Graham Glass is still hacking away at Ruby on Rails

Graham Glass was co-founder of Object Space and founder of The Mind Electric. He was CTO of WebMethods, before he left to form a startup. Graham Glass's educational software startup company is using Ruby on Rails for the implementation. Ruby is the "hot new thing". Graham is a heavy-duty hacker, and digs into things. He writes about his latest go round with Rails:

One feature I needed for my education product is a "remember me" option so that frequent users don't have to sign in every time they visit the site.

What Graham ran into when trying to implement this was something that seemed very bug-like:

After about 6 hours of work that involved reading through the source of CGI, CGI::Session, ActionController::CgiRequest and ActionController::CgiResponse, as well as utilizing an HTTP sniffer to see cookies passing between a browser and a server, I finally got it working. And now I know why there are no examples on the web for a straightforward "remember me" implementation; because there is a bug in the Ruby 1.8 CGI::Session implementation that prevents such a thing from being coded.

Graham had to modify the code to change this behavior to something more malleable and reasonable.

Robert Kiyosaki thinks that we should be watching what Warren Buffet does

Robert Kiyosaki's latest piece at Yahoo Finance advocats watching what Warren Buffet does and ignoring other advice ("When Investing, Listen to the Right Experts"). Robert Kiyosaki says that Warren Buffet wants to cut his dollar holdinds and put money overseas. Robert explains this by saying that the United States is not being run well, and that cash would drop in value too quickly. I don't know that I agree with that, but our Government is doing a lot to sabotage our economy, through over-regulation, and wrong-headed regulation. I thought that Jeffrey Allen Miron's piece at Tech Central Station was thinking along the same lines: "How to Avoid More Enrons: Legalize Fraud". To some degree, the Enron collapse was percipitated by the Government and the press. Ken Lay might have been able to salvage the company, if events had been allowed to proceed differently.

How about remembering the young guys who enlisted after Pearl Harbour?

In a burst of patriotism, my father enlisted in the Navy on 8 December 1941, when he was 19 years old. He was sent to Great Lakes for boot camp, and contracted Catharral Fever. He recovered and was sent to "Radio School" at Indianapolis. He met his ship on the East coast, PC-470, and they spent the rest of 1942 and up to 1944 running between Key West and Cuba, Panama, and South America. The PC's were not named until much later. The page about the PC-470 says that she was commissioned on 31 July 1942 and that she was on convoy duty until June 1944. My Dad left the ship at that point.

Both of my uncles (husbands of my mother's sisters) served in WWII, as well. One uncle was a "tech-sergeant" in the Army and did typing. My other uncle was a Marine and was wounded at Guadalcanal. He spent much of the time on landing craft, ferrying dead bodies off the island (so I hear).

A feature of WWII was that military service was almost universal. My present late father-in-law was 38 in 1941 and had a family. He was also working on his inlaws' chicken ranch. My late former father-in-law was 41 in 1941, and he spent the war as a farmer in Michigan. Everyone younger served, if they were able-bodied, and that was a unifying experience. Large numbers of them went to college, "after the war", and that was another unifying experience. My parents' friends at the "veterans' project" in Willow Run (for the University of Michigan) all were veterans. One was a B-29 pilot. He eventually saw his plane destroyed on the ground on a Pacific island by a Japanese raid, which he saw on the television series "Air Power". My father would meet other veterans. One of the salesmen he had worked with had been a P-51 pilot. Later, he met a PT boat crewmember. Even my mother had worked at "the Ford bomber plant" at Willow Run, doing radio-related drafting.

The Viet Nam experience ruined the possibility of universal military service in any case short of all-out hot war. We can "thank" our "leftist buddies" for that.

We have never seen such an assault on our government, from within

The closest that I have personally observed to the assault on the government and armed forces what we are currently seeing was in the Viet Nam War period. I was in Ann Arbor, at the University of Michigan, from about August 1965 until December 1968. That was a period of great unrest, and you would read about the Voice Political Party and SNCC doing things like take over the administration building. There were already free-lance drug dealers and they were thought of as cult heroes, of sorts at the time. The combination of Walter Cronkite and the rest of the media coverage of protests succeeded in causing us to give up the war when we were winning. President Johnson came close to losing the war, but Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon had turned that around, with the aid of our armed forces. But Walter Cronkite painted the Tet Offensive as a loss for us, when in fact, the North Vietnamese were handed a costly defeat. They never again attempted such an operation.

Now, when we are close to beating Zargawi and al-Qaeda in Iraq, our leftist buddies and the MSM are depicting a story that we are losing and that we should bail out as quickly as possible. The worst of the Democrats in Congress are trying to use this story line to gain power. The MSM is trying to help them, as best that they can. It is laughable that the MoveOn crowd thinks that the MSM is giving the Bush administration a free ride.

Lost in Amarillo

I was in a meeting this morning where the group leader talked about being "lost in Amarillo". She told the story about how their favorite place in the world is in Colorado. They own land there and frequently drive up there from the Dallas area. To get there, the most direct route is to drive through Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle. On one trip north, the highway was closed, with no detour signs. They were left to drive around, looking for a way in the right general direction, without knowing the way.

She used "Lost in Amarillo" as a metaphor for being in "collapse". This is when you did something that was off your plan, and in reaction, stop following the plan at all. The state of "collapse" is where you screwed up and in reaction, throw up your hands and figure that you blew it, and might as well "do the wrong thing". The better approach is to recognize when you have deviated from your plan, and get back on it, since you know where you are going. Our leader spoke of driving to Colorado, again, and having a flat tire in Amarillo. You aren't going to give up on your desire to get to Colorado. Instead, you fix the flat and start driving for Colorado.

I sense that our country is "lost in Amarillo". The leftists in the Mainstream Media have succeeded in getting most people to believe a negative story line, after Hurricane Katrina, and the ongoing fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The MSM conveniently ignores the fact that we have been clobbering the Taliban, in recent fighting, and are beating "al Qaeda in Iraq" to the point that they are feeling very negative and are running out of men. The Bush administration seems to have lost whatever ability they have had to communicate (they definitely needed new blood in the Whitehouse, which they now have).

