Goodbye 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR

If you are someone who feels the need to shoot into the air to celebrate the new year, I have a favor to ask you. DON'T. Just do NOT shoot into the air please. See I really do not like having lead "rain drops" falling on my head. Thank you.

Some of the things reporters said in 2007. These are not gotcha comments but it sure does show the total lack of their objectivity or their total ignorance of history.

Finally, Christians returning to a Muslim country and why it is significant.

Face of a Killer

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Originally uploaded by kawfeadikt

As of late, I've been following the story of the young man who was mauled to death at the San Francisco Zoo by a tiger. This tiger. We were visiting at Thanksgiving and I took a few pictures near the end of the day as we were heading out. One of these two is Tatiana, who was responsible for the man's death.

Links to relevant stories:

Initial story
Remembrence for Carlos Sousa
Story on the police dispatch transcripts
Follow up by the SF Chronicle detailing concerns, post-event

Who knows what will come of this, but it surely sounds like more protection for the public is in store for zoos. Tragically, it's too late for one man.

Last week of the year

And the stories keep coming:

2007 was a good year for Ballistic Missile Defense. Those who said it could or will never work should be eating a lot of crow, but they have moved on to new things, like global warming.

Starting January 1, 2008, France and Germany will no longer allow smoking in bars and most other indoor places. While I like being able to go to a restaurant and not smell like smoke when I leave, I also think this should be left for the business owner to decide and not the state. Let the customers decide if they will patronize smoking or nonsmoking places.

Why are GE, Sylvania and Phillips happy with the new light bulb law in the US? Well they all will be able to make incandescent bulbs that meet the new specks by 2012, but they will cost a lot more then incandescent bulbs cost now. So we the consumers get to pay more if we want incandescent bulbs or we can have CFL if we don't mind the Mercury. I hope the LED's will be available by then.

And finally, stupid is as stupid does. Poor old couple withdrew their savings and got a bank check. They didn't open a new account and put the check in a safe deposit box for over 20 years and wonder why the bank says they no longer have the money. A check is stale after 6 months and after 3 years by law the bank (or any business) has to send the money to the State as unclaimed property. After 7 years or so if the money is not claimed I believe the State gets the money. Yes, we should feel sorry for the woman (her husband died a few years ago), but if they were competent about their legal and financial matters, it should be their problem and not the banks. Its called an expensive lesson.

Have a good weekend.

Chinglish

DSC_3758
Originally uploaded by kawfeadikt

My son received a flashlight for Christmas and, predictably, it was made in China. The Chinglish instructions written on the box made me laugh. Excerpt:

"The skull is opened before the use..."

I didn't know that flashlight operation involved a frontal lobotomy...

Click on the pic and read the rest of the box.

Global Warming, Hydrogen and politics

I honestly do not know if this article is meant to be a joke or not. I read it as a joke and it is quite funny. If the author is serious, then a) he has demonstrated his ignorance of the science of sea levels and b) he is a mean small minded person who glories at the pain and suffering of others. If he is serious, I can only pity him and or hold him in contempt.

I love news stories where wonderful claims are made but no backup is provided. In advertising or propaganda that is expected, but in news stories there are supposed to be some facts. Well a researcher is saying he has found a way to make HYDROGEN from rotten peaches. How? I can see making ethanol or methane but hydrogen?

Finally on a serious note, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated today. The world is not a nice place at times and there are people who will kill us if they get the chance. I hope the government of Pakistan and the people are able to weather the storm they are in for. I also hope the people running for president in the US won't politicize the event, although I know they will.

Have a good day.

Automotive X-Prize

This sounds very cool on how cars can get very high mileage and not necessarily be beer cans or death traps. Hat tip Glenn Reynolds.

Consumer spending increases and yet it is bad news

Well it seems that every year I've been hearing retailers saying this Christmas shopping season is horrible in December, but in January when the companies report their quarter end results, most had a good quarter and Christmas season after all.

Well, again, this year I've been hearing that retailers are not doing well this year. Well according to the WSJ (subscription required) retail sales excluding automobiles increased 3.6% compared to 2006. Now if you back out gasoline purchases as well because gasoline has increased a lot in 2007, then the year on year increase was only 2.4%. Why are the stores unhappy? Well they were hoping (or maybe dreaming) for a 3.5 to 4.5% increase.

Well lets see what happened in 2007 that might have slowed down consumer spending. Oh yeah, the entire sub-prime mortgage meltdown and the subsequent layoffs across the financial service sector of the economy and the slow down in the housing market. Oh yeah, also the dollar has also fallen against the Yen and Euro this year making toys, games and other goods from those areas more expensive.

