Forgiveness

"The bill would let hundreds of thousands of homeowners trapped in mortgages they can't afford on homes that have plummeted in value escape foreclosure by refinancing into more affordable, fixed-rate loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration. Lenders would have to agree to take a substantial loss on the existing loans, and in return, they would walk away with at least some payoff and avoid the often-costly foreclosure process."

Economic majors and objectivists, please step to the right side of the room.   Wait for the others to step into the dance hall, then pick your partner...

One of the cooler things I have seen in a while.

 

This guy who appears to be sitting in the sidecar of a motorcycle is actually the driver.  He is in a wheel chair, and simply rolls up onto a ramp, clips the chair in place, and away he goes!

I did not get a chance to talk to him, since I was off to a meeting.  Would love to have learned how he controls the shifter.

An old friend of mine FINALLY graduates....And, she is the oldest graduate of  Swarthmore in history.

"When Sandra Schulberg was last in college, Richard Nixon was president, The Godfather was in theaters, and Atari had come out with its first generation of video games."

http://www.swarthmore.edu/x19375.xml

Can A Company Ban Retailers From Selling Its Products On eBay?

"You would think, after 200+ years of economists explaining how protectionism hurts your own market, that people would understand this concept by now."http://techdirt.com/articles/20080703/0324061588.shtml

I bought something today that is pretty cool

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815101001

It works pretty damn well.  I'm running a 3rd monitor off my little laptop at 1600x1200!
Almost no speed hit.

I needed this, since I use my laptop as my work area, my 2nd monitor is vertical, and is always running Qtask.
3rd monitor now is TeamSpeak, Skype, and monitoring tools.
You apparently can run 6 external monitors.

I really should just take this seriously, and write this...

I was asked to give a series of lectures to the FBLA (http://www.fbla-pbl.org/) in Atlanta.

One part of my lecture was on the future of technology.  The audience wanted to know about trends for the future.

I found myself compelled to simply speak to current technology…that was poorly used or deployed.  In other words - If you simply provide a good service in a great way, this is more important than having the best technology.

Here are two brutally simple example:
 

[[[[    The Hotel    ]]]]
 

The FBLA set up my room at the hotel for 2 nights, which they were paying for. 

[!] When I checked in, they could not find my reservation.

I put down my Amex, and a manager found the info, and got me squared away.

The next morning I found a bills slipped under the door.  The invoice showed that it was billed to the FBLA.  $0.0…but…

[!] They had set me to one night.

I stopped at the front desk and extended my stay another night.

The next morning…

[!] The bill was not slipped under the door, but rather outside my door, where anyone could review it, and just take it.  Yes, I realize this is unlikely…it is not the point.

[!] The bill, while being almost completely identical to the first bill, including the statement to bill the FBLA, was set to be billed to my credit card, a problem I could not resolve in time to catch my ride to the Airport.  The FBLA had a giant sign hanging in the lobby of the hotel.  I pointed to the sign and asked "you see the FBLA on my bill right?  Did any of the speakers pay for their own room?"  I got an annoyed stare, and then "Not that I'm aware of." 

I don't get it.  This is "WHAT" they do for a living.  They don't have a big list, but it seems…in this age of automation, things simply have not improved even a little bit.  I encounter these types of problems pretty much non-stop.

 

[[[[[   The airport   ]]]]]

 

I have nothing nice to say about Atlanta's airport.  Please disguish this from the airlines themselves, which I also have nothing nice to say.

You walk in, and it is a zoo.

There is a terminal that can accept a printed BarCode, your Passport, A Credit card, or your Confirmation number.  The first three NEVER EVER BLOODY HELL WORK…WHY!?

They (the airline people) are always mystified also.  This is the third time I have flown Delta, and had this problem.  I see others standing at the terminals.  So this time I decided to take a moment (since my flight was late anyway), and stand right next to the Delta rep and "learn"

As I stood I watched as:

- A person would step up to the terminal

- Study it confused.

- Try to swipe their printed form.

- Try to swipe their Passport if they had it.

- Try to use their drivers license (which is not an option).

- Fumble for a credit card (I saw this work once, but also fail once too).

- Finally give in, and manually type in their confirmation number.

The Delta rep of course just stared at me when I pointed this all out.

This is why the lines take so long!  This is why people become grumpy, and confused, and agitated.

Then I went searching for my gate.  After walking around, I was forced to ask for help from an airline rep.

"Where is Gate A01" I asked.  I was told to walk down to the store next to the bathroom, and hang a right.

"Where is a sign around here telling me where the gates are".  He looked around, surprised, he laughed a little "I don't know, but it is down there next to the bathroom.

Again I stepped back, and simply "Watched" what other people were doing to find their way.  There were little lines of 2-5 people in front of every rep from every airline.  I had assumed before they were asking something more important, but now, actually listening closely, they were all asking pretty much the same questions.  Questions that could be answered with a very tricky type of technology called "a sign".

Off to the strip down and processing center.  They have stopped mentioning to remove your laptop, this is now assumed (I noticed this in LAX also).

I asked, they confirm, they still want you to do this.  I asked why there is no sign…again, a blank stare, a look of mild confusion, a smile, then a 180 as they walked away.

After the strip down, same story, you are faced with a hallway.  This one actually said T1-60.  So I asked, "where is A01?", the TSA agent had me go back slightly in the end of the line so that I could cross over about 6 exit lanes over to a place marked A-D.

"Why isn't there a sign here that says [ A-D <---- ]"

A good solid look of confusion, and then an almost instant ignoring and return to work.

I came across this article from the Onion while searching on how to spell "opposable"

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28315
 
[I use ASpell in Qtask, but it did not have this word]

I don’t normally read the Onion (nor watch SNL anymore…well, since about 1978 really)…

But a quick look around at the Onion was a bit of a let down…. I think I could write a funnier piece pretty much, anytime.

Off the top of my head:

"Vatican declares 'swallowing' mass murder...and cannibalism"

Archbishop Merda Cūlus stated " A load of ejaculate contains 40 million to 600 million sperm.  Swallowing this makes you 8 to 100 times worse than Hitler, in the eyes of the lord"

Practically writes itself…

Ok, step up, call it.  What do you think the economy is going to do in the next 6 months, 1 year, 2 years.

You can pick the question, and the answer, for example, when will the Euro drop back below the dollar, or ever?

When will housing pricing start to raise again (over a 1 year period for example)?

What is the next riot over?

Be daring, put it in writing here, let's look at this in 6 months and 1 year.