The oldline Conservatives, who are isolationists at heart, have gone really negative, and they are feeding into the MSM negative story line. Peter Beinart, writing in The New Republic, has a story about how what he calls "Night Conservatism" is on the rise. These are the oldline, William F. Buckley and Barry Goldwater, Bob Dole, and Robert Taft conservatives. They also seem to include many of a certain part of the Conservative blogosphere (such as Mark Tapscott). He calls Reagan and President Bush "Day Conservatives", as he equates them with a more inclusive, positive Conservatism. The "Night Conservatives" would rather be right than win, and that is a losing proposition. They can go into the night and brood, and good riddance, I say.

Greg Costikyan has a piece: Spam I'd Like to Receive

I enjoyed Greg Costikyan's fun piece about "Spam I'd Like to Receive", at Games * Design * Art * Culture. He has four spam emails that follow four different spam patterns. Greg is currently involved with a startup company called Manifesto Games. He has made a career out of game development and writing over his adult life.

The biggest open news story is the gunshots at the Rayburn office building in DC: UPDATED-it probably was not shots that were heard

We are still waiting to hear the latest news, but police tactical units seem to be still searching the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC, after reports of gunfire in the parking garage. WTOP reports that "schools in the area are locked down".

UPDATE: CNN is now reporting that it was probably a pneumatic hammer being used on an elevator that was heard by a female staffer.

Vonage

I work with several former Vonage customers. A striking feature of their experience was the difficulty that they had quitting Vonage! As soon as I heard that, Vonage sounded like a losing proposition. At least in the past, voice quality was an issue, as well.

More about dieting

Back in May of 1999, when I was working at Nortel, in the Dallas area, I saw a friend of mine. He had been following a low-carb diet and in two months had lost 25 pounds. I immediately bought one of Dr. Atkins' books and started dieting. We did almost no cooking at home and ate out practically 100%. I could arrive at work early and have breakfast at the Sodexo Marriot cafeteria and have lunch there, as well. In six months, I lost 55 pounds and got down to where I had been in the latter 1970's. I almost immediately started to gain weight, though, when I started to eat more normal food. I floated up about 25 pounds and then was able to sustain that weight for 2-1/2 years. As the economy deteriorated further, I started to gain weight, until finally a year ago, I weighed more than I had ever weighed before.

In late February 2006, I started Weight Watchers. I struggled for a while, as it turns out that I was not following the "Core Plan" very well. I switched to the "Flex Plan", where you count points for everything, and started to make faster progress. I already knew that Weight Watchers was the only way my Dad had been able to lose weight and keep it off. When he stopped, it got bad. The group facilitator where I go on Saturday morning had lost her weight and kept it off, over the last 21 years, so that is sort of an "existence proof" that it can be done. I am liking the program because I can eat food I like, and can "splurge". You just end up compensating for that "splurging" in a reasonable way. So far, I am down almost 20 lbs, once I corrected what I was doing, so I know it works. Once I find anything that works for me, I tend to want to keep doing it.

Car blogging, again

In the Dallas area, Ford finally seems to be selling Five Hundreds. I have seen a lot more the last week. This morning, I was coming in to work late, and saw a metallic maroon Five Hundred from the side, and didn't realize what it was until I passed in front. Perhaps I am starting to get used to the car, as that particular color and view looked as good as the cars it is trying to be like.

Paul Graham has a new article: How to be Silicon Valley

Paul Graham has a new article. This one is about how to reproduce Silicon Valley: "How to Be Silicon Valley". He concludes:

The centralizing effect of venture firms is a double one: they cause startups to form around them, and those draw in more startups through acquisitions. And although the first may be weakening because it's now so cheap to start some startups, the second seems as strong as ever. Three of the most admired "Web 2.0" companies were started outside the usual startup hubs, but two of them have already been reeled in through acquisitions.

Such centralizing forces make it harder for new silicon valleys to get started. But by no means impossible. Ultimately power rests with the founders. A startup with the best people will beat one with funding from famous VCs, and a startup that was sufficiently successful would never have to move. So a town that could exert enough pull over the right people could resist and perhaps even surpass Silicon Valley.

For all its power, Silicon Valley has a great weakness: the paradise Shockley found in 1956 is now one giant parking lot. San Francisco and Berkeley are great, but they're forty miles away. Silicon Valley proper is soul-crushing suburban sprawl. It has fabulous weather, which makes it significantly better than the soul-crushing sprawl of most other American cities. But a competitor that managed to avoid sprawl would have real leverage. All a city needs is to be the kind of place the next traitorous eight look at and say "I want to stay here," and that would be enough to get the chain reaction started.

Marc Cooper on Lakoff and "Reframing"

Marc Cooper doesn't think much of George Lakoff's ideas about how the Democrats should be "Framing and Reframing" the issues ("Framed and Re-Framed"):

Last year I bashed linguist and amateur political analyst George Lakoff for his absurd suggestion that "progressives" should concentrate on what he called "framing" of the issues.

I thought it staggering that Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean and a slew of other Dems were flying this guy in and out of Washington to repeatedly listen to what, I thought, was --frankly-- mumbo-jumbo. Another couple of hundred thousand others snatched up his booklet as if it were the Da Vinci Code of Democratic renewal.

Man, was I ever right to call him out. Lakoff is back now with an essay on how to re-frame the immigration debate and I had to re-read it three times to make sure it wasn't a spoof. Read it and reach your own conclusion.

There are, of course, some truths embedded in the wandering, convoluted text. But anyone who thinks this sort of belabored retatement of what already is a complicated issue is going to get Democrats anywhere except deeper in a hole must already be living in a hole -- or on Mars.

Firefox blues

I continue to have a love-hate relationship with Firefox, the browser. I use it almost exclusively, but I am extremely unhappy with it. I use Firefox with Windows 2000 at work and Windows XP at home. A few minutes ago, Firefox stopped responding, and my only recourse was to close the browser and the bookmarks. I had looked at the Task Manager, and it was not hogging CPU. It was just "not responding". I must admit that in the latest version of Firefox, I am not having the copying and pasting problems that I used to have. I am currently using Firefox 1.5.0.3.

