget that people can change for the better over time.

For example... look at how much the US has changed over the last 50 years. Nowadays when 100 white men chase one black man, it's no longer called a Klu Klux Klan lynching. It's PGA tour.

Coming soon! The New & Improved Arab "Solution"

2006-08-15T15:00:00.000+08:00

Following up on yesterday's post about how the dictators of the Arab states have lost control of their "solution" to the Israeli "problem". In brief, the Persian (Iran) Shiites have produced an improved "solution" to the "problem" that that Arab kleptocracies use to justify their power. Hezbollah has proven to be more effective at getting rid of those pesky Jews than the Arab Unity solution of old.

Now, I am afraid, that yesterday's cease fire is only a lull before the storm. The Arab dictators are not going to sit by and allow Hezbollah to steal their customers without a fight. It won't be long before we see the new and improved "Arab Unity" (tm) product come out.

The new product will strive to show the Arab street that they, not Hezbollah, have the balls to do even more damage to Israel. If Hezbollah can lob 3000 missles into Israel, then just wait to see what the new product can do!

I'm deadly serious here. I know I am coming across as being smart ass about this. But I've been following the blogs of a lot of people who are in the Middle East, and it is starting to happen.

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is doing everything they can do tie themselve to Hezbollah in the minds of the Egyptian public. They have been plastering posters all over congratulating Hezbollah on their brilliant victory over Israel.

In Syria today, dictator for life baby Assad proclaimed that he is going to take back the Golan Heights from Israel. He threathened Israel with "great harm" if they attack Syria. Since Syria claims that the Golan Heights is theirs, it won't take much to consider anything Israel does there as an attack on Syria.

In Iraq, where the Sunni's and Shites are in a de-facto civil war, the Iran backed Shites are emboldend by the victory of Hezbollah. Don't expect any compromises there. Just more killing.

The Sunni ruled Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia have forced their Muslim leaders to issue proclamations reminding their citizens not to look to Hezbollah as heros because they are Shites. Just to remind you, the state religion of Saudi Arabia, Wahhabbism, hates Shites. No doubt that the kings and princes who rule the Gulf States are shaking in their boots right now.

Thanks to Iran, the dictators of the Arab states find themselves in a jam. They don't want to go to war with Israel. They want things to go back to how they were. A never-ending conflict using the Palastinians as cannon-fodder for a morbib theater of mass-distraction. The Roman empire did the same thing by putting on gladiator games to the death to distract the Roman citizens while the empire was looted.

Large numbers of their citizens sense that Israel is on the ropes, ready to fall. They demand that their government finish them off by striking now as hard as they can. They demand that the dictators do what they always claimed they would do if given a chance.

So what are they going to do? Their options are getting pretty limited.

They could try to undo all the lies and propaganda they have produced. Too late for that! The did such as good job of telling everyone that Israel is the reason for all their problems that if they tried to say anything to the contrary now, they would appear to be part of the problem.

They could declare war on Israel and attack. Not a good idea. They tried this three times before and ended up having their asses handed to them on a platter each time.

They could do nothing. Then they would loose credibility in the eyes of their citizens, who will then flock to the opposition parties who are trying to do a "Me Too" with Hezbollah.

They could get medival with their own citizens and brutally remind them who has the weapons and power in their country. But that might envoke a coup, because the military might not back the dictators on this one.

My prediction? I think there will be a lot of saber ratteling in the next few weeks. Egypt's Mubarak will find himself with no option but to rip up the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement that has been in place since 1976. Saudi Arabia will find themselves having to declare a state of war with Israel, but not attacking.

The states will then beg for time while they "prepare" for battle. You will see lots of moving around of troops, lots of smoke, but actually very little fire.

If they are really smart, and really evil, they will put their political opposition in the firing line. Perhaps they will allow these nuts to go ahead and attack Israel, just like Lebanon alloed Hezbollah to do. Then they will sit back and watch as Israel slaughters them. Let Israel do the dirty work for them.

So, it ain't over yet.

Airline Security

2006-08-14T22:48:00.001+08:00

Thanks to all the Islamic fuckwads that want to go to heaven by killing hundreds of infidels, we now have turned the experience of airline travel into something akin to a prison intake process. If cocaine and herion smugglers can slip massive amounts of drugs into countries on airplanes. Then what makes the stupid security people think that they can stop explosives? How hard is it going to be for a terrorist to jam a roll of plastic explosives up his asshole? If drug mules can cram condoms full of coke inside their body cavities. Then why can't these jerks do the same.

So are we going to have full body cavity searches soon?

I have to fly to Los Angeles next week. Thanks assholes. Now I can't bring a bottle of water. I can't brush my teeth with toothpaste. I can't put anti-perspirant. I can't use saline nasal spray to keep my nose from clogging up. I can't use chap-stick to keep my lips from peeling in the dry air. Thanks a fucking hell of a lot.

You know what we should do? We should give each passenger a hand gun. Each seat can be equiped with a pistol in the arm rest. If some stupid terrorist tried to hijack or terrorize a plane, then all the other passengers are free to shoot him (or them) in the head.

That will make anyone think twice about fucking around on flight.

Shitty job no sane person wants

2006-08-14T22:48:00.000+08:00

Wow. I can't believe that there are people on the planet stupid enough to think that they can stick their solders in southern Lebanon to act as a buffer between Hezbollah and Israel. They might as well issue them with vests with bulls eyes painted on them.

Who is the hell is going to be stupid enough to sit there and wait to be killed? So they are going to let Hozbollah run around, fully armed, doing what ever the hell they want. And they have to just sit there and wait to be attacked.

And the stupid peace-nicks can't understand why no country is jumping up and down to volunteer for this duty. Hello..... 1983 calling. Remember when the world tried to do the right thing and did this job? What did we get for it? Nothing but hundreds of dead US Marines. A bunch of dead French military too. Hezbollah simply sent suicide bombers in trucks to attack barracks.

I swear. The UN has their head so far up their ass that they think this is a solution. That is bullshit. If you are going to put servicemen and women in harms way, then give them everything they need to control the situation. Give them the resources and permission to do whatever it is they need to do their job. Including bombing the shit out of Hezbollah before they attack.

I think all Shehan and all those looser Hollywood leftist should go there and make a human shield. Let's see how long they live before Hezbollah kills them.

Arab dictators lost control of their "solution"

2006-08-14T22:29:00.000+08:00

Sorry I have not written anything in a long time. I've been extremely busy with work, which has just left me too tired to sit on a computer to work on personal things.

There was a tetonic shift in the politics of the Middle East today. Enough to get me to mention this development. Today Israel and Hezbollah have entered into a cease fire. Hezbollah has, in the eyes of the Arab world, beat Israel.

In the world of advertising, the most basic method used to sell something is to (a), create a problem, then (b) sell the solution. You see this all the time in everything from cars, shampoo, medicine, electronics, and even politics. For example, ads tell you that you might have dandruff, and will be embarrassed by your friends (the problem). The solve this problem, you can buy their sponsor's downdraft shampoo (the solution).

As I've mentioned before in this blog, the ruling dictators of the Arab world have used this same principal over the last 70 years to sell themselves to their own citizens. It is why the Palestinian problem still goes on and on for 4 generations now.

In this case, the dictators of Arab middle east create a problem. The problem is the oppression of the Palestinians by the evil Jews of Israel (and their American sponsors). This problem is perfect for them. They use it as an excuse to justify their rule, to suppress political opposition, to ignore human rights, to ignore abuse of authority, and so on.

They sell themselves as the solution to this problem. They claim that they are holding up the dignity or fellow Arabs, or Muslims. They claim that they can't address the grievances of their own citizens while their poor Palestinian "brothers" continue to be repressed.

And to their credit, they have been extremely successful with this. They have managed to stay in power and make themselves and the friends rich. They have managed to keep this "problem" from being solved. It is a perpetual problem, and they are the perpetual solution.

But, their "problem" has gotten away from them, and now it may be their cause of their undoing.

September 11 demonstrated that their problem has turned vicious and had spread internationally. The hatred they fostered at home against Israel (and America) in order to distract their people from revolting muted into something they never imagined. They lost control of it. They had created a monster, and it was now loose in the world.

At first, they pretended it didn't exist. Only when this monster attacked Saudi Arabia and Egypt did they finally wake up and realize what they did. But it was too late. They are trying to get their monster back, but they can't.

Now, they have a more serious problem. They have competition. A new "solution" to their problem has appeared. It's name is Hezbollah. And the recent war with Israel has shown that Hezbollah not only talks the talk, but walks the walk. The Arab citizens are starting to notice, and it scares the shit out of the Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

For so long they have pounded the message that Israel is the problem and the cause of their misery that their citizens now accept it without question. It is as fundamental as the sky is blue and water is wet. They can't undo it.

So now Hezbollah shows up with a better solution. The citizens of Egypt, Kuwaiti, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab dictatorships are now looking at their governments and asking "How was Hezbollah able to do in one month what you could not do in 40 years?"

Naturally, the next question is going to be, "How can I replace you with Hozbollah?" That is why so many Sunni Arabs, especially opposition groups like The Muslim Brotherhood, are trying to align themselves with Hezbollah. This attraction is powerful enough to even overcome the inter-religion difference of Sunni Arabs and Persian Shiites.

It is funny that these same Arab dictators never imagined that a better "solution", other than themselves, could ever come along when they decided to make their perfect problem.

Sorry about the absence

2006-05-27T15:57:00.000+08:00

Sorry that I've been so quiet. I have been literally working way too many hours and have had no time to even read blogs or news in the last few weeks. Man I need a break.

There are a lot of things going on that I want to comment on. But since I only have a few minutes to spare right now, I am going to stay on a light note and mention some of the more humorous things that I have stumbled across.

The Worst Act... EVER.
One of my favorite films is Mel Brooks' "The Producers" which he made in 1968. I know that there is a new version... which I have not seen. I can't image how they could hope to top the original.

The premise of the story is a sleazy Broadway theatrical producer figures out that he can make more money by producing a flop than a success. So he goes about attempting to put together the worst possible musical production in history. He buys a script from a crazy ex-German Nazi called "Springtime For Hitler". He hires an egotistic beatnik hippie to direct. And he hires the worst actors that have every tried their hand at the art. He reckons that he has a sure-fire flop of magnificent proportions.

Of course things don't go as planned. The play is so bad that is becomes a critical, and unfortunately for him, a financial success.

The Cherry Sisters

Well I found out today, through an obscure link in a comment regarding a blog in Maine, that the story behind the film does has roots in reality. Ever heard of the "The Cherry Sisters"? The seem to have the distinction of producing and starring in the worst vaudeville act in history. Their show was SO bad that local grocers could not stock enough rotten vegetables to sell to the audience.

In 1886, New York City impresario Oscar Hammerstein contracted them for his new Olympia Music Hall in "uptown" Broadway and 44th Street. He was going bankrupt, and needed to figure out at way to save himself. So he decided to book the worst possible act he could find. He succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. In 6 weeks he had paid off all his debts... and the Manhattan tomato sellers made a fortune.

I can't do justice to what is written about these women. Besides being famous for being the worst act ever. They also played a part in the legal history of the United States because a lawsuit they brought against a theater critic for the cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette for his savage review of their show. The courts eventually ruled that the reporters and writers were entitled to write what they felt without fear of defamation and libel. But that was after one judge had ordered this critic to marry one of the Cherry Sisters as punishment.

Here are the links to better coverage of this act, and the amount of fury they unleashed when they took their show on their road throughout the US and Canada.

Wikipedia Summary
Radio station WFMU's Lowest Common Denominator magazine has an excellent article.
The Palimpsest, an Iowa history magazine, has a good article about them.

Robot Chicken's "Golden Girls meet Sex In The City".

I don't have cable or satellite television. So I don't get to watch Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. But I am very aware of some of the brilliant animation work that is being made and broadcast on that program.

One show in particular that has really caught my eye is Robot Chicken. I've been lucky enough to see samples and out-takes of this stop-action animated show, thanks to sites like YouTube. If you have 3 minutes to watch one sample of this briliant show, then watch this one.

Golden Girls meets Sex in the City

Man... I was on the floor laughing so hard. Another excellent parody is this Star Wars spoof where Emperor Palpatine has to take a collect phone call from Darth Vader after the Death Star is blown up.

Pamela of "Atlas Shrugs" kicks ass

2006-05-13T17:46:00.000+08:00

Man I love this woman. She is one of my favorite bloggers. Pamela is a fiesty New York City Jewish ball of energy who writes and rants in her right-wing blog "Atlas Shrugs". She has recently added a feature a feature to her blog, video blogging. Also known as as vblog. She has created short videos of herself talking about subjects that she is passionate about.

I tend to agree with a lot of what she feels. I'm not as far right as her. But I enjoy reading her work. Now seeing her video rants I can see that she is not only intelligent and opinionated. She is also good looking. Brains and beauty.... worth watching and listening to.

I crack up whenever I watch her videos. She doesn't intend to be funny. She is just being herself. She has a very strong personality, and a thick New York accent. She sounds a bit like Fran Dresser from the TV show "The Nanny". Except in Pamela's case, what comes out of her mouth is worth listening to. It is her mannerisms that make me laugh. She is so expressive!

In particular, watch this vblog. In this one she asks what I think is either her daughter or her niece, about George Clooney's politics. This part happens within the first minute, so you don't have to watch the whole thing if you don't want to.
Pamela: "Margo. What do you think about George Clooney talking about Darfur?"
Margo: "I think....."
Pamela: "Yea."
Pamela interrupts Margo and looks at the camera: "Let me tell you what she thinks. OK? This is what she thinks. She thinks he is an idiot. Alright?..."
Pamela continues her rant about Clooney. The look on poor Margo's face when Pamela takes over is priceless. You can almost see her thinking "Oh well... There she goes again. I'm not getting a word in edgewise today."

I watched this entry today and pissed myself laughing. She did something that I am certain she didn't even know she had done. Within the first few seconds she looks at the camera and says "Anyways. Listen...". Then her right hand instinctively flashes across the screen as she snaps her fingers to catch your attention. I don't know why I find that funny. It just does. She is so in-your-face. I like that.

Well I hope doesn't take offence at anything I said. I don't think she will. If I ever go to New York, I would love to have the opportunity to debate international politics with her over a drink. I would consider it honor if I could stand toe-to-toe with her.

Assimilation of immigrants - Europe versus US

2006-05-13T15:57:00.000+08:00

I've been following a lot of articles and blogs discussing the failure of western European nations to assimilate their Arab immigrant populations. These articles and discussions often compare the immigrate experience of the US as compare to Europe. The consensus is that in the US, the children of immigrants are totally assimilated into the US by the time they reach adulthood. They note that African and Arab immigrants to Europe seem to be stuck as second class citizens, crammed in to ghettos, and denied opportunities to grow.

I'm not saying the the US is better or worse. Nor is either side of the Atlantic perfect. But observers note that in the US, Arab immigrants tend to universally be totally plugged and integrated into the US culture.

These articles then tend to go on to speculate as to why this is. These is where they tend to go off the rails with racist crap, US bashing, Europe bashing, Arab bashing, etc. I think the reason for this is very simple. It is simply a statistical quirk caused by some very real "environmental" conditions. I put the word "environmental" in quotes because I mean the environment that an immigrate lives and works.

I've broken down the reasons for these differences below.

(1) Proximity to the Middle East.
The Turks and other ME immigrants can literally drive to German in one or two long days. It allows immigrates to visit home quicker. The visits home reinforce their old culture. It also allows more of their kinfolk to join them in Europe. Which reduces the need to assimilate.

Conversely, moving to the US from the Middle East takes a lot more effort. It costs more money. It takes more time. So once a poor immigrant is in the US, they tend to stay put.

(2) Legal versus Illegal
Because of the proximity to the middle east, Europe tends to get more illegal immigrants from near by Middle East and North Africa. In the US, most of our illegal immigrants come from nearby Mexico and Central America. Hence, Europe's illegals are statistically going to be Arab or African. And the US's illegals are statistically going to be Latin American.

