] Although in recent years the proportion of our labor
] force made up of those with at least some college has
] continued to grow, we appear, nonetheless, to be
] graduating too few skilled workers to address the
] apparent imbalance between the supply of such workers and
] the burgeoning demand for them. Perhaps the accelerated
] pace of high-tech equipment installations associated with
] the large increases in productivity growth in recent
] years is placing unachievable demands for skilled
] graduates over the short run. If the apparent
] acceleration in the demand for skilled workers to staff
] our high-tech capital stock is temporary as many presume,
] the pressure on our schools would ease as would the
] upward pressure on high-skilled wages.

In english: "We needed a lot of engineers to set up the new infrastructure over the past few years. Admins, Programmers, Network Engineers, etc... We're done doing that now. We don't need ya'll anymore. Thanks for all the productivity growth. I'm sure you can find a suitable job in another industry at a significant reduction in pay. You can rest assured that the overall economy has benefited greatly from your work. We're not planning to share the rewards with you, because you don't own it. We own it. We're looking for people who own stock to do really well in the coming years. We're exited about that, and we think you ought to be excited for us. Oh, and BTW, I'm cutting your pension. Have a nice day."

FRB: Speech, Greenspan--Critical role of education in the nation's economy--February 20, 2004

] "An amendment to the Constitution is never to be
] undertaken lightly," Mr. Bush said. "The amendment
] process has addressed many serious matters of national
] concern, and the preservation of marriage rises to this
] level of national importance."

I've been at a loss for what to say about this gay marriage issue. I don't feel its an issue that effects me. Is that selfish? I'm starting to think so. It definitely is if we are now talking about making amendments to The Constitution.

San Francisco, before and after allowing same-sex marriages, seems the same to me. There have been no riots. There has been no break down of order. No screaming in the streets. No masses of heathens roaming the streets raping small children. No breakdown of family values. No burning churches. Nothing that the fundamentalist right would have you believe is right around the corner following such a drastic change in policy.

I can tell you what I have seen. I live about 5 blocks away from City Hall, so I've had a pretty good view. I've seen nothing. Just a rise in activity in and out of the building, and slightly more news vans present then usual. Have I seen happy gay couples? Sure, I see those every single day. I'm also about 8 or 10 blocks away from the Castro. I've seen a few "we all deserve the right to marry" banners on cars, but parking has not been any harder to find. In general, its business as usual in San Francisco. If I wasn't paying attention to the news, I might not even know anything was going on or think strangely of it. No one around me seems to.

The rest of the country however, seems up in arms. Its almost hard for me to believe that there is serious talk about making an amendment to the Constitution over this. I'm not sure where to even begin trying to analyze or comment on such a bone headed maneuver.

I'm one of those people who was raised in an environment where "faggot" was general purpose playground insult. As years wore on, I was exposed to real gay people, had friends come out of the closet, etc. I came to detest the type of discrimination that gays endure. I have my own form of "white guilt" over the issue. In that respect, I am America. In the same way that America hated blacks, or women, or any other group that we have oppressed in our history. America changes its mind given evidence of wrong doing. America rises to right wrongs. America is about equality.

I think my views are pretty common. I'm "average" in many respects. I'm moderate in my politics. In general, whatever situation I'm in, I try to find "the opposition" and play it, if only for the thought exercise. That leads people to believe I'm a "radical", but any given group has a very different opinion about what I'm so "radical" about. Here though, I have a really strong opinion. I believe in freedom. I believe in liberty. I believe that people should be able to live the way they want to l... [ Read More (0.4k in body) ]

Bush Backs Ban in Constitution on Gay Marriage

You can't hang with Devastatin' Dave. You are a turntable slave. Suckah.

The 10 worst Album Covers. Ever.

] There developers creating "virtual Earth"
]
] The Department of Defense is commissioning a re-creation
] of the entire planet from online-sim maker.
]
] As a rule, the developers of There prefer calling their
] creation a "virtual world" rather than a "game."
]
] Now it looks like that statement will no longer be
] hyperbole.
]
] According to a report on the BBC and HomeLAN Fed, the
] Department of Defense has commissioned the Menlo Park,
] California, company to create a replica of the entire
] planet. According to the report, the Earth sim will be to
] scale, featuring real-world distances--so if a user's
] avatar wanted to spend three months riding a bike around
] the Australian coastline, it could.

Dare I make a Matrix joke?

There developers creating 'virtual Earth'

] Tuesday, February 24 will be a day of coordinated civil
] disobedience: websites will post Danger Mouse's Grey
] Album on their site for 24 hours in protest of EMI's
] attempts to censor this work.

Well, not exactly, but lots of people are turning their web pages grey.

I didn't find this until just this morning and I don't have time to tweak up the site code. However, if you re-recommend this meme others are more likely to read it.

Grey Tuesday

] The Federal Communications Committee and the Justice
] Department are at loggerheads over a new problem in the
] war on terror: how to listen in on Internet phone calls.
] Thanks to the blistering growth of VoIP (Voice over
] Internet Protocol) services, which have been adopted by
] approximately 10 million people worldwide so far, law
] enforcement officials now worry that wiretapping may one
] day become technically obsolete. If traditional phone
] lines go the way of the horse and carriage, will the FBI
] still be able to listen in on Internet phone calls? How
] would it go about tapping one? Is it even possible?

The gateways between the Internet VoIP based phone networks and the traditional phone networks are about the only places I can picture CALEA-compliant (like) hardware/software existing. Purely Internet based VoIP networks are going to resist any type of monitoring, use crypto, and exist even if they are outlawed.

Can They Hear You Now? - How the FBI eavesdrops on Internet phone calls (and why it sometimes can't). By David S. Bennahum

Population; Resource Management; Technology; Knowledge; Economic Integration; Conflict; Governance.

Seven Revolutions

The New York Times on Norah Jones's recent sales success.

Their business seems to be structured against steady, long-term success. The psychology of the recording industry, like that of book publishing, is now so dependent on blockbuster sales that the idea of profitability based on modest sales across a diverse catalog has nearly vanished. The business depends on the hundred-year flood, not a steady rain.

What Am I to You?

As abrupt climate change hits home, warfare may again come to define human life.

Grim Pentagon Climate Change Scenario

Rummy-Fu. He is using Defense Secretary technique.

POE News: Rumsfeld Fighting Technique