Les Jones

A&E > Lost Links as the Season Finale Approaches

The next time I make homebrew I think I'll print up some Dharma Initiative Beer labels

Tonight's Lost is a build-up to next week's season finale. Here are some tasty links while you wait for tonight's ep.

Via Cathy I found Barry's wrap-up of last week's Lost. Like my wife, Barry thinks Claire is dead and that's why we saw her in Jacob's cabin with Christian, who is definitely long dead, but who has appeared as a ghost to his son, Jack. (Christian is also Claire's father, though I'm not sure if that matters.)

From Barry's post I discovered JOpinionated's Lost pages. Great stuff. Remember I mentioned my wife's theory about why Ben couldn't kill Widmore? Check out this theory: "Widmore and Ben are each other's constant and therefore can't kill each other." I don't know if that's right or not, but it's mighty interesting.

Don't miss JOpinionated's profiles:

• Libby/Elizabeth
• Missing Limbs & Time Travel: A LOST Connection? Great stuff
• Smoke Monster
• Michael and Walt
• Charles Widmore
• Juliet Burke
• Sayid
• Mothers of Lost

Bonus! - Previously on Lost, a band that performs musical recaps of Lost episodes:

Gotta Take Your Meds (Jack's Appendectomy Episode)

The baby mama and her southern savior really can’t stand
Miles showing them that Carl’s turned into a man plant
How do you escape (How do you escape ooh...) the whisperings of the deceased,
treat yourself to ample helpings of a medication feast (pop pop pow!)

Economics > People Losing Life Savings After Investing with Whitney Canada

CTV - oad to Ruin:

It was supposed to be a stress-free investment for Florence and Jim Langford. After all, the retired Saskatchewan couple was only looking for a little extra income to supplement their retirement savings.

But today, the Langfords have virtually nothing left to show for their many years of hard work. Their life savings are non-existent. "We farmed, we had cattle, Jim drove a propane truck and I taught school," says Florence Langford. We worked hard for our retirement and we planned it, and it should have been there."

It all started when Florence decided to take an investment course with a company called Whitney Canada. She attended a free seminar that was often advertised on late-night infomercials, and soon found she was paying tens of thousands of dollars for more advanced training.

Whitney Canada claimed it would share the secrets of successful real estate investing, and connect investors with expert 'mentors' who would guide them along the way to financial success.

[...]

To their surprise, the Langfords discovered that the power team had purchased two rental properties for them in the little Ontario town of Hawkesbury, located halfway between Ontario and Quebec, without consulting or discussing the investment with them first. In fact, the couple had never even heard of Hawkesbury before. "Jim and I were phoning, faxing, emailing everyday," says Florence. "We couldn't get any answers."

Then there was more bad news. The Langfords found out that a second mortgage had been put on the houses - and that the $272,000 they had paid for each property was significantly over the market value.

They weren't alone. Dozens of other investors across the country found themselves in the same situation. Ernie Szpivak, a professional appraiser in Hawkesbury, estimates that the properties were likely worth half as much as investors such as the Langfords paid.

Politics > My Guess is Hillary's Telling People She's Out

Today NARAL endorsed Obama. So did John Edwards. If I was a betting man I'd bet that Hillary has let it be known she's pulling out of the race.

Photos > Nashville Zombie Walk

I didn't hear about it, but Chris Wage has the pics.

Municipal Wi-Fi > EarthLink Walking Away from Philadelphia Wi-Fi

Atlanta Business Chronicle - EarthLink ending its wireless Internet service in Philadelphia:

EarthLink Inc. said Tuesday it is pulling the plug on its Wi-Fi network in Philadelphia.

The Atlanta company said it has notified network customers that it will help them find other Internet service providers before terminating their service June 12.

EarthLink (NASDAQ:ELNK) also said it has filed a petition in federal court asking for permission to remove its equipment from Philadelphia street lights and seeking a declaration that its total potential liability is no greater than $1 million.

EarthLink said it had offered to transfer ownership of the entire network to either the city of Philadelphia or Wireless Philadelphia, as well as give them cash and new equipment, but couldn't work out a deal with them after months of negotiations.

Home Life > Is My Daughter Going to be a Redhead?

My brother has always said he thought Natalie would have red hair. Sometimes her hair does seem to have a reddish tinge, and you can see it a bit in that picture.

One of the things I routinely do to improve digital photos is to use Picasa's Saturate command to boost the color. When I did that to the photo above the red hair really jumped out. This is like the "artist's conception" of Natalie with red hair.

Tech > Whoa. You Can Download YouTube Videos with RealPlayer

I just noticed there's a new option when I watch YouTube videos. I can download them to my hard drive in RealPlayer format. Info here. I never liked Real because of their privacy-stomping, Windows-crashing ways, but that's pretty cool.

Tech > Got Windows XP? Turn on ClearType. It Will Change Your World.

