News flash 29 Oct. 2017

This just in from the MSN news site, an article from Newsweek reporter Jack Moore,

"The Clocks Are Changing in Europe But Why Not The U.S.?"

I know it is click bait and I sucked in. I mean, I am a pretty savvy guy and usually am pretty good with knowing what is going on, at least the important stuff, and this did come with a big picture of four guys working on the face of Big Ben which occasionally is taken out of service for repairs but what would this have to do with all of Europe and not impact the U.S. in some small way and would it really matter?

If that doesn't smack of click bait I don't know what does but I clicked anyway.

It turns out that this was yet one more lame story done twice a year, every year to remind us of daylight savings time.  Europe is on a different schedule and adjust this weekend while the U.S. will do their clock change next weekend.  Yippy skippy, end of story....or is it?

I read further and there were some words about which countries use daylight savings time and which do not.  How it started with the war for productivity and ended only to be turned on again later.  How research shows that it messes with our body clocks and can result in an increase in car accidents.  There were a couple of other 'facts' thrown in that sounded interesting but there was this one paragraph that made me question the whole article:

Americans will have lighter mornings and darker evenings because of the earlier sunrises and sunsets in what is a tradition initiated by former President Benjamin Franklin to conserve energy, according to Live Science.

I went to the Live Science web site and learned a little more about daylight savings time from an article by Jeanna Bryner, Live Science Managing Editor.  It looks like Jeanna spent a little more time developing her article and although Jack did not copy and paste his exactly perhaps he should have as I could find no mention of a President Benjamin Franklin in Jeanna's.  Perhaps she corrected it shortly after it was published I do not know.

Then again maybe I am missing something.  After all, President Benjamin Franklin is on the $100 bill and he was at least 10 times more important than President Alexander Hamilton who is on the $10 bill.  Besides, why would you put anyone other than a president on your money?

And I wonder why I bother to validate anything.

P.S. I am against daylight savings time, always have been, always will be.  It is dumb. Period.  but that is a subject for another time.  Not this week, maybe next week, unless you live in Europe.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Looking for good journalism is like...

I was perusing the Bing news site today and came across the articles about 50K residents having to evacuate the German city of Hanover so that officials could safely diffuse or remove five unexploded World War II bombs.  They included links for the story for both article and video and this is what it looked like for video:

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong...

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Chuck Todd must go

I have watched 'Meet the Press' for many, many years.  Perhaps I should say I used to watch 'Meet the Press' but I can't really stomach it much anymore.

Tim Russert gave the show the legitimacy that it needed as a valued news program.  Then he passed away from a sudden coronary thrombosis on June 13, 2008.  It was a great loss.  Not just of a good man but of a good political show.

It was also a great loss for NBC.  Their news program collectively is crap.  It is totally biased, nonobjective and non journalistic.  They maybe able to convince themselves that they have integrity but it only exist within the minds of their own small group of bobbing heads sitting around their round table discussions.

When Chuck Todd is the cream that raises to the top of your cup and is considered the best choice to take control of the most prestigious political show on your network then you have a serious credibility, integrity and believability crisis in what is usually the core strength of any national network and that is its' news coverage.  Without that you are sitting on a chair that is missing one of its' legs, all wobble and little comfort.

Of course the other networks don't have any better bragging power.  Chris Wallace on Fox and George Stephanopoulos on ABC (and who does CBS have I can't recall); what have any of them got to offer?  Where does a person turn to get real, unbiased, objective, true journalistic news?

I recently did a survey about this years political election coverage and the type of questions and multiple answer format was interesting.  It gave me the impression that they do not get it either.

I don't think that anyone with a more than passing interest in politics and the election is able to get all the information they need from one source.  Not legitimately anyway.  I also don't believe that any reporting is complete and unbiased enough to accept one version, and that it requires several different versions and much reading between the lines to get a more complete picture of any given topic.  It cannot be done by visiting only one site.  It takes effort.  Sometimes a lot of effort.  You might not find it worth the effort.  Many don't.

