Replace Federal Income Tax...

...with a Federal Sales Tax. It's more efficient than the flat-rate Federal tax. Basically you'd be taxed on what you spend rather than what you make. That would provide a more even and equitable distribution of tax income for the feds than the current system. Also, get ride of the Federal Reserve system!!!

Government Ponzi Scheme

Ever since the Madoff incident I've been wanting to post my feelings about several government run Ponzi schemes. Well, this morning I felt it was necessary since I heard it on the radio. Just take a look at Social Security (thanks FDR). Everyone that is now on SS is being supported by those working and paying into it...yes, US!!! There is no giant mattress that the government is using to squirrel your money away for your eventual use. Also, consider that as the size of the workforce grows smaller there will be less and less to pay into it making it harder for anyone (again, US!) to get what they've paid into it. Frustrating...

I won't even go into Medicare/Medicaid and other such government programs that rob Peter to pay Paul.

I worked for a health insurance company for a number of years and they do this the same way. Through their premiums, the "well" people basically support the "sick" people. If you have more well people than sick people you're fine (more income than expense). When the number of sick people goes up the shit starts hitting the fan.

Food for thought...

Forgetting to remember...getting old vs. growing old

I seem to be forgetting a lot lately. My wife shares things that have happened and I simply don't remember them. I put my appointments in my phone because it synchs with my Exchange server. I was checking through January this morning and found a derm appointment later this month. My wife says that it's a followup to an earlier appointment that I don't recall.

I also recently hooked up with a friend of mine that I had in high school. I had this picture of him in my head that was over 20 years old of a tall, skinny kid with a moderate "fro". However, his modern picture took me aback. My first question was "when did you get old???" Do I look as old to him as he looks to me? Damn...my dad says that I don't look my age, but he's 20 years older than me. I had to call him to ask if he'd been through this...but I don't think he has. He's attended all class reunions and kept in touch with people that he knew. I've never been to a reunion and therefore have a static view of everyone I ever knew in school. Weird

New Year, new challenges

New Year's day was yesterday. It was a lazy day around the house. Played plenty of video games, did some reading, smoked a cigar and ate more healthy than I have in a while. I've pledged to lay off of all alcohol until I get down to 225 lbs. Not sure if I'll make it. The hardest part of the day for me is between 5pm and 9pm. During that time I guess I'll just chug water or something. Also, I started working in the basement to get it ready for the next flood. Bringing out trash, rearranging things.

I also took the opportunity to put up a new firewall at home. It's basically a hacked Linksys box but it gives me a lot of info regarding URL's, bandwidth, intrusion attempts, etc. Will be watching it closely for a while.

I'm also taking the opportunity to fold my first paper airplane of the year. The wife got me a paper airplane a day calendar. You pull the day's sheet off and just follow the fold/cut/tape directions for a cool new glider each day. Will report back on how this proceeds.

More homework...so tired...

I'm absolutely trashed from doing homework. I'm staying on top of it but...wow! it's really outta hand. I didn't realize it when I signed up for this semester but 2 of my courses are writing intensive. Luckily only a few weeks left. Stay on course!

Mac OSX Apps that I cannot live without

My main workstation is a Macbook Pro. This software is critical for my daily work (in no particular order):
- istat pro (http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/istatpro.html)
- waterroof (http://www.hanynet.com/waterroof/)
- vmware fusion (www.vmware.com)
- rdc menu (www.xutils.com)
- MS Office 2008 (http://www.microsoft.com/mac/)
- time machine (built into Leopard)
- disk inventory x (http://www.derlien.com/)
- fugu (http://rsug.itd.umich.edu/software/fugu/)
- wireshark (http://www.wireshark.org/download.html)
- zterm (http://homepage.mac.com/dalverson/zterm/)
- airgrab (http://www.airgrab.com/Network_Packet_Analyzer/)
- appdelete (http://reggie.ashworth.googlepages.com/appdelete)

if you find an app particularly useful be sure to let the developer(s) know. Also, PAY FOR SOFTWARE! It's the best way to ensure that everyone wins.

A casino boat is NOT Las Vegas!!!

Took my mother-in-law to the boat this weekend. I spent the bulk of my time playing the "Jordan no-fail craps method". I played for about 2-1/2 hours and won $4. But more important is the experience of being at the table and seeing the wild bets everyone else is making. Unfortunately there are no "comp" drinks or anything here...definitely NOT Las Vegas!

Oh yeah...election is over...

...now we enter into a new era of racism. Here is the fact: anyone that voted against Obama because of his partially black history is racist. However, anyone that voted FOR him because of his partially black history is also racist (but they don't see it that way and never will).

Also, I'd love the US government to define the race term "black" or "african-american". If someone has one white (or non-black) parent and one black, how can they be considered a member of the "black" race? If that's the case and we have a choice based on our entire racial history it's going to upset the entire status quo.

Time Machine Backups working on NTFS network share

oh yeah! got this working this morning. Probably not a big deal for anyone but me. However, having my time machines in a single area is going to be pretty cool. I can grab them from there and move them to tape, effectively protecting all of my macs from a single location without the need for an airport "extreme" (what a joke)!

Politics and IT

These two things don't go together. The liberal bloggers want you to believe they do, but they don't. Get over it!