Chance Bliss

Subsidies either public or private don’t work because they obfuscate cost. Think about the US healthcare system. It a complete mess because nobody from the patient to the doctor knows how much anything costs. I have no idea how much a MRI costs and neither does my doctor so how are we supposed to make a rational decision? Same goes for cell phones, you are lured in with a subsidized cell phone price, but do you know the real cost of that phone? I haven’t a clue.

After catching sound bits from the Healthcare shouting match, I’ve notice an interesting belief that somehow government is always bad and private industry is always good. The first mistake here is that people are arguing in absolutes. Public or private is not inherently good or bad. The second flaw is taking the debate out of the context of people. Individuals make up both companies or government organizations and the fact is that people are a mess. Greed, stupidity, vanity and laziness have contributed to awesome failures from both sides of the coin.

I can never get enough of William Shattner’s beat poetry jams especially when it is making fun of Sarah Palin. A great orator she is not. Can you dig it?

This is why every nation in modern history who has tried to control this area has utterly failed. They know how to building guns from scratch or from all the crap that the British, Russians and Americans have left behind. I can barely install a light fixture that comes with detailed instructions and it’s own tools.

Pakistan Gun Market Video

I kept thinking about what happened when Barack Obama shook Dick Cheney’s hand during the inauguration. The common movie scene that sticks in my head is when the hero shakes the hand of some truly evil person or  a disguised Satan .  The hero freezes and the camera does a closeup on the eyes. Horrific images of destruction and mayhem flash by on the screen. The person’s true character is then revealed with a bunch of choir boys singing “AH! AH! AH! AH!” as the background music.

This is the image I think Obama saw…Lord Humongous, the warrior of the wasteland.

As someone said in my office “This is like if KISS took over the world.”

Depending upon which circle of friends you run with, the term “liberal” and “conservative” are thrown around a lot. If you are a conservative, “liberal” means bad. If you are a liberal, “conservative” means bad. These terms are so draped in emotion (mainly hate and anger) that their true definitions have been lost. Here are the actual definitions according to dictionary.com:

conservative (Adj.)

1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.
3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.
4. (often initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the Conservative party.
5. (initial capital letter) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Conservative Jews or Conservative Judaism.
6. having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative.

liberal (Adj.)

1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
2. (often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.
3. of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism.
4. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
5. favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression: a liberal policy toward dissident artists and writers.
6. of or pertaining to representational forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.
7. free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant: a liberal attitude toward foreigners.
8. open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.

I definitely lean towards liberal, but I noticed something in the conservative definition that was attractive; “having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative”. Given the financial, energy and environmental situation today, this is something that needs to be emphasized. It’s something that the McCain campaign could use as a central message to counter the Obama “Change” slogan. Unfortunately, conservation is a tough sell in America. First, because it requires a long term view (difficult for anyone in today’s society), and second, it demands sacrifice. As I recall, this used to be a central theme of the Republican party (think Teddy Roosevelt), but has been lost in recent administrations.

Both parties should take a clean slate approach and actually think about what liberal and conservative really mean – historically and literally. They might be in for a surprise.

Ok. I don’t hate IT, but this story Why IT hates the iPhone points to a bigger issue with IT departments and security in general. When they don’t want to support something, they fall back to the same old argument…”It’s not secure”.

First of all, security (just like your privacy) is an illusion. Most security systems rely on password protection and as you can see from the list of 10 most common passwords, there’s not much protection:

1. password
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein
6. monkey
7. myspace 1
8. password 1
9. blink182
10. (your first name)

Second, could the reason that people are flocking to the iPhone simply be that it doesn’t have complicated security in place, forcing users to authenticate themselves at every step (think Window’s Vista)?

Many IT groups have banned the iPhone from their workplaces, complaining that there is no way to force employees to protect their iPhones with passwords and that they can’t erase sensitive corporate data from remote locations if the device is stolen or lost.

The problem here is not the iPhone, but the current state of security. Security systems are built with little regard for the people that actually have to pass through them. They are built to stop, or at least slow down, the bad guys. As a result, the value of the thing being protected is lost in the process. Just think of how air travel has been destroyed Homeland security.

Instead of blaming the user, maybe IT could start addressing security with the legitimate user in mind and not the shady guy with the black hat and mustache who just figured out the admin’s password was “Studley123“.

I’m making a special plea to our founding fathers to rise from their graves and use their super human zombie powers to end this primary madness. What a convoluted mess!

Franklin Pierce is considered by many scholars to be the worst president of the United States. He bungled the Ostend Manifesto, repealed the Missouri Compromise and was in favor of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. What a total dick!

Happy president’s day and screw you 14th President of the United States!