When I turned on the new computer I thought something was wrong with the video card because the text didn't look good. Then I remembered I had enabled ClearType on the old computer. For some reason Microsoft doesn't make ClearType the default. Once I enabled it the new monitor looked right.

Here's how to enable ClearType font-smoothing. It only takes a second and it makes Windows fonts look 100% better.

Politics > As Temperatures Decline, McCain Jumps on Global Warming Bandwagon

Timing:

In an implicit rebuke to the Bush administration, McCain will say in remarks prepared for delivery at the Vestas Wind Energy Training Facility in Portland, Oregon. "I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears. I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges." Referring to the Kyoto Protocols on greenhouse gas emissions the U.S. never signed, McCain added "I will not accept the same dead-end of failed diplomacy that claimed Kyoto."

"We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great," McCain will say. ""The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge."

Wunnerful. Now that even NPR notices lower temperatures the Republican presidential candidate is promising to do something (translation: spend taxpayer's money) about a problem that may very well not exist.

Guns > Holy Crap - 140+ Year Old Cannonball Kills Civil War Collector

CBS News - 140-Yr.-Old Cannonball Kills Civil War Fan:

Sam White got hooked on the U.S. Civil War early, digging up rusting bullets and military buttons in the battle-scarred earth of his hometown.

As an adult, he crisscrossed the Virginia countryside in search of wartime relics - 19-century weapons, battle flags, even artillery shells buried in the red clay. He sometimes put on diving gear to feel for treasures hidden in the black muck of river bottoms.

But in February, White's hobby cost him his life: A cannonball he was restoring exploded, killing him in his driveway.

More than 140 years after the end of the war the pitted the North against the South over slavery, the cannonball was still powerful enough to send a chunk of shrapnel through the front porch of a house a quarter-mile from White's home in the leafy Richmond suburb of Chester, Virginia.

White's death shook the close-knit fraternity of relic collectors and raised concerns about the dangers of other Civil War munitions that lay buried beneath old battlefields. Explosives experts said the fatal blast defied extraordinary odds.

Via The High Road, where folks note that ancient blackpowder firearms sometimes contain perfectly viable charges capable of killing a person. Respect firearms and follow the four rules even on seemingly historical weapons.

Politics > True

Credits: I ganked that from this guy who ganked it from that guy.

Comic Books > Saw Iron Man. It Really is Awesome.

The movie is as good as everyone says it is. The effects are believable and the acting talent is excellent. Robert Downey, Jr., is amazing as Tony Stark, the billionaire drunk scientific genius immature self-destructive and occasionally selfless jerk of an action hero. It may actually be better than my previous comic book adapation, X-Men 2. We really are living in the golden age of comic book movies.

East Tennessee > UT Closing Strong Hall Dorm

Knoxville News-Sentinel - Last day of use as a women's dorm is at hand for historic UT building:

After 83 years, one of Cumberland Avenue's most beloved buildings - the University of Tennessee's Sophronia Strong Hall - has bid farewell to all of its women.

With the end of spring semester, the last students moved out Wednesday, marking the last day as a women's dormitory for the landmark structure at the northwest corner of 16th Street.

Plans are to renovate and convert the building into instructional and laboratory space for the Department of Anthropology, which now uses part of Neyland Stadium.

That's too bad. I have fond memories of that place. I dated a gal who lived in Strong Hall, and I always thought they had the best cafeteria on campus. The babes in the cafeteria were a bonus.

Holidays > First Time Using an Internet Photo Printing Service

For Mother's Day (hi, moms!) I wanted to make my wife and our moms a print of a picture from the day Natalie was born. I knew you could send pictures over the Internet to a photo lab, but I had never tried it. With Mother's Day approaching I gave it a shot.

In Picasa I chose "Order Prints and Products" from the Create menu. Up came lots of options, from local print centers to remote printing companies that required shipping. The local options were CVS, Walgreen's and Wal-Mart. I chose Walgreen's for the quick in-and-out factor. (After sending in the order I realized I should have sent the prints to Wal-Mart so I could have bought a frame at the same time. D'oh!)

I had to install a Firefox plug-in to upload the pictures, but that was easy. The Walgreen's interface was slightly confusing. I uploaded one picture and wanted to upload others, but couldn't figure out how - the "Add More Pictures" link was for adding additional prints of the same picture, not actually adding more photos. I eventually erased the album, created a new one, and uploaded all of the pictures I wanted in one pass.

Walgreen's promises printing within an hour, and the prints were ready when I arrived. When I got home I discovered Walgreen's had sent me an email when printing was complete. The actual print time was less than 30 minutes.

The prints look great, and the price was reasonable. 4x6 prints are $0.19, 5x7 prints are $1.59 or $1.00 each for two or more, and 8x10 prints are $2.99 or $2.50 for two or more. At prices like that I don't think we'll ever get around to using our HP photo printer.

