All Things in Moderation

Liam Neeson crashes in a plane and punches a wolf with razor knuckles in The Grey. Dude just won’t stop working.

In March of this year, Steve Gibson on Security Now (with Leo Laporte) discussed the anatomy of the Stuxnet worm. This is a lengthy commitment to listen to (over an hour–might skip the news at the top of the show), but Stuxnet was a virus (weaponized malware), designed by the Israeli’s to disrupt the Iranian nuclear program by reprogramming the industrial controllers on the centrifuges being used to enrich uranium for their “nuclear plant” (wink-wink, nudge-nudge). To do this would have involved the Israelis breaking into more than one American company, and purposely infecting more than one vendor who sold to, or vendors who sold to vendors who sold to, Iran.

That it worked is amazing and scary. Here is a lower quality MP3 version for folks who can’t do the video.

Anybody here remember Pianosaurus, the band from the late 80s that played everything on nothing but toy instruments? My favorite was always Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Toystore.

Don’t rent out your place out on AirBnB. Not unless you want it trashed. Because AirBnB will want you to take down your blog post complaining that your apartment trashed, but will refer to their ToS if you want them to do anything to help assist you with the criminals they sent to your apartment or house.

Nostalgic for time spent watching HBO’s Video Jukebox before the debut of MTV? Well, here ya go: Robert Palmer’s video for Johnny and Mary. I can’t get to YouTube, so I’m just hoping that’s the right one.

There are ghost writers for Twitter accounts for people who aren’t that particularly well known? How do I get a job like that?

It’s the end of the world as we know it! R.E.M. retires. What will the Furry, Happy Monsters do?

Remembering Braniff Airlines. Rest in peace, Big Orange!

Five million books spend more time talking about Texas than Tennessee. Or California. Put in any terms you want, and find out that “betwixt” and “thou” were more popular words, in books, in 1800 than in 2000. “Thou” much more than “betwixt”.

This post brought to you by you rebels out there. You know who you are. — KW

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I know I harp on the middle class and jobs, probably too much for some of you, but without a thriving middle class I don’t think American business succeeds in the long run. Not to mention the misery of lost wages. Here’s a chart linking education to wages. Wow, even that Master’s Degree may not protect you in the future. I better have my daughter revisit that PhD scholarship.

CHART: Only Advanced Degree-Holders Saw Wage Gains In Last Decade The only group of Americans whose average wages increased over the last decade were the 3 percent with advanced college degrees (other than a master’s degree), according to data released by the Census Bureau. The 1.5 percent of Americans with an M.D., J.D., or M.B.A. saw wage gains of about 5 percent, while the 1.5 percent with a Ph.D saw gains of slightly more than 5 percent. Among those with a four-year college or master’s degree — more than a quarter of the American workforce — average wages dropped by about 7 percent, and wages dropped even more for those who haven’t completed college:

lmsinca……..click on chart link for a visual

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Having seen and heard this suddenly famous video class-warfare rant by Elizabeth Warren several times, I boldly predict that, in addition to the ideological reaction she will provoke, she will turn off many, primarily men, with her persona, her voice, her body language. I’ve seen her and heard her in person, but on the stump she is going to be quite unappealing and indeed repellant to many.—QB

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Senators are grilling Google over where certain things come up in search results. “You’re cooking the books!” Of course, it’s (a) mostly nonsense and (b) not really the frickin’ senate’s business, in my humble opinion, even if they knew what they were talking about when it comes to post-19th century technology, which they mostly do not appear to.

Franken railed against him, “We are trying to have hearing here about whether you favor your own stuff, and you admittedly don’t know the answer.”

I mean, called me crazy, but I would kind of expect Google to favor their own stuff. On their search engine, which they make available to the general public. For free. With no promises to never promote themselves in any way. Good grief. — KW

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Anybody watching? Or have comments after-the-fact?

Update: This is nothing more than okie solo live blog of first 30 minutes of the debate. (6 comments)

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Scott Walker won Wisconsin’s gubernatorial election less than a year ago. He promised major changes to the state budgeting process and, with the help of Republican majorities in both the state senate and general assembly, delivered on that promise at least on paper.

