Book Of Norm

Most of the analysts here in the US are talking about how Saab is basically not a big deal for GM. Saab only sold 7,441 cars in the US through October, which is roughly equivalent to 5 days of Silverado/Sierra sales. But Saab can and should matter to GM. Saab still has a good name brand in the US, neglected, but never unloved. It is known as a European car maker: I bet less than 1 in 5 people who say they like Saab even know it is part of GM. And thats a good thing when you are trying to sell upscale Swedish cars. What GM bought, and what they totally ran into the ground, is a car company that had the potential to take on BMW and Audi. It was Swedish, so it was good in the snow. It had power and handling. It was good looking (unlike Volvo). These are all traits and ideas in buyers minds that could be revived relatively easily with a competent new car. So no, Saab does not matter right now for GM's sales. But it is a huge opportunity going forward if GM can play its cards right - o...

From the Guardian: For 23 years Rom Houben was ­imprisoned in his own body. He saw his doctors and nurses as they visited him during their daily rounds; he listened to the conversations of his carers; he heard his mother deliver the news to him that his father had died. But he could do nothing. He was unable to communicate with his doctors or family. He could not move his head or weep, he could only listen. Doctors presumed he was in a vegetative state following a near-fatal car crash in 1983. They believed he could feel nothing and hear nothing. For 23 years. Then a neurologist, Steven Laureys, who decided to take a radical look at the state of diagnosed coma patients, released him from his torture. Using a state-of-the-art scanning system, Laureys found to his amazement that his brain was functioning almost normally. too long to post, so read on: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/man-trapped-coma-23-years

Lets start off with this: Microsoft, who's motto is not "don't be evil" has started to go after Google on its home turf, search. Who would have thought that the way that you search for things would be so important, but it is more or less the way that we all get around the web, all the time. Now, Rupert Murdoch (News Corp = Fox + WSJ and a lot of less important stuff) is thinking about putting up a pay wall and delisting from Google, and listing exclusively (for search) for Bing. Microsoft would of course pay for this privilege, just as MSFT and GOOG recently paid for the right to index Twitter's twits (not sure why the hell that was worth it). Of course, the reaction everywhere across the media (and liberal media generally, as they all hate Rupert Murdoch and generally Microsoft) is that this is a huge and completely ridiculous, totally out of line, crazy, anti-internet, people hating, uncalled for and downright indecent thing to do. But take another look. Google ...

The news today is reporting that Iran is angry at Russia for not delivering the S-300 missile system system for which they have a contract, and is threatening international action. Here is the rest of the story, and why it matters, and I believe I have covered some of this before so skip ahead loyal readers with good memories: The S-300 would radically chance the chances of a successful Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear weapons program. As soon as Mossad gets wind of the S-300 being shipped, Israel will strike against Iran - they have openly declared it as one of their "red lines." In the spirit of not screwing the world up and under a lot of pressure from the US and specifically Sec. Sate Clinton (she is still alive, and still Sec State, not that you would have noticed), Russia has so far reneged on actually delivering the system. This is a good thing, and goes along with the fact that Russia has generally been cooperating on the Iran issue rather than continuing to bols...

Koenigsegg has pulled out of a planned purchase of Saab. Which is really too bad, because I was hoping for great things from the combination. Seems that the financing just was not there, and so the Swedish supercar maker has walked away from the deal to buy the once iconic car company of Sweden. This really is a sad day, because when the same thing happened with Penske and Saturn, the result was the death of the Saturn brand. With the gorgeous new 9-5 set to be released next year, the timing could only have been worse if the company had already come out with a great looking, amazing handling, high performance, high value new mainstream sedan that could rescue the company only then to be cut down. Wait, that already happened, with Pontiac and the G8. My point is that the sad thing about the collapse of GM is that they already realized what they needed to do to turn around their brands, and they were in the process of doing it. They saved Cadillac, have essentially saved Chevy (still a w...

