rudis dot net

Remember, Remember

bob — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:36:10 +0000

Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason & plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot

While Bonfire night may not have originated in the Colonies, I can't think of a better time to be more watchful and distrusting of government with the oppression that began during the Bush regime and which is continuing through Obama's reign.

We, at least, have less violent means of demonstrating our discontent.

Pirates Even The Score With Obama-led Military, Now 1:1

bob — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:14:05 +0000

Back in April you may remember the made-for-TV saga involving "U.S. Navy SEAL snipers killed three Somali pirates and freed the American sea captain who had offered himself as a hostage to save his crew." As MSNBC continues with the story, "The operation was a victory for the world's most powerful military but angry pirates vowed Monday to retaliate."

In a scant four months, we've gone from gun-toting, pirate-sniping bad-boys to "ooh, they're shooting at us...let's fly away". Despite the best efforts by our military back in April, it seems we've done little to shake the confidence of the gaggle of pirates which plague the coast of Somalia (there are four other merchant ships and 105 crew members that are also being held by pirates near this hijacked ship).

While I understand that we most likely were concerned about the safety of the 30+ hostages on board the currently captive fishing boat, we didn't even bother to take one shot back. Not exactly the strong hand that is needed to command fear or respect in these lawless waters, especially after we escalated the regional situation back in April - in both deed and word (by the President himself):

"I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of piracy in that region and to achieve that goal, we're going to have to continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks,"

Guess we're not doing so well on the halting and preventing...

Slicehost Time Zone Config

bob — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:40:28 +0000

Turns out I forgot to set the time zone on my slicehost instance after we moved. If you ever need to do that on slicehost (or other linux boxes) then this should work fine:

dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

Jarrod @ Green Lake

bob — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:43:56 +0000

Full set

Found a house!

bob — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:30:40 +0000

Our offer was accepted on a house in Maine yesterday. You can hit Trulia for the listing info and ~8 pics, or just view the virtual tour.

There are some additional pictures in this Flickr set and some property pix over in Skitch.

Now the "fun" begins. Hopefully, the clan will all be back under one roof by July 17^th. We're still waiting on the finalization of the Seattle house "stuff" (and hoping it goes well).

Zombie Banks, TILFs & Bailouts: Oh, My!

bob — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:10:06 +0000

The London Review of Books as a fantastic article, written by John Lanchester that paints a crystal clear picture of the current global financial mess (including where we are and how we got here).

Everyone (but bankers, stock market swindlers, insane insurance company executives and government officials) will appreciate the conclusion:

All of this leads us to the fourth and deepest reason why the government won’t nationalise the banks. The deepest reason is:

4. Because it would be so embarrassing. Some of the embarrassment is superficial: on the not-remembering-somebody’s-name-at-a-social-occasion level. The Anglo-Saxon economies have had decades of boom mixed with what now seem, in retrospect, smallish periods of downturn. During that they/we have shamelessly lectured the rest of the world on how they should be running their economies. We’ve gloated at the French fear of debt, laughed at the Germans’ 19th-century emphasis on manufacturing, told the Japanese that they can’t expect to get over their ‘lost decade’ until they kill their zombie banks, and so on. It’s embarrassing to be in a worse condition than all of them.

There is, however, a deeper embarrassment, one which verges on a form of psychological or ideological crisis. To nationalise major financial institutions would mean that the Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism had failed. The level of state intervention in the US and UK at this moment is comparable to that of wartime. We have in effect had to declare war to get us out of the hole created by our economic system. There is no model or precedent for this, and no way to argue that it’s all right really, because under such-and-such a model of capitalism . . . there is no such model. It just isn’t supposed to work like this, and there is no road-map for what’s happened.

It’s for this reason that the thing the governments least want to do – take over the banks – is something that needs to happen, not just for economic reasons, but for ethical ones too. There needs to be a general acceptance that the current model has failed. The brakes-off, deregulate or die, privatise or stagnate, lunch is for wimps, greed is good, what’s good for the financial sector is good for the economy model; the sack the bottom 10 per cent, bonus-driven, if you can’t measure it, it isn’t real model; the model that spread from the City to government and from there through the whole culture, in which the idea of value has gradually faded to be replaced by the idea of price.

Back In EST

bob — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:52:49 +0000

If you don't follow the Twitter stream then you probably aren't aware that I'm back on the east coast, this time for two weeks. Good flight this time and better room despite staying at the Fairfield.

As you can see in the image below, I get to experience the "joys" of east coast heat & humidity – at least for a day – something I definitely did not miss.

I'll be hanging with the Jukes' family a bit when not at work plus getting in a bit of house hunting. I'm also going to try to get a hike or two, but it's a bummer cruising around solo. Really wishing I had a means to cycle while here. Just doesn't feel right using a bike that isn't mine now and not using clipless pedals (and, I forgot to pack my cycling shoes and pedals, so it would be highly unlikely that I could find a shoppe that would rent me a full setup at a reasonable price).

We're slowly making our way out here and will know a more firm date in a few weeks.

House Is Also On Coldwell Banker's Site

bob — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:24:08 +0000

Here's the main Coldwell Banker listing for the house.

Also On Trulia

bob — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:17:29 +0000

Forgot to mention that the house is also on Trulia.

CBO Report Proves Obama's Tax Proposal Is Insane

bob — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:11:10 +0000

Congressional Democrats and the Obama administration have been engaged in a blatant class warfare campaign when it comes to taxes. They vilify the "rich", coddle the "poor" and in the process of inflicting more financial damage to the country than the greedy investor-gamblers who created the sub-prime mess.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has issued a report that breaks down the 2006 tax burden and shows that the current tax system is already extremely "progressive" and has the "rich" giving roughly 30% of their income to support ineffective government programs.

In 2006, the top 20 percent of earners paid 70 percent of all federal taxes. On average, they paid 26 percent of their income to the government. The very richest -- the top 1 percent of taxpayers, with household incomes of over $332,000 -- paid 28 percent of all taxes, with an effective tax rate of 31 percent. The middle three quintiles paid rates of 10, 14 and 18 percent. The lowest 20 percent of households paid only 0.8 percent of all federal taxes -- and the bottom 90 percent of households paid only 45 percent.

Based on these numbers, it would be hard to argue that the country doesn't already have a significantly progressive tax system. (WP ref)

America doesn't need class warfare. America doesn't need more draconian tax policies. America needs real leaders who are willing to make tough decisions to cut spending & eliminate waste. This administration cannot end soon enough. The question is: will America finally be smart enough after these four, horrible years to find a worthy candidate to elect instead of another smooth-talking snake-oil salesman.