| Presumptions Of The Left - by Thomas Sowell |
[16 May 2007|08:04am] |
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I think Tom has presented his issue (and mine) with elitism is a new and potent way. They may not impose their presumptions wholesale, like the totalitarians, but retail in innumerable restrictions, ranging from economic and nanny state regulations to "hate speech" laws. - What a wonderful sentence!
Presumptions Of The Left - by Thomas Sowell
Radically different conclusions about a whole range of issues have been common for centuries. Many have tried to explain these differences by differences in conflicting economic interests. Others, like John Maynard Keynes, have argued that ideas -- even intellectually discredited ideas that political leaders still believe in -- trump economic interests. My own view is that differences in bedrock assumptions underlying ideas play a major role in determining how people differ in what policies, principles or ideologies they favor.
If you start from a belief that the most knowledgeable person on earth does not have even one percent of the total knowledge unearth, that shoots down social engineering, economic central planning,judicial activism and innumerable other ambitious notions favored by the political left. If no one has even one percent of the knowledge currently available, not counting the vast amounts of knowledge yet to rediscovered, the imposition from the top of the notions favored by elites convinced of their own superior knowledge and virtue is a formula for disaster. Sometimes it is economic disaster, which central planning turned out to be in so many countries around the world that even most governments run by socialists and communists began freeing up their markets by the end of the 20th century. That is when the economies of China and India, for example, began having rapidly increasing growth rates. But economic disasters, important as they are, have not been the worst consequences of people with less than one percent of the world's knowledge superimposing the ideas prevailing in elite circles on those subject to their power -- that is, on the people who together have the other 99 percent of knowledge. Millions of human beings died of starvation, and of diseases related to severe malnutrition, when the economic ideas of Stalin in the Soviet Union and Mao in China were inflicted on the population living -- and dying -- under their iron rule. In both cases, the deaths exceeded the deaths caused by Hitler's genocide, which was also a consequence of ignorant presumptions by those with totalitarian power. Many on the left may protest that they do not believe in the ideas or the political systems that prevailed under Hitler, Stalin or Mao. No doubt that is true. Yet what the political left, even in democratic countries,share is the notion that knowledgeable and virtuous people like themselves have both a right and a duty to use the power of government to impose their superior knowledge and virtue on others. They may not impose their presumptions wholesale, like the totalitarians, but retail in innumerable restrictions, ranging from economic and nanny state regulations to "hate speech" laws. If no one has even one percent of all the knowledge in asociety, then it is crucial that the other 99 percent of knowledge --scattered in tiny and individually unimpressive amounts among the population at large -- be allowed the freedom to be used in working out mutual accommodations among the people themselves. These innumerable mutual interactions are what bring the other 99 percent of knowledge into play -- and generate new knowledge. That is why free markets, judicial restraint, and reliance indecisions and traditions growing out of the experiences of the many --rather than the group think of the elite few -- are so important. Elites are all too prone to over-estimate the importance of the fact that they average more knowledge per person than the rest of the population -- and under-estimate the fact that their total knowledge is so much less than that of the rest of the population. They over-estimate what can be known in advance in elite circles and under-estimate what is discovered in the process of mutual accommodations among millions of ordinary people. Central planning, judicial activism, and the nanny state all presume vastly more knowledge than any elite have ever possessed. The ignorance of people with Ph.D.s is still ignorance, the prejudices of educated elites are still prejudices, and for those with one percent of a society's knowledge to be dictating to those with the other 99 percent is still an absurdity.
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| Congress Running Wild |
[20 Mar 2007|08:59am] |
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Years ago, conservative icon Barry Goldwater wrote in his classic book, The Conscience of a Conservative, I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution,or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents' interests, I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.
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| New Laptop |
[20 Feb 2007|08:30am] |
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I am in the midst of installing all my software on my new Dell M90 laptop. This is a super new laptop that is really a desktop replacement. Wireless and bluetooth are built in and I am using a bluetooth mouse which is quite handy. This installation is a BIG job and I will be at it off and on for several days. The keyboard on the M90 felt a bit strange initially, but I am already getting used to it and typing quite well now. I do wish the delete key were a bit more convenient. I do not miss the number pad, but Jean will. Great birthday present.