As the noise gets louder and more voluminous it is good to install filters that cut out the worst of the worst and ensure that the sites and sources with little or no value added are cut from your view.  Shove it to the peripherals or off the screen entirely.

And that is where Chuck Todd belongs.  I have added him to my automatic 'switch the channel' list.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Do you have a perfect computer?

Does anyone have a perfect computer? I mean really perfect, not just really nice, or really fast, or it's o.k. because those are usually followed up with but...

Take a moment and think about it. Do you have something be it an app or whatever on your computer that you do not use or rather can not use because it does not work? I am guessing that we all do. We have all downloaded something or even worse, bought and paid for something that does not deliver as advertised.

I have just spent the last hour (and that is on top of the other hours spent) trying to figure out how to make the news feed gadget on my Vista sidebar start showing current news again. It is stuck on May 12, 2009 (no it did not take me that long to figure out that it wasn't working and yes I have been trying to figure it out since then) and I still don't care that Sen Byrd has been sent to the hospital with an elevated temperature, or that Donald Trump is having a spat with Miss California. It was all valueless news then and it hasn't gotten any better with age.

So until I can figure out how to make it better or finding a working model, off it comes. Off the sidebar that is. I can't quite bring myself to delete it off completely. I wouldn't know how to restore it if I did. I might want it back some day because it was useful once. It use to update regularly like it was supposed to and provide fresh headlines with which to face the scary world we live in. Now I have to be content with being scared over and over by things that happened May 12th.

It is amazing that I spend as much time trying to keep up with the news as I do. It really doesn't seem to matter much one way or the other anyway. We went on a driving vacation awhile back and after two weeks on the road in the middle of the country listening to PBS' 'Wait, wait don't tell me' I was amazed at how many answers we knew for their quiz of current news events.

Amazed and disappointed at the same time. What a waste. Part of the reason for going on the road trip was to get away from all of the garbage that makes up the daily grind like the continual pummeling we take by exposing ourselves to a constant barrage of news feeds. If you are like me, you are getting it from all sides, newspaper, magazine, net, radio, television, and water cooler. Much of it is done in sound bites with very little depth or detail, hardly any real or accurate analysis, and much given with excessive regurgitation as if repetition with somehow make it more important or in some cases real.

So why should I get upset if my news feed reader on Microsoft Vista sidebar does not work if there is so little value added? It is a principle thing. It is a function that is a selling feature (or at least it was supposed to be something they were expecting to be useful or they wouldn't have put it in there) that if it is used or not should at least be able to be used by the user. O.K. that got a little wordy, but it is because my emotions are rising up a little. I just want my stuff to work like it is supposed to, that's all. Keep it simple and Let it Be.

So back to the original question and the original thought. Does anyone have a perfect computer, or more to the point do we even expect to have? Have we become so conditioned by incompatibilities or even inabilities of our computer products, that we just expect that bugs are standard issue, some things work and some things don't, get used to it cause that's just the way it is? Mediocrity reigns but it is the only game in town.

I guess I could bring up the whole Apple vs. Microsoft PC thing but I don't believe all the Apple hype anymore than I buy into Microsoft's. Even playing with a Mac in their store a few months ago I ran into a bug, and I am not overjoyed by their controlling nature anymore than I am with Microsoft's so why switch. Besides that their pricing structure sucks.

I could always try something new, buy a bare bones machine individual components, assemble then load with Linux or some variation there on. That I am sure would occupy endless hours of learning and reinventing the wheel while at the same time having the same experience of endless configuration in the search to make everything work just so. The idea of getting off the grid even if it is only figuratively does intrigue me but do I really want to spend that much time and effort if I only end up with the same frustrations?...Nah.

But that is why I bought a name brand box with name brand software preloaded in the first place. The market place was supposed to provide the engineering, research and development that would replace the frustration with experienced driven solutions so that I wouldn't have to. For this we pay big rates of hard earned dollars, and when it doesn't work is there any wonder there is disappointment.

