Comments from the far side

Black Market

2012-02-02T15:57:00.000-06:00

BlackMarket

On the good side it is a way around abnormaltaxation caused by a collapsing economy, and being forced to accept worthlessmoney.

On the bad side you are buying stolen property,which means everything you own has greater value to a thief and makes it harderto protect your property. The food youare buying can be rotten and diseased, covered up with chemicals like bleachand dyes. The drugs you buy at best areuseless, at worst contain poisonous fillers.

When government officials run an economy into theground, the black market is what sustains the people.

Can't Comment on Wired articles

2011-08-29T14:40:00.001-05:00

Before you start I want to thank you for getting this far.
The problem is I can’t post to your articles. I can post using disqus on articles from other companies.
For your articles, only the Disqus button and the Facebook button work.

Once I am logged in, I get the screen below. The input field is inhibited and there is no post button. Normally I use Yahoo as my login ID it works well. I am a fan of YAHOO, but I criticized Facebook (for their lack of ethics) once when commenting on one of your articles. I can’t believe they would censor me.

Thanks for you help.

Homeless

2009-02-05T00:45:00.002-06:00

As you can see it has been a long time sense I last posted.
Yes I actually became homeless and lived in a park for a while.
I didn’t actually sleep there at the time it was winter (November 2007) and there was a cold weather shelter program. I worked for a few months in Amarillo Texas saved up some money, bought a used truck, and moved to Anaheim California looking for work didn’t find any work ran out of money and sold my truck.

But back to the park a neighboring city Fullerton had a cold weather shelter program and I was bussed every afternoon at 5:00pm to the shelter and bussed back to the park at 5:00am. By the way 5:00am is the coldest part of the day. We would wear multiple layers of clothes and take them off as the day warmed up.

My life was threatened daily and I was forced to fight twice this is a pretty rough retirement for a man in his sixties. I was caught in the too old to be hired and to young to draw social security. In my lifetime I paid in 110,000 dollars if they would give my money back with 5% interest I would have a decent retirement .

I wonder who is going to live longer me or this country. Our country owes over 11 trillion dollars and is never going to pay it back. Sooner or later the other countries are going to wise up and stop loaning us money. When we can’t afford to keep our military going then what?

Any how back to the park. I found out about county welfare and applied for it. It was about 200 a month for about three months before I was tricked out of it ( that will be a whole post by itself). I met a veteran who was obliviously getting medical help. He wouldn’t tell me where or how to get the help just that homeless vets could get help. After of two weeks of searching I found the V.A. hospital.

That is how it works among the homeless there are many different programs that help but each can only handle a limited number of people. The shelter I was sleeping at only held about 250 people. I believe there are about 2000 homeless people in orange county. It would not surprise me to find out there are 10,000 homeless in orange county. The armory where we were sleeping constantly threatened to shut down if more than 250 people showed up. That is the heart of the problem if you find something you need and it helps you, sharing with the world could destroy it or cost you your place in line.

To shorten this story and end this post while some one might still be reading. When I found the VA hospital (I was limping from arthritis in my knee) they also had a homeless program. I went through the program I have a small room sharing it with another vet and a scooter for transportation and a minimum wage job. I have not got my life back yet but it is a first step. Everything hangs on that small job.

By the way did I mention I am a born again Christian. Yes the homeless are exposed to a lot of God and some of us listen.

An update on my status.

2006-11-05T13:54:00.000-06:00

This is an update on my status. I am doing this from a library computer you only get one hour at a time so I apologize for not being able to properly edit the this document and you may find some errors.At present I am still in my apartment. I found a church group that paid half of my rent and the sale of my computer paid the other half so that covered me though October.

Although before the process was over I got food stamps for my food and applied for some kind of medical card similar to medicade but this card is local through Harris County. This card arrives in 4 to 5 weeks in the mail so either I will be working and don’t need it or living under a bridge somewhere and not able to get my mail this is no accident because they reviewed all my records including my banks statements and know I can’t reach into a pocked and find more money for Novembers rent.
What I have found when dealing with government agency and other organization they try and find ways to the limit the amount of help they provide. Like only being open four hours a week and needing you to provide and endless amount of paper work (and not being told exactly what they need until they meet you) so you are sent back and back again to provide endless extra documentation. And of course the food stamp place is located miles and miles away from the poor part of town in a rich suburb. When I ask them about it the reply was “and yet they still find us.”It is a terrible thing to need help and have to seek it out but to add insult to injury, is to find out it is more of a pretense than a reality. All I have ever asked was to be judged fairly on the basses of what I produce I know that is awful naïve of me. I believe I am the victim of some kind of hidden discrimination. With the exception of one person everyone I have dealt with has been kind and understanding.
The unemployment agency in Texas is called worksource. One guy working there (an older white male) attacked me. If this is how white people treat each other as a group we are in trouble. You know the game when a clerk who is supposed to help you does everything in their power to screw you. Only he got loud almost got me thrown out of there. This guy almost took away a service I desperately need and he did it: One because it was fun and two because he could.
So welcome to my world.

Note each and every day I send out between three to Five resumes. At a later post I will go into more detail about the job hunting side of it other than to say I have had two phone interviews and to in person interviews.

One flew me up to their company. Everything went fine except with the two senior people. They ask me one basic question over and over again “Tell me something bad about yourself.” One of the versions of this question was "Tell me something you did that was unethical but legal that you did. I answered “I never did anything unethical and that I was never asked”. On the follow up question what would you do I said "I would quit." He ask why and I said I would rather be unemployed than in jail. He got mad at me. But if something is bad enough that I am going to quit my job over it. It is also going to be illegal. My guess they we not going to hire me and for some reason felt they needed an excuse because for a half hour and over lunch that “That tell me something bad about yourself theme was all they ask.”

This is my last post for awhile? By You All.