So in other words, the US economy has had several shocks and consumer spending still increases from last year at a rate faster then inflation and the retail stores are unhappy that sales didn't grow as fast as they had hoped. Some organizations seemed bound and determined to have a recession in 2008 and will write the news anyway they have to, to try and bring it about.

Christmas Lights

This entry should have been up a few days ago but now that all you have to look forward too are the bills coming in January, here are a few things to make you smile beforehand.

Want to compare how your neighbor with their out of control Christmas decorations compares to others? Well go over to Ugly Christmas Lights and compare.

Two You Tube vids on people who set their lights to music. I've enjoyed both on You Tube, but not sure I would be as happy if a neighbor did it with speakers every 15 minutes.

The song is called Wizards in Winter, and it's performed by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The Music is taken from "The Lost Christmas Eve" Album. (Hat tip You Tube commentator dimis3507grecan )




The second video has the Peanuts theme song. Very good too.



Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

From the Terrible Work Habits File

Woman fired for writing a romance novel at work. Ironically, she was caught because it was noticed she was typing almost constantly...in other words, she seemed busier than she should have been. Money quote, from an email from a friend and excerpted from the evidence entered during a hearing for unemployment benefits:

"FINISH THE BOOK!!!! Sure, it's a tawdry lust novel, but isn't that what people buy?"

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ATF, Credit Cards and Politics

Jerry over at Cogito Ergo Geek has a story about Bill Atkins and the Atkins Accelerator. The question being asked is was the ATF justified in their actions against Mr. Atkins or not. In my opinion, based on the information available, I think the ATF was justified but hope for those wiser on the subject then me to provide more information. Well worth checking out.

Just in time for Christmas, the number of people who are delinquent with their credit card payments is increasing. This can be troubling for the economy because people can't refinance their homes to pay off their cards and now they can't make the minimum payments on their credit cards so spending will start to decline. This can lead to an economic slowdown unless exports increase or business spending increases. But that may not happen.

Finally, Mark Steyn has a wonderful article on Presidential candidates and their fear to say Merry Christmas until Mike Huckabee proved it wasn't political death to say it.

Have a Merry Christmas to one and all.

And this is bad news???

Congress will not approve 4 members to the FEC (Federal Election Commission), the organization that is charged with insuring our elections are fair and not tainted with corruption. Well, we all know how well they did in the 2000 and even the 2004 elections in Florida, Ohio and Washington.

Why won't Congress approve these 4 people? Well the FEC is made up of 6 members, 3 Republican and 3 Democrats. Harry Reid (Majority Leader) is demanding one of the Republican nominations, Hans von Spakovsky, be withdrawn because he does not like the person. The Republicans refuse and so we have an impasse.

The "crime" Senator Reid says Mr. von Spakovsky is he supported the idea that voters should have to provide ID to vote at an election. I can't check out a library book with out showing an ID, voter ID cards are free and I haven't heard of anyone who can't get a license or a State ID because they cannot afford it. So the Democrats are saying if they can't keep a Republican off the FEC who they don't like, then no one can be on it, well that is fine with the Republicans.

I guess the Republicans remember the other times in the past the Democrats have demanded their way or they would not allow anything to be done. Hint, think 1830s, 1850s, 1861, 1932, 1974, 1975, 2007 among others.

The second thing in the news is a new law starting January 1 in Arizona that is cracking down on businesses that employ illegal immigrants. Business' must verify the people working for them have the legal right to work in the US or they face fines. Illegal immigrants are now leaving the State on their own because employers are not hiring them and they can't find work. No need for ICE to be called, just enforce the laws we have on the books and many of the illegal immigrants will leave because they can't make a living here. Mexico needs their skills to transform that economy to one that can produce enough jobs to support the people there.

IAF F-35s

Israel is pushing hard to get the stealthy F-16, the F-35, into the inventory by 2012 and some think its because of the timetable to Iranian nukes. I, for one, would enjoy seeing what those guys can do with the platform since Israel is the next best thing to an operational test range.

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Goodbye incandescent lightbulb

Well, if you are like the boss who hates the compact florescence light bulbs, this is a reminder to stock up on incandescent bulbs. By 2012, in 4 years, the incandescent will no longer be sold.

Hopefully by then the LED bulbs will be available in quantity and at a reasonable price.

News, News and News

Can't say a lot is going on, that is noteworthy to anyone but me, so here are 4 stories I found today.

Take a look at the video below, it is great and order their DVD.

Business is run by humans and humans make mistakes, here are the worst for 2007 in Fortune's opinion.