This one was really, really random: Hajj Mabruk and Happy Eid from Innovation 360 Dear Director, Each year millions of worshippers make the pilgrimage to Mecca during Hajj. The complexity of organizing, hosting and participating in this incredible event can not be overlooked. It is a testament to the dedication and process management skills of people throughout the Middle East, and we congratulate all who are involved. Hajj Mabruk and Happy Eid. All the best, Kamal Hassan President and CEO Innovation 360 Institute

"One compromise idea that's been tossed around is a trigger mechanism that would mandate a public option in the future if thresholds for expanded coverage and lower costs go unmet." In other words, if expanding public healthcare does not do well, there should be a mechanism to expand it further. Taking a page from Colbert, this has the trait of logiciness, that on the surface it might seem to have some logic behind it, but underneath it there is no logic at all, other than the governments never ending quest for power and expansion.

Someone hacked into a main UK climate research university and stole emails. Though I dont agree with the tactics, the results are fantastic: "I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (i.e., from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline." "Well I have my own article on where the heck is global warming ? We are asking that here in Boulder where we have broken records the past two days for the coldest days on record. We had 4 inches of snow. The high the last 2 days was below 30F and the normal is 69F, and it smashed the previous records for these days by 10F. The low was about 18F and also a record low, well below the previous record low.... "The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment, and it is a travesty that we can't. The CERES data published in the August BAMS 09 supplement on 2008 shows there should be even more warming: but the data...

California likes to limit what its citizens can do. They do this in the name of saving energy - because they refuse to build power plants and hate coal power - and in the name of 'saving the environment' which, to be honest, is so tenuously correlated to home energy usage as to make the idea a joke. Regardless, being 'green' holds a lot of sway. And the latest regulation arbitrarily caps the wattage of TV sets, and limits watts per inch to try and increase energy efficiency. These big TVs are big power drains, and Cali wants a limit of 32 watts, dropping to 25watts. No matter that all sort of things (like.. leaving a light bulb on) draw more power. There are two kickers to this. First is that since it is Cali only, all this will result in is people buying TV's and bringing them back. California loses tax revenue, everyone else is happy. Second, and this is the best part, is that any TV over 58' is completely exempt. So screw a relatively efficient and logical 42...

Mass really pisses me off sometimes. Today, I had to pay sales tax on $750 that I did not spend. My winter truck went belly up on me a few days ago, and so I found and got an amazing deal on a Yukon that has so far spent its life as a minivan for a well off Charlestown family. It no longer fit the image, was taking up a parking space, and they sold it for a song to get it out of the way. I was luckily the first to respond, and had cash in hand, so got a great deal. Mass, however, does not believe me. Since what I paid was $700 under the trade in value, they made me pay sales tax on the trade in value instead. So, quite literally, they just robbed me blind of $50. Sure, its only $50, but you really piss me off Mass, you really do.

Google's Chrome OS will have absolutely no ability to host and run programs locally. It also has no ability to operate with traditional hard drives, only with flash memory. It is, in other words, a browser. A browser unlike we have seen before, with very deep integration of web apps etc. But it is a browser. You'll open things in tabs, cant run things locally, and have no real ability to operate off the web. I have a major issue with this. I like to operate my portable devices off the web, especially ones that dont come with 3g connections, and need to be used in planes, trains, automobiles, and important for me, boats. I am now using Windows 7 (more on that later), and I can see absolutely no reason why I would want Chrome. If I wanted a cheap netbook mostly focused on the web, I would get Ubuntu (which I like quite a lot), which is more "free" than Chrome because its not big brother reporting on you. Oh yeah, and it runs programs locally. And it has tons of free sof...

Quick take: highly entertaining, completely over the top, and well worth watching in theaters. Long take coming later.

