September « 2008 « Jim's Random Notes

No bailout. Yet?

By Jim, on September 30th, 2008%

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when the House failed to pass the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. (Be patient. That site is getting hit pretty hard right now. You might be better off visiting your favorite news site for the full text.) From news reports over the weekend and yesterday, I was pretty sure . . . → Read More: No bailout. Yet?

Just say “No” to the bailout

By Jim, on September 25th, 2008%

Have you read the text of the Bush Administration’s proposed 700 billion dollar bailout of financial institutions? If you don’t want to wade through the three-page proposal (although it is written in reasonably clear English), this summary will tell you all you need to know. (Thanks to David Stafford for the link.)

When that proposal . . . → Read More: Just say “No” to the bailout

The Last Sucker Theory

By Jim, on September 24th, 2008%

Join me in a little thought experiment.

Seal a 100 dollar bill in an envelope, affix a price tag to the envelope, and write $110 on it. Then put it up for sale, telling potential buyers that if they spend $110 on this envelope, they can turn around and sell it for more. Don’t worry . . . → Read More: The Last Sucker Theory

Removable Drives

By Jim, on September 22nd, 2008%

Although we’ve moved the crawlers and a large part of our workflow to a co-location facility, we still do some of our processing here at the office. So on a daily basis I hop on my bike and ride down the road (a little over a mile) to pick up the daily data dump. We . . . → Read More: Removable Drives

Hurricane Rescue

By Jim, on September 15th, 2008%

Almost every year during monsoon season in the Phoenix area, some idiot will drive around a barricade and attempt to cross a flooded low water crossing. In most cases, search and rescue workers are successful in plucking the occupants from the stranded car. Invariably, the driver will claim ignorance, despite signs warning of the danger, . . . → Read More: Hurricane Rescue

Hurricane Ike

By Jim, on September 10th, 2008%

The latest projection of hurricane Ike’s path puts a tropical storm right over our house sometime early Sunday morning. Of course, that’s just a projection based on current conditions and input from a half dozen climate models. The storm could still move considerably north or south of its projected track.

I typically rely on the . . . → Read More: Hurricane Ike

An Hour A Day

By Jim, on September 8th, 2008%

I hear a lot of people say that they want to change their lives: lose weight, make more money, learn something new, take up a new hobby, accomplish some physical challenge, etc. Sadly, most of those people then go on to say that they wish they could do that, but they can’t. And most of . . . → Read More: An Hour A Day

Disposing of a refrigerator

By Jim, on September 1st, 2008%

Some friends gave us a refrigerator about 10 years ago when they were moving to a new house. It really wasn’t much of a refrigerator, even back then, but it fit nicely in the laundry room. We used it mostly for beer and sodas, and the top freezer helped with the overflow from the main . . . → Read More: Disposing of a refrigerator

Jim's Random Notes