Thursday, November 29, 2007
Mixed meals
I was trying a Trader Joe's Indian dish--Punjab-something--Spicy, with Chickpeas and other stuff. I put it over rice, and it was pretty good, but needed a little extra. Wife was having a pork chop, so I diced a bit and tossed it in--Excellent, although I have to admit not particularly authentic.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Gun Control (for Death Wore a Feathered Mullet readers)
This is the continuation of a discussion from Death Wore a Feathered Mullet. Since he wasn't interested in continuing, I don't think it would be polite to use his blog
Ian:
I may be wrong on the fight with a sibling--I was under the impression that a physical fight with any household member was automatically domestic violence, but after a bit of research the definition appears to be slightly narrower.
A 250 pound psycho who wants to beat or kill his ex should be assured his ex can't defend herself? Protective orders just help with the aftermath, they do almost nothing to protect the victim.
Most gun people would be fine with gun laws equivilant to car laws--you need a license to take one out in public, but you can have as many as you want unlicensed on private property. Gun Education as a high-school class? I'm not sure about 16 year olds being allowed to carry...
You can cut hair without a license, you only need the license to do it professionally for money.
I'm libertarian rather than conservative, so I can't speak for them. My view: Police should have the tools to deal with criminals decisively, but policies that prevent those tools from being abused against the law-abiding.
Scarlet Hip: We already have the
National Instant Check System for background checks. This is a telephone system every gun dealer is required to use. It generally takes about 5 minutes. Some states have waiting periods in addition to the NICS check. I don't have a problem with the background checks themselves, as long as they don't wind up being used for other purposes.
Waiting periods mean I have to make a second trip to the gun shop. Not too bad if it is nearby, but I've bought guns while visiting halfway across the state. I'm also immature enough to want to play with my new toy right away. If there's a good reason I could deal without too much grumbling, but I don't think "cooling off" periods beyond what is needed for a background check do anything but add yet another layer of inconvenience.
Ian:
I may be wrong on the fight with a sibling--I was under the impression that a physical fight with any household member was automatically domestic violence, but after a bit of research the definition appears to be slightly narrower.
A 250 pound psycho who wants to beat or kill his ex should be assured his ex can't defend herself? Protective orders just help with the aftermath, they do almost nothing to protect the victim.
Most gun people would be fine with gun laws equivilant to car laws--you need a license to take one out in public, but you can have as many as you want unlicensed on private property. Gun Education as a high-school class? I'm not sure about 16 year olds being allowed to carry...
You can cut hair without a license, you only need the license to do it professionally for money.
I'm libertarian rather than conservative, so I can't speak for them. My view: Police should have the tools to deal with criminals decisively, but policies that prevent those tools from being abused against the law-abiding.
Scarlet Hip: We already have the
National Instant Check System for background checks. This is a telephone system every gun dealer is required to use. It generally takes about 5 minutes. Some states have waiting periods in addition to the NICS check. I don't have a problem with the background checks themselves, as long as they don't wind up being used for other purposes.
Waiting periods mean I have to make a second trip to the gun shop. Not too bad if it is nearby, but I've bought guns while visiting halfway across the state. I'm also immature enough to want to play with my new toy right away. If there's a good reason I could deal without too much grumbling, but I don't think "cooling off" periods beyond what is needed for a background check do anything but add yet another layer of inconvenience.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Went to two different thanksgivings, and managed to not stuff myself to the point of pain at either of them. That is really hard for me at Mom's, she makes too many different delicious things.
My daughter's kitten, and Brother's Golden Retriever were visiting. The kitten is extraordinarily patient, and my nephew is extraordinarily good with cats for a 2 year old-They sat together for 20 minutes at a time. The Golden was interested in the cat, but frightened. She would sniff, then bark. When the Golden barked, Mom and Dad's small Pekingese mix would come running from the other room barking, to see what the excitement was about. The cat ignored all of it.
