Internet is becoming more and more polluted with junk-mail, people selling crap, and businesses which don't know their place on the net. They're all trying to make this wonderful place (i.e.: the net) in to hell (i.e.: real world). Internet should be viewed as a place of imagination, creativity, and most of all: fun. Internet is not some really advanced tool for searching for people to rip-off. It's about searching, and finding, things which are useful, helpful, and promote the sharing of ideas. This is what this site is striving to become.

What's with democrats and taxes? How about they consider eliminating corporate taxes completely. Zero. None. What kind of a world would that be? Where would that money go instead? For one, it could be reinvested. If you turn a profit, wouldn't you want to re-invest all of it? If not re-invest, keep it in the bank for lean times. If not that, then give it to the shareholders in the form of derivatives (shareholders can be taxed on that). Or better yet, have the corp repurchase its shares with the tax dollars---shareholders (Average Joe with a pension plan) win! With corp tax, it seems they're trying to slow down the economy---corps have less spare cash, less willing to take risks, etc. If they want to revive the economy, they should make an environment in which corp entities can thrive and grow.

Kodos '08!!!

MacBook Day 12: One day I'll get to it.

- Alex; Wed Aug 27 01:37:39 EDT 2008
August 27th at wikipedia...

Finished reading Footfall by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle. Neat story---the human race beats the elephant-like aliens from Alpha Centauri.

MacBook Day 11: Not sure what happend the first time I installed the iPhone SDK, but none of the iPhone thingies were apparently installed (xcode & everything else appeared to have installed just fine). In any case, re-installing the iphone SDK did the trick---and I've built and ran my first ``Hello World'' program (rotating opengl square, etc.)---in an iphone simulator. Haven't figured out how to move the thing to the actual device yet---that seems like a major hassle in itself.

In related news, got the $299 rebate check from apple. This was the quickest and most pain free rebate program -ever-. Just click on their site that you want a rebate, and within a few days, they mail you a check. Pretty neat. Though with that kind of simplicity, one would think simply lowering the price by $299 to begin with would've been simpler.

- Alex; Tue Aug 26 07:17:33 EDT 2008

Over the last month, I've been attempting to open an HSBCdirect.com account. The process turned out to be much more complicated than I would've thought. For some strange reason, they simply refused to open an account for me (am I on a no-flight/bank list or something?). They did not give a reason (I asked for one), simply kept my application "under review" for a month, at which point it was canceled. The other banks seem to have no problems with me (even treasurydirect.gov!). Now it seems HSBC got competition: dollarsavingsdirect.com; this is a better rate than INGdirect 12-month CDs :-)

No doubt, the economy is gloomy. But how are you doing? It's a question the candidates are asking - and an issue that Americans are dealing with every day. In other enlightening news, some people are better off during this recession than the last one. What a shocker! Also, some people are apparently taller than others, and some are even lottery winners!

Eh. The graduate center raised its technology fee to $100. That's the fee they add on top of tuition---but will happily unregister you if you don't pay. Am I really using $100 worth of `technology' there? I don't even go there! Last semester this fee was $75---did their `technology' costs go up 25% from last semester? Did the price of computers suddenly jump 25% over the last few months? Talk about inflation.

MacBook Day 10: I guess I should turn it on once in a while...

- Alex; Mon Aug 25 07:35:15 EDT 2008

Meh. Vet gave puppy some anti-inflammatory/pain-killers---which either takes a while to work, or doesn't appear to be helping. Also, why the hell do these pills have to be so horrible tasting---and how does one give a sick dog a pill? Almost got my fingers bitten off... and most of the pill gets disolved in the mouth---very frustrating experience the puppy hates (better -something- than nothing, I guess).

MacBook Day 8: Realizing that I forgot C++. All those implicit constructors, vs copy constructors, vs the equals operator. Meh. Also, doing a deep copy vs a shallow copy apparenntly hasn't been solved yet. And no garbage collection! ie: for matrix code, I often write m.T().mult(..etc..). How would that be implemented in C++? Ah, the "m" matrix will have a T() method that returns the transpose matrix. Aha. But... the T() method will allocate and create a matrix object and return it---which will invoke a freaking -copy- of the -whole- matrix -again-. Ok, a C++ fan will say "oh, so return a pointer to a matrix" (so the transpose one created inside of T() doesn't get wiped out at the end of T()). That works, except then you cannot do m.T()->mult(...etc...), as that will cause a memory leak---the object returned by T() doesn't delete itself.

