The serendipity of the web

This morning I went to a coffee shop with my iPad to read various newspapers if I had no one to talk to.

I started with the New York Times and eventually found "Can a Jellyfish Unlock the Secret of Immortality?", Nathaniel Rich, New York Times, 2012-11-28.  This is fascinating not only for a particular jellyfish to move between a young state and an older state and back but also for the description of the Japanese scientist who studies them without much funding.

The jellyfish story mentioned "The Remarkable Life of Benjamin Bottom" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  I checked its availability at the public library upstairs and thought about borrowing it later.  I also checked iTunes and found that it's in a set of six stories for only 99 cents.  I downloaded the iBook and read "Benjamin Bottom" at my table.

As it approached noon, I decided it was time to go home.  As I was leaving, not paying attention to the people I passed, a familiar voice greeted me.  It was one of the couple I often sit with.  I asked them why they hadn't joined me.  They said that they didn't want to bother me as I was absorbed in my computer.  I sat down with them and chatted on for another half-hour.

This was a more interesting and varied coffee hour than I had expected.  Plus, by walking there, I had two miles of exercise!

Free market and the Internet

Like lots of people, I'm looking for faster internet or even internet.  One thing I can say for certain that it is not a free market - few sellers and very little useful information.

At our cabin, we use dialup on our phone that costs us about $37/month.  Periodically I dig around Frontier's web site to find information.  The latest pricing is $50/month additional for "up to 6Mbps".  If I had a internet-dependent business this might make sense.  But not for 4 to 8 evenings a month.

In Duluth, our phone bill is $58/month, but I can't break it down at the moment.  My wife doesn't save the detail pages of our bill.  Given that we used to pay $23/month for land line, then we are paying about $35/month for "up to 7Mbps".  I just did a CenturyLink speed test that showed 6Mpbs at 12:50 on a Sunday.  Other speed tests in evenings have shown 4Mpbs.  Trying to determine what higher speeds would cost is a big hassle.  See http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=787754 for some users experiences with CenturyLink.

When I bought my iPhone, I switched from Verizon to Virgin Mobile because the pricing was more advantageous to me, only $30/month including data.  When we visited our daughter at her lake house near Grand Rapids MN, I thought I would be able to use my iPhone to access the web.  I was, sort of.  I would get a one-bar 3G signal, then without moving I would get a roaming signal, then no service, then searching, then back to one-bar 3G, even standing by an upstairs window.  Our daughter's house is 10 miles from Grand Rapids and less than 2 miles from a major highway.  Granted that there are many trees, but can waving leafless trees cause that much variation?  The second surprise was that we thought with the iPhone and a low-power FM-to-car-radio cable that we would be able to listen to Minnesota Public Radio all the way back to Duluth without changing the dial.  No such luck!  On the major highway we were on, the cell signal kept coming in and out.  Oh, well, at least the Virgin Mobile/Sprint coverage map doesn't claim that that area is covered.

I knew that AT&T had put up a couple of towers in the Brimson area where we have our cabin, but I've heard many complaints that many AT&T's customer are not satisfied.  I checked AT&T's coverage map and did discover coverage areas in Brimson; they are a whole bunch of small islands that make no sense.  Besides telling me that our cabin address is could not be matched (other web sites can find it), it shows a coverage area that starts just west of where our cabin is and ends less than a mile farther west.  That's too iffy to make a decision with.

The lesson is that you have to make a long checklist of all the features you want in a product and then spend hours and hours to find out what portion of those features are available to you at a price you want to pay.  Nobody else is going to help you.  And of course, after you buy the product, you'll find a new feature you want but your choice doesn't provide – like listening to public radio without switching stations.

Lessons in governance

"Clearly, the ability to solve problems, much more than sustaining some sort of ideological leadership, is now the key to the Communist Party’s legitimacy."  - C. Cindy Fan, "Don't Expect Big Changes", "Dawn of a New China?", "Room for Debate", New York Times, 2012-11-23.

Could this statement be equally valid if "Communist Party" were replaced with "Republican Party"?

My first eBook

I've have downloaded a few books to read online, but they've been in PDF format.  This includes Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations", the U.S. Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.  I can annotate PDF versions, but the pages do not fit or correspond to the screen.

As I was wandering through Facebook and the multitude of Coffee Party items, I came across mention of David Frum's "Why Romney Lost".  I think the article was written by disaffected Republican Michael Charney.  As I read through the article, I felt I should read "Why Romney Lost".  It was published only as an eBook, and so I downloaded it from iTunes.

It was a quick read, only 146 pages on an iPad including an extensive bibliography.  I annotated several sentences or paragraphs with an eye to writing some blog entries.

