Sleepless in Midland

Little wonder government workers voted for Obama

Federal employees are weathering the recession in fine form. While employees in the private sector worry about pay cuts, furloughs and layoffs, the number of federal employees is growing, and the pay checks are getting fatter. Source, and excerpt:

Executive branch employment — 1.98 million in 2009, excluding the Postal Service and the Defense Department — is set to increase by 15.6 percent for the 2010 fiscal year. Most of that is thanks to the Census Bureau hiring 102,000 temporary workers, but not counting them still yields a net increase of 2 percent in one year.

There's little belt-tightening in evidence in Washington, D.C.: Counting benefits, the average pay per federal worker will leap from $72,800 in 2008 to $75,419 next year.

[Emphasis added.]

And Mr. Obama cares about government employees and what they think so much that he will let them influence his budget process. See Employee satisfaction survey will play role in budget process. Excerpt:

The Obama administration plans to use a biennial survey of employee satisfaction and morale to shape the 2011 budget process, according to Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget.

True, we want workers at any job to have some degree of satisfaction. But is it asking too much to take a customers' satisfaction survey to determine whether the agency is actually providing the service they are paid to do? And better yet, let's ask taxpayers where to cut and where to spend. Now there's a radical concept.

To get your own federal job, go to USAjobs.gov where it says, "There are 33,112 U.S. Government job opportunities worldwide."

Biden "misread the economy"

Vice President Biden recently claimed that he and everyone else misread the economy when he was questioned on ABC about the rising unemployment numbers. The administration team was talking down the economy for the entire duration of the campaign leading up to the '08 election, so maybe he's admitting to some pre-election hyperbole. Or perhaps he and the President are not cognizant of the effect they themselves have had on the economy. Or more likely, both are true. But so far they've done little to reassure any citizen who has a basic understanding of economics.

For Mr. Biden, it's a case of vision shaped by a lifetime in government. For Mr. Obama, it's the vision of a naive ideologue with a remarkable understanding of how to get people to vote for him but a misguided belief that he can change fundamental human behavior.

There are giant deficit causing spending programs, threats of higher taxes, bank takeovers, auto industry takeovers, threats to credit companies, threats to cut executives' pay, threats to hinder the energy industry, threats to alter the health care profession, union favoritism, and other threats and actions Obama and team have made to the health of the economy. They may relish the power that results from the fear they cause, but everyone else has to suffer because of it.

The same thing happened during the Great Depression. See Great Depression 2.0 and Regime Uncertainty, inside. "Regime Uncertainty" is a phrase coined by Robert Higgs to describe the fear that a government can create in the business world, and that fear inhibits any desire in the private sector to make investments.

Listen to a podcast interview with Mr. Higgs at econtalk.org. And read his paper titled Regime Uncertainty (PDF) in which he discussed the years following the crash in which the economy operated substantially below it's capability to produce, and fear of the government prolonged the Great Depression by several years.

We hear talk about not repeating the mistakes of the Great Depression, but when Obama/Biden say it, they are probably not thinking beyond trade tariffs. They seem unwilling to admit to the fear they've created in the investment world and among the people and industries they expect will help lower the unemployment rate.

It's sooooo hot ...

It's so hot that roofers have to hose down the shingles before they can put them in place on the roof.

People in the profession have probably seen this before, but it's a first for me.

At a toasty 103°, it's hot, hot hot!

Google's new operating system

Well now, this is interesting. Google is developing a computer operating system.

Microsoft trounced all the rival PC operating systems and grabbed the lead back in the '80s. And currently, there is only one real rival, the open sourced Linux. Linux has a small but loyal following, and it just might get bigger since the Google OS is going to be based on Linux. Their initial focus is on netbook computers, and here's what the Official Google Blog says:

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Via Marketwatch.com.

The way they describe it it should be a nice OS for web use, but it's not so clear whether it would be much use for those of us who still use old fashioned word processing, photo editing and other software planted firmly in our PCs.

Further, Google probably already has enough stored information to compile a dossier on each and every one of us, and the Google Chrome browser together with the Google Chrome OS may just make Google closer than a family member. How good Google will be in the future with the history of our personal computer usage is anybody's guess.

