A Semi-Steady Stream of Stuff

Mark Ayers — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 19:42:31 +0000

“…by listening I learned there was an opportunity….” – Melissa Albert

Mark Ayers — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:38:46 +0000

we interrupt this stream of inane and irrelevant drivel to bring you even more inane and irrelevant drivel. that is all.

Mark Ayers — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 06:44:07 +0000

to write text on an empty page or an empty screen, to take the content of mind and unconscious and to make it both visible and intelligible.

Mark Ayers — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 19:37:11 +0000

“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP all sitting members of congress are ineligible for reelection.”

- Warren Buffett

Yoga Retreat

Mark Ayers — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 02:41:16 +0000

Just back from a yoga retreat at the Whidbey Institute at Chinook put on by Twist Yoga in Edmonds and I came across these two videos in an article at Elephant Journal.

Yay. This is what is was like. Not!

Goodbye Quicken

Mark Ayers — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:34:38 +0000

With the following note Intuit provides the last lie to Quicken on the Mac for me.

The last line of the answer shows the first line to be a lie. Goodbye. I’m not even going to miss you anymore. You haven’t been a product I could care about using since Quicken on DOS.

Quicken for DOS

What are your plans related to personal finance solutions for Apple customers?

We are committed to supporting Apple products and our Mac customers. We are actively working on a personal finance solution for the iPad, as well as continuing to deliver the highly rated Mint.com iPhone application. In addition, we are evaluating options for Quicken Essentials for Mac.

via Is Quicken for Mac Compatible with Mac OS 10.7 Lion? – Quicken® Support.

I was a quicken user from the start. I lived with it through some ups and downs, updating at each interval. When I switched to the Mac, I ran VMware Fusion to run Quicken on Windows. I waited for the promised Mac strategy to develop. It has not, promise after promise, we are considering, we are committed. No you are not. Lion comes and you still don’t know your answer to the fastest growing PC segment in the market.

Alternatives may be found here. I cannot endorse any yet.
Alternative To Result for Quicken on Mac OS X

Mark Ayers — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 15:31:08 +0000

On this Independence Day I say we celebrate what no longer is but what can be again. America is a failed democracy.

Ain’t No Sunshine

Mark Ayers — Fri, 20 May 2011 21:21:16 +0000

I woke up this morning with one song stuck inside my skull. No, after lunch one has been replaced by another. Must be something up with springtime and sunshine.

“Ain’t No Sunshine” is a song by Bill Withers from his 1971 album Just As I Am, produced by Booker T. Jones. The record featured musicians Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass guitar and Al Jackson, Jr. on drums, as well as Withers on lead vocals and guitar. The song was released as a single in September 1971, becoming a breakthrough hit for Withers, reaching number six on the U.S. R&B chart and number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Withers was inspired to write this song after watching the 1962 movie Days of Wine and Roses. He explained, in reference to the characters played by Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon, “They were both alcoholics who were alternately weak and strong. Its like going back for seconds on rat poison. Sometimes you miss things that werent particularly good for you. Its just something that crossed my mind from watching that movie, and probably something else that happened in my life that Im not aware of.

For the songs third verse, Withers had intended to write more lyrics instead of repeating the phrase “I know” over and over again, but then followed the advice of the other musicians to leave it that way: “I was this factory worker puttering around,” Withers said. “So when they said to leave it like that, I left it.” Withers, then thirty-one years old, was working at a factory making toilet seats for 747s at the time.

The song was originally released as the B-side to another song called “Harlem”. Disc jockeys played “Aint No Sunshine” as the single instead, and it became a huge hit, the first hit for Withers.

via Aint No Sunshine – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Schneier on Security: Societal Security

Mark Ayers — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:46:11 +0000

Schneier often has something interesting to say, usually write about it well and in this case has done a really fine job.

Humans have a natural propensity to trust non-kin, even strangers. We do it so often, so naturally, that we don’t even realize how remarkable it is. But except for a few simplistic counterexamples, it’s unique among life on this planet. Because we are intelligently calculating and value reciprocity (that is, fairness), we know that humans will be honest and nice: not for any immediate personal gain, but because that’s how they are. We also know that doesn’t work perfectly; most people will be dishonest some of the time, and some people will be dishonest most of the time. How does society — the honest majority — prevent the dishonest minority from taking over, or ruining society for everyone? How is the dishonest minority kept in check? The answer is security — in particular, something I’m calling societal security.

via Schneier on Security: Societal Security.

The Speech Obama Could Give: ‘The Constitution Forbids Default’ – Garrett Epps – Politics – The Atlantic

Mark Ayers — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:37:11 +0000

This is lovely, powerful language. It is really too bad, in my opinion, that we will not hear a speech like this.

My fellow Americans, I am speaking to you tonight to let you know the steps I have taken to ensure that America lives up to its obligations during the current political crisis. As you know, the continuing recession and the pressures of running two wars have made it necessary for the government to borrow money on the world market in order to meet our commitments at home and abroad, see to it that our armed forces receive their pay and equipment, and fulfill our obligations to the retired, the unemployed, and those in need of medical care.

via The Speech Obama Could Give: ‘The Constitution Forbids Default’ – Garrett Epps – Politics – The Atlantic.