Silly Pseudoephedrine Law Captures...

Grandma. Good work. All the while, meth streams in from Mexico. Who would have thought?

So let's do the math: Grandma get's an arrest record, and our meth problem grows.

Brilliant.

D.C. Ends Vehicle Inspections - But Is The Joke On You?

D.C. has announced that starting October 1, 2009, they will no longer require vehicle owners to get an annual inspection. This was announced as a budget reduction , allegedly saving the district some $400,000 per year.

Of course, the paranoid in me immediately questions how the People's Republic of D.C. could ever give up this control and revenue stream. Why wouldn't they just increase the inspection sticker price? Seems a bit out of place, doesn't it?? Unless....

Unless it gives them more control. Is it possible, that after October 1, 2009, a D.C. Police officer can pull you over for no obvious violation but instead do it under the cloak of a 'roadside inspection'? Am I really that paranoid? Yes.

Before you judge, consider that this surprise inspection cancellation announcement comes just 65 days after D.C.'s plan of setting up roadside checkpoints in certain high crime neighborhoods was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court. So D.C. can no longer roadblock whole neighborhoods, but perhaps they will now just set up vehicle inspection programs? Perhaps setting up shop in certain neighborhoods? Yes, that makes it all fit together nicely.

We'll see...

Obama (Allegedly) Calls Kanye West A 'Jackass'

If it's true, it may very well mark the first time someone in a position of power has actually said out loud what the rest of us have been thinking/saying for a long time.

Thank God. Maybe Moron TV will not invite him to their shows anymore (unlikely).

Jaycee Lee Dugard Case Could Get Complicated Fast

This week's very bizarre story of Jaycee Lee Dugard has captured everyone's attention. Ms. Dugard was kidnapped 18 years ago when she was just 11 years old by Phillip Garrido ( a convicted violent sex offender) and his wife. Over the course of the 18 year imprisonment, Garrido appears to have fathered at least two children with Dugard. He was arrested and charged with rape and kidnapping.

But what if Ms. Dugard is experiencing Stockholm Syndrome? This seems likely since she's now a 29 year old woman who has not made any apparent attempts to flee (time will tell on that).

The oldest child is 15, which would have made her 13-15 years old at the time of birth. Clearly that would have been, at the very least, statutory rape. Her other child is 11 which would put her age at roughly 18, so rape would be the only charge available there.

The question now is, what are the statute of limitations on kidnapping, statutory rape (assuming Dugard claims it was consensual due to Stockholm Syndrome) and rape (assuming Dugard realizes she was kidnapped and held against her will) in California?

I'm betting that many of those have run out.

Amazon.com Shows BB Application Developers How It's Done

Now this is how you make an application for the Blackberry. Amazon.com released its own Blackberry application back in March or April. You can search, buy, track and even take pictures of items and Amazon will tell you if they sell it or a similar product. Pretty cool. All the other app developers should take a look at this and figure out how this was done.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/anywhere/sms/bbapp

Just Great: Meth Addicts Are Also Alchemists

As if it weren't bad enough that they were also psycho-killers, methheads are apparently more resourceful than the rest of us. They've figured out how to make meth with soda bottles, a tiny bit of Sudafed and who knows what else (perhaps a crow's claw?).

AP IMPACT: New meth formula avoids anti-drug laws

So you can see the set up here. We're going to have to ban soda.

The Epidemic of Vitamin D Deficiency

Much has been written about Vitamin D recently. I am frequent reader of the Mercola website and remember reading about it years ago but basically ignored it as I was taking Centrum multivitamins (400 IU of vitamin D) and assumed I was covered. Years later, I moved to the Costco brand of multi-vitamins and was beginning to wonder if I was meeting the minimums being discussed by Vitamin experts. Some were throwing out numbers like 2,000-5,000 IUs a day. So I began taking 1,000 IUs in addition to the multi (1,400 per day). This went on for about 3 months and then I bought a new batch of Costco's vitamins and found they upped the D to 1,000 in their vitamins. This mean that I was taking 2,000 IU a day.