Being an illegal is tough. They have to stay below the radar, and tend to stick together for. It is no different here or in Europe.

(3) Size of US versus Europe.
The scale of size and the homogeneously of the US makes it much easier to move around within the US. When an immigrant arrives in the US, they have an enormous choice of places to settle. In Europe, the nations there are the size of small to medium US states.

(4) US car culture.
Even when one particular immigrant group tends to congregate in one city, such as Armenians and Iranians in Los Angeles, the size of the US cities forces them to diversify. The US car culture is what allows this to happen.

People tend to scatter throughout the city depending on housing prices, job locations, and commuting. Hence, they end up interacting with other Americans. The car allows people more choices on where to live. Thusly, other factors such housing prices, school districts, proximity to work are much larger factor in deciding where to sink one's roots.

Compare that to Europe were some neighborhoods are very segmented by ethnic and culture classes. In large European cities, one can pretty much stick to their neighborhood and get everything they need. It most US cities, it is hard to survive in one spot without a car.

In the US, the children of immigrates tend to grow up and move the other states, cities, and neighborhoods. They do not want to live next door to mom and dad.

(5) The Social Care Net.
I think the fact that the US does not have universal health care and relatively harsh welfare benefits tends to discourage those who wish to migrate simple to be taken care of. You don't move the US to get health care for your family unless you plan to work to pay for it.

I think we tend to get the more enterprising immigrants. We get those who want to improve their lot in life by working hard and having the opportunity to be rewarded for risks. I think the US tends to get the cream of the crop, so to speak.

(6) Business opportunities
I can't answer to if it easer to start a business in Europe or the US. But I think it is safe to say that it is probably easer in the US. More important is the fact that a business owner will be able to keep more of their profits in the US.

It might be true that some European nations have made it easier for small business to get started. But after the business grows, they are subjected to the full weight of supporting the welfare-nanny state.

In the US, it seems that the larger the business, and the wealthier one is, the less one has to pay in taxes. So if you have big plans, then the US is the place to be. If you want to stay small and safe, then go to Europe.

(7) The US Higher Education System.
There is to parts to this. (A) is opportunity, and (B) is location.

Opportunity: In Europe, teenagers tend to be forced in to one of two "life tracks". They are either put on the labor track and given industrial training. Or they are put on the university track and to get a degree and become a professional. These decisions are made, or made for them, when they are around 14 years old. Once put on the labor track, it tends to reinforce itself.

In the US, every teenager is encouraged to attend college and get a degree. It does not matter what their plans are for a career. In the US I think that people know that teenagers really don't know what they want to do when they grow up. You can stay in school in the US until 21 and still not decide to be a doctor or a plumber.

This system allows more teenagers to mature and to experience higher education. This will give them a chance to realize that they can do more with their lives.

Location: In the US, when a teenager decided to attend college, they usually leave home, often to another city within their state. They get immersed into a college town culture. This opens up a huge world to them of new people and ideas. It breaks them out of the little world their parents sheltered them in. When they go back home, they see their family and neighborhood with new eyes and new ideas. Their world is now bigger than anything their immigrant parents could even envision.

In Europe, college students tend to live a home with mom and dad. Within the school, then tend to stick within clicks of their own type. They don't tend to break out of their cultural shell as much.

So between the greater opportunities to even attend a university, and the total immersion that occurs when one does go, it greatly increases the odds that the children of immigrates will assimilate.

(8) Nationalism
The US is a nation of immigrants. Europe is a collection of nations, each with their own language, history, and culture. In the US, citizens tend to think of themselves as Americans first, then their state second. This is the opposite of Europe, where one's loyalty is to their nation before Europe.

Hence. It is harder to assimilate in Europe. It takes a long, long time to become a citizen who is indistinquishable from the locals. Immigrants, and he children of immigrants, find it harder to be totally accepted. I'm sure it can be veyr frustrating to someone who was born and raised in Europe to be treated like they just got off the boat that morning.

Another day at the welfare office

2006-05-05T09:11:00.000+08:00

Sorry I have not posted anything. Been very busy. There is a lot that I want to write about.

A guy walks into the local welfare office, marches straight up to the counter and says, "Hi... You know, I just HATE drawing welfare. I'd really rather have a job."

The social worker behind the counter says, "Your timing is excellent. We just got a job opening from a very wealthy old man who wants a chauffeur and bodyguard for his beautiful nymphomaniac daughter. You'll have to drive around in his Mercedes, and he'll supply all of your clothes. Because of the long hours, meals will be provided. You'll be exected to escort her on her overseas holiday trips. You will have to satisfy her sexual urges. You'll be provided a two-bedroom apartment above the garage. The starting salary is $200,000 a year."

The guy, wide-eyed, says, "You're bullshittin' me!"

The social worker says, "Yeah, well... you started it."

Hat Tip: Robin

The Great Beaver Rescue Effort

2006-04-29T08:30:00.000+08:00

You have to take a five minutes and listen to this short story from NPR's "All Things Considered". The story teller is Kevin Kling from Minneapolis. I've listened to it 6 times so far and I keep pissing myself laughing. This is clean and safe for work.

Our storyteller shares the tale of an animal rescue -- or an attempt at an animal rescue -- involving a beaver, a box, great compassion and perhaps a bit too much beer.

Enjoy!
It is is Window's Media Player format.

Some terrible laws headed our way in the US

2006-04-26T17:13:00.000+08:00

I've become aware of some really terrible laws that being put together that look like they have a good chance of becoming implemented. These are laws related to information technology, specifically the Internet and copyright protection. The problem with these laws is that they have been bought and paid for by a handful of large companies of the telephone, movie, and music industries. The congressmen and senators who are voting on these bills are absolutely clueless about what the a horrible mess they are going to unleash.

If allowed to happen, we in the US will loose our edge in information technology. These bills will kill innovation. They will kill the very thing the US invented, the Internet. The average US citizen will have a fraction of the information service that the rest of the world has, or will have.

And all of this is because the traditional telephone and entertainment companies can't figure out how to change and compete. Rather than do that, they have decided to kill the Internet so they can continue their old business models.

Network Nutrality
The first major one is what is called "Network Nutrality". Congress wants to take this core prinipal of the Inetnet away from Americans. They are going to hand the Internet over to AT&T and and handful of other providors, who will then get to decide exactly what you get to use the internet for.

We are not talking about charging more for more data. We are talking about preventing you from using Skype (Voice over IP) to make free telephone calls on the Internet connection you already have and pay for. Why would these companies want to kill VoIP? Because it competes with their traditional long-distance service. These laws will allow them to look at exactly what you are using the internet for, and then either blocking, or charging extra, depending on what it is.

The problem is that on the Internet, everything is just packets. The Internet doesn't care if that packet contains an email, web page, part of a VoIP telephone call, or what. The internet's only function is to deliver packets of data as quickly and reliably as it can. How would you like it if you find one day that you can not use Skype because your ISP has decided to slow it down to where it is unusable. And then wants to charge your $10-$20 more a month to get it back?

See this web site for more information about this.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The DCMA is back, and it is worse than ever. This was a set of laws passed by Congress around 2001 and killed by the courts for being unconstitutional. This is the one that Hollywood wants. In a nutshell, you can go to prison for decades for even thinking about bypassing any copy or use protection system that Hollywood implements.

The problems are multiple. Hollywood wants to dictact how you use the content that you purchase. They tried to kill VCR's when they first came out. But the courts ruled that people have the right to time-shift TV shows and watch them when they want. Not when the TV station dictates. It is called "Fair Use". When you by a CD, why can't you play that music you bought in your car, home, and portable player? Now Hollywood wants to control when, where, and how you are to enjoy the content that YOU paid for.

Another serious problem is that the technical solutions that Hollywood has introduced are terrible and intrusive. They spy on you. They break your computers. They can do anything they want. And if you attempt to discover exactly what they are doing (even beyond their role of protecting the content from misuse), or attempt to prevent it from doing things that you feel are not right, then you are a felon and go to prison.

Let's say you buy a CD or DVD. They company that sells that can install any thing they want on it. They don't have to tell you what they are doing. They can install software on your compter that tells them everything about you. They can see what web sites you visit. They can capture your passwords. And legally, according to the DMCA, you are not allowed to even ask any questions. All these extra things they do all fall under the protection of the DMCA. It puts corporate America inside your computers, spying on you, and telling you what you can and can not do.

Read more here.

The Future
To be honest, the future of the home computer, entertainment, and the Internet in the US looks very bad right now. The telephone companies want to control where you can go on the net and what functions you use. Hollywood wants to control what goes on inside your computer.

Please write a letter to your Congressman and your two state Senators telling them to keep their paws of your Internt and computer.

A sane voice in Egypt

2006-04-25T13:02:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, one of the resorts on Egypt's Red Sea coast was the latest victim of Islamic fanatics. Suicide bombers attacked a hotel there and killed from 20 to 100 people. The news still is being sorted out.

Some of my favorite bloggers are Egyptian. They are even muslim. But they hate the insanity that seems to be gripping their country, driving people to murder in the name of God.

One of the blogger's I follow is MindBleed. He has a post that I think is worth reading that he wrote after the guy went on a stabbing rampage at some Alexandria Christian churches a couple of weeks ago. In particular, this paragraph I think sums up his point better than anything I could hope to write.

Violent Muslims, loonies, terrorists, fundies, whatever you want to call them, are the most selfish creatures ever created on God’s earth. They are willing to inflict pain and suffering on fellow man and beast only to get some cheap gate pass to Heaven. Instead of toiling at ‘life’ like the rest of us sorry fucks, these idiots think they can hop onto the superhighway to heaven by chopping other people’s heads off and pointing to God and saying ‘gimme gimme.’

Read the rest of the post here.

The 50th anniversary of the simple metal box that changed the world

2006-04-24T19:01:00.000+08:00

Fifty years ago, on 26-April-1956, the cargo ship Ideal-X left left the port of Newark, New Jersey on a six day voyage to the port of Houston, Texas. What made this ship and voyage remarkable is what it what was onboard. It was hauling 58 35-foot containers. The containers were simple large metal boxes with cargo inside of them. It was the first container ship.

The ship and containers belonged to Malcom McLean of North Carolina. What he did that day revolutionized the shipping industry world wide. It was his creation that created the mass-consumer market of today... the Wal-Marts, Ikeas, and Targets. It is what allowed the Asian counties to become the economic tigers of today.

His idea now allows products to moved almost anywhere on the planet cheaply and quickly. What used take a week and 200 men now takes less than 10 hours and 20 men. It reduced the shipping expense of the average product from 15% to 1%. It has almost eliminated theft and breakage in shipping, which used to be serious problems. It allows fresh produce to be grown in one part of the planet, and shipped and consumed in another part of the planet.

It may not seem like much. But the containerization and intermodal ability of freight transport has had an enormous impact on the world and our lives over the last 50 years. I think it ranks up there with the telephone, computers, airplanes, the Interstate Highway System, the Internet, and Global Positioning Satellites. These are things that make the modern world work, and difficult to imagine life without them.

Malcom McLean died in 2001. He certainly deserves a toast. At the age of 42, he sold his successful trucking company that took him 20 years to build. He took a gamble on his idea. The world shrank that day, and made us all a part of a global economy.

Here are a couple of good articles about the revolution that was launched that day.

The Aussie Ute - Ford & GM's Salvation?

2006-04-23T21:33:00.000+08:00

It baffles me as to why Ford and General Motors continue to loose market share in the US while they make and sell some pretty awesome vehicles overseas. It think that it just demonstrates how US-centric the executives in charge are.

So here we are in early 2006. Fuel prices are at record highs. The market for Ford and GM's SUV's and trucks is drying up as customers realize they can no longer afford to fill the fuel tank and frequently as needed. The Japanese, Koreans, and Germans are killing the Americans in the smaller car market. The luxury brands from overseas
are taking the best SUV and luxury car customers. What is a poor American car company to do?

Duh! How about looking at their own company for ideas? And guess what? Both GM and Ford have an answer right here in Australia. They have been making and selling something here for a long, long time that the Japanese and Europeans don't even have. It is called the "Ute".

A Ute is the Australian pick-up truck. It is actually a breed of car based pickup trucks. Ute is short for "Utility", because it is used for work. Unlike the classic American style pickup truck in the US, such as Ford's F-150 and the Chevy Colorado, the Ute is lower, sleeker, and slightly smaller. The front end, from the cab forward, is a 2-seater, sporty, coupe style, muscle car. The rear bed is often a shallow aluminum tray, but is actually a proper bed on the city models.

Holden Ute

Ford Ute

I think they are beautiful vehicles. They get much better mileage than the American pickups. They have powerful motors, are fast, and they look mean and sexy.

GM owns the only Australian car company, Holden. Holden makes a line of Utes. So does Ford Australia. They compete with each other for the loyalty of the Australian ute buyer, which is usually a male in his 20's or 30's.

But... there is a problem that Ford and GM need to overcome. In US, the legacy of their previous car/truck models, the Chevy El Camino and the Ford Ranchero is not good. Neither model is made any more, having been killed around 1980 by fuel and quality problems. The biggest problem is going to be getting past the image of these class of vehicle preferred by ignorant trailer-park trash.

You can thank Congress for that. They put these vehicles in the car group, while pickup trucks like the Chevy S10 where in the truck class. The truck class is exempt from safety and fuel economy requirements of the car class. So Ford and GM focused on Pickups and SUV's and let the car/truck die.

Now that we have come full circle and the market for the truck class vehicles has dried up, it is time to take a good look at the modern Aussie Ute. Both GM and Ford and going to have to give up on trying to use the old El Camino and Ranchero names. There is too much baggage with them. Just call them what they call them here in Australia. It could be the Chevy SS Ute and the Ford XR6.

I think they will sell well, if they don't f**k it over like GM did last year with the Australian Monaro.

Ah... the Monaro. In 2005 GM took a great Aussie muscle car, the Holden Monaro, and imported it to the US. But they couldn't leave well enough alone. I guess some GM executives had to justify their jobs by making changes rather then just selling them, as-is, off the boat from Australia. They changed the name, calling it the Pontiac GTO. They changed the body and drive train, which introduced quality problems. They softened the look and made it look like it had it balls cut off. Then they over-priced it and tried to sell it to middle age men family men. GM ended up killing it after one year. I wrote about that fiasco here.

You know, the US car companies were able to make the working-class pickup truck the preferred choice of soccer mom's and suburbia America by turning it into the SUV. They should be able to overcome the history of the El Camino/Ranchero and turn the Ute into a very successful and profitable vehicle. If you are top executive with Ford or GM in Detroit, please pull you head out of you ass and look down-under. What do you have to loose at this point?

But I'm not holding my breath.

"Big Brother 6" on Aussie TV

2006-04-23T21:20:00.000+08:00

I went upstairs for a minute. Robin and her boyfriend are up there in the lounge watching the first episode of the Australian "Big Brother 6" (as in the 6th season) on TV.

I've never watched that show, here, or in the US. If I wanted to sit around and watch a dumbass sitting there scratching his ass, then I will just put a web-cam on myself. I don't get it. Do people actually watch this program? Why?

Of course my imagination goes wild when I think about what I would do if I where in charge of producing Big Brother! I would take my inspiration from the classic Agatha Christie's mystery thriller "And Then There Were None". I would introduce an physco serial killer into the house, and then lock them all in. Only one gets out alive.

General Motors... RIP

2006-04-23T20:32:00.000+08:00

General Motors, and to a lesser extent, Ford, appear to have failed to learn the lessons of the 70's and 80's. They failed to anticipant the needs of the American car owners and find themselves stuck without a profitable models that people want to buy. The market for their cash cows, SUVs, has dried up thanks to rising oil prices. Their smaller, more fuel effecient models, are being pummeled by the Japanese and European competitors.

In the 1990's, when fuel was cheap, they bet the company on SUV's. It paid off handsomely. They had something that the Japanese and Europeans car companies were not offering the American market. But they failed to take that money and plan for a day when the SUV market would cool off, or when their compeitiors would start to take their customers in the SUV market.