Blogging > Knoxville Blog Get-together Tonight

This slipped my mind because I was going to be on vacation, but it's tonight. My allergies and sinus infection are back, so I won't be able to make it.

East Tennessee > What Were the Lyrics to the Kern's Bread TV Commercial?

Local grocery chain Food City is reviving the Kern's line of batter-whipped bread. Kern's was a local to Knoxville bakery that had a great TV ad in the Seventies. The ad featured a Kerns breadtruck driver who stopped at a cafe to unload his buns, get a burger, and flirt with Mavis the waitress.

Sadly, the commercial hasn't been saved for posterity on YouTube, and I couldn't find the lyrics anywhere. Does anyone remember them? Here's the part I recall:

Well I picked up the check and said "Bye, now, hon"
And I left her a truckload of fresh Kern's buns
At the something-something fill-er-up keep-on-truckin' cafe
Yeah Kern's is good bread

Do you remember the lyrics? Post them over at Michael Silence's.

UPDATE: We've had a partial breakthrough in comments at Michael's. Turns out the TV commercial was performed by A.J. Trucker and was a take-off on Old Home Filler-Up An' Keep On A-Truckin' Cafe by C.W. McCall of Convoy fame. I did not know that. Also it turns out that C.W. McCall existed because of an ad campaign for a different bread company:

In 1972, while working for the Omaha advertising firm of Bozell Jacobs, Bill Fries created a television campaign for the Old Home Bread brand of the Metz Baking Company. The advertisements told of the adventures of truck driver C.W. McCall, his dog Sloan, and of the truck stop that McCall frequented, The Old Home Café. Bill based the character and his environment on his own upbringing in western Iowa. The commercials were very successful. So successful, that the Des Moines Register published the air times of the commercials in the daily television listings.

Bonus: go here for a free "Old Home Filler-Up An' Keep On A-Truckin' Cafe" ringtone. How ya gonna beat a deal like that?

Home Life > Katie's Very Important Lesson About Caterpillars

Felix the cat has a cameo appearance.

A&E > Free NIN MP3s

You can download free MP3s of The Slip and the first nine tracks of Ghosts. For The Slip there are even some higher-quality-than-CD formats available, which is amazing, seeing as how they're going to turn around and ask money for the CD in July.

Did I mention it's free?

Food & Drink > I Miss Frank and Stein's

Hot dog pictures. Via the often not safe for work Fantasygoat.

Guns > I Like Cameras. I Like Guns.

But cameras that look like guns just seem like a bad idea. This one's pretty nicely done, though:

Looks to be about a 400mm. You'd definitely want the recoil pad when you fired that sucker.

UPDATE: At first I thought it would be hard to mount this on your shoulder, look through the viewfinder, adjust focus and focal length, and press the shutter release. I just noticed there's a remote shutter release on the forward stock. So you use one hand to fiddle with the lens and the other hand to hold the stock and fire the shutter. Pretty clever.

Via Breda via Xavier Breath.

Home Life > Natalie Having Lunch with a Camel

Photo by Melissa. Taken with a Panasonic FZ5 at the Knoxville Zoo.

Population > WaPo Notices Japan's Population Decline

Washington Post - Japan Steadily Becoming a Land Of Few Children:

The economic and social consequences of these trends are difficult to overstate. Japan, now the world's second-largest economy, will lose 70 percent of its workforce by 2050 and economic growth will slow to zero, according to a report this year by the nonprofit Japan Center for Economic Research.

Population shrinkage began three years ago and is gathering pace. Within 50 years, the population, now 127 million, will fall by a third, the government projects. Within a century, two-thirds of the population will be gone.

In what is now being called a "super-aging" society, department and grocery stores have recorded declining sales for a decade -- and new car sales have fallen for 18 consecutive years.

Rural Japan, thus far, has borne the brunt of the slide. In depopulated small towns, stores are closing, governments are desperate for tax revenue and there are chronic shortages of doctors and nurses. The government is subsidizing the development of robots as caregivers for the old.

There's always the hope that Japan's government will change the policies that led to the baby bust, but it may not be pretty. People have fewer children because they depend more on government programs than the family, and because of the taxes required to fund the programs they have no choice but to have fewer children. Japan is likely to have to cut those government retirement and health programs or else the burden on the ever-shrinking working population will grow more burdensome. Else young people will realize they're better off taking their college degrees and their passports to a country that doesn't punish them for the poor decisions foisted on them by politicians who will have passed on by then. Either way, one generation or another is going to have to pay for those decisions.

Dear Lazyweb > Mystery PC Beeping Solved

Dear Lazyweb,

The mystery PC beep has been solved. It was the NetGear WiFi card after all. I didn't see any settings in the program for sounds, but my wife discovered that if you right-clicked on the menu bar icon there was a check mark next to "Enable 'Internet Connected' Notification." Once she unchecked it the problem went away.

