As the old man walked down a Spanish beach at dawn, he saw ahead of him what he thought to be a dancer. The young man was running across the sand, rhythmically bending down to pick up a stranded starfish and throw it far into the sea.
The old man gazed in wonder as the young soul again and again threw the small starfish from the sand into the water. The old man approached him and asked why he spent so much energy doing what seemed a waste of time. The young man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left until the morning sun.
“But there are thousands of miles of beach, and miles and miles of starfish. How can your effort make any difference?”
The young man looked down at the small starfish in his hand, and as he threw it to safety in the sea, said, “It makes a difference to this one!”
A friend has created a new iPhone app called QuickGifter.
The description is as follows:
How many times have you been embarrassed by giving the wrong gifts? Or the wrong size? Or the wrong color? The new QuickGifter iPhone app takes all the worry out of gift giving by keeping a well-organized gift database of any and all important wish list information that you may need while shopping . Best of all, if you have a spouse, partner, relative, or friend that is shopping and needs the same info, you can easily email them QuickGifter wish list details for any person in your QuickGifter library.
To quote Donald Rumsfeld, there’s known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns.
In the case of web development as with many things, some people who use web sites, think they know how easy/hard it is to build them. (Hint: they don’t)
Check out this person who needs to hire a programmer yet they already ‘know’ how ‘hard’ the task is and how long it will take. link.
Well he’s off to a really bad start. Here’s just a few ‘highlights’:
He’s fighting to restructure healthcare in the country while the economy collapses.
He’s had a string of tax cheating nominees and appointments to his cabinet.
He’s reneged on his commitment to get out of Iraq, taking longer to end ‘combat’ than he promised, and he’ll leave 50,000 troops there after.
He campaigned to veto all earmarks and yet is ok with a budget containing thousands.
His trillion dollar ‘stimulus’ program does not seem to have impressed anyone, except politicians bringing useless pork-barrel projects to their districts.
After just 5 weeks, he plans to balloon the deficit to exceed the total of all deficits during the 8 years of the Bush (II) administration.
He is planning to end tax breaks for sizable charitable donations by the wealthy which will really hurt charities AND small businesses.
His vice-president has made gaffe after gaffe after gaffe.
His vice-president met, just today, in a SECRET meeting with AFL-CIO at their swanky conference in Miami. The Obama administration plans to end privacy for union votes.
Instead of trying to inspire a nation, his speeches have been consistently negative, talking of crisis and catastrophe. He pathetically said this week maybe it’s time for people to put money in the stock market. The market plunged right after.
He keeps the White House heated like an oven, is doing massive and expensive renovations, yet wants everyone else to conserve.
He’s talking about ‘green jobs’, but there’s no energy policy.
He still hasn’t filled his cabinet.
He has waged a PR war with a radio blow hard (Rush Limbaugh) which is completely irrelevant, and just a distraction.
His treasury secretary (Geithner) has no lieutenants and so the senate banking committee got no treasury representative to attend their inquiry into AIG bailout because Geithner was being grilled in the House on another matter.
One day the President declared Geithner would speak with details the next day on the banking and other plans, and the next day Geithner gave no details, and weeks later, still has no details or plan.
Perhaps this is Obama’s actual plan – to drive the economy into the dirt, so he can then establish some ‘emergency powers’ or something, and turn the U.S. into the socialist economy he wants.
I do believe he LOATHES small business because everything so far has been aimed AGAINST that. Why? Because small businesses are hard to control. Europe began a war on small business decades ago and killed most of them. European governments prefer big companies with back room ‘deals’ because they can keep an eye on them and control them better.
I think it’s fair to say he’s off to a horrible start. Wall St. has ZERO confidence in what they’ve done and what they haven’t done.
I believe we are witnessing the END of America and any American dream as we have understood it. Thanks a lot Obama.
If you voted for him, shame on you. Fooled you good.
T. Boone Pickens has made a fortune in oil. But he’s an American first and at 80, he’s still passionate and dedicated to helping the U.S. reduce its dependence on foreign oil. The U.S. gets 70% of its oil from foreign sources today, which is a MAJOR NATIONAL SECURITY RISK.
