I really don't handle heat well and this is the temp in the living room. I took this image today.
It's been a few years since I was involved with database design but I can't help but feel that there are thousands of designers that could make short work of this job. This just shows what happens when the government gets involved with a large tech operation with unqualified managers in positions of oversight. Sad, really, to think the Fed is this incompetent.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A computer system that the Census Bureau needs to manage its door-to-door count of the U.S. population remained buggy and prone to crash a day before enumerators were set to begin their work, government officials said Friday.
The bureau's Paper Based Operations Control System did not function reliably in tests and, despite hardware and software upgrades, "may not be able to perform as needed under full operational loads," the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report.
"So far, it is not as stable as it needs to be," GAO Strategic Issues Director Robert Goldenkoff said before the start of a congressional hearing on the census.
The paper-based system's hasty design began in early 2008, after the census bureau scrapped plans to use a handheld-computer method that ended up costing more than $700 million but did not operate adequately.
The system will generate assignments for the roughly 635,000 enumerators hired to visit about 48 million homes to tally people who did not return their census forms by mail.
Instead of getting instructions from the cell-phone like handheld machines, enumerators will receive assignments on printouts.
Returning to paper-based method boosted the cost of the census by about $3 billion that using the handheld computers was supposed to have saved.
Census Director Robert Groves, who stressed during the hearing that he had raised repeated concerns about the computer system's readiness in past testimony, said the bureau has backup systems in place to deal with technical glitches.
"We will get the census done with this system," he said after the hearing. "The question is, will everyone be smiling when it's done."
Groves said that the problems could slow down the count, prompting the bureau to spend more on staff in order to finish its work. He said the additional staffers would not force the bureau to exceed its budget for the 2010 count.
Groves also said the glitches could also cause delays in the bureau's efforts to track its progress toward finishing the count.
Aside from the computer system, the GAO said the Census Bureau was well-positioned to complete the door-to-door count, which begins Saturday.
The GAO noted that more than 63 percent of the country's households had returned their forms by mail, well within the bureau's target range, and the bureau appeared to have hired enough enumerators to complete the at-home visits.
The case of Apple versus Gizmodo takes new twist as state lawyers consider the legality of the raid.
Legality of iPhone raid queried
Categories: tech
AFP - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will soon join the ranks of politicians on the popular micro-blogging site Twitter, under the profile @chavezcandanga, Minister of Public Works Diosdado Cabello said Tuesday.
Venezuela's Chavez joins Twitter (AFP)
Categories: odd
File/William West)" border="0" >AFP - Flying car mechanics, flavoured newspaper pages and Labour Party election posters depicting the prime minister as a thug were among April Fool's Day jokes awaiting Britons in their papers Thursday.
Flying mechanics lead April Fool gags in UK press (AFP)
Categories: odd
The Consumer Products Safety Commission today released their long-awaited guidelines about the stinky Chinese drywall that has been linked to corrosion and is described in the report as "sulfur-emitting." The bottom line? Get out the tools. That stuff's gotta go. Here's the really bad news: CPSC and HUD also recommend that you replace "electrical components and wiring, gas service piping, fire suppression sprinkler systems, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms."
Based on scientific study of the problem to date, HUD and CPSC recommend consumers remove all possible problem drywall from their homes, and replace electrical components and wiring, gas service piping, fire suppression sprinkler systems, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms. Taking these steps should help eliminate both the source of the problem drywall and corrosion-damaged components that might cause a safety problem in the home.
Holy crap, that sucks.
For more information, check out a full text of the remediation guidance (PDF).
“Our investigations now show a clear path forward,” said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. “We have shared with affected families that hydrogen sulfide is causing the corrosion. Based on the scientific work to date, removing the problem drywall is the best solution currently available to homeowners. Our scientific investigation now provides a strong foundation for Congress as they consider their policy options and explore relief for affected homeowners.”
Categories: odd
Being self-employed is a wonderful thing. I set my own hours and if I feel like having a slob day and sleep until the crack of noon I can. On the other hand I have a strict set of rules I hold myself to. One of those rules pertains to appointments. If I make an appointment with a client for 10:45 a.m. I am there at that time, or maybe even a few minutes early. Apparently showing up on time and ready to work is something that has gone the way of the steamship. Clients seem to be impressed with punctuality.