On top of that, I managed to get Visual C++ to get my constructor called once, but desctuctor called twice. Same exact code calls destructor only once in GCC. Standards indeed :-/

I used to be a fan of C++ once (pre-1998). Now I can't imagine how I could've ever liked it. It's the most horribly designed language I can think of. No wonder Java, C#, etc., took off as quickly as they have. I think I'll stick with C, saved in .cpp files (to get inline function support).

- Alex; Sat Aug 23 21:49:12 EDT 2008

Geh.

MacBook Day 7: The bad end of BSD license vs GPL... All the SSH clients (ones I managed to find), based on openssh (BSD license) are not free for iPhone/iPod. If openssh was GPL, I'd imagine most SSH clients would be free. Eh.

- Alex; Fri Aug 22 07:05:10 EDT 2008

MacBook Day 6 (has it really been 6 days? wow): subscribed to iTunes, upgraded iPod Touch to 2.0.2, got some free games that use orientation sensor thingie (Cube Runner, etc.). Neat games. Also found out that there's gps (or some other localizer?) thingie there---click on a button, and it finds you on google maps; I thought that was only on iPhone, but, apparently it wr0ks on iPod Touch too.

Also found a seemingly reliable way to make compact movies on Linux that play on iPod Touch (turns your regular (any format that works with mplayer) 700mb .avi into ~200mb .mp4 of proper ipod dimensions and format. You can tweak the ``bitrate'' to increase/decrease filesize, or set ofps to 25, but 15 seems ok for ipod:

mencoder "$1" -sws 9 -ofps 15 -of lavf -lavfopts format=mp4 -vf dsize=480:320:0,scale=-8:-8,harddup -ovc x264 -x264encopts bitrate=128:vbv_maxrate=1500:vbv_bufsize=2000: nocabac:me=umh:trellis=1:level_idc=30: global_header:threads=2: pass=1:turbo -oac faac -faacopts mpeg=4:object=2:br=160:raw -channels 2 -srate 44100 -o /dev/null

mencoder "$1" -sws 9 -ofps 15 -of lavf -lavfopts format=mp4 -vf dsize=480:320:0,scale=-8:-8,harddup -ovc x264 -x264encopts bitrate=128:vbv_maxrate=1500: vbv_bufsize=2000: nocabac:me=umh:subq=6: frameref=6:trellis=1:level_idc=30:global_header: threads=2:pass=2 -oac faac -faacopts mpeg=4:object=2:br=160:raw -channels 2 -srate 44100 -o "$2"

- Alex; Thu Aug 21 07:25:01 EDT 2008

Eh. World of Warcraft trial expired, and... I'm not addicted :-)

Fannie stock falls 22% and Freddie 25% to near two-decade lows. Wow. This is an -additional- ~20%! Fannie is at $6.15 and Freddie is at $4.39... these were at least 10x as high within the last year.

MacBook Day 4: Figured out how to play any video (anything that plays in mplayer) on ipod. Just have to wr0k out some sound sync issues. Curse the no Cut and Paste feature on the ipod!!! My WiFi password is like 80 random characters---imagine trying to type -that- into the ipod! Stupid Apple. In the end, got the network wr0king, by reducing the wifi(b) password to 20 characters---the joy of having a dual band router means I don't have to change anything for wifi(n) network.

- Alex; Tue Aug 19 01:25:18 EDT 2008

Took puppy to emergency room. Apparently (as per xrays) he's got a pinched nerve in his spine. The doc said it's pretty common---though it's the first time I hear of it.

MacBook Day 2: Haven't turned it on yet.

