p e n g u i n d e v i l

Okay, so I see how lots of folks want to make a living with their blogs and websites, more power to them I say. So I understand the use of things like Adsense to put little ad’s on their blogs, and funny little things like what us Amazon Associates do with all the movies having links to (generally) Amazon… But I am a bit put off by this Contentlink thing. When I see a link, especially one that is both underlined and a different color, I assume that the page author put it there to tie in with their subject (see this picture, check this website, buy this movie). Now though, I am finding more and more links that are just ad’s in the blog content. Not only that, but they are hard to ignore because 1) the words linked tend to be subjects (which throws me a bit, “why is Mac a link?” and then it’s not even a link to Apple or to a Macintosh dealer, but one of those crappy generic link collection pages), and 2) they have big balloons that pop up when you mouse over them. Having a subject linked leads me to believe that I am about to click to a definition or wiki page on the matter, not some vaguely related advertisement… For instance, a link on the term “desktop publishing” that brings up an ad window for Microsoft office?

Anyway, I don’t like it. And while I’m on the subject, I can’t stand those sort of websites (like findstuff.com, which I found a contentlink to) that are “original content free”, nothing but sucked in links to other sites… I guess it had to happen once people realized that you really could make money online, but the proliferation of sites that have no content except for automatically trawled content from other sites really bugs me. It’s the WWW version of spam. As I said, I think it’s great if someone has product or content that they would like to generate some money off of, but these spam e-mails and directory sites are just annoying and lame ways for people to try and generate money in any effortless way that they can and it’s sad that they have to fill the internet with this stuff, like billboards cluttering up the highway.

Well, I’ve gone and done it. And I think it’s worth a mention. After 4 1/2 of “retail middle management” (or whatever you call it), I have accepted a position in Computer User Support. It’s going to be quite a change: no more supervising staff, no more customer service (well, depending on how you mean), no more tempting goods… I won’t even be at the store anymore, over at the corporate office now.

Of course, there are things that I will miss. The customers, the products, the store itself. But this will be exciting and challenging and it’s just a line of work that I’ve really been wanting to get involved in. I’ve done some in the past, but I never get sick of trying to troubleshoot computer systems of Users issues. Even on Windows!

Now I just need to plow through and sort all of the years of files and books and detritus that I have accumulated at my desk… And in my shelves. Time to make some tough decisions!

I have sworn to myself that I am finally going to change this tired old blog layout tonight… Just a forewarning in case anyone notices rapid alterations in the appearance here. My goal is to complete a new layout tonight, but also I need to finish this wonderful big bottle of Meantime London Porter and I’d like to finish watching Blade Runner…

Well, we’ll see.

On second thought… It’ll be a work in progress.

Well, I didn’t manage a post yesterday. I know that isn’t the first day this month, but I surely cannot miss two in a row! As for the standard excuses: work, baby, not enough sleep, working on redesigning the blog… That’s all true. Also, as people may have guessed, I just don’t have enough to say or watch enough movies these days to make a post everyday.

But as this is my “not quite 31 for 21” post, I thought I would address the whole project. Yes, the origin of the post everyday was about Down Syndrome awareness and I imagined that I would occasionally post things I had learned this month about DS. Well, that didn’t happen. I’m not particularly knowledgeable about it. My mother has spent most of the last 25 years working in residential care facilities, and I know that she has worked with people with Down’s but me? All I know I have learned from Unringing the Bell, where this all came from!

So one thing that I can say is that this month I did finally get to meet cute little Georgia. I do certainly have some impressions of her that would be my only first hand experiences with DS. Admittedly, she is a baby, and I don’t know anything about the effects of Down’s as one ages, but I got to say that Georgia is great. I realize that she has had serious and quite overwhelmingly substantial health issues, but by the time that I met her, she really just seems like a regular baby. She’s older than ours, is bigger (just a bit) and seems well along developmentally (holding her own bottle and everything!) and she makes all sorts of cute faces!

I don’t want this post to seem too naive or pointless, but I wanted to say that, in recognition of DS Awareness, the person I know who has DS is just plain great! She is an awesome baby and I look forward to knowing her as she grows up. And, in the process, learning all the more about living with Down Syndrome.

