Half-baked opinions, served lukewarm.
Watch and marvel (IMPORTANT NOTE! These files are very large for someone on dialup to download.)
Freaking Amazing. (Thanks to Brian Hacking for the link; had to mirror it here because they got overloaded)
I thought Jon might appreciate this bit, too.
Watch and marvel (IMPORTANT NOTE! These files are very large for someone on dialup to download.)
Freaking Amazing. (Thanks to Brian Hacking for the link; had to mirror it here because they got overloaded)
I thought Jon might appreciate this bit, too. Mario lives!
In case you’ve never seen it before, you should try playing the Twenty Questions Game. That’s a pretty amazing little computer algorithm they have going on there! I played it several times today, and the only thing that stumped it was “carpet padding” because carpet padding wasn’t in its database. It guessed “carpeting” and “wall-to-wall carpeting”, but that’s not quite the right thing 🙂 I added my little entry.
In case you’ve never seen it before, you should try playing the Twenty Questions Game. That’s a pretty amazing little computer algorithm they have going on there! I played it several times today, and the only thing that stumped it was “carpet padding” because carpet padding wasn’t in its database. It guessed “carpeting” and “wall-to-wall carpeting”, but that’s not quite the right thing 🙂 I added my little entry.
Give it a try… it’s almost spooky. Did you stump it with anything?
By the way: Happy Birthday, Mom! She’ll kill me for this, but Shirley’s fifty-six this year. Call me if you’d like to extend birthday wishes, and I’ll give you her number…
Ok folks
I found this nifty little test on the internet that will tell you what religion you belong to, by your answers instead of where you go. Go check it out:
Ok folks I found this nifty little test on the internet that will tell you what religion you belong to, by your answers instead of where you go. Go check it out: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html Matt a little help there plz.
Curt
PS my score was 100% Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints
EDIT by matthew: Linked.
We’ve all heard the term that the capital markets are efficient, but in my opnion they certainly aren’t rational.
I’ve been involved with numerous publicly traded companies, and I’m always shocked when earnings and revenues increase, but the stock takes a hit because it “falls short of expectations.”
Recent case in point, from today’s news:
We’ve all heard the term that the capital markets are efficient, but in my opnion they certainly aren’t rational.
I’ve been involved with numerous publicly traded companies, and I’m always shocked when earnings and revenues increase, but the stock takes a hit because it “falls short of expectations.”
Recent case in point, from today’s news:
“3M Co. on Monday reported a 12 percent gain in first-quarter earnings, but its shares fell 6.1 percent after the maker of Scotch tape, Post-it Notes and industrial and health care products said sales were below forecast. Shares of the Maplewood-based manufacturer closed at $75.90 a share, down $4.96. Although revenue rose 4.6 percent, to $5.17 billion, it fell short of the $5.26 billion that had been forecast, according to the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. The revenue gain was the smallest for 3M since the third quarter of 2002.”
Yeah, you read that right. Because revenue missed by 1.8%, even thought earnings roared, the capital markets devalued 3M. I’m could lead a case for arguing against efficiency, but this certainly isn’t rational.
Stock prices are reflections of future revenue and earning expectations in current time. When a company reports positive quarterly earnings, without the presence of a one-time event such as the sale of a dog-division, with a record-setting upward trend, that tells me that management and operations are in synch and future expectations should be raised.
Taking a 4.6% hit on the heel of good news isn’t rational and doesn’t reward management or employees. Instead, it causes management to look outside the corporate window and focus their time on managing Wall Street, rather than managing a business. As a shareholder of the business, I get frustrated when a company performs outrageously, and then gets hammered because a couple analysts on the Street decided to downgrade or warn.
It just goes to show that your stock and share price isn’t necessarily valued by the performance of the company, but instead by the perception of a select group of people, who have likely never run a business in their life.
I can tell some Best Buy stories if y’all are interested.
NOTE: I am not the same Matthew who wrote this letter. I just blogged about it. Apparently, a number of readers have been confused due to our identical first name.
Recently, high-school juniors Joana and Irene Bastos wrote an editorial in The Observer, which took issue with students who refused to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance.
NOTE: I am not the same Matthew who wrote this letter. I just blogged about it. Apparently, a number of readers have been confused due to our identical first name.
Recently, high-school juniors Joana and Irene Bastos wrote an editorial in The Observer, which took issue with students who refused to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance.
I found the response of one of the protesters more enlightening than the editorial; it has yet to be published. He fails to support his logic places, relying on assumptions which may not be shared by his audience, but his candor and courage despite popular opposition are admirable.
(Credit: Bob Zannelli, who brought this to my attention)
When Joana and Irene Bastos (Observer, April 13, 2005) see someone not standing for the Pledge of Allegiance, they see an act of disrespect. If they would open their eyes, hearts and minds, they would see an act of patriotic courage in the best tradition of the principles “for which it stands.” They would also see how dangerous their own attitude is to the preservation of our freedoms.
When I sit out the McCarthy-era version of the Pledge, it is not because I do not care about, respect or love my country. Just the opposite, it is because I do.
Our country has taken many dangerous turns lately. We have given away many of our freedoms through the so-called Patriot Act. Radical elements threaten to turn our democracy into a theocracy. Groups the majority does not understand, like homosexuals, intellectuals and liberals, are regularly treated with scorn, contempt and disrespect.
America has become the world’s only superpower, but instead of acting like a strong, confident nation, we are acting like children. I am sickened and appalled, and therefore it is not just my right, but my duty as a citizen to speak out. I do not do this for myself. I have nothing personally to gain and much to lose. I do it for my country because it is right.
