Some notable guys that didn't get drafted: Mitch Mustain and Kristofer O'Dowd. Normally they'd probably sign a free agent contract, but without a labor deal between the players and the NFL, they cannot sign.
By the way, Emmanuel Moody, the running back that left USC for Florida in 2007 and got his BCS NC ring...didn't get drafted.
Still, nine guys were drafted, despite another mediocre year. And FYI, that's tied with North Carolina for the most in the NCAA. That's more than Miami, Florida, Ohio State, Nebraska, LSU, Georgia, Clemson and everyone else ranked in the final top 25 of last season.
1 (9) Tyron Smith
3 (77) Jurrell Casey
3 (89) Shareece Wright
4 (102) Jordan Cameron
6 (182) Ronald Johnson
6 (187) Allen Bradford
7 (240) Stanley Havili
7 (241) David Ausberry
7 (242) Malcolm Smith
Last year, 7 USC players were drafted; two years ago, 11 USC players were drafted; three years ago, 10 USC players were drafted. In the last four years, that's 37 players drafted from just USC; more than any other school in the NCAA.
Fight On.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
What a gorgeous royal wedding that was!
And Lady Middleton's sister, Pippa, was really hawt!
By the way, Hulu's hosting video of the Royal Wedding...for now at least.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Detroit Lions draft choice...wow.
I see that Detroit drafted defensive tackle Nick Fairley from Auburn. Yikes...they already have Ndamokung Suh at defensive tackle; with Fairley at nose tackle, the two are going to cause some serious problems up the middle for rushing teams. Forget the edge rush protection and worry about two fast tackles coming right up the middle!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
If only Manut Bol was still alive...
He could have reached that upper shelf for ya. Thanks to Dwell's "100 Kitchens We Love", number 16.
Ben Bernanke speaks...as illustrated in Reuter's word cloud.
So Ben, what are you worried about? What's that? Inflation is more important than recovery and unemployment?
Oh boy, are we in for a bad year.
via Paul Krugman
Asus Eee Pad Transformer...16GB / 32 GB, no USB until May....
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer only has four ports: audio / speakers; mini HDMI; a built-in SD card reader; and connection the accessory keyboard docking station (another $150).
So if you want a USB port, you'll have to wait until the docking station keyboard base is made available...in May. Then again, good luck finding an Eee Pad Transformer, as they're sold out online and at brick and mortar stores.
This makes the Asus Eee Pad Transformer exactly like the iPad. Acceptable or fail? Looks like most people aren't troubled by it, seeing as it's sold out.
32GB version is listed at B&H for $499, but is also sold out...or rather, it is in insufficient quantity, such that as soon as they get stock, they are shipping out to pre-ordered customers by order of request.
I hope this creates pricing pressure on the WiFi-only Xoom.
So if you want a USB port, you'll have to wait until the docking station keyboard base is made available...in May. Then again, good luck finding an Eee Pad Transformer, as they're sold out online and at brick and mortar stores.
This makes the Asus Eee Pad Transformer exactly like the iPad. Acceptable or fail? Looks like most people aren't troubled by it, seeing as it's sold out.
32GB version is listed at B&H for $499, but is also sold out...or rather, it is in insufficient quantity, such that as soon as they get stock, they are shipping out to pre-ordered customers by order of request.
I hope this creates pricing pressure on the WiFi-only Xoom.
Austerity in the UK...just aching to come to America.
Only problem is, the result has been to slow UK's GDP growth down to less than 1% (0.5% during Q1-2011).
See, the problem is, conservatives in the UK are at odds with their objectives: they're not sure if they want to rein in inflation, or increase job growth. Somehow, they expect job growth to result from austerity, to which Paul Krugman keeps repeating the same point: contractionary policies are contractionary.
And as we all know, Republicans were successful in getting over $40B in cuts for the rest of the FY 2011, and are now about to wage a battle to cut even more from the 2012 budget. (Austerity is already here!) Of course, Republicans will say next year, that the reason why the US economy double-dipped, is because they didn't cut fast and deep enough. And debt and spending as a percentage of GDP will continue to worsen.
Why you shouldn't buy things with high fructose corn syrup...and how it is impossible to do.
Watched the video (below), and went through the cupboards; it's impossible to find things without HFCS. The video is long, but you don't really need to watch it -- just have the audio on and running the video in the background while you're working on something.
The thing I've noticed, is that the more processed foods I skip at the grocery store, the easier it is to maintain weight or lose a little. It wouldn't matter if I was eating vegetables, meat or eggs, or even drinking whole milk, so long as I skipped the processed stuff, I didn't gain weight one bit. Buy raw, I guess.
The thing I've noticed, is that the more processed foods I skip at the grocery store, the easier it is to maintain weight or lose a little. It wouldn't matter if I was eating vegetables, meat or eggs, or even drinking whole milk, so long as I skipped the processed stuff, I didn't gain weight one bit. Buy raw, I guess.
Who is Donald Trump?
Is Donald Trump a successful business person, having gone through bankruptcy twice, and attempting to drop all fiduciary responsibility for one of his properties by declaring the recession an Act of God?
Or is Donald Trump a social conservative who's currently on his third wife, each younger than the previous?
Or is Donald Trump the fiscal conservative who last decade as a primary Republican candidate for President, suggested raising money to pay down the federal debt the old-fashioned way: a one-time tax on estates over $10M?
Or is he just a guy that enjoys the cameras on him?
By the boldly false assertions and made up stories he's been pandering lately, I think he's not looking so much to become President, but to remain relevant in the media...build up his brand equity so to speak.
Or is Donald Trump a social conservative who's currently on his third wife, each younger than the previous?
Or is Donald Trump the fiscal conservative who last decade as a primary Republican candidate for President, suggested raising money to pay down the federal debt the old-fashioned way: a one-time tax on estates over $10M?
Or is he just a guy that enjoys the cameras on him?
By the boldly false assertions and made up stories he's been pandering lately, I think he's not looking so much to become President, but to remain relevant in the media...build up his brand equity so to speak.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
A pressure cooker for sale....at Ikea?
No really, for $45, you can get a pressure cooker from Ikea, now. How strange that is, in a way. I think I might buy it.
Asus Eee Pad Transformer sells out...
Minutes after being available for sale on Amazon / Target, it sold out. $399 appears to be the price-point which causes a rumble in tablet land. Wonder if Motorola noticed?
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Acer Iconia tablet, now available at Best Buy.
As expected, you can now go into a Best Buy store and play around with Acer's $450 Iconia Honeycomb tablet. Must try it out this week.
Global warming, or whatever conservatives say is happening...
Cyclical or otherwise, real or manufactured, is it time to change the international building code, to include hurricane design, and/or a changing of the wind design speeds?
I look at the early season destruction of tornadoes in the Midwest, and I can't help but think that their wind speeds were in excess of most hurricanes that make landfall. If this is the temporary new norm, then continuing to rebuild only to have structures destroyed and lives disrupted, could be construed as borderline insanity.
