My Desultory Blog

What does it really take to create jobs in America?

Fred Smith, CEO of Fedex, spoke on Thursday this past week and simplified his thoughts on turning around the economy and creating jobs. He supplied a chart which doesn’t necessarily clear up the “chicken or the egg” discussion associated with which comes first, but his chart does show that capital investment and private sector employment [...]

Tech Friday: A couple Gmail tricks and a Thunderbird update

I’ve been using Gmail for years and recently found a hidden gem for filtering email. It works particularly well for me while using the Mozilla client Thunderbird, although is equally useful with any other client or the Google’s web client (BTW the upgrade to 10.0 was pushed out this past week). Without getting overly detailed [...]

Comedians are having too much fun with the GOP primaries

Got to love the humor of Jon Stewart, even if he show his bias and plays to his left leaning audience. For the fun of it I figure President Obama deserved a little bit of face time too and added (photoshopped) the little Al Green comparison … perhaps it is not as effective as the [...]

Is FB – Facebook – ready to go public?

Yup … FB .. that’s the stock exchange symbol for Facebook; the biggest IPO of the year, or past few years. This will be the largest web-based company to have an initial public offering since GOOG went public (believe it or not, GM in 2010 was the overall largest). It will instantly turn Mr. Zuckerberg [...]

From Predator Drones to Swarms of Nano Quadrotors

Hmm … and Dylan thought that the “times were changing” back in the 1960s. Can you imagine where this technology is going when it comes to “nano” or “not so nano” quadrotors and their military or CIA use? Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin

Intrade and “let’s increase the U.S. State Department by 50%”

Intrade.com is probably one of the more interesting ways to track/trade the election. The ups and downs of a campaign are pretty clear to see … from the Gingrich surge after South Carolina to the precipitous drop we’re watching in Florida. If I had to vote today, I’m not sure I would even go to [...]

Will Apple rescue an ailing Sprint?

After hearing an employee at Sprint talking about the iPhones substantial impact on activations last week, I pondered the value of the carrier to Apple. With Sprint buying 30.5 million iPhones worth $20B to the cash rich Apple (AAPL) and the Sprint (S) trading at uncomfortable lows, there are rumors that Sprint needs to return [...]

President Obama connects on a hangout with Google+users

YouTube live at 5:30PM EST on January 30, 2012 Great use of technology, although it certainly does require respectful users … unfortunately a little too much “respect” ends up with friendly to President Obama questioners. The hangout is interesting as I’m only 15 minutes in, but its beginning to sound a little like a campaign [...]

Start thinking about those expensive Superbowl commercials

For those of you who remember, or just enjoyed (my old link), the classic Matthew Broderick movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, prepare yourself for a new Superbowl 46 ad by Honda. Hmm, Brenda just might be interested in a CR-V as a replacement for her Rav4 … on second thought, she might really rather have [...]

Visiting Mom and Dad with family again

Mom and Diane on Saturday afternoon January 28, 2012 It was great to see my mom happy to have visitors and feeling pretty good after getting a better combination of pain medication. Although her vertebrae is deteriorating and their has been little hope for a surgical repair, she has been in much better spirits now [...]

If it were not so long, I would enjoy riding a Toothpick

Interesting site that compares camera size

Perhaps my favorite site for comparing cameras and reading reviews is dpreview.com, but it is not the same as trying or spending a few hours with different models in person. Most of us amateurs don’t really have that luxury or even the time. DSLR users rarely switch systems and may not have a full appreciation [...]

The world’s most beautiful and uninhabited islands

It is that time of year when many of us grow tired of the lingering winter and gloomy days. If you’re in that boat, here are a few photos to daydream about. Rock Islands in Palau The Rock Islands of Palau, also called Chelbacheb, are a small collection of limestone or coral uprises, ancient relics [...]

Tech Friday: Text to Image entertainment

While playing with an image on the text-image.com text to image site, I thought about using an avatar or personal photo … but instead figured I’d use some “descriptive text” and marry it to a rather frightening photo. After clicking on the photo to enlarge it full size does the somewhat hidden suggestive photo help [...]

BMW M Cars get tri-turbo diesel – BBC Top Gear

Hey BMW … how about bringing those all-wheel drive tri-turbo M diesels over to the U.S. BMW’s M Division may have started out with a raspy, fighty little petrol 3 Series, but today it stands for something more. Much more. Say hello to the birth of the 3.0-litre triple-turbo straight six diesel M car. BMW [...]

Nice to get a box of oranges from Florida this time of year

I just remembered that I took a Palm Pre photo of the oranges (and Marmalade) my in-laws sent earlier in the week. I put a couple in my center console for my drive and now every time I jump back in the car … Mmm … I get a whiff of this very nice fragrance [...]

Ghost boat adrift for 3-years and 3,500 miles

boston: Ghost boat found after three-year, 3,500-mile journey - After wandering the sea for more than three years, the Queen Bee out of Nantucket was found 20 miles off the northern coast of Spain. (US Coast Guard photo) via npr.tumblr.com Posted via email from RichC’s posterous

Diesel-Powered Mazda to Arrive in the U.S. in Early 2013

I’ve always like Mazdas … I might like them even more in a little over a year. A Mazda with a diesel engine finally will arrive in the U.S. in early 2013, spokesman Jeremy Barnes tells us. “It’ll be here between 15 and 18 months behind the launch of the … LINK

New coffee love and an ongoing Encore mount project

I was going to comment on the “more of the same” State of the Union address from President Obama last night and Gov. Mitch Daniels response, but the reality is that I’m getting tired of hearing the same thing again and again. More divisive rhetoric that splits the country and very little hope that we’ll [...]

Interesting article: Why innovation is dying in America

…all new inventions in the U.S. are assigned a political party. In the transportation and energy sectors, anything to do with petroleum, natural gas, biofuels, clean diesel, hydrogen and any means of producing electricity other than wind turbines or solar panels is Republican. Hybrids, plug-ins and battery-electric vehicles are Democrat technologies, in addition to anything [...]