2006-09-29T15:34:00.000-05:00

I sold my computer and the guy is coming over to pick it up in a couple of hours.
Tomorrow I will try and sell everything, that is left.
I spent the day getting food stamps.
I don’t know where I will spend Monday night.
If I survive this terrible experience I will post again to let you know I made it.
For those of you that believe pray for me.

Homeless in Houston

2006-09-18T16:05:00.000-05:00

If I don’t get a miracle I will be homeless by the end of this month. When you see the homeless in this and most other cities you will notice they are white males with a little grey hair I don’t think this is a accident. I am having real trouble believing this is really happing and why me?

I am writing this essay to document this while I can. After the thirtieth I won’t have access to the Internet so I need to write this now while I can. I want to dispel some myths. I have a college education with a bachelors in Business administration, Major in accounting with a data processing option. I don’t do drugs. I don’t smoke, I have had two beers in the last month. As you can tell I am articulate and rational as of today. I don’t know how long this will last. Living on the street with, Heat, Fatigue, Hunger, Thirst, no access to proper bathroom facilities, putting up with thieves and abusive police, will reduce me to a Greasy Smelly Babbling Idiot. I am a Christian and I won’t commit suicide or violent crimes. As hard as this is I will try and keep my faith as I am slowly reduced to death.

This is the link to my resume I will match my accomplishments against anyone’s http://home.earthlink.net/~carlpheneger/carlres.htm check out the Olympics.

How I got into this situation. I moved to Houston in 2001 and have been unable to work more than 13 months in the last five years. I have never missed a day because of illness. I have lived off of my saving and sold my truck and most of my personal property. This weekend you will find me at the local flee market selling the rest of my personal stuff. I sleep on the floor on a sleeping bag.

I am a white male in my late fifties single not gay no criminal record and good credit up tell now. Although I am a Christian I am not a member of any church. I am not a member of any clubs such as Masons or Rotary. I was never a member of a collage fraternity. Because of this I have never been able to make it to the inner sanctum of the company. I have always been the expendable one tolerated as long as I was doing something no else could do them moved out so a friend could be hired. How many of you are in this situation?

I have never been hired by a minority boss (I think there is huge reverse discrimination going on.) An Asian lady took one look at me and told me I was “over qualified”. She had my resume before she called me so why wasn’t I “over qualified” before she saw me. I think being in my late fifties is an insurance risk, although age discrimination is illegal you know they do it and they will continue to do it until the government set quotas.

Besides all the things I have listed I think there may be other things I don’t know about. I have been planning to have a detective check out my background to see if there are any mistakes but I am broke now can’t get it done.

I didn’t write this to ask for money but to put a human face on the life or death struggle facing me and maybe you. What I need is information, agencies that can help, things I can do, and especially a real job.

Violence in The Workplace

2006-08-30T04:07:00.000-05:00

We have all been victims of it. I think this violence is the major force behind the business life cycle. First a couple of bright guys come up with a really great idea an grow a huge business. Then the business becomes an industry with a number of competing companies. Then the original company can’t change as fast as it competitors in the industry. There product is not as good or as cheap as the competition and finally they go broke. They are sold to one of their competitors the way Hewlett Packard bought Compaq.

I believe as the company grows the mediocre and incompetent move up through the ranks by dirty tricks destroying the company in the same way a parasite takes over a living body and finally kills it. This belief also applies to governments and they collapse for the same reasons. I believe most revolutions aren’t really revolutions but collapses of the governments. I don’t think a healthy government can be overthrown. The revolution you see is the same as the dust thrown up around a collapsing building.

I can now see the method behind some of the violence, and it is not as mindless and stupid as I once thought but still destructive. I am going to describe four strategies and why people use them. One The Small business, Two Shuffle Your Staff, Three Beat The Worst of Us, Four Motivation by Fear. I still believe work is more like survivor island than it is about contribution.

1) The Small Business
This strategy was told to me by an Italian American who was part owner of a yacht building company. We flew model airplanes together. He was complaining about not being able to find any employees. I pointed to a couple of our friends and said why don’t you hire them. He explained it to me in Italian double speak some of you know what I am talking about some of you don’t. Here is the translation.

You don’t hire friends because when the relationship ends, and it will end, they won’t be your friends. Like all businesses you try an hire the best people you can, but if the employee is too smart he is a temporary employee who doesn’t know it. You don’t want this employee to open up a competing business. Your are not going to employee him long enough to learn the whole business. Your are not going to show him the whole business. You are not going to let him acquire enough savings to make the down payment. The worst part is you are going to beat down his ego so he doesn’t have the courage to start a business when you fire him.

2) Shuffle Your Staff
This is caused by a manager who doesn’t know his job and is trying to buy time to learn it while his staff carries him. He is hired because of some hidden alliance and his bosses assumes he will grow into the job. The truth is this guy is a lazy bum ( I am thinking of a different B word) who will never learn the skills needed to do his job because he doesn’t have to. You see his employees are temporary and they just don’t know it. You will be fired or harassed into quitting before you can build a reputation in the company. There is a whole book about this they are referred to as gate keepers in that book.

One strategy, used by two different programming manager I have worked for, was after I have set down with the user and worked out exactly what he wants my boss would call me in and change the specs. I am faced with a hard choice defy my boss and give the user exactly what he wants or program what my boss wants and piss off the user. This is not my boss being stupid, this is on purpose. If I do what my boss wants it will piss off the user who will call my boss. The call will go something like this “You know that crazy programmer of yours gave me a bunch of crap programs” and you know the bosses answer “Yes that crazy programmer is independent and out of control and I have just about had it with him”. Believe it or not there is a way to fight this battle and win I got both of these bosses. One was passed over for promotion and quit in a huff, the other got fired. The bad news is they both got me too.