I have been slowing down the dvd library for the last year or so, but it so happens that there are some new dvds out there that I “need”. Now normally I would have just bought them new online for the cheapest price and added them to my collection. But there are some new angles that I am trying to incorporate into these sorts of things:

1) buy locally
2) don’t aquire things unless I really want them (avoid clutter and excess)
3) there’s no money to spend.

The best strategy to achieve these would be to buy these dvd’s at a local store (non-chain) with money garnered from selling dvd’s that I do not really want. So if I am going to buy From Beyond and the new edition of Deliverance, I should make a trip to Music Millennium tomorrow to buy them at full price (probably for a total of $12.00 more than if I got them from Amazon) and I should bring along about 10 cheapo dvds to sell to raise the money for them (I am also trying to sell some “not quite as cheapo” dvds, but those are going to ebay, click if you are curious). So that is my new plan.

And it brings to mind things like the great enemy of America, Wal-Mart. Especially small town Wal-Marts. I feel like a lot of small town Americans are selling out their communities, towns and local businesses by abandoning those stores and buying things at Wal-Mart instead, under the banner of “saving money”. While I understand that most people feel the need to save money, I would venture that most things that people are “saving money on” at Wal-Mart are things that they don’t really need and their communities (and themselves in the long run) would be better served by buying less unneeded material clutter (or unneeded excess food) and spending the higher amount that the local business needs to sell the item for.

I am now trying to not go around supporting the wrong folks and “saving money” by buying every dvd that catches my eye at whichever website sells it for less it and instead trying to lessen my clutter and do the local businesses some good by just buying the ones that I really want and doing it locally. I figure that if I buy two-thirds fewer dvd’s than I used to, I can easily afford to pay a local guy full retail rather then having to shop discount and wait for him to shutter his doors.

(Don’t you like my Amazon Associate links?)

Not that it serves any purpose, but I like looking at lists online. I have always been one of those sorts who likes to catalog things (dvd’s, records, whatever…) and so one of my favorite online things is the websites where you can catalog what you have. I have all sorts of other online doppelgängers at all the requisite social sites, but what interests me the most are places where I can list things.

DVD Aficionado is probably the most worthwhile, because not only can you maintain a list off all of the DVD’s you own (compete with cover image and the ability to organize them into whatever folders you want), but you can keep wish lists and shopping carts that list the prices of the DVD’s from 6 different online shops! Very handy when you feel like making an order somewhere. Its flexibility is a bit limited, as you can only list DVD’s that are in their database (pretty thorough, though bootlegs and some foreign things don’t appear), but it is still a very worthwhile site.

Also, Encyclopaedia Metallum is a great site! Is is an incredibly deep Metal information site (um, 52,144 bands?). It includes scarily thorough discographies (Iron Maiden’s has 98 entries, a collector’s dream!), line-up history, album covers, user reviews and ratings… All editable by the sites users. And it also has, more to the point, the ability for you to put together a list of your collection! Sadly, the list doesn’t look too exciting, as it doesn’t show album covers or anyway to sub-divide your collection, but it is still fun and convenient for when I need to see what I have or what format (CD, LP) that I have it in.

And Goodreads, where you can list all the books you have read, the books you are reading and the books you plan on reading. It includes cover art, ratings, reviews and Friends, so you can keep track of what people you know are/have read.

But the point to this is that the resource that I would like most seems to be missing. I would like an LP collectors site, where you can make an organizable list of all your LP’s, complete with Sleeve art and such. Or maybe just a good site on the subject. I’ve trolled about looking for something like that, but all that I find is either webpages like “didn’t lps go away when CD’s arrived?” (which seems an odd statement, since cd’s have been outselling LP’s since well before webpages existed) or, mainly, sites for people who collect 78’s and classic Dylan albums or some such boring things.

What about for people who accumulate more modern records? I go to these sites and look at their lists of hundreds of labels that they have listed and the labels that I am the most interested in (Amrep, Touch N Go, Trance…) don’t even show up!