Fred Couples, professional golfer, is someone I have admired for a couple of decades. His golf swing is unmatched in style, so fluid, so upright, elbows higher and more behind him than anyone it seems, and also seemingly effortless. He is has been a joy to watch, not only because of so many spectacular shots, but also because his quiet, seemingly relaxed, and stylish persona, have produced such an unusual set of results. Yes, in his prime, he won a coveted Masters green jacket, and a boatload of other less famous tournaments, but it seems like he should have won more majors, but he didn’t. However, in the ‘silly season’, which usually has been some time around October to the end of the year after all the serious tournaments, he has won a ton of times, and in the highly entertaining ‘Skins’ game, always with 4 different famous players playing for money on each hole which rolls over on a tie, he is unmatched. He has won a fortune just on the skins tournaments alone.
At this past week’s tournament however, where he played excellent golf but was just outdone by a bad shot on the last hole and a surging Phil Mickelson, I heard about Fred Couples the person, with real life challenges. His wife with whom he was long since separated and working toward a divorce, had died of cancer at the home they once shared in California. A tragedy indeed, but he has said he remains devoted to her children, his step-children. Sounds noble. I decided to read up a bit on that history, and wait, there’s more. Much more.
This was his second marriage. His first marriage ended in the 90s in what appears to have been an ugly and expensive divorce in Florida. His first wife later committed suicide in 2001.
Fred Couples is also known for his really major back pain problems. No doubt made worse by a game of unnatural contortions and a unique swing that probably puts more stress on him than other golfers with theirs. This back pain limits the tournaments he can play. It limits his practice. It has basically hindered the last 15 years of his career in a major way.
At 49 though, he’s still out there, and in many ways he seems more determined than ever. Maybe his shattered personal life and failing body increases his determination to overcome these major challenges.
Regardless, he is still a joy to watch, a class act on the golf course, and I for one want to say “thanks Freddie” for all the joy you’ve brought me over the years, and I hope only the best for you going forward.
And I won’t miss any coverage of you at the Masters in a few weeks.
A friend mentioned they were going to look at boats. This brought back memories.
When i was a kid in England, my Dad got a sail boat (or yacht as the English say for anything with a sail) – I think he was given it by a wealthier friend – we certainly couldn’t have afforded it. It was nothing huge, and it certainly wasn’t new. It was 22 ft with a small engine that was noisy and stinky, and a typical mast, jib and main sail. It had a raisable keel which my Dad thought was cool, but and it did mean we didn’t worry as much about running aground in the tidal waters around Portsmouth.
To GET to the ‘yacht’ we had to use this small fiberglass dinghy with an outboard motor. I’m talking 6 foot long boat with noisy stinky 50cc (maybe?) outboard (Yamaha?).
So my Dad would drive us to the dinghy place (maybe 60 miles which in England is a LONG drive) early in the morning, get in the stinky cramped dinghy and go at about 2mph I’d guess for about 1/2 mi. ? to where the boat was moored. With bags and crap in the dinghy it was about 3-4″ out of the water at the back and more at the front of course especially when moving, but it was creepy to me seeing the dark water so close. and of course it was often cold out, or rainy, or foggy, or all of those.
We’d get to the boat, clamber on, detatch from mooring bouy, attach dinghy to mooring bouy quickly before we drifted away, and then “head out” wherever into the harbor from the small waterway (solent?) where the boat was moored.
Then my dad would attempt to sail at some point, which was a pretty hit and miss thing. Too slow and we didn’t get anywhere. Too fast and it was pretty scary as the boat leaned, or rocked, or hit waves, just right was hit maybe twice for a minute or two in all the times I went on the boat.
My dad would criticize almost everything I did on the boat (too slow, too fast, not done right, too lazy, get out of the way) – oh it was so much fun.
One time, I was told to hold a rope by the mast which held the boom up (for those that don’t know that’s the horizontal piece connected to the mast and the main sail connects to both). Anyway, he had to duck under the boom to get to the other side I think and of course I somehow got distracted and let go of the rope and the boom fell on his head. He wasn’t injured and I can laugh now, but boy was he pissed off and was i scared. Nowhere to go, him ticked. Ah, good times.
On a more positive note, the wealthier friend of my Dad’s (well compared to us when i was growing up – the friend who gave my Dad that boat i think) – well he had a 36′ yacht and we went on that ONCE out into the English channel to fish. We fished for hours in roiling seas and caught a FEW mackerel, each probably 8-12″ long. I of course got sea sick for a while and the adults all laughed telling me it was good I was getting my “sea legs”. They cleaned and cooked the fish and we ate it on board, and in a massive group delusion we all claimed it was excellent. That was the BEST experience i ever had on a sailboat.
