Sacramento: Guaranteed to Flood
02/18/2006 17:40
According to flood experts, St. Louis and Sacramento are the two most-likely metropolitan areas in the U.S. to see flooding disasters, mostly due to increased development in regions flooded by ten feet or more of water in the last century, surrounded by insufficient levees. In fact, according to one UC Davis professor, there stands a better than 2 in 3 chance that in the next 50 years, there will be a "catastrophic levee failure" in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.He says, "In California we know we have two kinds of levees -- those that have failed and those that will fail. We are reinventing Katrina all over again."
In addition to over-crowding and under-planning, the Sacramento region is particularly vulnerable due to seismic activity native to California, and increased warming, which is promising heavier storms coming in from the Pacific Ocean.
The story: St. Louis, Sacramento face flood danger: experts
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Apple: Worst Power Adapters Out There
02/18/2006 13:05
Apple (AAPL) makes a lot of wonderful products with great quality: their laptops, iPods, Cinema Displays and the overwhelming majority of their products work very well, have long-lasting stability and simply do things better than the alternatives in the Windows world. However, they have not impressed me with the quality of their power adapters for the iBook and PowerBook lines. The adapters easily wear out, stop charging and can bend with any kind of force - meaning we are pushed to pay the "Apple tax" and re-up for another adapter or two per year in our house, even while the laptops keep chugging along.In 2002, when I moved from Belmont to Palo Alto, I made a choice to ditch my home desktop and purchased the first laptop I'd ever had - a G4 Titanium PowerBook from Apple. With it came the standard software package and power cable. But when I made the switch to live the laptop lifestyle, I didn't expect the cord would become such a limiting factor. I've probably purchased four or more additional power adapters from myself or my wife since moving to laptops. We recently, doing a household cleanup, must've tossed out two more dead ones. Now, we know we have two working, one each for "his and hers", and we'll see how long that lasts. But so far, we've been unimpressed.
In parallel, I've utilized a Dell (DELL) laptop from the office over the last four years, and have never had trouble with the power cords. They're definitely an ugly piece of junk, but at least they work. Apple should learn how to ruggedize their cords - it's one place where function always wins out over form.
Pitchers and Catchers Report
02/18/2006 11:53
Four of the most beautiful words in the English language! Spring Training is off and running today, with the A's pitching and catching staffs reporting to Phoenix, Arizona, in an attempt to regain the playoffs after two promising but ultimately frustrating seasons. This year, after the acquisitions of Frank Thomas, Milton Bradley and Esteban Loaiza during the winter months, many are picking the A's to do very well this season, challenging the LA Angels for first place.The A's have drawn national attention and praise for their thrifty road to success, and the utilization of statistics over physical appearance to determine a player's value. The "Moneyball" phenomenon is much bandied about and often not understood, as those who read only the headlines could assume players with OBP and HRs are the only targets, when instead, the A's, using similar strategies to those in the investment community, have learned to buy low and sell high, and look for players whose worth is undervalued. As a result, when one group of teams zigs, the A's zag. In fact, while the A's were long considered a defensive joke, their fielding statistics and ability are among the leaders in the league, on top of their well-known pitching prowess and consistent hitting, especially with the off-season acquisitions.
This will surely be a fun season. The A's are expected to play very well, and I intend to be there as often as I can. We've got partial season tickets, spring training tickets, and a full-time season pass to Athletics Nation, so if you're not on the bandwagon, now is the time to jump on, for the A's are going places.
Related Links:
OaklandAthletics.com: A's Plan to be Leaders in Arms Race
Athletics Nation: Spring Hopes Eternal, As Pitchers and Catchers Report
Where Famous Analysts Go to Hide
02/17/2006 22:35
In the late 1990s, not many financial analysts were more prominent than Morgan Stanley's Mary Meeker and Merrill Lynch's Henry Blodget. The pair could make or break an Internet stock with a single forecast, and made headlines that were self-fulfilling, on eBay (EBAY), Amazon (AMZN), Yahoo! (YHOO) and many others. But Blodget went down hard, going to trial for conflicts of interest.Now in 2006, Henry is freed to write on basically anything he likes, on his own blog, Internet Outsider, where he gives his honest opinions on tech stocks, just like the old days. In recent weeks, he's covered the latest happenings at Google (GOOG), Amazon's ill-fated idea to launch a music service to compete with Apple's (AAPL) iTunes and iPod combo, and continued issues at Time Warner (TWX) and AOL. While he now lacks the big name of Merrill Lynch as a backer, his comments still ring true and are an interesting take. Whether he should have been banned from the world of financial analysis is a different issue, but it does seem after so many made and lost millions in the market so quickly, a scapegoat was needed.