I look at the early season destruction of tornadoes in the Midwest, and I can't help but think that their wind speeds were in excess of most hurricanes that make landfall. If this is the temporary new norm, then continuing to rebuild only to have structures destroyed and lives disrupted, could be construed as borderline insanity.
The debt ceiling and what's about to happen.
I don't buy the Republican rhetoric one bit. If they really wanted Democratic concessions on spending cuts, why compromise and raise the debt ceiling? By signaling to the world that they won't raise the debt ceiling, they would in effect, get a preview of what is about to happen, and if their goal is the same as the Tea Party's, that is to say that they wish the US Government to live within its means, then the raising of the federal debt limit would be superfluous to their end goals.
Why not let Americans - particularly moderate voters - gain a preview of the fallout of this rhetoric from the Tea Party?
Look, if according to the CBS News poll, 67% of Americans are opposed to a debt ceiling increase, why raise it?
Why not run with it and see what happens? Keeps everyone on their toes, and we get to observe the calamity, political, economic and all.
Why not let Americans - particularly moderate voters - gain a preview of the fallout of this rhetoric from the Tea Party?
Saturday, April 23, 2011
7" HTC Flyer at Best Buy...
It won't ship with Honeycomb (though an update will be coming), and it'll cost you $499 to pre-order starting Easter Sunday, so is it worth it?
Friday, April 22, 2011
Texas Governor Rick Perry declares a weekend of prayer...for rain.
Seeing as many Christians believe in the power of prayer to deliver "gifts", I can understand why Rick Perry would ask Texans to pray for rain. (Nevermind, that these "gifts" are supposed to be spiritual in nature...as in helping you fathom the truth of God, His intentions, and your own relationship with God.)
But if you pray for rain, and all you get are dry thunderstorms, should that be interpreted as a strong rebuke?
But if you pray for rain, and all you get are dry thunderstorms, should that be interpreted as a strong rebuke?
So in advance of any rebuke, I offer a humble suggestion: instead of praying for gifts of rain, why not pray for forgiveness, instead? And maybe reduce their carbon footprint and stop polluting the air, the water and the ground.
Is this National Geographic photo faked?
Was looking though this month's National Geographic the other day, and came upon some fascinating images of life surrounding the balsa trees in Panama. But the closer I looked, the more I realized Photoshop played a significant role in producing these images. And the more I stared at the images, the more I began to question the authenticity of the photos.
In this one example, you can see at least one, but possibly two other Photoshop actions. First, the drop shadow: there is a dark shadow to the upper left edges of the preying mantis, that could never actually occur in real life. Second, lens blur: the bottom left petal is out of focus while the bottom right is not, and the upper left is in focus but not the upper right. And particularly, the bottom right petal goes from being in focus on the front end bend, to being out of focus at the tips that are curling back, which is opposite of what the photo would normally be -- the front edge would be blurred and the tips curved back would be in focus. Third, gamma filter: clouds on the right side of the preying mantis' antennae is dramatically darker than those on the left.
With that much Photoshop work done, is the image itself (the original composition as conveyed) real? Or is this just a case of really bad Photoshop skills?
In this one example, you can see at least one, but possibly two other Photoshop actions. First, the drop shadow: there is a dark shadow to the upper left edges of the preying mantis, that could never actually occur in real life. Second, lens blur: the bottom left petal is out of focus while the bottom right is not, and the upper left is in focus but not the upper right. And particularly, the bottom right petal goes from being in focus on the front end bend, to being out of focus at the tips that are curling back, which is opposite of what the photo would normally be -- the front edge would be blurred and the tips curved back would be in focus. Third, gamma filter: clouds on the right side of the preying mantis' antennae is dramatically darker than those on the left.
With that much Photoshop work done, is the image itself (the original composition as conveyed) real? Or is this just a case of really bad Photoshop skills?
Thursday, April 21, 2011
And here comes the wave of Honeycomb Android tablets.
Looks like they're all hitting the US at around the same time...
Acer's 10.1" Iconia Tablet (A500-10S16U) is set to arrive April 24th at BestBuy for $450 with 16GB of internal storage.
Acer's 10.1" Iconia Tablet (A500-10S16U) is set to arrive April 24th at BestBuy for $450 with 16GB of internal storage.
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| Acer's Iconia |
Then there's the 10.1" Asus Eee Pad Transformer (TF101) coming out on April 26th for $400 with 16GB of internal storage. Of course, the Transformer is a little different than other tablets, in that it has a separate $150 base that turns it into a netbook good for....16 hours!
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| Asus Eee Pad Transformer |
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| Transformer with optional base |
And as previously mentioned, the Toshiba 10.1" tablet is also coming out, though not specifically stated when.
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| Toshiba Tablet |
And just this week, T-Mobile made it official with the 8.9" G-Slate, for $529 on 2-year contract...because a lot of people are going to want a smaller screen on a 2-year contract that requires a mail-in rebate, and cost more money...right? Right?!?
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| LG's / T-Mobile's G-Slate |
And by the time Summer is here, we'll have new Honeycomb wares from Archos, Velocity Micro (they promised late Q1 during CES 2011, but apparently that's slipped), and Dell's 10" Streak.
So where does that put Google's Chrome CR-48, the upcoming release of the official Chrome netbook, rumored to be in May (or it could be June/July)? Seems like it'll be battling for the same people...those looking for a cheaper, lightweight device aside from their main laptop / desktop, no? I know I'll be buying just one or the other, because neither will be sufficient for my high-power computing needs.
If that wasn't enough competition, rumor has it, Amazon could be releasing an Android-based tablet this Summer. Now that's a biggie.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Toshiba's new Honeycomb tablet...still a secret. Not really.
Barely. You can find the gallery here. (Hint: look at the watermark!) That is, as long as it remains accessible. You know how these things work: as soon as the word spreads, access is cut off.
Specs:
- Honeycomb
- Tegra2, 1.00 Ghz dual core
- Accelerometer
- Compass
- GPS
- 10.1" display
- 1280x800, 16:10 ratio capacitive multi-touch screen
- Nvidia ULP GeForce
- 1GB built-in memory / 8/16/32GB HD options
- Bluetooth
- WiFi
- HDMI port
- Headphone jack
- Stereo speakers
- SD card slot
- 2.0MP front / 5.0MP back
- Replaceable 7 hour battery
- Replaceable backplate (easy-grip surface)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
2 hours.
Two hours is what it took to fill in the H&R Block At Home Federal Deluxe software and physically do the state form separately. Half of my time was - as usual - spent organizing my papers and numbers from various sources. You'd think I would start a consolidated spreadsheet to keep all this data ready, but meh. By the time it hits April, I've already lost 4 months of data collection.
Maybe next year.
Or not.
Maybe.
Not.