I guess the other thing that nags me about all this, is that after paying the price and still having items that do not function, I still retain them. It is electronic and only takes up electronic space but it is the idea of it that I need to get over.

If you have a bread maker that no longer makes bread, do you hang on to it or do you throw it out? If it is repairable do you fix it, or do you let it sit there for awhile? Does it make a difference if it is physical object that gets in the way or if it is a physical object that is stuck way off in a corner, or in a shed, or in a crawl space where it is out of sight out of mind?

In other words, if an item has no value in it's current state, do you return it to a state of value (or at least try to) or decide that there is no longer value to be had and delete it from your world?

I must continually remind myself that value is not what you paid for something or the price tag that hangs on it, rather value is derived from what you get out of it. "Use it or lose it" is one of those phrases that has more than one meaning.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

strange couple of weeks

So I take a few days off and the whole world goes nuts. It seems like that some days.

We elected a new president or is he really new? Thankfully there was no huge outbreak of rioting and discontent and that is a good thing. I wonder what would have happened had the election gone the other way. Would the losers have been as understanding if McCain had won the election or would there be rioting and calls of an illegal election and the attempt to overturn the election in the courts?

There is the one accusation of an illegal candidate that has yet to be played out but it looks like it will be buried rather quickly, and that question may remain with us long term, “Is Obama an American born citizen, or was he just a few days late on arrival?” What will the reactions be if he is or if he isn’t? Some things can be interesting to ask and watch and learn as long as the implications aren’t too personally costly.

One of those interesting things to watch has been the vote on Proposition 8 in California, the defining of marriage as being between a man and a woman. It isn’t often that churches will come out and actively take a stand on an issue; they usually just let their doctrine stand on its own merit. If you have faith in the doctrines that your church proclaims then you generally know what your position will be on any given issue. You either accept it as your own or you don’t. Many people did just that.

But there were several churches that thought that this issue was important enough to take a public stand in protecting a moral position as well as a sacred and respected institution, that of marriage. It brought together several churches that would normally be at odds for their varying points of doctrine but were united in their efforts to protect the sanctity of marriage.

That is right, I said protect. These churches were in a defensive position. They were defending the very nature of marriage and that which makes it holy and sacred, a gift from God. It was they who were in danger of losing something precious. They are the ones who were under attack. And the tactics the homosexual community used were most definitely attacks, vicious, cruel and hateful.

And now because Proposition 8 passed by the voters of California and marriage is once again defined as it should be, the churches and their followers are under attack again. Vandalism, graffiti, protest and violence are all coming from the homosexual community and all under their banner of love. So where is their tolerance for people different than them? Where is there acceptance of people that are heterosexual? Where is their respect for people that have faith and believe in God? Where was the media in pointing out these travesties of fairness? Who was there to point out the hypocrisy?

I am unaware of any arguments for Proposition 8 that banned any homosexual from continuing to practice their beliefs. In fact, they didn’t try to change anyone in the homosexual community at all. In a world that is continually injecting the homosexual lifestyle into everything around us, be it music, book, or screen, proponents of Prop 8 managed to leave at least one institution intact. At least for now.

The world of finance however is a whole other world all together. On one side you have the downtrodden millionaire and on the other the taxpayer. Guess who is going to win this contest?

On the other hand, everyone is sticking their hand out, waiting for a handout. I am still thinking that this whole bailout thing is one of the worst knee jerk reactions America has made in a long time. It wasn’t well thought out, it isn’t equitable, and it doesn’t play well to the ideals of capitalism that this world was designed around. If a merchant has bad inventory, he marks it down real low, moves it out and then replaces it with good inventory, and moves on. Most items can be either bought or sold if the price is right. It is just a matter of getting the price to be right.

Same goes for the producer of goods. If you provide for your customer what he wants at a price that he wants and you do it at least as good as the next guy, you will have a business. But if you are unable to deliver on any of those points you customer will go elsewhere, especially if there is an elsewhere to go too. Why is that so hard to understand? And why do we think it is necessary to assist through a bailout those that don’t understand it? We are not doing anyone any favors here. Especially not the taxpayer.

