Absurdity!
Eat, drink and be merry… for tomorrow we may be in Utah! … or Afghanistan?
“liberals fail to distinguish between a virtue and a requirement, while conservatives fail to distinguish between a sin and a crime.” –William Niskanen
Category: rants
OK, it is a blog, so yeah… I occasionally rant.
Safe, But Also Sorry: Security expert Bruce Schneier talks about privacy and property in the information state – Reason Magazine
A good read, I highly recommend it. I’ve always said that 9/11 was the last airline hijacking that we’ll ever see in our lifetimes. No planeload of passengers will EVER just sit back and watch another one unfold. Never. As such TSA security is an absurd and invasive example of futility. Why bother?
What Brown Can’t Do For You: Deliver a package on-time!
Once again, I’ve been reminded why United Parcel Service are a bunch of complete morons.
If you recall, they once decided my house was “too rural” for Saturday delivery, despite the fact that we’re 4 miles from a sizable town and perhaps a mile from a major state highway. This compounded by what was likely my worst ever customer service experience ever, has basically lost me forever as a customer. I will never willingly use their services.
So what happened recently to bring this all back?
Every year my mother arranges to send us a christmas wreath for our home. It is something of a family tradition. She used to source them from a family-run business in the unpronounceable-to-all-but-Washingtonians town of Puyallup. Unfortunately, like our neighborhood tree-farm they closed up shop a few years ago. Since then my mom has sourced her wreaths from various commercial outfits. This year however, no wreath ever arrived. I thought that perhaps she had forgotten.
Until yesterday, January 2nd, 2009, when I came home from work I found our 2008 Christmas Wreath sitting in a box on the front porch! Thank you UPS. Once again, you have dazzled me with your incompetence.
But of course I’d neglected to take down the wreath from the year before… though it is looking a bit… dead.
Published.
BastionHost Buys Nova Scotia Data Bunker « Data Center Knowledge
BastionHost Buys Nova Scotia Data Bunker « Data Center Knowledge.
I always do a “rollseyes” when I see these “Datacenter in a Cold War Bunker” stories. One because they are just silly when they tout the “can survive a nuclear strike” capabilities… look, if ICBM’s are falling out of the sky, we’ve got much bigger problems than website uptime!
Second, the facilities in question were designed to house PEOPLE, not datacenters. The power & cooling infrastructure is designed to support something like 90 Watts per square foot at MOST. Datacenter these days wants 500 Watts per square foot minimum. Additionally, the infrastructure is all over FORTY YEARS OLD!
To relate it to something most of my readers can understand, that is like asking a early or mid-60s race car to be competitive today. First you have to completely restore it, rebuild it with all manner of modern upgrades, then watch as the new cars pass you like you are going backwards.
Sure the James Bond Supervillian image is cool for about 30 seconds. But after that, you have a facility that can never truly compete without dumping cubic tons of money into it.
This market can’t support the “bunker” model unless the grid power available to it is dirt cheap, and you’ve basically gutted the bunker and completely rebuilt it. At that point what do you have that is competitive?
Oh yeah, nuclear strike survival. When that becomes a selling point I’m getting out of this business.
Ronald Reagan on the Detroit Bailout.
A voice haunts Washington from the grave:
I love the imagery. I’ve always said that in the Bush II Era that we have become the Soviet Union:
* Toppling regimes and installing puppets? Check
* Suspension of Due Process & Habeas Corpus? Check.
* Surveillance of our own citizens? Check.
* Restrictions on Travel? (almost!)
* Gulags in hostile environments? Check.
* Party control of the media? Check Fox News!
* Rigged Elections? Check!
* Government control of the means of production? Coming soon!
And of course the clearest sign of all:
* Sending steroid-pumped Professional Athletes to the Olympics? CHECK!
Good thing Ronnie’s Alzheimer’s kept him happily ignorant in his declining
years, but I’m sure he started spinning once in the ground.
Speed in fact, does not kill.
How often do you hear that old saw “speed kills” or “speed is the leading cause of car crashes” etc? The nannies all want us to slow down, “for our own safety.” As an example: about a year ago my home state of Washington lowered the speed limit on a long, straight section of I-5 I drive almost every day, from 70 down to 60 MPH. They did this in response to several horrific incidents where drivers crossed the median and went head-on into the opposite lanes. Every time one of these accidents happened there would be a State Patrol spokesperson on TV, or in the paper claiming that speed was the cause. So they added more speed patrols, handed out more speeding tickets, and eventually lowered the limit.
I never bought the idea that speed had ANYTHING to do with any of these accidents. Inattentive drivers was likely the cause in my mind. Inattentive, distracted, and poorly trained drivers. Talking on telephones. Watching DVDs(!) Talking on telephones. Spilling coffee. Talking on telephones. Did I mention talking on telephones? The State Patrolmen never did. All they ever talk about is speed.
Well, The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a comprehensive study, the first one in almost 30 years, seeking to understand the ACTUAL causes of car accidents. Guess what came out on top? Speeding? Nope. 41.3% of accidents are caused by driver errors which have nothing to do with speed. Not seeing hazards (20.9%), being distracted by something inside the car (10.6%), being distracted by something outside the car (3.7%), and just plain old inattention (3.6%), Unknown error being the remaining 2.5%)
So where did the KILLER SPEED end up?
Single digits: 8.4% were “too fast for conditions” which means that some percentage of those were UNDER the posted speed limit. Another 4.9% were “too fast for curve” which means that some percentage of those were UNDER the posted speed limit. By the way, the combination of falling asleep at the wheel and having a heart attack while driving added up to 5.5% so Speed seems pretty benign and remote compared to yakking on your cell phone, or just plain old not paying attention!
But of course lack of attention ads NO REVENUE to state and local coffers through fines.
At no point does this study heap any serious blame on speed, and speed alone. So next time some moron tells you that driving fast is dangerous, ask them to prove it.
You can read the whole study here.