Wow! Finally caught the film version of this excellent book last night and it was great! Totally faithful to the book! I can only hope the other 2 books in the series are made into films of this caliber as well.
By the way, the actual title of this book in the original Swedish is: Men Who Hate Women.
More Federal Government Idiocy
A provision in the health care reform bill (H.R. 3590, Sect. 9006) requires any business that purchases more than $600 of goods or services from another business to provide that business and the IRS with a 1099 tax form. Goods and services purchased by a small business – ranging from internet and phone services, shipping services, travel, lodging, and food expenses – will now give rise to a new paperwork burden at tax time.
Obviously, this provision in the health care bill has nothing to do with health care. The provision was added in order to claim another revenue source to fund the health care bill. Regardless of what one’s view is with respect to the health care bill, it is my hope that we will all be able to agree that enlisting businesses as an enforcement arm of the IRS to snitch on companies with which they do business is the wrong way to proceed.
Obviously, this provision in the health care bill has nothing to do with health care. The provision was added in order to claim another revenue source to fund the health care bill. Regardless of what one’s view is with respect to the health care bill, it is my hope that we will all be able to agree that enlisting businesses as an enforcement arm of the IRS to snitch on companies with which they do business is the wrong way to proceed.
Question The Rules - Yet another "send us your money" ploy
The above link takes you to yet another $97 "Get Rich" course from the usual boring blogger crowd that offers the same tired advice over and over in new packages. Tossing the "magic advice" of other A or B or in this case even C list bloggers is yet another old tactic. I especially am irked by the Internet marketing belief that if the price ends in a 7, people will subconsciously associate that with luck. Well luck is what you will need if you keep tossing cash into these courses.
Even more annoying is how all of these bloggers refer to each other as "friends", which is a whole new meaning for "if I plug your bullshit, make sure you plug my bullshit".
I still admire and agree with the wag who refers to these Internet books and courses on "changing your life and becoming rich" as "a vast Ponzi scheme".
Even more annoying is how all of these bloggers refer to each other as "friends", which is a whole new meaning for "if I plug your bullshit, make sure you plug my bullshit".
I still admire and agree with the wag who refers to these Internet books and courses on "changing your life and becoming rich" as "a vast Ponzi scheme".
The Mask of the Guru
As one wag put it, "the Internet is turning into a giant Ponzi scheme". His perspective was that we get hooked into someone else's success and think that by purchasing their ebook, that we will also be purchasing their success.
I got involved with one of the very well known blogger/writers out there and found that behind the "mask of the guru" was a person that was really just out to suck as much cash out of your pocket as possible while giving you a big smile and encouraging you on "your journey to success". The reality is that your money is keeping them on their "journey to success".
While many of the people marketing self-help are sincere, the creeping majority seem to feel a need to tell you about the "A-list" bloggers that they know and to assure you that their next $97 ebook "is really important and relevant to anyone wanting change in their life".
I got involved with one of the very well known blogger/writers out there and found that behind the "mask of the guru" was a person that was really just out to suck as much cash out of your pocket as possible while giving you a big smile and encouraging you on "your journey to success". The reality is that your money is keeping them on their "journey to success".
While many of the people marketing self-help are sincere, the creeping majority seem to feel a need to tell you about the "A-list" bloggers that they know and to assure you that their next $97 ebook "is really important and relevant to anyone wanting change in their life".
Politics in America - March 2010
I totally agree with this blogger that our country is in deep trouble regarding our elitist political system: http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/no-end-in-sight/
Bermuda lacks a Starbucks
Yes, there are Starbucks coffee shops in Africa, former Soviet bloc countries and other third world areas.
Bermuda does NOT have a Starbucks (or for that matter any other coffee shop chain).
You see, this is why they REALLY had the Boston Tea Party where they threw all the tea into Boston Harbor. The citizens were fed up with drinking tea and wanted coffee.
Bermuda, being on the side of the tea drinking sore losers of the Revolutionary War lacks decent coffee anyway.
Sigh.
Microsoft BizSpark Support SUCKS!
I had an Avanade MSDN subscription (expired) and a BizSpark MSDN subscription.
In a moment of not paying attention, I deleted the unusable Avanade MSDN subscription.
Unfortunately it was the "default' MSDN account.
Now without a "default" MSDN account, I was locked out of my BizSpark MSDN subscription.
So, I called Microsoft support which is based in India and spoke at (not with as that would imply some modicrum of communication) a representative regarding what had happened.
His response was that since I could no longer access my BizSpark MSDN account that I must no longer be in the program, although my BizSpark membership doesn't expire until August 2012!!
Today I went to see if anything had been done, and sure enough the IDIOT in India had totally removed my BizSpark account!
So now I am truly screwed over once again by the incompetents at Microsoft.
(Microsoft fixed this, but I am still kind of pissed off about it.)
In a moment of not paying attention, I deleted the unusable Avanade MSDN subscription.
Unfortunately it was the "default' MSDN account.
Now without a "default" MSDN account, I was locked out of my BizSpark MSDN subscription.
So, I called Microsoft support which is based in India and spoke at (not with as that would imply some modicrum of communication) a representative regarding what had happened.
His response was that since I could no longer access my BizSpark MSDN account that I must no longer be in the program, although my BizSpark membership doesn't expire until August 2012!!
Today I went to see if anything had been done, and sure enough the IDIOT in India had totally removed my BizSpark account!
So now I am truly screwed over once again by the incompetents at Microsoft.
(Microsoft fixed this, but I am still kind of pissed off about it.)
JetBlue flight attendants
Bleh! I was on the red eye from Sacramento to JFK, and I found it difficult to sleep.
So, seeing that there was an empty exit row, I moved there, stretched out and went to sleep.
