http://blog.mischel.com Musings on technology and life Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:50:30 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I've mentioned before that we use removable drives to transfer data between the data center and the office. Some of those files are very large—50 gigabytes or larger. The other day we discovered an error in one of the files that we had here at the office. The original copy ... http://blog.mischel.com/2008/10/06/hardware-problems/ Congress never ceases to amaze me.  Following the unexpected defeat of the measure on Monday, the Senate decided to take a crack at writing something that could pass.  The Senate's technique was nothing short of brilliant.  Rather than debating the need for the measure and perhaps rewriting provisions to make ... http://blog.mischel.com/2008/10/02/bailout-again/ Since Paulson, Bernanke, and Company aren't forthcoming with layman's explanations , I thought I'd take a little closer look at the problem to see if I could understand what's happening here. What I found is that the problem is very large—potentially catastrophic. I'm also astounded by the hubris that got ... http://blog.mischel.com/2008/10/01/what-is-the-problem/ 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 ... http://blog.mischel.com/2008/09/30/no-bailout-yet/ 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 ... http://blog.mischel.com/2008/09/25/just-say-no-to-the-bailout/ 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 ... http://blog.mischel.com/2008/09/24/the-last-sucker-theory/ 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 ... http://blog.mischel.com/2008/09/22/removable-drives/ 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 ... http://blog.mischel.com/2008/09/15/hurricane-rescue/ 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 ... http://blog.mischel.com/2008/09/10/hurricane-ike/ 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 ... http://blog.mischel.com/2008/09/08/an-hour-a-day/