Oh, and for the first time, my medical expenses actually added up to more than 7.5% of my AGI. That was a huge tax benefit, actually. You'd think I'd file early since I knew ahead of time I was getting a big refund...but nah. Let the government earn some modest interest off my money, why not?
Maybe next year.
Or not.
Maybe.
Not.
Oh, and for the first time, my medical expenses actually added up to more than 7.5% of my AGI. That was a huge tax benefit, actually. You'd think I'd file early since I knew ahead of time I was getting a big refund...but nah. Let the government earn some modest interest off my money, why not?
S&P declares US debt may result in credit rating cut...no one listens.
At least, not investors. Across the board, yields fell. That's not supposed to happen if the S&P is issuing a warning that the US' debt may be a problem...people are supposed to flee US bonds, causing yields to rise and prices drop.
Funny how the news media works.
Funny how the news media works.
On Tax Day, some consideration on how we got here.
Here are some nuggets found in the October 17, 2000 Presidential debates straight from George Bush:
"We structured the [tax cut] plan so that six million additional American families pay no taxes."
"I don't think the surplus is the government's money. I think it's the people's money...you ought to have some of this surplus.So, when someone tells you that the tax structure is messed up because so many people don't pay any taxes, or that the US federal debt is out of control, you know where to look: REPUBLICANS!
Paul Ryan, PWND.
Paul Ryan got PWND.
Ryan got up this weekend to say that there was no way Republicans were going to vote for increasing the debt ceiling unless there were cuts. Ah the hypocrisy.
Just as Obama said last Friday: Ryan voted for the Iraq War, the 2001 tax cuts and the 2003 acceleration of the 2001 tax cuts, and the expansion of Medicare in 2003, and in four good years of economic growth, increased the federal debt by $1.36T.
Good years of economic growth are supposed to PAY DOWN DEBT, no? But if one can recall, the rhetoric of GWB during the 2000 Presidential debates, laid out the excesses of federal spending as something that needed to be returned to the American people (via tax cuts) instead of paying down debt.
But the Republicans have no choice other than to vote for raising the debt ceiling, because their own plan (Path to Prosperity) requires it! No wait, I take that back, because a deficit spending plan under Republicans is an apparent, acceptable hypocrisy.
And if they fail to vote to raise the debt ceiling in a timely fashion because they wish to put politics in front of the larger issue, they will get all the blame as the economy begins to shrink (and rapidly if they fail to increase the debt ceiling.)
So there is no end game for Republicans...we know the outcome already.
Suckers.
Ryan got up this weekend to say that there was no way Republicans were going to vote for increasing the debt ceiling unless there were cuts. Ah the hypocrisy.
Just as Obama said last Friday: Ryan voted for the Iraq War, the 2001 tax cuts and the 2003 acceleration of the 2001 tax cuts, and the expansion of Medicare in 2003, and in four good years of economic growth, increased the federal debt by $1.36T.
Good years of economic growth are supposed to PAY DOWN DEBT, no? But if one can recall, the rhetoric of GWB during the 2000 Presidential debates, laid out the excesses of federal spending as something that needed to be returned to the American people (via tax cuts) instead of paying down debt.
But the Republicans have no choice other than to vote for raising the debt ceiling, because their own plan (Path to Prosperity) requires it! No wait, I take that back, because a deficit spending plan under Republicans is an apparent, acceptable hypocrisy.
And if they fail to vote to raise the debt ceiling in a timely fashion because they wish to put politics in front of the larger issue, they will get all the blame as the economy begins to shrink (and rapidly if they fail to increase the debt ceiling.)
So there is no end game for Republicans...we know the outcome already.
Suckers.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Yahoo Mail beta...actually pretty good!
If I were to rank em, I'd say Yahoo is at the top in terms of simplicity and quickness, and the location of the "delete" button; Gmail gets props for a wide range of customization and the fact that everything is synced with my Android; Hotmail is my least favorite, in no small part because it uses small buttons, but also because it only works well if you're using it with Internet Explorer.
But I will still use Gmail as my primary, because it's just so flexible and my synced contacts for Android makes life so much easier. Still, Yahoo deserves huge props.
But I will still use Gmail as my primary, because it's just so flexible and my synced contacts for Android makes life so much easier. Still, Yahoo deserves huge props.
Nikon D5100 -- already in stores.
Best Buy has it available (just the kit - $899 - not the body-only) at some stores...until everyone gets their D5100, that is. I'm holding out for a body-only deal, though.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Weatherundeground's just slightly better now.
Weatherunderground has intro'd a slight redesign in its weather maps, now allowing you to lock the temperature of a particular location (red arrow in the screen capture), and allowing you to move the temperature gadget to the left or right of the screen (mustard arrow).
Previously, as you zoomed in and out or panned around, the temperature would change as the focus of the map changed, which is fine unless you were just trying to zoom in and out to see the bigger picture of radar movement.
Likewise before, the temperature / current conditions gadget was fixed in the lower left corner, and for many of us, rain comes in from the bottom left corner, making the gadget's location quite cumbersome.
Previously, as you zoomed in and out or panned around, the temperature would change as the focus of the map changed, which is fine unless you were just trying to zoom in and out to see the bigger picture of radar movement.
Likewise before, the temperature / current conditions gadget was fixed in the lower left corner, and for many of us, rain comes in from the bottom left corner, making the gadget's location quite cumbersome.
The battle for the biggest intellectual property portfolio...and the DOJ is not doing anything about it.
Times have changed. These days, in order to sell a product, you need a massive patent portfolio to counter IP lawsuits from what has been negatively described as "patent trolls". Of course, the big tech companies have no issue with filing lawsuits against each other, even while they complain about patent lawsuits... or as I would say, Microsoft is a champion in the hypocrisy.
Turns out, Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and EMC formed CPTN Holdings to purchase Novell's IP portfolio. It was temporarily put on hold late last year, but last month it was refiled, and now the deal is very close to being completed. An April 12th deadline passed and the Department of Justice did not raise any objections. Come April 26, if the German equivalent FCO does not object, the sale can be finalized.
What's notable, is that Microsoft and Apple have proxy lawsuits against Google's Android, and Oracle has an ongoing lawsuit against Google over Java VM / Dalvik VM.
Well, Google's got to play catch up, so it has placed a $900M stalking horse bid for Nortel's patents. And I guess we'll see if the DOJ is really playing fair, or if it has some sort of bias against Google, eh?
But this whole deal points to the bigger issue: the DOJ and US government fail to recognize that companies like Apple and Microsoft are just as guilty for fueling their own IP lawsuits against other companies.
IP holding companies are being formed, not to increase innovation, but to pool patents together and file mass lawsuits while extracting royalties. MPEG-LA is a patent pool that has threatened Google's open VP8 video decoder. These companies do not actually create products, but simply file patent after patent with the USPTO, and upon earning a patent, start on their lawsuit trails.