It came with a hefty price tag, however. His approval rating plummeted. Two of his state senate allies lost their jobs during the divisive recall battles, reducing the GOP majority in that chamber to a somewhat precarious 17-16. Layoffs and reductions in local services have begun. And the Democrats still have their eyes on recalling him in 2012.

I don’t expect Walker to roll over, or even to feel obligated to try and patch things up with the Wisconsin Democratic leadership. But at least telling the truth would, in my mind, score points.

So I’m wondering why a September fundraising letter Walker sent out in part reads:

“Wisconsin state government is $3 billion in debt” and “Wisconsin is broke!”

I’m willing to concede a smidgeon of creative license when sending out marketing/fundraising material, but not something that: (a) so blatantly contradicts one’s own words about successfully balancing the state budget and; (b) isn’t close to being true.

It was apparently widely known by many, but not by me, that Walker admitted to violating his university’s campaign rules back in 1988 and was declared “unfit” for office by the school paper.

And now the feds are conducting an investigation into the actions of key Walker aides, and potentially of Walker himself.

So I start to wonder whether there may be a pattern of behavior with Walker that serves neither the people of Wisconsin nor the Republican Party. Maybe it’s because I live in Illinois where we have a depressing habit of electing governors who later end up in prison. I look at what’s going on just to the north and think, “is it happening there, too?”

I’m no Walker fan, but I hope not.

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This is a great TED talk. Highly recommended.

One of many things that make me think medicine is going to look very different 15 years from now–at least, much more different 15 years from now that today looks from 15 years ago.

But he’s right, genomics has wide ranging impacts: relationships, having children, politics.

I’m done. Listen to the guy who knows what he’s talking about:

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After Summer Session ’66 ended, another law student, Randy Berry from Amarillo, and I, put a Judson supercharger on Randy’s VW and headed off for Monterrey to find John Steinbeck.

Crossing the  Bonneville Salt Flats, we started pushing oil through the rings of the overstressed air cooled engine.  We got to SF and took a $2 room at they YMCA.  We met a chauffer who lived in the Y at the cafeteria and from him we got a reference to a Serbian VW mechanic in Santa Cruz.  We spent a second night in SF camping on Mt. Tam and froze, but we were down to about $30 between us and had to conserve.

We drove to Santa Cruz, slowly.  On the boardwalk, Randy, a crack shot, pulled a deal with the shooting gallery operator on the boardwalk to bring in the rubes by hitting all the targets.  He paid Randy $130. for four hours of shooting.  I stood out front, talking loudly about how easy it was to win at the gallery and would shepherd folks over to watch Randy.

Having no place to sleep, we went to a coffee house near the fledgling UCSC campus.  We played chess with Navy guys who were stationed nearby – frogmen trainees in their early to mid twenties.  Good guys.  We napped on the sofas.

In the morning we found the Serb.  He fixed the VW by nightfall.  One more night in the coffee house and we drove to our destination, Monterrey.  Pacific Biol was still standing on stilts (“Cannery Row” readers will recall it as Western Marine Biol, where Doc hung out).  One cannery was still open.  It was a dying town.  We went to the Dew Drop Inn and asked for Steinbeck.  Turned out he lived in NYC!   But his sister came in, and we bought her drinks for two hours and pumped her for details about our favorite novelist, and about Monterrey in the forties.

Next day we drove down to Morro Bay and then turned left across the desert to Las Vegas.  Got to the Sands at about 6 PM, got a room, showered, shaved, and changed into clean khakis and shirts.  When we boarded the elevator to head down to the restaurant for steaks [they were so cheap then in LV!] we joined Joey Bishop and two pretty young women in cowgirl outfits trying to pitch him on watching their routine which involved singing and lariat tricks.

He looked over to me and said “Glad you finally got here”.  Looked at the girls and said “This is an agent of mine, and he and his associate will buy you dinner while you pitch your deal.”  He smiled at me and got off the elevator.