That went on for about 1-2 months. Just last week I got my Vitamin D levels checked with a 25-hydroxyvitamin D test. My levels, I assumed might be sky high, but one thing was sure...they wouldn't be low.

The recommended range was from 30-80 ng/ml. I came in at 42 (less than 30 is a deficiency). My levels were actually on the low side, after months of taking ~1,500 - 2,000 IUs a day.

What I'm wondering is, how on earth can most people, who spend their days under fluorescent lamps and don't take vitamins.....getting any at all?

The Vitamin D Council website has an interesting article on Autism and Vitamin D. It draws parallels between the sudden widespread deficiency and the sudden rise in Autism (maybe breast cancer too?). It's important to remember that Coppertone first introduced UVA/UVB blocking sunscreen only 24 years ago in 1985.

Godwin's Law In action

Looks like Goodwin's law applies outside of Internet newsgroups and message boards. In the last few days, anti-health care protesters have been compared to Nazis and Tim McVeigh.

Will The Economic Crisis Descend Into Violence?

It sure seems like it might. As the economy gets worse, politics it seems, is getting to be a rough business. American politicians have rarely had to deal with this sort of belligerent constituent rage, and it has appeared on the public stage suddenly and in a widespread fashion.

Nancy Pelosi and others blame these spectacles on conservative special interest groups. And to some extent, she's right. But it appears that all they are doing is tapping into a well of anger and distrust many Americans are obviously feeling.

I don't think the general public nor the politicians have caught onto how deep into an economic crisis we are. And in times of national struggle, such as we find ourselves, everyone must be on their best behavior to avoid widespread civil unrest. We can hardly afford that sort of thing now.

The Death Of (Online) News

Rupert Murdoch announced that all of his News Corp business will being charging for content. Let me be the first to say goodbye to News Corp.

The Financial Times is also floating the same ballon that within the next 12 months "news agencies" (Read: The Financial Times) will begin charging for content as well. At least the FT had a 120 + year run at it. I, personally, am looking forward to watching the prestige and power quickly and quietly drifting away from any news organization who walks this path.

What does all this talk of charging really mean? I think means that news agencies are realizing that the internet bubble of 2000 actually ended. It also means that the current financial crisis is bringing their empires to an abrupt end....and we've just caught a glimpse of the hand they're holding. If they're losing too much money, why not just shut the site down and avoid the embarrassing fade to insignificance? I have a theory....

First, lets take a look at the brief history of news:

1. First there was gossip/rumor
2. Then there was government controlled 'news'
3. Then the free press got in on the game to help form public opinion and foment revolutions...somewhere around the time of the American Revolution (with their pamphlets and all....)
4. Then people started charging pennies for pamphlets to cover their printing costs
5. Weekly/daily newspapers started popping up in populated localities, usually charging enough to cover the business costs
6. Advertising was introduced as a way to "make money" in these newspapers
   
7. Radio came along with no way to charge so the profit/expenses were all covered by advertising (and payola).
   
8. TV came along with the same problem, so the news was given for free (just like radio). It was done at a loss that was made up for by advertising on the 'entertainment' side of the business. This was done because the networks realized the news gave them leverage to use against the government. As a result, TV networks (and to a lesser extent, a few newspapers) gained power as the unelected mouthpiece of a nation, forming public opinion as they wished.
   
9. This bloody internet thing came along (to upset everything) and the established media saw it only as a way to extend their TV/newspaper reach.
10. Magazines and Newspapers get into the game thinking they can charge the same price for their electronic product as their paper product (and it costs almost nothing to distribute). It fails miserably (with few exceptions).
    
11. Everybody is happy with the results until the Great Depression of 2008-?
12. All the established news organizations realize they're going bankrupt because advertisers can't afford to pay the fees anymore. Desperation sets in.
13. People like Murdock float the idea that they'll begin charging everyone for what they used to get for free.