Check out Internet Outsider. Bookmark it.
Top Ten Olympic Sports To Cancel
02/17/2006 22:23
I'm getting just a little bit tired of hearing the waltz play for the ice dancing... guess what... it's the same song for every single pair! That's a little wrong. If you're the judge, how can you not want to look around for the hemlock for a quick exit? But ice dancing is a little ridiculous. Sure, it's hard to do - I can't do it. But is it a sport? Does it belong in the Olympics? I don't think so. And it's not the only sport with qualities just a little less redeeming than bowling or 7-card stud. So here's a list of ten sports that need to die an Olympic death (Winter or Summer).1. Synchronized Swimming
2. Table Tennis
3. Ice Dancing
4. Rhythmic Gymnastics
5. Curling
6. Handball
7. Badminton
8. Kayaking
9. Taekwando
10.Equestrian (Let's give the medals to the horses)
Who's The Victim Here?
02/17/2006 19:08
As we all know by now, Vice President Cheney became the second US VP to shoot a man while in office (the first being Aaron Burr), when on a hunting expedition last week, he peppered a friend with birdshot, claiming the man had not announced his position, and that it was a simple hunting accident. In the days afterward, we learned that the news had been delayed a full day before reaching the press, and when it was announced, it was through a small local paper, through a private citizen, and not through government channels. It was also learned that Cheney had consumed alcohol earlier in the day, despite his comments that none in the hunting party were drinking while shooting. During the week, the victim even suffered a "mild" heart attack, due to irritation from the birdshot that was lodged in his heart. Quite a week for anyone, let alone a 78-year-old.So, today, he was released from the hospital, having largely recovered from the injuries. What did he do? Threaten to sue? Lambast Cheney for his poor aim and public drunkenness? No. Surprisingly, he apologized for all the pain and suffering that Cheney and has family had undergone in questioning about the incident. Maybe it's really not that big of a surprise, after all, he did contribute $1,000 and $2,000 respectively to Bush's presidential campaigns in both 2000 and 2004. But just imagine the hoopla that would have occurred if say... Hillary Clinton were to have accidentally shot a member of her hunting party. Or Ted Kennedy. Wait - bad example. I think Hillary would have been hung from the gallows by a rabid right-wing contingent eager to see her go down. But if Cheney isn't caught on film performing the torture at Abu Ghraib, or hadn't shot the man in the head and causing his death, he could get away with murder. In fact, he got to cry and whine about how terrible his situation was to a very charitable Fox News.
What a crock. They called Ronald Reagan the Teflon President, but this administration is plenty slippery and has managed to have little stick to it, considering their range of ridiculous antics.
Site Endorsement: TV Tattle
02/15/2006 21:19
Several years ago, in what now seems like the dark ages, a friend/former coworker came to me looking for help on how to best create a site logo for a new venture he was pursuing - a Web log devoted to television news and gossip. Only half-heartedly trying, I gave him some feedback and wished him well, but didn't expect the site to do anything, thinking he'd consider it a fad that took too much time and had no money in it. Now more than five years later, with Web logs being hugely popular, it is obvious that Norman was ahead of his time, as the site is thriving and one I consider a must-click.His site, TV Tattle, publishes regularly five days a week and can be counted on each day to offer dozens of links to critics' pieces on tube fare, and offers so much detail about shows I both watch and ignore. What's great about his site is that even though I'd never consider myself a potential TV Guide subscriber, I can't remember the last time I checked his site out and came away without having two or three pieces to read - whether it was learning new plot twists from my favorite shows before they were to air, salary conflicts, or quick hits on what shows were going to be renewed or canceled.
I honestly don't know how Norman finds the time to peruse all these sites and post his daily news, though from what I remember, he was quite the night owl, and it wasn't too uncommon to have my phone ring at 3:30 in the morning with him wanting to share the latest on news, gossip or his efforts. With search engines and news crawlers from Google, Yahoo! and others simplifying things in recent years, I can see how he would benefit, but I don't go anywhere else to find out the news on TV. If it's not on TV Tattle, it's probably not important anyway.
