Twitter Simulator

That last beer is finished. I need to get a new one.

I will be at the refrigerator from 11:30 - 11:32 p.m. if you want to join me.

Twitter Simulator

Cheap Trick has a few good songs. Okay, only two good songs.

"Surrender" and "I want you to want me." Did I miss any?

Twitter Simulator

You can send tweets to CNN's weather people.

I think I shall tell them Taichung feels sort of humid but sort of cool.

Twitter Simulator

Getting a cold beer.

Twitter Simulator

Now I know how I-Jay feels about cell phones.

Did I use too many words?

Economic Indicator

I asked the FedEx driver about business. 

Down 30% or more. 

Not improving yet.

This jibes with our current order book. We had a little rush of orders as customers absolutely run out of inventory, but we're pretty empty going forward.

I think any "feelgood" we are getting is coming from no major "bad news" in the papers and government money flowing into banks. "Hey, I am no longer in pain, simply numb now."

I thought GM's bankruptcy would be a big problem, but maybe the zombie-dance has its advantages, too. 

Probably not.

And it begins anew...

Wife sent me out to buy masks so we will be protected when the Swine Flu arrives.

I am lucky I did not get smashed by a falling crane on my to the pharmacy.

I think this could have been a Twitter post.

Global Warming

Its a complex topic. I keep oscillating between being agnostic on the matter to cautious belief that man may be responsible.  Like it really matters what I think - I am no scientist, though my use of the word oscillating was meant to show how pseudo-scientific Poli Sci majors can be.

You would think that our political leadership would be better informed and act accordingly* but I am still confused by the rhetoric that we have to act NOW to save the planet when compared to the actions of those advocating these positions.

An administration official says a presidential Boeing 747 and a fighter jet flew low near ground zero in New York CityMonday because the White House Military Office wanted to update its file photo of the president's plane near the Statue of Liberty.

This official said the White House Military Office told the Federal Aviation Administration that it periodically updates file photos of Air Force One near national landmarks, like the statute in New York harbor and the Grand Canyon.

Seriously, if global warming is putting the Earth in danger, maybe UPDATING photos of empty 747's flying near national landmarks is not a good use of carbon emissions.

Maybe we could try PHOTOSHOP instead? 

Even the Iranians use photoshop, so I am sure some intern in the White House could handle this updating of photos without using actual planes and actual landmarks.

Hell, I bet the intern could even create a cool mash-up with Google Street View so that every homeowner in America could download a photo of Air Force One mock-strafing their home.

*Karl would make a similar argument about the Iraq war where US 'experts' ended up not knowing the difference between Sunni & Shia, etc.

Jesus H. Christ

I was listening to a Planet Money podcast where they mentioned that China owned around US$ 500 billion of Fanny Mae & Freddie Mac bonds.

That's a lot of houses funded by exporting cheap products to America.

They are lucky the US government backed those bonds up, otherwise they would be in big trouble. 

Imagine what could have happened...

Podcasts

If you hate long commutes, plane trips, etc. I recommend listening to podcasts as a great way to pass the time. Better than music for sure. My suggestions as follows:

Comedy

Never Not Funny (I pay for this)

I love Movies with Doug Benson

Business

NPR's Planet Money

Lectures

London School of Economics Lecture Series

Swarthmore Lecture Series

econtalk

Miscellaneous

Stuff You Should Know (short)

Radio Lab by WNYC - public radio from New York - excellent quality

Chris Moyles (best of) - Its like your morning zoo except set in the UK

TED - I have not started on these yet, but have watched one of their videos - very cool - shows the future of metainformation, like googling someone as you meet them.

Note on podcasts...if you start listening from the beginning episodes , sometimes the quality is poor but picks up later, so don't get discouraged.  Hell most of these are free. Also, don't be afraid to decide something sucks and find something else. 

Audiobooks - any suggestions? 

Links coming later...

The French

Sarkozy ripped on Obama. 

I think I pass the hypocrisy test in being annoyed by this.

What do they want? Do we have to elect a Frog president to shut them up?

Pierre Du Pont 2012

The Only Way to Appease the French

Killer App

'Bulletflight' iPhone App Helps Snipers Hit Targets

Yeah, you can use your iPhone to help you be a better sniper. I am getting too old for this. Can't I just play M.U.L.E. on my Commodore 64 instead of living in a world where the iPhone is a sniper's accessory?

p.s. note just one App, but there is also a cheaper, generic App as well.

The Firearm Blog praise Bulletflight's "sheer awesomeness," but noted that there's already another iPhone/iPod Touch app called iSnipe that does essentially the same thing, retails for $4.99 and isn't tied in to a specific arms manufacturer.

North Korea

Like a finely tuned watch, they have backed out of the 6 party talks and will restart their nuke program, because we complained about their missile launch.

Must be a new administration in Washington.

I predict in about 6 years, progress will have been made to a new "framework" with North Korea. We'll ship over a few million tons of fuel oil. And then in 7 1/2 years time, they will renege again.

Not that I have any better ideas on how to deal with them.

Customer Coming Tomorrow

This will be the first foreign customer to visit us in Taiwan in about 2 years time.

OK, we had another guy come in a month ago, but he is Taiwanese, so it sort of doesn't count.

Global Warming

Obama has warned us that Global Warming is an urgent crisis that must be addressed immediately. But not as urgent as getting a good pizza.

When you're the president of the United States, only the best pizza will do - even if that means flying a chef  860 miles. 

Chris Sommers, 33, jetted into Washington from St Louis, Missouri, on Thursday with a suitcase of dough, cheese and pans to to prepare food for the Obamas and their staff.

He had apparently been handpicked after the President had tasted his pizzas on the campaign trail last autumn.

UPDATE: I will note the name of this pizza joint down, because it must be freaking awesome.

Customers

Please, customers, PUT DOWN THE BLACKBERRIES AND GO TO SLEEP.

When I send you an email at 3:30 pm Taiwan time, I don't expect a reply immediately.

In fact, I find it annoying because it implies that I should also be alert and answering questions at midnight, too. FUCK THAT. That is my beer time. Don't ask about samples or that one P.O. shipping next week (as if I actually know the shipping schedule! LOL.)

Globalization now means that I have a typical workaholic CEO answering me in the afternoon, his secretary answering me in the night, and the alcoholic/workaholic VP of sales who may bugging me at any time of the day. And they wonder why I don't like to give them my cell phone number.

Yahoo Story on Piracy

Douglas J. Mavrinac, the head of maritime research at investment firm Jefferies & Co., said using U.S.-fagged ships with American crews was rare because of the high costs. But they are used to carry U.S. government aid.

Or does he mean AIDS? and is he thinking about Butt Pirates?