I’ve been thinking about computers lately, once again pondering occupational prospects, I was thinking about all the years I’ve spent with these things and it got me pondering the boxes I’ve had. Not the miscellaneous ones I’ve had around that didn’t work, but the ones that I actually used…

1) I was lucky enough to own a Sinclair ZX81 back in 81 or 82. Though it had 1k of memory (not really enough to fill the TV screen with data) and used a cassette recorder for storage, I was rather excited by it, though its only ability seemed to be programming in Basic. It was fine for me, though certainly lacked the power of the DEC Teletype I used at school and the fancy Apple II than my buddy Todd had (at home! In his room! spoiled…)..

Sinclair ZX81

The DECWriter II, my first love… With no annoying screen to hurt my eyes.

2) after that began my sad years of longing during which I had nothing. But then, I got a job and in 1988 I plunked down $1700 for an IBM PS/2 Model 25… And then I coughed up another $500 for a 20mb internal harddrive that never quite fit (it bowed the case below the screen). Why did I pick it? A color screen and two 3.5″ disc drives! I spent many hours playing Bard’s Tale and writing lame Sci-fi stories with that thing! My friends used Mac’s, but I loathed those silly things (for the old reason of “they enable people to use computers without knowing anything about them”). Also, those old IBM “clicky” keyboards as still the best ones ever made…

PS/2 model 25

3) In 1991 I bought a Gateway. I seem to recall that it was a 386sx. Though it cost the same as the IBM, it was a big step up, being much faster and more powerful, having a separate monitor, a built in harddrive, and both 3.5″ and 4.25″ disc drives! I liked it fine and played many, many, many hours of Civilization on it. I ended up installing Windows 3.1 and that was a turning point for me. Windows 3.1 was atrocious! After I messed with it a bit, I was at a party where I witnessed a Mac II in action… My god, I had to give the Mac side a whirl.

4) and so in 1993(?) I bought a cheap new LC II ($999!). It seemed quite a revolution to me. It was a slower, older computer than my Gateway, with less RAM. But it ran so much better, looked so much better, worked so much better and it was a whole new experience. At that point, I fled the Wintel land. I liked the Mac so much that I realized that I needed a better one.

5) In 1994 I bought was is still the most expensive computer I had ever bought (at $2050), a Powermac 7100. I loved that box and began to spend about my every waking hour at the computer, especially once I signed up for a short-lived stint with America Online. Their proprietary, non-internet, content bored me so I moved to Teleport (a local ISP, still the account that I use) and Netscape Navigator. Also, at this time, I lived with my brother-in-law (who had bought my IBM a number of years earlier) and he then bought a 6100 and we became a mac-obsessed household!

Powermac 7100

6) The 7100 did me good for a while, but I had really wanted: a tower, more speed, and a cd-rom, so in 1997 I bought a clone, a Powercomputing Powercenter Pro. This was, in it’s time, probably the best computer I’ve ever had. Great design, powerful, it had everything… Including great marketing! I also quit my job in 1997 and followed a computer hobby path for nine months: I bought one of the fabled Spartacus 20th Anniversary Mac’s, a Powerbook 520c, a Newton and an original iMac. I also started a web design company, got an A+ Technician certification, went to two PMUG MacCamps and two Macworld conferences, one on each coast.

Powercenter Pro

20th Anniversary Macintosh

7) After I got things back in order again, I sadly sold my Powercenter (well, and my Spartacus) and in 1999 bought a G4 “Yikes” (during the two or so months that they were available). This was a great computer, fast, good looking, incredible design! I also started working at Teleport Internet during this time, got DSL and set up my first home Network. But I liked the computer so much, that I used it for years… In fact, for four years!

G4 Yikes

8) In 2003, though my “Yikes” still performed at the level I needed (as games were the main reason for upgrading, but the level of advanced games that came out for the mac was so low that a new computer was rarely needed). But I still felt the need to upgrade, I had the money and liked the thought of a dvd player in the computer, so I bought a Mirrored-Door G4, the same computer that I use now. For years I have been drooling over the “Cheese Grater” G5’s (I guess they’re Intel now) but I just can’t do it, as I don’t have the money, and this old boat still floats just fine.