The experience sold me on eBooks because I can store so many in a small space and carry them around with me.  The only problem would be having sufficient battery power.  How often will I reread or check the annotations; probably no more than I review my hundreds of computer and scratch paper notes.

A class that I will be taking in winter quarter has Jacob Needleman's "America's Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders" as its text.  I waffled on getting the eBook or supporting a local bookstore with a paper copy.  For the time being, I'll support the locally-owned bookstore.

Nickname for a star kicker

A star kicker in football or soccer might by called "Missile toe".

This phrase is not original with me, but I did think of it independently.  For more uses, search for "missile toe".  Don't forget the quotes.

Capitalism and socialism - let's get our definitions straight

A survey polled people on how they felt about capitalism and socialism - positive or negative.  But did the pollsters give a definition of these two terms or ask respondents to give their own definitions?  I think not.

See "Is Rush Limbaugh's Country Gone?", Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times, 2012-11-19.

Capitalism is gathering  resources to do something, whether it's to start a neighborhood grocery or to start an airline.  Capitalism is not the buying and selling of stocks and schemes based on the stock; that is finance.  Finance can raise capital, but the secondary markets of that capital are not capitalism.

Socialism is the government providing all the resources to do something and controlling how those resources are used.  I don't think there is a country in the world where that happens for all projects.  Even China has private capital ventures.  Social welfare is the government providing various safety nets or investments that help people with needs that "capitalism" doesn't provide to everyone.  Most developed countries have capitalist economies supported by social welfare programs.

Think of LM Ericsson in Sweden, Nokia in Finland, Siemens in Germany, and FIAT in Italy.  These large capitalist companies aren't going away.  Well, maybe Nokia will go away but that's because of technology, not government interference.

And many of these social welfare programs depend on a large number of private organizations, large and small.  Germany has hundreds of insurance companies underpinning its health care.  England has thousands of physicians in private practice who provide government listed services.

What I find ironic is that proponents of "capitalism" don't understand how "socialism" makes "capitalism" work better.  If there weren't government-provided roads, sewers, schools, and yes, regulation there would be chaos.  Chaos is something capitalists do not need or want.  If there wasn't government-sponsored research, many new ideas would never even reached the capitalists who would implement them into products.  If there is a good public health care system, then corporations don't have to fund them directly at great inefficiency.  Wasn't it G. Richard Wagoner of General Motors who said that he wasn't an auto executive but a health care executive?  See "U.S. Firms Losing Health Care Battle, GM Chairman Says", Ceci Connolly, Washington Post, 2005-02-11.

Be careful how you define things.  If you define things incorrectly or too narrowly, you may miss out on many opportunities for a better society.

The idiocy of race and nationality

Several weeks ago a Duluth Fox news director caused quite a stir when he put on Facebook a derogatory, racist remark about somebody that was near his house.  I don't remember if he resigned or was fired.  He then said that his great-grandfather's great-grandfather was Indian or some such chain, and he claims he is Indian too.  He even was admitted into an Indian journalists' group.

Come on!  Just because you had an ancestor of a certain origin doesn't make you one of the group the ancestor belonged to.  Many people even one generation removed from some place have none of the language or culture of where their parents came from.

My surname is Irish, but I can find no ancestor that lived in Ireland.  The best I can tell is that my great-great-great grandfather, Vincent Magree, was probably born in Maryland.  I am assuming that Magree is Irish because several Australians named Magree trace their ancestry back to Kilkenny.

I have great-grandparents who were born in England and Germany.  I consider myself neither English or German.  When I was in England and Ireland, I was called a Yank.  When I was in Germany, I was called Amerikaner.  Some of my ancestors born in what was then Germany may have had Polish ancestors.  I do not consider myself Polish.

I consider myself an American because I was born in the U.S., had almost all of my education in the U.S., and except for some trips to Canada, never went outside the U.S. until I was 30.

So, if some ancestor long, long ago was from a certain group and some of that person's descendants claim they belong to that group, shouldn't we consider President Barack Obama a white man.  His mother was a white American and a long list of her ancestors were white.  Given the reasoning for people to claim Indian inheritance, then we can also say that Obama is white.

We're born here; we're Americans.  End of story.

The economy ran into trouble when…

...When employees became associates;
...When personnel became human resources;
...When employee pay stagnated and executive pay soared;
...When executives were more concerned with the bottom line than with employee safety;
...When executives complained more about regulation instead of examining their own business.

Contrarian definition of a worker

A worker is a person who is told he or she earns too much by someone who "earns" way too much.

