How many times have you heard that they don't build cars like they used to? All I can say is thank God for that. This video is illuminating, check out the differences in the inside during the crash.
Sep 29, 2009
Not having internet sucks
I still doesn't have any internet at the house. This means that I've been checking in at work during my breaks. On my days off I go to the library and use their internet. I've been doing well at work, but I'm just not in the right frame of mind to write at work. That's why you haven't heard from me recently, but I'm going to try to put some stuff up on my days off. Stay tuned!
Roman Polanski, I don't get it
So Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss authorities while he was on the way to some awards ceremony. There has been an outstanding warrent for his arrest in the US for decades. I had head about it, but I never really knew the details, I figured it was one of those sordid Hollywood things that was morally ambiguous on both sides.
Well since his arrest, I've read some of the details, and frankly I'm shocked that it has taken this long to get him in jail. It turns out that what he was arrested for taking a 13 year old girl someplace, getting her drunk, drugging her with quaaludes and then anally raping her. Here's the kicker, he has already been convicted. He plead guilty, he skipped out on sentencing. Why a violent criminal was released before sentencing is beyond me.
The French culture minister is shocked that Polanski was picked up after all these years, and on the way for an award too! Polanski is also upset that this has been done "to" him. Everything about this crime reeks of excess and privilege, the "outrage" seems to be all about someone of his stature being treated as a common criminal. He's a rapist, he drugged a 13 year old in order to rape her. He plead guilty to it. He has had plenty of freedom, it's abut time he gets some jail time for his crime. Let's all hope that the extradition from Switzerland goes smoothly.
Well since his arrest, I've read some of the details, and frankly I'm shocked that it has taken this long to get him in jail. It turns out that what he was arrested for taking a 13 year old girl someplace, getting her drunk, drugging her with quaaludes and then anally raping her. Here's the kicker, he has already been convicted. He plead guilty, he skipped out on sentencing. Why a violent criminal was released before sentencing is beyond me.
The French culture minister is shocked that Polanski was picked up after all these years, and on the way for an award too! Polanski is also upset that this has been done "to" him. Everything about this crime reeks of excess and privilege, the "outrage" seems to be all about someone of his stature being treated as a common criminal. He's a rapist, he drugged a 13 year old in order to rape her. He plead guilty to it. He has had plenty of freedom, it's abut time he gets some jail time for his crime. Let's all hope that the extradition from Switzerland goes smoothly.
Sep 16, 2009
Busy busy busy
I've been pretty busy recently. It's nice being back at work, especially at a place I like so much!:-) I'll be off on friday, I'll try to put some stuff up then.
Sep 9, 2009
This is how things get costly
I have two ways to get to work. I could either drive or take public transportation. A round trip drive will cost me about $4 vs $6 round trip for public transportation. Naturally, I'd drive at that price, it doesn't make much sense to do it any other way.
But now I'll be getting a $100 subsidy towards public transportation. That changes things a bit. If I drive every day (assuming a 20 day work month) I would pay $80 a month in commuting costs. $100 would buy me 16 days of public transportation. If I used the subsidy for 16 days and drove the remaining 4, I would only spend $16 a month in commuting costs.
See what just happened? The total cost of my commute actually went up from $80 to $112 even though my out of pocket expenses went down from $80 to $16. Someone is still paying the whole cost and that cost went up. Also keep in mind that $16 is what it "costs" me to take public transportation, but that isn't an accurate figure for the total cost of using public transport. Subways, busses, etc. are all heavily subsidized with tax dollars. So the total cost has gone up by a lot more, but the exact figure is hidden.
Imagine if everyone did this, as a whole, we would be paying more for commuting than we need to. Whenever someone else pays for our stuff, consuming more and more expensive services is the logical thing to do. The key is that the extra costs do get paid for, they are just hidden in things like taxes, diminished wages, or increased premiums. If you want to keep expenses low as a whole, it is important for the consumer to bear the brunt of the costs.
This is a general concept that has all sorts of applications. Thank goodness straight subsidies aren't all that common in our day to day life. Splitting bills evenly, health insurance, and even cash for clunkers all share some similarities with the subsidy model. When we craft policies, we need to watch out for things that make it rational to consume more and with more expense. We all end up paying when we screw that up.