Many of you may not agree with me. However, when you declare my protest out of bounds, you feed the process by which societies have destroyed their own freedoms and created tyrannies. You may think we Americans are different, but we are not. There is nothing new about this. We are no different than any society that has ever gone through its own tragic undoing. American “unity” is looking more and more like the “unity” that has led to every tyranny the world has ever known. It is reactive, unthinking, and contemptuous of dissent. It shouts slogans and reviles those who decline to participate in its rituals. It employs pretty symbols like yellow ribbons to make people feel good about an ugly war. It demands unquestioning conformity.
Whether a group is standing for the Pledge or raising an arm and shouting “Sieg Heil!,” the process is exactly the same. You may not like that comparison. I do not like having to make it. You cannot reasonably acknowledge the evil of torturing people for dissent, and then on the other hand complain that dissent is out of bounds. A freedom is meaningless if no one ever uses it. If the current attitude continues to prevail, our freedoms will continue to be eroded, and we will become the very thing we have so long opposed.
I do not sit because standing is too hard, or because reciting the Pledge takes too long. It would be much easier to stand and not have people telling me I am “unpatriotic,” a Communist, or spitting on America. Most of these comments have not been made by students, but teachers and staff members, the adults who are supposed to be teaching us citizenship! Standing would indeed be a small act. Sitting is the big one.
My protest is to save my freedom and yours. The minute my protest is no longer respected is the minute all our freedoms begin to disappear. That is why I do it. If you wish to criticize me for it, the least you can do is not misrepresent my reasons. If you cannot do that, you might ask yourself whether your own thinking might be the source of the disrespect, and a major part of our country’s current problem.
Our freedoms are in serious trouble under the current administration. I ask every concerned citizen to help preserve our freedoms before they are lost.
EDIT by matthew: Fixed link to article, as they change URIs when the current issue changes.
I ran across an excellent article in Sound on Sound Magazine. It’s a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) regarding audio cabling.
I ran across an excellent article in Sound on Sound Magazine. It’s a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) regarding audio cabling.
It covers balanced, unbalanced, and pseudo-balanced cabling schemes, and helps get rid of some misconceptions regarding wires in an audio recording — or live performance — rig.
Check it out here: The Sound on Sound Audio Cables & Wiring FAQ. And if you’re into digital or analog recording, and aren’t subscribed to Sound on Sound… what are you thinking?
This page on cables also shows you some of the differences between balanced, pseudo-balanced, and unbalanced cabling. Basically, it boils down to:
SoundOnSound has another great article on how to create clear signals with your sound equipment. It even covers stuff like remembering to keep the ground spike wet around your home so that you have a solid ground connection! Very cool article; a real eye-opener.
In the latest news, Utah again leads the nation in bankruptcies per capita, with nearly double tha national average.
In the latest news, Utah again leads the nation in bankruptcies per capita, with nearly double tha national average.
Leading causes across the nation included:
Utah’s leading reasons included, in addition to the above:
Obviously, the problem isn’t going away. What do you think can (or should) be done to stem the tide of bankruptcy in the US? I can’t help but think that our rising bankruptcy rate spells bad news for our national welfare as a whole. Yet the current congressional plan to simply ban bankruptcy would simply condemn those who would have gone bankrupt and had a chance to start over to a lifetime of delinquency and grinding poverty.
Today is April 15th. Time flies when you procrastinate. Have you finished your taxes? I have not.
This morning at the early hour of 6:30 I was signing the log at Curves and noticed that today is the 15th. It is the day we must file an extention.
I hate tax time. Though we tend to get a good check back from Uncle Sam, it is not a part of my daily routine to sit and do paperwork, total up numbers, do my business inventory and call our tax lady. It must be done sooner than later as we will be living off that money shortly, but I will procrastinate one more week.
Today is April 15th. Time flies when you procrastinate. Have you finished your taxes? I have not.
This morning at the early hour of 6:30 I was signing the log at Curves and noticed that today is the 15th. It is the day we must file an extention.
I hate tax time. Though we tend to get a good check back from Uncle Sam, it is not a part of my daily routine to sit and do paperwork, total up numbers, do my business inventory and call our tax lady. It must be done sooner than later as we will be living off that money shortly, but I will procrastinate one more week.
A great excuse is that our tax lady is so busy that she’s hard to get an appointment with any time after February. Maybe next year I’ll call her in Feb. This year, we probably won’t be able to see her ’til May when her life slows down a bit and when I quit procrastinating.
The nice thing about our tax lady is she is excellent. She asks all sorts of questions to help us get more back. She knows her stuff. I’m looking forward to deducting Matt’s new computer next year!
So what are you going to do with your tax money this year? Or what have you already spent it on?
There’s a new movement afoot. The Unitarian Jihad. People of the United States! We are Unitarian Jihad! We can strike without warning. Pockets of reasonableness and harmony will appear as if from nowhere! Nice people will run the government again!
There’s a new movement afoot. The Unitarian Jihad. People of the United States! We are Unitarian Jihad! We can strike without warning. Pockets of reasonableness and harmony will appear as if from nowhere! Nice people will run the government again!
OK, I told you that so I could tell you this: I found the Unitarian Jihad Name Generator. I clicked the little linky a few times, and found that…
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Rail Gun of the Short Path.
Regards, Brother Rail Gun of the Short Path
I have 2 puppies names Morgan and Bailey. They are both female Golden Retrievers. They are AKC dogs who need an AKC name. Our last dog was named Amber. Her AKC name was “Amber Waves of Grain”. I am looking for ideas on an interesting name for Morgan and Bailey. Any Ideas?
I have 2 puppies names Morgan and Bailey. They are both female Golden Retrievers. They are AKC dogs who need an AKC name. Our last dog was named Amber. Her AKC name was “Amber Waves of Grain”. I am looking for ideas on an interesting name for Morgan and Bailey. Any Ideas?