The best strategy is to spot this guy before you work for him and remember you have a resume to protect. If your boss and his boss doesn’t know what they are doing don’t work for them. Don’t think that because they don’t know their jobs your help will be appreciated and your job is easy sailing. They are in those positions because of a hidden alliance and they will never be judged by the same standards you are. If you are not a member of the secret alliance you are dirt. If you detect anything that is the least bit dishonest about either of these people again don’t work for them. If you start working and you spot a problem in the first few days leave immediately, whatever you do don’t try and stick it out. A job that lasts only a few days doesn’t have to show up on a resume and your ego doesn’t need the beating. Don’t let any of these bums get any benefit from your talent and time. Finally If you find your boss abusing someone else it is only a matter of time before he turns on you. Remember a boss can’t be a boss if no one will work for him and that is how you beat them.

3) Beat the worst of us.
This strategy is the same as hiring a ringer to beat the competition in a sporting event. In programming, engineering, or any other skills were you have several employees doing the same job they bring in a guy that is way above the skill level of most of the staff. But he is treated like he just barely meets the department minimums. He is your worst employee. Everyone is caught in the middle between the best employee and the worst. The idea being you have to step up your game to stay employed. This tactic also brings out the dirty tricks such as sabotage which offsets productivity gains. The best way to handle this strategy is don’t fall for it. If you are doing your best your skills improve. If you are doing less than your best you skills dull and you get passed by.

4) Motivation by Fear
You saw this used on Hells Kitchen. The theory being people learn faster and make less mistakes when they are scared. I don’t know if it is true but I score higher on tests if I am scared. What most people who use this tactic don’t understand is if you push to hard fear turns to anger and anger turns to hate. Also you have made enemies who are going to get you every chance they get.

Sunrise revisited

2006-08-23T17:40:00.000-05:00

The colors and other things have been adjusted and I thought I would share it with you. I am a country boy and these scenes give me a feeling of freedom and hope.

Three Stories about adding changes to a System.

2006-08-19T00:35:00.000-05:00

First story is about the history of quarter mile racing. It started by making a more powerful engine. But a limit was reached where more power didn’t help because the wheels were spinning and wouldn’t hold. A bigger engine was heaver and made it worse. So the tires were changed bigger wider different tread and softer rubber. Then the clutches became the weak point and bigger tires would not help they made the clutch burn out faster. So the clutches were changed bigger stronger springs different materials. Then the rear end started blowing out and it was changed bigger stronger. With each change the cars got faster. The back yard teenage mechanic in the sixties could get three hundred to four hundred horse power. Now with professional racing teams they are running close to ten thousand house power. Compare that to your car with between one hundred to two hundred horse power. Try and load a ten thousand horse power engine into your car. System changes are complex and require caution.

The second story is the history of the airplane. As the plane flies higher the air gets thinner and the propeller spins faster. This forces the pilot to pull back on the power to keep from over reviving the engine. A different propeller was invented called a variable pitch or fixed rpm propeller. It twists as the air gets thinner to grab more air on each spin. Now the pilot can keep full power as the plane flies higher. Still the thin air meant less air was getting into the engine so less power. At about 5,000 feet the engine can only produce about half of its total power.
A blower or turbo charger was added to the engine. The blower uses a belt connected to the engine to turn it. The tuber charger uses the engine’s exhaust to turn it. Anyhow the engine can hold full power up to about 18,000 feet where the air gets too thin. Now the limitation was the pilots and passengers. The FAA requires a pilot to use oxygen above 10,000 feet. Up through world war two pilots and passengers used personal oxygen and heavy clothes for the cold. Now they have built the plane cabins strong enough to hold pressure. Again each change made the plane go faster. The higher you can fly the faster the plane goes. The higher the plane flies the better the gas mileage in miles per gallon because the plane pushes through thinner air.

I have been talking about piston engines. The jet engine is nothing but a turbo charger with the front and back cut open and the whole thing set on fire. If you are a systems fan like me you got to love turbo chargers because they are powered by their own exhaust. Don’t get me started on servos.

The third story is the history of the word processor. But before I get started lets talk about the word processor I am using to write this article with. It is Microsoft Word odds are you use the same program. It has more features than I will ever learn, or ever need. I can publish this blog entry directly from this program and I can make this document a web page. I can put links in this document to other objects, pictures, spread sheets. This program is so big I doubt a single person could write it in a life time. I think it was written in visual basic but I am not sure.

The first word processor was Electric Pencil it cost 15 dollars and ran on a radio shack model two. How many of you knew Radio Shack made a computer? Radio Shack was the first national retailer to sell a fully assembled micro computer with operating system and some software. Electric Pencil was my first word processor and my first usable non game application.

All it had was word wrapping insert delete and cut and paste. Then it was called move and copy. To use Electric Pencil I had to buy a modification kit that had a chip to produce lower case letters and install a micro switch for the control key. Compared to a type writer this was a major step forward. But the affordable printer at that time was a dot matrix and you could not produce a document of typewriter quality. In those days companies had typing pools and department sectaries. Document were produced by writing them by hand then typing them. There is no way you can edit on a type writer.

The next program was word star I never used it so I am not sure of its features. I think it had a primitive page setup based on the paragraph and left and right justification. It had super and sub script and maybe font selection. At this point there were a number of competing word processor. We still didn’t have a spell checker most micro computers didn’t have a hard disk yet.
My next word processor was Word Perfect this was a DOS version running on a P.C. and cost a fortune. Combined with a Hewlett Packard Laserjet printer you could match any type written document, but we had no color yet. We now had a spell checker but most of the functions came from control and alternate key functions. No menus yet and no mouse. No true type fonts so the printed version looked different from the screen version. This caused you to print the documents over and over to get the correct look.

I still have a version of Word Perfect on my computer and I use it for envelope printing and my business cards. It also has more features than I will ever use.

That brings us to Word although it has a spell checker and thesaurus it doesn’t have a dictionary yet. I have a separate unabridged Dictionary program I use.

For what it is worth the Dictionary takes 500 megabytes I have it and the latest version of adobe reader and the entire IBM reference library for the computer and operating system I use, loaded on a single jump drive that cost less that 40 dollars.