If Google does not quickly get into the IP acquisition game, it'll soon find itself paying out royalties as quickly as it is earning advert dollars from its search sites. And therein is the problem: the cost of defensive measures will eventually increase everyone's costs...a veritable patent tax, if you will.
We should all be upset.
Turns out, Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and EMC formed CPTN Holdings to purchase Novell's IP portfolio. It was temporarily put on hold late last year, but last month it was refiled, and now the deal is very close to being completed. An April 12th deadline passed and the Department of Justice did not raise any objections. Come April 26, if the German equivalent FCO does not object, the sale can be finalized.
What's notable, is that Microsoft and Apple have proxy lawsuits against Google's Android, and Oracle has an ongoing lawsuit against Google over Java VM / Dalvik VM.
Well, Google's got to play catch up, so it has placed a $900M stalking horse bid for Nortel's patents. And I guess we'll see if the DOJ is really playing fair, or if it has some sort of bias against Google, eh?
But this whole deal points to the bigger issue: the DOJ and US government fail to recognize that companies like Apple and Microsoft are just as guilty for fueling their own IP lawsuits against other companies.
IP holding companies are being formed, not to increase innovation, but to pool patents together and file mass lawsuits while extracting royalties. MPEG-LA is a patent pool that has threatened Google's open VP8 video decoder. These companies do not actually create products, but simply file patent after patent with the USPTO, and upon earning a patent, start on their lawsuit trails.
If Google does not quickly get into the IP acquisition game, it'll soon find itself paying out royalties as quickly as it is earning advert dollars from its search sites. And therein is the problem: the cost of defensive measures will eventually increase everyone's costs...a veritable patent tax, if you will.
We should all be upset.
Trump, and his relationships with people.
MSNBC's got a great quote from Donald Trump:
"I have a great relationship with THE blacks....I've always had a great relationship with THE blacks.”I guess I can only add, that THE Don probably has a great relationship with THE Whites, THE Asians, THE Hispanics, and THE gays, too.
Arnold Gunderson not impressed with nuclear apologists.
Who is Arnold Gunderson? He was a former nuclear power executive and is currently the chief engineer of a power consulting company, Fairewinds Associates. He also advises the state of Vermont on nuclear power.
In an interview published online today (4/15/2011), Arnold Gunderson provides what might be considered scary insight into the Fukushima Daiichi plant, with a reactor by reactor evaluation. No one is really going to know the truth of what's happened at Fukushima for some time to come, as the radiation is too high to go in and investigate. But he seems to have a solid grasp of what has possibly already occurred, and what could still transpire.
Typhoon season starts to really kick in, in May. With an average 17 typhoons and 27 tropical storms a season in the Pacific, surely TEPCO's got contingency plans for that, right?
In an interview published online today (4/15/2011), Arnold Gunderson provides what might be considered scary insight into the Fukushima Daiichi plant, with a reactor by reactor evaluation. No one is really going to know the truth of what's happened at Fukushima for some time to come, as the radiation is too high to go in and investigate. But he seems to have a solid grasp of what has possibly already occurred, and what could still transpire.
Typhoon season starts to really kick in, in May. With an average 17 typhoons and 27 tropical storms a season in the Pacific, surely TEPCO's got contingency plans for that, right?
American Conservatives aren't the same as European Conservatives.
“It’s hard to cut taxes and lower the deficit — that is why personal tax cuts can’t be justified,” said Patrick Nolan, chief economist at Reform, a right-of-center research organization based here.
In Britain, one year into its own controversial austerity program to plug a gaping fiscal hole...the early returns are less than promising [with] retail sales [down] 3.5 percent in March, the sharpest monthly downturn in Britain in 15 years.NYT - "Pain of British Fiscal Cuts Could Inform U.S. Debate"
It should give pause to American conservatives, to actually stop and listen to others.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Shelties being rescued from Minami City (area previously evacuated due to Fukushima Daiichi)
UK's Daily Mail has a story on one particular rescue operation, to save a sheltie breeder's animals, left behind in Minami City during the nuclear exclusion zone evacuation. Though they had enough food, they were wandering outside in the open. Twenty of her shelties were rescued, but sadly some had not been found, and were thus left behind.
What I noticed, is that they're all tri-colored and blue merle, but not a single sable and white sheltie. These are the more prized shelties, as blue merle is (or used to be) considered rare. Despite the image of dog food and treats being used to lure them out, these dogs weren't starving (although they may be dehydrated).
What I noticed, is that they're all tri-colored and blue merle, but not a single sable and white sheltie. These are the more prized shelties, as blue merle is (or used to be) considered rare. Despite the image of dog food and treats being used to lure them out, these dogs weren't starving (although they may be dehydrated).
The Fukushima battle to remove contaminated water, and related issues.
Not going so well...the battle to remove water, that is. Appears they're starting to lose some ground (pun not intended).
Separately, an April 7 quake was stronger than what a Miyagi (Onagawa) nuclear plant was designed for.
Of course, design strength of buildings isn't typically based on the failure point of materials, but rather, on a safety limit that is slightly higher than that, which is to say, that one would not expect failure unless the stress was much greater than the design strength.
Nonetheless, this revelation should be making Japanese people nervous, considering these aftershocks will last for years, though they are supposed to dissipate over time.
No surprise either, that radiation in fish caught off Fukushima coast, far exceeds Japan's legal limits (25x higher).
And this talk about the situation under control at Fukushima? TEPCO announced yesterday that the temperature at the #4 reactor has risen to 90 degrees Celsius. That's higher than the 84 degrees Celsius on March 14th, the day a fire broke out at the reactor. Doesn't seem like they've really got the situation under control.
Separately, an April 7 quake was stronger than what a Miyagi (Onagawa) nuclear plant was designed for.
Of course, design strength of buildings isn't typically based on the failure point of materials, but rather, on a safety limit that is slightly higher than that, which is to say, that one would not expect failure unless the stress was much greater than the design strength.
Nonetheless, this revelation should be making Japanese people nervous, considering these aftershocks will last for years, though they are supposed to dissipate over time.
No surprise either, that radiation in fish caught off Fukushima coast, far exceeds Japan's legal limits (25x higher).
And this talk about the situation under control at Fukushima? TEPCO announced yesterday that the temperature at the #4 reactor has risen to 90 degrees Celsius. That's higher than the 84 degrees Celsius on March 14th, the day a fire broke out at the reactor. Doesn't seem like they've really got the situation under control.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Three random pictures (Feb - Mar - Apr 2011)
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| Carrying the stick home from the park. |
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| "But officer, the boat clearly said 'FREE' on its side." |
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| Fog + cherry blossoms = a day in April in Portland. |
Airbus A380 pushes another plane around like a ragdoll.
Whiplash, anyone? They say there was only minor damage...except those who were out of their seats and got tossed.
A Path to Prosperity? I don't think so.
