Skype/iTunes on OS X

I just discovered a really cool feature of Skype in OS X. When you’re bumping music in iTunes and you dial out using Skype, the iTunes track immediately pauses, and upon call completion the music plays again.

It’s really convenient, not having to switch between programs and manually do it.

Boeing vs. The Union

Greedy, despicable human beings.

I’m not a fan of unions. I’m glad they were formed, because back then, workers were not being treated well enough. Establishing family-friendly 40-hour workweeks and ensuring worker safety were important steps forward. However, when unions only aim is to suck their employer dry, that’s really sickening.

Unions hold the cards, because they can put the company out of business with a prolonged strike. Unions can be greedy, and their leaders sometimes think only of what they can get out of management, rather than what is fair or what is needed.

Consider Boeing. They’re in the middle of a global buying frenzy for new planes. They have billions in orders, and an 8-year backlog. Boeing has delayed plane deliveries, and a potential work-stoppage now could increase penalties for delayed planes.

Here comes the union.

They came with their demands, including a list of specific ones that would trigger a strike. Of course, they were asking for the world, and Boeing couldn’t deliver on all of the workers’ wishlist items.

Now, the IAM (the union of Machinists) has recommended that its members vote down Boeing’s offer. The vote is to take place Wednesday.

There is already some extreme opposition to the IAM showing up online. Over at the Seattle times, commenter Bret from Spokane says:

The union has gotten way out of hand. Fair labor was the goal of unions when they were necessary. This union is bent on bringing the company to its knees. The union’s position and tactics disgust me and seem a perversion of the original purpose of the union system.

Bob from Seattle gives an additional view:

Honestly, they should all be fired. Voting to strike in this economic climate isn’t very bright. They should be happy to have jobs at all.

Scott from Shoreline says:

Given the current state of the economy, the machinists shouldn’t expect support from the public if they choose to strike. Most people I know, including non-machinist Boeing employees, were ENVIOUS of the final offer the company made. There’s bargaining for a better contract, and then there’s just plain stupidity. Wake up, IAM, you’re burning the coffee.

Another commenter referenced Ronald Reagan’s victory over the Air-Traffic Controllers union in 1981, in which air-traffic controllers called in sick to simulate a strike in order to extract more pay and benefits. Ronald Reagan famously had the Transportation Secretary train replacements, and all the striking controllers were fired and replaced.

Perhaps Boeing should’ve thought about training a non-union manufacturing force outside of Washington State prior to this impasse.

I’m guessing that Boeing’s offer will be approved by the union members next week, signifying a huge defeat for the union leadership.

What do you think of the IAM’s recommendation to strike Boeing? - Seattle Times

Tip

When referring to the homeless, bring some cheer into the picture and instead call them “outdoorsmen”, as San Diegans have begun to do. It makes the failure that is their life seem just that much more pleasant! They’re not hooked on drugs or drink, they just prefer being next to nature!

(Thanks, Monica.)

Postcards from Greece

Here are a few photos from my trip in Greece from last month:

(click on them individually to enlarge)

Brita Tip

Filling my Brita water-filtration pitcher is a pain — it takes fully 30 seconds to fill under the kitchen faucet’s meager flow.

Solution: Put the pitcher in the bathtub, and fill it out of the bath faucet. Takes about 3 seconds. Booyah.

Obama’s $3 Bill

Snohomish County Republican Party volunteers sold fake $3 bills depicting Sen. Barack Obama in traditional Arab headgear, with a camel. The bills identify Obama as “Da Man” and show signatures for “Teddy Kennedy, Chief Socialism Advisor.”

Classy.

The GOP isn’t to blame for this, because some volunteer/supporter brought a stack of the bills without the approval of the County head. Upon discovering volunteers were selling the bills, they were promptly removed.

$3 Bill Mocking Obama Sold At GOP’s State Fair Booth - KIROTV.com

Piscina

I’ve really got a connection to pools. Perhaps it’s in my genes.

“…in 2500 B.C., Egyptians knew swimming as an organized activity. Depictions of swimming from India are equally old. Ancient Romans constructed artificial pools for athletic training, nautical games and military exercises. Swimming was also part of boys’ education.

Extravagant swimming pools with live fish entertained Roman emperors, and gave the pool its Latin name piscina. Ancient Greeks [...] practice[d] the sport and built swimming pools as part of their baths. The first heated swimming pool was built in Rome in the first century BC.

England’s first indoor swimming pool, the 40-foot-long Bagnio [...] in London, opened in 1742. King Ludwig II of Bavaria built the first-ever wave pool with electrically heated water and light in his Linderhof castle in 1879.