Randy and I took the women to dinner and bought them steaks.  After the meal,  and decidedly before they had an opportunity to invite us to their room to show us their routine, I told them the entire truth.  Wounded for a minute, both of them, who were sisters from Montana, laughed, and shared dessert with us.

Drove out across Hoover Dam in the morning and then through AZ, NM, and home.  Had another adventure in Santa Fe, but Mt. Tam, the shooting gallery in Santa Cruz, Steinbeck’s sister, and Joey Bishop in the elevator stood out.
 
Years later, late in the S&L crisis, I was close to bankrupt and needed $25K fast.  Randy and his brother wired me the cash from Amarillo where their cattle operation was flush, that year.  It took me almost 5 years to pay it all back [it was not my only debt from that time].  Then Randy got caught up at 55 with no health insurance and a heart condition after having spent his liquidity on a slowly dying wife uninsured with diabetes.  I wired him $5K for med bills, but he died soon after.  We were friends for life and we always laughed about Joey Bishop in the elevator.

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I’ve posted quite a bit over at PL on how first-dollar coverage can drive costs. One of the cost savings ideas being kicked around is to limit the ability of Medicare Supplemental Policies (Medigap) to offer such plans. The state insurance commissioners are opposed to the idea.

This is but a small example of how difficult it can be to change Medicare benefits, even in an area that is broadly considered to need reform.

See the Hill for details and a copy of the NAIC’s letter (PDF) to the super committee
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/183039-naic-dont-require-medigap-cost-sharing

I’ll have more thoughts on MedPAC’s recent meeting next week.

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Rick Perry’s tax returns

He did well on real estate deals. On one, a sweetheart purchase from Mike Dell, he tried to get his property tax appraisal lowered because he bought the property for far less than it was appraised for on the Travis County rolls. He and I sat next to each other in the waiting room of the central appraisal district before our first protest appearances. I suggested to him that he needed an independent appraisal. He told me that made no sense because it was obviously worth what he paid for it. I said that was some evidence, but would not likely be enough to sway the County unless there were some other comparable sales nearby on the lake. I won my appeal. He lost his.

by ashotinthedark

Since we are talking about personal interactions with politicians, I figured I would share one I had yesterday. Yesterday I attended a legal conference through the State Bar of Michigan and the keynote speaker was Michigan’s recently elected Attorney General, Bill Schuette. He was quite charismatic and introduced himself to everyone in the room by going around to each table with a caraffe of coffee and pouring coffee to those who wanted some. He said it is a trick he has used since he first ran for political office 20 pluse years ago. His speech seemed an awful lot like a political stump speech and was not particularly informative. Just about the only memorable thing he said was his consistent use of the term Obamacare….repeatedly. In fact, he was unable to recall the actual title of the bill when he attempted to refer to it as somethign other than Obamacare. I found it unprofessional and off putting, as did the obviously liberal leaning former circuit court judge who was sitting next to me. I can see using the term Obamacare at a fundraising or partisan political event, but it seems like a bad idea at a meeting of health care lawyers in Michigan.

Do others find the use of Obamacare off putting? Have others had similar experiences with local politicians using the term?

PS. Is anyone else unable to comment using their google account? It only happens when I on my network at work, but when I sign in, it send me to my blogger.com profile but when I return to the blog, I am no longer signed in. Anyway, any suggestions Kevin?

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This is not labelled Joke of the Day because, in fact, it is not a joke, but a true story.

My wife works in a local school as an aide.  Yesterday in one of her classes a 2nd grade teacher was talking about the meaning of Labor Day, and pointed out that not all people actually get the day off as a holiday.  She asked the students to name some professions that would have had to work on Labor Day.

“Policeman,” says one student.  “Nurse,” says another.  “Fireman,” says another.

Then a fourth student raisees his hand and says “Private equity.”
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Mark is adding two more reality bites, with links.

“rezentin” is a name Astra Zeneca is using for a cancer med…PTO

Sometimes we are fortunate when a TM is abandoned…PTO

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