``Not only is the U.S. in a recession, but the rest of the world is slowing down,'' Ford Motor Co.'s Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally said in a speech this week. ``I've never seen anything quite like it.''
It's called a depression Mr. Mulally.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
"Getting" a mortgage
From this AP story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25665655/
"And, for consumers already squeezed by tightening credit standards, it could mean getting a mortgage will become even harder." [Emphasis mine.]
Speaking of mortgages as something one just goes out and "gets" reduces the notion of potentially lifelong indebtedness to the moral weight of a burger. Gonna "get" me a burger. Gonna "get" me a mortgage.
Language matters.
A 30 year loan should be hard to "get."
"And, for consumers already squeezed by tightening credit standards, it could mean getting a mortgage will become even harder." [Emphasis mine.]
Speaking of mortgages as something one just goes out and "gets" reduces the notion of potentially lifelong indebtedness to the moral weight of a burger. Gonna "get" me a burger. Gonna "get" me a mortgage.
Language matters.
A 30 year loan should be hard to "get."
Fundamentally flawed assumptions
A large number of politicians are now on record as stating Fannie and Freddie are "Too big to fail" because it would ruin liquidity in the housing market.
Excuse me?
Personally, I think they are too big to survive. We have what, 5 trillion dollars in bad loans tied up in these monstrous companies. 5 TRILLION! WTF!
It's ridiculous to think that the housing market will dry up if these agencies are treated as the morally and financially bankrupt institutions that they are. No, what will really happen is that there will be another rapid transfer of wealth. But this transfer will be away from the wealthy and into the hands of people that can afford to purchases houses at reasonable prices.
Frankly it's also insulting to the ingenuity and entreprenuerial spirit of Americans as well. Let Fannie and Freddie die on the vine. A very large number of small, fast-moving people and companies will fill void very quickly. And that would be a good thing.
Excuse me?
Personally, I think they are too big to survive. We have what, 5 trillion dollars in bad loans tied up in these monstrous companies. 5 TRILLION! WTF!
It's ridiculous to think that the housing market will dry up if these agencies are treated as the morally and financially bankrupt institutions that they are. No, what will really happen is that there will be another rapid transfer of wealth. But this transfer will be away from the wealthy and into the hands of people that can afford to purchases houses at reasonable prices.
Frankly it's also insulting to the ingenuity and entreprenuerial spirit of Americans as well. Let Fannie and Freddie die on the vine. A very large number of small, fast-moving people and companies will fill void very quickly. And that would be a good thing.
Monday, March 10, 2008
A Winter Tale
One day, perhaps I will tell you about how it feels at the end of 16 hour trip underground in a large stream cave when you come out into subzero weather and all your clothes freeze to your body and the stars are glittering intensely because there are no clouds in the sky and the city lights are far, far away.
It starts far into the cave because of the cold air sucking in. It forms fog hundreds of feet from the entrance that gets thicker and thicker until it suddenly clears out because all the rock around the entrance is frozen. It's all frost shatter left over from the Wisconsonian glaciation, you have to crawl through the blocks that are all jumbled together. Your clothes stick to the frozen rock until they finally freeze as well. It was a long cold trip anyway and you feel exhausted and this is not helping, you just feel much colder much faster. Your hands are numb, retracted into claws. And you forgot to undo your boot laces before leaving the cave, the laces are now covered with frozen clay. Mild panic starts to set in as you feel your feet start to become frostbitten.
Finally, you get your boots off, then your pants, which are so covered with frozen mud that you lean them against the VW bus. Now, you are in the bus. Since it is an old VW, the heater doesn't work, but you are out of the wind, which makes you feel better. At least you are not getting any colder, even though feeling warmer seems impossible. But there is still the bus. You parked in the pasture at the top edge of a broad shallow sinkhole, because the starter doesn't work. You have to roll start the blasted thing. So there you are, sitting in the bus, hoping and praying it starts, as your buddy turns the key, releases the emergency brake, then the clutch. You are gathering speed rolling down the side of the sinkhole. The consequences are ugly, you feel your heart is pounding. This bus better start, or it's a cold, cold night in the pasture stuck at the bottom of a sinkhole.
Now you are approaching the bottom of the sinkhole, rolling at a pretty good clip. Your buddy has it in second gear. He pops the clutch... the bus coughs, shudders, coughs again... and roars to life! Yay!!! You guys are laughing insanely! This is so cool! You did it! It feels like you have defied gravity or something impossible. He floors it and you roll across the frosty grass up the other side of the sinkhole and off towards camp. You don't even need the headlights because the moon is almost full and heavy frost is glittering off of everything. Now, the cold doesn't matter so much. You feel warmed up just knowing you're homeward bound to hot chocolate, fire and warm sleeping bag. It just feels like heaven. This is what you live for.
