Is abysmal. Like terrible bad. Like as in last time we had delivery, the manager had to bring it, kind of bad.
That is all.
Posts from September 2008
Sarah Palin Likes Guns and Moose
Which according to one Alcee Hastings, Democratic Congressman from Florida, means she hates Jews and Blacks. Ahem. Ahem again because hell, what in God’s tarnation do you say to that? I quote:
“If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention,” said Hastings. “Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through.”
Right. Who in the holy hell elected this dimwit to Congress? I’m at a complete loss for words which is odd given how stupid Congressman Hastings just made himself look. I’m going to go right along with the reaction from the Palin camp:
Asked about the Hastings criticism, Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella said, “We’re taking a pass.”
If you thought we were in trouble with the bailout, you should be terrified to know that Alcee L. Hastings represents South Florida in anything short of a stupid contest.
Hat Tip: Scott whose
One Time Setup For WCF and Virtual Directories On Vista
This is mostly for my own reference but maybe someone will run across it and it will keep them from having to reinstall IIS like I just had to.
Step 1: Follow steps 1-5 here paying specific attention to the link in step 2. In step 5, I only did port 80 since I’m not interested in the samples specifically. I actually have no idea if this is necessary or not but since it’s currently working, who am I to look a gift horse in the choppers?
Step 2: Follow the steps here for manually setting up a virtual directory. On the security portions for IIS 7, do steps 1-3, skip 4-9 and just type IIS_USRS in the name field and then do steps 10 and 11.
That should work. I was careful to not do any extraneous freelancing and followed the articles pretty well and my services are up and running.
Root Causes
I’ve been reading a lot of articles lately related to the bailout specifically and our crappy economy in general. More and more, a nefarious little meme is showing up and it’s starting to drive me insane. Tim at The Mess That Greenspan Made has been harping on it as well. It’s usually subtle, placed 7 or 8 paragraphs in and you can easily glide over it and never notice. That meme is that the root cause of all our problems is falling house prices. Which is ridiculous. That’s like saying the root cause of the stock crash in 2000 was falling stock prices. Guess what? That’s just a symptom, a happy after effect of the old “What goes up must come down” saying.
Falling house prices aren’t the root cause. House prices rose too far, too fast in much of the country and what we’re seeing now is a much needed correction. The root cause of the problem is the easy credit lifestyle and cheap money that’s been going on since the 80s and 90s. Too much money is chasing too few assets and this results in huge bubbles like we’ve seen in the stock market and the housing market. Until you have some semblance of sanity at the Fed, we’re going to continue to be in problem because even if house prices stabilize and start going up, the real root cause is still going to exist and will create another bubble somewhere else.
Until we have an economy that isn’t driven by consumers spending money they don’t have on things they don’t need, we will continue to see bad economic times. Sadly, I think that may not ever change and that eventually, demand for government intervention will grow so high that we’ll operate in a market much more like Europe than America. Hopefully, I’m just being pessimistic.
The Bailout (the short version)
Test Driven Development As Science
If TDD is science, does that make waterfall religion?
Crossfit Update
So I’ve been doing Crossfit for 2 weeks now and I can safely say that while my body hates it, my mind loves it. It’s brutally hard physically at times and it really emphasizes a breadth of training versus specialization. I’m looking forward to each day’s workout in a way I haven’t in quite awhile. I’m already feeling much stronger though this weekend’s two workouts have basically destroyed every muscle in my body.
Yesterday’s workout in particular was challenging. 10 sets starting with 10 reps in set 1, 9 reps in set 2 and so on down to 1 rep in the last set of deadlift, clean and bench press and you try to do it as quickly as possible. As prescribed, it’s supposed to be done with 1 1/2 your body weight in deadlift, your body weight in bench and 3/4ths body weight in clean. I’m not nearly at those levels but by scaling down the weight, I managed to make it through without dying.
Overall, I like that the workouts take about 30 minutes tops and that they focus so much on strength, speed and athleticism. I’m looking forward to making it part of my regular routine.
How To Write Sensational Headlines 101
Here are the facts: Based on two recent studies, sea levels will rise between 27 inches and 6.6 feet by the end of the century.
Which one of the following headlines do you think is written by a screaming alarmist eco-terrorist and which one is written by a level headed editor?
Sea Level Rise May Be Twice More Than Expected
Experts offer scaled-back sea level rise forecast
Nope, no one with an agenda works in the media. Especially no one at the Discovery Channel. Michael Reilly is a hack if he really thinks he can take one study that he’s quoting from, portray it as “expected” and then take a second study and use it to say sensationalist shit like “Goodbye Kiribati, the Maldives and much of the Netherlands. Farewell to low-lying cities. See you beneath the sea.” Seriously, is this what accounts for scientific reporting at the Discovery Channel? Ack.
Edward Murrow must be doing grave gainers.
Seen and Heard
Seen for sale in the deli downstairs: Cougar Energy – No Calories. No Carbs. No Sugar. Just Cocaine. Guaranteed to make you roar. Energy for women
OK, I made that cocaine part up. But rest of it is for real, yo. Who comes up with this stuff? Cougar Energy? Seriously?
And on related, more interesting note, who buys it? Can’t you just see a 45 year old cougar wannabe picking up a bottle at lunch before an afternoon rendezvous with Fabio the 23 year old pool boy, downing it before entering the cabana, only to kick the bucket midway through the hot, sweaty act because her body couldn’t handle the taurine or guara or Noni or whatever else they put in it as Fabio quietly sneaks out the back door and begins the long, arduous journey home to Nicaragua by swimming from oil platform to oil platform during a hurricane? That’s a Michael Bay movie I’d go see. Or a John Grisham book I’d read.
Also tangentially related: overheard at a fantasy football draft Wednesday night: Sarah Palin is definitely a VPILF (pronounced exactly like it’s spelled). Genius. I’m thinking of making a t-shirt at CafePress with that on it. I[m positive people would buy it.
Read in Bill Simmons column this week: “Taking the Browns to the Super Bowl” replaces “Backing the brown Cadillac out of the garage” as fave euphemism for doing a number 2. Hey, it’s football season baby.
Hold Yer Horses, Northern Exposure
Not completely safe for work (you’ll hear the word “fuck” once or twice) but worth waiting to get home to watch.