I love backcountry.com, but sometimes... they really screw things up. There are times they have not charged my card or shipped me two of an item, so I suppose I am due a negative effect of the fact they are run by a bunch of ski bums and granola munching climber hippies.. But after calling them three times trying to get them to deliver a set of bindings to the right address (really, three times, and I know I put the right address to start with, because other stuff showed up and it is saved on the website).. eventually a woman from UPS called me. She said it looked like the package had been around the world and back. So I asked where they, this time, were trying to ship it to. This was the response: Normy Norman 183 East College Ave Woburn, Illinois Yeah... I live at 183 College Ave in Somerville Ma, lived in Woburn Ma for a short while, and have spent a grand total of two days of my life in Illinois. The best part is that every time I called them up I tried to get them to deliver the p...

"I think the idea was that we have more and more cross-border problems, we have 27 member countries, hopefully we will be more member countries in the future, we have a deep belief in European integration. So what we were seeking were people to create continuity, to be able to put us together, to be the voice, the face and the presence of Europe throughout the world. And have we achieved this? Yes," The EU has settled on its first full time president. Who is he? A weak and demure Belgian known for conciliation. Does this represent the EU? Absolutely. The EU is a nightmare of councils, consensus building, meaningless debate, weak minds, and an overall consistency of mushy peas. Take a well run company, clear chain of command, direct responsibility, rapid execution of decisions and efficient operation. Then construct in your mind the exact opposite of all of that. Massive ambiguity, decisions that can never be traced back to a single council or panel, let alone individual. The ...

Ireland should be going to the World Cup instead of France. However a late Thierry Henry handball (and a couple of uncalled offsides) lead to a last minute goal for the French squad. The handball is creating quite a stir, as the once best player in the world admitted that he had done it (not that there was any doubt). One comment was that he palmed it so bad it would have been illegal in basketball. Of course, its not really up to the player in any sport but frisbee, but a good reason why better refs and video review are needed. So, the French cheat their way into the World Cup while Ireland gets left out. Ireland are asking for a replay of the match, but FIFA is saying no, because they are a bunch of cheating money grubbing fracophile jackasses who know that their TV revenues will be higher with France in the World Cup than Ireland so they are screwing Ireland over once the ref decides the game there is supposedly no recourse.

Turns out that the nuclear industry in the US, which being hamstrung by idiots, still provides 10% of our power, is in turn 45% powered by Soviet nukes. The nuclear material from Soviet warheads being decommissioned has been a major source of power for this country. So yes, there is about a 5% chance that your electricity is coming from a warhead which was not so long ago pointed at you with the intention of ending life on earth. The downside is that without further armament drawdowns, we will be running out of russian reactor rods. The treaty Obama and the Russians signed was all about active warheads and delivery systems, not total warheads. The sad truth is that with the limited (read: none) growth of the nuclear industry over the last 30 years, we have basically stopped our production and mining of uranium etc. In other words, we discovered the most efficient, most environmentally friendly, most advanced, least harmful and all around best way to generate power... and then gave up o...

As I have said before, when it comes to certain issues (like... Freedom), Obama is distinctly conservative. This latest quote, on the trail of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civilian court in NYC: "I don't think it will be offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him." This is the necessary context for the quote, from the AP article: '"(What) I think we have to break is this fearful notion that somehow our justice system can't handle these guys," Obama said in an interview with NBC News. Asked if he understood why some people were offended by trying the men in U.S. courts, he replied: "I don't think it will be offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him." He then backtracked, saying, "What I said was people will not be offended if that's outcome. I'm not prejudging" them.' Even with the context, it is a very aggressive statem...

Not kidding. Skynet IBM has modeled the brain of a feline. Well, actually, they have run a simulation which matches the scale and complexity of a cats brain. This, of course, has partially been funded by DARPA, that long-term research arm of the military which helped bring about the internet, UAV's, and a host of other developments. Cats brains are of course a mere stepping stone to the human brain, and full on cognitive computing. Regardless of the Skynet joke, I see this as a very positive thing which will lead computers away from raw computations and towards involvement in a wider variety of human endeavors and achievements. On a final note, just as a cat's brain is a stepping stone to the human brain, the human brain will simply be a stepping stone towards bigger and more complex cognitive computers. http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_13809715 IBM announces advances toward a computer that works like a human brain By Brandon Bailey bbailey@mercurynews.com Posted: 11/18/2009 12:0...