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| Magic Is Alive and Well |
[15 Feb 2007|08:34am] |
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This morning I did some research on a company called A123 Systems. Their product is a real breakthrough in storage battery technology. Amazing capacity, discharge rate, and short recharge time. This company founded by MIT guys and backed by Google is a great example of US Entrepreneurship. Most impressive, this technology is already in product form. This has big implications for electric vehicles, but applies to almost everything that uses juice. DeWalt has based its new 36V product line on this technology. You can get their really bright worklight that runs for 8 hours on a single charge. Magic.
Entrepreneurship has been my life and here is a nice article that highlights the continued contributions of the developers of ideas.
A thought that often crosses my mind is the question: How many people really understand how ANY piece of technology actually works today. Magic.
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| Gaffes Can Be Deceiving |
[06 Feb 2007|09:54am] |
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It used to be, there was truth and there was falsehood. Now, there isspin and there are gaffes. Spin is often thought to be synonymous withfalsehood or lying, but more accurately it is indifference to thetruth. A politician engaged in spin is saying what he or she wishes were true, and sometimes, by coincidence, it is. Meanwhile a gaffe,it’s been said, is when a politician tells the truth — or, more precisely, when he or she accidentally reveals something truthful about what is going on in his or her head. A gaffe is what happens when the spin breaks down.
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| Eastern Carribean Cruise |
[31 Jan 2007|08:07am] |
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We have just returned from a nice cruise around the eastern Caribbean on the Radiance of the Seas. We traveled in a group of Cherry Ridge line dancers as we were invited by Ben and Carol. It was a great trip. We did a helicopter to an active volcano, a submarine to 100 foot depth, beach, dancing, and lots of nice shows. And eating every two hours. Hungry or not.
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| Early Morning Notes |
[19 Jan 2007|06:40am] |
China just blew a satellite out of space. I guess this means they could destroy the satellites that power my GEE PEE ESS. I would again be rudderless. Bummer. On the other hand, China Telecom just signed a deal to put a Google icon potentially on every cell phone in China.
Co-opted computers called 'Bots are getting every more stealthy.
Toyota just create a "My Space" type of web community for Hybrid owners. I guess OnStar will soon enable voice blogging.
What a world.
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| Savannah |
[08 Jan 2007|11:13pm] |
I am here in Savannah GA on a business trip. I have been here several times over the past few years and like this city, particularly the river area. The container ships that frequent Georgia Ports are incredible.
I just had a nice shrimp dinner with my wife Jean and two business associates. I think it is time to hit the sack as we have a long day tomorrow.
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| Sambucol |
[26 Dec 2006|08:01am] |
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I did a little research and it seems like Sambucol was developed by a researcher in Israel a few years ago and has been subjected to a couple of small but quite scientific double blind tests. It does appear to significantly lessen the effects of the "standard" flu (influenza) virus on humans. The actual tests concerned lessening the effects of the flu on people who already had it, not prevention. Many people also believe it helps against colds (also a virus) but this has not been proven medically. Lastly there are those who take it as prevention, but that is an unproven benefit. The side effects are not mentioned although probably minimal as it is simply an Elderberry extract, but the stufff is not really cheap. There are lab tests (but not yet human) that indicate some efficacy against bird flu as well. The most effective usage seems to be to take is as soon as you suspect you have been infected rather than as prophylaxis. There is a sugarless version since the regular version has a lot of sugar added. Worth a try to have on hand for next trip or plane flight.