I mostly only use Internet Explorer to check my cross-browser compatibility on the two blogs where there have been layout "issues". IE has typically behaved differently, because it can handle CSS errors while Firefox does not.

The Dixie Chicks

I used to be a Dixie Chick fan. It was not their present stupidity that caused me to stop, but it was what they did on their drive to "make the big time". The succeeded in that drive, but not in keeping my interest. I liked the old Dixie Chicks, when they were a local, Dallas-area group with Robin Macy and Laura Lynch.

Martie and Emily Erwin were always lefties from the Park Cities-types, but you were not really aware of that, in their earlier incarnations. They at least have the Oak Lawn or Park Cities attitudes, regardless of their actual origins. It has only been since 2001 or so that I had become aware of their ill-considered political statements. It points out that they are not part of the real Country Western scene. They are just pretenders.

I heard "60 seconds with Ernie Brown" on KRLD radio, this morning, and he spoke about that latest trash out of Natalie Maines' mouth, and that prompted this post.

The Confederate Yankee says that we just had a terrorist "test run"

The Confederate Yankee was deeply moved by the Beslan attack by Chechen terrorists. The Confederate Yankee says that the incident where two young Saudi men boarded a school bus was the test run for a terrorist attack:

The thought that Almanajam and Alsidran were on a “test run” for a Beslan-type scenario immediately came to mind. Few things could horrify the American public more than a school bus (or school buses) full of small children held hostage or murdered by terrorists. 9/11 horrified America because of the magnitude of the attacks. An attack on school buses would be horrific because of how personal it is. Few Americans have ver worked in a high rise building, but all of us have probably ridden a bus, as have our children. It hits much closer to home.

And so I think about Mr. Almanajam and Mr. Alsidran, and I wonder what the "morally acceptable" response would be if I saw young Arabic men loitering near a bus stop wearing trench costs in the summer.

Should I call the police?

Richard Viguerie represents the losing wing of Conservatism

Richard Viguerie has an editorial piece titled: "Bush's Base Betrayal: Fury on the Right". I'm sorry to say that in my book, he represents the losing wing of Conservatism and the Republican party. I equate him (perhaps wrongly, but I do) with Robert Novak, isolationism, and the vast wasteland in Republican fortunes, prior to 1994. Richard Viguerie writes:

I've never seen conservatives so downright fed up as they are today. The current relationship between Washington Republicans and the nation's conservatives makes me think of a cheating husband whose wife catches him, and forgives him, time and time again. Then one day he comes home to discover that she has packed her bags and called a cab -- and a divorce lawyer.

As the philanderer learns: Hell hath no fury. . .

This is the sort of attitude that kept his sort out of power for a long time (perhaps it was a good thing).

Google AdSense ads stopped being relevant, this month

I have been carrying Google AdSense advertisements since early in 2005, and they have not provided a great deal of income, but they have largely been relevant to the blogs in which they are carried. This month, May 2006, they stopped being relevant, and the revenue generated has dropped to about a third of what it has been. At first, I couldn't account for the drop, but then I started reviewing my blogs, and immediately noticed what had happened. The review had started because I had become concerned about the cross-browser compatibility of two blogs, in particular. While I use Firefox, most readers use Internet Explorer, and increasingly, Anglo-Dutch Wars and Dreadnought Cruisers were not working well. I believe that I have them fixed, now, and continued to notice the Google AdSense problem. I hope that they fix the problem. They seem like a black hole, as far as communication goes. I have used their contact feature to see if I can get a response, however. I thought I needed to give them the opportunity to respond.

There is a Russian page that has a really great drawing of the SU-34 fighter-bomber

The SU-34 is a very hot new Russian aircraft, although it is a development of the Su-27. There is a Russian page that has photos and a really detailed drawing (at least a sideview). The site is called airbase.ru, and it seems like a good site to bookmark, if you are interested in military aviation (despite the site being in Russian, with the Cyrillic alphabet).

Phil McGraw

In 1985, or so, a friend of ours, who knows Phil McGraw ("Dr. Phil") had apparently gone through Life Spring with Phil. They decided to start a workshop based on that pattern, as they had a great deal of confidence in their abilities to do such a thing. They actually operated separately, as Phil was in Wichita Falls, TX, while our friend was in Irving. They decided that since they were geographically separated, the sensible thing to do was to split the business. Phil continued in Wichita Falls, and our friend did hers in Irving. A great proportion of our family went through the workshop. We continued to be affiliated with the program, up until our friend had to back off, due to her health deteriorating. Prior to that, she was gearing up to go national with the program. Instead, she shut it down, although Phil continued in Wichita Falls. The last I had heard, his program was still in existence, although now it was affiliated with a church.

The program in Irving was bought by other friends of ours, and continued for a while, but eventually had to shut down. Without the founder, it lacked the energy and enthusiasm that had been there, before.

When Oprah came to Texas, to deal with the beef lawsuit, she met Phil McGraw. The beef lawsuit was a genius idea, as Oprah needed someone to get her attention, and to show her the dangers of embracing every leftist hysteria that came along. The rest is history. She had Phil on her show as a regular, the response was good enough, that he was able to launch his own show. Unlike Oprah, Phil is coming from a more conservative Christian perspective, but is mainly trying to promote healthy patterns of thinking among people. A great deal of our society, including movies and television are promoting bad ideas and ways to thinking, so it is good that there is a counterweight to the bad. Many people hate Phil, because of what he is doing. I have wondered if the reason was that they are emotionally connected to the unhealthy patterns. Our friend, and "friend of Phil" promotes the same sort of healthy thinking as Phil, an most of what he is saying sounds very familiar.

I prefer the Masonic conspiracy theory to Dan Brown's story

Dana Stevens, in Slate, reviews the Da Vinci Code movie and talks about the book, as well. She has spoilers, so you might be aware. I prefer the Masonic conspiracy theory version of events, where Jesus and Mary Magdalen secretly move to France and have a family. Charlemagne was their descendent. There cool aspects to the story, such as the Knight Templars. Dan Brown's story sounds more sullen. Jesus is crucified and is dead. Mary Magdalen is pregnant with his child, a girl, and moves to France. In his story, as well, Charlemagne is their descendent. Of course, I subscribe to neither of these. In the past, I have known people who did, however. That was part of why I backed off in the relationships.

