Kosher Wisdom

2009-04-23T21:01:00.004-04:00

In the movie "Monsters Vs. Aliens", there is a scene mocking bad design. In the movie, two identical buttons are side by side. One launches nuclear weapons. The other makes coffee.

This is, of course, designed to mock bad design. But consider the following: In expensive, professional financial software, Hyperion Planning 9.3.1, there are two buttons side by side. One reformats the database ("Create"), deletes all scripts and load files and in general returns the application to an out-of-the-box state. The other button refreshes the data, which is a necessary function to maintain the data and is used on a daily basis. This bad design decision is rendered even worse when one considers that in addition to THIS create button, which one is never to press, there is ANOTHER 'Create' button, which one is required to press to push changes to the security provisioning system back to the Essbase server.

Hyperion Smartview Errors

2009-04-23T13:32:00.001-04:00

This is the worst kind of dialog box. It tells you nothing except that the designer could not anticipate this kind of error. And it is typical of Hyperion Smartview, the buggiest enterprise software ever to exit the doorway of Oracle.

Food Updates

2008-08-25T00:26:00.018-04:00

Middle Eastern:

House of Kebabs, Sunnyvale. Excellent Kebabs for about $11

Kebab and Curry, Santa Clara, Cheap Pakistani food.

Chelokebabi, Sunnyvale. Excellent, expensive Persian and kebabs.

Kabul, Sunnyvale. Afghan food- $15 an entree, good service, white tablecloths (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

Falafel Drive In, San Jose. Cheap falafel. excellent.

Kan Zeman, Palo Alto. Cheap middle eastern food. Decent.

Shah/Shan (Sunnyvale/Mtn View border). Excellent Pakistani food in a hole in the wall. Between a strip club and a tattoo parlor.

Shalimar (Sunnyvale/Mtn View border) Very good, but I have switched to Shan instead)

Chinese/Vietnamese/Thai

China Palace, Milpitas. Excellent hole in the wall. Try the crispy chicken.

Fatima, Cupertino Islamic Chinese. (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). Specialties: Sesame bread, knife cut noodles, soups. Behind the Target store off of Stevens Creek.

Pho Nam, Sunnyvale

Dusita Thai, Sunnyvale

Merit Vegetarian, Sunnyvale Run by an odd religious group, serves vegetarian Vietnamese.

Mexican

Tia Juana, Sunnyvale

Tres Potrillos Taqeria, Sunnyvale (NO LONGER RECOMMENDED. IT WASN"T GOOD WHEN I LAST ATE THERE.)

Chavez Market, Sunnyvale

Japanese

Saizo, Sunnyvale. Excellent chicken skewers and Izikaya.

Rokko, Sunnyvale (Burned down - will reopen)

Indian

Spice Hut, Sunnyvale

Saravana Bhavan, Sunnyvale Vegetarian Southern Indian Food. (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.) Especially recommended: Executive meal, aka Thali plate

Udupi Palace, Sunnyvale

Other

Hobee's

Straits Cafe, San Jose Santana Row

St. Johns, Sunnyvale

AG Ferrari Foods, Sunnyvale and others, (prepared foods)

Palace Cafe, Sunnyvale

Zeni (ethiopian), San Jose

Coffee

Coffee Society

Barefoot Coffee Roasters, Santa Clara

Coffee and More, Sunnyvale

Other Places

Starlite Dance Studio

Rooster T. Feathers Comedy Club

Mechanic: Mountain View Radiator, Mountain View. Japanese car specialist.

Dentist: Dr. Stanley Lin, Kifer Park Dental,Sunnyvale

2007-10-26T13:40:00.000-04:00

Don Surber has found a column about the sale of the NYT.

In my opinion, NYT is doing things the wrong way. Opinion is a commodity. It’s easy to get opinion pieces. If I were them, I would suck up the cost and send ten or fifteen reporters to be embedded in Iraq and Afghanistan with the troops. Of course, they might need to get new reporters since the cabernet and brie crew they have now wouldn’t do it. Ten or fifteen reporters doing a year rotation- a full deployment with the troops. Then bring in editorialists from across the opinion spectrum to match the national diversity of opinion. And a thick local section (sold only locally) that covers fires and robberies and murders and things of that nature.

I live in San Jose and I won’t touch the POS mercury news. It is so far to the left it makes the NYT look like the Limbaugh letter. I feel my blood pressure increase whenever I open it. And yet, I have this craving for local news that is unsatisfied. There is a market opportunity there someplace…

Time for a flu shot- here is where to get one.

2007-10-20T22:05:00.001-04:00

It's time to get a flu shot. Unless, of course, you enjoy being sick and miserable. Try the flu clinic locator from the American Lung Association.