My daughter's kitten, and Brother's Golden Retriever were visiting. The kitten is extraordinarily patient, and my nephew is extraordinarily good with cats for a 2 year old-They sat together for 20 minutes at a time. The Golden was interested in the cat, but frightened. She would sniff, then bark. When the Golden barked, Mom and Dad's small Pekingese mix would come running from the other room barking, to see what the excitement was about. The cat ignored all of it.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Honest Deception
I was going to do a rant on some of the deliberate flaws in Excel--I've got it half done, but I can't manage to make it interesting, so there it sits.
This morning, I opened my mail to find an "Item Expiration notice" from Godaddy. A vague product descripton about "Complete Email Renewal", with no mention of the domain name this is attached to, then dire boilerplate warnings about losing your domain. The "item" in this case is webmail for a domain I bought my daughter as a gift a few years ago, but it would be difficult to know from the mail they sent.
Excel has a bunch of "flaws" that make it difficult to work with .csv files. .csv stands for Comma Separated Variable, a simple way of storing tables in a text file The one I deal with the most is that you have to jump through hoops to get it to retain leading zeros in numbers. Most of Microsoft Office makes it difficult to use the file formats of older versions. One of the versions of Word (2000, I think) would let you "save as" Word 97 format, but you had to do that every single time-It would not save in the original format without being told, and it would give an error "This file already exists, do you want to replace?"
Sony's minidisk players were amazing in their day--When MP3 players had limited and expensive memory, their minidisks were a fraction of the cost of flash. However, they had a major flaw--They used a proprietary format. Eventually they came out with a player that said "MP3" in big letters on the packaging. When you got to the fine print, there was software to convert MP3 to the Sony format--Very buggy, and when it did work, it was extraordinarily complicated.
I'm convinced that this sort of thing is deliberately designed to be confusing. In Microsoft's case, it makes it difficult to use older versions of files, therefore difficult to avoid upgrading to newer versions of their software. Godaddy could easily explain exactly exactly what you are about to lose, but instead you have scary messages--Better to just pay the $10 rather than risk losing the domain. Sony shows the conflict of buying hardware from a music company--The hardware side knows consumers want MP3 hardware, but the music label side hates the MP3 format.
These companies are being honest without being ethical.
This morning, I opened my mail to find an "Item Expiration notice" from Godaddy. A vague product descripton about "Complete Email Renewal", with no mention of the domain name this is attached to, then dire boilerplate warnings about losing your domain. The "item" in this case is webmail for a domain I bought my daughter as a gift a few years ago, but it would be difficult to know from the mail they sent.
Excel has a bunch of "flaws" that make it difficult to work with .csv files. .csv stands for Comma Separated Variable, a simple way of storing tables in a text file The one I deal with the most is that you have to jump through hoops to get it to retain leading zeros in numbers. Most of Microsoft Office makes it difficult to use the file formats of older versions. One of the versions of Word (2000, I think) would let you "save as" Word 97 format, but you had to do that every single time-It would not save in the original format without being told, and it would give an error "This file already exists, do you want to replace?"
Sony's minidisk players were amazing in their day--When MP3 players had limited and expensive memory, their minidisks were a fraction of the cost of flash. However, they had a major flaw--They used a proprietary format. Eventually they came out with a player that said "MP3" in big letters on the packaging. When you got to the fine print, there was software to convert MP3 to the Sony format--Very buggy, and when it did work, it was extraordinarily complicated.
I'm convinced that this sort of thing is deliberately designed to be confusing. In Microsoft's case, it makes it difficult to use older versions of files, therefore difficult to avoid upgrading to newer versions of their software. Godaddy could easily explain exactly exactly what you are about to lose, but instead you have scary messages--Better to just pay the $10 rather than risk losing the domain. Sony shows the conflict of buying hardware from a music company--The hardware side knows consumers want MP3 hardware, but the music label side hates the MP3 format.
These companies are being honest without being ethical.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Money Management
This has more to do with gathering thoughts than a real-live post. Someone has asked me how to manage money--Not sure why they pick me as a mentor in this particular subject, but I'll do what I can. The particular case is about barely over minimum wage management, not day trading or house flipping.
The concepts of managing money aren't complicated--Pay close attention to income and spending, manage risks and prioritize.