But now I'll be getting a $100 subsidy towards public transportation. That changes things a bit. If I drive every day (assuming a 20 day work month) I would pay $80 a month in commuting costs. $100 would buy me 16 days of public transportation. If I used the subsidy for 16 days and drove the remaining 4, I would only spend $16 a month in commuting costs.
See what just happened? The total cost of my commute actually went up from $80 to $112 even though my out of pocket expenses went down from $80 to $16. Someone is still paying the whole cost and that cost went up. Also keep in mind that $16 is what it "costs" me to take public transportation, but that isn't an accurate figure for the total cost of using public transport. Subways, busses, etc. are all heavily subsidized with tax dollars. So the total cost has gone up by a lot more, but the exact figure is hidden.
Imagine if everyone did this, as a whole, we would be paying more for commuting than we need to. Whenever someone else pays for our stuff, consuming more and more expensive services is the logical thing to do. The key is that the extra costs do get paid for, they are just hidden in things like taxes, diminished wages, or increased premiums. If you want to keep expenses low as a whole, it is important for the consumer to bear the brunt of the costs.
This is a general concept that has all sorts of applications. Thank goodness straight subsidies aren't all that common in our day to day life. Splitting bills evenly, health insurance, and even cash for clunkers all share some similarities with the subsidy model. When we craft policies, we need to watch out for things that make it rational to consume more and with more expense. We all end up paying when we screw that up.
Sep 7, 2009
Whew!
I know that a lot of you consider me to be an Apple "expert." Let me tell you, there is a ton to learn, even about stuff that I'm pretty comfortable with. We went over several things that I use ALL the time, and I learned new stuff. Folks here REALLY know their stuff. It keeps you humble, believe me. I guess I'll just have to play around with stuff some more, that's not so bad:-)
Sep 6, 2009
Drinking the Kool-Aid
Just finished up my second day of training for Apple and I gotta say, I'm pumped. Strange as it may seem, I'm actually more excited about the services than the hardware at this point.
Don't get me wrong, the hardware is still cool as all get out, but you can only sell cool things for so long before selling them is no longer a thrill. In addition to being surrounded by really cool hardware, I will be selling, and hopefully doing, all sorts of training. That's the difference between an Apple store and just about any other store out there. They (I guess that at some point I should start saying WE) put the emphasis on educating people, not selling per se. When people understand how much they can do, once they understand that they do not have to be intimidated by their computer, you've really helped them.
A lot of people look down at working retail. When retail is done right though, you can really get a lot out of it. Helping people feels good, giving them the understanding of technology and all of its uses feels great.
Can you tell I'm pumped about this? I got this feeling once in a while when working at Penn, I'm really excited to go to a place that expects this as a normal occurrence. Liking your job is awfully nice:-)
Don't get me wrong, the hardware is still cool as all get out, but you can only sell cool things for so long before selling them is no longer a thrill. In addition to being surrounded by really cool hardware, I will be selling, and hopefully doing, all sorts of training. That's the difference between an Apple store and just about any other store out there. They (I guess that at some point I should start saying WE) put the emphasis on educating people, not selling per se. When people understand how much they can do, once they understand that they do not have to be intimidated by their computer, you've really helped them.
A lot of people look down at working retail. When retail is done right though, you can really get a lot out of it. Helping people feels good, giving them the understanding of technology and all of its uses feels great.
Can you tell I'm pumped about this? I got this feeling once in a while when working at Penn, I'm really excited to go to a place that expects this as a normal occurrence. Liking your job is awfully nice:-)
Sep 3, 2009
Springfield
For those of you not familiar with where I live, allow me to fill you in. I live Springfield, a suburb of Washington DC. Drive due south on 395 and you'll hit it. Actually, drive south on 495 (in either direction), 95, or 395 and you'll hit it. The locals call the nexus of all of these interstates "the mixing bowl." As far as I can tell, it is why Springfield exists at all. They have done a good job in making the traffic flow better so the mixing bowl isn't as bad as its reputation has been.
So being close to all of those interstates makes getting anywhere you'd want to go in the NoVA area pretty easy. It's also the end of the blue line of the metro. I live about a mile from that. The blue line gives me a straight shot into the District, and more importantly, to Pentagon city where I work.