Will Hilary take down Bill if she doesn't win?

Lets see, ethanol production increases so more corn is needed. Since the ground can only grow one crop at a time, if more corn is grown, then less wheat will be grown. Less wheat being grown will mean higher prices for the wheat that is grown. Bloomberg is amazed that has happened. Doesn't anyone remember Econ 101 supply and demand in a market economy?

And finally, some ways to be really green. Just remember to keep a straight face when telling a green believer these ideas and see if they agree with you.

This is amazing

Straight No Chaser doing the 12 days of Christmas. Its very funny and work safe but be warned. Your co-workers may wonder why your trying not to laugh when your supposed to be working.

If you are interested in buying the DVD, go here.

Next Generation not welcome????

Mark Steyn has an interesting article at NRO about how some feel we should save the planet. No one should have kids because any child born will harm the earth. After all, a child expels carbon dioxide with every breath, eats food which takes oil to produce and will make the parents spend money on things for the child.

Here is the money quote from the column:

But here’s something new that took hold in the year 2007: a radical anti-humanism, long present just below the surface, bobbed up and became explicit and respectable. In Britain, the Optimum Population Trust said that “the biggest cause of climate change is climate changers — in other words, human beings,” and Professor John Guillebaud called on Britons to voluntarily reduce the number of children they have. Last week, in The Medical Journal Of Australia, Barry Walters went further: To hell with this wimp-o pantywaist “voluntary” child-reduction. Professor Walters wants a “carbon tax” on babies, with, conversely, “carbon credits” for those who undergo sterilization procedures. So that’d be great news for the female eco-activists recently profiled in London’s Daily Mail boasting about how they’d had their tubes tied and babies aborted in order to save the planet. “Every person who is born,” says Toni Vernelli, “produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of overpopulation.” We are the pollution, and sterilization is the solution. The best way to bequeath a more sustainable environment to our children is not to have any.What’s the “pro-choice” line? “Every child should be wanted”? Not anymore. The progressive position has subtly evolved: Every child should be unwanted.

The rest of the article is good too and shows how politicians are still using the birth of Jesus for their political gain.

My question to all those yahoos who think allowing children to be born is a bad idea, if humanity is so bad, why haven't you killed yourself to save the planet? Or are they such cowards to do what they preach to the rest of us??? Yes that is a rhetorical question I know.

Have a good day.

This weekend and the J-10A

I have a 2004 Prius, ordered it in December 2003 and picked it up in June 2004. I do enjoy the car and the gas mileage. Well starting this last August, after I finished up my MBA program, my wife started to drive my car two days a week when she worked in downtown Los Angeles. Now, before my wife started to drive my car, the only scratches on it were some from freeway driving and the car in front throwing up a grain of sand at the car.

Well my wife has managed to scrape the right front fender on the curb and yesterday didn't see the gate at the trash bin was open and backed the car into it. The rear bumper now has some deep gashes and scratches to join the right front fender. Sigh. Oh yeah, my wife's car? She got a 2007 Rav4 earlier this year and there isn't a mark on it. Well she feels bad and the scratches are more cosmetic then anything else so guess I have to keep everything in perspective, the wife is more important then the car. And yes I told her that too, so I can't even use that as an excuse when I want to get a new toy like a Mini-14.

Tonight some friends from Pepperdine who just finished up their program in December are having a graduation party so will be seeing a lot of old classmates. This should be a lot of fun and a chance to do some networking too.

And finally, this we have to decide what we are going to do about Christmas cards this year. We didn't send any out last year and have to decide if we are going to send a letter or just email it to people.

Now for the J-10A.

This plane is a joint development fighter by China and Pakistan and is based on the F-16 and Israeli technology. It was supposed to use a Chinese engine but they still haven't worked out the bugs enough so are currently using Russian engines.

China is supposedly going to sell Iran 24 of them for $1 billion. I think this is a good time to sell Taiwan about 200 F-35A and 100 F-35C (VSTOL version) to replace their F-5 and other old planes and sell them a lot of AIM 120 missiles.

As for the J-10A, from what I've read about them in the open press, the plane is about as capable as an early F-16A, but as is also said, buying the plane is the easy part. Letting the pilots have enough air time is often the deciding factor between an effective air force and target drones for the other side to practice on.

Have a good weekend.

A way to show support for the troops

Over at The Tank on NRO, Blackfive has another way to show support for the troops. Send them a video greeting. I copied the entire entry below from NRO.

BlackfiveTV: Salute The Troops [Steve Schippert]
Blackfive, never tiring of finding ways to honor and support our troops, has begun a project to compile a video 'Thank You' for them this Holiday Season. He's looking for
bloggers to send in 30-second video clips of themselves with a message of thanks
and support.

