Feed: Boxers Revolution - Enter the age of Sparking Revolutions while - AggScore: 38.5

Constant Java Updates - The Ultimate Nagger

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Do you get the same flashing Java Update message on a regular basis? Seriously, I feel like every week I'm barraged with the flashing update icon on my task bar - reminding me that something critical is unfinished! Java - I'd get rid of it if it was not for the many applications that depend on it's use. Grrrrr!

Java is such a pain in the ass that there is a company now selling a program for dollarsignr9.99 that will eliminate the nagging. I refuse to spend the dollarsignr10. I'll suffer without this plug in before I spend money to stop the nagging updates. If you have lost your mind to Java's update harassment, you can buy the program here:

http://www.softwarecandy.com/shop/downloads/stop-java-updates

I'd write a letter to the Java people if I had more time - I'm too busy updating their bullshit plugin!

Tucson - The Anti Orange County

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Tucson is the "anti Orange County". It truly is an opposite. People here know they live in a desert and actually like the desert scape as opposed to large center dividers with beautiful lawns that tell you that you are living in opulence. Its rock and cactus at every turn with low lying rooftops, no freeways to get you around - only 40 MPH arteries. To a person coming from So Cal, one would say that Tucson lacks in the area of presentation. But to me this is a positive. What Tucson lacks in presentation is made up for in things that I enjoy more than sprawling lawns on center dividers. Culture for example. With the University of 40,000 students in the center of the city, art, culture, and entertainment is more diverse than any place I've lived. The range of events is astonishing and they are rarely rooted in a commercial angle (ala Taste of Newport - "let me promote my restaurant"), but typically rooted in the tradition itself. For example, a more recent tradition established in 1990 is the All Souls Procession where a parade, borrowing from the Mexican holiday, Dia de los Mortos, people dress up in related garb and march down the very eclectic 4th St. Here is a photo from that event:



I could go on and on about the museums, art, and events that are either homegrown or find there way to Tucson. If a concert tour somehow misses Tucson, Phoenix (the wanna be Orange County) is only 90 minutes away and is never missed (population 5.4 M). There is a budding wine country just east of Tucson - prime for growth. If I had the money, I'd be investing in a vineyard there now. Beautiful mountains line the north end of the City. You can drive there and be in a beautiful pine forest and/or ski resort in 45 minutes. Also, you are 45 minutes from the border here, although the offerings of Nogales are more sparse than the raucous vendors on Revolucion Blvd in TJ proviide - at least this is what I hear.

Despite the lack of freeways, Tucson has no real traffic. At least not what I would consider to be traffic. It has dollar cinemas - 2 within a few miles of me. Tucson has the most diverse and independent dining options I've ever experienced - all within a short trafficless driving distances. It has a Sushi and Pho restaurant where I can eat a bowl of Pho at the Sushi bar as a warm up round. Peruvian, Moroccan, Lebanese, Vegan - and other unique concepts that are indigenous to Tucson. It has Sunflower - a chain of organic food stores that offer organic produce at the same if not lower cost than a regular grocery store (the anti Whole Foods). The 4th Street grocery Coop has the best selection of loose leaf teas I've ever seen. Farmers markets are open every day of the week in different parts of town and even the farthest part of town is only 20 minutes away. I won't get into the golf which is world class and very affordable or the 80 degree sunny winter days I've enjoyed in recent weeks.

People can live here at a low cost and raise a family in a culture that values good education. The beacon of the U of A, its sports programs, and world class instruction must be a constant reminder to the children of the community that advancement in education is at the very least significant. The lower cost of living translates to a lower pressure living environment. I attribute strange occurences to this fact. I've witnessed and participated in conversations that actually broke out among strangers - even in a grocery line or gas station - an extreme rarity in So Cal. I'm accustomed to the ever present scowl of a person that is so pissed off by asshole drivers that are killing their tight schedule, that by the time they reach the grocery store line, they are ready to kill the idiot with 16 items in the 15 items or less line. It's hard to be nice to you neighbors when they are killing your schedule by blocking your way in So Cal's massive parking lots - aka "freeways".