I understand now, why the Republicans have become so focused on the debt-to-GDP ratio: their budget does NOT REDUCE THE FEDERAL DEBT ONE CENT.
Under Paul Ryan's plan, by 2021, the US would still be running a $385B deficit* - or otherwise known as the same deficit we were running in 2003, just after Bush's two tax cuts and Medicare expansion went into effect.**
By focusing on the debt-to-GDP ratio, they can claim to be working on runaway spending, without actually effecting change on the federal debt. Paul Ryan recently spoke of cutting trillions of dollars over the next decade, but he doesn't mention that he'll end up growing outlays by 31% during that decade. Nor does he mention that debt held by the public will increase 55% to over $16T.***
And you don't hear it mentioned often, but Paul Ryan's Roadmap for America's Future gives millionaires and billionaires a major tax cut, down to just 25%.****
In fact, their growth in federal income, almost exclusively depends on trickle-down (aka voodoo) economics that would result in a 2.8% national unemployment rate in 2021. Even The Economist believes that Paul Ryan's / The Heritage Foundation's projections are, at best, excessively optimistic.*****
So what happens if voodoo economics doesn't work, and we don't reach the mythical 2.8% unemployment rate? Federal debt and deficit spending is going to explode. So long as Paul Ryan and Republicans are in charge of the House, we'll get more calls for austerity measures. Look to what's happened to Ireland to see how the downward tailspin looks like under austerity.******
* - The Path to Prosperity, page 63 of 74.
** - Chart of the federal debt, 2000-2008.
*** - The Path to Prosperity, page 63 of 74.
**** - Proposed tax brackets by Paul Ryan.
***** - The Economist blog, April 5, 2011.
****** - NYT Deal Book article from June 29, 2011; Reuters article on continued growing debt, March 6, 2011.
Under Paul Ryan's plan, by 2021, the US would still be running a $385B deficit* - or otherwise known as the same deficit we were running in 2003, just after Bush's two tax cuts and Medicare expansion went into effect.**
By focusing on the debt-to-GDP ratio, they can claim to be working on runaway spending, without actually effecting change on the federal debt. Paul Ryan recently spoke of cutting trillions of dollars over the next decade, but he doesn't mention that he'll end up growing outlays by 31% during that decade. Nor does he mention that debt held by the public will increase 55% to over $16T.***
And you don't hear it mentioned often, but Paul Ryan's Roadmap for America's Future gives millionaires and billionaires a major tax cut, down to just 25%.****
In fact, their growth in federal income, almost exclusively depends on trickle-down (aka voodoo) economics that would result in a 2.8% national unemployment rate in 2021. Even The Economist believes that Paul Ryan's / The Heritage Foundation's projections are, at best, excessively optimistic.*****
So what happens if voodoo economics doesn't work, and we don't reach the mythical 2.8% unemployment rate? Federal debt and deficit spending is going to explode. So long as Paul Ryan and Republicans are in charge of the House, we'll get more calls for austerity measures. Look to what's happened to Ireland to see how the downward tailspin looks like under austerity.******
* - The Path to Prosperity, page 63 of 74.
** - Chart of the federal debt, 2000-2008.
*** - The Path to Prosperity, page 63 of 74.
**** - Proposed tax brackets by Paul Ryan.
***** - The Economist blog, April 5, 2011.
****** - NYT Deal Book article from June 29, 2011; Reuters article on continued growing debt, March 6, 2011.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Fukushima now a 7 rating.
Japan is raising the Fukushima accident to a full blown 7 rating on the INES, matching Chernobyl's accident in 1986.
Meanwhile, accumulation of radiation during a 25 day period following the March 11 earthquake exceeds (Japan's) permissible levels for a whole year, as far as 60km / 37.3mi. Japan ends up expanding the evacuation zone from 20km / 12.4mi to 30km / 18.6mi. One gets the feeling they still don't have a full grasp of the enormity of the spread of radiation contamination.
Right now, there's a raging battle on the Guardian's website between nuclear energy's apologists and those who are concerned of how the media is downplaying the Fukushima event.
My take: don't be so arrogant to assume that this current disaster cannot get worse, or that it is contained. Considering every large aftershock makes TEPCO nervously run around inspecting everything to see if there was any additional damage, should indicate just how fragile the current "stable" condition actually is.
The UK's Daily Mail has photos from within the exclusion zones showing - among other things - the pets left behind.
Update 1 4/12/11: Japanese government reports that small amounts of radioactive strontium has been found outside the 30km exclusion zone. Bone cancer anyone?
Update 2 4/12/11: TEPCO says that the amount of radiation leaked from the Fukushima Daiichi plant may eventually equal or surpass that of Chernobyl. But you see, if you read around the internet, there remains a large group of apologists. Apologists have continued to assert that Fukushima is no Chernobyl, except that Fukushima continues to create radioactive waste (where does that water go when the leaks stop and they start trucking the water off-site?), and we have to wait until at some point in the future, they have successfully sealed the reactor cores that continue to remain exposed.
Meanwhile, accumulation of radiation during a 25 day period following the March 11 earthquake exceeds (Japan's) permissible levels for a whole year, as far as 60km / 37.3mi. Japan ends up expanding the evacuation zone from 20km / 12.4mi to 30km / 18.6mi. One gets the feeling they still don't have a full grasp of the enormity of the spread of radiation contamination.
Right now, there's a raging battle on the Guardian's website between nuclear energy's apologists and those who are concerned of how the media is downplaying the Fukushima event.
My take: don't be so arrogant to assume that this current disaster cannot get worse, or that it is contained. Considering every large aftershock makes TEPCO nervously run around inspecting everything to see if there was any additional damage, should indicate just how fragile the current "stable" condition actually is.
The UK's Daily Mail has photos from within the exclusion zones showing - among other things - the pets left behind.
 |
| Via UK's Daily Mail online |
Update 1 4/12/11: Japanese government reports that small amounts of radioactive strontium has been found outside the 30km exclusion zone. Bone cancer anyone?
Update 2 4/12/11: TEPCO says that the amount of radiation leaked from the Fukushima Daiichi plant may eventually equal or surpass that of Chernobyl. But you see, if you read around the internet, there remains a large group of apologists. Apologists have continued to assert that Fukushima is no Chernobyl, except that Fukushima continues to create radioactive waste (where does that water go when the leaks stop and they start trucking the water off-site?), and we have to wait until at some point in the future, they have successfully sealed the reactor cores that continue to remain exposed.
Nikon D5100 in stores next week.
16.2MP newest addition to the Nikon DSLR line, according to Nikonrumors, the D5100 body only unit's dealer cost is $719 while the kit with an 18-55VR lens is $809. The list price - as seen on Amazon - is $799 for the body only, and $899 for the kit. With their Sendai plant being shut down on a frequent basis due to major aftershocks and lack of electricity, supplies could be limited for some time.
DPReview has a full on preview with images captured and a nifty tool to allow you to compare images captured with other DSLRs.
