Archive for September, 2005

And now in a lighter vein… ;-)
PBS offers Web-only ‘NerdTV’

Ok, here is an interesting article. I’m surprised that FIMA is thinking about whether they plan to recoup the losses via higher premiums. I’ve looked at the numbers for FIMA and it appears (from their reporting) that the organization has been mostly self sufficient since 1978. I do however, believe the government is playing fast and loose with potential liability for claims. Most insurance companies would have looked at the numbers for a 50 or 100 year event disaster in a city on the sea and is below sea level, and would have had to line up funds to ensure they could pay in the event of a 50 or 100 year disaster event. The government run insurance company does not have to meet reasonable reserve requirements that any private insurance company would have to meet. The government run isurance company can simply get the Federal government to to write a check when the coffers are empty. Then the federal government either collects the money, from you, or borrows it the money and repays the principal and interest on the loan. Once again the principal and interest paid comes from you (and me).

You have to love the CATO institute, they were complaining when complaining wasn’t cool…

Oh, so now I see how this works, I say that people’s insurance should take care of it, then I find that the government supplies the insurance, and the taxpayers fund the repairs. Now I see where all the Billions of dollars may well be going, and now I’m sure that we should, at the very least, get government out of the insurance business. We can manage building code changes below the federal level.

Dang, I really wanted it to be all Bush’s fault…

Holy Poop!!! Ok, the bill is up to 63 BILLION DOLLARS. An interesting question is, where is all the money going? 1.4 Billion to the military, 400 Million to the Corps of Engineers, another 100 million to give out $2000 debit cards to everyone they can find to hand one to. That’s about 2 Billion, That leaves over 60 Billion to mostly go to FEMA?

I was really beginning to get the idea that Bush had no idea how many zeros are in a Billion when the appropriations for Homeland Security and Iraq were being floated. I am now reasonably sure he has no idea that there is a limit to the funds he has to play with.

The currently proposed $60+ BILLION DOLLARS, amounts to well over $100,000 for every single man, woman, and child living in the city of New Orleans, and we are being told that there will be more money needed.

I’m now leaning toward the opinion that we should level New Orleans (and start on any other US coastal property that is subject to 50 or 100 year weather events). As a resident of the United States, who is being forced under threat of law to give my money to the government, am not sure that I (or our country) can afford to subsidize living expenses for those who choose to live in high risk areas. Think about how many times in the last two years you have seen Gov Jeb Bush on TV asking for Federal Disaster aid.

Great site to see front pages from most major US papers.

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Now I remember why I don’t watch CNN (or much of any other news for that matter). I had the unfortunate opportunity to watch Larry King’s show last night.

The Rev (Jesse Jackson) was in New Orleans (naturally there was a chance for publicity) to evacuate students from a college. The Rev took issue with the federal government for cutting the Corps of Engineers budget for the water defenses of the city (Shouldn’t Louisiana cover the costs for Louisiana’s engineering and infrastructure). The Rev stated that there were 300,000 people who the government was not doing enough to evacuate (that’s more than half of the population of New Orleans). Jesse also took issue with the reports of lawlessness, stating that the shooting was remote and limited to a couple of incidents (I guess the officer with a bullet in their head was one of the two). The Rev’s assessment does not seem to match up with any of the reporting (and nothing I hear from friends in Louisiana). There was one bright spot. When the Rev (Jesse Jackson) insinuated that the hurricane could have been caused by depleted ozone, which he attributed to CARCINOGENS in the atmosphere. I almost fell out of my chair, it was hilarious.

Has anyone noticed the slanted reporting by the media? I’ve been watching CNN for over 2 hours, and I’m yet to hear about people in temporary shelters or in makeshift hospitals. I’m yet to hear about all the people out there distributing water and food to the unfortunate victims. All I see is the same pictures of the superdome over and over and over, with the recurring chant that too little is being done. A claim that seems to based largely on the fact that there is still human tragedy, which even if it was small, would be the only thing they would report on TV (ratings you know).

I put to you CNN that the least effective aid worker on the ground in New Orleans is contributing more to the effort than Larry King, who is planning a Saturday special to tell people how to help ( isn’t that a little late Mr. King, couldn’t you have done that on Wednesday).

Anderson Cooper found the time to point out that the isolated people are sick of hearing the government officials talk about all they were doing, and what a good job they were doing. Once again what is Mr. Cooper doing to lessen the pain and suffering? I say not much more than profiting from the coverage. I just cannot believe the nads that Larry has to use the poor people in this tragedy to further his finger pointing agenda. One question though, where was John Stuart, to let Larry know that his is part of the problem, that his reporting is hurting America?

It was pretty sweet when he confronted a survivor who was trying to find her lost brother, asking her why they didn’t evacuate. Strangely enough he almost seemed ashamed as she burst into tears…

Then finally, after over 2 hours of coverage, I see a FEMA field hospital (looked to be at an airport) where the reporter said that there was a continuous line of helicopters and busses bringing the sick and injured. This report seemed out of place with all the statements about the federal government not doing anything (the F in FEMA is Federal by the way). I also saw the non-stop line of busses dropping refugees off at the Astrodome.

I understand that the situation is dire, that the people are desperate, but the rescue effort is HUGE! 30,000 national guard troops have been mobilized. I hope that everyone in government has done everything they can and will be very put out if I find differently. I do also understand that the government is huge, moves slow, costs too much, and is rife with bureaucracy and red tape. Thus my expectation for rapid response are a little lower once you need more than what FEMA has.

A wonderful way to waste some time

Just a heads up from the Register.
Katrina-themed malware attack hits the net
Reg Shops

Apparently the Federal budget cuts did not bother “Local” government enough to collect “Local” taxes to pay for their “Local” project. Budget cuts delayed New Orleans flood control work

I hesitated to post this, mostly due to my observation of the irrational behavior of the people here in Atlanta (forcing local gas prices up through supply and demand). In the end I felt obliged to post this site so anyone planning to travel this holiday weekend can see where they should fuel up on their trek (NOT ATLANTA if you can avoid it).

It just goes to show that T-mobile’s heart is in the right place. even if many people in New Orleans would have to negotiate their way 10 feet underwater to find their laptop.

It might be time to review/change spyware detection software. Hidden-code flaw in Windows renews worries over stealthy malware

Wow you can sign up for a scientific survey on male masturbation. They will even send you some special sauce… ;-)

LoveHoney Shootout Survey

Now this is a sweet bit of coding. Cornell and Tel Aviv universities have created software that has the ability to analyze a body of text and learn syntax and generate new sentences on it’s own.

Wow, such progressive logical thought from Massachusetts no less…
Massachusetts software switch set to hit Microsoft

Scientists discover that 75% of all statistics are wrong… ;-)

So someone is trying to tell me that the continuous barrage of conflicting studies could indicate a deeper issue?

Ok, you won’t find any reference to it on the Apple website, but here is a little info.

Everyone in the USA is now able to get a free credit report via the Federal Trade Commission. Details are available here.