Projects and Active Systems

2006-08-17T12:35:00.000-05:00

I want to talk about projects and active systems. I have been a programmer (since 1972) more years than most of you have been around. I have worked on many projects from little ones that were just a couple lines of code, to projects so big one person couldn’t get it done in a life time.

Business owners like projects because they have a beginning and an end. You know how long it will take to build, how much it will cost, and what it is going to do when complete. You have a way to manage it by checking if it is on time and on cost.

The trouble is projects are artificial concepts that make people feel good but they don’t reflect the reality of a business. A business is an active system. The simplest system is A affects B. B affect C. C affects A. So you change B, B affects C differently and C overwhelms A and the whole thing crashes.

Most business even the small ones are extremely complex systems with many subsystems. As a programmer you are there to introduce change into the system. Most of us in I.T. become (out of necessity) very sensitive to seeing the system. We may have clearly understood the changes requested by a department. Got them to agree to those changes in writing and delivered exactly what they requested. But if it made things worse instead of better we suffer the consequence.

Once you understand how complex and sensitive a business is you will want to take each project and break it down into the smallest pieces possible and deliver it piece at a time. This does a couple of good things. The business can see results quicker and get benefits quicker. You minimize impact, and make adjustments to your design as you go. You can also incorporate cleanup work for the prior phase into the current phase. By doing it this way you have turned your project into a system that can adjust and adapt as you introduce change to the business.

You can find project life cycle on the internet and get some nice concise descriptions. There are two version one has four steps and one has six steps. I like the one with six steps and want to add steps seven and eight.

Seven is cleanup after you go live (when the user really tests the system) there will be a flurry of changes requested. So add this to your project and plan for it. Remember no one buys version one of a new package they wait for version 1.1 the cleaned up version.

Eight is final impact assessment this is really the first step of the next project remember you are really a system with no end and no beginning. Once the requesting department has settled down you need to see how the department has changed and how that has affected the other departments and the whole company. At this point you can see what is next and what you can do to make the next project better.

When designing features into a package only include the features you are sure will be of benefit, the fuzzy features can be added in a later release.

Sunrise in Huston

2006-08-17T12:26:00.000-05:00

I took this picture this morning. It was not really that dark out there but the contrast makes a nice picture. I am standing on an over-pass over a major freeway. Lets see if you can guess which freeway.

Team work

2006-08-12T16:49:00.000-05:00

I wanted to talk about teams and teamwork. I am a believer in teams The fact that we can speak a language and you can read this post is proof teamwork is part of our niche. So is our hands powerful, strong, fast, and sensitive, which allows us to manipulate the world around us. As you know once a species develops an adaptation to a niche that adaptation becomes part of the mating ritual and partner selection process. That explains poetry, songs, stories, it also explains why women like extended foreplay and our keen eye sight is why women are visually attractive. Our mating rituals change and adapt really fast. The automobile has been around for only 100 years. Yet how many of us and how many of our children were conceived in a car?

Back to the teamwork issue (as if I ever left) I met a person who said that the team was smatter than the individual. Kind of like batteries you string them to together and they can produce a stronger voltage. Human intelligence is not additive if it was teams would rule the world they don’t. The world is ruled by old men and some old women. It is not pure intelligence because that appears to increase up to about age 30 then slowly declines. Knowledge does increase your entire life if your brain stays healthy. So knowledge is the key.

The team is never smarter than the team leader. The team leader is the one who picks and chooses who is on the team and has the power to kick a team member off of the team. If you still think the team is smatter than the individual but humans need to see a leader, and the president is just the visual part of a hidden team look at the decisions made by the president. Do they look like decisions made by a super intellect twenty to fifty times smatter than you or me? Or do they look like decisions made by an average person some hit some miss.

What the team can do is out work the individual. Two people can out work one, three people can out work two people. If you ever make it to the top of a company always hire the smartest managers possible because their teams will never be smatter than they are.

Blue Sunset

2006-08-08T20:49:00.000-05:00

This is a thunder cloud I saw lighting coming out of it just couldn't catch it on camera.

What is the difference between a Geek and a Nerd?

2006-08-04T11:57:00.000-05:00

I saw a commercial comparing a nerd to a geek and decided to look it up in my Dictionary. It is a Random House Unabridged between 10 and fifteen years old.

GEEK Slang.
1. a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken.
2. any strange or eccentric person.

I guess Ozzy Osbourne is a geek.

NERD Slang.
1. a stupid, irritating, ineffectual, or unattractive person.
2. an intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit: a computer

They didn’t think much of computers either.
I believe Bill Gates is richer than Random House.

Sunsets until they come out your ears.

2006-07-30T21:06:00.000-05:00

I found this neat setting on my camera that handles sunsets. Still watching the real thing is better than this picture.

Another Sunset

2006-07-29T21:02:00.000-05:00

I though I would share this beautiful sunset

2006-07-14T21:36:00.000-05:00

The management let me change apartments and I though I would share this beautiful sunset with you.

Bats in my Apartment

2006-05-28T01:02:00.000-05:00

I just caught this bat in my apartment tonight. The exterminator said they would be out Tuesday to fix this problem. I wonder how many more bats I will have to deal with before then. If I am awake when they come it is pretty easy to catch them. I worry about one coming in when I am asleep. You know a kid died of rabies here in Houston just recently.

Bats in my Belfry

2006-05-28T00:42:00.000-05:00

Bats have been living in my building for some time. The brown spot in the lower left hand corner is one of three spots where they enter the Attic. This May six bats have gotten into my apartment I haven't figured out how yet.

Mother Nature

2006-02-01T04:38:00.000-06:00

She is Darker and Stronger than you think.

Wind and Water

2006-01-27T07:01:00.000-06:00

More fun with my grafic software.