DPReview has a full on preview with images captured and a nifty tool to allow you to compare images captured with other DSLRs.
A Conservative's lie.
The BEA's current numbers clearly illustrate that the stimulus did have a substantial effect on GDP. By technical standards, the rapid turnaround of GDP, should be considered breathtaking, even though jobs continued to slide.
To illustrate the relative effect on GDP, consider how rapidly GDP changed when George Bush and Republicans in full control of Congress and the White House, responded to a recession:
The first thing you notice, is that - obviously - the 2007-2009 Recession was extremely deep by comparison to the 2001-2002 Recession. But it's also worth noting, how long it took government to react to the 2007's start of the recession, before it enacted the first program, TARP. (As some might note, George Bush and Republicans would deny that the economy was in recession, as early as January 2008, again in February 2008, and in March 2008, of course, April 2008, etc.) But for all its faults, TARP really did prevent the Great Depression 2.0. And for that matter, combined with ARRA, GDP rebounded harder than under Republicans' more immediate response in 3 months after the official start of the recession in 2001.
What's interesting to note, is that Bush's tax rebates of early 2008 did nothing to forestall the recession, and John McCain, even before he acknowledged that a recession existed, had called for cutting government spending. But as we all know by now, those two Republican tax cuts (2001, 2003) and tax rebates (2008) only ended up growing debt faster than GDP, permanently adjusting the debt to GDP ratio each time.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Video of drive to Fukushima Daiichi -- radiation and surreal landscape.
The radiation shoots up to over 100 μSv/h as they get up to within 1.5km of the Daiichi plant, where they end their trip. On the way there, they find a few people still inside the exclusion zone, pet dogs roaming loose, and cattle walking across roads. It's a surreal, post-apocalyptic vision.
(Video from Videonews.com)
Inother news a moment of hilarity, Iran's state-owned news reports that Iran's nuclear program has capabilities to help out Japan solve the leaking radiation problem. Laughter subsequently heard all around the world. Is Iran begging for Stuxnet 2.0?
Update (4/13/11): After seeing the video of pets abandoned and getting requests from people who evacuated without their pets, animal activists are sneaking in and taking on huge personal health risks to help rescue stranded animals. For whatever reason, these people believed the evacuation would only last a few days (but what about the radiation poisoning of your pets, right?) so they left their animals with just a meager amount of food and water. I know if it were my dog, I wouldn't leave him behind, period.
(Video from Videonews.com)
In
Update (4/13/11): After seeing the video of pets abandoned and getting requests from people who evacuated without their pets, animal activists are sneaking in and taking on huge personal health risks to help rescue stranded animals. For whatever reason, these people believed the evacuation would only last a few days (but what about the radiation poisoning of your pets, right?) so they left their animals with just a meager amount of food and water. I know if it were my dog, I wouldn't leave him behind, period.
North Dakota's Red River's 2nd 100 year flood in 3 years?
The Red River has already surpassed flood stage (18ft / 5.5m), which makes it 19 years straight.
And in fact, it has already reached the 100 year stage (38.2ft / 11.64m), currently at 38.71ft / 11.81m, expected to crest at 38.8ft / 11.83m.
Which begs the question: is global warming effectively creating a new normal?
The 100+ year data shows a growing annual divergence as well as higher peak waterflow, each decade (probably would make sense to have a 5-year rolling average graph to illustrate this divergence, but eh...NOT MY JOB!) That's okay...as we know, there is no such thing as global warming -- this is just natural cyclical phenomenon and not nature's response to human-generated changes, right?
So if these floods are not generated by global warming (and will therefore eventually subside), at what point do we - American taxpayers - stop paying out disaster relief funds for these annual reoccurring floods? If the floods keep coming year after year, shouldn't towns pay into their own defensive flood walls, or move their towns out of FEMA's 500 year flood plain?
And in fact, it has already reached the 100 year stage (38.2ft / 11.64m), currently at 38.71ft / 11.81m, expected to crest at 38.8ft / 11.83m.
Which begs the question: is global warming effectively creating a new normal?
The 100+ year data shows a growing annual divergence as well as higher peak waterflow, each decade (probably would make sense to have a 5-year rolling average graph to illustrate this divergence, but eh...NOT MY JOB!) That's okay...as we know, there is no such thing as global warming -- this is just natural cyclical phenomenon and not nature's response to human-generated changes, right?
So if these floods are not generated by global warming (and will therefore eventually subside), at what point do we - American taxpayers - stop paying out disaster relief funds for these annual reoccurring floods? If the floods keep coming year after year, shouldn't towns pay into their own defensive flood walls, or move their towns out of FEMA's 500 year flood plain?
Friday, April 8, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Reid and Boehner coming from the White House...an imagined conversation (with picture!)
Reid: You know you're going to get the blame if the government shuts down.
Boehner: Yeah, tell me about it.
Reid: Why don't you just settle and get on with the next battle?
Boehner: Are you kidding me? I owe a lot of political capital to the Tea Party folks that got elected.
Reid: So?
Boehner: Hell, if I cut a deal now, they'll be calling for my hide.
Reid: Yeah. Saw what those folks could do during the health care reform debates. Nasty bunch of folks, unruly and all.
Boehner: You think?
Reid: You realize of course, those Tea Party folks won't get a Republican elected into the White House?
Boehner: Yep.
Reid: You're royally screwed, buddy.
Boehner: Aw hell. I hate politics.
Reid: Me too, buddy. Me too.
Boehner: Yeah, tell me about it.
Reid: Why don't you just settle and get on with the next battle?
Boehner: Are you kidding me? I owe a lot of political capital to the Tea Party folks that got elected.
Reid: So?
Boehner: Hell, if I cut a deal now, they'll be calling for my hide.
Reid: Yeah. Saw what those folks could do during the health care reform debates. Nasty bunch of folks, unruly and all.
Boehner: You think?
Reid: You realize of course, those Tea Party folks won't get a Republican elected into the White House?
Boehner: Yep.
Reid: You're royally screwed, buddy.
Boehner: Aw hell. I hate politics.
Reid: Me too, buddy. Me too.
 |
| Via LA Times (AP photo) |
Tokyo suffering from shortages since earthquake...especially beer.
What a dilemma...
The Japan Sumo Association is going to offer a free sumo tournament in May, but Tokyo is suffering from beer shortages from Sapporo, Kirin and Asahi brewers. They could have sake, but I'm sure that too is affected. What to do?
I humbly suggest, they buy Oregon microbrews from Widmer Bros, Rogue Ales, MacTarnahan's / Pyramid Brewing, or Deschutes Brewery.
Fresh Pacific Northwest beer from Cascade water. Mmmm.
The Japan Sumo Association is going to offer a free sumo tournament in May, but Tokyo is suffering from beer shortages from Sapporo, Kirin and Asahi brewers. They could have sake, but I'm sure that too is affected. What to do?