Mirrored Door G4

9) We also bought an iBook in 2006. I liked it just fine, but we sold it as we didn’t really ever use it.

Okay, consider yourself tagged, if you want to be.

I know that I already said that I’d just be putting anything book related at Goodreads, I picked up this meme from You’ve Gotta be Kiddin Me, (another of the 31 for 21 bloggers) and I thought it would be fun. So here goes.

Total number of books?
I haven’t the slightest idea. Well, let me think. Back before we moved into storage we had all of our books in one room and I would guess it was something like 50-60 linear feet? We tried to get rid of some, but it only ended being a couple of boxes. I would say that they are pretty equally divided between his and hers.

Last Book read?
Child of God by Cormac McCarthy.

Last Book Bought?
Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal

Five meaningful Books?

1. Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander. No, not just a screed against wasting time at the TV. Mander delves into the effects of the medium itself. He finds that the act of watching television and receiving information in that manner, has real harmful effects on psychology and society. Negatively affecting peoples comprehension abilities and distorting the connection between reality and fiction, and the difference between active and passive experience.

2. The Seventeen Traditions by Ralph Nader. Regardless of your thoughts about old Ralphie, this is a compelling book on raising children to have character, morals and independent thought.

3. Some Mistakes of Moses by Robert Ingersoll. A compelling, logical, thorough and entertaining response to the Old Testament written by one of the great Free-Thinkers of the 19th Century.

4. Oedipus at Stalingrad by Gregor von Rezzori. Well, probably my favorite novel.

5. The Fluoride Deception by Christopher Bryson. Again, regardless of your feelings about Fluoridation, this is a scary and well documented look at the methods that the government will use to achieve their means: Blacklisting, lying, coercion… It’s creepy and gives you the feeling that the government will say anything to accomplish their nefarious goals.

I’m still a bit harried being freshly back in town, no time for a real post, but I wanted to post something, and since I’ve had a hard time finding photos of St Johnsbury online…

I made a flickr page of some pictures that we took of my favorite part of that town…

Click here to see them.

When thinking about buying a house, one cannot help but think about how much one can afford. I think that one one major factor that makes homes so unaffordable is the mortgage loan. I can’t help but think of my grandmother. She bought and sold many, many houses from the 1940’s through the early 1980’s and every one of these deal was a personal contract, she never utilized a mortgage loan. While mortgage loans are generally considered filled with fee’s for the buyer, in exchange for loaning them the money. I think there is another aspect to them: depriving the seller of most of the money that someone pays for their home. What mortgage loans do is take up to 60% of the actual selling price away from the seller and give it to the bank as a fee to give the seller the rest of the money up front. If you list a house for 150,000 and you sell it to someone using a 30 year 7% mortgage, the buyer will actually pay more like 350,000. Yet the seller gets less than half of that.

The mortgage is a lure to the seller to give them some money upfront in exchange for keeping the lions share of the purchase money for themselves. Under a contract, when a house sells for 150,000, the buyer gets what the seller pays. Under a mortgage, the seller still gets 150,000 for their property, but the buyer pays 350,000 and the bank gets 200,000. Who really wins in that situation?

It seems to me that under a personal contract, it would work better for the seller to pick a higher selling price (of 300,000, 250,000, etc…) and then they would get much more money and the seller would spend much less money and the bank wouldn’t profit at all. Yes, it would take the buyer maybe 20 years to get all of their money, but then, if they were planning on using the money for buying another house, they could just turn the payments that they are receiving around to be the payment for their next house.

In the long run, it seems like mortgage loans were created as a way for banks to make vast profits off of something that they weren’t getting anything out of. And it also serves as a way to raise house values, at the primary benefit of the bank. I realize that there has been some bad news lately for these banks, but it seems that their greed got so extreme that they began financing people to buy houses that they knew darn well that they couldn’t afford. Though what the banks end up getting out of that situation is that they collect on the house for a while, write off the failed loan and then end up owning the house anyway, at which point they can sell it again. Maybe they are intentionally financing people who can’t afford these loans?