Clarkson Energy Homes

I finally was forced to throw out my Microsoft Intellipoint Trackball. If you have never purchased Microsoft hardware you may be unaware of the real problem with them. It’s the same problem I have with Wal-Mart products. If you really like a particular Microsoft product you need to buy a lifetime supply as soon as possible because Microsoft is going to eventually stop making it.

Wal-Mart does the same thing. In their drive to make all the products on their shelves cheaper than they were last year, they often force manufacturers to significantly change a product and make it less useful. This is not a coincidence. Product categories in which Microsoft competes see a significantly faster drop in prices than in other categories where they do not compete.
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Well, the an of an era for me. I lost a customer I have had for over four years over this past weekend. I hosted her web sites (6 or 7 of them), designed one web site and did a lot of web programming for her.

She is a real estate investor and very successful. About three years ago I discovered that she had developed a curious negotiating tactic which I am convinced she was completely unaware of. I think she used it in complicated real estate deals and have received some confirmation of that over the years. She would dispute her bills to delay payment or to get a price reduction.

She would often pay her programming and webmaster bills more than 30 days after I sent the invoice (using Freshbooks). She took almost a year to pay one of them from August, 2007. She often disputed the charges on some bills. I set a bad precedence because I sometimes caved in and gave her a credit on her invoices.
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Rim shot

Here’s a good interview with Zack that cuts through all the B.S. found in the speculative news stories about the MBTA Subway Hacking Incident.

Having the FBI agent there made it more real. But after about a minute, I calmed down and realized that we needed to just show them that this is not a big deal, this is not a problem.

When the FBI agent walked into the room, that was a sign that you should walk out. Never explain anything to police without a lawyer present. Never!

This is a good article at eWeek.com nanotechnology. The article lists other recent breakthroughs as well as this one.

Comment on: Bush Should Strip Sanctuary Cities of Federal Funds by Michael Reagan

Here’s a neat item. Michael explains that San Francisco is a Sanctuary City. In this case that means the city has a policy to not inform federal officials if a criminal is found to be an illegal alien. San Francisco paid a high price for this policy recently when, according to Mr. Reagan, three people were killed. After the killings the policy was rescinded.

Here’s the last paragraph of the article:

President Bush should issue an executive order denying any federal funds to those cities which either officially or unofficially provide sanctuaries enabling illegal aliens who commit crimes to escape deportation. They need to learn there is a price to be paid for exposing their citizens to criminal activities by aliens here illegally.

I was struck by two things here. First, that the deaths in San Fransicisco were not enough of a “price to pay.” Second, I was struck by the method of using an executive order to limit the funds. I think Mr. Bush has abused that power far too much already. Let’s let Congress or federal law enforcement deal with Sanctuary Cities.

I read Government At Its Worst figuring Chuck Colson had found some anecdote about the power of government gone awry. I was not disappointed.

His poor friend decided to rehabilitate a campground for noble purposes. His first mistake? He pulled his permits. He went to one government agency and announced what he was doing. It’s a shame , really. If you are not in the correct state and under the guidance of adequate legal advice, you can’t rehab squat.

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I saw this comment on a townhall.com article:

So she mentions two patients that cost a lot of money. And for that we should deport 12 million people.

Oh, Dave, you poor demented fellow. You’re missing the point completely. Any solution which purports to treat immigrants like human beings will always fail miserably. Any policy in which human beings are treated with dignity and with respect hurts the true winner of high medical costs. The government bureaucrat.

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Watch this video:

This guy is too funny. I ran across him on a libertarian email newsgroup. Let’s look at his finer points. He is telling us what he would do to ruin the the American way of life (which he never actually defines). I wonder how many takes it took. He couldn’t possibly say all these things with a straight face on the first take.

I would foreclose on millions of homes. You know. Kick people out of their houses.

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Today, I only rent the land, but a few years ago, I used to rent mobile homes. I had one fellow who had a couple of kids and was squeaking by. Like most people, he tended to live paycheck-to-paycheck. I tried everything short of paying him to help him stay in my rental, but eventually had to evict him.

During the last week or so of his stay, we were still trying to work things out and he said he was speaking with someone about something at lunch earlier that week. Now, I need you to picture how I lived at that time. I had gone to work for Wal-mart because my rentals were not pulling in enough money for me to live on and my savings were quickly dwindling.

I live a pretty meager life. I don’t eat out. I don’t commute. I combine trips to save fuel. I only watch matinees at the cinema. I set up a community book exchange to lower my book costs. I drink a diet powdered drink to save money on food. Back when this was happening I didn’t even have cable TV.
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