Bank robbers, don't forget to update your Facebook page

There's just something about those social networking sites that really must hook users into them. Here's a fellow who robbed a bank then bragged about it on his MySpace page.

He wrote on his MySpace.com page, "One in the head $till ain’t dead!!!!!! On tha run for robbin a bank Love all of yall," federal court documents say.

Link .

The social network is the local bar, the locker room, the hair salon and everything else that once served as a place to brag and gossip.

Remember Leo Gao? See On the lam? Don't forget to update Facebook. He's the New Zealand chap who took advantage of a bank's mistaken deposit into his account and high tailed it for Hong Kong with his gal pal.  They are still on the loose, however, police may be closing in.

And now we learn that the wife of the British M16 incoming chief has plastered family photos all over her own page. See The Spy Who Loved to Wear Speedos. Although the only real harm there is probably that it made it a little easier on the tabloids and paparazzi. Her page has since been taken down -- tough luck, Smersh.

Say, have you heard about this "Twitter" thing? All the rage, it seems. Just a matter of time before someone tweets a true crime confession.

Odessa Tea Party, July 4, 2009

Rally organizers in Odessa were on top of the Tea Party game last April 15 when they put together a fabulous event. And they did it again yesterday, July 4. The spirits were high, the speakers were eloquent, and the temperature was HOT, HOT, HOT!

The rally got started shortly after noon, and the speakers and audience celebrated the 4th of July with an appreciation of their right to speak freely and express concern about the problems the country faces, problems which resulted in no small part from the actions of our esteemed elected officials.

In fact, it's not just a right, it's a patriotic duty to our friends, neighbors and fellow Americans to speak up about problems that needs addressing. The participants had various concerns; some were religious, but most were political. And one thing on which they all would probably agree is that our government is out of control with the spending. Whether the people in our government know pork when they see it or whether they think all spending is somehow good for the country, the President and Congress have been spending with less caution than a lottery winning cocaine addict.

One noteworthy sign said "OK, we're here. What Now?" She summed up the feeling a lot of the attendees must have felt, a sense of helplessness as our government has spent so much money it will take three generations to pay it back. The Republicans started it, and the Democrats are building it into a Frankenstein monster they won't be able to control, and the citizenry can only watch in astonishment.

When our biggest creditor, which also happens to be a rival super power, is worried about the wisdom of their investments maybe it's time to wake. Perhaps that's role that the Tea Party movement will serve -- a barking guard dog warning that burglars are hauling off our life savings.  We can go back to sleep and let it happen or wake up and take a stand.

Links: Odessa Tea Party website; video; and previously, Odessa Tea Party April 15.

Road Notes: Tatum, New Mexico -- SPEED TRAP! SPEED TRAP!

I made the trip between Midland, TX, and Roswell, NM, the other day, and my GPS directed me along a route that consisted of about 90 miles between the Texas state line and Roswell, NM, along U.S. Highway 380. There's isn't much between Roswell and Texas on that highway, so almost every vehicle on that road is either going to or coming from Texas.

With a speed limit drop of 70 in Texas to 65 in New Mexico, the New Mexicans must feel a little bit queasy with all those speedy Texans on the road. And that may explain why there were so many NM State Police out there on July 3. And each time I saw one he was writing a ticket. (If I had been thinking I would have looked to see if the ticket recipients had Texas plates. DOH! Maybe next time.)

Then there's Tatum. The two lane highway widens to a smooth four lanes as it enters Tatum, a little town with a population of fewer than a thousand people. Oh yeah, the speed limit slows to 30 mph, and the law was certainly being enforced that day in what could be the biggest source of revenue that tiny little town has. In a sense, it's like a toll road with a free ride for those who slow to a snail's pace and a steep fee for any driver who doesn't.

No, I didn't get a ticket, but others did. Welcome to New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment.

What planet are you from?

One would have to be from another planet not to know about the alleged UFO touch down in Roswell, NM, way back in '47. It had a very rational explanation, but that shouldn't interfere with the need to party.

