Student: These things I cannot control!
Master: The weak try to control; the strong adapt.
Year: 2008
Is 9V too much for a 6V device?
If I have a device that requests 6V input and I have an a/c adapter that outputs 9V, will the device draw only the 6V it needs or will it try to take all 9V and burn itself out? In this case the circuit is simply a light. It has the switch and the bulb with an optio of being powered by 4 AA batteries or 6V input. No amp requirement specified.
Watt’s it matter?
Greenbacks or Gold?
Worried that the dollar might tank and that the paper in your wallet might be worth more keeping the house warm than spending? Are you thinking, "I really should have a pile of gold in the house in case the economy really gets horrible."? Think again. In 1933 Ol’ Delano took measures to make sure you didn’t have that concern.
From: President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt
To: The United States Congress
Dated: 5 April, 1933
Presidential Executive Order 6102Forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion and Gold Certificates By virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 5(b) of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended by Section 2 of the Act of March 9, 1933, entitled
An Act to provide relief in the existing national emergency in banking, and for other purposes
in which amendatory Act Congress declared that a serious emergency exists,
I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do declare that said national emergency still continues to exist and pursuant to said section to do hereby prohibit the hoarding gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates within the continental United States by individuals, partnerships, associations and corporations…
[Source, The Privateer Gold Pages, The Roosevelt Gold Confiscation Of April 5, 1933]
Good smells
Exploring
Shedding
Today’s bizarre dialog
I began the week with this conversation and end it with this one:
Me, at Chick-fil-a drive through squawk box: "One more thing. I’d like a large carrot and raisin salad."
Her: "You wanna a what?!"
Me: "A large carrot and raisin salad."
Her: "I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?"
Me, considering describing it by color: "Please add a large carrot and raisin salad. One caaaarrrroottt and raisin salad."
Her: "Huh?"
Me, about to give up, raising my voice and yelling to the window instead of the speaker: "A carrot and salad please! Large."
Her: "Okay. Drive up."
Yes, in hindsight, I’m sure she heard me the first time but was just in utter disbelief. The employee dialog, amidst laughter, must have been, "Hey, do we have any of that carrot junk left over from last week?"
Do you believe the WTC was just planes?
The last man out says there were explosions in the basement.
This is from Rosie.com
Update: A friend on IRC asked, "you seriously questioning the WTC was just planes or not?" From time to time I think of the open questions like Silverman’s insurance policy, the assessment that the towers needed to be torn down and rebuilt but was too costly an endeavor, the demolition style collapse of the buildings instead of toppling, and all the other babble from the conspiracy theorists. Now, I love a good conspiracy theory. Conspiracy for 9/11 almost writes itself. When I write conspiracy, it’s just creative writing often for satirical purposes. The truth of the matter is that 9/11 was the second attempt by terrorist to bring buildings down. The first attempt was with 1500 pounds of explosives in the basement in February 1993. Including explosives in the basement is conceivable for an effort that planned to organize 10 planes and at one point included simultaneous attacks on 2 continents before being scaled back to the 4 plans used on 9/11.
The commission found that the plot originally called for hijacking 10 planes and attacking targets on the eastern and western coasts of the United States.
The plot also called for hijacking and blowing up 12 airliners in Southeast Asia, but al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden scrapped that part of the plan because it was too difficult to coordinate operations on two continents.
Bin Laden scaled back the plot in the United States to the four planes that were eventually used in the attack.
[Source, CNN, 9/11 panel: Al Qaeda planned to hijack 10 planes, 17 June 2004]
I doubt it though. That day was horrible. I watched it broadcast live and as smoke billowed out from the towers I was amazed they were still standing. But like JFK’s assassination, I think people will believe strongly one way or another and that some questions will never be answered. None-the-less, I found Rosie’s video interesting.
Support Microsoft
You can get your mugshot on the big screen in Times Square by saying "I’m a PC and …." if you want to support Microsoft by participating in their counter ads to Apple’s famous "I’m a Mac" ads.
I personally would like to see every participant holding an apple, biting into an apple, or have the Apple logo somewhere in the shot. I think I’ll record, "I’m a PC because Steve Jobs won’t send me a free Macbook Pro."
IRS Update
UPS just delivered an envelop one inch thick from the IRS. Whee!
Cliff Stoll on Everything
In the movie Conspiracy Theory, Mel Gibson’s character is compelled to buy copies of The Catcher in the Rye which is a play on the fact that numerous assassins and murders have had on their possession or made reference to the book when caught. For me, the book that randomly liters the house is Clifford Stoll’s The Cuckoo’s Egg. I have a hard copy over there. There’s a paperback version on my headboard. That bookshelf has a tattered paperback and I think there are several other copies laying around. At the time Cliff Stoll tracked his spy, I was deeply ingrained in computers and learning about databases, telcom, and obsessed with assembly language. Two years later I was working on Unix machines at the same level as Cliff Stoll so each read of the book brings vivid memories. Two years later his book was released and became mandatory reading for computer science majors. Shortly after that, if my memory serves correct, he spoke at the University of Tennessee (but honestly, that could be a fabrication of my aged brain). Clifford Stoll ranks on my list of fascinating people. See if you can get through Stoll’s 18 minutes at TED. It’s worth it!
Bushanomics
Commenter Horn56 keeps it real:
…Bush had nothing to do w/ bill that lead to the mortgage crisis and banks collapsing, but he’s not clean and innocent from this situation either.
To blame Clinton is to only look at date of who was in office. The bill was written by 3 republicans after 20 years and $300 million in lobbying, passed by the republican dominated congress and shoved into an “essential spending measure” Clinton had to sign. I believe only 6 democrats voted “yea” on this, and that was only after they added privacy stipulations to the sales of loans.
There was nothing in this that applied directly to how you can give a loan, it just made the banks feel more secure in giving loans to unqualified people thinking they now had a backing if the loan was not repaid. Of course with everything being sold on speculation now because of this change in laws, the money wasn’t really there to back anything. One deadbeat after another started to default on the loans they couldn’t afford and never should of been given, the backing was not really there…peace banks.
The fact that the main person that wrote this bill deregulating banks, who also wrote the legislation that deregulated energy and allowed oil to be sold the way it s now, was named as one of McCain’s top advisors… If McCain claims to not understand the economy, and the economic adviser he picked caused the problem, who exactly is going to fix it if he gets in?
It’s still a very funny picture and caption!
20% of US oil does NOT come from Alaska.
Bad Quartermaster
It’s okay to run out of money.
It’s even forgivable to run out of food.
But it is inexcusable to run out of incense!
Oh look! Patchouli oil…
Overslept – Do you use an alarm clock?
Last night I slept deep! I had vivid, colorful dreams with incredible detail. Central themes: strife. I haven’t used an alarm clock since about 6 months before Amy was born. So for about 6%frac12; years I have gone to sleep by saying, "I will wake up at ____." Usually, I wake within 5 minutes of the time I say as I lay down. Today I overslept 45 minutes! I was just so mentally and physically exhausted. Amy still made it to school on time although just under the bell.
Last weekend our Scout troop had its monthly scout master meeting. Eight adults showed up and I had the opportunity to relate my success of waking without an alarm clock. Another adult chimed up and said, "Oh yes. I’ve done that for 10 years." 25% of the people sitting at the table spent the bulk of a decade successfully waking without an alarm clock. I wonder if the numbers hold. Does ¼ of society choose to not have an alarm clock and still wake on time?
