What I'm Reading Now: Rebecca

When I started this book, I was a bit worried it'd just be girly book about romance & relationships - I'm unfamiliar with author Daphne du Maurier - but the author hints in the first chapter that it may turn out to be a thriller.

I guess we'll see. So far there is little action, but the narrative is still good enough to keep me reading even as the main character spends pages on introspection and observation of still life.

Republicans want it both ways

I don't understand why the conservatives are so wishy-washy about oversight. When it comes to our schools, they want teachers on a short leash: No Child Left Behind has huge oversight, rigorous testing, and a centralized curriculum, leaving educators little room to use their judgement & expertise to teach their own students the things they are ready for in a method that's best for them.

However, when it comes to business, we get bills like the first 700 billion dollar bailout bill, we get language that grants spending power to an appointed individual with no oversight, restrictions, or reports.

Why does our congress trust CFOs and businessmen with $700bil of our money, but they don't trust our schoolteachers with their paltry portion of the $56bil spent annually on education? [citation] Maybe our schoolteachers aren't contributing to politicians campaign funds the way wall street can.

What I'm Reading Now: David Copperfield

My current book is very famous, and very boring. Most of it seems to be summed up by: David settles in to a new home, meets some uninteresting people, has to leave for some reason. Then repeat ad nauseam.

It also doesn't help that David isn't that likable. He makes friends with people in difficult situations, and makes no effort to help them. He just moves on to the next location, not fretting much about his friends problems.

Powell endorses Obama, bloggers make fools of themselves

The top headline on Reddit today: Powell's Endorsement of Obama Proves Race Will Play Major Role in Election ( link here ).

I think that's bullshit, and I bet Colin Powell is particularly angry to see these comments. Basically, no African-American can support Barack without being accused of doing so because of race, just as no woman could support Hilary Clinton in the primaries without being accused as doing so because of sex. While some voters certainly do use those associations as reasons to pick candidates, that accusation should not be made toward any individual without supporting evidence.

My viewing of Powell's comments about the race this morning showed him giving evidence to the contrary, specifically listing issues that he had with the McCain campaign. (youtube video)

This blogger, Daniel Zanoza, goes further by claiming that Powell should endorse McCain because they are both military men and both Republicans. It's amazing to me that people like Zanoza think voters should support a candidate that's most like them socially, instead of picking a candidate that is likely to make the best decisions for our nation with respect to real issues like the economy, warfare, energy policy, and health care.

If America voted the way Mr. Zanoza proposed, Hank Hill would be our commander-in-chief.

Buy Low, Sell High

Warren Buffet gets it. He says:

"I’ve been buying American stocks. ... Why? A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful."

It's like what I've been telling friends - that anyone with any cash available to do so should jump on this weak market now, before confidence returns and prices are restored to previous levels. Warren says this too:

"Let me be clear on one point: I can’t predict the short-term movements of the stock market. ... What is likely, however, is that the market will move higher, perhaps substantially so, well before either sentiment or the economy turns up. So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/opinion/17buffett.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

What I'm Reading Now: My American Journey

I'm reading "My American Journey", and I hope it's unabridged. It's marginally entertaining, but mostly is just a history of Mr. Powell getting military promotion after military promotion, with little else of note.

There's a little detail of the Iran contra scandal, some discussion of the gulf war (Desert Shield), but I'd like if it were written later and talked more about the GWB WMD crusade.

What I'm NOT Reading Now: The Narrows

I try to read lots of different audiobooks; often I don't even look at a cover or synopsis before I try a book. This plan can have big pay-offs; some of the best books I've read are those that I would have skipped if I had seen the covers first.

I tried to get through Michael Connelly's The Narrows, I really did. I think I just don't like the popular modern genre of "crime drama", and I don't understand why they sell so well.

I was actually laughing when, for the half-dozenth time, the investigator stopped a line of questioning and said to himself "I knew I'd visit this later, but ... [insert excuse here]." It's ridiculous that the main character was flagging at his duties in an obvious attempt to unfold secrets to the reader at an appropriate pace to maintain reader interest. Then when you throw in the first-person view of the homicidal maniac getting sexually aroused from the thought of the torture he'd perform, and I was done.

I put this one down after a few chapters, and it's pages won't occupy my shelf nor will its digital audio dwell on my hard disk like the rest of my collection.

Morning fun: watch the DJIA fall

Every morning lately, I take a look at the Dow-Jones Industrial Average, and have noticed that sustained impressive daily losses over a work week have created this cartoonish graph of the market:



I remember a year ago I was given the option of connecting my health savings account with the market, I decided it was too risky to gamble with the money I need to pay for medication and doctor bills. That was a lucky decision - the DJIA has dropped 42% since then.

Another interesting view: the market is now 3% lower than it was 10 years ago, eliminating all gains made in a decade. I don't even want to check the status of my 401k.

What I'm Reading Now: If Death Ever Slept

I like finding unread Rex Stout books at used bookstores. This copy of If Death Ever Slept is my 29th jaunt through 1930's New York City, solving crime with slick Archie Goodwin and brilliant, but grouchy Nero Wolfe. I wonder when I'll have exhausted every title written.

On usability and the telephone ring

Last week xkcd had a great post of something I've been lecturing on for years. I've staunchly argued that all phones, mobile or otherwise, should emit a sound like a ringing bell when there is an incoming call. The Comic:



The issue is that the ringing bell sound has been the only option for the entire history of the device, including of a century of human usage. It's extremely easy to recognize that sound, even for very small children, and even in a crowd of other noise. All of society knows how to recognize it, what it means, and how to respond.

Enter: the custom ringtone, which obliterates all of that excellent usability. My wife puts a top-40 hit on her phone, and when we hear it at the mall on the PA system, she reaches for her purse. When her phone rings in the car, she turns down the stereo. It's a mess.

If you need custom tones because you just can't bear to let AT&T only collect their standard $50/month from you, and you must fill their coffers with a few bucks every time you like a new song, then please indulge yourselves by assigning tones to SMS, email, PTT, alarm, IM, and other alerts. Those don't have a rich history of standard usage to destroy.

What it takes to immigrate into the USA

Wow, this immigration-to-the-USA diagram from the October issue of Reason is very interesting, and well drawn. Why exactly do we draw lines around the globe to limit how people can live and be governed, anyway? Having your freedom limited by your birth seems a leftover from feudalism that should be eliminated.

Click through for full view:



Heavy-handed immigration laws inhumane and anachronistic. We should consider how we can manage & improve the world for all human beings, not only for people arbitrarily born near us.

I think that makes patriotism bad as well. Contemporary scholar of ethics, Paul Gomberg, makes the obvious comparison between patriotism and racism. You can't put your country & compatriots first unless you put others second. That's clearly prejudice, if not strictly racist, but just as unethical.

[ original here and here ]

Drew is so metal

Some of you may think I'm exposing my kids to a bit too much heavy metal for a preschooler to handle, but that's not exactly what was going on here:



I asked my boy how old he was, and he held up three fingers in the easiest way he could manage and yelled "I'm three!" He mentioned nothing of Black Sabbath.

woot.com: great return policy

I've got to give woot.com credit - I told them my Sansa Sandisk Sanmeister was broken, and they asked no questions. I got an email back saying that a new one was in shipment to me, and that a prepaid fedex box was provided for me to ship back my defective unit later. The new unit has a navwheel that's a little sluggish, but I'm not complaining as it's a whole lot better than having only one channel of audio.