Jay Tea thinks that the Government is using the "Canary Trap" against CIA leakers

This makes a lot of sense. Jay Tea, blogging at Wizbang, suggests that the Government is using the "Canary Trap" on leftist leakers in the CIA:

I first learned about the "Canary Trap" in Tom Clancy's "Patriot Games." It's a technique for identifying leakers; feed selected (often false) information to those you suspect of disloyalty, then see if it appears in public. In more sophisticated forms, it involves giving different suspects different information (or different details) of the same story. It's been around for ages, and nearly everyone knows about it, but it is still used, and it still works.

I was reminded of that recently, and I find myself speculating on whether it's been brought back, with spectacular results.

First, we had the Pulitzer Prize-winning story about secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe. The funny thing was, nobody could find a single shred of evidence that such prisons existed.

Now we have the news of a secret NSA program that collected literally trillions of phone records (at rough estimate) and dumped them into a database for data-mining, in quest of connections to terrorists. This story dominated all the news for days, with some of the far lefties calling it an "impeachable offense" and using it to assail General Hayden's nomination to head up the CIA.

But now, two of the phone companies cited as giving their data to the NSA have issued very strong -- even categorical -- denials. The story, as spectacular as it sounded, appears to be built on air.

Just like the secret prisons story.

In the last two weeks, I have seen many more new Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury cars on the road

I have been reporting on the scarcity of new Ford cars on the roads in Dallas, but hat seems to be changing. In the last two weeks, I have started seeing many more Ford Five Hundreds, as I had been seeing at least as many Mercury Montegos as Ford Five Hundreds. I have seen a few Fusions, as well as the Mercury and Lincoln versions of the Fusion. Tonight, for example, while I was driving south on the North Dallas Tollway, I saw two Ford Five Hundreds very close together. One was navy blue and the other was silver. I saw at least one, this morning. On Mockingbird, just east of the tollroad, I saw a black Fusion. Overall, it is a good thing that Ford is selling something besides trucks.

Pieter Dorsman, at Peaktalk, says that Rita Verdonk may have been thwarted

Pieter Dorsman writes at the Peaktalk blog. He is Dutch, and writes that there was a marathon session in parliament, where Rita Verdonk was punished for her move to remove Aayan Hirsi Ali's Dutch citizenship. Rita Verdonk succeeded in uniting right and left against her:

For Verdonk, the story is truly extraordinary, and not exactly in a positive sense. She gambled that a tough stance vis-à-vis Ayaan would pay her political dividends in the leadership race for her party, but the gamble failed to pay off. Not only were the motions against her actions supported by a wide spectrum of the Dutch left and right, during the debate she also lied about certain issues according to writer Leon de Winter on Dutch TV last night. A group of Dutch celebrities published an open letter yesterday in which they stated “we are embarrassed about our own country”, and if you read it, it is patently clear that – without mentioning her name – the finger is pointed directly at the erstwhile Dutch 'iron lady'.

DavidB at Gene Expression links to a good article by Theodore Dalrymple

Theodore Dalrymple is billed as a former "inner-city and prison doctor". DavidB, at Gene Expression, links to an article where Theodore Dalrymple makes an attempt to explain the single-issue, radical extremist's behavior and thinking. We probably cannot directly quote the article, but Theodore Dalrymple's point is that in Europe (or at least, Britain), after the collapse of Communism, and in a context where Christianity is shunned, that there is still a religious need that joining a single-issue, radical group can meet.

I find myself at odds with part of the Conservative movement

Since Hurricane Katrina, and then the attempted Harriet Miers Supreme Court appointment, the "Conservative Movement" has been showing cracks. There is a faction of Conservatism that would rather be right, then being able to help events along in a positive direction. For example, they are content to see Democrats take control, just to teach the Republicans, and President Bush, a lesson. Overnight, one of the cracks manifested itself at the Polipundit blog:

The blog has focused on various issues, but one issue on which I cannot give in to the elites is illegal immigration. On that, this blog’s position must be clear, not ambivalent. As a legal immigrant, I feel very, very, strongly about this. Back in 2004, I nearly withdrew my support for Bush’s re-election when he came out with his suicidal immigration “reform” plan.

So far, I’ve allowed the guest bloggers here to write pretty much what they pleased about all issues, including illegal immigration.

But on the illegal immigration issue, I now find myself having to contend with at least three out of four guest bloggers who will reflexively try to poke holes in any argument I make.

Suppose three out of four columnists at the Old York Times were pro-Republican. You can bet publisher “Pinch” Sulzberger would do something about that right quick.

Suppose a Bush administration official came out openly against amnesty. The Bushies would show him the door.

Similarly, the writers at PoliPundit.com need to respect the editorial position of PoliPundit.com on the most important issue to this blog, as the “publisher” sees it - illegal immigration.

It's Munich all over again: our friends in the Netherlands are trying appeasement

We have been through episodes where criminals and nere-do-wells are appeased and the innocent victims are punished. That seems to be what our friends in the Netherlands are going to try, once again. Leon de Winter has the indefensible story:

Ayaan - a true hero

Minister Verdonk of Immigration of the Netherlands announced that Ayaan Hirsi Ali should be stripped of her citizenship. A legal procedure will be started to do so.

Holland turned into a disgraceful country.

Which country will give her a safe haven?

The murderer of Theo van Gogh will be laughing out loud in jail.

I hope that appeasement fails in a very spectacular fashion, although I fear for the safety of my friends in the Netherlands.