A couple bumper stickers I'd like to see

You've probably seen the bumper sticker "Start seeing motorcycles".  When I see these, I wonder if the drivers of these cars are seeing pedestrians.  Some are, some aren't.  Regardless, I'd like to see the bumper sticker:

Start seeing pedestrians!

Just last week, the light for traffic going in my direction and the pedestrian light went on at the same time.  A driver in a pickup truck who wanted to turn right looked to his left and proceeded to turn right without ever looking my way.  I hollered, "Watch for pedestrians" and he stopped momentarily and then proceeded.  I hope my message got to him.

I have a good idea of the accuracy of our vehicles and speedometers.  I do my best to drive at the speed limit, but others don't.  On freeways many go whizzing by at five or ten miles over the limit.  On city streets with 30 mph I've had a backup behind me.  So, the bumper sticker I'd like to see is

What part of speed limit don't you understand?

Jon Stewart - Off-the-wall and on the point

I don't watch television and especially late night television.  Fortunately, others provide interesting snippets of various shows online.  Both Huffington Post and the Coffee Party USA do so with many interesting pieces of editorializing of news by Jon Stewart.  I don't think I could take a whole hour of his manic activity, but I've found many five to six minute outtakes that are off-the-wall and on the point.

One such piece was "Jon Stewart Slams Bill O'Reilly Over 'Traditional America' Hysteria", Huffington Post, 2011-11-16.

Bill O'Reilly bemoaned that "traditional America" is disappearing with this election.  Stewart simply demonstrated that "traditional America" has always been changing.  Stewart reminded O'Reilly about "No Irish need apply."  My choice of words; Stewart used news clips and editorials from the 19th Century and other eras of anti-immigrant complaints.

Pain for the low, gain for the high

Labor unrest and union activity seem to be gaining.  Some workers even they feel they have to sacrifice their jobs so that others may have it better.

"[We] know we will probably lose our jobs, but if we accept these concessions, standards for bakers and other workers will keep going down. We are taking it on the chin for workers all over." - a striking Hostess employee

"Some companies need to make cuts to say alive. Firms don't always have a choice about how to run themselves and closings and concessions are part of business," said Kurtz. ""You can't just have a visceral reaction. Both sides need to be involved in a thoughtful process." - Dave Kurtz, a partner in the Edwards Wildman's Labor & Employment Group.

"And workers are saying to companies, 'why do we have to take cuts when other parts of your business, like suppliers are not. Why is it on our backs?'" - Jim Matthews, a partner at Fox Rothschild and co-chair of the firm's Labor and Employment practice

Have you heard of many cuts in the executive suite?  How many $4,000/hour executives are willing to cut their pay by even ten percent.  That cut would provide twenty $10/hour jobs (assuming that overhead costs may match direct pay).

The above quotes are from "Beyond Twinkies: Why More Workers Are Striking", Mark Koba, CNBC, 2012-11-16.

The article also has a link to an interview with Colby Harris, a protesting Wal-Mart employee in Dallas.

See also "So you want to join a union", Part I and Part II.

Don't answer the phone

I gave this advice before the election, and it still holds true.  See "I still don't believe the polls".
http://magree.blogspot.com/2012/11/i-still-dont-believe-polls.html

Wednesday our phone rang three times.  I did not answer as it was ringing.  I waited for the caller to leave a message.  The first two times no message was left.  The third time it was somebody I wanted to speak with, I picked up the phone and apologized, explaining why.

So far today, we've had two calls, one without a message, and one with a message about our credit and the stimulus package.

We've long made it a practice not to answer the phone during meals.  Most callers leave no message, a few a message we're not interested in, and once in a very long while someone calls that we want to talk to.  We've now made it a practice not to answer until we know who is calling.

The old radio advice still holds: "Don't touch that dial."

Quote of the day: sex is more sinful than killing

"The real scandal is that we're scandalized by sexual escapades, not by the license to kill given to the CIA's drone program." - a paraphrase inserted in bold in "Real spies don't behave like Bond. Or do they?", David Rothkopf, Star Tribune, 2012-11-14, originally published in Foreign Policy as "Shaken, Not Stirred by CIA 'Values'", 2012-11-12.

I just find it amazing that we are willing to upset people's lives to suit our own purposes, whether it is with subpoenas to ransack houses of people we don't like or with drones to demolish houses of people we don't like.

The Coffee Party, civility, and harassment

I received an email from the Coffee Party that I send an invoice to Karl Rove and his Crossroads GPS for the electoral votes he attempted "to buy".  See
http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/content/time-send-message-and-invoice-karl-rove-and-his-super-pac

I replied to the email with

"Isn't this harassment?  Would you like it if the Coffee Party received 50,000 letters from the Tea Party?