Photos > Dragonflies with the New 70-300mm Lens

This lens makes it easy to throw the background out of focus at large apertures. In this case the depth of field is so short that the eyes are in focus but the tail is a little blurry. Next time I'll try a little bit smaller aperture and a little bit longer exposure to get a slightly greater depth of field.

Environment > "Undoing America's Ethanol Mistake"

A U.S. Senator is calling for a freeze in ethanol subsidies rather than continuing on the present course of expanding them through 2022.

On December 19, 2007, President Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act. This legislation had several positive features, including higher fuel standards for cars and greater investment in renewable energies, such as solar power. However, the bill required a huge spike in the biofuel production requirement from 7.5 billion in 2012 to 36 billion gallons in 2022. This was a well-intentioned measure, but it was also impractical. Nearly all our domestic corn and grain supply is needed to meet this mandate, robbing the world of one of its most important sources of food.

We are already seeing the ill effects of this measure. Last year, 25 percent of America’s corn crop was diverted to produce ethanol. In 2008, that number will grow to 30-35 percent, and it will soar even higher in the years to come. Furthermore, the trend of farmers supplanting other grains with corn is decreasing the supply of numerous agricultural products. When the supply of those products goes down, the price inevitably goes up. Subsequently, the cost of feeding farm and ranch animals increases and the cost is passed to consumers of beef, poultry, and pork products. Since February 2006, the price of corn, wheat, and soybean has increased by more than 240%. Rising food prices are hitting the pockets of lower-income Americans and people who live on fixed incomes.

While the blame for higher costs shouldn’t rest exclusively with biofuels – drought and rising oil costs are contributing factors – the expansion of biofuels has been a major source of the problem. The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that biofuel production accounts for between one-quarter and one-third of the recent spike in global commodity prices. For the first time in 30 years, food riots are breaking out in many parts of the globe, including major countries such as Mexico, Pakistan, and Indonesia. The fact that America’s energy policies are creating global instability should concern the leaders of both political parties.

Hat tip to DRK at Patterico.com.

Photos > Danged Good Picture from a Cell Phone

Check it out.

See also:
- Phun With Photoshop and Phone Cameras

Quotes > Pope St. Gregory I

"Be not anxious about what you have, but about what you are."
  -- Pope St. Gregory I

Word of the Day > Word of the Day: EBITDA

EBITDA - Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization. Pronounced "ee bit dah." A non-GAAP means of accounting that helps make unprofitable businesses sound profitable, basically. It was popular in the dot-com era. More info at Investopedia.

And that WOTD is prelude to Phil Greenspun's post on Enron, in which he explains how bogus EBITDA is:

Conspiracy of Fools chronicles one of the discussions about EBITDA among Enron senior managers. One guy pointed out to Rebecca Mark, a Harvard Business School graduate star of the company, that EBITDA was meaningless because one could improve EBITDA simply by borrowing money at 10 percent and investing it in T-Bills at 5 percent and that was essentially what Mark was doing. She was borrowing money at X% to purchase businesses that would return no more than (X-4)% in a best-case scenario. This fattened her paycheck, but led the company towards bankruptcy.

And from a commenter at Phil's I found Malcom Gladwell's New Yorker piece, Open Secrets: Enron, intelligence, and the perils of too much information. He makes the case that Enron gave investors all the information they needed to see the problems with the company's business, information that an investigative reporter sifted through, prompting Enron's downfall.

I think Gladwell lets Enron off too easily, but it's probably true that many modern financial transactions are so large and complex that they're impenetrable. Warren Buffett said as much in a recent Fortune interview:

Your OFHEO example implies you're not too optimistic about regulation.

Finance has gotten so complex, with so much interdependency. I argued with Alan Greenspan some about this at [Washington Post chairman] Don Graham's dinner. He would say that you've spread risk throughout the world by all these instruments, and now you didn't have it all concentrated in your banks. But what you've done is you've interconnected the solvency of institutions to a degree that probably nobody anticipated. And it's very hard to evaluate. If Bear Stearns had not had a derivatives book, my guess is the Fed wouldn't have had to do what it did.

Do you find it striking that banks keep looking into their investments and not knowing what they have?

I read a few prospectuses for residential-mortgage-backed securities - mortgages, thousands of mortgages backing them, and then those all tranched into maybe 30 slices. You create a CDO by taking one of the lower tranches of that one and 50 others like it. Now if you're going to understand that CDO, you've got 50-times-300 pages to read, it's 15,000. If you take one of the lower tranches of the CDO and take 50 of those and create a CDO squared, you're now up to 750,000 pages to read to understand one security. I mean, it can't be done. When you start buying tranches of other instruments, nobody knows what the hell they're doing. It's ridiculous.

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