Not Really Into the Olympics
02/14/2006 21:00
Growing up, the Summer Olympics were huge, filled with huge stars who you would practically beg to grace your Wheaties box - Mary Lou Retton, Carl Lewis, Greg Louganis, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Florence Griffith Joyner, Matt Biondi... while the Winter Olympics was like the cute younger sister of the pair - interesting, but not quite what you're looking for. The Winter Olympics have had their moments, but it's not captivating, and with yet another Olympics being held so far outside of US prime-time, and Internet news sources being more up to date than ever, by the time NBC drags out the days highlights through 11 p.m., you've already known what's going to happen for upwards of 15 to 18 hours. Who cares?I'm not saying that the US deserves the Olympics every time. That would be silly. But there should be enough of a storyline to keep me watching, even if I somehow found out the results already. I'm not going to stay riveted to the TV to see whether or not the 5' 2" 16 year old lady snowboarder is going to land her back 540, or to see the pairs skaters try not to land another concussion. If I wanted chills and spills, I should have a lobotomy and watch NASCAR. If I want to be bored with sappy behind the scenes documentaries on the athletes, I'll turn to Lifetime or Biography, thank you. I don't care if the Olympics are in Helsinki or Halifax. It doesn't matter if the story isn't there.
Pretty soon, it'll be over. The US will be in the top 4 medal countries, and I won't care. Want good sports to watch? Give me the A's during spring training. Now there's a team of players you can get behind.
2005 Taxes In the Bag
02/14/2006 20:39
I'm hoping that the only reason I'd ever seek out the help of a tax professional is that through some stroke of fortune, I'd become so wealthy that it'd take an army of accountants to keep my finances straight. Ever since I made enough money to have to file taxes, I've taken the easy way - using Tele-file while in college, and filing online the last 5 years or so, using TurboTax, initially via Yahoo! and now through the TurboTax site. Using TurboTax online is a snap, as each step guides you along, supposing you have your paperwork handy on the side, and it fills in your data and math as you go. A running total in the top left of the screen lets you know if you owe Uncle Sam a check, or if he owes you one.Best of all, it imports all your previous year data if you've used the site before. That makes it simple - as you don't have to re-enter your contact and background information, and can mentally gauge how you did in contrast to the previous year, for income, deductions and taxes.
Yesterday, we wrapped up the 2005 filing, and all we have to do is store our records in the event of a future audit, or watch the bank account to be sure their direct deposit goes through. Very simple, and there's no reason I want Uncle Sam to hold onto my money for any longer than absolutely possible, so getting done in February is great.
Site Endorsement: LinkedIn
02/12/2006 23:32
I figured if this is my blog, then I should be able to feature those things I like - so I've set up a new category called "Endorsements", effectively sharing sites, movies, books, etc. that have strong qualities you just might like as well. First on this list is the service LinkedIn. LinkedIn functions as half job site, and half online address book. If you join LinkedIn, you can post an online resume, link to other colleagues or partners you know (assumedly they approve of you or your work), and can post or beg for endorsements, to flesh out your information.Once on LinkedIn, you can track colleagues' or partners' comings and goings. As people take new jobs and update their profiles, their information changes in your "Connections" page. Also, if you're a sales or marketing type, and want to find somebody at another company, you can find out how many "degrees" you are away from them, and the right path through which you can gain contact. Taking things a step further, if you are looking for all the people on the LinkedIn network with the same job title or industry as someone you know, it's just a click away. Quickly, you can find all the System Administrators who work in Colorado, for instance, and then perform your own due diligence to contact them, should you choose.
There's some silliness to it, of course. Is it a race to see who can get the most connections, like it was in high school, when you got quasi-friends to sing your yearbook? Probably. But it doesn't take a brain scientist to determine it has some strong potential.
Related Links: LinkedIn | My Web Profile | Full Profile
VP Dick Cheney Shoots Friend
02/12/2006 18:20
It's one of those headlines you can't believe is really true, and to start on the road of mocking the accident seems crass, but wholly obvious. You take a powerful political figure who is universally unloved by the American people, in a political party that has championed the availability of guns ever since they could spell NRA, and it just so happens he fills his friend full of birdshot on a hunting expedition.Idiot.
Dick Cheney turned around to shoot quail during a weekend hunting trip in Texas, and nailed the lawyer (can't make this up) with birdshot, claiming he didn't know the guy was there. (See: Cheney Accidentally Shoots Hunting Companion)
In mock amusement, James Brady and his wife, who have long fought for increased gun control, were quoted as saying, "Now I understand why Dick Cheney keeps asking me to go hunting with him."
Just think... these guys have the finger on "the button". Not good.