The rules:
1. Must be a blogger.
2. Video clip can be in standard formats (mpeg, wmv, quicktime, etc).
3. Clip must be of the blogger wishing the troops well. How you do that is up to you (except, mimes will not be used...I hate mimes).
4. Blogger must either send via email or upload to a file sharing site (url of file sharing site to be given upon request).
5. Please send me your URL of your blog. We will attempt to superimpose your url on your video clip.
6. Clip can be no longer than 30 seconds. "Hi! I'm Matt from Blackfive.net and I wanted to wish all of you overseas a very Merry Christmas! Thank you for your service to our country."
7. Clips must be received by midnight CST, Tuesday, December 18th.

In the meantime, also have a look at The Gratitude Campaign (the video also at YouTube.)

This could be bad

California bans .22 rimfire use in condor areas

I can't tell if this means the sale of lead bullets will be prohibited and if the ammo is taken from one part of the state to another through the condor area if the transporter is in violation to the law.

Can I put in my pre-order????

A news release from Boeing and commented on by Hugh Hewitt, a new air to ground laser (aka death ray) has been installed in an airplane and will be ready for testing in 2008.

Gee, see a target, flash of light and no more target. Osama . . . tick, tock, tick, tock (see Peter Pan about the clock).

The Washington Times has an editorial looking at the 34 years of experience Hilary Clinton is claiming in her presidential run.

The Pope says any solution to Global Warming would need to be based on sound science. Gee a religious leader saying we should rely on science and not on the belief of certain groups to make public policy. And who says the Church is anti-science today?

This weekend

Well tomorrow my wife and I are going to Vegas for 4 days. Well hopefully we will be going.

On Thursday my mom had surgery for breast cancer and the cancer had spread more then originally thought. The doc thinks he got it all but have to wait for pathology to say so. So the surgery was more extensive then originally planned, but my mom is doing ok. My wife is already out there helping my mom and my sister is coming down tomorrow to stay with her for a week. So after my sister arrives and everything is ok, we will go to Vegas. Still should be a fun time.

Today at work we had to take inventory of all the furniture in the building. Its a 3 story building and at one point there were over 700 people working there. You do the math for the number of desks, chairs, table, cabinets and bookcases that equals too. Fortunately we had an outside company come in to do the audit, but some of us folks had to observe them do the count so bang, there went today. We did manage to finish the 1st and 3rd floors and they will finish the 2nd floor on Saturday. Darn, I have to miss that because I will be in either at my mom's or Vegas.

Stay dry and will see you next week.

Work and news

Well we were to have an all hands meeting at 9:30 this am. I normally don't bother as they usually provide little useful information. But today I went and after waiting for 20 minutes for the meeting to start, gave up in disgust and came back to blog. As an all hands meeting we had people in our satellite offices on the phone as well. I don't know how many people were waiting on the phone, but in the auditorium there was over 200 people. So the 20 minute delay cost the company over 66 man hours of work. Next time send a bleeding memo.

Raise a beer or other alcoholic drink today to acknowledge the passage of the 21st amendment which ended Prohibition. December 5, 1933.

China's struggle to protect a giant soft shell turtle.

Some problems with mandating a 35 MPG fleet average. The large station wagons got better mileage then the big SUV's but we only have SUV's now because of the 1975 law. The unintended consequences to the law were bigger and less fuel efficient vehicles.

Freezing the rates on ARM sub-prime mortgages. In abstract its a bad idea because it rewards bad behavior. On the practical side, I can't see the government not doing anything and letting the banking system, housing market and the international fiance system being put all at risk in the name of economic orthodoxy.

Starvation or GM Foods. Seems a simple solution, but there are those who say starvation and not GM Foods. Of course the starvation will not happen to them but to others.

Death Before Burkas, enough said.

Sherri Shepherd exposed the depths of her ignorance. If she is this uninformed or just this stupid, why should we listen to her on anything?

Santa is under attack because the slang meaning of Ho might offend some women who are too ignorant to know the true meaning of the word. And it isn't likely Santa is meaning the slang version anyway.

Have a good day.

Funerals

There are somethings I really don't like doing. Going to the hospital, either for myself or to visit someone and attending funerals. I don't like going to the hospital because it means either I or someone I care about is hurt or sick and wish I didn't have to seem them like that. I of course go and am glad to see them, just wish they were not there and healthy and whole again.

Its the same thing with funerals. It means someone I know and care about is gone and seeing the sorrow of the families is hard. I still go, to say goodbye and to offer support to the families, but I do not enjoy them.