Its a wootoff, head over to woot and get your gadget on.

Good article from the NYT, showing how in even unusual corners of the market, a open and transparent trade policy and regulation can go a long way. Of course, I am not sure that the NYT would see that as the moral of the story.... also the idea of something "belonging" to a country when there is little to no connection between the historical nation, the nation at the time of the creation of the artifact, and the current nation is a very dubious one: November 17, 2009 Findings A Case in Antiquities for ‘Finders Keepers’ By JOHN TIERNEY Zahi Hawass regards the Rosetta Stone, like so much else, as stolen property languishing in exile. “We own that stone,” he told Al Jazeera , speaking as the secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. The British Museum does not agree — at least not yet. But never underestimate Dr. Hawass when it comes to this sort of custody dispute. He has prevailed so often in getting pieces returned to what he calls their ...

This one is from my brother James. Go to google.com, type in "French Military Victories" Then hit "I'm Feeling Lucky" The result is classic = ) (P.S. Normans are not French)

Yeah, came across this headline today. Apparently this is big news... http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-17-voa14.cfm Annual Report Finds Sub-Saharan Africa Especially Hard Hit by Corruption Amazing, hard-hitting journalistic excellence. Coming up next: The French are a pain in the ass The Russians go back on their word, go back on their word again, and then again, aww crap we are confused whose side they are on The Italian Government is wracked by scandal and is in danger of collapsing North Korea promises to give up nukes, then does whatever the hell they want China limits someone's political freedom The Brits get really up in arms over something that is not that big a deal at all, the rest of the world does not notice

This only matters if you are like me, and are constantly getting stuff from backcountry.com and all of its satellite one-deal-at-a-time websites. They finally offered to combine shipping from all of their websites, with just a $2.99 charge for each extra item.. hell yeah. Why does this matter? Within the last month or so I have bought (in prep for the season, and some are not for me but I am just the shopper), sunglasses, skis, bindings, a ski bag, pants and a hoodie. Now, I will be able to pick up what I need at lower cost and with less hassle. I love you backcountry.com Get shopping, skis season is almost upon us: backcountry.com tramdock.com steepandcheap.com whiskeymilitia.com bonktown.com brociety.com hucknroll.com dogfunk.com realcyclist.com backcountryoutlet.com and, I sadly dont think this one qualifies as it is not a "store" though it is run by backcountry: geartrade.com Get to it.

You know what really grinds my gears? Marketing like this, which is really just there to piss you off: Book a flight today with no Expedia booking fees. Save $200 on your next trip. Visit family and friends this holiday season—then start planning an ultra-affordable getaway for the new year! Right now, you'll find amazingly low fares on holiday flights—plus no Expedia booking fees—AND you'll get a $200 coupon to use later. And then the small print: Coupon must be redeemed on Expedia.com by 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) on March 31, 2010, for travel between January 12, 2010 and April 30, 2010 . The price of the qualifying booking must be at least $1000 before taxes and fees. Shenanigans

The large percentage of people out there cast aside the many business lawsuits out there as dull and boring in favor of much more entertaining news, such as the strange names of celebrity children (admittedly, somewhat amusing, and a trivia question the other night). However, this is one that matters: Intel agreeing to pay AMD $1.25 billion if AMD stop suing it all over the globe on anti-trust issues. It matters because it is a shot in the arm for AMD at a time it was very much needed. For years, they made as good as, nearly as good as, or better chips than Intel, and they did not gain market share because of Intel's business practices, with some pretty egregious monopoly tactics. Why does this matter? Because every computer you have ever used or will use for the next 15 years most likely had, has, or will have a AMD or Intel processor. On top of that, they probably had AMD or Intel chipsets as well, and possibly (especially in the case of laptops) graphics cards. Though some will ...