The day of reckoning is finally here. GM looks like it is going to end up in bankruptcy. Despite the fact they claim they don't want to, it is going to happen. They don't have a choice. If GM does file, they could emerge as a company without the burdens of debt, dead products lines (such as Oldmobile & Buick), pension obligations, and most important, union contracts. No company (that I can think of) is really going to want to buy their assets of factories and unsold stock.

Ford is not that far behind them. But I don't see Ford going bankrupt... willingly. The problem is that if GM does come out of BK without liabilites and most of their manufactoring assets, they could pose a serious competitive threat to Ford. GM will have the leeway to make cars and sell them for less than Ford. That will shave Ford's profit margins, and they will feel the need to similarlay shed their debts the same way in order to level the playing field.

The exact same things is happening in the airline industry. United went bankrupt. Delta is not far behind. The other large US carriers have already done it, or will, in order to compete against debt free competitors.

There is a wild card here. China. China is starting to build cars. They want to become a major car exporter like Japan and Korea. They can make their own brands and slug it out in the US market, taking years and years to build a customer base. Or, they could simply buy GM's factories, stock, and possibly even their name, in a bankruptcy sale. Wouldn't that be a surprise? If they come in with a decent offer, the bankruptcy judge would be obligated to sell. And the shareholders of GM would more than likely be glad to get something out of their holdings.

Perhaps if GM was to go "into play" with China making offers, then there are a couple of other options that could play out. First, Ford would be dumb not to buy GM. They could buy it simply to kill it and keep it from becoming a competitor. The problem is that Ford doesn't have the war chest to do this and win. Ford would have to borrow the money to do this. If they could convince investors that they kill GM and become the only major American car company, and compete sucessfully at home against Japan and Germany, then it might be a good bet.

Another option is Toyota might buy GM. Toyota is 10X the size the GM when measured by capitalization. Toyota could, if pressed, afford to eat GM, keep any good scraps, and throw away the rest. If Ford makes a serious play to buy and kill GM, then Toyota may have to do this.

The Chinese are going to find it hard to outbid Toyota for GM. Toyota wants to sell cars to China. They don't want to compete with the Chinese for the American car market. If China can make and sell cars in America to Americans, then they will eventually become stronger and stronger, just like the Japanese were in the 1970's, and Korea was in the 1990's.

So I'm betting that Toyota will end up buying and killing GM in the next 5 years after GM sheds its liabilites through bankruptcy.

Back from Uluru

2006-04-23T16:11:00.000+08:00

I'm back from my trip to Uluru, better known as Ayre's Rock, in the red center of Australia. Man, what a great trip! It is a stunning place.

Loretta had some frequent flyer miles that were going to expire at the end of January. She had enough miles to get her and I two tickets from Perth to Uluru. So we were able to fly for free. The hotels there are very expensive, so I opted to camp, which was very reasonable.

Impressions
My initial impression of the Uluru area? Lush! Seriously... It is so green. The photos you see of Uluru have what look like desert shrubs around the base. Those are not shrubs. They are trees. And, they are mostly PINE TREES. Who would have thunk? It feels like Arizona, but with pine trees instead of saguaro cacti.

Actually, they are not pine trees. They are technically an oak tree called The Desert Oak (Allocasuarina decaisneana). And their pine cones are technically fruit. They grow straight, have needles, and cones. They look like Christmas trees. Could have fooled me.

Another thing about the are that surprised me was how hilly it was. I was expecting it to be flat, like the famous Nullabor Plain to the south. It was hilly with mountains ringing the horizon.

The campground was great! It is part of the resort there. They have a free shuttle from the airport. The campground features nice soft green grass and shade trees trees. Hot showers, a pool, laundry, fridges, store, gas cooking grills, communal kitchen. All for $13 a night. It sure beat paying $300+ a night for a room across the road!

It rained two of the days were were there. The locals said that was very rare. But it was no big deal. It didn't rain that hard. And it didn't stop us from enjoying the place.

Uluru (Ayres Rock)
You can climb Uluru, weather permitting. They discourage it. The aboriginal tribe who own the area claim it is sacred, the center of the world, and don't like it trampled on. So it is strongly suggested to be politically incorrect and cultural insensitive to climb it.

I've never been politically correct, or sensitive. So I climbed it. When I got back to work, my more "enlightened" co-workers asked me, with a condescending tone in their voice, if I had climbed it. I answer "Yes I did. But I didn't enjoy it." That usually shuts them up.

Because of the rain the first day, the climbing was closed. That was fine. Instead we did the base hike which circumvents the rock. Wow! You must do this hike. It is not technical since it is flat. But it does take a few hours. It is so remarkable because the rock has a million faces. Every few minutes you should stop and take a look. The view is totally different, just a breathtaking, and an amazing natural wonder.

The second day was bright and clear. So we were able to climb to the summit. This is not a climb for people who are afraid of heights! The first part is very steep, about 45 degrees in some spots. It is so steep that there is a chain bolted into the face to hang on to.

About half way up, the path levels out a little more, and the chain ends. From there to the summit you have to climb up and down through the deep cuts in the rock. It is more technical here. Not for people out of shape of scared of heights.

The view from the summit is magnificent. You can see the horizon for 360 degrees, for what seems like 100 miles around.

The Olgas
Nearby is another large rock outcropping called Kata Tjuta (aka "The Olgas"). You can't climb them. There are a couple of hiking trails there. Kata Tjuta is beautiful, far more than Uluru. It features the most amazing canyons. If you come to Uluru, then you must take half a day at least and hike Kata Tjuta.

Aboriginals
Didn't see very many Aborginals around there. They have a cultural center near Uluru that is worth seeing. In the center they have photos of many of the tribe leaders and important people. But when the person dies, they have to remove the photo from the center because Aborginals do not believe that it is OK to see an image of person who is dead. So as you walk through the center, they have blacked out photos here and there as the person in the photo has since died.

Wildlife
We did catch some wildlife. There are feral camels roaming around. We saw some wild Dingos, and you can hear them yelping at night like coyotes in America. We saw some Thorny Devils
on the road, Honey Ants, Crested Pigeons, and a lot of lizards.

Suggestion For Vistors
Because I didn't have a car there, I was not able to get over to King's Canyon, which is about a 3 hour drive away. The next trip to Northern Territory, I will go there.

If you plan to go there, I recommend that you fly into Alice Springs, and then hire a station wagon from Alice Camp 'n' Drive. It is a company run by a couple of guys in Alice Springs who came up with a good idea. They rent full size Ford station wagons loaded with camping gear (tent, air mattress, cooler, lamps, stove, etc.). I saw a few of their wagons at the campsite and I talked to the campers who had rented them. They had nothing but praise for the outfit. They liked them because they didn't have a 7 day minimum like the camper van companies do. They are cheaper (I was quoted $120 a day), and get much better mileage than an RV. Plus you can opt to skip the tent and sleep in the back of the wagon.

Food is expensive at the Ayres Rock Resort! There is a small, overpriced grocery store there. However, if you rent a wagon in Alice Springs, and stock up at a grocery store there before you go, then you can save a lot of money.

What else? If you like your booze, then stock up in Alice Springs before driving over. There is only one place you can buy beer and wine, and they limit how much you can have. Not a problem for me since I am a one-beer-a-day guy. But since you are in the desert, and they have a limit a 6 beers a day, I can see where that would be a serious problem for some people I know.

Flying Glitches
I had a couple of traveling glitches. After camping and hiking for 3 days, I looked like a bit of a wild man with my unshaven face and dark tan. So when I went through security at the airport for the flight home, I was pulled aside for special attention and a screening of my clothes and luggage for explosives. Loretta asked them why they picked me, and they gave her the stock answer "It is random." Bull shit. We finally got the lady to admit that she selected me because I fit the profile of a hijacker. You know, male, dark, hair on face, scary looking. It happens to me often when I travel, especially when I am tired, or tanner than normal.

On the way to the airport, and at the airport, Loretta and I kept detecting the faint whiff of something smelly, like poo. But we could not figure out what it was. Every once in a while it would hit us. We checked everything. No luck. So we got on the plane and flew to Perth. On the flight we kept smelling it again? Was it us? Was it one of the fellow passengers who left with us that day?

That night when I got home and undressed, I found the source of the smell. There was some dog shit smeared on the side of my tennis shoes that I was wearing. Even though I had checked the bottom of my shoes at the airport, I had failed to notice the poop because it was the extact some color as the red dirt all over my shoes. I was so mortified and embarrassed. I had made my fellow bus and place passengers suffer because I couldn't see dog poop through the dirt.

So if you read on a blog somewhere on the net that some poor traveler flying out of Ayres Rock had a passenger from hell on board, a scary terrorist looking Yank who stank like poop, then it was me. I am so, so, sorry. *sigh*

Shit... I might be gay!

2006-04-23T14:01:00.000+08:00

I tried to guess who this mystery celebrity was, and failed. Oh no!

Russia to its pensioners... "Screw You"

2006-04-15T11:31:00.000+08:00

I see in today's headlines "Palestinians to get Russian aid".

I'm sure that is very comforting to the thousands of Russian pensioners and workers who are not getting paid at all. So instead of getting the money promised to buy a loaf of bread or oil to heat their flat this month. That money is going to help the Hamas terrorist buy new guns.

I'm not stupid enough to think that Russia is doing this out the goodness of their hearts. They are trying to buy political favors in the Middle East by trying to look like the good guy to short-sited Arabs.

So to the pensioners of Russia. Move to Palestine. It is warmer, and you will get your tax dollars to put food in your stomach.

Happy Easter... Off to Uluru!

2006-04-15T11:02:00.000+08:00

Have a great Easter Weekend all. Here is a little Easter card for you.

I am off to Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the red heart of Australia for a few days of camping and hiking. I'm flying over... it is a long ass drive! So no phone or computer for a few days.

Talk to you all when I get back later next week!

How to fold a T-Shirt

2006-04-11T21:16:00.000+08:00

Stumbled across this short little video that shows you how to fold a t-shirt, perfectly, on what looks like one smooth move. It is in Japanese, but you can see what she does. I have viewed it like 10 times so far and still don't get the last move when it call comes together.

The comments on the other blogs and boards about this video all claim that it works like magic and is worth learning. So I guess I wil try it. It looks about as hard as learning how to knot a tie.

How smart are ya, huh!?

2006-04-11T07:51:00.000+08:00

One-Question IQ Test

Here's a one-question IQ Test to help you decide how you should spend the rest of your day......

There is a mute who wants to buy a toothbrush. By imitating the action of brushing one's teeth, he successfully expresses himself to the shopkeeper and the purchase is done.

Now, if there is a blind man who wishes to buy a pair of sunglasses, how should he express himself?

Think about it first before scrolling down for the answer...
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He opens his mouth and says. "I would like to buy a pair of sunglasses"

If you got this wrong - please turn off your computer and call it a day. I've got mine shutting down right now.

Arrest Made in Malibu Ferrari Accident

2006-04-11T07:03:00.000+08:00

Well, Well, Well. It took long enough. Police have finally arrested the felon Swedish game executive that smashed up a $1 million Ferrari in Malibu in Februrary when they discovered that he didn't own any of the $3.5 worth of exotic million cars at this LA mansion.

Story here and here.

His wife was stopped driving their $600k Mercedes in Beverly Hills a few weeks ago. The police confiscated the Mercedes when the found it too was reported stolen by Scotland Yard. And his wife didn't have a drivers license (and never had one). They let her go home.

This is all part of the amazing story I've been tracking here.

Princess - From Southpark Guys

2006-04-10T07:52:00.000+08:00

I do love "South Park". And loved "Team America". Well, Trey and Matt have created a new cartoon named "Princess". It is NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!!, nor for kids. It is very raunchy, but I fell on the floor laughing. Oh Jesus... I'll be laughing all day now thinking of this one.

Condi... do the right thing.

2006-04-04T18:54:00.000+08:00

The mayor of London, Ken Livingston, is angry with the US ambassador because the US embassy staff have racked up over $250k worth of driving fees in central London and have refused to pay it. The mayor has decided to pick on the US, even though 55 other consulates and embassies, including that of Germany, also refuse to pay.

The reason that the US and other nations refuse to pay is because they consider the fee to be a tax, which they are exempt from.

Article 34 of The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations says, "a diplomatic agent shall be exempt from all dues and taxes, personal or real, national, regional or municipal." It includes exceptions, such as "charges levied for specific services rendered" and "registration, court or record fees, mortgage dues and stamp duty, with respect to immovable property,”

In 2003, London implemented a congestion charge for cars that enter central London. It was designed to reduce the traffic in that part of London. It apparently has worked very well, better than expected.

Personally, I think it is really chickenshit that we refuse the pay the fee simply because we don't HAVE to. This fee is not targeted for diplomates or us. It is applied to all cars in the area. We in the United States get upset because diplomates, especially UN diplomates driving in Manhattan, routinely rack up enormous parking fees, refuse to pay them, are exempt from prosecution for ignoring them.

The Golden Rule applies here. Do on to others as you wish others to do on to you. So please, Condi Rice. As our Secretary of State, please do the right thing and pay our fair share of the use of the roads of London.

Should I blog anonymously?

2006-04-01T18:38:00.000+08:00

I've received from feedback from friends and family that I consider blogging anonymously because of perceived danger to myself or others. In particular, they are concerned that my posts about the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority might drive come people to violence. Considering that the story involves convicted felons who are reported to be members of a Swedish Mafia, and terrorist, and anti-terrorist, and money.

My mom is one of the people. She told me that I like to get in people's faces. So, she is worried.

I don't feel that that I ask any questions that any other normal person would ask. I am always curious on how things work. How things got the way they are. Or why people make the decisions they do. Personally, I do not feel any danger. In the above case, I thought it was rather civil.

I expect people to be able to defend and explain their own decsions and actions. So I don't think that it is right that I should act like a coward and hide behind mask to ask the questions I want answered.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Job Situation Update

2006-04-01T18:31:00.000+08:00

March 31 is here. The last day of my work contract. They came through with an extention until the end of 2006. So that means I have a job until the end of the year. That is a relief. I was expecting to have to move back to the US in 4 weeks, with no place to live.

It feels like Autumn has arrivied here in Perth. The last few nights have been cool and days feel like Indian Summer. I noticed the leaves on the maple trees outside of work have started to turn red. The middle part of the state is getting slammed by a giant cyclone (hurricane) right now, which might explain why it is so cloudy down here today.

So, I am sleeping good tonight.

Cheers!

Really drunk Aussie driver

2006-03-30T15:00:00.000+08:00

Saw this on the news today.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A drunk driver just 100 yards from Australia's iconic giant monolith once known as Ayers Rock stopped police to ask the way to the 1,100-foot-high rock.

The headlights of the man's car were actually shining on Uluru, which has a 5.8-mile circumference, Northern Territory police said.

The 44-year-old man, whose car was also towing an aluminum boat, has been charged with drunk driving and unlicensed driving.

What makes it even funnier is that Uluru is the only thing out there. All around it is nothing bit flat, flat, flat destert. And, there are no lakes. What is the boat for?

40 Things You'd love to Say out Loud at Work

2006-03-29T22:43:00.000+08:00

Ever have one of those days at work when you just want to stand up and scream? Here is some ammo. Thanks SAS Andrew for the material.

I can see your point, but I still think you're full of crap.
I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce.
How about never? Is never good for you?
I see you've set aside this special time to publicly humiliate yourself.
I'm really easy to get along with once you people learn to see it my way.
Who lit the fuse on your tampon?
I'm out of my mind at the moment, but feel free to leave a message.
I don't work here - I'm a consultant.
It sounds like English, but I don't understand a damn word you're saying.
Ahhh. I see the stuff-up fairy has visited us again.
I like you. You remind me of myself when I was young and stupid.
You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.
I have plenty of talent and vision - I just don't give a damn.
I'm already visualising the duct tape over your mouth.
I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.
Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view.
The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.
What am I? Flypaper for freaks?
I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant.
It's a thankless job, but I've got a lot of karma to burn off.
Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
And your cry-baby whiny assed opinion would be?
Do I look like a f-ing people person to you?
This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left.
Sarcasm is just one more service we offer.
If I throw a stick, will you leave?
Errors have been made. Others will be blamed.
Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.
Oh, I get it. Like humour. Only different.
A cubicle is just a padded cell without the door.
Can I trade this job for what's behind door number 1?
Too many freaks, not enough circuses.
Nice perfume, but must you marinate in it?
Chaos, panic and disorder - my work here is finally done.
How do I set a laser printer to stun.
I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted a salary.
I'll try being nicer if you try being smarter.
Wait a minute - I'm just trying to imagine you with a personality.