Some community minded individual had the brilliant idea to celebrate the event with an annual Rowell UFO Festival, and it has to be the envy of communities all across the country. "Why couldn't the space aliens have landed in our town?"

The event is going on this weekend. And your faithful blogger made the journey to Roswell to help celebrate the arrival of the visitors from outer space. (Day trip only, no room at the inns.)

There were several events planned for the celebration throughout the weekend, including a visit from the actor Malcolm McDowell and concerts by Jefferson Starship. But most importantly, costume contests!

If there's one thing that scientists know, it's that earthlings and extraterrestrials share a love for dogs. And no close encounter of the third kind would be complete without an Alien Pet Contest so canines from space could strut their stuff and show off their costumes.

Then there was a contest for the humanoid type aliens. What a sight to behold. The photos you see in this post are just teasers, see more at Roswell 2009.

From the editor: One shouldn't address extraterrestrials with a sentence or question ending in a preposition. -- ed

OK, so what planet are you from, space monkey?

A trillion here, a trillion there ...

"A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money." That's the famous quote attributed to Everett Dirksen. Now days a billion seems insignificant compared to the trillions of dollars each of the new government proposals are projected to cost.

A friend told me about a recent article describing how Republican pollsters were trying to get people to focus on how much the Obama programs would cost. According to the article, GOP pollsters would ask people to "think of a dollar as one second - one dollar, one brief tick of your watch. A million seconds, the pollster explained, equals eleven days. A billion seconds equals 31 years. And a trillion seconds equals 310 centuries." They must have done some rounding, and math checkers might come up with a few more centuries, but that certainly is a big chunk of time no matter how you add it up.

The number "trillion" really is a big one, and most of us don't encounter it in our daily lives, except when we try to comprehend the government. So let's do the math.

1,000 = one thousand
1,000,000 = one million
1,000,000,000 = one billion, and
1,000,000,000,000 = one trillion.

A trillion is a "one" followed by 12 zeros and four commas. For a visualization of a guy standing next to a trillion dollars in 100 bills check out this image. It's like a "Where's Waldo" with a tiny little Waldo.

Interestingly, the number of votes cast in the 2008 presidential election, 131,257,328, is remarkably close to the total number of taxpayers, 135,719,160 (2006 number). Let's divide the trillion dollars among the taxpayers, and each gets $7,368.16. (It was divided equally so as to satisfy Mr. Obama's share-the-wealth needs even though the burden wasn't shared equally.)

WolframAlpha tells us there are 6.57 billion people on the planet (as of 7/2/09). So each of them could get $152.21.

Breitbart tells us that China is holding $700 billion in U.S. bonds, so we could pay that off and still have $300 billion left over to give each U.S. resident almost a thousand dollars! Or Congress could squander the remainder on pet projects.

If there are any trillionaires out there Forbes doesn't report them. So maybe we should create one. Devise a computer program whereby one form 1040 is selected at random from all the IRS forms filed in 2008, and that person gets the trillion dollars and become the richest person on the planet.

And what if Barack Obama happened to be that winner? We all know he would be so altruistic that he would plow it into a healthcare program for the uninsured. Ya think? George Bush would probably buy land. Bill Clinton or Mark Sanford could afford to make a million indecent proposals to some lucky lady.

In any event, a trillion dollars is one heck of a lot of money. And it's depressing to contemplate the fact that voters are so acquiescent. At least we now know what "hope" and "change" meant.

How bad could the Canadian healthcare system really be?

The health care issue in the U.S. certainly has blood pressures rising. However, regardless of the side one takes, most will agree that there are some aspects of the distribution system that could be better.

One doesn't need to look far for complaints about the long waits for medical attention in Canada, the one problem that seems to get the most play in the debate whenever a comparison is made with the Canadian system.

That's nothing new to those of us living out in the U.S. boonies. Long waits for a doctor's appointment are routine. And once in the front door, there is usually another long wait to actually see a doc. Maybe a Canadian style system in the U.S. would mean even longer waits. But let's see what a Canadian has to say about it.