But it is more than just the taxpayer that is harmed by these bailouts. What are the messages that we are sending out? Is it really all right to fail? Are there really any risks if all my mistakes are taken care of by Uncle Sam? Are there really different standards for the elite versus the common man? Will I be looked after as well as the next guy, and if so do I no longer have a responsibility to make wise decisions concerning my welfare? Or that of those around me? Can I take credit for (or will I even get credit for) all this generosity even though it did not come directly from me? Has our quiet acceptance been considered a vote of approval for our leaders to continue doing what they have been doing? Will we ever be granted the status of individuals and adults again?

I believe it is possible to be counted as a grown up and as an individual. It won’t be easy, in fact it is going to get a whole lot harder be your own person, but I am willing to make that effort. I believe it is worth it. I believe I am worth it, and I believe my family is worth it. Freedom does not come from group think but rather from a group of individuals that think. That is where I want my voice. I wish for you to be as I would wish you to let me be.

Does that mean we stand alone? No, far from it, for it means we stand together. We do not stand over, nor are we stood upon. And that makes all the difference. For none should be more equal than others. No, not one. To have it any other way destroys equality.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Stop Congress from acting

We are faced with the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, or so they say. If Wall Street collapses Main Street will also, or so they say. If the government doesn’t step in and buy up all the bad mortgages then millions will lose their homes, or so they say.

The headlines and the talking heads have been heaping up a whole light of gloom and doom lately and in the wake we the American people and more especially the tax payer are headed for disaster. We can ill afford the plans being offered and the actions about to be taken. You cannot continue to cover up a mistake with a bigger mistake and hope no one will notice.

Let me present a simple little story to try to make a point. A local furniture store opens for business with the hope of making a profit by selling its wares to the local community. In the process they stock inventory that they hope will appeal to the local population. Some of it does and some of it doesn’t. Some of it is priced where the average person can afford it and some of it is priced way beyond the reach of the local community. Those things that appeal sell quickly while those that don’t sell are marked down to a price where they will sell. The business learns what the market wants, adjusts its inventory and repeats the process having found a formula that creates a long lasting relationship with the customer in the community.

Another furniture store opens for business and does a good job for awhile but management doesn’t understand the needs of the community. They stock inventory that suits their own desires and ideals and for awhile they see some sales but they begin to taper off. The furniture is just too expensive for what it is and the local economy can’t afford to splurge on these items even if they wanted the styles this store has to offer. As sales continue to fall, they finally reach a point where they can no longer stay in business. The last month the store has signs hung in the window that read ‘Going out of business Sale’ as they try to reduce their stock and payback their creditors. The final days see the owners taking any price on the remaining inventory in an effort to clear the books. The bargain hunters and shoppers find items finally at a price they can live with and clear out the remaining inventory of the store.

Meanwhile the successful store sees a slowdown in its sales temporarily as the ‘going out of business sales’ have taken away some of their shoppers. This only lasts for a little while though, as the successful business continues to provide their community with the right mix of product and price.

This is how business has worked in this country and around the world for years. That is what capitalism is about. Freedom to enter the market and exit the market as the market dictates. If you do things right you are rewarded, but if you do not get things right, you correct your methods or you go out of business. It works on a small scale and it works on a large scale.

If the government decided that the second furniture store should stay in business and decided to loan them enough money to pay their salaries and utilities and they stepped in and bought at full retail all the furniture they couldn’t sell, they could keep this company in business but only for as long as they were willing to pay for their salaries, utilities and buy their crappy inventory. If the company continued to operate the same way as they began it would take continued infusions to let them continue to exist.

Also, how fair is this to the first company? They also wish to remain in business but they have a plan that works and they have been successful in implementing that plan. They do not need the assistance or handout of government nor do they seek one. Is it fair for them to have to pay taxes that are transferred to their competitor just because he is not able to meet the needs of his customer? Is it fair to penalize the first company and reward the second? Is this the government’s role?