In Response to the Volokh Conspiracy's Discussion of Dawkin's Antisemetic Remarks

2007-10-10T08:29:00.000-04:00

Volokh Conspiracy Posted on Anti-Semitic remarks by well known scientist Richard Dawkins:

[David Bernstein, October 8, 2007 at 8:39pm] Trackbacks
Here's Something Depressing:
Richard Dawkins says: "When you think about how fantastically successful the Jewish lobby has been, though, in fact, they are less numerous I am told - religious Jews anyway - than atheists and [yet they] more or less monopolise American foreign policy as far as many people can see. So if atheists could achieve a small fraction of that influence, the world would be a better place."

1. Dawkins just reflects the prevailing and endemic antisemitism in the British upper class. The only period of my life when I was called a 'kike' on a regular basis was when I went to English boarding school.

2. It is quite possible to have a pogrom in this country. I was at an event a few years ago where violence was narrowly averted. Just imagine two or three hundred people screaming 'kill the jew.' This event didnt happen in Saudi Arabia. It happened at San Francisco State University. In America. In the 21st century.(Reference: Meryl Yourish Blog )

As you may recall, Gray Davis issued a statement with a seven point action plan for combating antisemitism as a result:

"In particular, Davis pointed to incidents at or near the University of California at Berkeley campus, including an attack on two Orthodox men, vandalism at the Hillel house, an illegal sit-in by pro-Palestinian demonstrators and a spate of anti-Semitic graffiti. In addition, pro-Palestinian groups at San Francisco State University disrupted a pro-Israel observance with virulently anti-Semitic invective, posted blood libels and used their Web sites for Holocaust denial. "

I was actually at that 'pro-Israel observance' and was chased by several dozen people screaming 'kill the jews! kill the jews! Violence was only narrowly averted by the arrival of a hundred or so armed police officers.

So, Yes, I believe Dawkins is an antisemite. And yes, I think it is representative of a lot more people than would like to let on. I think that speaking with the Guardian, itself a notably anti-Zionist rag that veers on occasion into blatant antisemitism, he let his guard down. And yes, I would not be surprised to see a pogrom in America. Because I've already pretty much experienced one.

This could save your life. The best wrist mounted blood pressure monitor.

2007-10-08T05:21:00.000-04:00

I am surprised that so many people don't know what their blood pressure is. High blood pressure is one of the predictive factors for...just about everything as we get older. Having a home blood pressure monitor can give you peace of mind by keeping an eye on your pipes without having to call the plumber, so to speak.

I recently bought this little tiny Panasonic blood pressure monitor. it's about six ounces and you wear it on your wrist. The red thing in back is the wrist cuff. You put it on, press the button, and in about 20 seconds a red, yellow or green LED lights up that tells you whether you are in trouble or not. It's completely foolproof. You can also look back at the last few results and compare against your average. Not a whole lot of features, but it is simple and excellent and actually works well. I would put this up against any device with 101 mediocre functions any day.

I discovered that I was prehypertensive, using this device. I was able to deal with the problem because I found out about it. Now if I could just come up with a solution to measure hematocrit at home...

The last time I went in to have my blood taken I measured the home unit against the one in the clinic. It was virtually dead accurate.

It's about 50 bucks here at Amazon. It comes with a plastic travel case, the whole thing fits in the palm of your hand. I have looked at many of these, this one is the only one I would consider buying. Get one, it could save your life, it probably saved mine.

An Illustration of Megan's Law Database, Part II

2007-10-07T21:35:00.001-04:00

I don't think people fully understand how dangerous San Francisco can be. People look at it as a tourist destination, a Disneyland of sorts. Well, there are a lot of things you need to be careful about when you visit San Francisco. Case in point:

Each blue dot in this picture represents a registered sex offender. This is a screen grab from the Megan's law database. As you can see, they are prety much everywhere. According to to the state, there are 826 registered Sex Offenders in the city of San Francisco in the city alone. Note that the state has complete addresses and for 582 registered sexual offenders. The others are there too....somewhere.

To put that in perspective, that is about the number of city buses and trolleys in San Francisco. Think about that the next time you are walking on Market Street. People wonder why tourism is down in the city and why conventions are going elsewhere. Perhaps it is because the city elders care about and focus more on wars in faraway lands than about their tax base.

Of course, some people think we should look at the big picture instead. To which I say: "Good idea. Let's look at the bigger picture."
Note: Visiting Union Square or Market Street? Check out Part I of this series looking at those areas and the Tenderloin.

An Illustration of Megan's Law Database, Part I

2007-10-07T21:24:00.000-04:00

You would be surprised how many people are on the sexual offense registry here in California. This example shows a cluster in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. The tail out to the bottom right is 6th St. South of Market. It is a seedy stretch with decrepit residential hotels and adult businesses.

