Why do I bother to pay my taxes? Why do I get my bills paid on time?
I ask myself these questions every time I hear or see one of those ads that purport to be able to settle your IRS or creditor debts for pennies on the dollar. If these ads are to be believed, I should just ignore my taxes and max-out all my credit cards, then get these guys to settle my accounts for a fraction of what I owe.
Last week, while I was watching part of the Olympic baseball coverage, I listened to the broadcasters talking about the possibility of representing the US with major league players, our best players, as we do in basketball and hockey.
I had previously thought about this point myself. Sending NBA players to the Olympics doesn't really conflict with the NBA regular season, but the NHL season must take a two-week hiatus to allow their players to compete in the Olympics. Such would be the case with major league baseball.
The broadcasters considered this point and agreed that "the integrity of the 162-game schedule must be protected." What the heck is that supposed to mean? Might it destroy MLB if once every four years the schedule were to be adjusted to accommodate Olympic participation by the best baseball players in the world, not only for the US but other nations as well?
"It is no longer sufficient for the U.S. Government to discover cyber intrusions in its networks, clean up the damage, and take legal or political steps to deter further intrusions," Director of National IntelligenceMike McConnell noted in a February 2008 threat assessment.
Information systems have become the backbone of our economy, our government agencies, energy, healthcare, food supply, and nearly everything else we do. As such, these systems have become the targets of both criminals and terrorists, and perhaps even foreign governments.
What are the positions of the presidential candidates regarding this very real emerging threat to our national security?
Senator Obama has stated that he will make cyber-security a top priority, appointing a national cyber advisor to synchronize policy. Senator McCain has said that a much greater investment toward the federal responsibility for cybersecurity is needed.
The USS Requin, named for a sand shark, was commissioned in April 1945 and remained in service until December 1968. In August 1990, she was loaded onto barges in Baton Rouge, LA, for her trip up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to Pittsburgh. She arrived at the Carnegie Science Center on the 4th of September and was dedicated and opened for tours on October 20, 1990.
The Requin had a crew of 10 officers and 71 crewmen squeezed into a boat just over 311 feet in length with a width of a bit more than 27 feet. With a range of 11,000 nautical miles, she could be at sea on patrol for up to 75 days.
I had one of life's little adventures while golfing today. On the ninth and final hole, I put my first shot into the pond that protects the front of the green. I hit a horrible second shot that ended up in a ditch along the right side of the fairway. The groundsman had earlier used the weedeater in the ditch and it was still full of the cuttings.
I expected that the ball would be lost under those clippings, but I took a look anyway. I didn't see my ball, but I saw what appeared to be two crossed sticks in the grass. A closer look caused me to suspect one of those things wasn't a stick, but a rather large snake about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and nearly three feet in length.
I watched it for a minute or so seeing no sign of movement. I began to think perhaps it was dead. I called my partner over and he took a look. Still no movement from the snake. The groundsman was mowing nearby, and we waved him over. He took his look, but the vitality of our slithery friend was still indeterminate. The groundsman reluctantly poked at it from behind with a stick. It was not deceased! It didn't move far, however.
Since none of us knew the sort of creature we had on our hands and because of its fairly large dimensions, we decided a speedy termination was in order. While my partner and I maintained our observation of the serpent, nine-irons in hand, the groundsman fetched a shovel. Upon his return, he made short work of the beast.
If any of you find the demise of this snake upsetting, I'm sorry, but as for me, the only good snake is a dead snake.
For the past 3 or 4 months I've been learning to use my iPod Touch for more and more things. The iPhone 2.0 software has given me even more ways to use this brilliant device, allowing more things to be done offline.
Over the weekend, I found via RSS a new app that I thought would be a great addition, miGhtyDocs. This app claims to cache your Google Docs documents for viewing offline. I located miGhtyDocs in the iTunes app store where I was surprised to notice the developer's name, v1ru8, which looked startlingly like virus to me, but despite a little uneasiness, I thought that coming from the app store, it should be OK. And, it was free.
I downloaded and installed miGhtyDocs on my Touch, opened it, enterd the Google Docs login info, and all my documents appeared and could be opened and read. Next, I turned off the wi-fi and tried to read a document using miGhtyDocs. It didn't work. I got "Error 1099", whatever that means. I dismissed that dialog and watched the progress indicator spin on to no avail. A quick Google of "mightydocs" revealed that this was not unique to me. This app apparently does not work.
I hope this wasn't some sort of virus infection or scam to steal Google login data. If it's legit, I hope they get it fixed and working as it should. I think it would be a nice, useful iPhone app.
A Department of Energy report issued last year predicted that it would take two decades for drilling in restricted areas to have a noticeable effect on domestic production, and that, even then, “because oil prices are determined on the international market,” the impact on fuel costs would be “insignificant.”
John McCain noted just a few months ago that offshore resources “would take years to develop.” The Oklahoma oilman T. Boone Pickens has stated, “This is one emergency we can’t drill our way out of.” Pickens is a strong advocate of wind power.
The DOE estimates that there are eighteen billion barrels of technically recoverable oil in offshore areas of the continental United States that are now closed to drilling. This sounds like a lot, until you consider that oil is a globally traded commodity and that, at current rates of consumption, eighteen billion barrels would satisfy less than seven months of global demand.
Note: Estimating the amount of technically recoverable oil takes into account the industry's current state of technology for extracting oil, without accounting for the potential cost to accomplish this. An estimate of economically recoverable oil takes into account the quality and market value of oil, the costs of exploration and drilling, the financial costs of extracting and transporting the oil, and the financial rate of return expected at particular oil prices.
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I had one of life's little adventures while golfing today. On the ninth and final hole, I put my first shot into the pond that protects the front of the green. I hit a horrible second shot that ended up in a ditch along the right side of the fairway. The groundsman had earlier used the weedeater in the ditch and it was still full of the cuttings.
For the past 3 or 4 months I've been learning to use my iPod Touch for more and more things. The iPhone 2.0 software has given me even more ways to use this brilliant device, allowing more things to be done offline.
Green Bay will say "Good Bye, Brett. Thanks for everything, but it's time we all get on with our lives!"
A Department of Energy report issued last year predicted that it would take two decades for drilling in restricted areas to have a noticeable effect on domestic production, and that, even then, “because oil prices are determined on the international market,” the impact on fuel costs would be “insignificant.”