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| Now, That's A Printer! |
[25 Dec 2006|08:10am] |
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Inkjet printers could put out 1,000 pages per minute, thanks to a full-page print technique proposed by researchers. The JeTrix technique could print books to order at bookshops at the rate of two a minute, or at airport kiosks eliminating the need for book stocks, and could be in use within two years, according to Moshe Einat,at the University of Judea and Samaria, in Ariel, West Bank. Instead of a moving print head, it uses a print "screen" the size of a piece of paper or larger, covered with tiny nozzles that can print sheets"almost instantly", said Einat, of the university's department of electrical and electronics engineering. Einat and his colleague Nissim Einat have created a small prototype, 12cm square,which has already hit speeds of 1,000 pages per minute, he told ZDNet UK. The prototype, made up of 57,600 nozzles fed by micro-reservoirs 1mm square, was funded by the Israeli Government and private "angel" investors, but with more funding, Einat plans to make awhole-page version. The technique avoids the need to move a print head across the paper, but creates other problems such as the complexity of the pipe manifold connecting the reservoir to the print head, and the possibility of shockwaves, which would set up crosstalk between ink channels. The researchers solved these issues with micro-reservoirs, each of which feeds four nozzles by capillary action, and which are fed by an ink wiper which fills them up. The design is described in detail in a paper "Two-dimension full array high-speed ink-jet print head" in Applied Physics Letters, and reported in Physorg. The research, prototypes and patent applications have cost $140,000, partly funded by the Israeli ministry of industry, said Einat. "We are now in a fund rising stage," he went on. "Assuming we manage to raise the funds, the estimated time [a year and half to commercial products] is applicable." The 1000ppm speed would be reached from the very first commercial models, he said. "The technology can be widely used in reprography, newspapers and other applications and we anticipate that step by step it will replace the existing technology in various niches," said Einat.
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| Turkey Day |
[24 Dec 2006|10:20pm] |
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Well, we have started our preparations for our biggest dinner of the year, about 20 people and a goodly number of animals, mostly cats. One 20 pound turkey is committed as well. Since all the ladies of the house tend to sleep late, it falls my lot to stuff that bird and get it into the oven. I think I have everything ready as I don't want to be searching for an ingredient at 7 AM. And, the preheat temp is 350, the time 20 minutes per pound, and the thermometer in the center of the stuffing must hit 165 degrees F. Hopefully, all will go well in the morning.
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| Iraq Up Close |
[22 Dec 2006|08:26am] |
This is a good wrap up of the Iraq situation for the holiday season. No hyperbole, just a clear local snapshot by a guy who is there, well put. The emphasis is mine.
Iraq Up Close
By: Bill O'Reilly
Thursday, Dec 21, 2006
BAGHDAD — There is a Christmas tree inside Saddam's big palace at Camp Victory on the outskirts of this beleaguered city, and there is also a Menorah. I bet Saddam loves that. An actual Rabbi from New Jersey, on assignment to the Army, sang at the Menorah lighting. I kind of wish Saddam could have been there with me to see it.
The rest of Camp Victory is full of American soldiers and support personnel. They eat well, have access to computers so they can email home, and morale is pretty high for being in a country as chaotic and violent as Iraq.
I have traveled to this country for one reason only: To say thank you to the men and women serving in this dangerous theatre. No matter what one thinks of the war, a clear-thinking person has to respect the sacrifice these Americans are making.
With Fox News and CNN available 24/7, the troops know full well that many Americans have turned against the war and that much of the media does not support the mission in general. But, amazingly, the soldiers and Marines I talked with, which numbered in the hundreds, were confident their presence in Iraq was necessary and noble. Well, good for them.
Because of American forces, millions of Kurds are free in northern Iraq, and that area is prospering. Likewise, some provinces in the southern part of the country are relatively calm and Saddam's reign of terror is a distant memory.
But new terror lurks, and that is the reality of post-Saddam Iraq. Muslim killers of all stripes are causing daily death and destruction, and U.S. forces are trying to stop them. In a perfect world, all decent people would be supporting that effort. But, as everyone knows, this is far from a perfect world.
So American and British troops shoulder a tremendous burden and carry on, waiting for their civilian leaders to figure out what to do in an unbelievably complex and dangerous situation.
At four o'clock on a Saturday morning, I sat watching the Dallas Cowboys-Atlanta Falcons game with a lone Marine. We could have been in any living room in the USA. The plasma TV was glowing, we both had chips and drinks, and the game was dramatically close.