Tucson is like an experiment. The experiment of putting people in a low pressure cost of living environment combined with every possible amenity being available in minutes of driving with no traffic, but please don't tell anyone.

Don't get me wrong, Tucson does have a degree of elitism, but the stench of it is not omnipresent as I'm accustomed to in CA. It has crime, but it also has an air of freedom. You know that feeling you have in CA when a police officer is behind you? You know they are searching for ANY reason to pull you over. I don't have that feeling here - ever. They have real criminals to worry about without having to focus on harassing me or anyone based on appearances or ridiculous things like seat belts (yes, I do wear my seat belt at nearly all times) or phones or anything you are doing in your car with the exception of brandishing a weapon or vodka bottle. In a way, to be treated with a degree of respect from law enforcement, makes me feel like a valued citizen. You get respect from law enforcement here if you treat them with common courtesy. That's all they want. The thing about a low cost living environment is that morons can live here too and they are easy for me to avoid, but not the police - they run into those people far more than they run into me. So my theory is that the contrast gives well spoken and courteous people a much greater level of credibility and thus the "freedom gap" between CA and AZ is immense.

I'm not trying to sell you Tucson - just defend it from the perspective of those whose eyes are glazed over by the bubble world of high cost living in disneyesque landscapes that I no longer value. But, I like it this way. Even with the lack of presentation, Tucson is and has been one of the fastest growing cities of this last decade so it needs no promotion or sprawling green center dividers to increase the ranks of people who love living here. The lack of OC landscape glamor is helping keep growth manageable and I hope Tucson continues to value quality of life over pretty roadways.

2 way rfid cell phone communication on an anonymous open channel

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Social Media will evolve to instant proximate communication using anonymous RFID or other channels (like Near Field Communication). The proximity will be needed to have the accuracy of RFID or NFC. The question is the range of NFC and the development of cell phones that will be inclusive of peer to peer communication.

I need to understand RFID programming, how to develop it or get it developed for peer to peer cell phone detection for anonymous proximity tracking and communication. This is the future of social media IMO.

Automation in Home Construction

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http://www.scribd.com/doc/5559934/Automated-Construction-By-Contour-Crafting-Related-Robotics-And-Information-Technologies

Use of Robotics in Home Construction. Why has the cost of housing not been reduced dramatically through innovation?

List of Words that I want to learn

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Modicum - a small portion of something
Portend - Be a sign or warning that (something, esp. something momentous or calamitous) is likely to happen.

This is a short list only because I know all remaining words.

Arizona Immigration - Interesting Political Cartoons

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Go Tea Baggers Go

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I read a post that suggests that Obama should go to prison for imposing health care reform on our society:

5 Tips for Ranking Higher in Google Maps

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Rockin Post on Small business Marketing:

5 Tips for Ranking Higher in Google Maps

Nostalgia Skews Reality

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Ah, the good old days when it was a simpler, purer time. Perhaps it is more true for us as individuals - we were simpler and purer living in our youths. Here is a great video on the topic of nostalgia and its use in the media to skew reality:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-january-5-2010/even-better-than-the-real-thing

It's not just funny. Oliver makes a good point about the good ole days. They really weren't all that good. We have a higher standard of living. We have more freedom. Of course, we have more evolving to do as a society, but worshiping the days of old is naive.

Seriously Republicans, you're going to run Palin?

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George Bush alienated economic conservatives by being the biggest spender (percentage of Federal spending increases) in this history of the Presidency.

He alienated civil libertarians by attacking civil liberties with the Patriot Act (also typically conservatives).

He alienated social liberals (who might consider themselves economic conservatives) with a policy that represented bigotry by attacking the civil liberties of Gay citizens.

But....