I humbly suggest, they buy Oregon microbrews from Widmer Bros, Rogue Ales, MacTarnahan's / Pyramid Brewing, or Deschutes Brewery.
Fresh Pacific Northwest beer from Cascade water. Mmmm.
The NYT Paywall...and the money they wasted, putting it up.
It's been well documented that the NYT has put up a paywall. Except, it's not that big of a paywall. Felix Salmon hinted at it (third paragraph, if you're curious), and I just tested it (after running into it by clicking through older blog posts)...
if you go to the NYT and run into the paywall, just delete the part of the URL immediately after ".html" ends and the "?" begins.
Paul Ryan's big lie.
Paul Krugman points out, that Paul Ryan - the reportedly serious budget point man for the Republicans - believes asserts that the nation will reach 2.8% unemployment by 2021, if we follow the Paul Ryan GOP plan.
Then poof, they tried to hide that ludicrous assertion by deleting unemployment projections from the House report.
That folly aside (you can't hide things on the internet), reality is not the same as theoretical projections. Case in point: when markets heat up and you have full employment, costs go up because employers have no pricing power over labor. To counter runaway inflation, central banks increase interest rates to tamp down growth. That in turn, increases unemployment as people slow down consumption due to higher borrowing costs or an inability to access capital.
If you were to believe Paul Ryan (who gets his numbers straight from the conservative Heritage Foundation), this time it's different; this time, we'll get to the promised land if only we listen to the Republicans, because they're able to magically alter the way economics works.
Then poof, they tried to hide that ludicrous assertion by deleting unemployment projections from the House report.
That folly aside (you can't hide things on the internet), reality is not the same as theoretical projections. Case in point: when markets heat up and you have full employment, costs go up because employers have no pricing power over labor. To counter runaway inflation, central banks increase interest rates to tamp down growth. That in turn, increases unemployment as people slow down consumption due to higher borrowing costs or an inability to access capital.
If you were to believe Paul Ryan (who gets his numbers straight from the conservative Heritage Foundation), this time it's different; this time, we'll get to the promised land if only we listen to the Republicans, because they're able to magically alter the way economics works.
Fukushima nuclear reactor DID eject fuel materials outside.
Well, contrary to all the BS you've been hearing from nuclear apologists, the NYT is reporting that during those hydrogen explosions, nuclear fuel was ejected:
But wait, if you read that NYT article, you'll note that the big concern of tons of water being shot into the containment buildings, is the mass of that water making the structure even more susceptible to the slightest damage in an aftershock.
As I've posted elsewhere:
If you spray reactors with water, but the fuel remains exposed, where does it go?
a. Leaks out from cracks that were expected because of the design of the reactor's shell dating 40 years.
b. Radioactive steam.
c. Magically and spontaneously disappears.
I'm guessing TEPCO and some Japanese officials must have thought 'c' was the right answer.
Of course now, they've plugged the main leak, so I'll have to alter the question:
If you spray reactors with water, where does it go?
a. Radioactive steam.
b. The path of least resistance.
c. Magically and spontaneously disappears.
I'm guessing TEPCO and some Japanese officials must have thought 'c' was the right answer.
"Fragments or particles of nuclear fuel from spent fuel pools above the reactors were blown “up to one mile from the units,” and that pieces of highly radioactive material fell between two units and had to be “bulldozed over,” presumably to protect workers at the site."Call me crazy, but I can't imagine how an explosion could direct material upward a mile / 1.6km then have it come back down, just a few meters away. There is so much obfuscation and intentional confusion, that the only thing we can say for certain is: this is not going to over in a matter of days, weeks, months of even a year. Consider: TEPCO plans to test their shielding idea in September, and true to form, their current stop-gap measure, in light of the fact that as I suggested two weeks ago that the heat would have damaged the pumps and electrical systems inside, is to continue to use water and firemen to keep the heat down. As Michio Kaku noted:
"Although electricity was been brought onto the site, a great disappointment is that the pumps cannot be turned on, because they are broken, or there is too much hydrogen gas, or it is too radioactive to make repairs. Until the pumps are turned on, workers have to use the Stone Age method of using firemen to shoot hose water into the reactor."
But wait, if you read that NYT article, you'll note that the big concern of tons of water being shot into the containment buildings, is the mass of that water making the structure even more susceptible to the slightest damage in an aftershock.
As I've posted elsewhere:
If you spray reactors with water, but the fuel remains exposed, where does it go?
a. Leaks out from cracks that were expected because of the design of the reactor's shell dating 40 years.
b. Radioactive steam.
c. Magically and spontaneously disappears.
I'm guessing TEPCO and some Japanese officials must have thought 'c' was the right answer.
Of course now, they've plugged the main leak, so I'll have to alter the question:
If you spray reactors with water, where does it go?
a. Radioactive steam.
b. The path of least resistance.
c. Magically and spontaneously disappears.
I'm guessing TEPCO and some Japanese officials must have thought 'c' was the right answer.
Autocad LT 2012 now available.
Dunno how I missed this - probably because I've been extremely busy of late - but Autodesk has released Autocad LT 2012...and you can get the full package license from Buy.com for $922 (today / 04-06-11). Word must be out already, because it's ranked 58th most popular item right now. However, LT does not support LISP, so you will not be able to download and install any extended functionality -- steel shapes comes to mind.
I've been using Layout3 included with Google's SketchUp8 Pro. At $495 a license and just $95 for upgrades, it makes drafting a lot more enjoyable. It gets hard to go back and forth with AutoCad to SketchUp, because SU is a lot easier and quicker to visualize and build with. True, they're not even close to being the same, but the more I work with Layout3 and SU8, the more I prefer to stay within that ecosystem to produce CAD-like drawings.
Besides, shouldn't one save up for the 16.1MP Nikon D5100, just announced yesterday and available for preorder at Amazon?
I've been using Layout3 included with Google's SketchUp8 Pro. At $495 a license and just $95 for upgrades, it makes drafting a lot more enjoyable. It gets hard to go back and forth with AutoCad to SketchUp, because SU is a lot easier and quicker to visualize and build with. True, they're not even close to being the same, but the more I work with Layout3 and SU8, the more I prefer to stay within that ecosystem to produce CAD-like drawings.
Besides, shouldn't one save up for the 16.1MP Nikon D5100, just announced yesterday and available for preorder at Amazon?
Saturday, April 2, 2011
January 2011 Portland housing prices continue to decline.
It's a little distressing that prices are falling once again, because it points to a possible double-dip (second recession) later this year. However it is not unexpected, because we could be in that second wave of mortgage resets right now, as was predicted years ago. I'm going to edit this later and overlay the mortgage resets (from Agora Financial's predictions) with the S&P US housing index.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Very angry at ex-coworker friend.
I passed along some information that I thought she might want to know - it was about the financial situation of the company I used to work for, and that she still works for. The news was shocking to me, and she being a friend, I figured she might want to get her things in order and be prepared, in case shit hit the fan and the company went out of business.