And Vista fails again, are you surprised?

2007-10-07T00:12:00.000-04:00

So Vista has failed me again. For some reason, IE7 would lock up when I was trying to read a website. It wasn't that I was trying to read anything strange, unless the Wall Street Journal is strange.

This time, it's the start menu customization feature. It doesn't open. When I click on it, the computer grinds a bit and then does nothing.

This is very similar to some of the problems I had earlier opening windows mail.

But I did solve the IE7 problem for good. I migrated to Firefox. You, too should migrate to Firefox. I figure I will solve the Vista start menu customization problems, too. Probably by moving to something open source

Megan's Law Database- he best check you can make before buying property

2007-10-05T06:20:00.000-04:00

Before you buy real estate in california, I strongly recommmend you check
Megan's Law database. It is one of the most shocking things that you will see. You would be shocked, I mean blown away, by how many creepy people in your neighborhood. This database is maintained by the State of California.

this site will provide you with access to information on
more than 63,000 persons required to register in California as sex
offenders. Specific home addresses are displayed on more than 33,500
offenders in the California communities; as to these persons, the
site displays the last registered address reported by the offender.
An additional 30,500 offenders are included on the site with
listing by ZIP Code, city, and county. Information on
approximately 22,000 other offenders is not included on this site,
but is known to law enforcement personnel.

Big Changes coming!

2007-10-05T06:10:00.001-04:00

I'm going to be cranking up the posting, with reviews of items on health, wellness, the best tools online and off. And we now have an amazon affiliate link. That means that you can buy through us and we will get a tiny cut of whatever our readers buy that we recommend (assuming you buy it through our links).

Prosper update

2007-10-03T15:57:00.000-04:00

So I've been lax about checking my Prosper.com portfolio. Things have actually improved. The weighted ROI of 6.4% is below where I should be but not terrible. I would have done better in the stock market but only marginally better in a fixed income product. Indeed, given the 18 month average duration of this, it is slightly better than I could have gotten in a CD. Still, without the 12% expected return, I don't expect to be investing more at all.

Portfolio Performance
Avg Interest Rate (unweighted): 16.24%
Avg Interest Rate (weighted): 15.52%
Experian Estimated ROI: 12.05%
EricsCC Estimated ROI¹: 6.37%
Avg Loan Age: 348 days

Avg Credit Grade (unweighted): C+
Avg Credit Grade (weighted): B-

Yodlee- so good it's bad for me

2007-10-02T16:12:00.000-04:00

So for many years, I've been using Yodlee to aggregate my accounts. That is, it takes all of my bank accounts, credit card accounts, brokerage accounts, mortgages etc. and accumulates them into a real time single sheet of paper view of my net worth.

Then Prosper loans came along.

Yodlee deals with prosper loans very badly. Each of the loans is listed as a negative asset. That is, each loan that I own (money that people owe to me) is listed as a negative loan, like a mortgage in reverse. It is listed under debts. That is bad because it screws up how the asset and liability are calculated. It underestimates both assets and liabilities. Although the total net worth is the same, the components are wrong.

In addition, each of the loans is listed seperately, not in aggregate. This kills my ability to use yodlee as a daily overall asset watching device. Which is a pity, because this is the best web 2.0 application I know how to use. It is way, way better than Mint.

The Best Travel Site for making Itineraries

2007-10-01T20:17:00.000-04:00

The best travel site for making itineraries is clearly Tripit. While I am not big on social networking sites to begin with, this is clearly better than most as it provides a service which to my knowledge nobody else is providing. You merely forward the confirmation emails to it from various travel sites and it puts them together into an elaborate inventory.

For example, I built an itinerary with hotels from Expedia, Orbitz, Marriott, and United Airlines and it put them all together into a beautiful itinerary with maps and directions. it also integrates with other sites for content. While still in beta, it's a winner. I expect they will get bought out very soon by someone else, but this site does get the Kosher Wisdom Seal of Approval.

On XM

2006-02-16T19:45:00.000-05:00

I have been considering financial blogging recently. The problem is that people like Jim Cramer can go on television, flog a stock relentlessly and watch it shoot up 10% the next day, but I couldn't recommend a stock without being prosecuted for financial shenanigans.

It's a pity because I see a great deal to skewer with the stock picks which are on today. Perhaps I should start a new segment: Bad stock pick of the month. In which, I would highlight a stock never to buy for your portfolio.

Al Salem: Lying about the passenger figures.

2006-02-03T16:37:00.000-05:00

There is a discrepancy in passenger figures between that reported by the shipping line in 2005 and what it is claiming now.

In 2001, the shipping line, Al Salem, reported a capacity of 1100 passengers. Recently, the website has been revised to show an increased capacity of passengers, coincidentally, the same number carried by the ferry when it sank.