I have been feeling my age recently and that just will not do. Oh, I know that after more than five decades of living and abuse the body will start to break down a little. And not giving it the utmost in care doesn't help much either. There was that period that passed in a George Dickel and Black Beauty haze. But it was fortunately short-lived. But, I am carrying more poundage than I should. Think large Chrismas goose. And the Winstons are not exactly contributing to my general well being. Most mornings find me horking up a gelatinous mass in colors of caramel or desert khaki.
So I bit the bullet and made an appointment with my doctor...better known as the Angel of Death.
My appointment was for 2:10 p.m. and I showed up at two o'clock on the dot. As I approached the receptionists desk I was once again amazed at how much she resembled Bernadette Peters in The Longest Yard, right down to the beehive hair-do. Well, if Peters was carrying an extra fifty pounds or so. I have had the same doctor for over a decade and yet she can never remember my name. I told her who I was and that I had a 2:10 appointment. She looked at her appointment calendar for way too long and then told me that the doctor was running a little late and I would have to wait. No big deal, that happens sometimes and it's usually not a long wait. But I had to ask how long and she informed me that the doctor was behind on his rounds at the hospital and it would be an hour wait...or possibly longer. I am not easliy excitable and usually keep calm in most situations but I could hear the sound of rushing wind building inside my head as I thought of sitting in the waiting room for an hour or more. I mean how many times can you watch that educational tape that all doctors seem to have on a loop telling you in that condescending voice what cruciferous vegetables are the most healthy or how to lift heavy objects without throwing your lower back into spasms?
I figured if I had that much time I could put it to good use and get some errands done while the doctor made his way across town. I told Bernadette I would be back in about an hour and this is where Rod Serling entered the office.
She told me that if I left I would be charged for a missed appointment and would have to re-schedule. I said, 'But the doctor isn't here.' She said, 'Yes, but you have a 2:10 appointment and if you leave then you will have missed your appointment. That's office policy'. The wind in my head became tornadic.
I said, 'So if I leave while the doctor isn't here and come back when he is here I will still be charged and not get to see him even then? That makes no sense.'
'It's office policy.' she said. 'And you are holding up the line.'
I turned around and tried not to flinch but I think I made a noise like someone had stepped on a baby chick. Standing there was the largest human being I had ever seen. It was if someone had stretched a t-shirt down over a small haystack. I had no idea you could get Billy Idol shirts in that size. It had a mop of greasy hair and a beard that would have made Jerry Garcia weep. And it was wearing red sweat pants and flip-flops made from recycled tires. It spoke. 'I have a 2:15.'
I told him the doctor wasn't here and he said that was ok with him. 'I seen a new People magazine over there I haven't read yet.'
I guess there are plenty of pictures in People. I would have bet anything that he moved his lips as he read.
So I sighed heavily and did what any red blooded tough guy would do. I sat down and waited.
Remember...bend your knees and eat your Brussels sprouts.
Categories: rants
OK...so I haven't been feeling well lately and can't sleep. Couple that with a low-grade fever and a general paranoia and this is what you get. Sorry in advance.
I see you out there in the driveway next door. I see you have the hood up on that piece of shit Cavalier you bought last Spring from your brother-in-law. It has one blue door even though the rest of the car is red. That front driver's side tire looks kind of low. I wonder if you know that? I notice that you have to prop the hood open with your snow shovel. Is that the same one you don't use to shovel your sidewalk?
I see you have your Super Pro 100 piece tool-kit. The one you bought at Wal-Mart for about $15. It has a nice plastic case and everything. The tools look nice and shiny like they have never been used. Ratchets and sockets in all sizes both metric and standard, each in its own fitted compartment. Pretty. But, I know you have no idea what you are looking at under that hood. And you know I know.
So, I take it that the car won't start. Again. Could that have anything to do with the fact that it was close to zero last night with a light snow? Or the fact that the battery that came with the car was pretty much dead when you bought it? Probably.
Ah! You turn to look toward my house...just like I knew you would. You see me standing here in the kitchen window looking out. You wave. I don't wave back. I can't fucking stand you. What you can't see is that I already have my battery charger in my hand. But I'm not coming out to help you until you walk up here and knock on the door. Then I will make you wait out there in the freezing cold another five minutes before I answer the door, that greasy mullet of yours blowing in the cold wind.
You also can't see what's tucked into the waistband of my pants at the small of my back.