Turns out, she blabbed her mouth at work asking about how the company was doing, and citing info I told her about, and it set off afirestorm shitstorm of action with phones going crazy and lawyers getting called. I'm so fucking pissed off at her; I was trying to ensure that she was well prepared for any bad news (considering the litany of crap she said she's being going through), were it to come (like the office shutting down), and she screwed me over.
And now she won't answer her phone or reply. I was really angry at her for being such a tool, but it's got me thinking that maybe she wasn't really a friend after all? Maybe I'm the idiot for believing that she was a friend that I could trust? She hasn't yet apologized, and I was totally blindsided, so it seems like she's just not giving a shit about me or anyone else.
Can't trust her anymore.
Update: After a bunch of text messages back and forth (curious why she'd rather exchange text messages instead of talking on the phone -- I might have to do a honey pot test), the straw that broke the camel's back was when she apologized for my getting into trouble with the person whose information I shared with her. It's the last straw, because she's deliberately passing off responsibility, essentially saying that she's not sorry for her actions, but that she's sorry for the actions of others -- either a sign of cognitive dissonance or a dishonest but guilty conscience.
Her excuse: I didn't explicitly tell her that our conversation was in confidence. WTF sort of BULLSHIT is that? That stuff is implied, when it comes to information about the health of a company. The company's leadership took forever before they came out and openly responded / talked about how their line of credit was drying up and they were having problems finding new sources, and the only reason why they did that, was to announce layoffs and "voluntary" pay cuts. BULLSHIT, right? So I can't believe that she'd tacitly trust what they tell her. And now, their lawyers could easily just add my name to a lawsuit or to compel me to testify against my source, or to implicate me in civil court.
And then she tried to pin the blame all on my source. It didn't matter whether or not it was true, but that I put it out there (on a limb no less) so that she could prepare in advance, just in case it was true. Given the history of the company, it seemed like a prudent and reasonable warning to pass on to her. The way I contextualize it, is if I were in her position, I would want to know as far in advance as possible of potential problems, so that I could properly prepare via getting finances in order and dusting off my resume with updated information while networking with former colleagues to see if there was inside information of a possible job availability coming up soon.
But the worst part in all of this, is that she placed me in a position to deal with the shit that came up after the fact, and having to walk on eggshells with my source, plus, she burned MY bridges that I wasn't intending on burning. She detrimentally affected my livelihood by blabbing her mouth, instead of quietly preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.
It turns out, I am the idiot after all, believing that I could trust her or help her...and I should have known, because another friend complained to me about her on this very personality conflict.
Turns out, she blabbed her mouth at work asking about how the company was doing, and citing info I told her about, and it set off a
And now she won't answer her phone or reply. I was really angry at her for being such a tool, but it's got me thinking that maybe she wasn't really a friend after all? Maybe I'm the idiot for believing that she was a friend that I could trust? She hasn't yet apologized, and I was totally blindsided, so it seems like she's just not giving a shit about me or anyone else.
Can't trust her anymore.
Update: After a bunch of text messages back and forth (curious why she'd rather exchange text messages instead of talking on the phone -- I might have to do a honey pot test), the straw that broke the camel's back was when she apologized for my getting into trouble with the person whose information I shared with her. It's the last straw, because she's deliberately passing off responsibility, essentially saying that she's not sorry for her actions, but that she's sorry for the actions of others -- either a sign of cognitive dissonance or a dishonest but guilty conscience.
Her excuse: I didn't explicitly tell her that our conversation was in confidence. WTF sort of BULLSHIT is that? That stuff is implied, when it comes to information about the health of a company. The company's leadership took forever before they came out and openly responded / talked about how their line of credit was drying up and they were having problems finding new sources, and the only reason why they did that, was to announce layoffs and "voluntary" pay cuts. BULLSHIT, right? So I can't believe that she'd tacitly trust what they tell her. And now, their lawyers could easily just add my name to a lawsuit or to compel me to testify against my source, or to implicate me in civil court.
And then she tried to pin the blame all on my source. It didn't matter whether or not it was true, but that I put it out there (on a limb no less) so that she could prepare in advance, just in case it was true. Given the history of the company, it seemed like a prudent and reasonable warning to pass on to her. The way I contextualize it, is if I were in her position, I would want to know as far in advance as possible of potential problems, so that I could properly prepare via getting finances in order and dusting off my resume with updated information while networking with former colleagues to see if there was inside information of a possible job availability coming up soon.
But the worst part in all of this, is that she placed me in a position to deal with the shit that came up after the fact, and having to walk on eggshells with my source, plus, she burned MY bridges that I wasn't intending on burning. She detrimentally affected my livelihood by blabbing her mouth, instead of quietly preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.
It turns out, I am the idiot after all, believing that I could trust her or help her...and I should have known, because another friend complained to me about her on this very personality conflict.
Google's April Fool's Day 2011, making April 1st a lot more fun.
First up, Google Docs Motion.
But not to be outdone, introducing Gmail Motion:
Dr. Dennis Tooley about the new Gmail Motion:
And Youtube celebrates 100 years by returning us to their first blogpost in 1911 and a video of the top 5 pictures of 1911:
Google Voice introduces the Voice-alyzer, to prevent you from accidentally calling or texting when drunk.
Everybody Chromercise! (Hurry! Finger sweats are going fast!)
Probably more to come as the morning wears on.
Added: Only with Google search, type in "Helvetica" and hit enter.
More: On an iOS or Android device, Google "kittens" to take advantage of Google's new Meow Me Now service.
And more: Google is now hiring Autocompleters!
And: Google Earth and Maps now showing Real World Sitings of mythical(?) objects.
Google Body Browser is now Google Cow!
Did you ever want to have your Google Ads on a Blimp?
And Google has decided to buy Blogger back from itself.
Google voice search now supports Pig Latin. (No, not really.)
I think that's about it.
But not to be outdone, introducing Gmail Motion:
Dr. Dennis Tooley about the new Gmail Motion:
And Youtube celebrates 100 years by returning us to their first blogpost in 1911 and a video of the top 5 pictures of 1911:
Google Voice introduces the Voice-alyzer, to prevent you from accidentally calling or texting when drunk.
Everybody Chromercise! (Hurry! Finger sweats are going fast!)
Probably more to come as the morning wears on.
Added: Only with Google search, type in "Helvetica" and hit enter.
More: On an iOS or Android device, Google "kittens" to take advantage of Google's new Meow Me Now service.
And more: Google is now hiring Autocompleters!
And: Google Earth and Maps now showing Real World Sitings of mythical(?) objects.
Google Body Browser is now Google Cow!
Did you ever want to have your Google Ads on a Blimp?
And Google has decided to buy Blogger back from itself.
Google voice search now supports Pig Latin. (No, not really.)
I think that's about it.
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