If we truly believe that America is great and want it to continue to be great, then we trust in those things that made it great. Freedom is one of them, Capitalism another. This is not a matter of scale, but rather of core values.

If the financial institutions have bad paper on their books then let them mark them down to true value and take the hit to the income statement. If they no longer want to own them, let them take them to the market place and get whatever price another is willing to pay. There is generally a market for everything; you just won’t necessarily like the price. If after selling off your bad inventory and you still find yourself in business then congratulations you are still alive and kicking. If after selling off your bad inventory and you don’t have sufficient cash flow to survive, then close shop, learn your lessons and start again.

Learning the lessons is not an easy thing to do. Some never learn. Some give up and never try again. Some try again but end up doing the same thing they did the first time. Some actually see what they did wrong; make adjustments and move on to bigger and better things. There must be consequences both for when we fail and when we succeed. This is America at its finest.

So what is wrong here, or should I say what are some of the things that are wrong here because there are many and that means there is not a simple single fix that will take care of everything.

As much as there is a cry against deregulation, that is not the problem. There is still more than enough regulation to choke a horse it just needs to be applied, consistently and equally to one and all, no favoritism. This runs throughout the financial world and many aspects of our economy.

The housing problem is a very large issue and one that has been compounded by previous bad responses. It is a market bubble with many providing the hot air to blow it up. Stemming from the last mortgage bail out of savings and loans with the RTC, the continued tax subsidizations that Congress passes to promote debt, and the tax laws that encourage and advantage those that speculate in real estate, it is no wonder that the bubble has ballooned to a point of explosion. If we continue with these proposed fixes then we are just slapping a band aid on the balloon and trying to force more air into the bubble.

All balloons can only hold so much air. There is only one way to find out how much it will hold, and after you find out, it will never hold that amount again. Then you are left looking for a new balloon.

Instead of all this governmental intervention to circumvent the markets, let’s make a way for the market to take over and work the way it was meant to. Let stability return to the market place naturally. Let the rules work naturally as they always seem to do no matter how much governments try to change them.

We will get through this. I just don’t want it to be harder than it has to be.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Headline Review 18 Apr 20008

So what is going on in the world today?

A look at the news headlines on the Google news page shows a variety of topics to choose from. Under the top stories we see “It’s still “the economy, stupid” in Pennsylvania”. Well duh. The economy has always mattered. It will always matter. People are concerned about their welfare and of those they know. The funny thing is that the politicians seldom make things better and most often make things worse. This coming election is a fight for the biggest socialist and their promises to take over and run your life because you haven’t been doing a very good job of it. Just look what you say about how things are when they take a poll. It is obvious you need help, and they are just the ones to provide it. So is it just the economy? It is never just one thing but a combination of things. The attention span of the media and the intelligence of the average audience has sunk to the point where they can only handle one flashing light at a time.

“An Earthquake Rattles the Midwest” Indiana got hit with a 5.2 earthquake. I hope that no one was injured and that the damages were minimal. Natural disasters have a way of waking us to our surroundings and to extending a helping hand to our fellow neighbors. It is amazing how many earthquakes of various sizes occur every day. One story that caught my eye recently talked of a large number of earthquakes group about 100 miles off the Oregon coast. Scientist were puzzled and a vessel was sent to observe the area. Our world is an amazing place and continues to change on a daily basis. It is so vast and complex. I am amused sometimes at the arrogance of man when in comparison.

“Jimmy Carter meets Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal” I oft times wonder why we put so much praise on some people. I was joking with someone the other day that I wondered if Jimmy Carter is broke and needs money so he went to the Middle East to stir up some controversy and discontent with the hopes that he could again broker some peace and earn a million dollar Nobel Peace Prize. There was a rumor about Israel refusing to offer security for his visit because of his planned meeting with Hamas. They say they weren’t asked. Don’t know which is true. My thought on his travels is 1.) I hope it is not on U.S. taxpayers backs (though I know as a former president he has personnel security and his pension) and 2.) Since he is no longer an official representative of the government he is traveling as a private citizen and as such it is totally up to the receiving people/government/nations to decide whether or not to give him the time of day and 3.) It was his peace deal an US taxpayer funding (that continues to this day) that helped create the situation we and they are in today and continues to shape the problems we will face tomorrow. I don’t believe he is really making things any better. I do hope that his intentions are at least good.