According to the Internet Way Back archive, the Feb. 2005, the passenger figure is reported as 1100. There were about 1500 people on the ship, including 100 crew.

From the internet way back archive:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050216095510/http://elsalammaritime.com/pvessels.html

Baghdad Burning

2004-12-19T22:36:00.000-05:00

Baghdad Burning

Her english is too good. I think this is a fraud. There are too many things she shouldn't know about christians, about churches, about American literature. This is written by a native english speaker or someone who has been in the Anglosphere a very long time. "Christmas miracles are exclusive to Dickens" sounds quite good. Also, the punctuation is fantastic. Most Americans can't do this kind of thing.

V-Day: afghanistan is everywhere

2004-12-19T19:54:00.000-05:00

You too can join the oppressed!

"Until all women and girls are free from violence, women will continue to confront violence. We declare Afghanistan is Everywhere "

Let's reverse the sexes. "Until men are free from violence, men will continue to confront violence." Unless the guys feeding people into the plastic shredder are members of the Ba'athist party.

Maybe I missed the chadors and muttawas with steel rods beating women in the streets.

Iraq's 'Chemical Ali' undergoes interrogation

2004-12-19T01:04:00.000-05:00

The gas chamber would be highly appropriate, don't you think?

Iraq's 'Chemical Ali' undergoes interrogation

ATRA :: Judicial Hellholes 2004

2004-12-15T19:05:00.000-05:00

A list you don't want to make, unless you are a trial lawyer. Tort reform, anyone?

ATRA :: Judicial Hellholes 2004

News

2004-12-15T16:32:00.000-05:00

Quality Islamic Justice

Well, she wouldn't be executed if she were a boy. After all, in the Iranian system, boys can't be executed before the age of 15 whereas girls could be executed at nine.

UPDATE: OK, she only has a mental age of 8.5. It's all good. /sarcasm

Miss World 2004: the official website - Contestants - Details

2004-12-03T14:14:00.000-05:00

I took a look at the Miss World contestants. It served to increase my desire to travel to South America. I found the Chinese and Japanese contestants, well, ordinary. Couldn't they have found someone a little more glamorous? I mean, I have seen more attractive Asian women wandering around downtown Chicago.

Miss World 2004: the official website - Contestants - Details

The Editors on Intelligence Reform on National Review Online

2004-12-03T12:20:00.000-05:00

Bipartisan legislation scares me. It tends to be made for tv crud devoid of redeeming value. Sort of like Sarbanes-Oxley.

The Editors on Intelligence Reform on National Review Online: "ed a thorough reevaluation of our intelligence system's capabilities and organization? Those days weren't so long ago, but they have been forgotten in the absurd rush in Washington to pass a massive centralization of U.S. intelligence months before the presidential commission charged with examining the Iraq intelligence failure and questions related to it has a chance to report.

President Bush named senior federal judge Laurence Silberman and former senator Charles Robb in February to head the bipartisan panel, the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. It is scheduled to report by March. Its work directly touches on the changes contemplated in the intelligence-reform bill that conventional wisdom in Washington deems it imperative to pass in days (if not hours). As the commission's website explains, it 'will provide recommendations for ensuring that the Intelligence Community is best equipped and organized to warn the United States Government' of futu"

Unprotected PCs fall to hacker bots in four minutes - General News - www.pcauthority.com.au

2004-12-01T11:49:00.000-05:00

Amazing.

Unprotected PCs fall to hacker bots in four minutes - General News - www.pcauthority.com.au

2004-11-29T21:01:00.000-05:00

A fascinating view of city rank and importance by census year. We can see that there is a long term decline in certain cities. It takes 70-100 years for a city to decline into irrelavence. For example, look at Fall River MA. It was once a great city but it took 100 years to decline so far that it fell of the chart. Nantucket took 79 yeears. In hindsight, we can see that many of the cities which supposedly were wracked by racial problems in the 1960's actually were in a downward spiral far before that.

: "COLORADO (3)
Aurora *................. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 97"

ProfessorBainbridge.com: Why Iraq?

2004-11-27T11:12:00.001-05:00

ProfessorBainbridge.com: Why Iraq?

2004-11-27T11:12:00.000-05:00

ProfessorBainbridge.com: Why Iraq?

Havel for UN Chief!

2004-11-25T22:34:00.000-05:00

Hit and Run

If Vaclav Havel were put in a position of great international authority, I think I would cry tears of joy. Incidentally, this will be the first test of the blogosphere to not only to reacty to the MSM but to implant and influence ideas in actual policies. I hope this works!