DenverPost.com has an article titled Debunking Canadian Health Care Myths by Rhonda Hackett in which she attempted to bust some myths about the Canadian health care system. This excerpt addresses the long waits:

Myth: There are long waits for care, which compromise access to care. There are no waits for urgent or primary care in Canada. There are reasonable waits for most specialists' care, and much longer waits for elective surgery. Yes, there are those instances where a patient can wait up to a month for radiation therapy for breast cancer or prostate cancer, for example. However, the wait has nothing to do with money per se, but everything to do with the lack of radiation therapists. Despite such waits, however, it is noteworthy that Canada boasts lower incident and mortality rates than the U.S. for all cancers combined, according to the U.S. Cancer Statistics Working Group and the Canadian Cancer Society. Moreover, fewer Canadians (11.3 percent) than Americans (14.4 percent) admit unmet health care needs.

President Obama has bitten off a big chunk to chew on, and he hasn't so far provided much reason to place any great confidence in his ability to solve problems. But maybe somehow, someway he will get lucky and a better health care distribution system might result from all of this. In the meantime those of us in flyover country will be patiently enduring the long wait under the present system for our doctors' appointments.

For an argument in favor of the status quo see 10 Surprising Facts about American Health Care.

What does the internet think?

This search engine, though some mysterious way, tries to analyze positive and negative attitudes toward words and phrases to tell us what the internet thinks. To find out, click What does the internet think? According to the disclaimer, "The results are merely a reflection of a majority in search term results for said search-engine(s)." And the results are indeed interesting and maybe even informative.

So let's give it a trial run and see what the internet thinks about layoffs, war on terror, swine flu, bird flu, global warming, WMD, weapons of mass destruction, and cash for clunkers. (The Google engine was used for simplicity.)

What does the internet think about this?

Query	Negative	Positive	Don't care
Layoffs	94%	4.8%	1.2%
War on Terror	36.5%	63.5%	0%
Swine Flu	74.4%	13.6%	12%
Bird Flu	27.5%	65.9%	6.6%
Global warming	54.6%	32.8%	12.6%
WMD	15.9%	55.7%	28.4%
Weapons of mass destruction	11.5%	73.6%	14.9%
Cash for clunkers	16.7%	83.3%	0%

Your results may vary.

Outsmarted by a squirrel -- varmints in the orchard

Oh that pesky rodent!

I'm trying to grow some pomegranate trees from seeds. And a wily squirrel has hijacked my orchard by smuggling some pecans into what was supposed to be my pom-patch.

The seeds were planted last fall, and when the seedlings started growing it was such a thrill to see about a dozen pomegranate trees spring up. I nurtured the little darlings. And they were durable, too. They survived a late freeze, a hail storm, and a dog romping all over them. My babies had some remarkable survival skills.

But as they grew larger something was oddly wrong -- the leaves didn't look anything at all like the leaves on the pomegranate tree that produced the seeds. Doh! These seedlings were pecan trees!

There is a pecan tree nearby, but the distribution of the pecan tree seedlings couldn't possibly be random. And the most rational theory is that a squirrel had secretly buried some pecans into that moist area that was supposed to be my future pomegranate orchard. And all my nurturing efforts have gone into raising some trees I didn't want. I think I know how those ex-husbands feel who end up having to pay child support for some handsome strangers' kids, in a micro sort of way.

But all is not lost. A couple of little pomegranate trees did spring up, plus another few came up in pots. So maybe there will actually be a fruit producing pomegranate tree in the back yard someday.

In the meantime, I'm onto that fuzzy tailed rat. You won this round you rascal. Congratulations. Now go ahead and get your prize, it's a tasty treat at the far end of that trap out there where your pecan tree seedlings used to be.

Bad GPS coordinates sent demolition crew to wrong house

Last weekend a neighbor down the street stopped by to use my phone to report her own phone outage. And when the service man arrived he phoned me to tell me that there was no house at the address we had given them. Oops, he had turned down the wrong street. He was staring at the vacant lot created when a house had been removed and written about on these pages. (See: Don't like your house? Move it out.)

Within about 20 minutes the neighbor called to report that the phone was back online. And we joked that it was a good thing this wasn't a demolition crew that ended up at the wrong house.

