The economy is booming...right?

Today, the DOW achieved its highest level since June 2008. State of the economy? Someone's getting rich, and it isn't the middle class. This ought to be thought-provoking stuff...a lot of corporations are receiving injections of capital - so where is the hiring? The "real" unemployment rate is 15-20% (the "deflated" numbers you hear on the news don't include the people who are no longer counted as part of the statistic...mainly those who have simply given up looking for a job and those who are "underemployed" or making tens of thousands less than they once did).

And so here in Michigan we have a governor who wants to cut taxes on corporations (to "stimulate job creation" of course), and raise taxes on retirees by taxing their pensions - AND cut the per pupil school funding by around $400.

Is this guy for real? (Well yeah...his name is Rick Snyder)

What's wrong with sweet wine?

I couldn't agree with this article more...what's wrong with sweet wine? Way, way too much emphasis and trendiness associated with drinking dry wines. I used to drink dry wine...until I discovered how good sweet wine is. And now people think I'm an idiot. haha

"There are a million consumers out there who would drink more wine" if sweet wine was more socially acceptable, Mr. Hanni said. "We need to remove the idea that a sweet wine is not appropriate with a steak or that you're a moron for liking it."

Natural Gas Consumption

Just as an FYI, I thought this was interesting:

In December, I used 20.1 (thousand) cubic feet of natural gas (units correct?) and the bill was a total of $208. This was based on a gas company actual meter reading (as opposed to estimated).

In early January, I installed a programmable thermostat that my Dad harvested from my old house up in Interlochen. I programmed it to (1) drop to 58 degrees during the day while I'm at work; (2) drop to 62 degrees at night (after 10pm, before 5am); (3) 69 degrees at all other times.

December wasn't NEARLY as cold as January, and I was expecting my January gas bill to approach $300+.

INSTEAD, in January my gas bill was $248 - BUT this was based on an ESTIMATED consumption of 24.2 (thousand) cubic feet. My ACTUAL consumption, based on a meter reading I just took myself (the gas company estimated my meter reading two days ago), was 20.5 (thousand) cubic feet - meaning my consumption in January is BARELY more than it was in December, even though it has been much colder than December. Furthermore, the gas company estimated my consumption based on the history for this address (my assumption), and it was done two days ago which means my actual consumption was probably slightly less than December.

Based on my calculations of what my bill SHOULD be based on ACTUAL consumption over 30 days, somewhere around $200 is what I come up with.

So, with that all being said, and based on one month of observation, it PAYS to get a 5x2 programmable thermostat (programmable for 5 days during the week, and the two days of the weekend), AND it pays to let the daytime temperature drop to 58 degrees if you're not home. A lot of people hum and haw and argue that the gas used to reheat the house back to living temp outweighs the gas saved by letting the temp drop to 58. I've actually timed how long it takes to reheat the house, and it's somewhere around an hour. What you have to ask yourself is how many times and for how long does the furnace run during the day to maintain "living temp" when you're not home (if you don't have the thermostat drop the temp for you)? My guess is that it's way more than an hour.

Anyway, I can't wait to see what next month's bill is...two months of positive data is better than one. My guess is that the thermostat saves me somewhere between 20-30% off my gas bill.

Dropbox

This is sorta my plug for Dropbox, which is a service I love. If you sign up using this link I'll get some extra space!

location aware applications

So Facebook Places is online now through the touch.facebook.com site. Pretty cool. Ubsurd as it is, Foursquare has no integration with it, but Scvngr and Gowalla do. Signed up for all three...one of them should gain some kind of edge in the location-aware arena.

Thoughts?

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Bernero for Governor

Skyline Coney Island review

I saw an ad for Skyline Coney Island in the City Pulse so I thought I'd head over there and check it out.

The place has promise - it was very clean (including restrooms), the service was very attentive, and it seemed to be a family-operated business. The atmosphere was great - lots of windows on a busy street, so it was bright and kinda nice to watch the traffic stream by outside.

I had breakfast, so I didn't get a chance to sample a coney. I ordered eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns and sausage (I was hungry), and everything was very good and pleasantly non-greasy. I like how they offer both sausage links and patties. The coffee was strong and very good - not that watered down junk you tend to get at some similar joints.

The prices were very reasonable, if not downright cheap.

My only complaints were minor - one of my over-easy egg yolks was broken (no big deal in my book), and the pancakes were a little too fluffy for my taste (which is obviously a personal-preference thing). It'd be nice if they added pancakes as an a la carte option.

I'll definitely go back, and based on first impressions, I'll probably add this place to my list of favorite breakfast joints in Lansing.

Cloud vs. Hard drives

My buddy and I have had an on-going debate about data storage security in the cloud vs. personal hard drives when it comes to storing personal information.

My argument has always been that (1) it’s a lot easier for someone to break into your house and steal your hard drives than it is for them to crack a good password, and (2) if your house burns down, how are you going to recover your hard drives?

His arguments have been that (1) cloud storage requires you to place your data in someone else’s hands – something he’s not comfortable with, and (2) the data becomes susceptible to hackers, since the cloud storage is networked to the WWW.

Recently my buddy forwarded me a link to an article, and the debate continues…

MY BUDDY:

This is why it is important to trust no one. If identity can be given
up, it will when necessary. That's why I deal in hard drives and not
cloud:

(link) Anonymous Online Name-Callers Beware: You Might Not Be So Anonymous

ME:

That's interesting.

There are arguments both ways.

The only way to really protect yourself is to encrypt...I guess.

My storage of files on the cloud is anonymous in the sense that it would take a pretty major breach of privacy just for someone to know which cloud services I'm using...whereas in this case, some idiot made a public comment...which opens the door for legal intervention.

If the “law” were to "raid" someone's house (or in this case, if your data is subpoenaed), rest assured they're gonna get someone's data a lot quicker and easier than trying to get a court order to access some big company's cloud servers. It's in the best business interest of the cloud company to not gain a reputation for giving up personal data easily.

I guess the lesson to learn here is: don’t make public statements or post public links that give an inkling as to who you are, or where your data is stored (if you're using the cloud). Don’t give anyone any reason to subpoena your personal electronic data (don’t share copy written materials, or anything that could be construed as slander, or damaging to another person or entity). And of course, don't store illegal stuff on the cloud OR on your hard drives!

The state of the economy

The economy is still bad. It isn't really improving. The economy is showing signs of deflation as more people are hanging onto their money, banks can't give money away, and prices are dropping. People's wages are falling, not rising. The stock market has been stale for 6 months.
 
Deflation is scary because it can’t be fixed or manipulated by raising interest rates - or in other words, tightening the stings on lending. Interest rates can only be so low. You can only make it so easy to loan money. Besides, the banks are apprehensive (rightly so) to lend too much money because of the debacle they created between 2002 and 2007 when they gave too much money away.
 
We need to fix the unemployment problem before I'll begin to have any faith in the strength of the economy. Unemployment is turning into a colossal disaster. We need a "new deal" type job program, except certain members of congress are striking deficit fears into everyone, which just doesn’t really bode well for a "new deal" type jobs program implementing anytime soon…
 
Gotta figure out how to create jobs. What better time than now to put this country to work on a massive infrastructure upgrade?

Two new House mixes

I recorded these two mixes while visiting the Frat House this weekend. Let me know what you think! Click the little downward-pointing arrow on the right to download them for free.

Darren Bowling May-8-2010 House Mix by bowlingd

Darren Bowling May-7-2010 House Mix by bowlingd