To say i loathe sailing would be an understatement.
A good friend of mine, Curtis Ide, is passionate about pizza! Specifically, making great pizza at home. He’s so passionate in fact that he’s written a book about it with all the details, great pictures, and of course, lots of recipes! He’s just put up a blog web site to talk about it and share info, so check it out!
Like many who love NASA and all it has accomplished, I was horrified to learn the Challenger space shuttle blew up a couple of minutes after launch as it rocketed into space.
Later that day, President Ronald Reagan gave a speech to the nation, that was brilliantly written by Peggy Noonan, and brilliantly delivered. He talked to the astronauts loved ones, to all adults, to children, about loss, taking chances and bravery, why life isn’t for the ‘faint hearted’ and added a poetic line at the end that still gives me goosebumps.
So I got a Blackberry Storm recently (love it, although there’s quite a learning curve!).
Anyway, it can capture video, which is pretty cool. So I grabbed a few tiny videos and wanted to see if I could transfer, edit, and publish on youtube.
Took two tiny videos, transferred them, imported to Windows Movie Maker (free), trimmed the videos, added titles, credits, transitions, and music, in, oh, 15 minutes?!
Here it is. Not Oscar-worthy, but hey, it’s my first.
I voted. And I’ve deliberately kept the TV off any channel likely to be analyzing the election or announing results. It’s not been easy (I watched other, pre-recorded stuff, or did some work). I will catch the result in the morning!
So this morning I was going to help my wife power wash her horse barn. She’d emptied the 3 stalls, and I showed her how to use the backpack blower to blow out the dust/hay first. So far so good. I brought the power washer over, started it up, put a spray tip in the wand (securely I thought) and hit the trigger and PHOOOM – the spray tip flew out into the grass! Hmm… go get the tip, put it back in, make sure it’s in properly this time, then pull the trigger… sh—- whaa— water spraying everywhere, f-#, da–… turn it off. Check spray tip, looks good, try again, same (soaking) deal. $#!+ After a few attempts to fix, I figure I broke the spray wand coupling somehow, and go back the house – somewhat unhappy!
I finished the mowing I had started earlier, showered, ate, had a swim, ate dinner, and the power washer was still on my mind. I decided to look at the wand again to see if I could figure it out. I thought maybe a rubber seal ring had somehow become dislodged or something. I decided to look carefully at the area where the spray tip landed in the grass and voila, I found a rubber o-ring! Took me half an hour to figure out how to install it (goes completely inside the wand coupling) but I knew I had it. Put the tip back on (SECURELY!), fired it up —– YAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!
Another maintenance mystery solved. I was so pleased I didn’t have to buy parts or deal with warranty or get someone to fix it that I power washed her horse’s stall. Just another of life’s ups and downs on the farm.
I just saw the new Disney/Pixar movie WALL-E and I was blown away. I think critics of this movie may have been expecting a comedy, perhaps a Toy Story with robots, but it’s nothing of the kind. It certainly has humor, but it’s in a dark, tense, but ultimately uplifting (hey it’s Disney) backdrop.
To me it contains parts of many science fiction books and movies, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, all of Isaac Asimov’s amazing robot books, even Rendezvous With Rama, my favorite book by Arthur C. Clarke.
The movie’s web site is also amazing. Here’s a free embed they provide:
I recently saw Bjorn Lomborg interviewed about ‘global warming’ and his views on what we should do seemed about the most practical and effective imaginable. Instead of the shrill, slick, non-scientific, and dishonest ‘marketing’ by people like Al Gore, Lomborg looks at the effectiveness of solutions proposed by others. For example, he says if all the goals of the Kyoto treaty were met (no chance, but ok), the world would still only delay the predicted effects of ‘global warming’ by a year or so! So Al Gore and cohorts want to cripple the global economy to delay global warming by a year? Ok Bjorn, now you’ve got my attention.
He goes on to say that efforts to save arctic ice will likely save 1 polar bear a year, a popular cause among environmentalists. He said humans SHOOT 400 polar bears a year, so maybe stopping that would be more effective!
With all this talk of oil and energy, I decided to look at the Department of Energy web site to see what it claims to be doing.