Passengers complain about pat-down searches at airports

2004-11-25T22:31:00.000-05:00

Next news story: "Tens of thousands apply for TSA screening jobs"

Passengers complain about pat-down searches at airports

Article: Africa's deserts are in "spectacular" retreat�| New Scientist

2004-11-25T22:29:00.000-05:00

Funny how good news doesn't get reported. Now, when things go bad, it is A1 above the fold news, even if the news isn't 'new.'
Article: Africa's deserts are in "spectacular" retreat�| New Scientist

�No Pasar�n!: Le Monde's Partisan Article on Weblogs

2004-11-23T14:17:00.000-05:00

It "Gauls" me.

�No Pasar�n!: Le Monde's Partisan Article on Weblogs

Roger L. Simon: A North Korean Freedom Movement?

2004-11-18T13:26:00.000-05:00

Another result of Bush's Re-Election: Samizdat against the North Korean tyrant. Can Freedom Fighters be far behind?

Roger L. Simon: A North Korean Freedom Movement?

I pray for the day when the butcher of Pyongyang is hung from a meathook.

Car Wax Test Results, NSeXcitement Magazine

2004-11-15T17:05:00.000-05:00

Here is an interesting test of . Car Waxes Unfortunately, the one I use came in dead last. I'll continue to look around for something better,

israelinsider: diplomacy: Suspicions grow that Arafat is dying of AIDS

2004-11-07T13:39:00.000-05:00

israelinsider: diplomacy: Suspicions grow that Arafat is dying of AIDS: "that Arafat is dying of AIDS
By israelinsider staff November 6, 2004

Former White House speechwriter David Frum has joined the growing chorus of pundits, medical experts, and intelligence operatives who claim Yasser Arafat is likely suffering from AIDS.

Frum, a key figure in Republican politics and the man who coined the terms 'axis of evil,' writes in National Review Online that Arafat's undisclosed illness is well-known, but has been kept under wraps by the mainstream media.

'Speaking of media bias, here's a question you won't hear in our big papers or on network TV: Does Yasser Arafat have AIDS?' asks Frum, who also writes for the National Post.

'We know he has a blood disease that is depressing his immune system. We know that he has suddenly dropped considerable weight -- possibly as much as one-third of all his body weight. We know that he is suffering intermittent mental dysfunction. What does this sound like?'

Earlier, John Loftus told John Batchelor on ABC radio on October 26 that Arafat is dying from AIDS. Loftus said the CIA has known this about Arafat for quite awhile and that as a result the US has encouraged Sharon not to take Arafat out because the US has known Arafat was about done. It was deemed better to have Arafat discredited as a homosexual.

Although homosexuality is rife in the Arab world, it is at least officially considered a sin and a crime, and regarded--especially in fundamentalist circles--as a mark of great shame and depravity.

Intelligence on 'the tiger' romping with bodyguards
Frum pointed to KGB evidence linking Arafat to homosexual activities, citing a 1987 book by Lt.-Gen. Ion Pacepa, the deputy chief of Romania's intelligence service under Commu"

Peaktalk - HEDONIST EUROPE

2004-11-04T18:30:00.000-05:00

Peaktalk - HEDONIST EUROPE: "So if the average European has become a pleasure-seeking individual devoid of a clear spiritual home you can probably sense how the slow abolition of the nation state and the embrace of the European Union impacts the citizenry. At a time when guidance, purpose and cultural identity would help mitigate the excesses of clueless atheist hedonism, Europeans are offered the uncertainly of a cultureless statist behemoth over which they have very little, if any, influence. "

Of course, they won't have the luxury of dissolving their culture into a warm goo of dissolution. Nobody has the spine to stop the coming of the Islamofascists. I wonder why nobody can see it coming. Europe, as in the Weimar era, cavorts in a warm sea of self indulgence while the storm gathers to wash away their comfortable existance.

Yahoo! News - U.S. Pounds Rebel Iraqi City, Aid Group Quits

2004-11-04T13:46:00.000-05:00

It begins. Death to Terrorists!

Yahoo! News - U.S. Pounds Rebel Iraqi City, Aid Group Quits

Baseball Crank: POLITICS: Marginal Votes For Bush

2004-11-04T11:41:00.000-05:00

Baseball Crank: POLITICS: Marginal Votes For Bush

Proof, and convincingly, that Bush's ground game and voter registration worked, and the Dems did not.

"When you put the numbers in that context, you see that Bush was actually hugely more successful at the margins in his combination of bringing new voters to the polls and convincing more people to switch to him than away from him. Remember that next time you hear that high turnout always and everywhere favors the Democrats."

THE BELGRAVIA DISPATCH: W. 43rd St. Revisionism Watch

2004-11-04T11:17:00.000-05:00

Spin at the Times? In favor of Dem's? Who would have thunk it?

Losing it

2004-11-04T00:15:00.000-05:00

An article in the nation, Losing it just a few days ago predicted that the Democrats would take back the house.