San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority - More Answers

2006-03-29T18:18:00.000+08:00

"Yo" Maiwandi took the time to answer the remaining questions on my last post about this subject. Here is what he wrote. I've edited it slightly to make it more readable, but have not removed anything.

The SGVTA Contraversy

This is one part of a series of posts about The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority

Truth is stranger than fiction (03-Mar)
More on the $1M Ferrari wreck in Malbu (18-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Anti_Terrorism Unit (24-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Rebuttle (27-Mar)
San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority - More Answers (29-Mar)

Dear Ron,
I want to reply one last time to your remaining questions, however, after this response I believe there will be nothing left to say, and therefore won't respond to any further questions.

Thank you for taking the time to do this. You have shed light on most every question and concern I had. I truly appreciate it.

As for the "police" website being overblown, I acknowledge the error. That site was put together by a well meaning volunteer who basically grabbed content from other sites, and discussed what we planned to do in the future, rather than what we were at the time. We've well acknowledged that error, said our mia culpas and are now ready to move on.

I see that your website has been taken down. That is good because it was really misleading.

As for your suggestion that we amputate the police department. Whether you call it a "police department," "public safety division," "security department," "safety department" or "niceness services," all transit agencies are required to perform the functions I outlined in my original letter to you. Our board is currently reviewing the name to determine what would sit best with the public, but the functions performed by whatever we end up calling it are mandatory, so the final result will be mostly form over substance.

Sorry. I was not clear. Yes, you do have the responsibility to assure that your equipment, drivers, and procedures, meet all laws and standards. But you gave the impression that your "police" department was there to police the public, not yourselves. Big difference there.

With regard to your question about what the camera monitoring system would do, I will only say that it was going to use existing CDMA technology in conjunction with compression technology that Mr. Eriksson developed for other governments to permit real time streaming of all the cameras on board each bus through one single CDMA connection.

OK... onboard webcams transmitting through a cell phone. Nothing that hasn't been done already.

And yes, Mr. Eriksson was planning to equip this camera system with facial recognition technology, something he has worked on before. Buses provide a uniquely cooperative host for facial recognition because sample faces can be limited to nearly one at a time as passengers are scanned, as opposed to typical facial recognition applications that scan hundreds or thousands at a time within groups of people.

Like I said before, the transport of the raw data to be processed is the easy part. That hard part is doing something with it.

You may believe that the system that Mr. Eriksson proposed to us is already available, but I submit that it would have in fact been revolutionary.

As I said, taking pictures or videos and sending them over a cell phone is nothing magic. A working face recognition system that uses these images is mindblowing.

Simply running the name "Stefan Eriksson" on Google will provide you with a very impressive resume, including previous work for the British, Chinese and Russian governments.

I'm looking. I don't see your Stefan Eriksson doing any such things. Links please! However, I do find links about how he was busted in 1993 for counterfeiting and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. I have read how he was known to be the leader of an organized crime group dubbed "The Uppsala Mafia". I have read the SEC reports for his company, Tiger Telematics Inc. Scary stuff. I read how he was forced to resign in 2005 when his past caught up with him. I've read how they were doing shady deals by paying contracts to other companies the executives owned. And they were paying family and friends large "consulting fees" and themselves lots of toys on the company dime.

I do find information about other Stefan Erikssons. But not yours. I see there is a Stefen Eriksson who works at the Swedish embassy in Moscow. There are others who work for major universities and companies around the world.

Sorry bud.... it seems like his resume is complete fiction.

To answer your question, no we never saw a "working" prototype of the system, but we had no doubt that Mr. Eriksson and his associates could have developed the system if he wanted. Whether he really intended to fulfill his commitments, or just wanted to misrepresent his true role with us is something we'll be wondering about for years to come.

Like I told you before. I think you were being hoodwinked by a con artist. Eriksson seems to have a problem telling the truth.

All of the people involved with SGVTA have donated huge amounts of time and effort for a good cause. Sure we made mistakes, but I doubt any other small charity such as ours has ever been in the public eye and scrutinized as heavily as we were in this instance.

unfortunately it only takes one bad apple to ruin the barrel.

Ron, if someone went through everything you've ever said or done, or spoke to anyone you've ever had an argument with, only to turn around and report it all as fact, I suspect you'd look a lot different than the person you really are. I wish that on no one.

That is an exaggeration. I've only questioned the facts presented on your own web site and news articles.

Now, one last request. I've responded to every single question you've put to me, and I've accepted responsibility for those things I think we did wrong. How about you Ron? Your original posts make allegations that simply weren't true. You jumped to conclusions without the facts, and once I brought the facts to your attention, you shifted the debate to issues beyond the scope of what you originally wrote.

Considering the strange facts that I had to work with, some that you claim are false. What conclusion was I suppose to come to?

Fact, SGVTA has never received ONE penny of taxpayer money, yet you have not apologized for saying we did without knowing the facts.

Sorry. I was given the impression from the statement from Monrovia City Manager Scott Ochoa who said "We warned them that if the police agency operated with them in the city of Monrovia, it would jeopardize their [transit] agreement with us." That gave me the impression that the city was paying for the services. After all, it takes money to pay for the large police department that your web site claimed you had.

Fact, SGVTA has never purchased any weapons whatsoever, yet your original post certainly postulates that it might be our secret reason for creating the police department, yet you have not yet acknowledged that you were wrong.

OK... but I wasn't thinking about you. I was thinking about Eriksson. I wouldn't put it past him to get weapons using your department's credentials.

You did finally try to separate us from Mr. Eriksson in an effort to demonstrate the difference. However, we freely acknowledge having accepted Mr. Eriksson offer to donate his time and efforts.

I suppose you heard what happened to him today? He had his illegally registered Mercedes-Benz SLR impounded because it was reported stolen in the UK, and his wife was busted for driving it without a drivers license. Nothing seems right about this guy. Sorry you got messed up with him. He must be good if your natural BS detectors didn't go off.

There are other misconceptions that you conveyed in your original post, and I certainly understand your skepticism. I do believe that you at least owe us an apology for those areas where you misrepresented the truth, or offered speculation that served to hurt us more.

I appreciate your intellectual analysis, but would at least like to see an apology for those things you said that simply weren't true.

OK. Fair nuff. I apologize for things that turned out not to be true. Thanks for the information.

Good luck to you in the future,

Yosuf "Yo" Maiwandi
San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority

Same to you. I hope you and the SGVTA can put these mistakes behind you.

So there it is... the official story. The SGVTA is a good, honest, and free public service. The SGVTA was taken in by a criminal con artist, Eriksson. And then they were sunk by their own fictional public image as presented by their web site.

You gotta admit. It is one hell of a strange story.

Fatality Cover Up in Cyclone Larry!

2006-03-28T22:15:00.000+08:00

It seems there were fatalities in last week's cyclone that slammed into Queensland in northeast Australia. Click here to see what happened!

Note: My apologies to non-Australia readers who don't understand this.

The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Rebuttle

2006-03-27T18:39:00.000+08:00

Sorry about the silence for a few days. I went out of town to visit friends out in the country. More about that later. I got back late last night and found an email from Yosuf "Yo" Maiwandi following up my post last week about the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authorityhttp://ron_larson.blogspot.com/2006/03/san-gabriel-valley-transit-authority_27.html

The SGVTA Contraversy

This is one part of a series of posts about The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority

Truth is stranger than fiction (03-Mar)
More on the $1M Ferrari wreck in Malbu (18-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Anti_Terrorism Unit (24-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Rebuttle (27-Mar)
San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority - More Answers (29-Mar)

Yo's Side Of The Story
First, the email from Yosuf "Yo" Maiwandi. He is the man behind SGVTA, and he seems to feel that he is the one paying the price for Stefan Eriksson's actions after crashing a million dollar Ferrari in Malibu. It is quite long. I'll comment on the email later in the post.

The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority ("SGVTA") first held discussions with Stefan Eriksson in December of 2005. Mr. Eriksson offered to donate time and equipment to develop a real-time camera monitoring system utilizing CDMA technology designed specifically for SGVTA's fleet. Mr. Eriksson proposed using SGVTA buses to test what could have revolutionized transit security on SGVTA's relatively small transit system. SGVTA submitted a fingerprint background check for Mr. Eriksson through the State of California which disclosed no prior record. Mr. Eriksson ultimately was appointed as a civilian volunteer Deputy Commissioner for a specific task - that of developing the proposed monitoring system.

Transit carriers are required by law to perform certain regulatory enforcement functions, including personnel background investigations, medical examinations, random drug and alcohol testing, daily driver health fitness evaluations, administering field breathalyzer examinations (when appropriate), substance abuse recognition, monitoring driving records for drivers, traffic accident investigations, passenger and vehicle safety inspections and constant supervisory oversight. Local law enforcement cannot be expected to perform regulatory enforcement duties on behalf of transit carriers. Accordingly, California law grants transit carriers the right to maintain public safety and/or police units in order to ensure compliance with all public safety regulations. SGVTA lawfully formed a public safety department that has been properly recognized by all law enforcement credentialing agencies, although not yet certified by California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training ("P.O.S.T.") in which participation is strictly voluntary. [1]

While SGVTA's small transit system has never been specifically targeted for any threat of terrorism, SGVTA believes that all transit carriers should fully embrace the terrorism preparedness recommendations set forth by the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security. SGVTA's fleet is perfectly situated to facilitate discrete research and development of a camera system such as the one Mr. Eriksson proposed. Counter-terrorism experts have predicted that - as was the case in London, England -- our country's small communities, and their regional transit systems, may well be the next target of those who would do us harm. SGVTA is taking all steps within its means to ensure that its passengers and property remain safe and that SGVTA stands properly prepared for any and all disasters.

The subsequent crash of Mr. Eriksson's Ferrari, while unfortunate, was wholly unrelated to SGVTA, other than Mr. Eriksson's volunteer status at the time. SGVTA has investigated the publicized claim that unknown individuals displaying some sort of badge appeared at the crash scene purporting to be officials of "Homeland Security." SGVTA can account for all of its personnel at the time of the incident, is confident that no one, other than Mr. Eriksson was present from SGVTA, and is certain that no SGVTA badges were involved.

SGVTA has been in communication with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Department of Homeland Security, and will continue to cooperate fully in any investigation.

Notwithstanding reports to the contrary, SGVTA is and has been headquartered at 4115 East Live Oak Avenue in Arcadia since the end of last year. Homer's Automotive in Monrovia donates personnel, vehicle parts, service and labor, and terminal space to assist SGVTA to meet its mission. Assertions that SGVTA or its public safety department are run out of Homer's Automotive are incorrect.

About SGVTA
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority is an independent transit agency created to permit near seamless paratransit service throughout the many small cities that make up the San Gabriel Valley.

SGVTA's responsibilities include operating, maintaining and improving paratransit services. SGVTA also works in conjunction with transit operators in other cities and counties to provide intercity and inter-county paratransit service to major medical facilities in southern California, as well as exploring the potential for expanded service.

SGVTA's vision is to provide a transportation system that allows handicapped, disabled, elderly and needy passengers to go anywhere in the region easily and efficiently.

Ron, SGVTA has/had Memorandums of Understanding with two cities, Monrovia and the City of Sierra Madre. Those MOU's only provide for and understanding that SGVTA will provide FREE transportation, mostly intercity, for residents who don't have transportation to medical facilities outside their city of residence. We provide service to the entire San Gabriel Valley, which consists of more than 25 small cities. No MOU calls for any payment from any city, state or federal agency for our services, and we have never received one dime of taxpayer money whatsoever. We provide service to our community at our cost, with NO fee being charged to the passenger. Even our drivers are forbidden from accepting tips.

So far, SGVTA has received donations of cash mostly from myself. We have also received free tires from a local tire store (Monrovia Tire), enough Magellan GPS Navigation devices to equip each of our vans with audible (speech directions) to assist drivers to find locations for our blind passengers who can't give us physical directions, computer reprogramming for our diesel mini buses to make them more fuel efficient (Gale Banks), a free tank of natural gas from the gas company for our natural gas bus, and numerous free repairs to all our vehicles from my shop (Homer's Automotive).

Because of all the negative press, no one wants to be associated with a service that they think is involved with some controversial charity. Therefore, I am selling my own Harley Davidson to raise enough funds to keep our doors open until people start taking us seriously again. We service hundreds of handicapped, elderly, disabled and needy passengers every month, and ironically our passenger load has increased as a result of the negative press, because people who have no means of transportation to and from their doctor's offices don't care about the negative aspect of the articles, and only care about the service we provide. Unfortunately, at a time when we are the most financially challenged, our passenger load continues to rise.

I hope this helps to set the record straight because I am a local mechanic who set out with some friends to do something good for those who needed it the most, and all this negative press over a volunteer's Ferrari has all but ruined a very real service that many people depend on.

Take care,

Yo

What Is Still Missing
Thank you for the email. I can certainly see how you feel that no good deed goes unpunished. It appears to me that you and your agency have been taken advantage of by a world-class con-artist, Stefan Eriksson. Think of this anology. He is a pool hustler and you walked into a pool hall with cash in your pockets bragging about how good you are. He saw a mark and milked it for all that it was worth. Your mistake? It was playing the game in the first place. You were in over your head and didn't know it.

You have explained how Eriksson got involved with the SGVTA, how he slipped past your screening procedures, and what duties he was commissioned with. You also explained why the SGVTA is allowed to have have a law enforcement arm, and the threats that you feel the SGVTA might face. You have explained the services that the SGVTA provides. You have explained how the SGVTA is funded and operates.

You have explained how Eriksson abused the powers he was granted and that the scope of this abuse was limited to only him.

But you have not explained the why the SGVTA made, what is at best egaggerated, or at worst lies, about what the SGVTA is on the website. If your website indicated what you hoped the SGVTA to become, there was nothing that I could see to indicate that. Did you not know about the web site and public image of the SGVTA that was being presented? Did Eriksson do that? Were you not involved in the production and distribution of public information for the agency?

Which came first? Eriksson and his promises? Or the fake public image and emphasis on terrorism?

The Reality Versus The Image
You have to admit, the emphasis in the public statements from your agency gave me and others the impression that the the SGVTA was far more interested in being a state of the art law-enforcement agency than anything else. Why does a small, free bus service for disabled persons need to lie about the size of the police department and the equipment it had? Why does it talk more about its security than the actual services it provides?

I would think that a web site about your agency would emphisis what your email states. It would have publised the fact that it was run on 100% percent donations and accepted no tax money or user fees. You would think that the contributers to the SGVTA would want public recognition of their generosity, such as Monrovia Tire's contribution. You would think that your web site would invite more merchant and private donations to continue to operate. But it didn't. It didn't say anything like that. Instead it talks about the extensive police department and anti-terrorism unit it has.

The bottom line is, the public face of the SGVTA didn't match the reality that you present here. So I'm still asking, why is that? Do you blame people for being spooked and not wanting anything to do with this anymore? Eriksson does not appear to be at to blame for those inconsistantcies. He was just the reason they came to the attention of people like me.

A Plea From a Client
I also found a long and heartfelt comment to the same post that I want to highlight. This anonymous poster is upset that my speculation about the reasons behind all of this is going to ruin a good thing.