In the U.S., the earliest public swimming pools were small indoor pools built with the intention of encouraging better hygiene among the poor. By the 1920s, the American public pool had become a large public place of amusement and recreation for thousands at a time. Home swimming pools became popular in the U.S. after WWII and Hollywood films made the backyard pool an important status symbol.”

The last building I lived in downtown had a nice pool and spa, and now that I’m without one in Bellevue, I walk a half mile each way just to luxuriate in warm water. I just can’t be without this modern necessity that I’ve grown to love so much.

My favorite condo development in Seattle, Cristalla, is on the site of the former Crystal Pool, which was built in 1915:

The new building incorporates two full walls from the old pool, in addition to sporting a dome at the northeast corner which echoes the old dome of the Crystal Pool (visible at the bottom of the structure, in the middle):

Where are the world’s coolest hotel pools? - The Cool Hunter

Bellevue Waterfront

Could you imagine downtown Bellevue with a proper waterfront, complete with restaurants and a boardwalk?

Here’s a glimpse:

(click to enlarge)

The Bellevue Waterfront - Flickr

Adam Tensta - My Cool

Adam Testa - My Cool

Daddy Yankee Endorses McCain

In the highly-prized demographic of reggaeton-listeners, a major coup has taken place: Daddy Yankee, king of the charts, has formally endorsed John McCain for president. Rumors are swirling that McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, will usher the Puerto Rican onto the GOP ticket as his VP in order to win more Latino voters in Florida, Texas, Colorado, and Nevada.

Check out the Wall Street Journal’s sedate and serious coverage of the endorsement:

“Daddy Yankee is known for the song “Gasolina.” Many in the press corps joked about the intersection of the song and McCain’s energy policy (the song’s lyrics, when translated into English, have a male voice yelling “She likes gasoline!” followed by a female voice responding: “Give me more gasoline!” ) . In fact, [WSJ's] Washington Wire is told the phrase has nothing to do with the traditional meaning of gasoline.”

I just love how lowbrow the song is, and how unwilling WSJ is to let its readers know the song’s real meaning. Classic.

McCains Yankee Doodle Dandy - WSJ

It’s BIDEN!

Didn’t mean to burst your bubble, but with ABC News reporting that the United States Secret Service has dispatched a protective detail to assume the immediate protection of Sen. Joseph Biden, it’s pretty clear that Biden is Obama’s running mate for 2008.

U.S. Secret Service on Way to Biden’s House; Kaine and Bayh Told Nope on Veep - ABC News

Michael Phelps for VP

Barack Obama would do well to choose Michael Phelps for Vice President.

He’s got good international experience, and has the female vote locked up.

Obama’s 4 Worst VP Picks - Comedy Central

Featured Comment

Not that this is a big honor or anything, but something I wrote in response to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article has been selected as the Featured Comment over at John Cook’s Seattle P-I Venture Blog:

The article in question is here:

Helping people find what they need on Google

Taking A Look At Palm

Palm, the smartphone maker, might just be making a comeback.

Over the last year or two, they’ve had a management shakeout, 25% of the company was bought by U2’s Bono and some ex-Apple execs, and the company’s aging product line was refreshed (on the low end by the Centro, and on the high end by the 800w and the Treo Pro a.k.a. Treo 850).

From a product competitiveness standpoint, Palm is in the best shape it’s been in since the launch of the Treo 700 and Treo 750 in 2006. Their new high-end Treos have all the specs needed (WiFi, GPS, HSDPA) to compete with RIM (BlackBerry) and the other Windows Mobile devices (Motorola Q9, Samsung Blackjack II). The problem is that in 2008, the smartphone market is more competitive than it was in 2005 and 2006 — the last period of time that Palm performed well. Palm products now have the iPhone to compete with, as well as a line of BlackBerries that has more depth (different models to serve more niche audiences) and more enterprise adoption (many firms have been running BlackBerry Enterprise Server for years and are unlikely to switch).

Clearly, Palm’s new products are not a ‘perfect storm’ scenario. In fact, if anything, it’s a truly sad situation: Palm finally came out of the gate with some really strong products, and their competition has already decided their fate by having cooler products (Apple) and a competitive moat (RIM).

Let’s look at Palm stock for a moment. Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) is down 49% in the last 12 months. By comparison, its northern competitor, RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) is up more than 65%. Palm stock has followed a pattern since November 2007 of occasionally rallying to $7, and then falling down closer to $5. As recently as a month ago, shares could be had for $5.33. Since then, we’ve seen a stronger-than-usual rally, with the stock surpassing $7. Shares today are selling for $7.76 (a gain of more than 40% in only 4 weeks!). Now, if you look at previous rallies from earlier this spring and summer, you’ll see that this one could very well subside just as the previous ones did. Palm’s income statement and cash flow numbers don’t look very promising, which lends to the idea that share purchases will be contained, and share sales would perhaps outpace purchases. But if you believe, as I do, that Palm’s new products will propel them to higher sales numbers during the 3rd and 4th quarters, perhaps buying Palm shares makes sense.