Weight Watchers works

Weight Watchers may not be glamorous, like LA Weightloss, but it works. Weight Watchers was the only way my dad was able to lose weight, but he quit and it affected his health. I have been following the Weight Watcher plans since late February 2006, and was down a total of 16.8 lbs, as of last Saturday morning. Until two weeks ago, I have been following the Core Plan, which I had pounced on, as it seemed similar in application to low-carb. You just eat from the Core foods, and only count points if you go outside of that. My application of it was flawed, however, and I was lucky to lose 9.6 lbs, as I was actually eating some things as if they were core. I switched to the Flex Plan, where you count all points, and lost 7.2 lbs. since making the change. The Weight Watchers points calculation is patented, but there is a page that claims to hav the formula, at least as it was three years ago. After having done "low-carb" from May of 1999 until I finally gave up, I was surprised that the Weight Watchers foods would produce weight loss. It does not rely on "low-carb", but by counting points, you keep the balance of fat, fiber, and calories to a point where you lose weight.

Wretchard, writing at the Belmont Club on: "A still small voice"

Wretchard, writing at the Belmont Club, writes about "A still small voice" in several contexts, and the changes were are experiencing:

Years ago, while with Mangyan tribesmen I concluded that these hill people could read an alphabet unknown to me. The foliage, sounds, the shift in airs, scents -- all of these -- spoke to them as directly as words in a book, though I scarcely imagined how. Later I discovered that psychologist Julian Jaynes had advanced the theory of the bicameral mind, which helped explain what I'd seen. His book, the Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind suggests that our ancestors were instructed by voices and visions. They understood through a process of unconscious thinking as perhaps the Mangyans still do. Nature spoke to them, and they heard.

He also writes:

However that may be, Jaynes' theory intriguingly suggests that hunches, guesses and intuition may hold some validity. They are the end result of a logical process inaccessible to the waking mind. My own hunch is that in the last two or three months there's been a change in the tone of the blogosphere. Nothing definite, simply a change in atmosphere in proportion to the degree of abstract tendencies of the blogger. Authors who trafficked in ideas and concepts have altered the most. Some have paused to take stock, pleading disgust or confusion; still others have returned to writing as seemingly different persons; others seem to be suffering a kind of nervous breakdown, obsessed with hatred for one or more public figures or inventing new words and finding conspiracies in everything they see.

Count me out on being tough and restricting immigration

I agree with my son, that we need to stop the people who want to build a wall between us and Mexico and make it hard to immigrate, legally or illegally. My son would eliminate the concept of illegal immigration, wor which I have a great deal of sympathy.

I am starting to see more new Ford products

Perhaps Ford is finally starting to sell some new cards in the Dallas area. This afternoon and evening, I saw three Ford Five Hundreds, one Mercury Montego, and a new Freestyle AWD Limited.

The power of ideas

I have firsthand experience with the power of ideas, although I was on the receiving end. A long time ago, perhaps in the early 1970's, someone read Robert Ringer's book, Winning Through Intimidation. This person started to apply his ideas in their life, with family and those that they met out in the world. They worked so well, in terms of results, that the techniques became addictive.

Inexplicably, the person had low self-esteem and felt themselves to be a "fake". The use of intimidation in a world where that was not the norm, and it gave a sense of power, and was a way to compensate for feeling inadequate. I say that it was inexplicable that this person had a low self-esteem, as they had some basic talents that were unique, and this person went on to get a BA and an MA degree, although somewhat later than most.

The problem that application of this approach to dealing with people affected relations with them. Ultimately, they were taken to the breaking point. Eventually, we found out that this person had a problem with addiction, and the use of intimidation was only one of those that was an issue.

Perhaps "ideas" is the wrong word, and maybe you would just say that were are talking about techniques. I think that the use of the word "ideas" is not totally inappropriate, as it was a concept that was behind this whole episode, which played out over at least 15 years.

Clayton Cramer liked "United 93"

Clayton Cramer has a review of "United 93" on his blog. He went to see it, but his wife was not up to the emotional stress. Clayton liked the movie, and he says it made the point that were are in a "clash of civilizations" situation:

My wife wouldn't go see United 93; she's a very sensitive soul, and was afraid that it would be too emotionally devastating. It is powerful, but in an understated way. There is blood, but the brutality of the hijackers killing pilots and passengers is more suggested by the quickness of motion than detailed gore. The language is a little raw in places, as you might expect under the circumstances, as military officers and air traffic controllers try to make sense out of isolated facts, and then desperately try to prevent what they believe will be an airliner crash in Washington DC.

This movie doesn't pull any punches. It opens with the hijackers shaving their bodies in ritual purification, and praying for Allah's protection as they prepare to commit mass murder.

This is a war of civilizations. There is no room for negotiation. Islamofascism needs to be completely and utterly destroyed, both in the death of its adherents, and in the humiliation of a political theory that asserts it has a moral superiority that justifies being in complete control of the entire world.

This made the radio, this morning: the new NSA story

Our left buddies on radio network news, this morning, were all aflitter over the latest leak of classified information. This time, the leak was published by USA Today, apparently. Kim Priestap, writing at Wizbang, has the scoop. Kim writes:

USA Today has joined the group of newspapers who take it upon themselves to disclosed classified information about our country's national security efforts:

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans -- most of whom aren't suspected of any crime.This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.

For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made -- across town or across the country -- to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.

The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the sources said. The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they said.

The sources would talk only under a guarantee of anonymity because the NSA program is secret.

What USA Today does not seem to realize is that this program has been kept secret, not because the government wants to keep American citizens from learning about it, but to keep terrorists from learning about it. That fact was completely lost on USA Today.

Mark Tapscott writes about the al-Qaeda admission they are losing badly

Mark Tapscott has a long piece prompted by Ed Morrissey's post about the captured al-Qaeda documents. Mark is asking why the MSM is not responding to this piece of great news:

Go to Google and do a search on "captured al-Qaeda documents" and the first entry you will find from an MSM outlet is a February story in USA Today. Go to Captain's Quarters blog here and you find a complete report by Ed Morrissey on captured al-Qaeda documents in which insurgent leaders all but admit defeat.

Actually, Ed posted that report several days ago, so the mainstream media folks have had more than sufficient time to get up to speed on this story. How big a story is it? Well, ask yourself how big it would be if those captured documents claimed victory and described the insurgents' plan for the first 30 days after U.S. troops are out of Iraq. That would be on the front page of every major daily.