Sounds like a great plan in the midst of a massive global economic depress..err..recession. Day-dreaming of the good the old days won't help the bottom line of News Corp or any of the other faded, fat, greedy news media. If Murdock goes through with his promise, News Corp will quickly be reduced to insignificance.

I predict however that they will quickly change their mind, much like an airline trying to raise airfares by itself, when their page hits drop 99% [On a side note, I can't wait to see the look on a Fox reporter's face when President Obama answers one of the (last) Fox News questions by starting with "You can tell you 15 readers - it is 15 right? or did you guys get a new subscriber in the last week ?- that the reason..."]

But it won't happen, because charging won't happen. Because after all, what mass media is about is power. The power to sway opinion. And it's a power people like Murdock are willing to pay for, even if they have the audacity to try charging you for it.

Rupert and Friends would be smart to remember the Encyclopedia Britannica. Once a proud source of knowledge, for over 200 years, now relegated to a dark, seldom visited corner of the internet/library.

That all happened after this site showed up just 8 years ago: Wikipedia - Much maligned, but still triumphant.

Just wait until you see what the plan is for your kingdom. The free ride might be over, but that doesn't mean people will pay to ride. They might just go back to walking.

Cool Software For Your Cellphone (...that also threatens corruption, evil and oppression everywhere)

Qik is a website and a free application for your cellphone. The application installs on your phone (Blackberry for example) and allows you to one-click record video using your camera's built in video camera. What's cool about Qik is that it simultaneously uploads your video to your own personal Qik web page. Apparently you can also stream live video from your cell phone too, but the part that caught my eye was the fact that it records (saves) your video in real time on a remote server.

Keeping in mind my previous post of the dangers of the police state, Qik is a new threat to the corrupt. One of the problems with being on the scene or being arrested, for example, is that your camera/recorder etc will be seized and then possibly lost/erased etc. Qik renders the physical confiscation of the camera irrelevant. By the time the camera is taken, the video is on the Internet, and the gene is out of the bottle.

Obama's Healthcare Plan

Listening to the sketchy details of the Obama health care plan, I'm feeling like I might have set the bar too low for my September stock market prediction of 6,500. If this plan goes through, and it looks like it will, It will almost certainly cause a large spike in unemployment.

I figure the Wall Street firms are not really that concerned right now, as they assume their health plans are already above the minimums that will be set by the government. However, their short-sightedness won't spare them from the pain. I predict the smaller business will soon realize they can't make it with the added healthcare costs and will begin either closing up shop or dumping employees. Those employees will then be a further drain on taxpayers and business as they collect unemployment and other government benefits, including the new government (Read:Taxpayer) funded healthcare. Who doesn't see the huge funding gap that will be the result of this large unemployment shift? Probably the White House analysts figuring out how much it's going to cost.

So, back to Wall Street. Who's buying their products? Soon no one will be able to afford it unless it's an essential item. For the economy, this will be disastrous.

The DJIA at 6,500 might end up looking like the good old days by 2010.

Washington Nationals Turn Out To Be A Bad Deal For D.C.

Nationals Not Paying Off for D.C.

Duh. Who would have thought building a $700 million stadium was a good idea?

And DC Schools are just as bad as they used to be.

Eight States Hit Historic Highs For Unemployment In May

In May, (8) states set new records for their unemployment rate. In early August, we'll see if more states will be added to the list of new highs in 2009:

California 11.5
Florida 10.2
Georgia 9.7
Nevada 11.3
North Carolina 11.1
Oregon 12.4
Rhode Island 12.1
South Carolina 12.1

As You've Read Here, Acetaminophen is Dangrous

Despite the ads touting safety, Acetaminophen (aka Tylenol, Paracetamol, etc) is probably the most dangerous over the counter drug on the market. But you already knew that, didn't you?