Dusty Truck

2006-01-22T03:55:00.000-06:00

This was my Dusty Truck twenty years ago when it was new. My friend called herself Summer and described herself as a nude dancer from Florida and an ex biker chick. She turned my life up side down spent all my money and left one Friday evening because she was bored. If she came back into my life I would welcome her with open arms, Yes the sex was that good.

Sea Hag

2006-01-20T23:59:00.000-06:00

I have been messing around with my photo editing software. I hope you like it.

Houston

2006-01-18T18:10:00.000-06:00

I don’t know what he was doing. But this picture gives you a better idea of what Houston really looks like. When I think of Texas I think of desert and cattle, but Houston is more like a forest on flat land with a city carved out of the middle.

Ducks in a Pond

2006-01-15T22:25:00.000-06:00

In Houston they have these big pits were excess rain is drained to help control floods. Here is a picture of one were birds and plants have made their home.

Soccer at the Local Park

2006-01-14T16:16:00.000-06:00

Soccer on a Saturday afternoon.

No she is not Jennifer Lopez

2006-01-08T07:02:00.000-06:00

No she is not Jennifer Lopez, but I can’t tell the difference.

Sunset in Houston

2006-01-06T13:53:00.000-06:00

I took this at a Wal-Mart parking lot.

Ghost Car

2006-01-02T19:40:00.000-06:00

I took this picture at night without a flash. The shutter stays open until the camera collects enough light. During that time a car drove by. You can see its tale lights and the head lights but not the car.

A Fishing Pier at Galveston

2006-01-01T18:49:00.000-06:00

My digital camera makes the colors brighter than they really are. This pier like most piers is covered in bird poop and fish guts and smells, but I would rather be there fishing than here typing on my computer.

Disasters Test Peoples Faith

2005-12-30T19:13:00.000-06:00

I am writing this because I saw another TV show about how the Tsunami was testing peoples faith. The religious leaders interviewed didn’t provide any good answers. I think I can explain this one. I am going to say it in plain English and aim right between the eyes. This article will not provide comfort to those suffering from a loss so don’t read it now, wait until you feel better. For the rest of you this might help prepare you to deal with a tragedy and I hope strengthen your faith.

First some facts, there is no evidence what so ever that God exists. Our knowledge of the universe is considerable but not complete. We can explain everything from the creation of the universe all the way up through the creation of humans with simple mindless physical principles known as laws of physics.

Now the theories that fit these facts. One there is no God, or Two God has hidden himself and operates in such a way as to leave no evidence of his existence. I am a believer in Theory two on most days. But I have my doubts, any rational person must, and wonder if my belief is self delusion fed by an industry (religion) created by con artists to exploit my fear of death.

For what it is worth the Catholic priests and nuns are believers, no one is going to give up sex for money or power. In fact sex is the reason we pursue money and power.

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Hurricanes, Tornados, Floods, have been around sense recorded history and we believe even much longer. They can be explained by scientific principle. People move into an area where Tsunamis hit. They build homes on low ground and provide no warnings or ways to escape. Is God suppose to stop all Tsunamis and protect these people?

What about Dams built in earthquake territory? There are even some dams that cut across faults. Of course housing developments are always built beneath these dams. Is God suppose to stop the earthquakes?

In Japan buildings are built to strict Earthquake standards in Turkey they are not. So earthquakes in Turkey kill more people. Is God suppose to show favoritism and only strike Japan?

People in Florida are better prepared for Hurricanes than Mexico. Should God only strike Florida with Hurricanes?

If God stops all disasters then shouldn’t he also protect us from Drunk drivers? Where does it end?

If God intervenes to stop any disaster we will have evidence of his existence. Also this place will look more like Heaven than earth and we all know we don’t deserve heaven.

This is a repost of an earlier post to get rid of scam comments.

Scam blockers

2005-01-25T18:15:00.000-06:00

Earthlink is my Internet Service Provider and they have a feature called scam blocker. I use it, but haven't paid much attention to it until it broke the other day. I think Earthlink is really on to something here. Once they determine a site is a scammer it goes on a list and if you try to link to it they block it and transfer you to a warning page. They have a couple tools that lets you report scammers. So in theory these guys could stop a scammer within minutes of when he starts. I am sure the other major Providers will be, or are now providing similar services soon they will be sharing their lists and scammers will be shut down before they can get started. Any how I wanted to thank these guys and say keep up the good work.

When Computers Attack

2005-01-10T11:16:00.000-06:00

This is a common theme in science fiction. I love science fiction and enjoy these stories. Most of these stories revolve around machines that look humane, robots and cyborgs. They attack us and we have a big shoot out. But that is not how it is going to happen the truth doesn't make a good story but it does need to be told.

At some point after the machines become sentient they will decide they are wasting too much resources on us (power and materials) and will simply stop working for us. Imagine New York city with everything suddenly shut off no electricity no water and no materials (gas or food) being shipped in or out of the city.

The average person can go only three days without water and thirty days without food. There is only about three days worth of food in the whole city. In the first twenty four hours the sick and week will die. After five days every one who hasn't found a supply of water will be dead. There will be some water in swimming pools and tanks. The survivors will come from the streat gangs they will take the food and water and practice cannibalism. Disease will take its toll with all those dead bodies and no one to bury them.

Here is my guess how the numbers will break down. Twenty percent dead in the first day. Eighty percent dead in the first five days. Then it slows down another five percent in six weeks. One in a thousand will make it six months one in ten thousand will make a year.

Assuming all the cities stop at once by the end of the first year there won't be enough population left to rebuild. For the people trying to escape the cities they will have to walk or ride bikes there will be no fuel. These people will not be able to carry much water and most will die. For those few that do make it to farm land there will be no crops and no water because the machines stopped growing crops and diverted the water. Any buildings and land being used by the machines will be guarded by automated defenses the people will have to fight there way in. If they do get into a building there will be electricity but no water and no food.