My Father lives in Monrovia a city they service. They pick him up every week and take him to the doctor for his appointment. The bus driver not only helps him on the bus but walks up to his house to help him to the bus. I offered the bus driver $20.00 as a tip and he said “Sorry I cant accept tips but if you like send it to the SGVTA as a donation”

So I did. I called the city of Monrovia and asked how much they were paying this bus service and they told me not 1 penny they are all volunteers and they work for these old people free of charge I was blown away.

So if they have a police department to keep my father safe who cares. And if they gave that millionaire asshole a badge by mistake so what. They got rid of him when they found out I was told by the city. Police departments catch bad cops all the time so big deal they gave him a badge by mistake.

I found out from the city this guy that owns the body shop has taken the money out of his own business and his own pocket to help these people that our government wont help. Now since this car blowing up and all the negative publicity it has brought, its putting a strain on them and they are thinking about stopping the service. Now what does my dad do when he needs to go to the doctor call a bloger or the press? I don’t think so. I am all for freedom of speech but until you know what your talking about and how it will impact others keep your stupid opinion to yourself.

I like the part of "...and how it will impact others keep your stupid opinion to yourself." Wow. So the ends always justify the means? That is the same excuse the defenders of Mussolini used to excuse his record on running Italy in WWII. "He may have led us into a war, ruined our country, and killed thousands of people. But he got the trains to run on time."

Hey... it is my blog. I will ask all the questions I want. Sorry about your dad. But it doesn't excuse the abuse of power we have seen in this case.

You Can Still Salvage The SGVTA
From my perspective, the only way you can salvage your agency, and in fact make it stronger, is to publicly abandon the agency's police department and instead focus 100% of the agency on what benefits it brings to the citizens of the SGV. Just because you CAN create a police agency doesn't mean you have to. You started a good thing there. Don't blow it by clinging to the police department. That has tainted the rest of the agency and needs to amputated.

So for sake people who have come to rely on the SGVTA, such as the father of the comment poster, please do this. You can still come clean and make this work for you. You can use this to appeal to sponsors. But you have to have a squeeky clean image to do this.

Eriksson's Snake Oil
I want to take a moment to delve into the product that Eriksson was promising the SGVTA. To quote you "Mr. Eriksson offered to donate time and equipment to develop a real-time camera monitoring system utilizing CDMA technology designed specifically for SGVTA's fleet. Mr. Eriksson proposed using SGVTA buses to test what could have revolutionized transit security on SGVTA's relatively small transit system."

I've noticed that he didn't mention more about what Eriksson was promising. I've read in other places where the product was going to be real-time face recognition system, which is much, much more than a glorified video survelence system as indicated here.

The words "real-time camera monitoring system utilizing CDMA technology" is just another way of saying "cell-phone camera". There is nothing revolutionary about that. You can buy this technology at Circut City and Radio Shack now. The cell phone camera takes a picture and sends it to a user, just like any teenager can do.

Cabs already use systems like this. The have a digital video camera that take the photo of passengers. They might even already transmit the image to the dispatcher in case something terrible happens to the driver and cab.

But... face recognition technology. That would be revolutionary. The problem is, the state of the art of face recognition system is a long way from being reliable. And certainly not reliable as a real time application. It is usless to worry about the mobile client parts of such a system if it can't do the job with input given to it from a hard disk. Talk about putting the cart before the horse!

The skills and technology needed to program a video game are vastly different from the skills needed to program a system that can make sense of an image. To do that, you have to interpret an image that you have no control of the input variables. When you program the game, you have control over all variables and what image is presented on the screen. They are different s night and day.

So my question is... Did Eriksson ever demonstrate a working face recognition system that functioned at all, no matter the source of the input image?

Afghanistan is hopeless

2006-03-24T15:20:00.001+08:00

I really try to believe in the best in people. I think that most people want to live in peace, to learn, raise their children, and to be safe and comfortable. Afghanistan has some amazing people. They have been through hell. The Taliban was finally toppled and they have a chance to make themselves a nation to be proud of.

Then shit like this happens. From CNN today.

Senior Muslim clerics are demanding that an Afghan man on trial for converting from Islam to Christianity be executed, warning that if the government caves in to Western pressure and frees him, they will incite people to "pull him into pieces."

And this from the same article:

But Said Mirhossain Nasri, the top cleric at Hossainia Mosque, one of the largest Shiite places of worship in Kabul, said Rahman must not be allowed to leave the country.
"If he is allowed to live in the West, then others will claim to be Christian so they can, too," he said. "We must set an example. ... He must be hanged."
The clerics said they were angry with the United States and other countries for pushing for Rahman's freedom.
"We are a small country and we welcome the help the outside world is giving us. But please don't interfere in this issue," Nasri said. "We are Muslims and these are our beliefs. This is much more important to us than all the aid the world has given us."

This is pure BS. We didn't fight the Taliban just to let idiots like these clerics run the place. As harsh as it may sound, I think the best thing to do this point is round up all these clerics who are demanding the death penalty for Rahman, a convert from Islam. Then hang them all for incitement of violence and hatred. That might get them to shut their stupid traps.

Either that,or build a wall around Afganistan and let them live in their little Islamic "paradise". See how wonderful that is.

I am so sick and tired of their shit. They have really worn out my sympathy. Seriously, it is time to stop pussy footing around trying to be sensative to their special culture and instead start kicking ass and taking names.

Then any Iman/Cleric stupid enough to start spouting this shit will get given an express ticket to go meet prophet Muhammand in the afterlife. I can only hope that Muhammand will then subsequently kick their sorry asses for all time for being such dumb fucks.

The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Anti_Terrorism Unit

2006-03-24T09:38:00.000+08:00

Well, well, well. I just got an email today from Yosuf "Yo" Maiwandi, the guy who started the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority. This is the tiny bus service outside of LA that came to my attention when one of their members of their anti-terrorism division of their police department totaled his million dollar Ferarri in Malbu earlier this month.

The SGVTA Contraversy

This is one part of a series of posts about The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority

Truth is stranger than fiction (03-Mar)
More on the $1M Ferrari wreck in Malbu (18-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Anti_Terrorism Unit (24-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Rebuttle (27-Mar)
San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority - More Answers (29-Mar)

I first mentioned this strange tale here, and then a follow up here. Here is the email I got from Maiwandi.

"I think the whole thing is a scam designed to fleece the America taxpayers out of millions of dollars. They set up a phony "transit authority". They then set up a phony police and security department. They then apply for federal funds to equip that department with the security equipment, staff, and resources needed to meet the new standards that the real Dept of Homeland Security has issued for public transportation to meet when the official threat level reaches high levels. The TSA is giving out $15 million grants to bus companies for security. That is a tempting target, no?"

"So there you have it. With some paperwork and balls, you can start your own police department, arm it with automatic weapons and other cool toys, and bill the taxpayers for the expense."

Hi Ron, I like your style of writing. If you want to know the real story, let me know, because we have never asked for one dollar of taxpayers money, nor do we have any "automatic weapons".......But it "Sounds Cool".

Very truly yours, Yosuf "Yo" Maiwandi Member, Board of Transit Commissioners San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority

My official answer, Mr. Maiwandi. is YES! I want to know the real story. Please do so. I've been emailing the LA Times reporters that have been following this amazing little tale. Do you mind if I share your story with them?

I will dispute your assertion that your SGVTA has never asked for one dollar of tax payers money. That is not absolutely true. The money that is paid to your firm by the local cities in the SG Valley for the transport services for their disabled citizens is tax-payer money. There is nothing wrong with that. The city needs a vendor for a service, and you provide it. No big deal. As far as I can tell, you have been a good vendor. Considering some of the rip-offs some vendors do for the tax payers (*cough* Haliburton, *cough* Iraq, *cough*), I'm glad.

I am sure what you meant is that you never asked for funds from the TSA for law-enforcement and anti-terrorism equipment. I believe you. But I think it is only because you never got far enough to do so.

I appreciate that you want to tell the truth. But keep in mind, you have lost the benefit of the doubt in my mind because of the past statements. Why should I believe you when your agency seems to play fast and loose with facts in the past. Things like claiming to have a full time police force, detectives, squad cars, and the likes, which are not true. Your web site and other public statements build a ficticous company that doesn't even come close the reality of what it is.

The fact that you have given a convicted felon from Sweden the credentials to impersonate a law-enforcement officer so he can be a James Bond really makes one question your judgment.

The bottom line is that it stinks. Enron tried the same thing, to lie, and give the impression that Enron was something that it was not. Look what happened to them. Your SGVTA seems to be doing the same thing.

I hope you don't think that I am attacking you personally. I'm not. In fact, I am impressed. You have not done anything illegal (that I can tell). Nor would even getting a $15 million grant from the TSA be illegal. You just have the brains and balls to push the boundries of the rules. I am just upset that the State and the Feds are so loose with granting law-enforcement credentials and giving away taxpayer money without due-diligence.

I can't wait to hear back from you.

Church Sign Generator

2006-03-23T19:49:00.000+08:00

This is cool! You can put your own saying on a church sign. Here is what I came up with.

Thanks Sandmonkey!

OK... I'm officially freaked out now

2006-03-23T09:44:00.000+08:00

Last week I mentioned how I was pegged as being "really old" by the teenage interns at Loretta's law firm. Yesterday, my fragile aging ego was dealt another body blow.

Yesterday I noticed that the cubicle of Sandra, one of the women that works here, was decorated with birthday ballons and flowers. So I stopped in and wished her "Happy Birthday! So what are you now? 30?"

Sandra beamed and answered "No! I wish. I'll be a grandmother in a month."

Now Sandra doesn't look that old.. mid 30's if I had to guess. "You're kidding!", I said.

"No. I'm 42 today.", she answered. "My second child is 19 and going to have a baby soon. I can't say anything, considering that I had her when I was 19."

This freaks me out so bad. She is my age, 42. That means that I could not only be dating a woman who is a mother, I could be DATING A GRANDMOTHER! Auuuuugh!

Taking this to the logical extreme... My mom is still waiting for her first grandchild. It is conceivable that if I was to meet and marry a woman my age, such as Sandra, then my mom would become an instant GREAT-GRANDMOTHER. Wouldn't that totally freak her out!

I need to get really drunk this weekend. This is too much.

Douchebag Defined

2006-03-22T16:08:00.000+08:00

This is a little harsh, but I had a good laugh at the effort this guy put into his defintion of a douchebag.

The New Sizzler

2006-03-20T21:06:00.000+08:00

Since Australian Sizzler restaurants have been advertising the hell out of their new safer salad bars. I have decided to to help out with my own ad campaign. Wadda think?

Drinks Show Your Personality

2006-03-19T14:41:00.000+08:00

Robin sent me this warning. Thanks Robin.

Before you order a drink in public, you should read this! Seven New York City bartenders were asked if they could nail a woman's personality based on what she drinks. Though interviewed separately, they concurred on almost all counts. The results:

Drink: Beer
Personality: Causal, low-maintenance; down to earth.
Your Approach: Challenge her to a game of pool.

Drink: Blender Drinks
Personality: Flaky, whiny, annoying; a pain in the ass.
Your Approach: Avoid her, unless you want to be her cabana boy.

Drink: Mixed Drinks
Personality: Older, more refined, high maintenance, has very picky taste; knows EXACTLY what she wants.
Your Approach: You won't have to approach her. If she's interested, she'll send YOU a drink.

Drink: Wine (does not include White Zinfandel)
Personality: Conservative and classy; sophisticated yet giggles.
Your Approach: Tell her you love to travel and spend quiet evenings with friends.

Drink: White Zinfandel
Personality: Easy; thinks she is classy and sophisticated, actually, she has NO clue.
Your Approach: Make her feel smarter than she is...this should be an easy target.

Drink: Shots
Personality: Likes to hang with frat-boy pals and looking to get totally drunk... and naked.
Your Approach: Easiest hit in the joint. You have been blessed. Nothing to do but wait, however, be careful not to make her mad!

Drink: Tequila
No explanations required - everyone just KNOWS what happens there.

THEN, there is the MALE addendum...
The deal with guys is, as always, very simpl e and clear cut:

Domestic Beer: He's poor and wants to get laid. !
Imported Beer: He likes good beer and wants to get laid.
Wine: He is hoping that the wine will give him a sophisticated image to help him get laid.
Whiskey: He doesn't give a damn about anything but getting laid.
Tequila: He is thinking he has a chance with the toothless waitress.
White Zinfandel: He's gay

Podcast of the future

2006-03-19T00:47:00.000+08:00

The Podcast universe just keeps on getting better and better. Since getting myself a iPod Nano and FM transmitter, I never listen to the radio any more. There are more than enough excellent Podcasts out that are so much better than radio.

I don't even carry CD's in my car anymore. Don't need to. I ripped all of my CD's to MP3's and have them on my iPod. With my setup, I have 200 hours of music and podcasts all organized into optimum playlists. The FM transmitter also charges the iPod, so no matter how long the trip, I have everything I need.

If you don't know, Apple added Podcast aggregator functions into iTunes late last year. This does an excellent job of managing your podcast subscriptions and putting them on your iPod for listening. It is all automatic. Just plug the iPod into your computer, and iTunes wakes up and does the rest.

I had a flash of genius regarding podcasts and iPods last month. I am not going to go into specifics because I am looking into doing something with this idea. I called up a friend of mine, Danelle Folta, who is the captain of the Playboy Xtreme Team, and ran my idea by her. She loves it and wants to see what we can do with it. We are going to meet later this month to hash out some details.

Anyways, if I can work out something with her and the team, I may end up doing some technical podcast development. So I'm looking at getting some Apple hardware so I can run some better media development tools. I've never been a big fan of the Mac's, so I an reluctant to sink money into one. I know they are good machines. But frankly, I like to get under the hood of systems and software and make them better. Apple keeps their all locked up.

I'm pretty excited about this. I have ideas all the time, but this one is one that just keeps getting better and stronger the more I work on it. When I am ready to go public with product, I will let you all know about it. Please, wish me luck.

I'm off to bed. Good night..

Nigerian 419 Scammers

2006-03-19T00:27:00.000+08:00

Oh goody! I got a Nigerian 419 scam email today. I notice that I don't get as many any more. I just love messing with these idiots. This one claims to have $12.5 million of his murdered father's money hidden away and needs my help to get it out of Cote Ivory Africa. Classic letter, with just the right touch of poor English and bad use of capital letters and punctuation. And he wants to give me a whopping 35% of it. Nice.

You would think that someone who had $12.5 million laying around would be able to send his kids to a decent school to learn how to write.

Don't worry. I'm not stupid enough to give out any real info. I have special email account and fake ID that use for messing with these guys. My goal is to get them to send ME money. It has been done by others.

Two of my favorite sites about this new cyber-sport, abusing scammers:
419 Eater
Scamorama

Enjoy. I will. Keep your fingers crossed that this bozo takes my bait!

More on the $1M Ferrari wreck in Malbu

2006-03-18T22:46:00.000+08:00

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the bizzare case of the wreck of a million dollar Ferrari in Malbu. There have been a few developments in that case.

The SGVTA Contraversy

This is one part of a series of posts about The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority

Truth is stranger than fiction (03-Mar)
More on the $1M Ferrari wreck in Malbu (18-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Anti_Terrorism Unit (24-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Rebuttle (27-Mar)
San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority - More Answers (29-Mar)

The mystery driver, "Detrick", has never been found. Nor have any more clues about his identidy been found. The "passenger", Swedish millionaire and convicted felon, Stefan Eriksson, is still free and sticking to his story.

It turns out that the Ferrarie was being driven at 162 mph, not 120mph as first reported, on PCH in Malibu when it crashed. It is amazing that no one was killed. Add the factor that Eriksson was over the legal drinking limit at the time, and the police still think he was the driver.

If also turns out that Eriksson was given the title "Deputy Commissioner of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority's Police Anti-terrorism Unit" by simply promising to install a video survellence system on the SGVTA's 5 small buses. The SGVTA turns out to be nothing but a tiny private non-profit company that provides transportation to disabled citizens for Monrovia, a small city outside of LA. The SGVTA is run from a telephone in the office of a car body repair shop.