"I think many of the SuperPACs got their comeuppance in this latest election.  And, of course, they aren't making us vote their way.  I sure didn't.  Have you so little faith in the intelligence of the American people?"

I find this "harassment" way out of character of the Coffee Party.  The Coffee Party asks members to sign the Civility Pledge:

"As a member or supporter of the Coffee Party, I pledge to conduct myself in a way that is civil, honest, and respectful toward people with whom I disagree.  I value people from different cultures, I value people with different ideas, and I value and cherish the democratic process."

Check your chain mail, it might not protect you from falsehood

I received an email from a friend asking me to pass on a quote supposedly from Warren Buffett that we should have a Constitutional amendment to forbid all members of Congress to run for re-election if the budget is out of balance greater than a certain amount.

For more context, see http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/buffett.asp.  The chain email, started in 2011, is included on that page.

If all members of any other group were held responsible for the behavior of some members of the group, we would call it discrimination.

Philosophy from science-fantasy

"Power is power as the sun is the sun, the wind is the wind.  The villager blesses the rain as it falls on his crops.  The pillager uses it to cover his approach.  It is the wielder who determines the good or evil."

"Teachers are rare beasts.  We find they thrive best in a supportive environment whether they teach toddlers or adults."

Sherry S. Tepper Waters Rising, a novel of good and evil in a post-Apocalypse world

Driving lessons from a bus driver

When I was trained as a school bus driver long, long ago, a couple of rules I learned hold true for drivers of any type of vehicle.

The first rule is to always drive with your full headlights on.  I actually first learned this in Sweden where the police cars had their headlights wired to come on automatically on starting the car.  I've tried to remember this ever since.  I forget now and then, including at night with a bus in downtown Minneapolis!!!

Your headlights increase your visibility to other drivers, especially if you have a car whose color is close to the background.  With lights on, a light car on snow and a dark car on asphalt are much more visible.  If your car is more visible, you have less chance of a driver turning into your path.  This can also be important in parking garages where many cars almost become invisible without lights.  Even if you think you can see very well, always assume others might not see as well.

If your full headlights are on, then your taillights are also on.  This can protect you if you are coming from an on ramp that merges in a tunnel.  Few drivers will even notice you if your taillights are not on.  Have you noticed cars at night without taillights, but if you pass them you see they have headlights?  The drivers assumed the daytime running lights also turned on their taillights.

The second rule is that backing vehicles have right-of-way.  At the company I worked for, school buses were parked front in.  If a driver backs out with a 30+ foot bus on either side, there is no way that driver can see a bus coming down the lane.  So, the rule a backing bus has right-of-way.

It also is a good rule in a public parking lot or ramp.  With all the SUVs and pickup trucks, can a driver backing out a space have any way of seeing a car coming down the lane at 10+ miles per hour.  Yet there are many drivers who think they are the only driver around and will zip right behind a car already partially out.  And often these same drivers do not have their lights on in the parking ramp!

"Free marketers" once again prevent free markets

Well, Proposition 37, requiring labeling of GMO foods in California, was defeated by the overwhelming resources of self-interested corporations.  Free markets mean all necessary information.  By hiding the contents of their products, agribusinesses are denying free markets to the consumer.  See "Letter about GMO foods".

You might also consider the words of Adam Smith in "Wealth of Nations":

"The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it." - pages 142-143

I included the above in "The Invisible Adam Smith".

I hope you're not allergic to any foods that have been spliced into other foods.

The political spectrum is too narrow a concept

Many speak of the political spectrum as if it was a well-defined concept of how people stood on very issues - often "conservatives" on the "right" and "liberals" on the "left".  Fortunately, people are much more complex than that.  Somebody may be a "religious conservative" but believe "corporations have too much power".  Somebody else may complain "government is interfering with business", but have a "liberal interpretation" of the Bible.

I think it has become a ridiculous situation when some define others as "not conservative enough".  I think "conservative" has become something defined by ALEC which has come up with a lot of issues that real conservatives have not even considered - like voter ID.

I think we should think more of "The Political Pie".  Each issue is an irregular slice of the pie.  In the middle of the pie is "The Truth" represented by a fuzzy tennis ball.  On some issues people are far away from the "The Truth" and on other issues the same people may be closer to "The Truth".

Each blur represents people of one "side" of the political spectrum or the other.  Neither "side" consistently comes close to "The Truth".  Instead of dividing themselves into left and right on everything, people should work with people who share their views on a given issue.  Today a "conservative" and a "liberal" may be in agreement on an issue and tomorrow they may be in disagreement on another issue.  This was the dream of the writers of the Constitution.  Unfortunately, even they fell into factionalism and we've had polarization ever since; sometimes less than other times; too many times more so.