Another great job application: First Name: Abu sufyan Last Name: Shuaibu Email: sufyanaliyu@yahoo.com Telephone: 2348066225439 Comments: Hello i have read about your organisation,and you are really doing a great job,would like to join your mailing list more power to your elbow ,thank you

Lets get it out of the way: I like Hummers. I would be happy with an H3, would like an H2, and would love to have an H1, if I had the right place to use it (my own Montana ranch). I have even considered getting an H3, with the deals in place on them right now. Full disclosure satisfied, we can forge ahead. One of the few things that US car companies still have is good technology. There are certainly a lot of times they have not built the best cars, and they have absolutely abysmal manufacturing costs, but they still have a lot of good technology. Yes, even GM. Selling a brand to a foreign company is asking for that technology to be used against you. Russia, India, and China are all looking for a leg up. They have low manufacturing costs, strong markets (in the case of Russia - the market is Europe) and are looking to quickly jump into the upper echelons of the global car market. The short answer, and why I support GM pulling out of the deal which would have put Opel tech into Russian h...

I normally, actually basically never read news on the entertainment industry. But this one was too intriguing to skip.. and I am glad I didn't.. hilarious: Justin Timberlake granted restraining order (AP) – 1 hour ago LOS ANGELES — A judge has ordered a woman to stay away from Justin Timberlake for the next three years. An attorney for the "SexyBack" singer successfully argued Monday for the restraining order against Karen McNeil. Timberlake wrote in court filings that McNeil repeatedly showed up at his house and trespassed on his property last month. McNeil, who represented herself, opposed the court order. She wrote in a court filing that she thought she was destined to rule the world and wanted to marry Timberlake so he could rule with her.

This is the BBC's "climate calculator" where you get to decide UK energy policy and figure out what is best for the nation. Long story short, killing off every current plant and switching 100% to wind power by 2020 will raise average household electricity costs by about 20%. It would cost more to switch to all nuclear, and cost about 75% more to generate everything with... fossil fuels. There you have it: the cheapest source of electricity in 2020 is wind. After that, nuclear. Most expensive: fossil fuels. Who the hell at the BBC set this up? Are you all out of your minds? This thing is the most idiotic and skewed calculator I have ever seen. The best part is this text: "Please do not expect the calculator to give a precise forecast - it is just a guide." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/uk/06/electricity_calc/html/1.stm

When the US wants to know what is going on in Iran, what do they do? They call up students from UC Berkeley and send them in from Kurdistan with backpacks, nalgenes, trail mix and tevas. No wait, that's exactly wrong. In case you missed the story (unlikely), three students are being held by Iran for espionage after they accidentally crossed from Kurdistan into Iran while hiking. Two stories here. 1) Iran deserves to be punished by the rest of the legitimate world community. I propose forced removal of tariffs and the protectionist economy where the blackmarket run by the Revolutionary Guard funds a dictatorship as well as terrorism. Instead of increasing tariffs, and thus increasing the power and discretionary spending of the Revolutionary Guard, we flood their markets with cheap consumables, Hyundais, Toyotas and Fords, (currently the most popular car in Iran is a locally built copy of the old Renault 406 - this is what isolation does, oh the pain) and force them into capitalism. ...

The Moto Droid just came out, and seems like it is a great phone. Big screen, hardware keyboard, and a slick operating system. If they would just allow multitouch native support, it could be a legit iPhone killer, and really open the way for Motorola to actually make money on phones again. Here is my comparison of what it is and what it isn't. Disclaimer: I own a Pre, have used an iPhone a good deal, and have never even touched a Droid. Droid vs. iPhone. Here the comparison is pretty good. Android lets you multitask instead of the stupid one-app-at-a-time of the iPhone. It has a big developer base, and comes with cool Google features (turn by turn directions for free). The hardware is good too: it looks great, has a very easy to use keyboard, and has a gorgeous screen which is larger than the iPhone's. The reviews I have read have ranked it very highly. Both the Droid and the iPhone are nice pieces of hardware with good software to back them up. As far as networks go, Verizon u...