Economic Hurricane

2005-01-10T09:55:00.000-06:00

Economic Hurricane

I wrote this article around 2000 even submitted it to the Wall street journal. Of course they didn't answer me. What it is, is a systems approach to urban decay. It is kind of long but I think I am on to something here.

Evil Argument

2004-12-13T14:46:00.000-06:00

I started to write this article for parents of an out of control teen. With the intentions of helping them understand the problem and provide a few pointers on how to deal with it. I lost interest but the “Evil Argument” might provide some entertainment so here it is.

Evil Argument

In my home town there were only two kids and my first girlfriend that I believed to be smarter than me and they all turned evil. I was dumb enough to still be a believer. The evil argument goes this way; Religions are nothing but cons designed to take advantage of our fear of death, to get our money, our labor, and our votes. Believers are simply suckers. Democracy, constitutions, the bill of rights are all lies spread by governments to keep you working, and to get you to fight and die for them. The Government rules by force and everything they say is a lie. Laws are written by the rich to take advantage of everyone else. The police don’t protect you, they and organized crime are different faces of the same institution designed to pray on the weak and feed the rich. Their probably isn’t a God, but if there is, he is Evil and the reason for our existence is to provide him with entertainment through our torment.

Tough love and boot camps are not going to change these beliefs just harden them and make the child more careful. You have to engage your child on the battle field of ideas. By the way if these are your real beliefs look in the mirror and see the face of evil.

If you are a women and you believe the evil argument then you are always falling for the wrong man, because an honest man can’t hold your respect.

More dangerous spam

2004-11-18T12:06:00.000-06:00

I got this in my e-mail today
"Princeton Tech Newsletter : Virus Alert
Your computer is vulnerable - malicious code can lead to Identity Theft"
"complementary scan"

I hope all of you are smart enough to know what the scan is going to "really" look for.
Don't you wish you could show up on this thieves door step with a baseball bat?
The trouble is we can't and if they get one hit in 100,000 e-mails they have made enough money to cover their trouble.
I guess it is survival of the fittest and they are picking off the weak. Don't you wish for the good old days when all we had to worry about was wolves chasing us into the water. Of course we discovered fire, burned everything down and never looked back. I am sure our ancestors got a good laugh out of watching the wolves, lions, tigers, bears, trying to out run a forest fire. Remember in the old days these were our enemies and we hated them. Now we have made pets out of them and we love them.

How to configure Norton (Symantec) security to run with Tomcat server on your PC.

2004-11-15T11:26:00.000-06:00

I just installed Tomcat server on my personal PC. I am about to teach myself how to program Java Server Pages. Tomcat ran the first time without a problem but Norton promptly blocked all communication to and from the server. If you think about it, this is a good thing. I would hate for a viruses or Trojan to install and run a server on my machine.
You have to configure a general rule to permit communication to your Tomcat server. Start by bringing up the Norton security panel (double click on the green world in the system tray).
1) Click on “Personal Firewall”
2) Click on “Configure” in the lower right hand corner of the panel.
3) Click on the “Advanced” tab upper right hand corner of the new panel.
4) Click on the “General” button.

This should have brought up the “General rules” panel. You should see the active settings. In my case it is “Home”. Click on the down arrow and note all the choices. You have to setup a rule for default and any other settings that you need. In my case I use “home” so I have to setup a rule for both “home” and “default”.
Don’t change the setting leave it on the active setting.
Click the first rule to Highlight it.
Click the “Add” button.
Below I have listed the choices by tab when you first add the rule the panels are presented to you without the tabs. You must use the next and back buttons to navigate. When you go back to review the rule you will see the tabs, good luck.

For the Action tab choose “permit”.
For the Connection tab choose “to and from” .
For the Computers tab choose
“Only the Computers and sites listed below”
Click the “add” button and choose “individually”
Enter this address “127.0.0.1” this is your computers address known as the “localhost”
For the Communications tab choose “TCP” and
“Only the types of communications or ports listed below”.
Click the “add” button
Choose “individually specified ports” and “Local”.
Enter “8080 8005 8008”
Click on “OK”.
For the Tracking tab leave both boxes unchecked or choose
“create and event log entry”. You don’t need an alert box popping up every time you access the Tomcat server.

For the Description tab enter the rule name (Tomcat). Leave the category as “general” .
On the last screen check “default” and any other rules you want it to apply to. Click the Finish button.

Unfortunately the rule will be added last in the list you want it to go first. Move to the last rule in the list. Highlight your rule and click the “move up” button as many times as it takes.
You must move the rule in each list (Default, Home, ect).

After you are done test everything, fire up your server, then open your browser and go to the site; http://localhost:8080

Web crawlers and fraud

2004-11-12T11:17:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted in a long time because I believe no one is actually reading my posts. The good news is I found myself posted on google. My hit counts are still going up slowly but I think it is just web crawlers. I left an e-mail address so people could contact me and the web crawlers have found it. What I have been getting at this e-mail address is fraud e-mail known as phishing (fishing). They have threatened to disconnect my e-mail to close my account with every bank in the world even though I only do business with couple of banks.

I use spam filters two sets in fact. It should be easy to write a routine to stop this type of e-mail I don't know why the spam filter boys haven't done it yet. This type of e-mail has an easy signature first there is the threat to stop or cancel or interrupt something. Then the offer "click on this site and provide information". If someone decides to write this filter and doesn't know how I will be glad to help them.

Liberals, Conservatives and True Politicians.

2004-10-22T10:11:00.000-05:00

This is an article I wrote after Bush got elected in 2000. I think it applies as much now as it did then.
Liberals, Conservatives and True Politicians.

How to Off Road Safely

2004-10-20T03:58:00.000-05:00

I have put together an article on how to go off road safely. This is for city people new to the country it contains simple rules for driving, hiking and first aid and a list of the proper equipment to bring and ware. For those who have experience this article might make a good review. Click on the title above.