It also turns out the SGVTA's police department was started by the repair shop's owner, Yosef Maiwandi, simply because he could and it "sounded cool". He traded some motorcycles for an old bus, and founded the SGVTA with it in order to start the police department. He found that having his own private police department gave him access to all sorts of cool tools and resources, such as money.

It also has another benefit. Automatic weapons are illegal in the US, except for police departments. This allows Yosef Maiwandi, Eriksson, and other volunteers to the SVGTA Police Dept to have automatic weapons. Pretty cool, eh? Also also allows convicted felons, like Errickson, to not only have a weapon, but automatic weapons and a badge too!

It turns out that Eriksson's contribution to the SGVTA was his promise to use them to test out a face recognition video survellence system that he claimed to be developing. I find that very weak. How does making car racing video games translate into being an expert on face recognition software? That have nothing to do with each other. It instead sounds like he was laying the groundwork for a new scam. They knew that they could get large research grants development of such a system. They don't actually need to produce one. They just need to look like they can to get money.

So there you have it. With some paperwork and balls, you can start your own police department, arm it with automatic weapons and other cool toys, and bill the taxpayers for the expense.

Speaking of civilians with dubious law-enforcements credentials, the LA Times also reported that the LA County Sheriff Lee Baca issued photo identification cards to members of a volunteer group who had contributed to his political campaign. He had created the volunteer "Homeland Security Support Unit" for his contributers. For a few thousand dollars, you get an official badge and ID that to the untrained eye, looks like a real police badge.

In fact, they look so real that some of the holders have been able to use them for things like bypassing airport security checks. Since the article, the Sheriff has been trying to get the badges back.

There was all this uproar that the Septemeber 11 hijackers were able to get drivers licenese legally. Can you image what terrorist can do with their own police department?

My Xmas Presents to myself

2006-03-18T22:28:00.000+08:00

I know that it is a bit late to be mentioning this. But I'm home sick today and I keep thinking of things I want write about. One tradition I have created for myself over the years is my annual Christmas present to myself. I allow myself to buy one thing (or maybe two things) that I really, really want, but don't need.

This Christmas I bought myself a $185 (USD) dollar flashlight. To be specific, I bought myself the Surefire A2 Aviator. This is not your father's flashlight. A lot of people have asked me "What?!? What is so fantastic about that flashlight that makes it worth $185?". Well, it is simply the best flashlight in the planet. I am deeply impressed with it. To be honest with you. Once you use it, you will find it difficult to go back to anything else.

The amount of light that pours out of this little things is freaky. It is like having your own police-car style spot light in your hand. Plus it is small, rugged, and well built.

OK... I feel guilty about spending so much for a flash light. But man, what a flashlight. In the big picture, it is not that bad. I rarely drink. I don't smoke. Most men my age will think nothing of blowing $250 a weekend or month on beer and junk food. At least I will have something for show for my money other than a beergut.

David versus "American Idol"

2006-03-18T21:12:00.000+08:00

If you can't tell, I love reading news, all sorts of news. I enjoy reading about people who are clever and figure out ways to beat the system.

Buried in today's LA Times is a short story about a guy who did just that, and is now being punished for it.

Flap shuts 'Idol' prediction site
By Scott Collins, Times Staff Writer
March 18, 2006

Are the producers of Fox's "American Idol" trying to squelch a website that might predict the show's outcome?

Dialidol.com has been generating buzz among "Idol" fans due to its supposedly uncanny ability to predict which singers will get voted off in any given week. The site purports to do this with an autodialing program it provides to phone-in voters and then analyzes which contestants' numbers yield the most busy signals, presumably signifying the highest call volume. The contestant whose line is most available is deemed the least popular and therefore the most likely to be voted off.

"Idol" producer FremantleMedia is apparently not amused. Late Wednesday, the content of Dialidol was removed and replaced with a notice from webmaster Jim Hellriegel, who wrote that the producers had sent the site "a cease and desist letter yesterday claiming that Dialidol infringes on copyrights they own." The webmaster calls the site a "David" fighting the Fremantle "Goliath."

In a brief interview Friday morning, Ohio resident Hellriegel said he believed Fremantle was using the copyright infringement claim as a pretext for shutting down the dial-in service, which could threaten the suspense, and therefore the ratings, for the "results" shows.

The producers, meanwhile, aren't talking.

"Fremantle has no comment on this," Eric Green, a spokesman for the producers, said in an e-mail.

So there you go. A guy figures out how to beat American Idol at their own game, and they demand he stop because of "copyright issues"? Of course they have more money than he does. So they will simply sue him into submission. As you can see, he has capitualted already. This is sad. I've mentioned my thoughts about American Idol in the past. In short, it sucks.

Health Savings Accounts

2006-03-18T15:30:00.000+08:00

I've been reading about the new Health Savings Accounts in the US. I have to say, they are damn good idea. If you don't know what they are. They are savings accounts which you pay your out-of-pocket expenses when you have High deductible Health Policy (HDHP) insurance.

They are designed to get the millions of Americans who have no medical insurance coverage to be able to afford to have catastrophic medical insurance on them. The money saved in taxes is often enough to pay the premium.

HDHP is just a fancy word for "catastrophic medical insurance". It is insurance that only kicks in after the insured has paid a good chunk of the medical expenses themselves. I like it because it meshes with the reality that people are just going to have to budget money for medical expenses. This gives the customer the best of both worlds. They control the first few thousand dollars of medical expenses each year. This brings the forces of the market economy to bear upon the out-of-control medical industry, which in the long run, is the only solution that is going to work for the US.

It astounds me that people have no problem paying $125 a month for mobile phone coverage. $400 a month for a car. $50 a week for fuel. $50 a month for cable TV. Yet balk at paying $20 for a medical co-pay. They have no problem paying almost $10k a year on the previous items, but only have max of $2500 a year out-of-pocket for medical care with their insurance.

The Good

The deposits are tax free. This lowers your taxable federal income. For some people, this can make a huge difference by dropping you into a lower bracket.
The withdrawals (for medical expenses only), are tax free.
And the earnings are tax free.
If you are over 55, you can make additional "catch-up" contributions.
The money can be invested in the same places as an IRA, such as mutual funds. It doesn't have to be stuck in a low-yield money-market fund.
Money can be contributed year after year.
Any money you do not spend continues to grow, tax free. No "use it or loose it" about it.

The Bad

Your annual contributions can not exceed the annual deductible of your insurance.
For 2005, your annual contributions can not exceed $2,650 if you have single coverage and $5,250 for a family. For 2006, these amounts are $2,700 and $5,450, respectively. These amounts will be increased for inflation in future years.
You can't pay the insurance premiums from the account.

The Ugly

Unlike an IRA, an HSA is not covered by ERISA. So the funds are not shielded from liens, theft, and judgments.
Some states, such as California, do not grant any tax break for your HSA.
You can't have one if you already have medical insurance like an HMO.

Why HSA's are needed
One of the problems with the way medical care is paid for (or not paid for) in the US is the simple fact that so many people consider it a secondary expense. So when it comes to budgeting money for medical care, savings for medical bills is often the first thing to be cut out of the budget. Other things take priority. It doesn't rank up there with rent, food, utilities, etc.

So when people do get medical insurance, often subsidized by their employer, they don't want it to impact their monthly budget above and beyond the premium amounts. People that have no employee subsidized coverage find that the similar low/no deductible insurance is too expensive.

By simply having a few thousand dollars set aside explicitly to pay for medical care, and combined with affordable HDHP insurance coverage, the average American can rest easy knowing that they are not going to loose everything should there be a medical emergency.

The future is already here!
The days of employer paid medical insurance are coming to a close. The premiums are getting too high. The fact is, we need to come up with a better way to pay for our medical care. The HSA is it. I would not be surprised to find that more and more employers are going to switch to HSA policies in the future, demanding their employees take responsibility for their own medical care. This has already happened for retirements. Traditional pensions are no longer around, having been replaced by 401Ks.

I also can see where welfare might kick in for those who are smart. I would like to see the government help pay the premiums of those who are out of work and have (a) a funded HSA, and (b) HDHP coverage. Perhaps it can be done on a loan basis, like a student loan. That way the person can still have medical coverage while looking for work, or on medical leave.

Business Opportunity!!
I smell a business opportunity here. Since people find it hard to set aside money for medical expenses. Then perhaps they would be willing to subscribe to a service that withdrawals a fixed amount per paycheck and make the contributions to their HSA. And also pays the medical expenses from their HSA before giving the claims to their HDHP company for payment.

That way, they get the best of all worlds. The money never gets into their hands to spend on other things like cable TV, credit card bills, etc. Yet, they have affordable medical insurance.

An IRA for those who can't have an IRA
One thing that I've noticed about an HSA, is that it appears to me that it can function as an IRA who those who do not qualify. There are two reason for this.
The contributions for an HSA do not have to come from earned income. You can fund it through investments and savings.
As far as I can tell. You don't HAVE to spend it. In other words, you can max out your contributions, pay your deductable expenses from your taxed income, and leave the contributions in the HSA to grow tax free.

Man, that is hard to beat. I have not seen anything, anywhere, that say that if you have an HSA, you must use it to pay your medical expense. It only says that the HSA funds can only be used for medical expenses.

So, lets say you start maxing out your HSA contributions and are financially diciplined enough not to touch them. Then how do you eventually benefit? Simple. After you retire, use the HSA to pay the co-payments on your Medicare expenses (if Medicare survives that long). Even if there is no Medicare, you can spend the money for other expenses. and simply pay the tax them plus a 10% penalty. That is not too bad of a price for being allowed to make tax free contributions AND tax free growth for a long time.

Perhaps by the time you retire, the laws will allow you to tap your HSA for other things without penalty, or perhaps even without tax.

Update on job situation

2006-03-18T15:20:00.000+08:00

Well this has been a stressful two weeks for me. No new job offers have been extended, so I have to assume that come April 1st, I will be jobless. I've been hoping that one might come up. But now it is March 18th and nothing has been mentioned. Damn.

I think the stress is effecting me. I came down sick again with the same crap I caught when I was in the US in January. It is like a nasty flu. So I've been trying to work, but spend the last two days at home sick. Last night my housemate Robin started making me vodka fruit juice mixes, which really make the pills go down well, and allows me to sleep like the dead. Thank you Robin.

Well. I don't know what I am going to do. I guess I will decide in a few weeks. I really don't want to go back to the US. I'm not ready yet. The IRS is still making my life hell from 2000 when divorce was going on. So I think they plan to make my return him hell for me. We will see what I can do about that. I do know that I can't afford to work for them for two years straight while they take everything and leave me $125 a week to live on. I baffles my mind why they think I would be inspired to work my ass for years just to have them take it all. That is a serious de-motivator. I'd rather sit on a beach in the Phillipines and catch fish for dinner than work 12 hours a day for them.

I'm so old!

2006-03-18T15:10:00.000+08:00

Wow. I was put in my place yesterday! On Friday I walked over to the law firm where Loretta works. I went over to pick up the lunch she had made me. While waiting in the lobby, two of the firm's young office girls come out. I am standing there talking to Loretta, and I become aware that the two girls are standing behind me, staring at me.

So I turn around and look at them and smile. They start to giggle and run off the elevator, giggling the whole way. I asked Loretta "What the hell was that?". She explained that they are two young 18 year old interns. They had come out to the lobby to check me out because Loretta had mentioned me and they wanted to see what I looked like.

Yesterday Loretta told me what the told her when they came back upstairs. The said that I was ok, but "He is so old!" (I'm 42).

Loretta asked them how old they thought she was. "Oh, 24-25" they guessed. Nope. She is 41. The girls freaked out. "Oh my god. You are my mother's age!". The stared at Loretta in amazement. I don't know if they were amazed that she looks good for 41. Or that someone that old can have a male friend. It must boggle their minds!

Hello... I'll be your salad bar security guard today

2006-03-12T22:32:00.000+08:00

I just saw a scary ad on TV tonight. It was from Sizzler, the steak house chain of restaurants. The ad details all new security features that they have implemented to protect their salad bars. They illustrate the salad bar guard who keeps an eagle eye on the food, the new security cameras overhead, and they hint at additional security safeguards behind in the kitchen, but they can't tell you what.

I can only assume that they have armed personal hiding in the back, watching the salad-cam, and waiting for the secret signal from the salad guard, to pounce on the next customer who attempts to use his salad plate to sneak an extra plate of chow to his kid without paying.

Just kidding. I don't know if I should be horrified or pleased. The ad just creeps me out. They treat the salad bar like it was a nuclear reactor being targeted by terrorist.

What promoted these actions, and the ads to publicize them, was the recent incident in Brisbane on March 01 where some crazy woman sprinkled rat poison on the salad bar at two local Sizzler stores.

What happened to the old days when the biggest problem at the Sizzler salad bar was some idiot sneezing on the crutons. What a weird world we live in now.

Speaking of the weird new world. As I am sitting here writing this post, on TV in the background is the 1992 movie "Passenger 57". It is a lame ass Hollywood movie about an airline hijacking specialist who is caught up in hijacking and has to overcome his own demons to save the beautiful flight attendant. It is really lame. But I degress.

What strikes me as odd is that the movie is now so irrelevant in this post 9/11 world of ours. How many hijacking have there been since 9/11? Only a couple that I've heard of. None "sucessful" either. 9/11 single handedly killed in-flight hijacking industry. 1992 was such a innocent time compared to now. Now the hijackers have to plead with passengers not to tear them limb for limb and take the plane down with them.

Hey... I justed noticed that this movie stars a young Elizabeth Hurley. She is one of the hottest women on the planet. She must have been about 27 when they filmed this. Wow....

I gotto go watch Liz. Bye.

Father Deeter and gay marriage

2006-03-12T13:07:00.000+08:00

I spend Saturday as a wedding guest here in Perth at a lovely wedding of a relative of Loretta's. It turned out to be a perfect day, not too hot. The wedding was held at a beautiful Catholic cathedral made of stone in Leederville. It was short and sweet, not dragging on and on, like some do.

The priest was Father Tim Deeter. I've met him last year at the wedding of Loretta's oldest nephew. I mention this because I do like him. Father Deeter is an American, born and raised in Chicago. I'm not sure how he ended up in Perth, but he did. And he likes it here.

The thing I like about Father Deeter is that he has a fantastic sense of humor. He is very relaxed and easy going. He is a big MLB White Sox fan. I had the pleasure of being seated next to him at last year's wedding and got to taking to him about life back home. At that time, he was going to take business trip to southern California for a month or so. He had to fly coach to LAX (the Church apparently doesn't fly their priests Business or First Class), so I loaned him my Bose Noise canceling Headsets. He loved them!

The reception for scheduled for 6pm at the Sheraton Hotel. Everyone was seated by 6:30, except the wedding party. They were late. Us guests were sitting there at the tables with a wonderful plate of antipasto appetizer sitting in front of us. We waited, and waited, and waited, getting hungrier and hungrier.

I just simply started eating my food. I was not going to wait any longer. Loretta poked me in the ribs and told me that it was impolite to start eating until the wedding party was seated and grace was said. That started a debate at our table about what to do. I argued (a) no one told us that we couldn't eat, and (b) if they didn't want us to eat, then why did they put food on the table in front of us? My argument won the day, so we all dug in. This seems to have given the tables around us the permission to eat too. The stricter religious people at our table, *cough* Loretta *cough*, refused and just looked at their food.

Eventually, the wedding party came in, with Father Deeter, and got seated. Father Deeter went up the PA and announced that he was going to give grace. He cracked that some people had tipped him to the fact that a number of people in the room had already started eating. And they wanted to know what was going to happen to them. Father Deeter replied "We were all going to hell." But them he added "That s a bit harsh for a wedding party. So instead, I've asked God to just give us terrible stomach craps at 2am." Ha Ha.

The holdouts at my table all gave me smug and sanctimonious looks. I was a heathen sinner for eating my food... so I guess I am going to hell. Tell me something that I don't already know :-).