- Alex; Sun Aug 17 23:32:29 EDT 2008

Yey, got a new toy to play with:

MacBook Day 1: Managed to find the terminal, and apparently most critical things are installed already, such as vim, perl, jdk, ssh, etc., as well as all the unix utilities. Got that Apple iPhone SDK setup too (simple enough), which apparently also added GCC (and a bunch of other things). OpenOffice barely works (takes long to startup, and is very slow---I can type faster than it can render, etc.). Write a buncha hello world programs in C, C++, Perl, java, etc., and it all works. From the terminal, it's just like any other unix box. For gVim, there's MacVim, etc., and though I haven't tried, I'm sure most unix utilities are just a compilation away. Still haven't found ``emerge'' or ``apt-get'' equivalent---would sure be nice if that existed. iTunes isn't bad---though it seems to insist on importing all the music into it's own folders. Downloaded a buncha iPhone SDK videos (free) from the iTunes store---not bad. They do make it difficult to know which videos you already have (so ended up with several of them downloaded twice). Networking is a bit confusing---in the initial setup, they don't let you cut and paste the wifi password, etc., but later on they do. Some annoying bits are: window controls are in a wrong place, and once in a while, you get dialog boxes with swapped "don't save" and "cancel" buttons. Also started reading on Objective-C, and it doesn't seem that bad---as long as you can use C++ from it (or with it), then the bulk of the code can be C++, with only UIKit thingies being in Obj-C, etc. Haven't started coding on this thing yet... wanna get familiar with the environment. Speed wise, I'm not amazed---I have an identical dell laptop (same exact CPU, ram, etc.) and it feels so much faster than the apple one. I think OSX is on the order of Vista speed wise (with faster startup time of course). But it certainly does take noticeble time to startup programs after you click on them---while that's almost imperceptible on the other Dell box running XP. Form factor wise, the MacBook is heavier than ThinkPad X61 (~3 lb), and about the same weight/size as a 14" Dell (ie: not very impressive form factor).

- Alex; Sat Aug 16 16:06:20 EDT 2008

Wage slaves can't revolt. Eh. ``the government said consumer prices soared 5.6% from a year ago in July.'' Consider that most accounts/stocks/bonds don't give you that much consistently. Heck, even the government inflationary bond is at 4.8-something percent.

One can consider this a tax-on-all-you-have. And by keeping the rates low, the fed is essentially increasing that tax. But... because it's not an explicit tax (like income tax), most folks tend to not notice it.

In other news, dispersion trading sounds interesting. I wonder if there's a way to milk big corps when they take such positions...

- Alex; Fri Aug 15 07:49:32 EDT 2008

Nine Cold, Hard Weight Loss Truths. Eh. I didn't consider myself overweight---but two years ago I was 210 lb, and today I'm 180-ish lb. Running works!

Heh: Investor Mind.

In other news, Mario Kart for the Wii rulz!

And in still other news, got WoW level 11---watch out level 10 beasts :-)

- Alex; Thu Aug 14 07:25:45 EDT 2008

Most firms pay no income taxes; so that means they're not making any money? News flash, there are corp structures specifically designed for folks to avoid paying corp taxes... such as LLCs, and S-Corps, etc., so no taxes simply means the owners take a large `salary', and pays a significantly higher personal income tax rate.

It could also mean that the corp really does manages to spend any margin it has---either on good things (legitimate business trips) or bad things (``business'' trips to Hawaii---or an ipod and macbook).

Japan's economy declines on high oil. The US economy will likely go through the same cycle.

In other news, my company is providing me with a macbook and ipodtouch; will try to write a ``Hello World'' program (and hopefully several mini-games) for the ipod/iphone :-)

- Alex; Wed Aug 13 07:27:56 EDT 2008

Effective Wednesday, naked short selling is fair game once again in the banking sector. This is an often overlooked big deal for stock movements. Also notice that before SEC went ahead and changed the short sale rules, daily stock movements weren't as volatile. Essentially they let folks sell on a down tick---now if you sell you are technically causing the stock price to go down (providing supply)---and with short sales, you hope the price would go down---so by selling short on a down tick, you're starting a self-feeding loop---the more you sell, the lower the price, the more money you make---until others catch on that is. The short sale rules (all the way back to the great depression) were setup to prevent such a runaway effect. And that's what SEC changed.