On average, Republicans were dead on in their assessment of the state of the races- and Democrats were dead wrong.

I guess the conservative echo chamber is more accurate than the liberal one.

Haaretz - Israel News

2004-11-03T18:26:00.000-05:00

Arafat is At Death's Door

Good riddance. I wonder what the French will do next? probably start supporting negotiations with Hamas.

Ace of Spades HQ: Dan Rather: "The Blogging Machine," on Orders from the White House, Will Begin Drumbeat for Kerry Concession

2004-11-03T08:32:00.000-05:00

Gee, I didn't know the White House was ordering me personally! Ace of Spades HQ: Dan Rather: "The Blogging Machine," on Orders from the White House, Will Begin Drumbeat for Kerry Concession

A bold prediction: When Arafat goes, it will be chaos

2004-10-28T01:03:00.000-04:00

Haaretz newspaper of Israel looks to the future

Look for Hamas to make a play for government. Arafat has held iron control for a long time and there are many factions which will all want a piece of the pie. This can't be a huge surprise ( have you seen a picture of Arafat recently? He looks mostly dead already!)
and there has been a lot of maneuvering in the past two or three years. Still, if he dies tomorrow there probably won't be enough time to rally around a successor. Expect it to be messy- even messier than usual.

I expect there to be at least one major bombing in the next few days as Hamas makes a play for influence.

Quick update

2004-10-13T19:49:00.000-04:00

Quick update on the last post. Sami Al-Arian is awaiting trial; he has not been convicted. His trial date is set for Jan. 20th.

I would like to add that the Duke Administration, quoted in a recent article denied that PSM activists had ever chanted "Kill the Jews." At least to their knowledge, if they closed their eyes and never looked. Since I was chased by several hundred PSM activists screaming just that, please forgive me for my skepticism.

Palestine Solidarity Movement Conference

2004-10-13T10:59:00.000-04:00

To the editor:
Duke University president Brodhead has made a bad decision in allowing the "Palestine Solidarity Movement" to hold a convention on campus. Some have defended this organization, which has strong ties to Islamic Jihad, in the name of free speech.

The article titled “Jewish group plans conference protests” by Michael Petrocelli on October 11 notes “Some PSM critics have charged that those earlier events were hotbeds of anti-Semitism, with some attendees shouting, "Kill the Jews," but Duke administrators say they found no evidence of anything like that.” I can supply the evidence. I was there.
On May 7, 2002, I was among two dozen people who were physically assaulted at a pro-Israel rally at San Francisco State University by a group of several hundred PSM activists screaming "Kill the Jews!" Is this the free speech the Duke community supports?

One speaker at the 2002 conference was Sami Al-Arian, a terrorist convicted of funding suicide bombers responsible for the death of over one hundred civilians. His Feb. 19th, 2003 indictment stated he was responsible for fifty counts of "conspiracy within the United States to kill and maim persons abroad.”

In a 1988 speech, Al-Arian talked of a Koranic "curse" against "those who are the sons of Israel through David and Jesus, the Son of Mary... The Koran is our constitution. Jihad is our path...We assemble today to pay respects to the march of the martyrs and to the river of blood that gushes forth and does not extinguish, from butchery to butchery, and from martyrdom to martyrdom, from Jihad to Jihad." Subsequent to this speech, Mr. Al-Arian was invited to be keynote speaker at a Duke sponsored conference. Several Chronicle columns in 2002 and 2003 lauded him as a symbol of academic freedom.

Personally, I feel it is questionable whether inciting the murder of Jews and Christians in a holy war qualifies as the sort of free speech the university should support. Duke would never allow the Klu Klux Klan to hold a national convention on campus. The University should not allow PSM, an equally reprehensible hate group, on campus.

Gallup internals show MSM misunderanalyzed Bush

2004-10-01T13:05:00.000-04:00

Kerry Wins Debate

The internals of the poll:

2004 Sep 30
(sorted by advantage for Kerry)

Kerry

Bush

Advantage

%
%
pct. pts.

Expressed himself more clearly
60
32
+28

Had a good understanding of the issues
41
41
0

Agreed with you more on the issues you care about
46
49
-3

Was more believable
45
50
-5

Was more likable
41
48
-7

Demonstrated he is tough enough for the job
37
54
-17

Kerry failed to demonstrate that he is tough enough for the job, and was less believable and likable than the president. I think the polls may not show the Pro-Kery bump some are looking for. He didn't give Bush voters a reason to switch. I don't think there are many undecided voters left and Kerry may have come across as too suave for the red states.

2004-09-30T14:02:00.000-04:00

Dan Rather is a child molester. I mean, that is what the rumor is, according to a mass email I got. And, the actual truth of it is irrelevant, right? Because the issue is not the facts of Dan Rather's child molestation, it's the rumors surrounding Dan Rather molesting little kiddies.