So, we go out into the cold and I give you the battery charger and you hook it up to the battery and plug it into the outlet on the side of your single-wide with a long orange extension cord. I tell you to get in and try it, but, of course it won't start yet. I walk around to your window and look down into your stupid eyes and watch them go wide as you see what I'm holding.
The sound of the shot echoes across the flat fields and I'm glad I bought this farm way out in the middle of nowhere. The closest neighbor is over two miles away and I know no one is home this time of day to hear the sound. I have just the spot for you and your rattle-trap Chevy, out in the middle of the apple orchard. Every time I eat an apple next Fall I will think of you. Down there among the roots and the grubs. Good riddance.
I look up at your bedroom window and see your wife's eyes and that shy smile she is so quick with. The one that makes most men go all watery in the knees. And before you are even frozen stiff I'll have her bent over the arm of your favorite recliner. It's not like I haven't done it before.
Eating pork is at least as effective as popping a Viagra pill to spice up your sex life, according to Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, who claims to have tested the theory.
"Pork consumption improves sexual activity," Kirchner informed a surprised gathering of business people at a meeting at the presidential palace.
"This is not a small detail," she said at the gathering to announce a reduction in the price of pork.
"Besides, some nicely grilled pork is much more gratifying than taking Viagra."
Kirchner said she ate some roasted pork over the weekend with her husband, former president Nestor Kirchner, at the couple's retreat in Argentina's bucolic southern Patagonia region, with "impressive" results.
"We were in high spirits the whole weekend," she said, smiling.
"I'm a pork fanatic," she added, "and I'm not saying this just to impress you, or for self-promotion."
The head of the association of pork producers, Juan Uccelli, on Thursday backed up Kirchner's claims.
He said that people in Denmark and Japan, where pork consumption is high, "have much more harmonious sexual lives than us Argentines have."
Argentines however are the world's most voracious beef eaters, with an annual per capita consumption of between 68 and 73 kilos.
President Kirchner has been the target of fierce criticism lately for seeking to remove the head of the Central Bank, Martin Redrado.
Categories: odd
OK...the following made my skin crawl. But, I'm kind of a germ-a-phobe anyway. Enjoy:
When you buy new clothes, you expect them to be new, not already worn by someone else. But that's not always the case.
Consider what happens after you return a pair of pants or a blouse. Often it goes right back on the rack, to be resold instead of staying in the back room, retail experts told "Good Morning America."
"The customer probably gets the wool pulled over their eyes. & A lot of people just come home and if it has a tag attached, they think it's brand new and they wear it," Tori Patrick, a former retail saleswoman, said. "You really never know where it's been."
To see how clean some "new" clothes were, "GMA" bought everything from blouses to pants to underwear from three popular chain clothing stores ranging from high- to low-end and handed them over to Dr. Philip Tierno, director of microbiology and immunology at New York University, to test the 14 items for germs.
Tierno found disturbing results. There was flora, or bacteria, on several items.
"On this black and tan blouse we found representation of respiratory secretions, skin flora, and some fecal flora," Tierno said.
On a jacket, Tierno discovered evidence of feces, skin flora and respiratory secretions, especially in the armpit and "close to the buttocks," Tierno said.
The biggest surprise came when Tierno tested a silk blouse.
There, he said, he found vaginal organisms, yeast and more fecal germs.
Tierno said a couple of the items had extremely high counts of germs, far above normal.
"Some garments were grossly contaminated with many organisms & indicating that either many people tried it or ... someone tried it on with heavy contamination," he said. "In a sense, you are touching somebody's arm pit or groin. So you want to be protected that's all.
"You may not come down with anything and, most cases you don't, but it's potentially possible," he added.
Wash or Dry New Clothes
The organisms can survive weeks or even months on clothes, Tierno said.
Contracting a yeast infection this way is highly unlikely, though possible, experts say. And with the evidence of feces, viruses could also be passed along.
"A very bad type of diarrhea -- you can also transmit things like the norovirus, stomach virus. You can transmit things like MRSA [a staph bacteria]," Tierno said.
"Most people are unaware and think that they can't really catch anything from these clothes because they are dry, they are on the rack and they are new. They are not realizing that numerous individuals try them on and contact certain parts of their body that may transmit potential pathogens."
In order to protect yourself from harmful bacteria, Tierno recommended washing your new clothes or running them through one cycle in a hot dryer before wearing them. He also suggested wearing clothes underneath while trying on new clothes and washing your hands after shopping.
Categories: odd