But the captured documents instead include insurgents all but admitting that they have lost the war in Iraq and have a steadily weakening capability of launching militarily significant operations there.

For President in 2008, I would consider a third party candidate

I have long history of voting for third party candidates. The most bizarre was Eldridge Cleaver in 1968, when I couldn't stand either Hubert Humphrey or Richard Nixon. In 1980, I voted for John Anderson, as Ronald Reagan seemed menacing and Jimmy Carter was a known bad quantity. I voted for Ron Paul in 1988, as I did not like George H. W. Bush and really didn't like Michael Dukakis. In 1992, I voted for Ross Perot, as I still didn't like George H. W. Bush and really didn't like Bill Clinton. All along, I pretty much voted for Republicans for the House and Senate. Our present group of Republicans are too much the pork barrel politics experts and too Liberal. I really regret having voted for John S. McCain, Jr. in the 2000 primary, and I won't repeat that mistake. I think that the political landscape is potentially like 1860, when a new party could come along and start winning elections. Where is Abraham Lincoln, now that we need him?

Marc Cooper is a non-fan of Nancy Pelosi

Marc Cooper has a long piece about Nancy Pelosi called "The Trouble with Nancy". Marc, while being a leftist-intellectual, is not particularly sympathetic to Democrats, such as Nancy. Marc writes:

If the Democrats do take back the House, and more remotely the Senate, it would offer us some needed relief from the failed Republicanism of the past decade. And while I would, indeed, expect very little from the Dems (very very little), the least they could give us would be some very-needed real-life legislative change. Some real sausage, please. If they are tempted, however, to use expanded Congressional power to grandstand politically, let them soberly ponder the fate suffered by the Gingriches and the Hydes.

I humbly think that in the public's mind one of the biggest turn-offs about the Bush administration has been its arrogant politicization of just about everything. The voters are exhausted and bruised by the ideological shoving of the Bushies. I don't think they're much in the mood for the mirror opposite from the Dems. A little low-key, humble competence and common sense might be the order of the day.

Banks: still an issue-UPDATE

I happen to use a regional bank as my primary bank. I had started with Colorado National Bank, back in early 1995, and stayed with them, as they were acquired and I moved. The problem is that I reside in Texas, and my bank does not have coverage there. My wife uses a credit union, while I do have accounts with a local bank. The issue is that for substantial checks, a local bank or credit union here will place a five day hold on a deposit. If I send the check overnight to my bank, in the upper Midwest, it shows up the next business day, after the deposit is made (bank by mail). One issue, recently, was that the process of bank-by-mail had a glitch, in that a deposit was lost for a day or so (how can that happen?). Five day or more holds are cruel and inhuman, so there is no way that I will accept that sort of thing. I guess I am back to bank-by-mail. It just is a bother. UPDATE: When you have a personal relationship with someone in management, as my wife does with her credit union, things get much easier. I don't have a personal relationship with my primary bank, in the sense the I know someone at the headquarters, but having done business with them for 11-1/2 years (almost), every goes more smoothly.

Kevin Drum says that Howard Dean and Kos are not particulary left-wing

I was amazed the Kevin Drum does not consider Howard Dean, Kos, and the whole netroots crowd as being "left-wing". Certainly, the conventional wisdom, with good reason, on the center and right is that they are to the left of most everyone. Kevin writes:

So is the liberal blogosphere liberal? Of course it is. But to compare it to the left-wing radicals of the early 70s is to misunderstand it completely. Netroots favorite Howard Dean is no lefty radical, and at a policy level most of the high-traffic liberal blogs are only modestly to the left of the DLC — except on Iraq.

Frankly, I wish lefty bloggers did care more about fighting over policy issues. Not only is it a healthy argument to have, but it would give us something to coalesce around if we win back Congress in November. As things stand now, though, I have a feeling that if we win in November the netroots won't really have a very good idea of what it wants to accomplish, and will therefore default immediately to the longtime favorite game of liberals everywhere: the circular firing squad.

That may be too pessimistic on my part. Regardless, though, "McGovernites with modems" is about as far from reality as you can get. Chait and Wittman should know better.

Part of Porter Goss's problem seems to be from his connection to an unsavory character

Porter Goss promoted Dusty Foggo, and this seems to be a factor in Goss's sudden departure from the CIA. Foggo had worked for a Black woman, who accused him of insurbordination. From what we now know, such a thing might be possible. When Goss promoted Foggo, the woman, Jeanette Moore, resigned. Foggo has been linked to parties hosted by Brent Wilkes, where allegedly there were prostitutes provided. Michelle Malkin has quoted an ABC news article about this, that seems quite plausible.

Eleanor Clift on Hillary Clinton

Eleanor Clift has a new online commentary for Newsweek where she compares Hillary to Ronald Reagan. If we are doomed to have a Democrat president in 2008, I would prefer Hillary over Al Gore, John Kerry, John Edwards, or Howard Dean. She really seems to have learned something during her husbands presidency. Eleanor concludes:

Begala sees a parallel for Hillary with women between 18 and 35 who tend to vote Democratic, but don't vote very often. "I wouldn't scream at them about abortion and gay rights," says Begala. "I would say, 'Look at what these fellas are saying about Hillary.' The more they hear the other side saying she's a witch, she's angry, they'll be galvanized to vote. These are anger points for women. If Republicans attack her the way I think they will, that could gain her traction among women."

Hillary is on her way to winning big in New York in November. Begala cites the guy in a bait shop in upstate New York who hated Hillary and now says, "How's my gal Hillary doin'?" She's won him over, he says, but a marketing executive who identified himself as a strong Democrat wasn't convinced by Begala's spiel. Hillary is a "death wish" for the Democrats, he said. That kind of talk reflects a nervousness that can only be dispelled at the ballot box.

The main problem seems to be the negatives run up by her husband and the negative buzz about her and her style.