What do you think would happen to someone who did a story like the above? Yet that is exactly what happened to President Bush. Cross out child molestor and insert the ephitet of your choice and you get nothing but a smear devoid of content.

BeldarBlog: I'm coo-coo for Cocco puffs! (And so's CBS News!)

2004-09-30T12:16:00.000-04:00

If I were Bush, I would attack Kerry at the debate with something like this:

"While Democrats like Conyers and Schumer have introduced legislation to reinstate the draft, I pledge to fight it with everything I have. Not a single republican has signed this legislation and not a single republican will." It would devastate Kerry by forcing him to defend and goading him into making a mistake.
BeldarBlog: I'm coo-coo for Cocco puffs! (And so's CBS News!)

The Mystery of John Edwards Draft Status is Solved!

2004-09-29T22:26:00.000-04:00

John Edwards Draft Status

Visit your friendly Plutonium Mart

2004-09-29T16:09:00.000-04:00

From Aftenposten Norway, Norwegian news in English:

"Nuclear bomb-grade plutonium seized:
Security forces in the ex-Soviet state of Kyrgyzstan have detained a man who tried to sell nuclear bomb-grade plutonium on the black market, a senior security official said on Wednesday.
Tokon Mamytov, deputy head of the Central Asian republic's National Security Service, said the detained man was a Kyrgyz national. Nuclear experts in Moscow said the material was likely to be of Russian origin.
Investigators were trying to establish the identity of the potential buyer and where the substance, identified as plutonium 239, had come from, Mamytov said.
Former Soviet states, including Russia with its huge nuclear arsenal, are under heavy pressure to prevent dangerous atomic material from falling into the hands of extremists after the Soviet collapse left many nuclear facilities under-protected"

Don't you think we should pass the full employment act for Nuclear Scientists in the Mideast? We could offer every one of them a well paying job and asylum in the United States. It would be the cheapest way to reduce the threat. Assume 1000 scientistsx 100,000 per year <= 1/2 the flyaway cost of one F-22. And it will prevent a lot more bloodshed.

As for the buyer, I think we can all think of dozens of the usual suspects. It's not enough to make a bomb, so Uncle Kim would probably pass but there are a lot of smaller Muslim countries and countless nut-jobs that would LOVE to set off a dirty bomb somewhere- New Delhi, New York, Tel Aviv, London, Warsaw.

Their airline security needs work.

2004-09-29T15:35:00.000-04:00

From AftenPosten via Fark: Guy in Norway attacks pilots with an az.

You don't need a PhD to prove this equation:

Onboard Axe+ No Cockpit Doors= Awful Security.

Incidentally, did you notice that they did not mention the nationality of the attacker? I bet I can name the religion, if not the country.

Aftenposten Norway, Norwegian news in English

Power Line: The Democrats Hit Bottom

2004-09-28T20:40:00.000-04:00

iS THERE NOTHING THEY WON'T STOOP TO?
Power Line: The Democrats Hit Bottom

I am deeply saddened by the cheapening of political discourse by the Democrats- of course, dirty tricks are old news in American politics, but it is illustrative of many tactics now in use by the party that believes anything goes in the race to unseat a man they consider Satan.

Daschle outspending Thune 4-1, just to hold even

2004-09-28T19:36:00.000-04:00

Congressional Races

Daschle has spent four times as much, but both have about the same amount left on hand. I think this one might go to Thune except for the massive corruption in the voting rolls on the native american reservations.

May he rot in prison, until he rots in Hell

2004-09-28T19:32:00.000-04:00

Johnny "American Taliban" Walker Lindh wants early release. Hah.
CBS News | Lindh Seeks Early Release | September 28, 2004�15:36:43

Where does the cash come from?

2004-09-28T19:27:00.000-04:00

2004 Election Overview: Business-Labor-Ideology Split in PAC & Individual Donations to Candidates and Parties

A fascinating chart on who gets the money. However, it is clear that the unions are spending far more than one can see here- and not really hiding it. One union admits to having a thousand full time people on the Kerry campaign. That's a whole lot of people to run an organized ground game. At 40k annually a pop (including benefits), for six months, that is 20,000x1000=$20,000,000 from that one union just in workers alone.

Upcoming book worth reading!

2004-09-28T18:52:00.000-04:00

WSJ.com - Das Cowboy Kapital

Right-thinking Germans even have a derogatory term, Amerikanische Verhaltnisse
-- literally, American conditions -- as a shorthand for the social catastrophe
they believe would result if they were ever to tackle the real cause of their
slow growth: a notoriously rigid labor market. This view is so monolithic that
the conservative leader Edmund Stoiber is on record saying, "We do not want
Amerikanische Verhaltnisse in Germany."