How to get Vlingo 2.0 Back On Your Blackberry After Upgrading To 3.0

1. First, delete Vlingo 3.0 (on most phones, go to BB Options -> Advanced Options -> Applications -> Menu -> Delete). Vlingo does not support downloading 2.x to a phone already running 3.0.
2. Reboot your phone by removing the battery.
3. Determine the operating system (OS) version of your BlackBerry. This can be determined by clicking on Options -> About. The first entry will show your phone model and operating system version. For example, "BlackBerry 8130 smartphone (CDMA) v4.3.0.60". In this case, the operating system version is 4.3 (note that not all 8130s are running 4.3).
4. Download the appropriate version of Vlingo 2.0/2.1 directly to your BlackBerry (not to your desktop) from one of these links:
   
   • a. OS 4.7 (Storm) & 4.6: http://www.vlingo.com/apps/vc_oldclients/2.1.0/4.6/vlingoForBlackBerry_en.jad
   • 
     
   • b. OS 4.3 & 4.5: http://www.vlingo.com/apps/vc_oldclients/2.0.1.19585/4.3/vlingoForBlackBerry_en.jad
   • 
     
   • c. OS 4.2: http://www.vlingo.com/apps/vc_oldclients/2.0.1.19585/4.2/vlingoForBlackBerry_en.jad

Original version of these instructions are here.

Realtors Crying Because The New Rules Are 'too tough'

Looks like the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) is really getting squeezed. Two stories out in the last week demonstrate that they pine for the old days where they could take their 5% of ridiculously inflated prices and live like kings. Take for example:

• Realtors are upset about new rules requiring that appraisals be done without any pressure from mortgage originators. They call them 'faulty' because the old way, letting appraisers value a house at whatever it was listed for, worked out so well (for them).
• They're also upset that those big old mean banks are refusing to eat millions of dollars in short sale losses. They think the banks are being too harsh on the poor home owner who wants to bail on their mortgage and leave the bank to absorb $10,000 - $100,000 + worth of bad debt. The NAR of course, is upset because they're not getting their 5% on the short sale. They say that only by reducing housing inventory will the market get healthy again. I note that they are not willing to split the loss with the bank to help 'reduce the inventory'.

I'm sure the NAR is probably getting lots of sad calls from their membership indicating the trouble they are having paying their Lexus/Mercedes lease payments with the market being what it is. But the idea that the NAR is even slightly concerned about the economy at large is laughable. Banks cannot afford to lose all this money any more than the NAR can and the faulty appraisals were a primary facilitator of what got us into this mess in the first place!

Opera May Be On To Something....Big

Opera, the 'also ran' browser of late, may have finally hit onto something big. They promised to reinvent the web, and while I'm not prepared to go that far, I will say what they've done will no doubt have Firefox, IE and Chrome scrambling to copy it's features. Their new product, Opera Unite is here:

http://unite.opera.com/

What does it do that's so cool? Well it basically turns your PC into a server.....easily with point and click "services" that you install (it appears most of what they have now comes with the initial download). For example you can now, super easily:

• Set up a file server and send just a URL to your friends to have them download files. Imagine sending grandma a URL where she can download your family photos, all (at least for now) securely.
• Actually host websites from your PC (your Internet service provider may not be all that happy...)
• Set up a photo sharing site (similar to the file server
• Access your PCs music library and play those files from anywhere over the Internet.
• Set up a private chat room with your friends.
• Set up a virtual 'fridge' for your friends to leave notes

And that's just for starters. I'm sure there are going to be bugs. But rest assured that people at Mozilla Firefox, Google and ID are scrambling right now to copy these very cool features.

It's now available for Windows, Linux and Mac.

Do you whistle while you work?

Then please stop. It's annoying.

Stock Market Prediction: Take Two

Ok, Here goes my second prediction on the stock market. Back in October I predicted the DJIA would fall to 7,500 within 30 days. It did lose 481 points during that period, but wasn't as bad as I had predicted. But I did note that on March 6, 2009, it was only ~100 points from my previously rediculous sounding prediction. I figure my timing is a bit off.

So here's my second go. In the next 90 days (including the 90th day...a larger time frame to account for my inaccuracy) the DJIA will drop to or below 6,500 at least once.

Today's close was: 8,612.13

I guess we'll see on 9/14/2009 or sooner.