Spending priorities:
1. Keeping your job.
2. Generic food--NOT restaurant food. not convenience food.
3. Shelter.
4. Limited clothing
5. Emergency reserve
Circumstances may shuffle these a little. If you can't afford these, there's a good chance it is because you didn't prioritize properly earlier.
Tasty food, entertainment, cool clothing is all way down on the list, although with imagination you can afford at least some of each.
Trade-offs
You're buying money with your time, you use the money to buy other stuff--Mostly the products of other people's time. Get to work a bit early, so if something delays you, you get there on time anyhow. I show up for work. I think I average less than a day per year missed. I don't push limits at work. This means that I survive staff reductions, and if I do screw up badly, I'm liable to get more leeway.
Auctions, garage sales and thrift stores are good ways to get stuff cheap--Clothing, small appliances, and household goods. Be creative--Do you need a stove, or can you make do with a hotplate and a toaster oven for a while?
Learn to fix stuff. I'm not entirely sure how far others can take this advice--I don't know if I've got a talent so I fix stuff, or if I've gained the talent by fixing stuff. I suspect both. If you're going to throw it away because it is broken, you might as well try to figure out what is wrong with it--Even if you fail, chances are you will learn something that will make it easier to fix the next thing.
A crock pot is a nearly essential tool for cheap cooking--Most good, cheap food takes a long time to cook. Learn to like stuff made with dry beans--Cheap, easy and nutritious. Ham and beans, chili, 15 bean soup. Cut the meat to a minimal amount--consider it a flavoring, rather than a main ingredient. You would have to try hard to not get enough protein in the US. In general, ready to eat foods are the most expensive, completely from scratch the cheapest.
Take care of your stuff. Keep a set of clothing when you might get greasy or dirty, not your work clothes. Don't leave your bike in the rain, keep it oiled.
Figure out what it really costs to have a car--You may need one for a better job, but you might also be better off taking less pay within walking or bicycle distance.
A bicycle is real transportation.
Don't smoke.
The concepts of managing money aren't complicated--Pay close attention to income and spending, manage risks and prioritize.
Spending priorities:
1. Keeping your job.
2. Generic food--NOT restaurant food. not convenience food.
3. Shelter.
4. Limited clothing
5. Emergency reserve
Circumstances may shuffle these a little. If you can't afford these, there's a good chance it is because you didn't prioritize properly earlier.
Tasty food, entertainment, cool clothing is all way down on the list, although with imagination you can afford at least some of each.
Trade-offs
You're buying money with your time, you use the money to buy other stuff--Mostly the products of other people's time. Get to work a bit early, so if something delays you, you get there on time anyhow. I show up for work. I think I average less than a day per year missed. I don't push limits at work. This means that I survive staff reductions, and if I do screw up badly, I'm liable to get more leeway.
Auctions, garage sales and thrift stores are good ways to get stuff cheap--Clothing, small appliances, and household goods. Be creative--Do you need a stove, or can you make do with a hotplate and a toaster oven for a while?
Learn to fix stuff. I'm not entirely sure how far others can take this advice--I don't know if I've got a talent so I fix stuff, or if I've gained the talent by fixing stuff. I suspect both. If you're going to throw it away because it is broken, you might as well try to figure out what is wrong with it--Even if you fail, chances are you will learn something that will make it easier to fix the next thing.
A crock pot is a nearly essential tool for cheap cooking--Most good, cheap food takes a long time to cook. Learn to like stuff made with dry beans--Cheap, easy and nutritious. Ham and beans, chili, 15 bean soup. Cut the meat to a minimal amount--consider it a flavoring, rather than a main ingredient. You would have to try hard to not get enough protein in the US. In general, ready to eat foods are the most expensive, completely from scratch the cheapest.
Take care of your stuff. Keep a set of clothing when you might get greasy or dirty, not your work clothes. Don't leave your bike in the rain, keep it oiled.
Figure out what it really costs to have a car--You may need one for a better job, but you might also be better off taking less pay within walking or bicycle distance.
A bicycle is real transportation.
Don't smoke.
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