Springfield seems to have inherited or extended the low rent areas of South Arlington and Annandale. That makes for nicer rent payments, but there are some issues. I don't have to worry about the schools, but I'm sure they're not as good as they are in Falls Church, Fairfax, etc. I have the impression that crime is higher as well, but I haven't experienced any. The good thing about this is that I live with a bunch of immigrants. That's good? Sure it is. I got used to a lot of ethnic diversity when I was in Yemen and it's nice to get back to that.
Consider this. Both of my neighbors are from muslim countries (Afghanistan and some other, unidentified country). This means that they are much less likely to have a dog. That's nothing but a plus in my book! In my experience, immigrant communities tend to be hard working and down to earth, and my current neighborhood seems to fit that to a tee.
Of course the real reason you want to live in an immigrant rich area is for the food. I went up to the local strip mall today and Holy ethnic dining Bat Man! There were Indian, South Indian, Thai, and several kabob places (with the innovative names of Kabob house II and Kabob house III). That, along with several latin grocery stores makes me wonder what else is around this area. If I ever make enough money to go out to eat again, I'll be eating well!
So I'm digging the new place so far. It's cheap, it's convenient, it has good food, what else can you ask for in a place to live?
So being close to all of those interstates makes getting anywhere you'd want to go in the NoVA area pretty easy. It's also the end of the blue line of the metro. I live about a mile from that. The blue line gives me a straight shot into the District, and more importantly, to Pentagon city where I work.
Springfield seems to have inherited or extended the low rent areas of South Arlington and Annandale. That makes for nicer rent payments, but there are some issues. I don't have to worry about the schools, but I'm sure they're not as good as they are in Falls Church, Fairfax, etc. I have the impression that crime is higher as well, but I haven't experienced any. The good thing about this is that I live with a bunch of immigrants. That's good? Sure it is. I got used to a lot of ethnic diversity when I was in Yemen and it's nice to get back to that.
Consider this. Both of my neighbors are from muslim countries (Afghanistan and some other, unidentified country). This means that they are much less likely to have a dog. That's nothing but a plus in my book! In my experience, immigrant communities tend to be hard working and down to earth, and my current neighborhood seems to fit that to a tee.
Of course the real reason you want to live in an immigrant rich area is for the food. I went up to the local strip mall today and Holy ethnic dining Bat Man! There were Indian, South Indian, Thai, and several kabob places (with the innovative names of Kabob house II and Kabob house III). That, along with several latin grocery stores makes me wonder what else is around this area. If I ever make enough money to go out to eat again, I'll be eating well!
So I'm digging the new place so far. It's cheap, it's convenient, it has good food, what else can you ask for in a place to live?
Sep 1, 2009
Ramadan Kareem indeed
So like I said, my neighbors on each side are muslims and are clearly immigrants. I've made the effort to wish them a happy Ramadan in Arabic hoping that we can start up a conversation. One of them just smiled and waved as he went in. I got the distinct impression that he doesn't know Arabic. I briefly talked with the patriarch on the other side. He doesn't know Arabic and his English is spotty. I did find out that he's from Afghanistan.
While I was sitting on my stoop looking for a wireless signal, a much younger guy came up to the door of the Afghan neighbor and I wished him a happy Ramadan. He saw me using my computer and we struck up a conversation. I was going crazy trying to track down a wireless signal that wasn't mine, it turns out that he wants someone to set up a wireless network, so we struck up a deal. I'll set up his wireless system and he'll let me use it. Now that's a good deal!
Setting up the router is no big deal really. I'm a little worried about setting up his computer, but I'm sure I can muddle through, even if it's windows. Things are looking good... maybe I'll get to try one of their Ramadan Samosas too!:-)
While I was sitting on my stoop looking for a wireless signal, a much younger guy came up to the door of the Afghan neighbor and I wished him a happy Ramadan. He saw me using my computer and we struck up a conversation. I was going crazy trying to track down a wireless signal that wasn't mine, it turns out that he wants someone to set up a wireless network, so we struck up a deal. I'll set up his wireless system and he'll let me use it. Now that's a good deal!
Setting up the router is no big deal really. I'm a little worried about setting up his computer, but I'm sure I can muddle through, even if it's windows. Things are looking good... maybe I'll get to try one of their Ramadan Samosas too!:-)