Father Deeter is staunchly conservative in his convictions, which I don't have a problem with. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. He does use the weddings to makes his feeling about marriage very clear during the ceremony. I have to hand it to him. He has the rare ability to deliver his thoughts and reasons with humor, which makes it palatable to the audience. He doesn't talk down to you, or make you feel bad if you disagree with him.

At Paul's wedding last year, he lambasted the ease in which people can get divorced, abandoning their spouse and oaths at any time without cause.

In yesterday's wedding, he attacked the concept of gay marriage. He got on the subject of the movie "Brokeback Mountain", and how it is trying to make the idea of gay marriage politically correct. He blasted the idea of gay marriage as absurd. "What's next?” he asked. "Make it legal for people to marry their pets?"

Well Father Deeter. There is where you lost me. He argues that allowing gay marriage is a slippery slope, which will then open the doors for other alternative marriages. My problem is where he decided to draw the line. He places it between heterosexual and homosexual marriage. He puts homosexual marriage in with the collection of clearly irrational marriage situations.

His "slippery slope" theory is absurd. If two rational and consenting adults love each other, wish to pledge to live together, to be faithful and to care for each other, then who are we to deny that? They key words here are "two rational and consenting human adults". An animal is not a human. An animal can not be rational or consenting. A child can not consent to marriage. An inanimate object can not consent to anything. Therefore, the idea that society would allow such marriages is absurd. To argue that gay marriage would allow this, is in itself, illogical and absurd.

Rather than using reason and logic to defend his arguments, Father Deeter used hyperbole and fear. That is a shame. He is a smart and articulate man. He shouldn't need to stoop so low.

The real argument against gay marriage is children. It opens up a big can of worms. Can we deny any married couple the right to have, adopt, or raise children? That is a difficult question. If this is Father Deeter's problem with homosexual marriage, then just say so. There is no need to go to ridiculous extremes and witty, but meaningless, quips such as "Adam & Eve, not Adam & Steve".

There is no doubt that the best homosexual couples would make far better parents than the worst heterosexual couples. So there is no fundamental flaw which renders them incapable of raising a child.

I think a lot of people fear that a homosexual couples are really pedophiles intent on "converting" young children to homosexuality. How on earth the terrible crime of pedophilia became connected to homosexuals in people's minds is beyond me. I've never met a homosexual who was sexually interested in children. I would be willing to bet that heterosexual pedophiles far outnumber homosexual pedophiles. Therefore, heterosexuals rank as a far greater risk to children then homosexuals do.

Also, there is the fear that homosexual couples will raise the children to be homosexual themselves. That is unsubstantiated bullshit. Chances are, the children will be heterosexual. Just because your parents are attracted to people of the same gender does not mean that you will be.

Personally, I wish that homosexuals who wish to be married should take a long term view and accept that they are not going to be able to overcome the child raising issue for a long time. In the meantime, they should focus on simply being able to marry their partner. If that means pledging or accepting that they won't have children, then so be it. They can save that battle for another day.

Steak and BJ Day

2006-03-12T11:26:00.000+08:00

March 14th is Steak and BJ Day! This new "holiday" is the guy's version of Valentine's Day. Since Valentine's s all about the women, this holiday was designed to make men happy, at least one day a year.

You know the drill. Every 14th of February you get the chance to display your fondness for a significant other by showering her with gifts, flowers, dinner, shows and any other baubles that women find romantic. Every Valentines day you rack your brains for that one special, unique gift that will show your wife or girlfriend that you really do care for them more than any other. Now ladies, I'll let you in on a little secret; guys really don't enjoy this that much. Sure seeing that smile on your face when we get it right is priceless, but that smile is the result of weeks of blood, sweat and consideration. Another secret; guys feel left out. That's right, there's no special holiday for the ladies to show their appreciation for the men in their life. Men as a whole are either too proud or too embarrassed to admit it.

Which is why a new holiday has been created.

March 14th is now officially "Steak and Blowjob Day". Simple, effective and self explanatory, this holiday has been created so you ladies finally have a day to show your man how much you care for him.

No cards, no flowers, no special nights on the town; the name of the holiday explains it all, just a steak and a BJ. Thats it. Finally, this twin pair of Valentine's Day and Steak and Blowjob Day will usher in a new age of love as men everywhere try THAT much harder in February to ensure a memorable March 14th!

The word is already beginning to spread, but as with any new idea, it needs a little push to start the ball rolling. So spread the word, and help bring love and peace to this crazy world. And, of course, steak and BJ's.

So mark your wife's or girlfriend's calender guys!

Motorgirls

2006-03-05T08:59:00.000+08:00

My friend Louise here in Perth has a starring role in a locally produced TV series called "Motorgirls" [website]. She is not an actress, but a lawyer. She is quite a lady that I feel privleged to count as a friend. She is tall, very beautiful, plays rugy, rides motorcyles, sails, surfs, and is an awesome, kick-ass, Aussie girl. In the photo Louise is on the right in the lime-green outfit.

Her friend Bushy, in black in the photo, is the force behind Motorgirls. She is a video producer, direcor, actress, motorhead, and all around very interesting person. I've met her a few times and I really like her. She is so cool and laid back. She drives this wicked black mucsle car, a Ford Fairlane ZC, around town.

If you are in Perth, then check out the show. I think it will go Australia wide, so keep your eyes out for it.

Truth is stranger than fiction

2006-03-03T15:09:00.000+08:00

The most bizarre story is unfolding in Los Angeles right now. I swear, if you had written this as a movie or book you would have been laughed out of town.

The LA Times has been tracking this story, which I too been reading. I now think that a single car traffic accident in Malibu a few days ago has blown the lid off a huge scam ripping off the US tax payers.

The SGVTA Contraversy

This is one part of a series of posts about The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority

Truth is stranger than fiction (03-Mar)
More on the $1M Ferrari wreck in Malbu (18-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Anti_Terrorism Unit (24-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Rebuttle (27-Mar)
San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority - More Answers (29-Mar)

It started out a week and a half ago as simply an unusual traffic accident. A rare Ferrari, worth almost a million dollars, crashed into a light pole along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and was totalled. It was reported that the Ferrari was speeding, doing 120 mph, and lost control. No one was injured. You think that would be the end of story. Some idiot with more money than brains in Malibu wrecks his million dollar car. That it when things get weird.

The only person the police found was a 44 year old Swedish millionaire, Stefan Eriksson, with a cut lip. Eriksson lives in the super-rich LA suburb of Bel-Air. He made his money with video games, specifically racing games. Eriksson claims that he was just the passenger. He claims that the driver was some German guy who he only knew as "Dietrich". After the accident "Dietrich" ran off up into the hills of Malibu and never found, despite a 3 hour search by police.

Needless to say, the police are not buying it. Eriksson blew a .09 blood-alcohol level, which is fine if he was a passenger. It would be a DUI of he was driving. So, now we have a name and face for the idiot with more money than brains. And this idiot is trying to avoid a DUI by making up some story about a fake driver. Interesting.

It gets weirder.

It turns out the police can't tell who owns the Ferrari. It was imported from Europe and was not even legal to drive in California. In addition, the police found at Mercedes SLR in Eriksson's home that is listed as being stolen, by Mr Eriksson, in London. A Scottish bank contacted the LA Sheriff's department claiming that they own the Ferrari (and were probably wondering where it was). Also, Mr. Eriksson has a felony conviction back in Sweden where he served prison time for counterfeiting. He recently resigned as a top executive of a failed game company called Gizmondo.

So... now we have a convicted felon, dot.com millionaire, and apparent fraudster, who plays fast and loose. The guy has balls. Despite everything, he still manages to somehow live the high life… fast exotic cars, a mansion in Bel-Air, multi-million dollar business deals, world travel. Wow!

It gets even weirder...

The story takes a strange twist with the involvement of a tiny public transport agency that gives rides to paraplegics in the San Gabriel Valley. The San Gabriel Valley is a cluster of small bedroom communities north east of Los Angeles. Pasadena, home of JPL, CalTech, and the Rose Bowl, is the best known city in the valley.

It turns out that shortly after the crash, two men showed up at the accident site and identified themselves to the police "homeland security" officers from a small San Gabriel Valley transit authority. Stefan Eriksson told investigators that he himself was ‘Deputy Commissioner’ of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority police department's antiterrorism unit.

Huh? The tiny little SGVTA has its own police department? And that department even has it own anti-terrorism unit? All of this was news to the cities and the law-enforcement departments in the San Gabriel Valley. The SGVTA web site claims that their police department has a chief, detectives, marked police cruisers and an "antiterrorism" division. It also claims that they hired a new police chief, one Philip J. Sugar, who has years of experience with the LAPD and the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office. They say “Chief Sugar takes over at a time when mass transit is faced with perhaps its greatest challenges ever - - the post 911 era…”.

Gee. A simple check of the SGVTA own web site shows that it is nothing but a tiny private non-profit company contracted by local cities to provide transportation services to their disabled citizens. They have some vans that drive people around. It also seems strange that their web site seems to be obsessed with terrorism security levels. Something ain’t right.

The real police can’t seem to find the two "homeland security" officers that showed up in Malibu. It also seems strange that a private company claims to have their own police and anti-terror taskforce. Or how does a Swedish citizen with felony convictions become ‘Deputy Commissioner’ of a law enforcement anti-terrorism unit in California?

I can’t wait for the police and the LA Times to get to the bottom of this story!

I think the whole thing is a scam designed to fleece the America taxpayers out of millions of dollars. They set up a phoney “transit authority”. They then set up a phoney police and security department. They then apply for federal funds to equip that department with the security equipment, staff, and resources needed to meet the new standards that the real Dept of Homeland Security has issued for public transportation to meet when the official threat level reaches high levels. The TSA is giving out $15 million grants to bus companies for security. That is a tempting target, no?

Am I soon to be homeless, again?

2006-03-02T21:39:00.000+08:00

My work contract here in Perth expires at the end of March. Unless IBM Australia decides to pick me up again, then I loose my visa and have to leave the country. I don't have to go back to the US, but I would have to leave Australia. So this has me wondering what will happen in the next few weeks.

I suppose the worse case is that I will end up homeless again for a while. I no longer have anything back in the US. No car. No home. No job. If I catch a flight back to LAX, then I will have to walk out with only my laptop, bicycle, and a suitcase.

I have been given offers of short term places to stay. My friends in Santa Barbara said I can crash in their guest apartment. My sister in San Diego said I can crash at her house. But they have 3 kids and pets. My friend Martha said I could stay a little while in Tampa. I suppose my mom would let me crash at her house in Tucson if I really needed it. I haven't asked. And I would be mortified to do so.

But honestly, I don't wanna be a burden on anyone. I'm an adult. I should be able to take care of myself. I've been toying with some ideas. But pretty much everything involves money I can't afford to spend right now. I won't be able to rent any place until I find a job. And after that, I will probable have trouble because my credit still has some bad stuff on it left over from the divorce.

Back in 2000-2001 I was quasi-homeless. I mastered the art of "urban-camping". I was working in Los Angeles and my home with my estranged ex-wife in it was in Santa Barbara. In the best of circumstances, the drive between work and home was two hours. In traffic, three, possibly even four hours. I could not see myself working 10 hours a day, then spending 4 to 7 hours driving. The fuel expenses, the wear and tear on my vehicle, and the demands on my body and mind, would have killed me.

I considered renting a tiny place near work where I could crash. I couldn't find anything for less than $600 a month. That was too much money. I could not afford that. I considered renting a cheap motel room (like Motel 6) a few nights a week. But even that gets expensive. After all the taxes, a $50 a night room comes to $80. Plus the hassle of checking in and out. I also found that the cheap rooms had hard and uncomfortable beds, faulty plumbing, noisy neighbors, and they smell like stale cigars.

I owned a 12 year old pickup truck. So I bought a shell top for the bed. I put a camping air mattress in the back, a sleeping bag, pillow, and blanket, which gave me a place to sleep. I had a suitcase with my clothes in it. That is all I needed.

I also had a gym membership that was only $60 a month. This got me access to some nice gyms around California. That gave me a place to shower in the morning. So I reckoned that I was saving some serious money by sleeping in the back of my truck at night during the week. I would only need to drive home on the weekends.

It worked out fine. I found that I preferred to sleep in my own sleeping bag and pillow rather than a dodgy motel bed. I made sure that I kept the truck clean and tidy so that it would not stand out. The windows on the side of the shell were smoked, so people could not see in. If they pressed their faces against the window, they could not really make out that someone was sleeping inside.

The only things that would give me away were (a) my snoring, (b) someone seeing me crawl in or out of the back. I scouted out 6 quiet and semi-private places to park not to far from work. I would then rotate a different spot every night as to not get the neighbors suspectious. I would make sure that no one would see me crawl in or out of the back. I preferred to park in the parking lot of the gym that I would use in the morning. That way I could fall out at 5am and walk in when the doors opened.

Most nights were peaceful in West LA A few times a security guard would get very curious and start nosing around. One night I was backed up to a wall, and some punk jumped off the wall on to the roof of the truck. He was running away from something.

I would never drink any fluids past 8pm. That way I would not have to wake up in the middle of the night to pee. However, I anticipated that there might be an occasion where I had to go. So I stored a big bottle in the back as an emergency piss jar. Being the brilliant guy I am, I put some thought into the piss jar. I figured that if I had to use it, it might be a few hours before I could dispose of it, and it might smell. So I decided to be pro-active. I poured a little bit of bleach into the jar and kept it there. I figured that the beach will help manage the urine smell for a while.

Well one night it happened. I had to pee. Ah ha! I had planned for this emergency. So I stood on my knees in the back of the truck, removed the lid from the top of the emergency jar, unzipped my pants, stuck my penis into the jar opening, and let it go. So far. So good.

All of sudden I heard this strange hissing sound from the jar. The urine in the jar starting to boil. The sides of the jar got hot in my hands. Then a noxious cloud of gas came up and started burning my lungs and eyes. The jar, which was heavy plastic, started to melt. I couldn't breath, and I felt like my lungs were on fire.

I kicked open the back of the truck and fell out, gasping for air, blind, and with my penis hanging out of my pants, rudely interrupted in the middle of a piss. I am so glad that there was no one around at the particular time. I am even more glad that I didn't die then and there in the back of the truck. Can you imagine the police report? Middle age man found dead in the back of his pickup truck from mysterious causes with his dick hanging out of his pants.

I thought about what I did wrong and it hit me. I was such an idiot! What is in bleach? Chlorine. What is sometimes found in urine? Ammonia. There must have ben enough ammonia in my urine to trigger a chemical reaction with the chlorine in the bleach. You know what happens when you mix chlorine and ammonia, right? Bad stuff. It is lethal.

Lesson learned. Never piss into a bottle of bleach.

So getting back to my predicament. If I end up back in the US with no job, money, home, etc. I will see if I can scrape up enough to buy a pickup truck with a shell, and a Gold's Gym membership. I think that I will be able to survive until I get back on my feet again.

And my emergency piss bottle will have dish soap in it.

Busted?

2006-03-02T21:05:00.000+08:00

Well guys... we are busted. The women of the world have deployed a new weapon in the war of the sexes. Our two-timing cheating days are numbered.

They now have a dating equivilant of a credit report on a online database website named "Don't Date Him Girl". I noticed that there is no way for the man to dispute the "facts", or demand that his entry be removed.

However, I suspect that this web site could be in violation of US Federal law. Specifically, the Fair Credit Reporting Act. These are the same laws that regulate the national credit bureaus. Based on my reading of the FCRA, they fall under its juristiction. If that is true, then they can be held liable for not meeting dispute and data accuracy standards.

Also, I would think that a contributer and possibly the site owners could be sued for slander. Interesting idea. I don't think that I would risk my neck to create such a site.

By the way... I'm not on the database. I looked.

Another travel tip from me!

2006-03-01T16:03:00.000+08:00

When I was writing about the fake muggers wallet in the previous post, I remembered another travel tip that I would like to pass on.

If you are traveling outside of the US, especially in Mexico, carry two drivers licenses with you. What you do is "loose" your current license. Tell the DMV that your wallet was lost or stolen and that you need a placement license. Keep the old license in a safe place for travel purposes.