I’m still trying to figure out where I stand on Palm.

I guess it doesn’t matter if Palm makes a sensational comeback or not. They’ve at least proven that they can take on powerhouse RIM, which may be consolation enough.

Edit: Wired GadgetLab and a telecom analyst at Global Crown Capital seem to agree.

Humor Mirrors Reality

Humor: Obama’s Hillbilly Half-Brother Threatening To Derail Campaign - The Onion

Reality: Barack Obama’s ‘lost’ brother found in Kenya, living in hut! - The Telegraph

KDDI au’s Musical Mobiles

KDDI au’s concept phones also work as instruments. A trumpet, a harmonica. Your imagination is the only limitation.

KDDI au Design Project 2008

AltaRock

This is sick.

You never thought crack rocks could be so profitable, or so positive for society (technically, using water to crack really hot rocks, underground).

Google, Paul Allen, others sink $26 million in geothermal startup

Hypocrisy on Georgia

This video comes from a far-left network, and is presented in a propaganda style, but it’s a good segment nonetheless because of the question it poses: Are John McCain and George W. Bush hypocrites for criticizing Russia’s incursion into Georgia when they fervently supported the much bloodier U.S. occupation of Iraq?

Veepstakes

Who is going to be each party’s presidential running-mate?

If Bloomberg becomes the VP of either party, I will vote for that party.

The odds put Joe Biden as Obama’s choice, and Mitt Romney as McCain’s.

I love the idea of either of them becoming the Veep, but I’d be crushed if some idiot like Mike Huckabee, Evan Bayh, or Hillary Clinton came into the picture for either side.

The only argument against Biden is that he’s not from the South (and neither is Obama). All Democrats who won the presidency in the last 45 years (correct me if I’m wrong) have come from the South. Because Obama hails from Chicago, he might want some Southern flavor on the ticket to deliver some of those states. John McCain will probably do well in the South, even without a Southern running mate.

Chinese Athletes

Reports indicate that sprinter/hurdler Liu Xiang was unable to run his heat because Chinese government officials had worked him so hard in order to get a medal that his body couldn’t handle the training, and he became injured.

Liu Xiang’s Olympic prospects ruined by China’s sports system, claims coach - The Telegraph

I strongly recommend you read this article about Yao Ming’s own oversized contribution to the Chinese, and its effects on his body/career. His career will end much earlier than it could have due to the way the Chinese national team has trained his body into the ground. He’s a patriot, and let the state have its way at the expense of his career. It’s very sad.

Yao has delivered, now it’s China’s turn - Yahoo! Sports

Bye-Bye Musharraf

I’m really happy that Pervez Musharraf has resigned.  Now if we can just get Robert Mugabe (and perhaps Hugo Chavez) to step down, we’d really be in for a treat!

Musharraf Resigns As President - Sky News

Poland Nuked?

This whole thing is really getting out of hand:

“Moscow lashed out at Washington and Warsaw on Friday, saying the plan to site a US anti-missile defence shield in Poland would undermine the global balance of power and put Poland at risk of nuclear attack.”

That kind of threat from Russia will only impede progress, and it only serves to alienate countries all over the world who side with Poland with regard its right to freely ally — and sign treaties with — other nations.

Missile shield accord draws Russian fire

Alternative Energy Expiring

Companies won’t invest in U.S. alternative-energy generation because the incentive system (of subsidies) is unpredictable (federal subsidies for solar expire December 31, 2008).

Congress needs to renew them, and, for whatever reason, hasn’t pushed it through.  It’s been voted on 8 times this year, and has been defeated all 8 times.  John McCain missed all 8 votes, including one occasion when he stayed in his senate office instead of voting for this important piece of energy policy.  Barack Obama failed to vote on July 30th, the 8th and final vote on the subsidies.  Each candidate should be ashamed of themselves.

The only positive thing that the candidates share on energy is that they’re for offshore drilling, and that doesn’t really matter, considering Congress adjourned without passing a bill on the subject.

Congress has failed us, and so have Messrs. McCain and Obama.

Eight Strikes and You’re Out - NYT

Whole Foods

Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) has been having a tough year.  Consumers have been hit by the economic downturn and high gas prices, and are scaling back their spending on top-shelf goods, such as those at Whole Foods.  In addition to the broader consumer ills, Whole Foods bought out its chief competitor (acquisitions rarely turn out well, in case you didn’t know), Wild Oats, and integrating their new purchase has been costly and full of unforeseen speedbumps.  Then, Whole Foods got hit by the E. coli bug recently, when they found out that one of their beef suppliers had switched up its processing plant without giving notice, which ended in Whole Foods’ beef being contaminated with E. coli, and a costly and embarrassing recall.