Hrm.
Maybe I will tell you another story some other time. I have lots of them.
It starts far into the cave because of the cold air sucking in. It forms fog hundreds of feet from the entrance that gets thicker and thicker until it suddenly clears out because all the rock around the entrance is frozen. It's all frost shatter left over from the Wisconsonian glaciation, you have to crawl through the blocks that are all jumbled together. Your clothes stick to the frozen rock until they finally freeze as well. It was a long cold trip anyway and you feel exhausted and this is not helping, you just feel much colder much faster. Your hands are numb, retracted into claws. And you forgot to undo your boot laces before leaving the cave, the laces are now covered with frozen clay. Mild panic starts to set in as you feel your feet start to become frostbitten.
Finally, you get your boots off, then your pants, which are so covered with frozen mud that you lean them against the VW bus. Now, you are in the bus. Since it is an old VW, the heater doesn't work, but you are out of the wind, which makes you feel better. At least you are not getting any colder, even though feeling warmer seems impossible. But there is still the bus. You parked in the pasture at the top edge of a broad shallow sinkhole, because the starter doesn't work. You have to roll start the blasted thing. So there you are, sitting in the bus, hoping and praying it starts, as your buddy turns the key, releases the emergency brake, then the clutch. You are gathering speed rolling down the side of the sinkhole. The consequences are ugly, you feel your heart is pounding. This bus better start, or it's a cold, cold night in the pasture stuck at the bottom of a sinkhole.
Now you are approaching the bottom of the sinkhole, rolling at a pretty good clip. Your buddy has it in second gear. He pops the clutch... the bus coughs, shudders, coughs again... and roars to life! Yay!!! You guys are laughing insanely! This is so cool! You did it! It feels like you have defied gravity or something impossible. He floors it and you roll across the frosty grass up the other side of the sinkhole and off towards camp. You don't even need the headlights because the moon is almost full and heavy frost is glittering off of everything. Now, the cold doesn't matter so much. You feel warmed up just knowing you're homeward bound to hot chocolate, fire and warm sleeping bag. It just feels like heaven. This is what you live for.
Hrm.
Maybe I will tell you another story some other time. I have lots of them.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Screened out
I just tried very hard to purchase " ISO/IEC 42010 IEEE Std 1471-2000 Systems and software engineering - Recommended practice for architectural description of software-intensive systems"
I failed.
I need to join IEEE (How much does it cost? That information was not prominent on the home page), and pay further for digital subscriber privileges (How much does that cost?).
Given 40 years of hand-wringing about poor software construction practices, such document probably ought to be issued under a Creative Commons license.
I failed.
I need to join IEEE (How much does it cost? That information was not prominent on the home page), and pay further for digital subscriber privileges (How much does that cost?).
Given 40 years of hand-wringing about poor software construction practices, such document probably ought to be issued under a Creative Commons license.
System Modal
In the interest of outstanding user experiences, here are the guidelines Tinobox uses for employing system modal dialog boxes:
Yes, that's right, if we know you and your computer will be subject to these annoyances, we will certainly break your attention with a system modal dialog box. Otherwise, we assume you have better things to do than be annoyed by poorly designed software.
- Impending asteroid strike.
- Impending tsunami.
Yes, that's right, if we know you and your computer will be subject to these annoyances, we will certainly break your attention with a system modal dialog box. Otherwise, we assume you have better things to do than be annoyed by poorly designed software.
Java mini-rant
I wrote my first Java code in 1996. Really, I did. You can probably find the applet on the wayback machine. I even wrote a custom Fortran compiler to convert LAPACK to Java source code in 1997.
Eventually, I gave up Java as unworkable on the desktop, too slow in the browser, and too difficult on the server side (Tomcat ca. 1991 anyone? Ugh).
It's now 2008.
I have a choice: use the JRE, or listen to iTunes.
But not both at the same time.
Since I am sure this must be a user error, I'll have to put in a CD and get back to c++.
Eventually, I gave up Java as unworkable on the desktop, too slow in the browser, and too difficult on the server side (Tomcat ca. 1991 anyone? Ugh).
It's now 2008.
I have a choice: use the JRE, or listen to iTunes.
But not both at the same time.
Since I am sure this must be a user error, I'll have to put in a CD and get back to c++.
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