Loads of good sounding info, but I decided to go to the budget, as that’s where things usually reveal themselves (follow the money…).
I had no idea how much money the DoE spends, but for ’09 they’ve requested $25 BILLION. Now I’m sure govt lovers and Bush haters will come right out and say “that’s cheaper than Iraq in a week” or whatever, but ignoring that bogus comparison, how much is $25 BILLION?
Well if there’s 300 million men, women, and children in this country, that equates to about $83 EACH, a year.
So, are you happy, that you, your relatives, friends, children, everyone, is paying $83 a year for this fine organization?
It says they need that money to “address the growing demand for affordable, clean and reliable energy; preserve our national security; and enable scientific breakthroughs that could have significant impacts on our quality of life and the health of the American people.” Yeah, right. But what do they actually DO?
This is their mission/strategy page: http://www.doe.gov/about/index.htm
By implementing DOE’s Strategic Plan, we are enhancing America’s energy security and sustaining our economic vitality.
EPIC FAIL! Oil is what, $139 today????
So I looked under achievements and awards to see what we might all be getting for $83 a year.
What’s this? Part of their funding went to the human genome project. What has that got to do with energy?
So then I find that their ‘researchers’ helped with research on Climate Change that lead to the IPCC winning the ’07 Nobel Peace Prize. And this is about energy and not weather HOW? This research was done at Oak Ridge National Labs in Tennessee which has 4200 people and is entirely funded by DoE. Facts about ORNL.
Sooner or later I guess this topic was going to get mentioned here.
U.S. gas prices have doubled and more in the past couple of years. It must be hurting millions of people directly (getting to and from work or school for example), and hurting many businesses too, which must deliver things and have things delivered to them and so they must raise prices on everything in turn to make up for it. It seems the U.S. government has totally distorted how it reports inflation because gasoline and food prices alone are skyrocketing. Maybe the drop in house prices is counteracting that some!
The politicians are arguing over causes and remedies, but while they do NOTHING, quietly, millions of people are driving a little less, maybe trading in the old clunker or big SUV for something much more efficient, sales of hybrids have skyrocketed, and the American people are being very sensible about all this.
We’ve all heard it’s ‘greedy oil companies’ that are the cause but that really isn’t the case – they process crude oil and refine it, etc., and pass along the costs they must pay. Now global demand for oil and gasoline has been climbing and is projected to climb a great deal more as prosperity increases in China and India in particular, as they hold almost half the world’s population! U.S. gasoline consumption has not increased significantly in decades. Increasing overall demand puts upward pressure on prices if supply is not increased. Read the rest of this entry »
Professor Randy Pausch is dying and he knows it, of liver cancer. But this inspiring wonderful man decided to inspire his students with his final lecture, telling them what’s really important in life.
You can see his last lecture here: google video or visit his web site at the above link for this and other videos and information.
I learned a few years ago the best way to get the house cleaned up is to invite people over.
So a friend came by this morning and I felt pretty good – I’d tidied my office (although some was cheating – took notes and papers spread across the desk and stacked them in one ‘neat’ pile) and the infamous ‘staging area’ kitchen table. Also felt good because I got the pool paver power washing and clean-up done a week or two ago (tedious and time-consuming job, but looks great!) and all the grass is cut!
Complain? You want to complain? It’s tax return time and the forms are SO annoying! The grass has started growing fast and that means I’m going to have to spend a lot more time cutting it than I want to. …
Complaining is expressing grief, pain, or discontent. It’s a complaint if you express how you feel something shouldn’t be the way it is, and usually you don’t offer a solution as to how it could be the way you want it.
We all complain, but does it do any good? No! Not only doesn’t it help, in fact it often just makes us feel worse about things and not just emotionally, but physically. We seem to think it will help ‘get it off our chest’ or maybe subconsciously we justify some perception of superiority by complaining about other things and people, but overall there’s NO benefit to it, to ANYONE, including the complainer.
Will Bowen, a reverend serving at a church in Kansas, talked about this in a sermon on finding prosperity, and this lead to him giving out little purple bracelets to his congregation and he told them to be ‘complaint free’ for 21 days, and if someone with a bracelet complained, to put the bracelet on the other arm to consciously remind them what they’ve done. Well, this has become HUGE. 5 millions bracelets and a book later, it’s still going.
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