I'm attending the funeral of a friend's father, who past away last Monday. The father was a believer so know he is in a better place, one with out pain and in the presence of the Lord, but it is still hard to attend.

The tree squatters in Berkley, all they do is show the world how foolish they are. It also shows the world how foolish the UC Administration is. You prevent people from coming or going from the trees, no water or food, let the protesters leave and give them bills for the extra police time and if they have not been disposing of their bodily waste properly, give them toothbrushes to scrub the walkways to prevent any diseases from spreading. Job done and no one gets hurt. If the protesters are students, also expel them because they are not attending class and bill the parents for extra costs.

NYC is having a glut of attorneys. And I thought California was bad but apparently NYC is just being flooded. Guess they are all going to work in the financial industry either defending or attacking the mortgage bankers and the holders of such securities. I'm glad I am on the other side of the country. Good luck New York, it looks like you are going to need it.

Endings and Beginnings

We had our last fellowship meeting for the year on Saturday. For one family, our Youth Pastor, it is likely their last time at the fellowship as he is taking up a new position as a Congregational Pastor in January at another Church.

On Sunday we also commissioned a couple who will be heading towards Asia next year. It was hard in some ways, commissioning them means saying good bye soon to dear friends. But as they said, it should be a time of rejoicing because our Church as trained up, equipped and sending out another team to continue the work. So there is joy with the sadness as they end this phase of their life and get ready to embark on another.

This Thursday my mom is having surgery for breast cancer, we hope and think it hasn't spread so hopefully the surgery and radiation will take care of it. Her smoking is a concern because her lungs have been damaged by the decades of smoke. My wife is going out on Wednesday evening and I will join her on Saturday morning. When my sister arrives and if things are going well, wife and I will be going to Vegas for our last trip of the year. If things don't go well on Thursday, we will be staying with my mom instead of our trip of course.

With all of that (more then you most likely wanted to know), on to the news.

Mark Steyn has a very good contrast on how outrage is handled in the West today compared to Sudan and much of the Muslim world.

The Democratic leadership in Congress have failed to do anything and if the voters return a Democratic Congress in the 08 elections, it will be in spite of and not because of what this Congress has accomplished. On the other hand, if the voters return a Republican Congress in 08, it will because of their and President Bush's work in frustrating this Congress.

College Football. I admit I do not follow the sport very much. I let my wife take care of that and it works out fine. She enjoys watching football while I get bored and can do something else. But even with my non interest, I have to agree with Gene Wojciechowski at ESPN the current ranking system is a total joke.

Finally a Czech heroine verses a Czech tyrant. A very moving story about the mercy shown by the heroes of the Czech Republic towards the tyrants and the price some of the heroes had to pay. May they rest in peace knowing their dream of a free Czech Republic has not only come but the country is thriving.

Have a good day.

Rain, Electricity and the state of the blog

Rain, Electricity and the state of the blog

Yep, we actually had a day of rain in SoCal yesterday (Friday Nov 30). It rained basically all day. It was good because we need the water but in the burn areas they are also very concerned about mudslides that could destroy homes spared by the fire or wipe out the roads to those areas. The police have evacuated some areas of Northern San Diego late yesterday so if there were any mudslides, only property and not people would be lost.

In my neighborhood we had another problem. The electricity went out about 10 am on Friday. Originally the power company said it should be back on by 2pm. Well, it was about 10:30 pm when I went to bed last night and the power was still out. It came on sometime during the night.

But the funny thing about the blackout, it only effected certain properties. On my block, it effected 3 properties, the Apartment complex next door had power and the street that makes a T intersection into my street also didn't have power.

Being with out electricity quickly shows how dependent we as a society, and me individually, on the stuff. No garage door opener, no lights, no heat (furnace uses electricity to start and to blow the hot air), no computer or TV, no refrigeration, no coffee, need matches to get the stove working etc. Fortunately my wife likes to buy candles for decorations so we used some of them and our flashlights. We also have a good stock of batteries. So I read a book and my wife knitted and we had a very relaxing evening, the things we planned to get done in our home office just had to wait. I would hate to think what Los Angeles would do if power were cut for several days or weeks across the county.

But today the sun is out and the power is back, life is good.

This is the 203rd post for 2007, this blog as returned from the dead compared to the number of posts in 2006 (12) and 2005 (5), but we are unlikely to top the number of posts from 2003 (304) by the end of December. Especially if some of the other contributors (hint hint hint) don't start writing again. Oh well, its not like too many read this so guess its a wash.

Have a great weekend.