eBay is a great place to shop for deals. They have not however been the best at getting them. Specifically I speak of Skype. Why the hell did eBay buy Skype? Godonlyknows. There was some twisted web 1.75 logic to the whole thing about global communications and selling in a global marketplace etc etc. Never worked out. If I am selling on ebay the last thing I would want is idiot buyers calling me all the time to ask questions that are already in the listing. It was incredible how many times people would ask things like "what's the shipping cost?", "is it new in box or used?", "Hi, I'm a Nigerian prince..." So back in 2005 eBay bought Skype, valuing skype at $4.1 billion. They just agreed to sell it, for $2.9 billion (valuation, actual $ changing hands is a different). Granted, lots of companies have come out with VOIP since then, and Skype's revenue future is a little more iffy and we just went through a recession.. but fundamentally, why the he...

Google knows an awful lot about you. What you do. Where you work. Who you talk to. What you write on your blog. What you watch on YouTube. What you are doing next weekend, the places you visit (Picasa), anything on Google Docs, your investments through Google Finance, phone calls through Google Voice, what is on your computer (Google Desktop), where you live and like to go (Google Maps) and of course what you are looking for or have ever looked for on the internet. Of course, a lot of these are based on how heavily you are invested in the Google ecosystem. I happen to use just about every Google program, app, service, and feature. I even operate Google AdWords for my company, meaning I run the full spectrum from advertising target to advertising buyer. Actually, until writing this, I did not realize how just how tied into Google I am. The only two Google products I am aware of that I dont use are Chrome, because I like Firefox better, and it does not track me in the same way Chrome do...

Tuesdays gubernatorial losses reflect on a growing unease with the current administration. But to hear the administration spin it, you get this: ""People went to the polls and voted on local issues not to either register support for or opposition to the president" Sure. And Obama stumped for Corzine how many times? My biggest hope is that the momentum continues in its current direction and 2010 brings gridlock to Washington.

The State of Maine has voted to ban same sex marriage. The legislature had approved it, and now the measure has lost in a public referendum. This makes Maine the 31st state to block same sex marriage through referendum. The supporters of same-sex marriage outspent opponents 2-1, already had the laws on the books, and had political support, yet still lost a very close vote (53%). In other words, a bad sign for getting this idiotic decision reversed any time soon. Maine means something more to me than the forgotten land up north with nice lobster, I went to college there. And there are things about Maine which I really like. Simplicity, friendliness, hard work ethic (in general), natural beauty etc etc. It is unfortunately also a state marred by incompetent and protectionist political leadership, widespread racism, poverty, drugs, prostitution, and a highly insular and often backwards view of the rest of the world. A NYT article mentions Maine's "libertarian background," to...

This is the amazing story of the first spacewalk as told by Alexei Leonov, and is well worth the read. It is a repost from my brother's blog at http://thefourpartland.wordpress.com http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/16045047.html?imw=Y

We get a fair number of resumes emailed to us, mostly from various parts of Asia, but this one is probably the most unusual that I have seen so far.. Form details below. First Name: Bernard Last Name: Kenebai Email: kenebaibs@yahoo.com Telephone: 2348055817770 Comments: Interrested in security and community related job opportunities with your organisation in Nigeria and Africa.I will be retiring from military service at the end of the year as a Lieutenant Colonel. Appreciate hearing from you soon.

Another fail I came across today is this one, which I find pretty funny, from an ebay seller: Quality Guarantee RECEIVED AN ORDER AND DON'T THINK ITS AUTHENTIC? JUST RETURN IT! (BUYER RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL SHIPPING COSTS)

If you have not seen the Ken Block Gymkhana videos, or his segment in the latest season of Top Gear, go watch them. When you get back, I have something for the skiers/snowboarders. Take a rally prepped WRX STI, and one of the best rally drivers in the world, who also happens to be a great snowboarder and sponsored by DC... and you get this... my favorite part is when he shreds some ridge hippie's powder 8's in a wrx with tank treads... sweet. I think it goes without saying that I want one of these... though to be perfectly honest, the expy with chains on would not be a bad 2nd place...

Sometimes momentum is more important than speed