I managed to catch the Bush-Kerry debate this evening, and I have to say it felt like Sen. Kerry came out on top. My expectations for President Bush were high, despite his reputation as a poor public speaker. The thing about Bush is, he’s improved a lot as a speechmaker in the years since the last election, and although the… Read more →
Month: September 2004
E-mail Is For E-mailing
I’m starting to think an e-mail etiquette booklet should be required reading before anyone receives access to a mail server. There’s no dearth of annoying customs in cyberspace, but this latest one really takes the cake. It’s almost worse than spam. There, I said it. Worse. Than. Spam. At least I understand spam. Like it? No. But I understand the… Read more →
How Conservative is Orange County?
Andrew Sullivan received an email that has a familiar ring to it. I am a 33 year old wife and a mom of a 15 month old boy living in a wealthy liberal enclave of Los Angeles called Hancock Park where people go to the farmers market on Sunday, discuss the “plight of the poor” as their nannies stroll their… Read more →
eBay Goes Political
I had no idea that eBay was a topic on the presidential campaign trail. Earlier this month, Vice President Dick Cheney was stumping in Cincinnati when he brought up eBay as an example of why economic data isn’t fully factoring in a robust recovery. “That’s a source that didn’t even exist 10 years ago,” he said, pointing out that the… Read more →
Aircraft Crash Videos
Aircraft crash and incident videos I’ve gathered from various places on the internet. This is a perennial favorite, if my server logs are any indication. Read more →
Hurricane Ivan
When a few colored lines on a weather chart from a location two thousand miles away freaks you out, it’s a sure bet that something nasty is happening. Is this graph off the chart (no pun intended) or what? Notice how the atmospheric pressure drops like a rock as the wind speed picks up. Makes me wonder if Daniel Bernoulli… Read more →
Brother Can You Spare a Dime?
So I’m preparing for an intensive two week CFI (flight instructor) training program in Las Vegas this December. Ooooh, Las Vegas! you’re thinking. Time for some gambling, a bit of sun out by the pool, maybe catch a show. Not quite. It’s more like fourteen straight days of round-the-clock flight training, three checkrides with the FAA, then high-tail it back… Read more →
Top Housing Markets
CNN/Money has published a list of the nation’s top housing markets for the second quarter of 2004. The list is… interesting. For one thing, they’re apparently referring to Orange County as “Anaheim-Santa Ana”. An odd choice to say the least. I’ve got nothing against either town, but it’s beyond the pale to suggest that Anaheim or Santa Ana is representative… Read more →
A Modest Proposal
I hope Ken Lay, Dennis Kozlowski, Bernie Ebbers, and others of their ilk are reading this. BEIJING (Reuters) – China executed four people, including employees of two of its Big Four state-owned banks, for fraud totaling $15 million, the state Xinhua news agency said Tuesday. The executions occurred in the midst a high-profile government campaign against financial crime. They followed… Read more →
C182 Service Manual For Sale
I’m clearing a few old items off the shelves now that Tweety’s gone. Anyone need a service manual for the 69-76 Skylane series? I’m asking $35 plus $6.50 for shipping. I looked up what I paid Cessna for it in 2001, and it shocked me. It was $104.37 — quite a bit for a bundle of paper, eh? Welcome to… Read more →