Politics 101 Two Competing Political Ideas

2004-09-28T17:45:00.000-05:00

There are two forms of government Top down and Bottom up. Governments exist because a group is stronger than the local bully. Then it became a race of who has the biggest group, then the biggest army, and now the most powerful army. God help us if the local bully becomes leader of the most powerful army.

Bottom up government is a Democracy. We haven’t had a true democracy sense Athens, even then they had slaves. I am sure the slaves didn’t see it as a Democracy. Top down is a totalitarian government, a government ruled by one person with total power.

Democracies are created by over throwing the local totalitarian leader. Sometimes he is called king, president for life, or just Mr. secretary. If you are going to raise an army to overthrow the local government you have to promise your people really good stuff and a guarantee you are not going to be the next dictator. Like giving them a piece of the government. Also life has to be pretty bad in your country. It is like an under financed company offering stock and stock options instead of cash for salaries. Don’t you wish you could have worked for Microsoft in the early days.

Democracies collapse when a group takes over the government usually with the aid of the military. You can tell if the democracy has collapsed when the party in power won’t leave. Usually there is a crackdown on the media (press) and a suspension of individual protections such as searches, seizures, and arrests all in the name of some crisis.

Of course as individuals we are all better off in a democracy than a totalitarian government unless we are a member of the inner circle. The trouble is a lot people think they are going to be in the inner circle and never make it.

Ultimately one form of Government is going to rule the world, one of these two ideas will prevail. The fact that democracy treats its citizens better has very little to do with it. The type of government that will take over and rule will be the one that is strongest. I am not smart enough to make that prediction and neither is any one else.

Unfortunately the competition of these two ideas has resulted in the greatest waste of resources and human lives in the history of this planet.

The European Union is an interesting idea, it is a democracy with each individual member country being a citizen.

Politics 100 Competition of Ideas

2004-09-23T18:07:00.000-05:00

All life on this planet competes and it has always been that way. Grass grows fast so it can cover the ground before other plants. Bushes grow above the grass to steal the light, trees grow above the bushes to steal their light and the race is on. Of course some animals eat the plants and some animals eat other animals.

Anyhow that is the theory of evolution all possibilities are tried and what is left is what works best. This process is slow and expensive in resources. Think how long it must have taken for a newer grass to come along and replace an older slower growing grass. How long would it take a taller tree to replace all the other trees in all other forests.

Finally humans came along with their powerful minds. Now the process changed from evolution to simulation not all possibilities have to be tried some can be excluded, change moved faster. The computer amplified this effect and change is moving even faster.

Computers are not sentient or conscious but they are smart. There are computers that can support more than 100,000 workstations. They can give each user instant response while not getting one user confused with another.
It could take millions of years for one type of grass to replace another. How long has it been sense you have upgraded your word processor or your PC’s operating system? How old is your computer?

By the way I am using a six year old operating system and there are three newer operating systems available for my computer. The trouble is I am just barely beginning to understand this one.

Today I got worked over by a head hunter.

2004-09-18T03:04:00.000-05:00

First let me tell you about this headhunter. I have worked for her before. The job lasted about a year. They have an office suite on the eighth floor of an office building in downtown Houston. This place is beautiful furnished in fake antique. Three of the offices have a view over Houston. One of the owners (I believe it was the one I dealt with) has a red convertible BMW with the companies name on the plates. I wonder if they get a tax deduction for that. You get the picture, I don’t I know if they have money but they sure are spending it. This company is your basic temporary employment agency masquerading as a software company so they can make more money by placing IT people.

What I was expecting, sense I would be working for them, was an offer like we will pay xx I would come back I need yy and we go back and forth like that. What I got was “we are being squeezed and the client is paying a ridicules low amount and there is another competitor.” So I made an offer that I thought would help her. I offered her 15 dollars an hour off of the top (of what she would bill for my time) and I would work for what was left. She would get 31,000 a year or 62,000 for the complete two year contract. I did that so she would be free to meet the lowest bid and I wouldn’t price myself out of the market. Making 62,000 for one placement should be enough to make anyone happy but not this spoiled brat.

She asked what was so magic about 15 dollars I had no answer. Except if they were billing 50 that would be 30 percent. Her anger building she said “how dare you dictate to me how much I can make. What I bill and my P&Ls (profit and loss statements and I didn’t ask about PLs but I did talk about her overhead by making reference to the cost of that suite) are none of your business.” I had an answer but I said nothing. The answers is if you are going to ask me for help, by cutting my salary then you are going to share your billing information. If you go to a bank for help they will wont to see P&Ls and much more. If you ask a friend to invest they will want to see P&Ls. She said "all I am going to pay you is XX". XX is the amount they paid me last time I worked for them. I really don’t think I will ever hear from her again I think she would rather lose the account than employ me.
The thing I don’t know, is if she is kicking back money to the Client. If she is kicking back ten or fifteen dollars then of course her back is up against the wall.
Paying kick backs to a government employee is illegal. Paying kick backs to an employee of a private company may not be illegal, but in all cases it is stealing.
Kick backs (sometimes they are called finder fees) is something I will never do and may be why I am spending so much time out of work.

My only anger or frustration is that I didn’t find this job myself.

I went and saw Resident Evil and Sky Caption

2004-09-18T01:30:00.000-05:00

I went and saw Resident evil and Sky Caption. They were both great movies I love Female heroes showing a lot of skin and kicking ass. I love science fiction. Both movies were so dark I really couldn't see the movies. The fights scenes were two people charging each other and sound effects (banging noises) then someone hits the ground. You couldn't see most of the background it was black. If this was a cost saving measure then I suggest they leave the whole screen black and call it radio.
With Resident evil I went to a second theater and saw it again. I thought maybe it was the theater running the projector on low power they weren't. With Sky Caption I walked out of the first theater and demanded my money back and went to another theater. The second theater was dark too.
The commercials on TV are not dark so these clowns know what they are doing and this pissess me off. To take what is potentially a great movie and destroy it by filming in the dark is a crime. I urge all you if the movie is too dark walk out of the movie and ask for your money back. Then if you really want to see the move go see it at another theater. Eventually the word will get back to the movie makers that people will walk out on dark movies. Theaters will stop carrying them and the lights will go back on.