The only thing different about the situation was that, occasionally, the announcer's voice was interrupted by distant gunfire. The Marine didn't seem to notice but I did. In my world, distant gunfire is an issue. In his world, it is the norm.
No one knows how the conflict in Iraq will turn out, but I can tell you this: The U.S. military are the good guys. Despite Abu Ghraib, the crimes at Haditha, and a few other bad occurrences, American forces are fighting the good fight, trying to bring freedom to people who have never experienced it and may not even appreciate the effort.
A warrior's credo is to do his duty with honor and courage. I can report with certainty that U.S. forces are doing that in Iraq. They deserve nothing but our prayers and admiration.
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| The End of Pax Americana? |
[14 Dec 2006|07:11pm] |
The End of Pax Americana?
By Robert Samuelson
WASHINGTON -- With hindsight, we may see 2006 as the end of Pax Americana. Ever since World War II, the United States has used its military and economic superiority to promote a stable world order that has, on the whole, kept the peace and spread prosperity. But the United States increasingly lacks both the power and the will to play this role. It isn't just Iraq, though Iraq has been profoundly destabilizing and demoralizing. Many other factors erode U.S. power: China's rise; probable nuclear proliferation; shrinking support for open trade; higher spending for Social Security and Medicare that squeezes the military; the weakness of traditional U.S. allies, Europe and Japan.
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| Fair Tax and Congress |
[13 Dec 2006|08:08am] |
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Below is an excerpt from Walter Williams recent article in TownHall. Excellent thinking. Why is it that the two most brilliant but practical economists I can think of are black? Always want more from Sowell and Williams.
The Fair Tax has much to recommend in its favor, such as being a more efficient form of taxation. It would go a long way toward protecting our privacy and preventing Congress from using the tax code to micromanage our lives. The Fair Tax is an excellent idea, but only under three conditions: first, the repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment that created the income tax; second, a provision fixing the tax at, say, 23 percent; and third, a constitutional amendment mandating that a tax increase requires a three-fourths vote of Congress. Notwithstanding any provisions within the Fair Tax, if the Sixteenth Amendment weren't repealed, down the road we'd find ourselves with a national sales tax and an income tax. You say, "Williams, it sounds as if you don't trust Congress." I don't trust Congress any farther than I can toss an elephant. During the debate prior to ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment, congressmen said that only the rich would ever pay income taxes. In 1917, only one-half of one percent of income earners paid income taxes. Those earning $250,000 a year in today's dollars paid one percent, and those earning $6 million in today's dollars paid 7 percent. The lie that only the rich would ever pay income taxes was simply propaganda to dupe Americans into ratifying the Sixteenth Amendment. Here's my prediction: The Fair Tax will never become law. The two most powerful congressional committees are the House Ways and Means and the Senate Finance committees. These committees write tax law, and as such they are able to confer tax privileges on some Americans at the expense of other Americans. The Fair Tax would reduce or eliminate this form of congressional privilege-granting power and, subsequently, campaign contributions from the beneficiaries would dwindle. The method used to finance the federal government is very important, but I've always argued that government spending is the true measure of its impact on our lives. If there were a Fair Tax, what's to stop Congress from deficit spending or inflating the currency? Deficit spending and inflation are simply alternative forms, albeit less obvious, of taxation. You say, "What's Williams' solution?" My solution is an amendment limiting federal spending to a fixed percentage, say, 10 percent of the gross domestic product. You say, "Why 10 percent?" If 10 percent is good enough for the Baptist Church, it certainly ought to be good enough for Congress.
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| Killer Web Content |
[12 Dec 2006|07:44am] |
I just read a good article on developing commercial web site content.
A small percentage of Web content really makes a difference. It makes the sale, delivers the service, and builds the brand. This is the killer Web content. It probably represents less than 10% of content published on the Web, because—let's face it—most content just gets in the way.