“John McCain releases his tax returns – but not hers” so what. How many of you have actually seen it? I have seen the press release for it and I have seen the stories that report the portions they want to on it but have not actually seen it. The same goes for the other candidates in this run. I have seen past one from various presidents and McCain’s 2006 is on file at his web site. And as for not seeing her return, it really doesn't matter. Your really pretty much just see what they want you too see.

There is another web site that has the presidential tax forms on file, just Google to find the link. The two biggest points that I always see when looking at them is 1.) they make way more money than I do, and 2.) they are much better at giving away taxpayers money than they are at giving away their own. One thing I like to do is see what percentage of their money they gave to charity. For most people, the law of tithing is one tenth of your increase. McCain’s 2006 return does have a healthy deduction for charity and a large portion of it is carryover from previous years but in looking at the schedule it is hard to tell what it is going to since it is listed as miscellaneous.

At this level it is not uncommon to set p your own charities to promote your own causes. I am not saying that is what he is doing I am just saying that at this level of income the rules are different and those that are in that category will take advantage of them. This search for real equality in taxation is why I am working on the Nef Tax Plan. Look for it soon.

It is interesting to note that he was hit with the alternative minimum tax in 2006. Kind of makes you think there would be some incentive to correct that problem in legal land.

”Putin tells press he ‘likes all Russian women’” and he means to prove it. There have been rumors that the Russian president was going to divorce is wife and marry 24 year old gymnast Alina Kabayeva. He is now denying it. True or not why do we get caught up in all this nonsense? Personnel life and public life overlap to the point that they become one and the same for the famous of the world, but why do we get caught up in it all? The importance lies in the fact that this is an indication of character and that gives it relevance to the public figure. People are people and should be given the benefit of the doubt as often as possible but there are some things that are telling about the integrity of the individual. Public figures, and by that I mean government officials, should be of the best character and most upstanding of individuals. They work under the trust of the people. If that trust is jeopardized on personal matters, what is there to prevent the trust of the community from also being abused. Though this example is coming from abroad, and some may say that they have different standards, (I remember a time when they use to make excuses for many European leaders to have a mistress because that was there standard) we have also had a fair share of political shenanigans here. I say we should hold our public servants to at least as high a standard as we ourselves hold. I hope you are holding the bar rather high.

“Dockers refuse to unload China arms shipment for Zimbabwe”. This is one of those headlines that you hope is not misleading like so many are. A quick read seems to indicate that it is what it indicates. China is shipping arms to Zimbabwe through the South African port at Durban. The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union are refusing to unload the cargo. On top of that the country is refusing to grant the transit permit needed. How often do we just go about doing our job without concern for the moral implications? For most of us, there are no moral implications to be had and one should be glad if that is the case. Some are not aware of the actual affects of their work and are just doing their jobs the best they know how such as the dock worker that is just loading and unloading containers without the knowledge of what is in those containers. But if you were confronted with a situation that made you stop and think, would you be willing to make a stand? Do you make a stand for the small things you see in your daily life?

“Stolen laptop had data on 16000 Buffalo State students”. Everyone is concerned about stolen identity. It is a valid concern. Instead of trying to make all the noise about avoiding the theft and protecting your identity, why not focus on the victims’ rights and start seriously going after the perpetrators. Fraud is a crime that doesn’t happen by accident. It is deliberate. It is unacceptable. To make the victim pay twice for their loss is also unacceptable. Those that commit these crimes should be relentlessly pursued and punished vigorously. I feel the same way for all thieves and vandals. Their actions are deliberate and they should pay the consequences for their actions.

Well, that is enough for now. Focusing on too much news in a single sitting is not good for a person.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.