What does all of this bad news mean?  Potentially, it means a buying opportunity: Whole Foods stock is down fully 75% from its peak in early 2006.  The Motley Fool, a stock research service for retail investors that I happen to subscribe to, has noticed the stock’s precipitous fall as well, and is advising its subscribers to think about buying shares now.

Is Whole Foods a bargain?

Isaac Hayes

First it was Bernie Mac who bought the farm, and now I’ve read that Isaac Hayes just did the same.

Is it just me, or does it seem like there’s some homicidal maniac going around, murdering black entertainers?

Taiwan

Well, it’s just a name.

In deference to the People Republic of China, the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) calls Taiwan “TAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINA” instead of Taiwan’s preferred name, “Taiwan, Republic of China”. The PRC wants it to appear that Taiwan belongs to the PRC, when in reality, Taiwan is de facto independent, and has been for decades.

On the Beijing Olympics website, they’ve gone as far as calling them “Chinese Taipei” instead of Taiwan. What will they call Taiwan next?

Tip: Olympic Medal Count

Google has an Olympic Medal Count hack. Just type in the search term “medal count”, and Google will show you the top three countries, along with the amounts of gold, silver, and bronze medals, followed by their respective medal total. I took the URL of the search query and favorited it on my mobile phone, and it loads in a flash.

The US is first in the medal count, with 6 (2, 1, 3). China is tied with South Korea (both scoring 2, 1, 0). If your measure is by amount of gold medals, then all three countries are tied.

It would be really cool if somebody built a desktop widget, or similar for mobile phones, so as to display the medal count, updating automatically. Hopefully by the next Olympics, we’ll have it.

Google Medal Count

Bloomberg’s New ‘New Deal’

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is incensed with the federal and regulatory response to our current economic malaise, and has called for a new New Deal:

We have the opportunity to get the stimulus right this time - if we take a different approach: putting more Americans to work building the infrastructure that we need to compete in the global economy and to remain the world’s economic superpower.

It’s time for a new New Deal - one that invests more money, more wisely. It is as impossible to imagine America without FDR’s New Deal as it is to imagine the country without Eisenhower’s interstate highway system. Those massive public investments epitomized both the vision and courage that are desperately lacking in today’s Washington.

Candidates and elected officials listen to voters, but who talks about infrastructure? We must start talking - and start delivering a very simple message to our elected officials: Stop playing politics and start putting people to work building America’s future.

With rising (but still historically low) unemployment, such an infrastructure program could provide our country with valuable works that would pay dividends for decades.  We could improve transportation, spend a little public money on domestic alternative energy, or fix bridges and dams.  The crazy people over at LaRouche PAC have actually been making noise on this issue for a while; even before the specter of hurricane Katrina put infrastructure investments on the map again.  Larouche PAC, and the Army Corps of Engineers contend that the system of dams in the Ohio River Valley is dangerously under-maintained.  ”In 2004, nearly a quarter of the lock chambers on the Ohio River exceeded their 50-year design life,” stated a Corps press release.  The Upper Mississippi/Illinois Waterway installations—37 dams and locks on a 1,200 river-mile system—are even in worse shape than those of the Ohio.

In case you think inland waterways are just some minor issue that Congress can afford to forget about, the Army Corps of Engineers has some great stats on the goods that travel through Louisville’s McAlpine Locks:

56 million tons of commodities were shipped through McAlpine Locks in 2006.  These shipments had a combined value of $11.6 billion.  The leading commodity shipped through McAlpine Locks was coal, which made up 38% of the total tonnage.  

Considering how important these waterways are to our energy distribution (not to mention energy security), couldn’t our leaders invest some money in keeping the infrastructure working?

Mike Bloomberg has a point, but in an election year, will Americans listen to a man who is not on a Presidential ticket?

Mayor says to snap out of economic funk, U.S. needs new New Deal

Well Done, Barney Frank

Barney Frank (D - MA), someone who I rarely agree with, has taken a Libertarian stance on drug enforecement:

Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank told the House on Wednesday that the U.S. should stop arresting responsible marijuana users and introduced a proposal to end federal penalties for Americans carrying fewer than 100 grams.

“The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government’s business. I don’t think it is the government’s business to tell you how to spend your leisure time.”

I believe Congress should spend more time striking down over-reaching laws and less time creating new ones.

Who would have thought that a far-left leaning Congressman from the most liberal state in the union would support less regulation? Perhaps the majority of his liberal supporters also enjoy copious amounts of drugs?

I don’t use drugs myself, but I’m firmly against my tax dollars supporting the very costly criminal incarceration of hundreds of thousands of minor drug users.

Kudos, Mr. Frank.

Legislators aim to snuff out penalties for pot use