Well, lo and behold, that actually did happen to a house in Carroll County, Georgia. The owner lived in Atlanta, and he received a call from the yard man telling him his old family homestead was gone. According to the news story, the owner said the demolition crew relied on paperwork and GPS coordinates. But someone somewhere got something badly wrong. Here are the news links: Homeowner Says Crews Demolished Wrong House and Wrong house demolished, heirlooms lost in Carroll.

We don't have enough information to know what it was that sent the demolition team there, but damage was certainly done. And it's a mistake everyone would hope doesn't happen again anytime soon. Was it a bad GPS? The one in my car signals arrival when I'm about a block away from my destination, and the street numbers are way out of whack too, so maybe the one they used is equally flawed.

Along those lines, the City of Midland has a very proficient GIS department, and I've been told that one GPS manufacturer uses the city information to update that company's map database. So not all GPSes are on equal footing.

Schneier.com originally wrote about this incident and lamented the lack of incentives for people to authenticate sloppy or easily forged paperwork. But the civil justice system provides a very good incentive, and the demolition company's liability insurer, once they've paid a bundle for all of those priceless heirlooms, will surely be requiring some very stringent safeguards for any future demolition.

Farrah Fawcett

There was a time when you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting someone who knew Farrah Fawcett when she attended the University of Texas. It seemed that everyone who saw her there remembered her. Beautiful women have that effect, you know. There's a touching hometown tribute in the Corpus Christi Caller with some remarks from some of lifelong childhood friends.

Farrah Fawcett is probably best remembered to the rest of us for her role in "Charlie's Angels." The show had some entertainment value, but to jaded TV watchers it was merely a showcase for some gorgeous babes doing impossible things without bras. Although she had been in a few TV shows and commercials prior to that, once she became an Angel she skyrocketed to fame. She became so famous that she thought she could make the leap to movie stardom after just one season.

Didn't work out quite that way, though. However, she did have a few good TV roles. And the one most people will remember is the 1984 made-for-TV movie The Burning Bed, the movie about a battered women who took revenge. It's hard to say whether Ms. Fawcett was more popular with men or women before, but this movie made her a heroine to many feminists, and reaction to the movie probably convinced a lot of guys that women harbor some kind of secret kill-all-men fantasy. They don't, of course. [Don't be so sure. - ed.]

Those women skipped Small Sacrifices, the 1989 made-for-TV movie which is the one that made me a fan. Not because of the subject matter -- mom kills her children -- but because it took me by complete surprise. I would never have imagined an actress with her reputation accepting a role like that. It took courage. Not many people saw it, though.

Anyway, now she's gone, and 62 seems like too young an age to go. Anal cancer doesn't sound too pleasant, either. My hope is that she got good palliative care in her final days.

Finally, a memo to someone who desperately enjoys the spotlight, Kim Jung il. Poor guy just can't catch a headline. He staged an anti-American rally with 100,000 North Koreans and ended up on the back pages. Tough luck pal. Bad timing. You can't steal headlines from Farrah Fawcett.

Obamercial TV ratings

Last night President Obama and ABC teamed up for the prime time ObamaCare show, but the ratings weren't that hot. According to Race for Midweek Overnight Dominance in MediaWeek the ABC show came in third. Here's what they say the ratings were at that time slot:

#1 - CBS, rerun of "CSI: NY" at 5.1/ 9
#2 - NBC, "The Philanthropist" at 4.8/ 9
#3 - ABC, "Primetime – Questions for the President: Prescription for America" at 3.7/ 7

Last night ABC first had on "Wipeout" which scored 4.6/ 9, followed by "I survived a Japanese Game Show" which scored 2.4/ 4, and then the O'mercial with ratings of 3.7/ 7. Obama could have followed "Wipeout" for a bigger lead in, but then viewers might have been tempted to associate the name "Wipeout" with ObamaCare. Oh the decisions a President has to make!

In honor of the ABC Obamacare infomercial

The ABC Obamacare show is supposed to air tonight, and with an "I survived a Japanese Game Show" lead, the ratings should be huge.