- Alex; Tue Aug 12 07:39:27 EDT 2008

Eh, it seems someone may have stolen my Amazon shipment. Been waiting and waiting, and then checked post office tracking, and it says `delivered on August 6th'. Meh! Someone got one of those Knuth's art of computer programming fascicles. Geh!

- Alex; Mon Aug 11 07:37:20 EDT 2008

Party adopts goal of guaranteed health care. What the heck that does mean? Well, lets see... ``Under any system in play, most people would still put out money for health insurance as they do now, but they would get help when needed''. So in other words, no changes. They don't seem to undertand the problem---the trully poor folks (those who ``cannot'' afford health insurance) already qualify for Medicaid. It's the struggling middle class (heck, lets even include upper middle class in this mix) that are finding it difficult to afford $10-$15k a year for health insurance (family plan)---especially when there are other pressing needs (like college tuition, for example).

If this is universal healthcare, heck, lets make it universal. If taxes need to be raised, heck, lets raise them! Don't go through the patients---this isn't individual health insurance! They're thinking about this the wrong way. Go through the hospitals and healthcare providers. The hospital shouldn't charge any patients (heck, the patients shoudln't even -know- how much their care is). The hospital should just bill the government's universal healthcare program---which should be funded from some form of flat tax (progressive taxes aren't fair---as everyone has an equal chance of getting sick---not just the ones who earn more). Of course there should be oversight to ensure no hospital overcharges or somehow cheats the system, etc.

- Alex; Sun Aug 10 02:38:59 EDT 2008

Trying out World of Warcraft. Now I see why this game is addictive---the more stuff you accumulate (ie: the longer you play it), the less you want to give it all up.

- Alex; Sat Aug 9 17:48:27 EDT 2008

Banks' settlements: Rare good deal for investors. This sounds too fishy. ``"Our clients have been caught in an unprecedented liquidity crisis," said John Thain, Merril's chief executive officer. "We are solving it by giving them the option of selling their positions to us."'' If this is just a liquidity thing, then it's a pretty damn good deal for the banks---they effectively got an interest free loan (since there's the assumption the securities didn't go down in their underlying value).

- Alex; Fri Aug 8 07:01:05 EDT 2008

Sirius losses narrow. Who the heck buys radio? With most products, I know at least -someone- who uses them (or heard of someone using them). I've yet to meet a single [paying] satellite radio customer.

Cool thingies: NASA to test plasma engine on space station. One step closer to startrek! [`ion drive' was first mentioned in the original startrek series].

- Alex; Thu Aug 7 07:53:52 EDT 2008

Nearly All Binary Searches and Mergesorts are Broken. Hmm... very subtle. Just says the -sum- of high and low cannot be >2^31 (~2billion). So if you have an array with a bit over a billion elements, you might just encounter it.

The ``fix'' [int mid = low + ((high - low) / 2);] just raises the bug's limit a bit.

The problem with java is that (at least from what I remember) arrays need to have integer indexes---and you cannot use `long' type (as you can with any 64bit computer). Also, java lacks unsigned types---so the largest array index is 2^31-1. In other words, anyone who encounters the above mentioned bug is just asking for trouble when using java for such large arrays (they're 1 order of magnitude away from b0rking, even in the best of cases).

Java should be fixed to allow long array indexes!

- Alex; Wed Aug 6 07:48:46 EDT 2008

Air Force cracks software, carpet bombs DMCA. Not that I have any sympathy for folks suing the USAF in this particular case... but, eh, check this out: ``The United States, as [a] sovereign, 'is immune from suit save as it consents to be sued ... and the terms of its consent to be sued in any court define that courts jurisdiction to entertain the suit''' Which sort of makes sense in a weird sort of a way (`we do what we must because we can!'). Wouldn't the same argument apply in pretty much -all- cases against the government?

- Alex; Tue Aug 5 07:10:31 EDT 2008

Looming job cuts march on. Eh.

- Alex; Mon Aug 4 07:45:03 EDT 2008