When you get pulled over by the police in Mexico for a shakedown (this has happened to me), the first thing they do is confiscate your drivers license. Then you have to pay them to get it back. Just give them the cancelled license. The dates on it will still be good, and there is nothing on it do indicate that it was cancelled and replaced. The only way they will be able to tell is to call the DMV and check.

So if your bribe negotiations fails and you have to flee, at least you can get back in to the US.

You can do the same thing with your passport. But I have not done that.

American Express Platinum Card

2006-03-01T15:05:00.000+08:00

Hmmmm.... American Express send me a Platinum card in the mail today. I didn't ask them for it. I've had their Gold card since, like forever. And I have been satisfied with it. So I was a bit taken back when this fancy silverish package arrived at my box and an Amex Platinum card fell out.

Or so I thought.

A closer look reveals that the name embossed on it is "Your Name Here". It turns out that the whole thing was only an invite to apply for their Platinum card. They had stuck a fancy brochure in the package that reminds me of those glossy brochures that Mercedes-Benz and BMW print up for their luxury cars.

I was at lunch, so I decided what the hell. I will read their marketing fluff. Lots of cool photos and text kissing my ass telling me what a powerful, decisive, refined, and special person I am. I deserve this card because I stand head and shoulders above the suffering masses.

Ignoring the ass kissing, they are a bit short on details. I could not find exactly what I get, or what makes this so special, or what it costs. They elude to vague benefits such as...

Last minute reservations to top restaurants. Huh? This in Ron they are talking to. I don't even like going to restaurants that make you wear shoes! I also refuse to go to restaurants that require reservations or "connections". If they don't have enough seats to meet public demand, then I will take my business elsewhere.

Exclusive Offers For Some Of The Most Unforgettable Places To Stay On Earth. Notice they don't say "pleasant places". How could I forget a night in the slammer in San Francisco? Or sleeping on the Denver Airport floor during a blizzard?

A service dedicated to smoothing your path and satisfying your every wish. What the hell does that mean? Can I call them up and order a hooker and hitman?

Fly first or business class with a companion and get substantial savings. What? Buy two first class tickets? You know what the dirty little secret about flying first class is? I'll tell you. You pay four times as much, but YOU STILL GET THERE AT THE SAME TIME AS EVERYONE ELSE DOES! How about if I just keep that extra money in my pocket, eh?

Travel Service: So how is this better than the travel agent down the street?

Enjoy upgrades and exclusive benefits at over 800 hotels world wide. Only 800? That really isn't a lot of hotels when you consider how many cities there are in the world. So... are they saying that Motel Six will give me free roll-away for a night? Whoo Hooo!

Buried on the back, I found the price for all of this. $900!!!! Yes, $900 to carry a credit card in your wallet. Holy shit! Are they out of their friggen minds?

But this is not all a loss. I am going to put this fake Amex card into my mugger's wallet along with the fake drivers license and other phoney ID. My muggers wallet is a cheap throw-away wallet that I keep on me when I am walking through dodgy areas of cities. If I get mugged, I simply toss them the fake wallet. By the time they figure out it is worthless, I am gone.

Note: You have to put a little real cash in the fake wallet. That will distract them long enough to not notice anything odd before you get away.

Update to previous story

2006-03-01T14:34:00.000+08:00

Back in November 2005, I posted about a gang of 4 young men who physically attacked photographers and other people standing outside of a Melbourne courthouse after an Islamic terror ring was busted by the police. These men were supporters of the accused and had shown up for the arraignment.

What has upset me at the time was the fact that the police stood by and did nothing. These guys were caught on tape assaulting people in front of the court house. Yet, they were allowed to just walk away. The police didn't do a damn thing about it.

Thankfully, there was enough outrage about this that the police and prosecutors were forced to act. They eventually decided to press charges against the four. They were granted bail and told to show up in February 2006.

Well.... February came and went. I didn't hear anything about this case. So I did a little digging on the internet for news. I ran across this little story from 21-Feb-2006.

Bash accused scuffle again
Natalie Tkaczuk Sikora
21feb06

A CAMERAMAN allegedly bashed by five men outside a court was confronted by one of the men again yesterday.

Channel 7 cameraman Matt Rose was on assignment filming the men who appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on charges of assaulting him.
Mr Rose stood in front of the men as they walked from court -- filming at close range -- before one of the alleged bashers shoved the camera back towards his head.
The brief scuffle happened at almost the exact spot in William St where Mr Rose was violently attacked in November last year.
Abdul Sayadi, 24, of Brunswick, Nasser Raad, 27, of North Coburg, Monzer Ramadan, 28, of Coburg, Majed Raad, 21, of Coburg and Bassam Raad, 24, of Meadow Heights, have each been charged with affray and assault.
Mr Sayadi, Mr Ramadan and Nasser Raad are also charged with behaving in a riotous manner.
All five men -- who are family and friends of nine men allegedly involved in a Melbourne terrorist cell -- appeared in court.
Police made an application to adjourn the hearing to gather further evidence and view more footage of the incident.
Magistrate Lisa Hannan extended bail for the five men and ordered them to appear again in the same court on August 1. It is the second time Mr Rose has covered the story since he was attacked.

Nice guys eh? The attacked the same camera man again, and in the same spot!

These types of guys are the same types of guys that are causing problems in Australia. The are of Arab decent. They are quick to anger and usually react with group assaults. This is exactly the same behaviour that triggered the Cronella (Sydney) Beach riots in December. Young Arab-Aussie men respond with extreme violence when told by a life guard to stop harassing sunbathers.

I am dismayed that the police have asked for 6 more months to present a case. WTF? They have videos of these goons attacking people. What more do they need? The reason they are postponing is because the police are afraid of them and their friends. After the riots, the Arab neighborhoods are on edge. The police want to wait for things to cool down, or for the public to forget about the assault so they can quietly drop the charges.

Hold Music

2006-02-28T10:02:00.000+08:00

Cool! I saw an article in the LA Times about how the City of Seattle is using local bands to produce hold music for the city departments. The City government website even has a web page to tell you what band you are listening to and where to buy the music.

That has to be better than the usual elevator music crap that I have to endure on most holds.

I wish that government departments and companies that specialize in crappy customer service with long hold times would use a more flexible hold music system. I would like to be able to press 1 for pop, 2 for country, 3 for rap, 4 for news and weather, 5 for classical, 6 for rock, 7 for silence, etc. That way when I put my call on speaker phone so I can do other things while waiting for someone to bother to pick up the call, I could listen to what I want.

Speaking of hold music, I had an incident that still cracks me up. Once time back in Santa Barbara I had to call my local medical emergancy clinic to make an appointment. As usual, no one answers. Instead, you are put on hold in a queue. The song that was playing while I was on hold was REM's "Everybody Hurts". The lyrics were perfect...

Well, everybody hurts sometimes,
Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on...

I was rolling on the floor laughing when the receiptionist finally answered. I told her what song was playing for the hold music. She didn't get it.

Ah, but the best hold music "incident" was not even real. It was on The Simpsons season 3, episode #8F14, "Homer Alone". Marge left Homer at home in charge baby Maggie. He of course screws it all up and ends up loosing Maggie when she crawls off into town looking for Marge. When Homer realizes that Maggie is gone he calls The Department for Missing Babies. He is put on hold. The hold music is the 1968 The Equals hit "Baby Come Back". I still loose it whenever I see that joke on Simpsons reruns. Brilliant!

Sicko marrige contract

2006-02-27T09:40:00.000+08:00

Wow. I stumbled across this little news story this weekend. This guy has way too much time on his hands!

I have only two words of warning for him, and any other men who think like he does...

Lorena Bobbitt!

non-Muslims forbidden to touch the Koran in Los Angeles

2006-02-23T15:36:00.000+08:00

In today's LA Times, there is an article about a new muslim based "Muslim-American Homeland Security Congress". This is an organization about of muslims dedicated to fighting Islamic extremism with the American muslim comunity.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff is Lee Baca. He is one of the backers of this organization which was inspired by brainstorming sessions on how to prevent London Tube style attacks in Los Angeles.

Now here is the part of the article that I find both funny and deeply disturbing. In Culver City is the King Fahd Mosque. It is the largest mosques in LA. It is funded by the Saudi Royal family. The following incident took place there.

At one Culver City mosque, for instance, Baca said he was given a Koran by the imam and invited to read from it during an interfaith service after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But he was approached by a man afterward who told him that non-Muslims such as him were forbidden to touch the Koran. "That's extremism at its worst," Baca said.

How in the hell are us infidels supposed to learn about his precious religion if we aren't even allow to pick up the book to read it? Talk about a chicken-n-egg situation (you know... which comes first, the chicken or the egg?). What if muslims left korans in hotel rooms like christians leave bibles? Does that mean we can't touch it?

*sigh*

GM kills the GTO

2006-02-23T15:15:00.000+08:00

I see today that GM killed the GTO, their US version of the Australian Holden Monaro. I had predicted this in my blog back in July 2005 when GM launched the new GTO, and it went over like a lead balloon. GM is blaming this decision on the expense of redesigning it to meet federal air bag rules for 2007.

This is a sad day for the once mighty American automobile industry. The Germans, Japanese, and Koreans are eating their lunch. Now, they can't even succeed in ONE area where they have no real foreign competition, muscle cars. GM managed to defeat themselves. Wow.

The Monaro is a well respected and highly desired car here in Australia. If GM had just managed to leave well enough alone, they could have sold them in the US and made money. But noooo. Too many executive that need to justify their jobs put all their little changes in until the GTO was nothing like the Monaro that it was supposed to be.

I don't understand why GM has failed to notice that the German and Japanese car makers sell pretty much the same car at home as they do in the US. They don't produce a dumbed down and problem filled version of the Mercedes sedan, the BMW 525, the VW Jetta, the Toyota Corolla, or Honda Accord just for Americans. Nope. The Americans get the same quality automobile that the Germans and the Japanese get.

Pathetic.... just f**king pathetic.

Pickup Lines

2006-02-22T14:50:00.000+08:00

Did you fart? 'cause you blew me away.
Are your parents retarded? 'cause you sure are special.
My Love for you is like diarrhea... I can't hold it in.
Do you have a library card? 'cause I'd like to sign you out.
Is there a mirror in your pants? 'cause I can see myself in them.
If you and I were squirrels, I'd store my nuts in your hole.
You might not be the best looking girl here, but beauty is only a light switch away.
I may not be Fred Flintstone, but I bet I can make your bed-rock.
I can't find my puppy, can you help me find him? I think he went into this cheap motel room.
Your eyes are as blue as window cleaner.
If you're going to regret this in the morning, we can sleep until the afternoon.
Your face reminds me of a spanner*, every time I think of it, my nuts tighten up.
(man sniffs woman's neck). You smell great! You must have taken TWO baths today.

* Translation: "spanner" is Australian for wrench.

Hat tip to Robin. Thanks!

Scottish Personal Ads

2006-02-21T17:49:00.000+08:00

Grossly overweight Buckie turf-cutter, 42 years old and 23 stone, Gemini, seeks nimble sexpot, preferably South American, for tango sessions, candlelit dinners and humid nights of screaming passion. Must have own car and be willing to travel. Box 09/08
Aberdeen man, 50, in desperate need of a ride. Anything considered. Box 06/03
Heavy drinker, 35, Glasgow area, seeks gorgeous sex addict interested in pints, fags, Celtic football club and starting scraps on Sauchiehall Street at three in the morning. Box 73/82.
Bitter, disillusioned Dundonian lately rejected by long-time fiancée seeks decent, honest, reliable woman, if such a thing still exists in this cruel world of hatchet-faced bitches. Box 53/41
Ginger-haired Partick troublemaker, gets slit-eyed and shirty after a few scoops, seeks attractive, wealthy lady for bail purposes, maybe more. Box 84/87
Artistic Edinburgh woman, 53, petite, loves rainy walks on the beach, writing poetry, unusual sea-shells and interesting brown rice dishes, seeks mystic dreamer for companionship, back rubs and more as we bounce along like little tumbling clouds on life's beautiful crazy journey. Strong stomach essential Box 12/32
Chartered accountant, 42, seeks female for marriage. Duties will include cooking, light cleaning and accompanying me to office social functions. References required. No time wasters. Box 23/45
Bad-tempered, foul-mouthed old bastard living in a damp cottage in the ass end of Orkney seeks attractive 21-year old blonde lady with big chest. Box 40/27
Devil-worshiper, Stirling area, seeks like-minded lady for wining and dining, good conversation, dancing, romantic walks and slaughtering dogs in cemeteries at midnight under the flinty light of a pale moon. Box 52/07
Attractive brunette, Maryhill area, winner of Miss Wrangler competition at Framptons Nightclub, Maryhill, in September 1978, seeks nostalgic man who's not afraid to cry, for long nights spent comfort-drinking and listening to old Abba records. Please, Please! Box 30/41
Govan man, 27, medium build, square heid, big moustache and curly hair, seeks alibi for the night of February 27 between 8pm and 11.30pm

Naked trek across the UK

2006-02-21T16:33:00.000+08:00

Saw a little news story today. An Englishman and his girlfriend finished their nude walk of length of the UK, from bottom to top. They left from Land's End (southwest tip of England) in June 2005 and arrived yesterday (Feb 2006) at John O' Groates, the northern most tip of Scotland.

I've been to Scotland and to John O'Groates. Walking around nude in that place in January and February is insane! They are lucky that they didn't freeze off their naughty bits.

Read Story Here

'O Homem Que Copiava' ('The Man Who Copied')

2006-02-20T10:37:00.000+08:00

Late last night on SBS TV I caught a wonderful little Brazlian film called 'O Homem Que Copiava' . Translation, 'The Man Who Copied'. It is funny, and dark and humerous love story really. I highly recommend it as a good rental. It is in Portuguese, so you have to read the subtitles.

It is about Andre, a young man in Brazil who works at a photocopy shop and is struggleing to make ends meet and make himself a life. He is secretly in love with a neighbor, but can not afford to take her out. One day his boss buys the business a new laser color copier, and Andre discovers that he has the skills to make a passable copy of a $50 note. He starts with one copy, and his life spins out of control. The film has so many twists that, honestly, you will never be able to guess what happens next. A very funny and refreshing film.

André (Lazaro Ramos), 19, lives in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and works as a photocopier. His prize possession is a pair of binoculars that he uses to spy on Silvia (Leandra Leal), the girl of his dreams, in a neighbouring apartment. He sets out to court her, a task made extremely difficult by lack of money. Falling more and more in love with her, he begins to follow her around the city and realises she works in a clothing shop. In desperation for cash, André decides to use the photocopier to make a copy of a brand new fifty dollar bill in order to buy a dress from her store. This becomes a vice and he begins to photocopy more and more money, until it gets out of control. However, things begin to go wrong when he discovers that photocopying is not the only way to make money. Written and directed by Jorge Furtado, this romantic comedy received the 2004 Cinema Brazil Grand Prize Award in several categories, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. The film also stars Luana Piovane and Pedro Cardoso. (From Brazil, in Portuguese, with English subtitles) (2003) WS

Enjoy! [Netflix Link]

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog

2006-02-16T20:37:00.000+08:00

When I was in the US, I picked up a DVD called "The Best of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog" as an impulse purchase for $10. I finally got around to watching it recently. Man, it is one of the funnest videos I have seen in a very, very long time. Best $10 I ever spent. Seriously folks, you have to buy it. The guy gets away with murder.

I have to warn you that this is NOT for kids!

Also, and this is important, most of the best stuff is buried in the extra features. For some reason there is actually more content on the extra stuff (called "More Poop" and "Even more poop" on the title screen).

In particular, watch the segment where Triumph goes to Honolulu to make fun of the people auditioning for American Idol. He ends up getting kicked out by security (for real!) and goes to the local Honolulu NBC affiliate to hide out. The NBC station decides to let Triumph be their guest weatherman that day. Oh man.... the anchors just loose it.

Rent it. Buy it. Steal it. Whatever. You can't miss this gem!