Ed Morrissey has the scoop on the changes at the CIA

Ed Morrissey has a series of posts about Porter Goss's resignation and his possible replacements. The first was Goss Abruptly Quits, Leaves Questions Behind. The second was Who Comes After Goss?. The third was Hayden May Have Helped Goss Out The Door. The fourth is called Be Careful What You Wish For. Ed concludes:

UPDATE: Time Magazine has this quote:

President George W. Bush stunned Washington on Friday by accepting the resignation of CIA Director Porter J. Goss, and Republican sources told TIME that the White House plans to name his replacement on Monday: Air Force General Michael V. Hayden, who as Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence has been a visible and aggressive defender of the administration's controversial eavesdropping program. His nomination is sure to reignite the battle over the program on Capitol Hill, where one House Democrat promises "a partisan food fight" during the confirmation process.

Though Hayden, who has a close rapport with Vice President Cheney, has not been formally offered the job, he is the leading candidate and the announcement is planned for Monday at the White House, the sources said. The President frequently extends a formal offer immediately before an announcement, to cut down on leaks and allow for last-minute developments.

I think the "food fight" will be forthcoming within minutes of an announcement naming Hayden as Goss' replacement. I do find the last paragraph puzzling, especially since the substance of what Bush wants to avoid exposing has already been leaked to Time and CNN. It looks like Bush wants to take the weekend to gauge opinion on the Hill regarding Hayden, and will offer it to him on Monday if the trial balloon does not get shot down. That's an interesting strategy, but it indicates that the White House is concerned with the political meltdown that may occur with Hayden's nomination. It will be interesting to see whether the Democrats go ballistic this weekend, and whether that produces a different appointment on Monday.

Do you want to let the Democrats run things?

Ed Morrissey writes, at Captain's Quarters, about the dissatisfaction among a segment of Conservatives with the Republican Party and the Bush Administration. He does say that if you withdraw support from the Republicans, you then are letting the Democrats gain power. I am getting increasingly tired of whining from those Conservatives who are ready to torpedo their own goals to teach President Bush and the Republicans a lesson. Ed writes:

This delves into the question of priorities for conservatives. Does it make sense to tone down their frustration with GOP leadership (especially on spending and immigration) in order to retain at least some influence on the legislative process? Even more basic, does criticism and threats of Election-Day boycotts hurt the GOP or force it to improve? Even if it hurts, does it make a difference in the long run?

I would argue that it does hurt, it does make a difference – but now is not the time to stand down and offer unqualified support. We need to keep pressing our agenda, calling out our own leadership, especially on spending and immigration issues. Conservatives should look for worthy alternative candidates for primaries in order to get better representation of our agenda. Politicians who scornfully dismiss constituents for their concern over pork-barrel projects (Trent Lott), immigration policies, and First Amendment rights (John McCain), need credible opposition in their next elections to either mend their ways or be replaced by more responsive representatives. After all, the purpose of primary elections is to make sure the party’s overall values are reflected in our candidates. If we abdicate at that stage, we hardly have room to complain in the general election.

Once the primaries have concluded, conservatives should continue to press their agenda but need to be realistic about the choices given them. In a national sense, the parties offer very different agendas, and rational voters will have to choose between them. Abdication by voters on all ends of the spectrum only hurts the candidates closest to their own positions by robbing them of support. Conservatives need to remember that a walkout will likely return power in the House to Democrats, and the advantages of incumbency could make that stay in the wilderness lengthy.

The time will come for big-tent solidarity and practical calculations on the best way to promote conservative values in government. That time, however, has not yet arrived, especially while critical issues remain in play for this Congress and administration.

I knew her before she made the big time

I find it interesting to see how people have progressed over time, since I first met them. I had worked with Giuseppina Mecchia's husband in 1995, in Colorado Springs. She was teaching at Colorado College, at the time. Her husband followed her there, and was able to find work, after arriving. We were both doing Smalltalk programming, on contract, at the time. Giuseppina and her husband eventually moved to Pittsburgh, where she is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of French & Italian at the University of Pittsburgh. She must have lefty tendencies, given the nature of her recent work. My wife and I had a bit of time with she and her husband, before I left Colorado. We had met them in Denver, where I was living, when I was doing Smalltalk consulting in Lakewood. We had a good time and enjoyed socializing with them. Politics need not affect how you interact with people. That was Marc Cooper's point, really, that it would be better if we could disagree, but restrict the disgreement to "work", but still be able to socialize, outside of "work" hours. That is what used to happen in the Senate, prior to the 1990's, when it was the most exclusive social club around. The really rabid, radical leftists seem not to be able to operate that way.

The MSM success in tarring President Bush

Tom Elia, writing at The New Editor, has a long piece about how the public, in polls, is not recognizing that the economy is doing extremely well. Hurricane Katrina gave the MSM the opportunity to paint a largely untrue narrative about President Bush and the Federal response. the constant hammering on that story line has succeeded in driving President Bush's poll numbers to ridiculous lows. That has been aided by the ineptitude of the administration in public relations and communications, in general. Tom writes:

Let me walk you again through some of the statistics about this current economic expansion -- but instead of looking at what's happened from the official recession bottom in November 2001 to now, let's also look at what happened from April 2003, which is the last month-end before the tax cuts were enacted into law.

Let's start with the stock market. From the recession bottom to April 2003, the S&P 500 actually lost 18%. Since April 2003, the S&P 500 has gained 51%. Now that's a bull market -- but you just have to start at the right place.

From the recession bottom to April 2003, 1.03 million payroll jobs were lost, and the unemployment rate actually went up from 5.5% to 6.0%. Talk about a jobless recovery! But since April 2003, payroll jobs have increased by 5.11 million, and the unemployment rate has fallen to 4.7%.

From the recession bottom to April 2003, real GDP grew 3.2%. Since April 2003, it has grown 11.3%.

From the recession bottom to April 2003, S&P 500 earnings increased only 7%. Since April 2003, earnings have grown 59%.

From the recession bottom to April 2003, manufacturers' new orders fell 5%. Since April 2003, they have increased by 38%.

From the recession bottom to April 2003, non-residential fixed investment fell 1%. Since April 2003, it has increased by 35%.

And here's the most remarkable of all. From the recession bottom to April 2003, federal income tax receipts fell by 11%. Since April 2003, they have increased by 26%, and now stand at all time record highs. Think about that one for a second. We cut taxes on personal incomes, capital gains, and dividends -- and tax receipts went up.