The opportunity to create content has never been greater. We are living through a text revolution—from emails to mobile phone texting, from Web sites to blogging, the world has gone mad for words. So you'll need to be sure your skills in creating killer Web content are well honed. Because if your content isn't the killer stuff, how on earth is it going to stand out, and who on earth is going to bother reading it? Read more at this link: Killer Web Content
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| John Bolton Leaves the UN |
[04 Dec 2006|09:56am] |
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With this event ends our last great hope for the UN to mean ANYTHING. John Bolton may have been the sole appropriate voice in a gaggle of self-serving jerks.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his recess appointment expires soon, the White House said Monday.
Bolton's nomination has languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for more than a year, blocked by Democrats and several Republicans.
President Bush gave Bolton the job temporarily in August 2005, while Congress was in recess. But the appointment expires when Congress formally adjourns, no later than early January.
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| Trip To New York |
[03 Dec 2006|06:56pm] |
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Jean and I are flying off to NY in the morning. I will be involved in several days of sales and technical training at IPVideo Corporation. We will be staying with our daughter Debbie in East Northport.
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| Weather in Punta Gorda |
[30 Nov 2006|09:23am] |
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The truly nerdy among you will eat your hearts out. The others will either sigh or wonder at this effort.
Last year Santa brought Jean a large box containing ....... drum roll please ...... a personal weather station. Of course, Santa did not agree to install same. So, the year went by with little accomplished in that area except to keep dust off one particular shelf.
With the holiday season once again upon us, it seemed like time to catch up. So after thinking a while, it was off to Home Depot to find materials with which to build a stand for all the sensors. We actually spent more than an hour in the plumbing isle assembling different groups of PVC fittings trying to sort out the best arrangement. Some guy actually asked me my expert opinion on his PVC problem. That's being there too long.
Well, now the whole thing is done. I did the physical construction and filled it with rocks to help keep it in place when it gets windy (yes that is possible here.) Then we dragged out the big ladder and schlepped it onto the roof. Jean installed and configured the software and we both spent some time de-bugging serial port connections. Of course, yesterday saw a large regional Internet outage which did not help. Jean opened and configured an account with Weather Underground, our favorite hurricane data site. But at this point, it is all working. Here is the present system:
1 - Wireless solar powered sensors for temperature, humidity, rainfall rate, wind speed, wind direction.
2 - A desktop unit that receives the data from the sensors and displays real time on a simple LCD
3 - Serial/USB converter that connects the desktop unit to Jean's workstation
4 - Software that connects with the desktop unit and presents a fancy display plus data storage
5 - An account with the Weather Underground on the Internet.
6 - A service within the software that sends data to Weather Underground on a periodic basis.
7 - A page in Weather Underground that displays an extensive view of our stats.
8 - A small web script on our home page that displays current data about our location and provides a link to our larger Weather Underground page.
9 - To close the loop, this blog is now embedded in our web site as well.
You can see the fruits of all this effort by going to our website and clicking on the weather icon in the upper left corner of the home page.
www.g2ideas.com
Simple!
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| What's Running On Your PC? |
[27 Nov 2006|08:51am] |
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If you ever wonder what is running on your PC, what are the myriad of programs and processes that are loaded and operating right now or on a scheduled basis, these two free programs will give you a lot of insight.
Process Explorer (Microsoft's version of the SysInternals utility)
What's Running (Another great tool.)
Use either or both, but be careful about stopping or removing critical Windows services.
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| Keeping John Bolton |
[27 Nov 2006|07:55am] |
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Today'sTownhall article by Suzanne Fields adds a lot of detail to the way I feel about John Bolton. Often I wonder if we will ever see a person of strength and principle anywhere in the world of American politics. Well, I believe Bolton is a rare one. I hope the new Senate fails in its efforts to discredit and dismiss him. He is the only ray of hope in the horrendous United Nations.
His eloquent arguments against the relentless attacks on Israel, while the U.N. ignores the nations that could use such attention to their brutality, demonstrates his ability -- and his willingness -- to display toughness with good sense. He shows how U.N. bias reveals a fundamental lack of seriousness about solving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. Even Kofi Annan, no particular champion of the West, acknowledged the other day that the U.N.'s obsession with perceived human-rights abuses in Israel, to the exclusion of other abuses even in Darfur, encourages the public to see the U.N. as unfair. (Imagine.)
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