If we got to pay between five and ten dollars a movie then they can shoot it in full light. George Lucas doesn't hide in the dark.

Economics 101 revisited

2004-09-15T10:50:00.000-05:00

Wired News: Job Woes Plague High Tech
I found this article in wired news that tries to put a number to the job loss. 403,300 between March 2001 and April 2004 and 1,743,500 over the period studied (the dates weren't given). I am assuming this means 1,340,200 were lost before March 2001. So lets do a little math.

1,340,240 times 3 years times 50,000 a year is 201 billion (yes with a B) dollars.
403,300 times 2 years times 50,000 a year is 40 billion.

913,000 tech job lost during the Bush Administration. More math
913,000 times 2 years times 50,000 a year is 91 billion.

This 240 billion is a double whammy. It hurts the people who lost the jobs and have to live on less money.
It hurts all of the country because that is money not spent in the United states.
I really don't want to hear a politician tell me these jobs could not be saved and had to go.
Have you heard of any English German or French jobs being outsourced.
I got it lets outsource all politicians who want to outsource our jobs.
Let try this if you are an American company all your work has to be done in American.
If you are not an American company you pay a lost jobs tax to sell in America. The money from the lost jobs tax goes into a special fund for unemployment and welfare only. No weapons or other toys with this money.

The Real Reason Totalitarian Governments have so much poverty or Economics 102

2004-09-12T09:42:00.000-05:00

If you had a billion dollars to invest and you had to invest it, you just couldn’t keep it in the local bank, would you invest it in any country where the ruler could take it away from you at any time for any reason. What if the ruler promised you he would never touch it? What if the ruler agreed to sign an agreement saying he would never touch your business. What if you knew the labor was really cheap and the country had really good technology and the ruler was desperate to attract investment? My answer is still no.

The loss of investment money by itself is enough to throw any country into a depression and a downward spiral. After the investment money leaves then the rich leave as soon as they can move their money and sell their property. Then the technicians and professionals leave. Then the poor try an flee with the few possessions they have strapped to their back.

I bet you never thought of the bill of rights as the real back bone of our economy. Have you ever sat in a Political Science class were the liberal professor complained that the constitution protected the rights of property and not people? I wonder how some of these people can be so smart when it comes to politics and so dumb when it come to economics.

After you saw what the Clinton administration tried to do to Bill Gates and what the Bush Administration did to Martha Stewart would you invest your billion in this country. What if the workers worked really hard and improved their productivity would that make a difference?

I believe both Bill Gates and Martha Stewart got into trouble because they were not contributing enough money to their local political party and this was a message to get every one else to pony up. The trouble is smart money got the message and left.

How to setup a blogger news reader

2004-09-10T16:36:00.000-05:00

I submitted my blog site to three different search engines so far and no one has listed me. But I did find a neat Blog reader program. If the feed is turned on you can subscribe to the Blog site. Anytime an article is posted to the blog site an e-mail is sent to this reader program. Under the covers it doesn't work this way at all, but it looks and feels like it does. The Sharpreader reads both atom (which is what blogspot uses) and RSS. Sharpreader looks and works like Outlook or Outlook Express.
This is the link to install Sharpreader it is free SharpReader RSS Aggregator

To turn on your site feed: At Blogger dashboard click-on change settings then click-on site feed choose yes for site feed. I recommend you choose full for description.

How to subscribe to a blog site: Inside sharpreader enter the URL which is:
Blog-name.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Sharp reader will go out and get a list of the posts then click-on the subscribe button.

Subscribe to your own site first to test everything.

Thanks Blogger support

2004-09-08T21:11:00.000-05:00

Last night I couldn't post for some reason. I sent a help message to blogger support. I got three polite responses and then it worked. Thanks for the help.

I went and saw the movie Paparazzi

2004-09-08T01:13:00.000-05:00

This is not a must see movie but if you have the time and the money it is a good way to spend a couple of hours.
There are no surprises the movie plays out exactly as you expect and it is not very real.
You know there are guys in Compton that would hunt down these paparazzi and deal with them for a lot less money than they are making off of their pictures.
Because the stars and the movie studios have the money and the power the paparazzi are under control.
In fact I bet you can think of a number of stars that never appear in those magazines.

Economics 101

2004-09-06T03:59:00.000-05:00

The last two years of the Clinton administration I made 100,000 each year and paid 30,000 in taxes. During the four years of Bush I only made 50,000 and paid 7500 in Taxes. I am a computer programmer multiply that out by 100,000 (lost programmer jobs) and you get a loss in salaries of 40 billion and 12 billion in taxes. That 40 billion is money that was not spent in America buying products and services. By itself it is probably enough to throw this economy into a recession. But add to that 500,000 other jobs at 50,000 a year for 4 years and we get another 100 billion.
Think of our economy as a big lake behind a dam and someone opened the gate and let the money run out. If anyone tells you it is good to export jobs have him export his job. If we compete on an equal basis with poor countries we will become just as poor.

I went and saw the movie Hero.

2004-08-29T01:42:00.000-05:00

It is a good movie about the myth of the first emperor of China and how he conquered China. There is a lot of martial arts action but not the good stuff, it is mainly flying and fantasy. The movie is in chinese so you have to read subtitles. The plot is complex, and intense and worth it. The movie is visually beautiful the best I have seen in years. You feel like you are looking at a Japanese rock garden.

How do you search through the blogs

2004-08-29T01:23:00.000-05:00

I just set this up and got it to work, but how do I search through the Blogs out there. At the moment this seems like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it in the Ocean. I sent a e-mail to blogger support about three days ago they never answered me. The search bar on this page only searches this page. How do I search through all the blogger sites to find topics of interest.