Let's hear it for voodoo economics. It works.

Why does it work? It's really so simple. Tell people they will get to keep more of the fruits of their labors and the fruits of their investments, and they will labor more and invest more. The economy will grow -- and so will tax receipts.

But there's something else at work when you cut the taxes on dividends and capital gains in particular. By doing that, you've directly removed a disincentive to risk-taking and capital formation. There has never in history been any kind of economic growth that came from anything else. Risk-taking and capital formation are what it's all about -- and when you lower the taxes on them, you get more of them. So you get more growth.

It really puts Dr. Charles Wheelan's piece, "Debunking One of the Worst Ideas in Economics", in a bad light. He doesn't believe that tax cuts generate enough revenue to pay for themselves (he is a columnist at Yahoo Finance). You have to suspect that Charles Wheelan must be of the lefty persuasion.

Marc Cooper on the reaction to his comments about the Monthly Review

Marc Cooper writes about the personal attacks made by the far left on him. Fortunately, Marc seems to firmly based that he can handle the sort of inflamatory rhetoric that his critics are spouting:

But isn't it lovely that in the very same moment we've got two, count'em TWO revolutionaries -- you know, those impassioned battlers against all forms of discrimination and oppression and who will lead us to a more compassionate and equal New Society -- resorting to fat fotos as their line of argument? It's no accident, comrades, as Stalin would say. Intellectual and political bankruptcy can be viral.

I'm not offended in the least. After a lifetime of pudginess I've embraced my corpulence and made the best of it by eating with great gusto and frequency without having to worry or fret. If I were ticked, I'd hardly be inclined to link to these comrades and give them the free traffic and, um..exposure...they'd otherwise not have. But, frankly, I just couldn't resist. I think their posts say much, much more about them than I ever could and I wanted them to speak loudly and widely (no pun intended).

This is the same kind of attack that has been continually made against President Bush, and it is about as valid (not). Our leftist buddies like Christopher Hitchins (the British Socialist gadfly) about as well. (Marc Cooper had the link to these guys, who criticized him and Christopher Hitchins).

It's all about advancing the leftist political agenda, not gas mileage

Robert Farago, writing at The Truth About Cars, explains the latest shot in the leftist political attack, via a lawsuit:

The truth is raising CAFÉ standards by a few more mpg’s won’t make any appreciable dent in domestic oil consumption. As Mr. Elton has revealed here, many car companies simply eat the CAFÉ fines as the cost of doing business. The fact that a 2002 National Academy of Sciences’ report concluded that CAFÉ-triggered downsizing caused an additional 2000 road deaths per year is, I suppose, beside the point. Anyway, what IS the point? Unless US energy consumption is drastically reduced across the board-- heating, cooling, appliances, manufacturing, agriculture, etc.-- our growing economy will obviate any theoretical “savings” made by more efficient automobiles.

As for the harmful effects of CO2 gasses on our environment, I’ll leave that to more (less?) scientific minds. Suffice it to say that the amount of “real” pollution coming out your tailpipe has nothing to do with fuel efficiency, and while new technology might reconcile America’s quest for energy independence with environmental concerns, then again, it might not. While we're waiting for THAT debate, I reckon we should file this whole CAFÉ mishegos under “Bad Landing, Wrong Airport.”

Marc Cooper on the depths to which the Monthly Review has sunk

Mark Cooper quotes a piece by Jeff Weintraub about the depths to which the Marxist rag, the Monthly Review has sunk. Marc says that it used to be an intellectually serious magazine (although seemingly goofy), but now is not:

What a long, long, long, long way down. From a sparkling theoretical journal of the intellectual left, to an agit-prop rag unintentionally (I hope) flirting with anti-semitism and soaked in conspiracy mongering.

I encourage you to read all of the links in Weintraub's full post to capture the full flavor of this serving.

This ugly episode is nothing but one more crude manifestation of the knee-jerkish "my enemy's enemy is my friend" axiom. In this case, whatever the Bush administration is for (no matter how half-heartedly or ineffectually) some "anti-imperialists" are totally against -- even it means siding with a genocidal dictatorship in Sudan. Man, does this stink.

Paul Graham has a new article: The Hardest Lessons for Startups to Learn

Paul Graham has a new article on his site, based on his experience with funding software-related startup companies (perhaps he is doing more than software, but that is his expertise). He writes:

So why do I spend so much time thinking about startups? I'll tell you why. Economically, a startup is best seen not as a way to get rich, but as a way to work faster. You have to make a living, and a startup is a way to get that done quickly, instead of letting it drag on through your whole life. We take it for granted most of the time, but human life is fairly miraculous. It is also palpably short. You're given this marvellous thing, and then poof, it's taken away. You can see why people invent gods to explain it. But even to people who don't believe in gods, life commands respect. There are times in most of our lives when the days go by in a blur, and almost everyone has a sense, when this happens, of wasting something precious. As Ben Franklin said, if you love life, don't waste time, because time is what life is made of. So no, there's nothing particularly grand about making money. That's not what makes startups worth the trouble. What's important about startups is the speed. By compressing the dull but necessary task of making a living into the smallest possible time, you show respect for life, and there is something grand about that.

Radio Blogger on "United 93"

Duane Patterson saw the movie United 93, and gives his review:

I realize the media over the last couple of weeks has done its darndest to dampen the opening of the movie by saying it's too soon to see images like this. I'm really hoping that word of mouth will give this weekend's tedid opening a solid run. We owe it to the people and families on United 93 to remember and honor their service during wartime, since they were the first ones to take up arms in the Global War On Terror.

US guided missile submarine conversions

The US has been fairly quietly converting Trident ballistic missile submarines to launch Tomahawk, or Tactical Tomahawk, land attack guided missiles. DefenceTalk.com has an article on the subject. The Ohio, Michigan, Florida, and Georgia are the submarines being converted. Florida actually launched a test missile on 14 January 2003, from the Gulf of Mexico. The submarines are also equipped to carry special forces (SEAL) and have some advanced systems for getting them ashore. The converted ships are also able to perform the traditional attack submarine role, as a secondary capability.