At least he had an understanding of his own philosophy. Palin doesn't have any real understanding of politics, history, global history, or economics - nor is she interested in learning more (see excerpts of her book in my Hub, "Sara Palin - Showing a Real Commitment to Foreign Policy Ignorance" http://hubpages.com/hub/Sara-Palins-Book-Display-a-Real-Commitment-to-Foreign-Policy-Ignorance)

Do you have a great business Idea?

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A good article was written today on the topic:

http://www.quicksprout.com/2009/11/24/the-7-harsh-realities-of-starting-a-business/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Quicksprout+(Quick+Sprout)&utm_content=Twitter

It speaks to my experience and I respond as follows:

In my world, the vast majority “great” business ideas are tossed around for some time scrapped before they are ever executed. Very few ideas are perfect and your haystacks analogy was excellent. Scrappy entrepreneurs with a shoe string budget are forced to learn fast when they boldly attempt to execute plans. The market is the best teacher and you don’t know what you have until you engage it.

A former business associate of mine used to sum it up with a statement, "Oh! How good it's gonna be!" - sarcastically.

Without a precursor of sales revenue, no idea deserves to be spoken of as good, or even horrible – it’s just an untested theory and it deserves the level of enthusiasm that an untested theory should bring. I’ve been presented with hundreds of “home run” business ideas, executed many of my own plans, and succeeded with 3 (still testing 4) in 10 years of being an entrepreneur.

On Sara Palin's book, Going Rogue

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In reading an article about Sara Palin's new book, I couldn't help but be mesmerized by one paragraph:

In Going Rogue, Ms. Palin talks perfunctorily about fiscal responsibility and a muscular foreign policy, and more passionately about the importance of energy independence, but she is quite up front about the fact that much of her appeal lies in her just-folks, “hockey Mom” ordinariness. She pretends no particular familiarity with the Middle East, the Iraq war or Islamic politics — 'I knew the history of the conflict,” she writes, “to the extent that most Americans did.” And she argues that “there’s no better training ground for politics than motherhood.”

Imagine if you will, being selected as a Vice Presidential nominee for the United States in the year 2008. How arrogant would you have to be, to be satisfied with yourself for knowing about the Middle East "to the extent that most Americans did"? How is it easy to justify complete apathy for anything that smells of thorough knowledge or in depth study of the global politics with which you might engage as a part of your duty as Vice President or President of the worlds only remaining super power? Here is Sara's justification: "there's no better training ground for politics than motherhood."

Do you support Medicare but oppose a public option?

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Opponents of a government option for health care support the government run Medicare system more often than not. Ironically, the only difference between Medicare and a public option is the requirement of age. So, if you oppose a government run health care system, then why not oppose Medicare?

Recently the so called conservative alarmists who consistently fail to address the current health care system failures, have used the word "rationing" to further frighten those who believe that Obama plans to force euthanasia upon them within weeks of passing badly needed health care reform. Here is an article that discusses the nature of this "rationing" claim:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/25/AR2009082501075.html

If you oppose the public option but believe that Medicare should exist, then unless you believe in age discrimination, then your chain of logic may be broken.

If you want to abolish Medicare and the public option (the same thing without age discrimination) because you believe it is a form of "rationing", then consider the fact that private sector practices medical care rationing NOW - 98% of private insurance is rationed.

This article illuminates the nature of the current buzzword, "rationing", that is being used by the Nut Wing pundits (Hannity, Limbaugh, and Beck among others - the trinity of stupidity). Check it out:

"It's called a conventional fee-for-service plan, where the patient can elect any service from any provider, and the insurer has to pay (except for a copayment). And it's been destroyed by market forces. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, in 1988, 73 percent of people covered by employer-based plans had conventional health insurance; in 2008, that figure was 2 percent. Why did this happen? Because private health insurers shifted toward managed-care plans, primarily preferred provider organizations and health maintenance organizations, that use either gatekeepers or differential payment schedules to contain costs. According to Feldstein's definition, that is, private health insurers are rationing."

Spin that one Nut Wingers.

What is that we value in this country?

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Justice - yes

Common Defense - yes

Life - yes*