Posts by Friendly Neighborhood Yank

RIP: Peak Oil - we won't be running out any time soon

Peak oil is the wrong thing to watch for

People always seem to think peak oil is warning about us "running out". I've always thought a better way to express what peak oil is really warning about is: "the end of Easy oil". We will never totally run out of oil, but the days of burning it off because it's bubbling out of the ground are long gone. As we have to go to greater lengths just to get what's left (or free what's trapped), the cost keeps increasing. We are rapidly approaching a time when many people simply can't afford to burn oil casually.

That economic crunch when people have to adjust their lives because of the sky high cost of oil is what "peak oil" has always been warning about. And from where I'm sitting, that prediction has proven remarkably accurate.

Proview offers Apple peace talks amid Shanghai iPad ban bid

No fan of Apple, but....

I am no fan of Apple, but this is extortion. Apple made the deal, and bought the rights - anything held in reserve was a trick at best, and the worst kind of legal wrangling in all likely hood. However, China will have to tread carefully here. Everyone knows IP theft is rampant, reverse engineering other's products is SOP, and "third shifting" the manufacturing line is common. But if China tips it's hand that even top tier companies will be stolen from and have no recourse - well, I would imagine the exodus from China will be massive.

So - the Chinese party leaders (the real judges in this case) will have to decide; is this shakedown worth the potential blowback?

The world is watching.

The cure for US job woes: More immigrants

business speak 101

CEO to college kids: STEM fields are the future of our nation - work hard to get that technical degree - it's worth it!

CEO to hiring department: I won't pay over X to hire a tech worker. If you can't find a citizen willing to take a wage that low, just hire an H1B foriegner. If it doesn't work out, fire them and they'll be deported.

/It's about "supply and demand", ie : increase the supply of tech workers, so they can't demand a decent wage. CEO is, of course, a buisness major.

Iran displays video footage of captured US spy drone

Pure Speculation

Since no one really knows, this is open to speculation - and here's mine. It's probably the real deal, but it's most likely that control was lost and it went into a flat spin and crashed on it's belly (which is why they are covering that part).

If it is real, then the Chinese and Russians are definitely in a bidding war with Iran to get the thing. Of course, if I were the Iranians, I wouldn't stand to close to it - when the US destroys it with a missile, there is probably going to be quite the crater.

/Explosion icon, because it's likely to be the drones ultimate fate.

Hacker cuffed in job interview sting with hotel he blackmailed

check your targets

You don't blackmail your way into a job with the mob. If you don't think that anology is accurate, you haven't delt with a US Corporation.

Open source team creates apocalypse survival kit

doh!

"End of the world? No problem! I have this awesome book on how to reconstruct civilization from scratch. Give me a minute, I'll go fetch my kindle."

Barnes & Noble complain to DoJ over Redmond nobbling

Really?

Let's see if I have this straight: Google starts the open handset alliance, and cooperatively develops a new OS based on the Linux kernel, and middleware libraries and APIs they custom wrote in C. They released this for free (Apache License), and maintain it with the Android Open Source Project.

Then Microsoft comes along and claims this new product infringes on their vague patents, and threaten legal action if the users of this (free) software don't pay them License fees? Wow - I guess since no one wants windows for handsets, they need to patent troll to monetize someone elses innovation.

Amazon's Kindle Fire burns iPad momentum

Nook Tablet

I canceled my pre-order for the Fire, and went for the new Nook Tablet. Twice the RAM (1GB .vs 512MB), twice the storage (16GB .vs 8GB), an SD expansion slot, better screen, longer battery life, and I can use my existing netflix subscription rather than Amazon's Prime. All for an extra $50.

It's a gift for the wife, I think it will be perfect for web surfing (oh yeah, nook doesn't use Amazon's cloud based proxy "silk") facebook, aps and games - which is pretty much what she does on the web anyway.

Catholic Bishops: 'Would you mind not bringing guns to church?'

Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition

I have a CCW (for over a decade now) and here we get to carry anything we legally can own. Interesting note about "flick knives" - here we can't carry switch blades (which fully extend the blade by pressing a release switch) but we can have "spring assist" knives (you press a bump on the blade that extends through the handle, which gets the blade moving - then a spring takes over and it flicks open instantly). They are called "legal switch blades" because despite the fact you're starting the blades travel, in practice they are indistinguishable from side folding switch blades.

I rarely carry, it doesn't seem worth the hassle most times. The CCW is for when I travel to unfamiliar places. I think the church crowd who would carry have bought into the media scares. Over here we've had a few church shootings - but most often it seems to be right wing extremists attacking "liberal" churches. Any church with gun toting parishioners is unlikely to be liberal - and therefore unlikely to be attacked by right wing extremists.

/rarely attand church - and have never carried a weapon in one.