There will probably be a few token questions from the opposition, but there's no avoiding the fact that Mr. Obama will be given an amazing opportunity to present his side of the issue in the most favorable fashion.

Pro-Obamacare factions are screaming "hypocrisy" over complaints about the TV show because Fox News did some Bush Administration personality profiles, but there's a big difference. This is a sales job.  No one expected a Fox show to convince a skeptical public to swallow a pill that will drastically change our health care system in the most expensive way. The Obama plan is presented as a way to provide insurance coverage for those people who are currently uninsured, and there's nothing wrong with that concept.  But this grand experiment is sure to affect medical care for everyone in the country. And ABC is helping make the sale. By the way, it's looking less like a pill than a suppository.

A note about the image: In honor of the Obama TV Network connection the old TV with the repetitious picture roll seemed a timely selection. There's a great do-it-yourself special effects page at PhotoFunia. Upload a photo of a face for placement in another photo.

Giving Bear Grylls credit when it's due

Bear Grylls came under fire when it was revealed that his "Man vs. Wild" TV show conquests weren't conducted on a level playing field.  He fudged, and that gave him the edge in his contests with the wild. See previously on these pages, The Wild Won and Bear Grylls up to his old tricks.

So now we learn that a nine year old fan of the show got separated from his folks on a horseback ride in Utah and used some tactics he learned from the show. Specifically, he marked his trail by tying bits torn off his yellow slicker to trees. Searchers were able to find him and get him home safely. It was a real happy ending, so here's a hat tip to Bear Grylls. His show may have actually saved a child. The kid was pretty resourceful and may have been found eventually anyway, but at the very least the tactic learned from the show probably reduced the search time. Link.

He's Barack Obama, come to save the day

Great new video from JibJab:

"When darkness had descended
all across the land,
A lone voice in the distance uttered
'Yes, we can!' "
...
He's Barack Obama
he's come to save the day!

It's so refreshing to find someone not afraid to poke fun at "The One." Watch this hilarious parody at Youtube.

In the meantime JibJab fans can learn how they did it at the JibJab blog. Given that it takes them three months to put one together, this action-hero-Obama was very timely as the real Obama waits patiently for a winner to emerge in Iran.

Fidel's kid falls for fake chica

Some guys can't get lucky even if they're privileged sons of a ruthless dictator.

Poor Antonio Castro Soto del Valle, son of Fidel Castro, just can't catch a break. According to the story, Cuban-born Luis Dominguez figured out what kind of woman would interest Antonio, adopted that guise, then hooked up with him on a social networking site. Miami Herald has the story:

''Guess where I am and I will make love to you without stopping,'' Antonio Castro Soto del Valle, Fidel's son and physician for the Cuban national baseball team, reportedly wrote ''Claudia'' during a January trip to Russia with his uncle Raúl. . . .

First, he worked out a profile of the kind of woman the 42-year-old Castro apparently prefers. Domínguez looked at photos of Castro's current and former girlfriends, then created a ''virtual woman'' to fit the mold -- Claudia Valencia (very common names in Colombia), a 26-27 year old brunette with blond highlights and a sports journalist who, like Antonio, follows soccer and technology.

Antonio lives the high life, and he's unlikely to get much sympathy from the Cubans who have been kept poor by daddy. Happy Father's Day, Fidel.  And Tony, next time maybe you'll have better luck with those 1-900 phone sex lines.

Via Graham Cluley who warns that less high profile computer users could be similarly vulnerable.

Photos - Airport Disaster Drill 2009

What a disaster!

Yesterday emergency responders experienced an airport disaster drill at Midland International Airport. See No Rain Delay for Airport Disaster Drill 2009 for more details, and today 88 photos from the event have been posted in an on line photo album.  The link is below.

But first an important message from the management. The people in the photos have been made up to look badly injured, and many people may not have seen anything this gruesome since Halloween. The management takes no responsibility for any heart attacks, strokes, brain freezes, faints, vapors, or any other condition that may result from viewing those images.

Proceed with caution to Disaster Drill 2009 Photo Album.

OK, just kidding. The people are smiling, laughing and talking, and it was a good time for all the volunteers. But the makeup really does look convincing, don't you think?