So imagine the Sturm und Drang when a German author, Olaf Gersemann, came along earlier this year and exploded all these myths. The title of his book hardly
needs translation: "Amerikanische Verhaltnisse: Die falsche Angst der
Deutschen vor dem Cowboy-Kapitalismus." On each score where Europeans think
their system is superior, the Washington correspondent for Germany's largest
business weekly shows that the Americans have actually pulled ahead.

I think this is worth putting in an early order for.

More thoughts on Orbitz

2004-09-28T18:31:00.000-04:00

Travel agencies are a hard way to make money because the airlines now have incentives to play hardball and drive traffic to themselves or cut commissions to the bone. It's hard to see how Orbitz can make money long when they have a non-differentiated product, where the suppliers, IE the airlines are consolidating. Using the standard five force Porter analysis, we see an industry characterized by powerful suppliers, commodity products, intense competition, and low barriers to entry. Hard to see how this is an industry worth investing in.

Cendant Swallowing Orbitz

2004-09-28T18:05:00.000-04:00

Cendant is gobbling Orbitz for $1.2 billion.
Cendant is a stock that I have owned for some time. They are a heavyweight in the travel and real estate business (Avis, Budget Rent a car, Days Inn, Ramada, etc.). They also happen to be perceived as one of the WORST managed companies. I personally think that the management is average (albeit hugely overpaid) rather than bad, but it has been my contention that they have been underleveraged for some time. However, they are paying a huge premium- 37%- for Orbitz, which I am convinced is too much. If you believe in the efficient market theory, $400 million+ too much. I don't necessarily believe in that theory (esp. for small caps like Orbitz), but I do believe that whatever synergies they get might be insufficient. It's going to be a hard slog to get a reasonable return, although one could make the case that Orbitz would be a great storefront for the hotel and rent a car business... although, if they are perceived as being too biased, there is the potential that competitors could fail to list- they need Hertz and Enterprise and Alamo, otherwise people will go to other sites to book travel and they will have to take a writedown on their investment. Silverman may retire next year but his stock options remain an incentive to do what is in the long term health of the company.

Scylla & Charybdis: UPDATED:Tampering and Fake ID's For Old Ladies

2004-09-28T17:38:00.000-04:00

Utterly Devastating Legal Critique of CBS. Astounding that nobody else has picked up on this.
Scylla & Charybdis: UPDATED:Tampering and Fake ID's For Old Ladies

Belmont Club... digs the good stuff like nobody else

2004-09-28T16:46:00.000-04:00

Wretchard over at the Belmont Club digs up the good stuff like nobody else. I have no idea how he finds this stuff in the Jerusalem post:

Yet, were an air strike on Iran to take out say, only 10 of 15 sites, it would still severely retard the Iranian nuclear effort, buying the West time to formulate and enact either a policy of engagement from a position of strength, or a policy of regime change with the requisite credibility among regime opponents that such a strike would inspire.

As you might expect, there are three options. Israel could bomb Iran, we could bomb Iran, or we could do nothing. Diplomacy counts as doing nothing becuase it will fail to acheive the appropriate goals. I suppose a fourth option would be to accept dhimmitude, but that is not something that I would prefer to think about.

The Mullahs are in a bind. On the one hand, they have a sharp sword in the form of oil cuts. On the other and, they need the money. They may be willing in principle to accept more damage to their economy, but in reality they need the money to pay for the things that keep their young and restless population partially sated...bread and circuses are expensive.

Were I in the Mullahs situation, I would try for a 20% cut in production. Right now, there are about 800,000 spare bpd of global production capacity. The Mullahs are producing a little over 4 million bpd of oil per day... about 5% of world capacity. They might even make money on the cut as oil prices would rise substantially.

Whatever the Mullahs do, expect Europe to roll over. Europe doesn't have the mability to affect world events anymore. Even if they did, Europe still sees the Jews as the real problem rather than their own unwillingness to contribute to the security of Western Civilization.

It's the presidents to lose... or not

2004-09-28T16:22:00.000-04:00

Another day towards the general election. I am coming to believe that the election isn't Bush's to lose, it is still a tossup. The whole thing will come down to the debates. My gut says Kerry self destructs but anything could happen. It is, as they say, live television. I am convinced that Bush will win... Kerry could slice and dice the president on substance and Bush will win on Charisma. Kerry may be "JFK" but he didn't get the charisma along with the initials. Kerry will actually try to debate on the issues. As Kennedy-Nixon showed, it aint about the substance. It's the put downs and the one liners and the presence. Kerry needs to seal the deal by looking presidential, and I am convinced this is the key failing in his plan- when people with little charisma try to look presidential (think Gore) they come off as wooden.