About 2 hours later, 2 flight attendants woke me up and told me that because the exit rows have more room there's a $25 upgrade fee to sit there. They wanted me to either pay them $25 (you can bet there would be NO receipt) or move.
Then they walked away. So, while risking being sent to Gitmo, I stayed in my seat (OK, I had the whole row) and they didn't return and ask for money or threaten me so I suppose it all worked out. They also hustled a woman who was sitting there with her infant, and she moved back to her original seat.
However, they never made any announcements about "upgrading" to that row and frankly they had sold 2 of the rows to a couple of less than 100 pound ballerinas. The emergency exit doors weigh 33 pounds so try to imagine one of those young girls attempting to lift one third of her body weight.
Anyway that incident soured the flight for me.
So, seeing that there was an empty exit row, I moved there, stretched out and went to sleep.
About 2 hours later, 2 flight attendants woke me up and told me that because the exit rows have more room there's a $25 upgrade fee to sit there. They wanted me to either pay them $25 (you can bet there would be NO receipt) or move.
Then they walked away. So, while risking being sent to Gitmo, I stayed in my seat (OK, I had the whole row) and they didn't return and ask for money or threaten me so I suppose it all worked out. They also hustled a woman who was sitting there with her infant, and she moved back to her original seat.
However, they never made any announcements about "upgrading" to that row and frankly they had sold 2 of the rows to a couple of less than 100 pound ballerinas. The emergency exit doors weigh 33 pounds so try to imagine one of those young girls attempting to lift one third of her body weight.
Anyway that incident soured the flight for me.
The Engineering Gap
The Economist in their January 30th, 2010 issue, published a report on Aspiring Minds, a company in India who tested thousands of IT workers who had graduated from schools in India.
Their results:
4.2% of India's engineers are fit to work in a software product firm and just 17.8% are employable by an IT services company, regardless of how much training and education they have had.
Amazon parks their Kindle up their ass again!
One of my favorite authors, Jasper Fforde has a new book out today, Shades of Grey: A Novel.
I pre-ordered the book for my Kindle, knowing that if the price dropped that Amazon would refund the difference.
Not so!
The price dropped $1.67, not a princely sum, but to my personal amazement, Amazon is incapable of refunding the difference on Kindle titles! Their solution is to ask for a complete refund and then repurchase the title!
Just plain very weird in my humble opinion.
My book
Gah! Another day fighting the Great White Bull also known as the Empty Page, in the course of writing my book. Sometimes it's more like wrestling the book out of your mind instead of writing it based on an outline or a stray visit by a muse.
Kindle for PC
I own 75 Kindle books plus the original Kindle.
A month ago I bought a bargain basement netbook from Fry's for $199.
So, having read about the new Kindle for PC program from Amazon, I thought I would try it out.
IT ROCKS!!
Wow! Much better to read with (accepting the form factor differences) and viewing illustrations and drawings is now actually acceptable.
If you own a Kindle and you own any kind of PC, my advice is to go out and install this program right now. It is simply wonderful.
BizTalk 2009 the end of the product?
I got the word from a MSFT insider that BizTalk 2009 is the final version.
It has been handed off to 100 guys in India for support and will be incorporated into .net 4.
The BizTalk adapters will possibly be marketed as a separate product add-on.
Another source yesterday told me that whatever code runs BizTalk will be given to the SQL group at Microsoft.
Curiouser and curiouser!
Berets
What I learned about wearing a beret while in Paris:
1. They don't blow off of your head because they are round and hence aerodynamic.
2. They keep your head warm. (Very important when one has lost a lot of hair over time.)
3. Only young woman and old guys (holds up hand) wear berets in Paris.
4. You can buy them cheap in Paris. I paid like $6 for a wool beret.
Create a Windows 7 USB installer
There are many articles on how to create a USB installation drive for putting Windows 7 on netbooks.
Here is a free program from Microsoft that does the entire thing for you:
I used it to put Windows 7 on my netbook and it worked flawlessly.
You need to have a .iso file of Windows 7 and a USB drive of a least 4GB.
What I got out of Paris
I found a few nice French people but on the whole they were haughty, aloof and rude. I spoke with British, Finnish, Dutch and other tourists who felt the same way. The attitude seems to be that either one is French or one isn't French and if you are the latter you will be treated as a second class person.
If you eat at McDonald's in France and have wholesome natural beef hamburgers, fresh bread buns, fresh cheese, fresh French pastries and BEER you will NEVER enjoy an American McDonald's again!
Things that were closed: The Picasso Museum, the Egyptian wing at the Louvre, the catacombs.
There's a LOT of walking, which we expected, but to successfully traverse the Montmartre area you need to be part mountain goat. We did eat at the "Amelie" cafe in Montmartre and had creme brulee for dessert. It was cool that people can bring their dogs into restaurants.
The view from the top of the Arc D'Triomphe is absolutely stunning. The stairs to reach the top will kill you.
The value of whether or not to buy a Paris Museum Pass is up in the air. I guess I would say to go for it just to avoid having to stand in line at each museum to buy Yet Another Ticket.
I love cinema, but didn't feel the Cinema Museum was worthwhile.
Napoleon's apartment in the Louvre is a must see, but oddly several guidebooks fail to mention that it exists. The Louvre cafe is pricey but good. It cost 7.5 Euros for a slice of pizza which is ten dollars! We also discovered a British potato chip there that came in flavors such as Stinky Cheese with Onions, Roast Ox and Ham with Mustard.
Paris 2009 photos
My daughter is a better photographer than I am.
These are the few photos I took in Paris.
Just click "Paris 2009 photos" to be taken to my Picasa album.
I left my camera in our hotel room more often than I took it along.
The Louvre and Egypt
October 2009 the entire Egyptian wing at the Louvre, which is the largest collection of Egyptian objects outside of Cairo, is CLOSED.
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